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The Dead God, The Lich & Githyanki
The Sledgehammer Rides Again 2nd February 1608
The Sledgehammer had caught up with them there, and led by their King in his black armour, a hundred of the Knights of the White Queen, a new order set up in Leonora's honour, and the best of New Tellare's cavalry, tore into them like a flood of vengeance. The lizards had brought significant magic to support them, and King had to produce a few hasty Dispel Magic's to knock down some nasty battle magic, but once Tormentor had tasted the leading lizard's blood, the organization went out of them and they were easily split up and wiped out. The strike force was encamped, ready to return the next day, and Surya was disarming in the aforementioned tent, a present from Elverandil and utterly weatherproof but really rather too big, with the assistance of his squire Narvas and Galanarth Moonbane, commander of the Queen's Knights. Conversation was easy, the sort between those who have shared a hard job well done, and warmed ale steams in pewter flagons on a tray brought by the attentive Narvas. Suddenly, Surya's senses pick up a slight touch of the arcane. As his hand touches the ever-present hilt of Tormentor, a pinpoint of singularity appears in the air in the midst of the tent, and rapidly expands to outline four humanoid forms. These solidified, and suddenly a Githyanki Kyrath, two knights and a transformed red dragon were standing on his priceless Nhasedan carpet, looking around in mild interest at the appointments within the pavilion. Recognising two of the teleporting guests, Surya greeted them warmly and bided them welcome to his temporary home. There was considerable wariness on both sides, at first, but the part played by the Gith at the battle of Vlan Gera had been part of the tales told over the years, and these were famous names. Turning to Galanarth and Narvas and said "I would like you to meet "Kazoth gi'Baskhun, "Kyrath of Stenfors" and Morodric, "leader of the Red Dragons allied to the Gith." Once the squire had regained his composure more flagons of warmed ales were brought for the guests. Kazoth addressed Surya, and only him. "Five years ago, the power of the Githyanki came to your aid at Vlan Gera. Today, the True People of Gith are calling on you to honour that alliance." He continued "What you are about to hear is not for any other ears, however trusted. Even the Giver of Blooms and my fellow ta'nara may not know" "More than six hundred years ago, a mighty wizard and city-lord of my people named Ra-Zhul turned to the false worship of one of the Khaloth - 'the-false-Gods-that-are-not'."
"Worse, the particular Khaloth he chose to serve was a God of Death. Despite his non-existence," Was that irony in Kazoth's voice Surya wondered "the nameless God led Ra-Zhul inexorably down the path to lichdom. If there is a greater crime for a Githyanki than false worship it is this, to ape and challenge the mighty Vlaakith. There was war, and Ra-Zhul's city of Kamyn-Dhun was invaded. Desperate, Ra-Zhul called on the depths of his necromancy, slaying the greater part of his people to power a shift of his entire city from the Astral Plane to that of his God where he planned to take refuge." "Something, however, went wrong. Kamyn-Dhun disappeared utterly. Vlaakith had all record of it, its' lord, and its' fall expunged, and it was forgotten. Until now" Kazoth paused for breath and after a mouthful of the warmed ale continued "Now, fishermen on the edge of one of your seas," his tone shows how peculiar an idea that is for a denizen of the Astral Plane, "have begun to discover dead Gith washing up. Suspecting this might be something to do with Kamyn-Dhun, Vlaakith sent a crack team of knights in." This team was lead by a knight called Mydeyrus who was to investigate these finding. He reported that they had found several desiccated specimens, about which there was "something odd". Shortly after this discovery the whole party disappeared. "After 600 years, Ra-Zhul may have mastered enough necromancy to unmake Vlaakith herself. He must be dealt with. As her emissary, I'm here to ask you to try." Surya, not unsurprisingly, had never of heard of Ra-Zhul or his lost city. But why should he have, there were over a hundred Githyanki cities on the Astral plane. Surya quizzed Kazoth further and it transpired that the dead Gith had turned up on the southern coast of Stryre, south-west of Melirkos. Surya questioned Kazoth late into the night, he wanted to know which "death god", they had worshipped. But this information, more than anything else about the story, has been suppressed by the Lich-Queen, and she has not made it available to any of the Gith she has charged to investigate. Although Kazoth really knew better, the habits of a lifetime were hard to break, and it was a bit of an effort of thought for Kazoth to react to the idea of a God other than as a fakery, charlatanry, a myth. Surya asked why he did not want Sack or Hildraft involved, or even to know. Kazoth answered "I would have started with Hildraft, and I make no secret of that, but Vlaakith forbade it. One God involved in this business is more than enough for her. Sack, although he has charmed my Queen, somehow with the obscure business with the flowers, she doesn't entirely trust. Perhaps peculiarly, they regard you as the most honourable member of the trio" Surya, beginning to feel he was being lead or even trapped continued to question Kazoth "will you be joining me on this mission". Kazoth replied "No, I have been warned not to. Whatever is going on there is particularly able to pick off Gith; that's why they want a human instead" That was the last straw, accusingly Surya spoke to Kazoth "This is a trap is it not, you will not involve my two most powerful allies, you wish to deliver me to a kingdom far from my power base, where I have few royal friends, you will not tell me which death god is involved and finally you talk of 'they want a human instead'. The last time I looked you where lead by one queen, who then is this 'they' you speak of - not the flamboyant and vain, but not enormously tall Vardar Peacock." "No, it is no trap," returns Kazoth with some heat. "The Githyanki do not enslave, they do not trick, and they do not entrap. This needs power, relevant knowledge, secrecy, speed and trustworthiness. All are things the Queen feels you possess." "I'm sorry old friend" Surya said, in an attempt to cool the situation. "Please forgive my caution, of course I will do what I can to help." "You humans, and your suspicions." Kazoth answered "Many of my more precipitate kin would have flown at you for less, but the dragons would not have borne you if you were not to be trusted. You have my thanks, and those of our dread Queen, perhaps less comfortable, but of infinitely more worth." Kazoth and his party left shortly after the pair had finished speaking and Surya started to plan for his next adventure. In the morning the king and his army broke camp and set off for home. It would take the army three days to reach the capital, time which Surya could not spare. So with the troops now well underway, Surya left Galanarth to bring the sledge hammer home while he teleported back to Reital. Surya arrived back at his castle and made his final preparations for the journey. He would ride his new steed, Saethor the nightmare, across the Desolation to Stryre, a journey of about a thousand miles. Given that Amethyst was not yet complete, hiding Saethor had not been that easy. He's was eager for a stretch, and made fairly short work of the flight across the Desolation. The once fair and peaceful land of Sildor, turned to a grey, choking wasteland, carpeted with ash and haunted by unquiet spirits, by the wrath of Varkar had changed. Since the return of the Elves to Belamir, the Desolation had been shrinking, though there was still a long way to go. Surya observed many twisted and tormented creatures on his journey. But for some obscure reason, a flying black horse with burning hooves and needle sharp teeth being ridden by a black-armoured warrior with dire weapons strung all over him seemed to attract very little attention from them. His passage across the wasteland was very uneventful. February 3rd 1608 Following the directions given to him by Kazoth, brought Surya to the edge of a tiny fishing village on the coast of Stryre. The village was called Ealmere. Surya dismounted from Saethor and bid him wait until his master called. The nightmare then vanished before his eyes and waited, invisibly, for his master to summon him. Surya not wanting to over alarm the villagers travelled the last half mile, to Ealmere, on foot. The village of Ealmere was tiny, no more than twenty houses. Clearly fishing was the main occupation here, with a small flotillas of fishing boats beached along the shore. The villagers, while poor, appear normal and reasonably hospitable, although very wary. Surya was greeted by two men as he entered the village. The first was Ealmer's mayor, Kilbrand, how welcomed him nervously. The other was its cleric, Juncara. Surya introduced himself, by name only, this was not the time or the place for fancy titles. Also it would complicate matters if Vardar Peacock, the king of these parts, should hear of his presence in Stryre. To his fortune the name, Surya, was not an uncommon name in the northlands of Alair, and it aroused no sensation. The fact that he was here to help predisposed these simple fisher folk to trust him. Surya could be very charming and sociable went he wanted to, but his charms failed him in the eyes of the cleric. Juncara was the local priest of Karlan, God of the Sea in the Erlyid pantheon still widely favoured in Stryre, and he quite clearly did not trust Surya. He advised Kilbrand to tell the stranger nothing. Surya was quiet used to the clergy treating him this way and paid him no attention, for now. Likewise Kilbrand, ignored the council of his priest, and explained the strange happenings of recent weeks. At first it was one, maybe two in a catch, then as time went on, the numbers went up, until now nearly a tenth of the fish they bring ashore are affected. The mayor told Surya that when they land the fish, they're not only already dead, but rotten and putrefied, but still flop and thrash around, just as if they were ordinary netted fish. Surya asked if anything else had been washed ashore. Kilbrand, evidently, had no idea what they actually were, but explained there had been two humanoid corpses. These where just plain dead, but his description of them was clear enough, bar one small detail, both had gills in the sides of their necks. The mayor seemed more concerned with the effects on the village's livelihood, so Surya turned his attention to the trawl. Surya asked if he could see these unearthly fish, but was told there were none on hand directly. It transpired that the captains have been ditching them at sea. However, the boats sailed with the tide and were back next evening with a sample. Surya examined the catch and it was instantly apparent to him that these were indeed undead fish. He turned to the unfriendly cleric and asked why he had not spotted this fact. "Of course I spotted' it!" Juncara snapped, "but I wasn't going to frighten these poor people any more by telling them, and I wasn't going to tell you either. I suspected your motives. I still suspect your motives." Surya, beginning to think there was more to this cleric than just a village pastor and asked "why are you so untrusting, I am only here to help and help I will" Surya continued "I think you are hiding things here, what more do you know that you have kept from the villagers and me" "'Only here to help'?" Cleric retorted, "I wonder indeed. Here we are plagued by the undead, and suddenly up pops a handy hero to save us all. A hero who seems to know all about the undead, a 'hero' in black armour bearing weapons that reek of the undead. Coincidence? I doubt it." The priest continued "The question rebounds. What are you hiding from me?" Surya weaver some of his now inherent magic to ascertain if the cleric was of good standing and had not joined the ranks of the undead. The cleric was quiet correct in his assumptions, he was hiding something or was that everything, but could he be trusted. Surya may have need of a powerful priest, but was he just a lowly pastor with a back bone. Time would tell. Surya wanted to answer this upstart that this 'hero' was the king of New Tellare, emissary of Kord, slayer of Varkar, destroyer of the Kingmaker and the vanquisher of the Shadowkami at the Battle of Vlan Gera. But for now "I hide nothing that is relevant here, hinder me if you wish, but if the dead rise from the sea, will it be you that defends these shores. I think not, it will be this 'hero' in his black armour, fighting fire with fire" Not letting Surya off the hook went on "If you do fight them, then I shall revise my opinion, at the moment I cannot pretend to any confidence. Hinder you? For all your ill-omened air, I shall not, I haven't confidence that I could oppose you. But I shall be watching you, necromancer, and I shall do what I can to mitigate any harm you may bring to these people, my flock." What was Surya going to do with this priest, kill him or hire him, Juncara was not going to let this one go. "I see that the priests of Karlan are chosen for their metal. I am not normally renowned for my necromancy, but for my prowess with these blades." Surya gestured, but did not draw his dreadful weapons. "If I am as dark and you say, why are you still breathing" Surya went on "I have seem many thinks, talked to gods, meet kings and emperors, lead armies into battle, travelled the planes, fort against demons, devils and just about every undead creature you could think of" he paused "but courage and commitment such as I see here now is very rare indeed. I am welcome in Basilica of Aderra and the Kordasa in Karennal, maybe when this is over you could also trust me, even instruct me in the ways of your religion, and I, if you wish, could show you sights beyond this world." The answer that Surya received was not the one he was expecting. He could see the priest was adjusting his thinking, if only slightly, he says, "Maybe I have misjudged you. And then, maybe I have not. I shall reserve my conclusion until I have seen your deeds. Certainly, Karlan ever welcomes fresh followers to tread the paths of the Pathless, and learn the ways of the Grey Widowmaker." He pauses. "In token of this accord, I bless you in His name; may the tides flow in your favour and the storm pass you by. Wield the Dark against the Darkness, and I shall be honoured to call you friend."
Surya bid the captain good day and left. He would camp out this evening on the beach and wait for the morning tide. Supper had been purchased fresh from Narmor Wavestar and was duly cooked over an open fire. Wishing to retire for the night he conjured a robust wooden lodge. He went inside through the sturdy door and lit a fire in the small fireplace. The shelter contained rude furnishings, bunks, a trestle table, stools, and a writing desk. Surya bid the unseen servant to clean and tidy his belongings, while he watched the sun go down over the calm blue sea, through one of the shuttered windows. Let's hope it calm tomorrow he thought, toying with his ring of water breathing. Surya turned from the window and sat at the wooden table and read one of his many spell books, before retiring for the night. Surya's night rest is comfortable and uninterrupted. February 5th 1608 Surya rose early the next morning, washed and prepared a simple meat from the rations he had carried from home. He spent the next hour preparing spells he may need for that day, before meeting up with Narmor Wavestar. Wavestar's ship, the Talanquin, was waiting at the quay formed by Ealmere's short pier. The captain welcomed him on board, and advises Surya that armour was not the most practical garb for shipboard. Surya, checking that his ring of water breathing was on his finger said "I agree that under normal circumstances, armour and the sea don't mix, but I would feel more comfortable wearing it" The captain responded "Seeing as you paid in advance, you can wear a dress if you feel more comfortable in it," laughs Wavestar, "although if you fall off the ship I won't waste time with lifeboats." Surya thanked the captain for his concern and with a smile added "If I start wearing dresses you can throw me over board" he then went below. The vessel set out from the shore and headed into the pale golden winter morning. The sea was calm and the passage uneventful and a few hours' sailing brought them to the region, Narmor, describes as the worst source of the trouble. During his time below deck Surya prepare his equipment for the possibility of an extended underwater adventure. Any of his delicate possessions, such as spell books, were being packed any safely in the bag of Holding, which would remain water proof if left unopened. Once they reached their destination, Surya scanned the area using his natural and magical eyes. Above the waves all was pretty normal, although there were no seabirds to be seen, and no seaweed floating on the waves. He peered into the ethereal and astral planes, looking for anything in the vicinity on those planes, but saw nothing. It did however confirm that there was nothing nasty lurking just off the edge of reality. The Robe of Eyes he wore was far more effective. It allowed Surya to see deep into the murky depths below the ship. There were no sign of any sort of life in the shallows beneath the boat, but as Surya searched deeper he began to see fish of various sizes swimming about. The movements of these fish seem somehow wrong or unnatural. Some venture a bit closer, and he got his first really good look at these undead fish, for clearly they were undead. The fish swam with bits and pieces hanging off them, fins and teeth were missing, and those creature that had eyes in life, the empty sockets now glowed faintly with an unholy luminosity. The fish ranged in size from herring to shark, but all seemed to be looking for something... Surya continued to search the depths for any creature, dead or otherwise that may have possessed any intelligence for him to communicate with, but to no avail. He cast the spell prying eyes in an attempt to see deeper in to the ocean. Surya holding several crystal marbles in his right hand wove the incantation. Fourteen magical orbs appear in the air in front of him, each about the size of an apple, which he then commanded to search the sea. The eyes dived into the water and disappeared from his view. After about an hour the first of them returned and it became apparent to Surya that the prying eyes could not see in the depths as there was insufficient light. More drastic measures where required. Surya asked Wavestar to trawl for fish. He initially opposed this action stating "the only fish I will catch round here are those living dead sorts". But Surya insisted that he did as he asked and reluctantly he when about plying his trade. After a few hours the nets were winched aboard. Surya and Wavestar examined the catch together "See, I told you so, not a good one to be had" the captain remarked. Surya continued to inspect the haul and removed a small undead shark from the nets. He turned to Wavestar and said "I have what I need, you may throw the rest back if you wish" Surya then asked the captain to stay in the area as long as possible while he retired to his quarters to continue his research. He also asked the captain if he could not be disturbed on any account. Surya then went below deck, with the creature, and once in his cabin cast the spell alarm on the door and conjured an unseen servant to help him in performing a rather nasty ritual. He then prepared the spell "Eyes of the Zombie", which would allow him to control and see thought the eyes of the undead shark they had caught. After the spell had been performed he remained motionless and eyeless on the bunk. The unseen servant then returned the shark to the sea.
The shark swam in and out of buildings and around roadways looking for any signs of Githyanki occupation in the ruins of what was once a city of considerable size. The city, which appeared to have hit the sea bed rather hard and had largely come apart in the process. There was not much left, but the general layout but was reminiscent of the city of Khemla Sidira where Surya had met Vlaakith. After an hour or so's poking around, Surya's shark, discovered a section of the ruins that seems in better repair, and it located a large section that was not only in better condition, but appeared as if it may hold air in places. Just then a disturbance in the water caught his eye. Six humanoids appear out of the murk, swimming towards the shark at some considerable speed. As they closed, Surya could see that they bore many of the hallmarks of the Githyanki, although their clothing was minimal and their decorations almost absent. Also, they had webbed feet and gills in their necks. Hot in pursuit were ten more humanoids, at first glance they appeared much the same as the pursued, orbited by a dozen or so of the larger zombie sharks. The first indication of difference wasn't actually visual, Surya's senses declare the oncoming pursuers as undead before he can see them clearly. As they swam closer, he could now pick out differences. These creatures had no adaptation for undersea life and were clearly animated dead rather than living creatures. They were clad in armour made from moulded sharkskin and carried spears as well as some sort of variant crossbow. Then one of the pursuing undead Githyanki waved an arm at him, clearly indicating that he should attack the quarry. As the living Githyanke close on Surya's position, one readed a short spear to attack him with. With no way of communicated with the living Githyanki, Surya withdraw and attempts to follow them. They fled from the undead Githyanki towards a structure of some sort at one end of the ruins. Surya followed on and as he approached it becomes clearer and he realized that it is actually a ship of some sort. The ship was unlike any he had ever seen before, it was closed over rather than decked, and looked very alien. The odd-shaped mast and wing-like rigging look most impractical for the high seas. It was in rather poor shape though and appeared very unlikely to go anywhere. As the refugees disappear inside, Surya became aware that several more like them are on guard around the various holes in the structure. These were prepared to resist an attack by the pursuers, and the undead Githyanki veer off once they realize they haven't caught the live Gith in the open water. There was no way that Surya would be able to get past these guards in his present form, so he ended the spell. Now back on board the Talanquin, Surya prepare for the trip to the deeps. There was no need to inform the captain of his return or even of his plans, as Wavestar still believed he was locked in his cabin. He spent the next few minutes casting four spells. Firstly he cast the incantation which would allow him to survive the extreme conditions found at the bottom of the ocean "Transformation of the Deeps". As the spell was completed, Surya's eyes became completely black and this flesh turned cold and hard to the touch. He had also gained the ability to breathe water and to see in the lightless conditions of the deep. Through the latter was not a problem when wearing the Robe of Eyes. He also cast the spell "Tongues" which granted him the ability to communicate with the fishy folk he had encountered below. The next spell he prepared was "Polymorph". He had originally planned to swim down to the sea bed as a shark and transform back to his normal form at he first opportunity. But now he would teleport to the Githyanki ship instead. The "Polymorph" spell was insurance, should be unable to return to the surface by any other means. February 5th 1608 With his magic cast, Surya teleported to the Githyanki ship. He appeared just behind the guards he had seen earlier, but they did not notice his presence. Surya swam deeper into the wreaked ship and very soon was spotted by the party of Githyanki he had encountered fleeing from the undead. They did not reacting hostilely and simply asked "Who are you?" Surya introduced himself, but did not get the usual reaction. They appeared to have no idea what he was, never mind who. It struck Surya that they may have never seen a human before. But they appear civil and stable enough though. The next question posed by the Githyanki brought a smile to Surya's face "What are you doing here?" How many times had he heard those immortal words whilst adventuring with Sack. Surya answered "I wish to see your leader, please take me to see him" The Githyanky spoke "Oh! Yes, of course, Great Jaruh will know what to do, he knows everything, our wise (old bird) leader. Yes, come this way." Surya took the opportunity to test these Githyanki and said "is Ra-Zhul not your leader then". The Githyanki now showed signs of fear and exclaimed "No!" As Surya move through the submerged corridors of the strange vessel, two things strike him, first, its' design and decoration are distinctly Githyanki - more so, really, than the equipment and outfits of his escorts, which are by no means as extrovert as is usual for Gith. Secondly, he realized that the craft was originally designed to be filled with air not water, and probably not to float on water. It's most likely an astral vessel. On what was clearly once the bridge, you are brought before an elderly member of this peculiar sub-species. "Old Jaruh," says one of your guides with deep respect, "This is Sooria of Tallar, a traveller from somewhere else." The impression has been gathering on Surya that his guides were a bit simple, and the inability to remember a simple name only reinforces that.
"Hail and welcome, visitor from the mighty surface world of Alair," he said, pronouncing the words carefully, as if he had never had to use them before. "What brings you to us in our hour of need?" Surya greeted Jaruh with respect and introduced himself correctly "I am Surya, King of New Tellare, one of the many kingdoms on the surface of Alair" Jaruh responded "So it's true, then. There are surface dwellers!" Surya said "Yes, there are many peoples on the surface of this world" He went on to explain "I have been sent as an emissary of a race of people very similar to yours, the Githyanki. Many years ago an evil wizard and city-lord of the Githyanki fort against his Queen. The war ended with the city, Kamyn-Dhun, and its lord, Ra-Zhul, disappearing completely." Old Jaruh interrupted politely "So I have learned, from painstaking reading of the ancient carvings on the stones here. The fetches of his loyal followers linger yet, but we are the sole living descendants of the survivors. Until recently, we lived peacefully enough in the remains of the foundry nearby, but we were forced from our home by fiends who dug through the rock and brought the taint of cursed stone to the Silver Forge." Surya listened and then when on. "I come here to investigate the cause of the un-living creatures washing up on Alair's shores and the appearance of your kin on the surface. I believe that the ruins on the sea bed are that of Kamyn-Dhun and Ra-Zhul is behind the undead creatures I have seen in the waters around it". Once Surya had finished speaking Jaruh spoke again "They are the Necrogith. We believe they are the result of the curse of the rulers of the Silver Realm, from which Ra-Zhul was exiled, on him for his sin of necromancy. They likely serve him, but I would not oppose him directly; he is a terrible foe." Surya than asked Jaruh what he had meant by their hour of need. "We are dying here" Jaruh said "Even were Ra-Zhul, the Necrogith, or the fiends not to assail us, we would die out through simple wastage, inbreeding, and despair. Soon, soon, I will master the arts of our ancestors, and take my people home to the Silver Realm, there to atone for Ra-Zhul's sins and take our place beside our true kin." He pauses, looking sad. "But they do assail us, and time is too short. I fear we shall be overwhelmed and exterminated before I can master the power flows, now I am deprived of the powers of the Silver Forge." Seeing the sadness in the old Gith's eyes, Surya offered to help "With a little planning I am sure we can defeat Ra-Zhul and his Necrogith" then he paused "and with the Queen of the Githyanki's permission and a lot of magic, may be we can return you and you kin to the Astral plane." Jaruh gripped the Last Tellaran's hand warmly. "If you can do that," he said intensely, "you will have our gratitude forever." The pair then sat and planned their next move. Surya asked Jaruh about the silver forge. Jaruh told him "The Forge was our home, we have always lived there, since our ancestors were cast out of the Silver Realm. They used the powers it holds to evolve what was needed to survive here, and it holds the power to take us home, I know it. If I can just have a few more years' study…." It appeared that the anti-Ra-Zhul survivors of the city's crash used the Forge's power to evolve in to a race capable of surviving on the ocean floor. The Silver Forge seemed like a good place to start but Surya needed more details of what he would be up against, He asked "So who awoke the Lich". The Gith answered "Fiends, demons, I know not what exactly. But they have scales and power and cruelty, which match the ancient tales of fiends." Surya asked if the Fiends where still there and to which ancient tale did he refer. The old Gith answer "They are, curse them, we tried to re-enter the Forge and four of my people were slain." He continued with sorrow in his eye's "There are carvings within the Forge which depict the fiends encountered by the Githyanki at various stages of their history, more I do not know" Surya then asked "How many Necrogith are there and are they the dead of your kin or from the dead in the city" The old Gith replied "I do not know exactly, there always seem to be more. The Necrogith are the remnants of Ra-Zhul's followers, but anything that dies within the city, except inside the Forge, rises as undead and serves Him." Surya inquired further of the undead "Are the Necrogith hard to kill or just plane impossible?" Old Jaruh laughed "No, they can be destroyed, dead though they are, by thew and heart and magic." Surya probed further for more information on the strengths of there enemies and asked "Do the Necrogith or Ra-Zhul possess the powers of the mind which is natural to the Githyanki of the Astral plane, and for that matter do you?" Jaruh answered "The powers of psionics are something I aspire to greatly, these are the ancient ways I have been trying to re-learn." He continued "The Necrogith posses these power, they can manifest blades of mental energy and more I am sure. Ra-Zhul I have never seen, but I expect he will have retained this power also" Surya then told the old Gith that he could only spend a few hours on the sea floor and then made inquiries of any areas of the city that have a suitable environment for surface dwellers. Jaruh told him "Some areas of the Forge itself are dry. Of Ra-Zhul's domain I know not, none go there and return alive." With an air of optimism the old Gith added "If we re-take the forge I can try to replicate the arts which changed our ancestors," Finally Surya asked "Have you or any of your kind ever seen Ra-Zhul or his Jar" Jaruh answered "No one sees him and lives. What is a 'jar'?" Surya went on "The jar or phylactery, is where he stores his life force when the physical body is destroyed. As a rule, the only way to get rid of a Lich is to destroy its jar. Unless you do this he will return after death, again and again" The contemplation of this prospect noticeably depressed the old Gith. Clearly Ra-Zhul was a greater foe than he'd realized. After a few moments thought Surya announced "The most sensible place to start would be the Silver Forge, let us take it back. Hopefully we can find a power there that will let me remain on the sea floor for a while longer. We might strike lucky and find the Lich's jar"
Surya took the sword, but was rather taken back by the offer, the Githyanki hold their swords in very great esteem and would not normally give them up. Surya studied the sword in great detail. It was a silvered scimitar, with limited battle magic woven into the blade, but it did possess the Forge Key magic which Jaruh had alluded to. After a short while he turned to Jaruh and said "Thank you indeed, but will you not need this in our attempt to take back the Silver Forge" "I cannot come with you" Jaruh answered "The fiends are beyond us, and all our strength is needed here to defend our last refuge. I can manage to fight without the sword; but you will be unable to enter the forge without it." He went on "A guide and a map I can provide to get you there, but I can't spare anyone to actually go in with you. Jaruh then gave Surya a crude map scratched onto a turtle shell, showing the Necrogith and Refugees territories. It also revealed the location of the Foundry. Surya had been studying the Gith present in the room and none appeared to be evil in nature. He knew quite well that regular Githyanki were, and so was a bit of a shock when he realized that these guys aren't. That may be a question for another day he thought.
As ready as he ever was for this sort of capper he returned to the bridge of the sunken Astral Ship. There Jaruh introduced him to his guide. With the pleasantries over Surya followed his guide cautiously through the submerged ruins until they came to an unassuming stone bunker, encrusted with ooze, silt, tubeworms, and other deep-sea vermin. The north face bore two massive stone doors, and after a bit of examination he could see that they seem to have been opened recently. The faces of each door were covered in Githyanki runes, similar to the ones seen in Khemla Sidira. A particularly inscribed stone at around chest height caught Surya's eye. Surya touched silvered scimitar to the stone and the doors swung silently open. Inside, a ten-foot-wide flight of stone stairs lead downwards into darkness. Four statues of Githyanki flank it, two on each side, each carved as holding a differently shaped sword. The statues were of a tan stone, but the swords were made of a gleaming silvery material. Above the stairwell hang a strange device, something like a spherical barred cage. From his current vantage, he was unable to see if there's anything inside. Surya studied the cage which gave of a magical aura but did not seem to contain any evil. After checking for any obvious traps Surya moved in to the Forge and made his way towards the stairs. As he reached the stairs, unsurprisingly, all four statues begin to move, bringing their blades up. Surya calmly backed towards the door he had just entered by. This action would prevent these creatures from surrounding him. As he moved in the direction of the door he drew both of his cursed blades and levelled them towards the stone Githyanki. Surya also noticed the barred cage open. He could see some sort of dark mass inside, but what ever it was it had not yet moved. Surya turned his full attention to the four stone figures moving towards him, with their gleaming silver swords bring an almost welcome, but deadly, splash of colour to this dark and foreboding dungeon. If these creatures wished to fight, thought Surya, he would accommodate them. But it did seem somewhat rude not to parley first. Not expecting an answer he said "I am Surya, King of Tellare and emissary of Vlaakith your Queen - I demand your allegiance." No answer came, and the four stone guardians continued to move forwards towards Surya, their stiff movements smoothing out as they accelerated in to battle. Surya ceased the initiative and struck at the first statue with all his might. He hit the guardian three times in the body but the four perfectly struck blow brought the creature to its knees and its movement ceased. Surya moved quickly on to the second Githyanki guardians. It came at him with a silver short sword but it was no match for the King of Tellare and Surya drop this creature with a barrage of body blows. Despite the drag effects of the water, their swords moved swiftly through the inky black water. Their attacks were not fabulously skilled, but the simple weight of their stone arms and a four-foot silver sword was considerable and even Surya's augmented strength was tested in blocking their strikes. The third statue swung wildly at Surya, with its long sword, completely missing him. This was too easy thought Surya, but the forth Githyanki statue caught him off his guard and dealt him two crushing blows in the stomach with his silver great sword, this guardian meant business. The first was a minor blow, but the second winded Surya for a brief moment, he had not been hit that hard for quiet a while. But the protection woven by the doubting priest Juncara shielded the Last Tellaran from the wounds he would otherwise have taken, almost. At the last strike Surya felt the protection fail, and his blood misted the water around him. With is composure regained he laid into the two remaining statues and pounded them to dust. For a moment Surya surveyed the scene, broken statues and silver swords littered the stairs, not unlike the ruins of the Elven cities he had seen the Desolation. Surya then removed a staff, made of thick oak and shod with gold, from his quiver and healed himself. Surya then moved towards the stairs leading down into the Silver Forge, stepping over the remains of the four guardians he had reduced to rubble. February 5th 1608 At that moment, a movement in the metallic cage caught his eye, and he realized why he hadn't discerned it contents. It's was a machine. Not readily distinguishable from the mesh until it moves, it unfolded itself with un-human precision, revealing a basically man-shaped torso made of metal parts and gears. It drifted down to stand facing him, it stood poised and ready, but did not appear overtly hostile. It then spoke in a strange, flat voice despite the lack of any jaw movement. "You have defeated the guardians placed here by the Gith before the disaster, Man. Now you must face me, and I am infinitely more dreadful than they. Your chances of defeating me are minimal, yet we must fight… unless you can answer a simple question." Surya replied "Tell me creature what is your question" When Surya did not attack and indicate a general interest in knowing the question, the machine cocked its head sideways with a whirr and said "Can you free me?" there was a pause and it continued "Do so and you may pass" Surya asked the creature what he wanted freeing from. The machine answered "This, here, do you think I function well in this location? I have my own objectives, but Ra-Zhul bound me here as a door warden. You are a man of power, maybe you could free me. I have discretion enough to converse with those I meet, but if you proceed I must stop you... unless I am not here" Surya indicated to the machine that the door is open, it responded "If I could just walk out I would have done it a very long time ago" Surya then proceeded to question the creature "You say you where bound to this placed, but by what" The machine answered "By mortal magic or powers, I know not, again I would be free if I knew". Surya then asked if the creature was a demon or a devil. "No!" it replied "I am an Inevitable. I am a being dedicated to righting the balance within the universe. My progress towards that goal has been unforgivably interrupted by this binding." Surya then thought of the silver scimitar that Old Jaruh had given him, he held it up for the creature to see and asked "will this help?" the Inevitable responded "No". Surya tried a different track and asked the creature "If I "kill" the lich will that free you", the machine responded rather negatively "I doubt it. It may. Can you do that without entering this building" So far the creature had not given Surya any option other than to fight. The King of New Tellare looked the creature in the eyes and said "I am sorry, but you give me very little choice but to fight you." Surya continued "I must enter this building to defeat Ra-Zhul and you must stop me. I do not know how to free you and even if I did the lich's magic is far more powerful than mine, but my blades will defeat you both." Surya paused for any response from the Inevitable, but none came "It is a shame, but it would appear your righting the balance within the universe is over, unless you can help me free you, I must kill you." Surya stepped back a few paces and sheathed the sword of the Dead Legion and un-strapped Lordsguard from his back. He was now ready to face the creature in mortal combat, but he could not consider this creature as an enemy. Giving the creature one final chance to step aside he spoke "If we must fight consider this, I am a very powerful human, if you kill me the balance in the universe will be tipped and you will not be able to correct the imbalance created by you" Surya continued "How does that stack up with your objectives." "It does not affect them." He replied "Your fate will not affect my portfolio, for tangled though your path may be you leave no broken faith in your wake. Oath breakers are my prey. I may defend myself against those who would impede me, and my binding impels me to deny access to this place. Other than that you interest me not at all." The creature went on "I can ask you to free me - but I cannot tell you how. If deducing that is beyond your intellect, then prepare for death." Surya levelled Tormentor at the creature and said "If we must fight sir, I would know your name" the machine answered "We seldom bear names, and only for a time. Mine is Carlaros in this place." Surya, with his sword drawn waited for the fight to begin, but his mind was not focus on the inevitable fight. May be he through he could brake Carlaros's binding, with one of his spells. "Wait" he cried "I wish to try to set you free" At this Carlaros slowed his advance towards Surya and allowed him to weave his magic. The experience earned through years of knife-edge adventures served the King of New Tellare well. He directed the spell at the spherical cage and not the machine. Surya felt his magic engage with the magic binding the peculiar construct to this time and place. To Surya's surprise the binding cracked and crumbled, and was gone. The construct paused, an angular sword already drawn, and looked up. No pleasure, or relief, or gratitude, crosses its' mechanical features, but it sheathed its' weapon, and relaxes its' stance. "A good decision," it declared. "I shall continue on my way, and you may go yours, Man. Hold to your sworn word, and we shall not meet again." It strode past Surya, and was lost in the undersea murk, heading who knows where to bring retribution to who knows whom Surya called as it disappeared in to the ocean "I would have thought Ra-Zhul has broken a few oaths in his time" Whether or not this was true, the receding mechanical form was unresponsive. Surya then turned and descended the stairs to the forge. As he emerged into the space at the bottom of the stairs, Surya noticed several features immediately. The ceiling, arched and groined, rose to more than twenty feet above the floor. The far wall was dramatically curved around a crescent-shaped pit, directly before which were two well-shaped cauldrons. For the first time since his descent, visible light was present; a dim silver light emanated from a rectangular panel of faintly flickering illumination standing flush against the northeast wall. The west wall sported two doors, and the east one; a ten-foot hallway led out to the northwest. The hall was not empty. Eight humanoid figures, and eight sharks, were scattered across the area, in positions of readiness, all gazing at the stairs, clearly waiting for him. The sharks were pretty normal-looking, the first living sharks he'd seen in this area. The humanoids were obviously the 'fiends' Jaruh had referred to, man-sized and shaped, scaled, but clearly adapted to life under water……. As the King of New Tellare came into view, all sixteen of the welcoming committee started towards him, the humanoids bellowing at the tops of their voices. As the aquatic humanoids closed, Surya drew his bow and sent three arrows at them. This was fascinating to watch, as instead of flashing across the intervening distance, the shafts decelerated rapidly from the water friction, finally coming to a halt some ten feet short and spiralling down to the floor under the weight of their metal heads. The fiends grinned and continued to swim forwards, the sharks fanning out to try and surround the Last Tellaran. Releasing his bow to float nearby, he drew his swords and sprang in amongst them. Moving normally under the effects of the Transformation of the Deep spell, he was on far more familiar ground, and the two damned swords cut through water and flesh with equal celerity. His first pass left a shark and two fiends slain, and the water began to mist with blood. A shark rocketed in from behind, under slung maw gaping for a massive bite, but the Robe of Eyes saw in all directions, and the fish veered away with mortal injuries. As he whirled to the next attack, one of the bodies drifted past him, and he registered something he'd not noticed before, each of them, despite fighting with a fairly primitive-looking spear, had a greatsword of Githyanki styling strapped to his back. The weapons had a silvery shimmer, and while probably not classic Silver Swords, were probably enchanted to some degree. His movements had taken him further across the room, and some of the fiends had worked their way behind him. Even the superhuman speed of the King of New Tellare was insufficient to ward him against all his foes, and he felt a spear bite him in the leg, and then another in the arm. But the strikes were lucky ones, by contrast, he was reaping them like wheat, and a few moments later, all were drifting towards the walls and floor, dead. Surya paused for breath and checked his wounds. The wounds in his arm and leg were very minor and he bound them to stop the bleeding. He turned his attention to the dead fiends. Each was carrying a short spear made of bone, Surya noted, probably fish or whalebone, a simple loin-cloth, some talismans carved in ivory, and the mysterious great swords. Close to, Surya could feel that they were indeed enchanted, although probably not terribly strongly, but as he suspected they didn't have the peculiar shifting balance of a true Silver Sword. Surya placed the sixteen swords in his quiver of holding for future examination. Stepping to the junction, Surya explored the short passage that he found. It ended in a circular room, dominated by a pit around 15' deep. It was round-bottomed and empty, although the edges showed signs of heat-blackening. Elsewhere, the room had two doors in the west wall, one in the east, and the mysterious glowing silvery panel in the Northeast wall. This radiates perceptible magic. As Surya approached the shimmering silvery panel, the light grew brighter, until it approached that of daylight. Close to, he could feel the radiance of magic from it as well, not entirely a surprise given the light it emitted. Nothing, however, prepared him for the shock of its' revealed powers.
As he reached a tentative hand to touch the surface the glow flared infinitesimally. On the instant that the tip of his finger touched the metal, there was a brief, dazzling flare, and his whole sense of balance changed. It was not the fact that he'd been teleported. He'd done that many times before, stepping through the network of portals that Skufruss had scattered across the northlands. No, it was the fact that he suddenly wasn't immersed in water any more. That and the heat. He was standing dripping on a piece of flooring identical to the one he'd been on a moment ago. A glance behind revealed a matching silvery panel to the one he'd just touched. To his left were mundane doors. Ahead was a room matching in shape and size the one on the other side of the hall where he'd fought the fiends. This one appeared in much better repair however. It was dominated by the central pit, which unlike the one on the other side was filled with leaping, searing silver fire; it was this that was producing the extreme heat that crisped Surya's hair even from the door.
It also became apparent if he were to stay in this area any longer he would need protection from the intense heat. Surya took out a ring from one of his pockets and exchange if for one he was wearing. There was no need for water breathing here, he thought, and the protection from fire would be most welcome. The discomfort of the intense heat faded, and Surya knew he'd be safe anywhere within the Forge - except in the Pit! With his new protection Surya turned his attention to the central flames, it gradually become clear to him that whatever power drove them had become tainted with necromancy, whatever it originally did, it will now do something different, possibly quite bad. Surya thought that the pit would have to wait until the area was safe, and went to investigate the strange tools he had noticed. They were obviously designed for use with the central pit and appeared to be made of adamantine. However, as he made his way across the forge, the matter of the tools was forgotten, as without the slightest warning, a massive fireball hurtled out of the forge light, a splash of orange against all that silver, straight at him - and right behind that, a huge irregular lump of black iron, trailing a chain of the same material, soared across the forge with malice aforethought. With his lightning reflexes Surya stepped out of the path of the oncoming ball of fire, which exploded harmlessly behind him. Any chance of allowing this creature the opportunity of talking its way out of a fight was gone and Surya draw both of his cursed blades and throw himself at the creature. As the King of New Tellare leaped forward, his robe-enhanced vision began to pick out the details of the Silver Forge's last guardian. It was clearly fiendish in nature, and strongly resembled a Cornugon in general shape, although the usual reptilian head was replaced by a shark-like one. It was armed with a mighty chain, lined with spikes, and tipped with the aforementioned chunk of iron. Its' other hand was raised, and an actinic glare played around it as it prepared a magical attack of some kind. The scene took on a nightmarish quality as Surya plunged into the silver flames. The glare would have dazzled anyone with normal vision, and blinded an unprotected wearer of the Robe of Eyes. As it was, with his Lenses reducing the effects, he could see after a fashion, although everything was distorted and unclear. The swords cut through the flames, and the Sword of the Dead Legions seemed to crackle as the necromantic energy polluting the ancient Githyanki fires resonated with its' might.
The fight was not going the way Surya had planned and a change in tactic was required, less power and more accuracy may be the key to felling this beast he thought. But as he adjusted his position the devil cast a spell and a jagged bolt of lightning, nearly invisible in the flames of the Forge, attempted to earth itself through his metal-clad form. As the King attacked with renewed vigour, the Cornugon's electrical assault blasted into him. His enchantments of Evasion deflected some, but not all of the damage, and his limbs spasmed briefly with pain and shock. Then he was upon his foe again, striking and smiting. Tormentor and the Sword of the Dead Legions tore great gashes across the blazing flesh this time, and black blood flowed, sizzling into foul-smelling steam as it left the body and succumbed to the vast heat of the furnace. Reeling back, the monster appeared in distress for the first time. Bunching itself, it hurled itself backwards, away from the last Tellaran and out of the furnace into the Forge. Surya seized this opportunity to attack the fell creature and hammered in an almighty blow, from Tormentor, deep in to the monsters guts. More black blood spilled from the creature, but it was now out of range for Surya's swords and all he could do in that instant was to wait for the creature's response. Surya did not have to wait long, as he closed in on the creature, it through back its' head and screamed at the ceiling in a language Surya didn't recognize, though he understood it thanks to the Tongues he was running. "Loathheart! Wartgrunt! Quakeslash! Come to me! I, Merixilash, summon and adjure you!" Instantly, three blooms of orange flame appeared in the room around it, rapidly coalescing into three more Cornugons, somewhat smaller than Merixilash, but unwounded and ready for the fray. After crying his invocation across the planes, Merixilash crumpled to the floor of the forge, swearing in Infernal and clearly trying to work some kind of healing. With the three smaller devils now between him and Merixilash, Surya moved to engage these creatures. He would have to despatch these monsters quickly before Merixilash could summon more aid or repair the damage Surya had already done. Surya vaulted from the tainted Forge, trailing silver flames and black smoke, to find the three newly arrived Cornugons ranged in his path in defence of Merixilash. Undaunted, he sprang among them. His first strikes ripped across Wartgrunt's body, drawing lines of black fiendish blood in their wake, but seeming to arouse him merely to more fury. The last, however, a swingeing uppercut, struck home between the devil's muscular thighs with eye watering force. Wartgrunt gasped, whimpered, his eyes crossed, and he fell back dead. Quakeslash and Loathheart, not expecting this sort of trouble from a single mortal warrior, paused for a moment before attacking simultaneously. Whirling their spiked chains furiously, they bore down on him, snarling and cursing. Surya the Wyrmslayer had fought many, many opponents on his rise to power, but not many armed with this sort of weapon. The whirling, flailing, jagged coils of metal seemed to be everywhere and to wrap around anything used to parry them, and for a few frantic seconds he was very busy evading them. One slipped past his guard and sliced across his left bicep. Behind them, Merixilash lurched to his feet, his wounds much reduced, and prepared to re-enter the fray. Chains not withstanding, Surya altered his focus and lunged in between the two remaining fiends. In a deeply confusing move, his swords lashed out, crossed, and each impaled the devil on its' normal opposite side, before dragging the skewered and struggling fiends into the middle to crash together and drop lifeless to the stone floor. Shaking the black blood off, the King of New Tellare advanced once more on Merixilash. The hideous visage of the devil was now contorted with fear. He hesitated, and then backed a step. Looking at him, Surya was more than a little given to think that, left to his own devices, Merixilash would have used his magic to escape. That he had not done so argued that he must be bound to this place somehow. He raised his chain again, preparing to fight, but almost in defence not attack. Dawning in his eyes was the realization that, in all certainty, he would not survive this fight. The pair clashed again, and Surya's damned blades tore through his daemonic flesh. Merixilash backed off now, his courage gone, his claws raised in futile defence where his fighting skills had failed. "Who are you?" he gasped. Surya answered as levelled his swords at the creature "Just a mere mortal, who gave you the opportunity to talk when I came in, why should I not just kill you now." Fearfully the fiend spoke again "You probably can, never have I fought a mortal of your ilk. But I cannot escape and must fight you if you remain in here." Surya, still with his swords drawn, halted his deadly advance and questioned the devil further "You are bound here by the hand of Ra-Zhul, he must be very powerful indeed to have captured one so powerful as you". Merixilash told Surya "He is powerful beyond belief, driven by some deep urge, and his magic is irrefutable." Surya seeing the misery on the devil's face, not so much from the wounds he had inflicted but from his imprisonment, offered the creature some words of console "He will perish under my cursed blades, like all before him. Lichs, vampires, demons and devils have all stood in my way, all have fallen. I am Surya, King of New Tellare, known by some as the Dragon Slayer." Merixilash bowed his head "I feared as much. There is nothing I can do then, for your fame goes before you. I am bound to this place and cannot overcome you, yet I must fight you" Surya then told the devil that the last poor creature bound by Ra-Zhul now roams free. Seeing an opportunity to end his quest quickly, Surya asked the wounded fiend if he could help him defeat the Lich. The fiend told Surya that he indeed been bound here and it was his unwilling duty, to protect this place. Surya asked if the forge was the source of the Lich's power or the resting place of his jar. Merixilash answered "If I knew that I could not tell you, but it is not, so I may. No, it is the ancient forge of the Githyanki who built this place, but his power has touched it and it is pleasantly warm!" after a short pause he continued "The forge can be used to make weapons of power. This is where the Silver Swords were made. Now, however, the weapons it makes are twisted and dangerous" Surya now asked if the devil knew the whereabouts of the Lich's Phylactery, but he did not. Surya change his line of questioning and asked the beast "If you where free could you help me or would you hinder me in my quest" Merixilash said "Neither! I would escape to my home, to regain my powers in safety" The King of Tellare then, to the devils surprise, demanded "Tell me your true name, devil, and I will try to free you. I have no wish to kill you, but I must retake this place for it rightful owner" With what little strength he had left, Merixilash roared with laughter "My true name! So I exchange one set of chains for another. My true name would not free me, merely allow you to bind me yet more." Surya tried to explain "I was only trying to help you. If I kill you here your spirit will return to hell where it will be trapped for a hundred years. If I break your bindings you are free to go home. Knowing your name would have made it easer. I will try without, but if I fail we must fight." Surya paused and then added "But know this, I would have power over you this is true. But it is better to have willing servants and allies than unwilling ones. I serve my masters willingly and I serve them well…..I leave the choice to you" Merix pondered the mortals offer. His position was desperate, death and banishment or the prospect of more servitude. But then… his current service was to Ra-Zhul, immortal, invincible, he had no illusions of this mortal upstart's chances against the mighty necromancer of Kamyn-Dhun. If he didn't help the human, his binding here would last as long as Ra-Zhul 'lived'… which could be forever. Mortal humans lived, what, eighty, ninety years? a finger snap. And accidents could and did happen. If he did place himself at the mercy of the mortal, he'd be free again in a few decades at worst, and likely enough a couple of days once the lich discovered his visitor. Worth a try then. He took a deep breath, wincing slightly as his still-healing wounds tore slightly. "My true name you shall have, then, bold mortal. Conjure with it at your peril, for the Hells are infinite and so are their vengeance." "I am Azglorghor." Surya then spent the next few minutes studying the magic that held the creature to this place. This was not going to be an easy task, Surya thought. The fiend was bound to the room so Surya would have to leave the forge to give his incantation any chance of sucsess. Casting a spell in full plate armour was not the most reliable method of producing magic and carrying this out under water at the bottom of the seas in an undead infested ruin did not help. But he would try. He informed the devil of his intensions and asked him not to resist the magic. Surya then opened his spell book and prepared the enchantment that would be necessary to free the beast. Surya checked that the magical protection that allowed him to survive underwater was still in place and returned to the silver panel that had brought him into the forge. He turned to Azglorghor and said "If I am successful, you will be free to leave this place, but if you wish to stay and aid me in the destruction of Ra-Zhul I would welcome your help. When I am done you may owe me your life and I may some day call on you to repay that debt, but I will not bind you into my service unwillingly unless you give me cause to. Surya turned away from the fiend, drew his swords and once again touched the panel. His tentative touch on the silver panel did, as Surya expected, catapult him outside into the flooded passageway. The sudden shock of being immersed in cold water, of having it pour into his throat and lungs, and the semi-darkness, after the pummelling heat of the Silver Forge was breathtaking, and it took him a few moments to adjust. Fortunately, he was unmolested for those few moments, and once he had his equilibrium back, he was able to sheathe the Sword of the Dead Legions and begin the spell. It was the most advanced spell he had ever attempted to cast, way beyond his learning, and affecting a creature vastly more powerful than it was designed to affect, and the words of arcane power seared through his brain as he struggled to control the energies he was wielding. A crackling discharge appeared in the water in front of him, and it began to boil, storms of steam-bubbles rushing upwards and away towards the distant surface. Then, abruptly, Azglorghor was there, appeared from nowhere as the magic unceremoniously dragged him away from his imprisonment. His appearance displaced a very significant volume of water, and the resultant pressure wave tumbled Surya over in the water as it passed him. The fiend stretched his scaled arms and grinned toothily. "Free at last!" Came his telepathic voice in Surya's mind. "Oh, that lich will regret the day he crossed your path, Surya of the Driven Deals! Deal harshly with him, and my gratitude will be yours. As a token…. Take this." One claw waved negligently, and an object appeared in the water next to Surya. Its' nature was not instantly apparent, as it was simply billows of grey cloth floating in the water. "Farewell." Said the fiend and he was gone.
Opening the doors from the forge, the adventurer stepped into another corridor, also dry, but plain and unoccupied. The only features of note were a door on each side at the north end, and a small metal disc set into the western wall. This bore twelve crystals arrayed around its' edge, each of which was marked with a strange rune. The centre was a pale green grille, and a nub extending from the upper left part with a tiny dial and a metal notch. After a closer examination, Surya noted that the disc on the wall resembles very closely the pendant Jaruh the aquagith was wearing, and it looks as if that item would fit over it. Of Pendants & Dials
Surya then made his way back in to the forge and retraced his steps to the corridor where he had found the metal disc. Surya fitted the pendant to it. It snugged close with an audible 'click' but with no obvious other effect. Odd thought Surya both objects were clearly magical. Surya turned his attention to the two doors off the corridor. The left-hand
door opened into a plain, rectangular room. It is unoccupied and almost
empty save for three sets of wrist manacles mounted on the north wall.
The chains and manacles radiated a faint aura of energy, probably psionic,
and cruelty, but too weak to have been functional in a very, very long
time. The right-hand door opened into a store room containing boxes, crates, barrels and several weapon racks, two of which held silvered greatswords. These swords where identical to those carried by the fiends he had encountered outside. The King opened some of the crates and barrels to discover that they contained weapons making equipment. These materials where very specific and Surya quickly deduced that these were for the making of silvered weapons. Surya continued to search the store room and discovered a small secret door, very well hidden but no match for the Robe of Eyes. Behind the door he found a fine golden weapons rack, holding a sword-shaped object wrapped in a black velvet cloth. Surya unwrapped the object carefully to reveal a sword. One glance on opening the cloth was enough, although the identify spell confirmed it. This was the real thing, a shimmering silver greatsword, pierced, curved and carved along inhumanly baroque lines, a Silver Sword, and almost certainly brand new when the city fell. Surya, convinced that these rooms had nothing more to offer, returned to the dial and pendent. He examined the device and experimented with it by moving the pendent into different positions. It fitted on in quite a large variety of ways, and with only blind experimentation he knew it would take a depressingly long time to work out what it did. Surya used his magic to determine more about the object and to his surprise the pendant seemed designed for use with the identify spell and once cast, the function and method of its' use was revealed. The pendant itself was another Forge Key, similar to the sword old Jaruh had given him. When attached to the dial on the wall, it became the master controls for the Silver Forge. Surya knew, now, that he had the ability to shut down the one remaining furnace of the forge, and to halt the spread of its' necromantic taint through the life and death of the sea around. He also knew the process for restarting the Forge, and his heart quickened at the thought of controlling this power. Then he discovered the fuelling requirements, fifty trained psionic sentients, drained forever of their mental power in the manacles he'd seen earlier. Those manacles were broken, he knew… which meant that once extinguished, the Forge was dead. Dilemma. Leave the tainted Forge alight, slowly polluting the sea around, and doom the aquagith, or extinguish it, right the damage it was doing, save the fishing industry, and prove Juncara the priest wrong in his opinion of Surya himself. There had to be another way. He took the pendent from the wall and placed it in his pocket for safe keeping. Surya returned to the warmth of the un-living silver forge and spent some time preparing an incantation which he hoped would counter the necromantic aura placed apron it. His magic had improved greatly over the past few years but he doubted that he could break this spell. But he would try and if this action failed he would try again. The power of his forge should not be allowed to die he thought. Surya dug deep in to his arcane knowledge for a possible solution to the dilemma and started is investigate the problem. This was Surya's first significant piece of spell research, he'd done creative castings before, but here he was trying to design a completely new spell, a Necromancy Purge. Several hours of deep concentration later, he felt he had a good grasp of the mechanics required to create the spell. But deep inside, though, he knew that he had not the arcane power to cast it, yet. But he though he could teach it to a wizard powerful enough to do so. After his spell research was complete, he decided to continue the hunt for the lich. Surya returned to the cold and dark waters of the hall and search the remainder of the forge. He retraced his steps and searched the area that contained the dead forge, hoping to find clues to the whereabouts of Ra-Zhul. He found nothing more Surya then explored the crescent shaped passage, which proved to be empty, only to find it rejoined the hall on the other side of the room. The mortal king now investigated the three doors he had noticed when he first arrived. The southernmost of the two doors on the western wall seemed more interesting than the other, so he started with that one. The door stood ajar, and inside the water had a reddish tint. Small bits of fleshy matter floated in the brine, and the broken carcasses of drowned human sailors, some sort of aquatic elves, aquagith, and fish-like humanoids littered the floor, all their faces alike twisted in frozen anguish, and their bodies covered in immense bite marks. The centre of the floor was marked with a huge glyph made of bones tied together with hair. Interestingly all this appeared to be relatively fresh. Surya studied the glyph from the door way and tried to remember if he had seen this symbol before. The writhing glyph drew memories from deep in his mind, and he recognized it as the symbol of Sekolah, the hideous goddess of the Sahuagin, and following hard on the heels of this was the realization that these were the 'fiends' of Jaruh's description that he had fought at the entrance of the Forge. The Sahuagin were an aquatic humanoid, similar in height and weight to that of a human. But that's where the similarity ends. They have green scaly skin with webbed fingers and toes, and sharp fang's fills their mouths. They also boast a tail and fins. Sahuagin are the natural enemy of aquatic elves. The two cannot coexist peacefully. In combat the Sahuagin were savage fighters, asking for and giving no quarter. Surya then spent a few moments magically checking for the presence of undead and any magic sources in the room. The whole of the forge ran on magic, and the water was so tainted with necromantic power that just dying in here means you rise as undead. However, the room itself seems no worse than the rest of it. The floating corpses all appeared fresh to a varying degree. They seemed all to have been killed by a slow process of massive bite wounds, resulting in death by medical trauma rather than blood loss or organ damage. Believe the room to posed no greater threat than any other, Surya drawn his swords and entered the room. He continued to search the room, but keeping a watchful eye, or two on the corpses and the glyph. Although the room with the glyph had a tangible miasma of agony and violation, nothing more transpired as the warrior explored it, and he moved on. The final door to be opened shifted easily, and gave into a large square chamber. Directly facing the door was an archway, with a short length of passage visible beyond it ending prematurely in a rock fall. The entire right wall of the room was open, and dimly visible beyond it was a vast cavern, vanishing into the dimness. No floor was visible, making it apparent that a truly huge space existed beyond the opening. The immediate concern, however, was the occupants of the room itself. With his new deductions about the 'fiends' of Jaruh's account, he knew these were Sahuagin. These, however, were a different matter from the ones he'd encountered in the entry hall. Six of them, their scaly skins night-black and marked with ritual tattoos of some description, and each with a hideous symbol hung around its' neck. Instead of the crude spears, each had a strange bladed gauntlet on each hand, and a buckler-like shield strapped to its' forearm. Slowly orbiting each was a ray, or a skate with a long, wickedly barbed tail. These, disturbingly, were already dead. Surya thought these fiends would not be up for conversation and he stepped into the room his swords already drawn. In a blur, Surya attacked, correct in his surmise that these were not negotiating creatures. The rays rocketed outwards in dizzying spirals, swift despite their undead status, building up speed as they swam, while their masters converged on the Last Tellaran.
The four survivors were now screaming and howling with battle-madness, at a volume audible even under water, and swam to surround him, in front, behind, and one even above, allowing all to attack him at once. Suddenly aware he had serious opposition, Surya moved like a blur, desperately trying to defend in all directions at once. Almost at once, a shattering impact on his helmet sent him staggering. As well as the physical impact, the strike unleashed a shockwave that tore through the water, battering the King even further. Staggered by the heavy blow, he stumbled into another three before he could regain his equilibrium. Regaining his balance, Surya changed his tactics to compensate for his failure to down his opponents quickly. He used the magic woven into his boots to hasten his attack. He now moved rapidly amongst his assailants striking much harder than before. His two swords now reeking havoc with the Sahuagin. As Surya shifted his balance to bring more force to bear, the first of the monsters he'd slain swirled back into lumbering life behind its' comrades. Sparing it barely a glance and the required mental instruction to assault its' erstwhile comrades, the King concentrated his assault on the remaining four opponents. It occurred to Surya at this point that he'd not seen any assistance in his fight from the two previously slain and raised humanoids. Glancing back at them, he was stunned to see both poised in twisted aptitudes in the water, twitching convulsively along every limb and limned in coils of silver fire. Each would jerk in one direction, then another, clearly struggling to obey contradictory orders. Their death at Surya's hands had made them subject to the dominion of the Sword of the Dead Legions, but their death within the Silver Forge had laid them open to the tainted necromantic power of the Githyanki magic. The two powers were striving to take control of the empty shells of the slain Sahuagin, and the conflict was holding them immobile. The conflicting tetanic spasms in the stiffening muscles were already causing visible damage, chunks were separating from the bodies already and drifting away across the chamber. Useless. Nonetheless, they were no threat, either, so he returned to the job at hand. Coloured by his encounter with the lesser fiends at the entrance, he'd attacked almost casually. Now he gave them his full attention. Blades whirling, he dealt out death in his own inimitable fashion. Within moments two Sahuagin lay dead and Surya moved to engage the third when a ray shot towards him, faster than anything underwater had any right to be, and scored with a dagger like tail spike. He felt the sting and spread of venom, but then his unholy senses registered it as necromantic in origin, and he chuckled darkly as the gifts Orcus had given him threw the assault off easily. He struck at the thing as it receded, cleaving it in half, and noted with interest that the Sahuagin before him stagger and clutch at his chest. Fascinatingly, as his hand came away again, one of his tattoos had vanished. The King used this distraction to get under his guard and slay him, leaving just one opponent and his ray alive. Surya moved in for the kill. The final Sahuagin backed frantically, defending furiously, as Surya drove him back and back towards the abyss beyond the empty wall. His blade bought him time, but both combatants knew there could be only one ending. Yet he backed coolly to the edge, before throwing back his head and his peculiar weapon. A mighty strike brought the blades down on the floor, and at the same time he yelled, the same thunderclap cry that had been used in the fight, but this time directed outwards… into the Pit. A moment later, Surya's two blades met in his body, and his ripped corpse spun slowly out over the edge in a spiral of blood. But the end of the fight did not reduce the tension, as would be expected. Poised on the balls of his feet, the King waited at the lip as the shockwaves of the sea-man's final cry receded into the darkness. And was answered. A voice spoke, deep, resonant, ground shaking. Azarrth's voice had been loud; Orcus' was like the sliding of tomb-covers; but this was vast. The language was that of the Sahuagin, but the words were chaotic and senseless. They rumbled on for some moments, then ceased. Surya saw a vague shape move in the darkness, level with himself. Then the voice spoke again, but this time in a language Surya knew from elsewhere. The Hell Tongue. "Zitra, barath-ulius willa-Dagon," it intoned, and the King's blood ran cold. An invocation to Dagon; a Great Old One, one of the dreadful creatures who had ruled the Abyss before the fiends, the last survivor according to some authorities. A being that even demons feared. Surya used the next few moments to repair the damage caused by the Sahuagin. He drew a thick oaken staff, shod with gold, from his quiver and with it he healed himself. Now ready to face the next adversary he moved towards the pit and looked in. With Tormentor and Lordsguard in hand, Surya felt ready to face this new threat. Slowly, a form became visible in the shadows. Surya's augmented vision picked out its' basic form long before it would have been visible to any other viewer, but only gradually did he become aware of details. The shape that confronted him now was basically humanoid, but huge, easily a hundred feet high, though the majority of it was below him in the abyss, and its' head was only thirty feet or so above his. His first impression was of mutation, the creature's entire form was twisted and damaged by random growths and atrophies, pocked with scars and dotted with excrescences. Row after row of needle-sharp teeth glittered in its' maw. After a moment, he realized that the thing had once been a Sahuagin like his erstwhile foes, although changed out of all recognition. Tattoos like those on the six guards of its' fane scrawled across its' body, weaving the same unhealthy symbols. Triggered by the word Dagon uttered so recently, Surya's memory returned a picture of symbols he'd once seen in a book, emblems pertaining to the worship of the Lurker in the Deep, the Great Old One ... Dagon. It might never be possible to reconstruct what had happened here, but perhaps the followers of Dagon had been working secretly among the Sahuagin invaders of the Forge, before rising to overthrow them. Whether this creature had been transformed as a reward, a punishment, or a whim, was almost impossible to guess. Discussion appeared unlikely, too, as the monster spotted Surya and gave a shattering scream of rage before rising its' arms in a hostile fashion. The King was prepared, of course, and his inhuman reaction speed practically guaranteed first strike when it came to combat. However, the spawn of Dagon did not close. Having thrown its' ... her, he noticed ... arms wide, she brought them back together with titanic force in a simple, almost childish gesture. A clap. For a moment, Surya blinked in puzzlement. And then the shockwave hit.... The shockwave from the massive hands slamming together picked Surya's mighty frame up like a doll and hurled it back across the room, slamming it into the wall with bruising force. If his lungs had been full of air instead of water, the compression would have killed him instantly, as it was, he merely felt as if an elephant had stood on him. As he slid down the wall to the ground, the monster loomed in through the opening, its' titanic hands moving again, this time in a spell, the delicate arcane gestures looking somehow peculiar from those massive members. Although the creature was out of his reach, Surya's experience of the magical allowed him to recognize the spell being cast in just enough time to react… it was Dispel Magic. His blood froze. The effect of having his arcane adaptation to the grim depths he was at didn't bear thinking about. Thinking very quickly Surya weighed up his options, run or fight. If he fort he exposed himself to the risk of his life saving magic being extinguished, along with him self. If he ran, he may get out of the range of this creatures spell, but the creature would have to be faced at some time. Surya regained his feet in a whirl of limbs, and worked a spell of his own. With a flash, the Teleport kicked in, snapping him across to the shoulder of the creature opposite. Drawing his sword again, he struck repeatedly at the creature's head and shoulders, carving great wounds and releasing a cloud of green blood. Rearing back, the monstrous mutant reached blindly for him with one hand, and started trying to work a healing with the other. However, the wounds were too serious, and it coughed, twitched, and went still. The inert body began to sink rapidly into the deeper depths below the Forge, with Surya standing precariously balanced atop it. Using all the agility he could muster, he managed so how to stay with the lifeless giant as it fell. On hitting the bottom, Surya found, at first, nothing. The impact had created a surge of swirling sludge that even the Robe of Eyes could not penetrate. After a fair time it settled, and the Tellaran began to look around. The body he'd ridden to the depths lay under him, and he could see that it had once been well-equipped, by the standards of the Sahuagin. The armour and trappings had all been burst by the swelling mutation brought about by the dark gifts of the pre-fiend Dagon and were ruined. The tattoos that appeared to replace them were huge, and followed no pattern that Surya cared to investigate further. Looking up, he realized that he was surrounded by eyes. Lots of eyes. Faintly luminous, fishlike eyes, glaring balefully at him from the darkness beyond his immediate visual range. Surya used the time while the creatures stared at him to re-adjust any equipment that may have become dislodged during the last fight and the fall to these murky depths. During this time he kept one eye or two on the watchers and one hand on Tormentor. With his preparations complete Surya drew a second weapon, the Sword of the Dead Legions, and awaited the inevitable attack from his unknown adversaries. As he glanced around at the luminous eyes, Surya felt less threatened than he expected. With a sudden movement, the eyes began to approach, and faces began to take shape around the eyes. The approaching forms were Sahuagin, like the ones he'd encountered within the Forge and elsewhere. These, however, were equipped with armour made of a mixture of hardened sharkskin and shells, and carried each a bone-tipped spear. And each and every one had a pendant necklace around their scaly throats, bearing the emblem of Sekolah the shark-goddess - the same one that had been marked out on the floor of the chamber within the forge. Their eyes flickered from Surya to the ruined, smashed body of the bloated, mutated priestess of Dagon. They were discussing something urgently in their hissing, bubbling voices, accompanied with much waving of their sinewy webbed arms. Finally, one swam forward and raised its' spear, causing Surya to lift his swords towards the guard position, before driving it deeply into the silt of the ocean floor. It faced the human directly, and addressed some pronouncement to him. It made no sense, and Surya then realized that his Tongues had expired during the fighting. Over the next few minutes, Surya and the Sahuagin waved their arms and
gestured at each other, pointing at weapons, the chasm above, the body
below, and the emblem around the sea-man's neck. Surya searched the cave but found nothing more of interest. He then turned to the reward the nameless Sahuagin warrior had given him. A small caving of what appeared to be a rather stylized bearded face, made from a metal Surya did not at first recognise. He cast the spell identify to glean more information about it. The spell had an interesting effect. The object appeared not to be magical in itself. However, the spell reveals one very interesting fact. The carving, though not named in itself, was made of a material Surya had heard of, though never seen, Orichalum. Surya knew from his studies that Orichalum was a metal, used extensively by humanity's earliest civilization, the place from which Mankind migrated to known Alair. That place was the island kingdom Atalanta. Surya then returned to the forge and continued to search for the Lich.
After an extensive search of the forge, Surya was convinced that this
was not the lair of the undead mage and he decided to return to the Aquagith
hideout. Leaving the Forge, the King of New Tellare reflected on his discoveries.
Surya thanked the old Gith for the gift and placed it in his pocket for further examination. He then spent a while discussing, with Jaruh, the dilemma he had about shutting down the forge. It transpired that the Aquagith did not use the power of the forge, in fact they could not use its influence. Jaruh told Surya as soon as he could master planar travel, he and his folk intend to leave here forever and return to the Astral plane. Surya had hoped that the old Gith could help with removing the evil trait from the silver forge rather than extinguishing its flame for ever, but that task was way beyond him, and Surya, or he would have done it. The pair of then move on to the topic of the Ra-Zhul, Jaruh told Surya that the Lich and his undead hordes dominate the north of the city, and the Old Gith then sketched a crude map to show him where. Surya explained his that forge may have been re-taken, but unless Ra-Zhul could be found and stopped the Aquagith would not be safe in their old home. Also once the Lich had been eradicated the mighty Vlaakith may be more disposed to the idea of accepting the Aquagith back into her realm. After their discussions finished Surya, Jaruh and the Aquagith all returned to the forge. The Aquagith to settle back into their home and Surya for a much needed rest. Once inside the forge Surya and Juruh parted company as the King of Tellare entered the air filled silver forge for few hours sleep in more normal surrounding. Prior to resting for the night, if such existed in this place, Surya examined the golden key. It appeared to be of Githyanki manufacture, but more Surya could not discern. He returned it to his pocket, thinking he may find the lock it fitted. After a few hours rest Surya prepared and eat a hearty meal from the provisions he carried. The mortal king then spend an hour or so preparing the spells he would need to function at these depths and also other incantation he would need in his conformation with Ra-Zhul. He was now ready to face Ra-Zhul. His first act in this fight would be to shut down the one remaining Silver Forge. He would have dearly loved to have been able to use this power, but tainted with evil it posed a menace to too many peoples. Surya made his way to the corridor where he had first found the dial and once again placed the Old Giths pendent in it. It as before made an audible click, and he pressed the gems in the correct sequence. As he completed it, all the jewels flashed briefly once and then went out.. forever. The whole air of the place changed abruptly. The steady 'background hum' of magic flickered and was gone. For an instant, a gentle but insistent current surrounded the human, pulling at him, and then it was gone. The last Forge of the Githyanki city of Kamyn-Dhun was extinguished at last. A short while later, slogging across the seabed, the distinctive shape of Ra-Zhul's stronghold came into view. Unlike most of the rest of the city, this small area was surrounded by walls almost entirely intact. A couple of pretty well-preserved buildings were also visible beyond. The unmistakable shape of a necrogith was visible, floating like a corpse above the walls on the side he was approaching from. Circling the perimeter with caution, the Last Tellaran noticed a short section of broken wall. A tower appeared to have collapsed across it, breaking the wall down and leaving a 15' wide gap. Standing guard in this gap was a Necrogith, reasonably alert but appearing
not to have seen the approaching human, probably because of the latter's
greater visual range. Surya continued to approach the gap with as much
stealth as he could muster, using any cover he could find. Once he was
close enough, he leaped from his cover in an attempt to cut the creature
down, before it could raise the alarm. The mass of the armoured warrior
was more than enough to smash the necrogith off balance, and Surya's two
swords tore through its' undead flesh, reducing it to helpless gobbets
drifting in the murky water. As his momentum carried him forwards through
the break and into the room beyond. Fascinating as the model was, Surya now re-focused his attention on the job in hand, finding Ra-Zhul. He examined the hole in the ceiling but could see nothing of interest, so he left the room and explored the area outside. The first thing that came into view was a shimmering silvery spire of some unknown metal, gleaming brightly in the gloom. It appeared to be around 30' high and tapered from a base of 3' to a sharp point, twisting and curving like a crippled limb. The spire radiated very strong magic, but Surya could not at first ascertain its purpose. Surya once again wove his magic in order to discover the nature of the object. It transpired that it was the remains of the arcanopsionic machine that had probably brought Kamyn-Dhun to this place. Surya continued to search the ruined city. Directly behind him was a
large square building which was surprisingly still intact, to his left
is an opening into another ruined room, and there's one forwards and right
of his position as well. Surya turned his initial attention to the intact
building and searched for a door or window he could gain entrance through.
All the while he kept one eye or two open for more traps. Down one side
of the structure he found an opening, an archway, which led inside into
a dark, cavernous interior. Surya drew his two cursed weapons and entered the throne room, but at first did not stray to far from the entrance at first. He was very aware that these creatures would soon be upon him and was not going to find himself out flanked as had happened in his fight with the Sahuagin warriors. As the human stepped over the threshold, all eight of the creatures moved
at once. Lowering their arms to their sides, they began to drift down
through the water, apparently their armour was not metal or similarly
dense in construction. It seemed that Surya would not win this fight by the sword, well not through combat he thought. The King dug deep into his knowledge of the arcane and smithing for a solution. Surya's knowledge of the construction of armour was no help to him, as he'd never encountered anything remotely like this before. However, his studies into the arcane had crossed references to this sort of device before. The armour was not actually magical at all but psychoactive. Psionic energy caused it to resonate at such a frequency that nothing immaterial could pass through it, magic, energy focussed down blades, powers directed through blades, nothing. Only the simple metal existed for the short duration of its' passage through where the armour was. Conversely, the armour itself did not effectively exist while resonating - so while it blocked the magical effects, it was absolutely no protection against the physical weapon, or the muscles behind it. So it appeared that hitting these creatures could bring them down, he would just have to hit them a little harder. Or perhaps there was another way. Surya lifted the Sword of the Dead Legions to the salute, rotated it so that its' edge faced his foes, and put forth his power. First one, then another of the knights succumbed, and as his confidence grew he tightened his hold on them. As he reached for the sixth knight, he felt a sudden pulse of energy come back in the other direction. As the tendrils of control went crazy in his hands, he belatedly remembered the necromantic feedback that had racked the Sahuagin he'd enslaved by killing them. For agonizing moments, the magic tore back and forth, at times threatening to overwhelm Surya himself, and then, very suddenly, it was gone. Also gone was his control of these undead knights. However, the seven survivors were now passive, floating around him in a slightly small circle. A vast door opened in the King's mind, bringing with it the feeling of a mind of vast might, alien, terrible, dead. Then a harsh voice spoke in his head. "Interloper! First you wreck my defences, coddle the poor mutants, then you destroy the source of my power and now you dare to face me directly? What brings you here, mere human 'treasure'? 'Glory'? Or just stupidity?" Surya answered the creature, Ra-Zhul, the Lich "I don't think a mere human would have been capable of what you speak. As to treasure and glory I already have these in abundance, so it must be stupidity". Not waiting for a response he continued "It is not I that interlope here, but you. Since when has the bottom of an ocean been the place for a fare Githyanki city such as this? Please show yourself so we can discus my stupidity" With a flash of disorienting vistas, a face appeared before Surya's mental vision. Surya's first impression, paradoxically, was that of familiarity. After a moment, he realized the reason for this, Ra-Zhul strongly resembled Vlaakith. There were, however, differences. Ra-Zhul was slightly 'fleshier' than the Gith Queen, and less flamboyantly dressed. "So now you see me, human. Satisfied? I hope you are, for I am not. No explanation so far is adequate reason for your coming here." Ra-Zhul went on "Your mind is opaque to me, some paltry human shielding magic... but I can place a guess. The Githyanki sent you, did they not? To eliminate me, the wicked lich of a renegade city lord fallen into the worship of evil gods?" Deep irony suffused his mind-voice. "How little they know... how little you know..." Surya answered Ra-Zhul "You guess correctly, for I have been sent here by Vlaakith your Queen, may be you should go to her and enlighten her in the ways of the Old Ones". Surya sighed wearily "I have been chasing you for what seems an age, an inconvenience to both of us." Surya continued, not waiting for any comment for his undead foe. "Let us look at the facts. You will not appear to me in the flesh, as it where, as I will cut you down and you know I can. I have killed or released many, if not all, of your hireling. And I will pursue you until I have caught and killed you in order to repay a debt my people have with Vlaakith. So why not go to her and resolve your differences" "She would slay me for what I know," came the reply, "did she not send you to slay me, 'hireling'? How little you know that which you serve!" Ra-Zhul continued "I have no fear of you, as you so quaintly put it, cutting down my flesh. Merely an inconvenience, much as it would be if I were to vaporize your armour; I would assume a new form and be forced to locate a new base of operations." "You speak of debts. Do you want to know exactly how trustworthy Vlaakith, Queen of the Gith, really is? Then come to me. You shall be unmolested. My remaining knights will guide you; you are welcome to come into my presence armed - I fear you not. You seem eager for the truth. If you are, you shall have it." Surya had not expected this, though he did not recall asking the dead Gith for the truth. "I will learn the truth, as you see it, but I doubt it will change anything" The seven eerie knights guided Surya through the murky ruins to an unobtrusive
building he had seen but not regarded as especially important looking.
Entering it, they drifted to a membrane of pale green magical energy,
and stepped through it. Things Man Was Not Meant to Know Surya greeted the lich formally; it seemed only right and proper to do so. He was in his realm after all "Let me introduce myself, I am Surya, king of New Tellare, Dragonslayer, servant of Kord and a humble surface dweller of Alair." He continued, not expecting the lich to have much knowledge of the world above. "You spoke of the truth about Vlaakith, Queen of the Gith…enlighten me" Ra-Zhul then spoke "Be very aware, human, that the secret I impart will sunder you forever from the Githyanki people. Any agent or servant of their queen will pursue and assail you wherever they may. Your friend the Knight Kazoth will have once more to choose his people or his comrades. Your dragon-riding days will be over... until your hatchling matures." Surya paused for thought before he answered, if the lich spoke the truth he could lose much. "Maybe I am not ready to give these things up" Surya answered finally "Perhaps I am not ready for the truth. There are 'truths' about us all that are best kept from the masses" he was of cause referring of his darker side which he had kept from almost everyone in New Tellare. Surya continued "I doubt you speak of the way she maintains her dominance over her people by eliminating any who grow too powerful, for this is common knowledge - Kazoth will have to watch his step and his soul. I also doubt that you refer to the none existence of other gods, for many of her followers know this is not true, but would never think of saying it openly." Surya paused again, this time for effect. His thoughts turned to other matters, combat. He was not close enough to strike at the lich with is weapons, so he started to move closer to him. As he moved he continued to speak with Ra-Zhul "Perhaps this truth is only known to those that have passed into the realms of the undead or have knowledge of such things. The power you and Vlaakith wield must come from somewhere, a demon… a god perhaps, or even a dead god. Maybe it's best that I don't know her secret" Ra-Zhul seemed a little surprised at this, if such was what Surya read in the remains of his face. At this point Surya had reached the bottom of the steps which lead up
to the lich's throne and as he started to climb. Then the lich spoke again
"Your guesses strike close, though her secret is hers alone and not
something we share. Very well. Probably a wise decision; but in that case,
why are you here? What will you do? You cannot hope to oppose me - I see
you tensing to strike. Disabuse yourself of the notion that you can assault
me." Surya paused at the foot of the throne, if this was an illusion there was no point in showing his intentions. He needed to be certain that the lich was really present, so he used some of the powers that had been bestowed on him by the Prince of the Undead. Surya answered, if only partly the lich's questions "I am not eager to die for any of my patrons, but when that happens I am certain that it will not be the end for me. You seem very sure that I can not defeat you, it would appear that my reputation has not reached the depths of Alair." All the while Surya was checking his surrounding, it was inevitable that this would end in a fight and he did not want any surprises. As Surya moved closer to the throne the creature spoke again "So, are you here merely to look upon me, to waste my time as well as destroy my servants and power source? Will you dash yourself to atoms against my power, or try to leave, or learn the truth and revise your whole plan of action?" Surya now should his hand and answered the lich "My time is never wasted, but it is your atoms that will be spread across this hall". As Surya finished his sentence he drew his two cursed swords and ascended the stairs towards the lich. As the King bounded up the stairs, the lich-lord of the drowned Githyanki
city rose to his feet in a swirl of decaying robes. His hands flickered
in the weaving of a spell, and Surya braced himself for the effects. Nothing,
however, happened, and Surya reached the top of the steps, set his feet,
and struck out with his two blades. His first blow struck home, smashing
into the side of the crumbling face, which collapsed as the fragile skull
collapsed. His second never landed. A bright flash erupted as a Contingency
spell was triggered, and Ra-Zhul's form vanished instantly. Surya's strike
sailed through thin air, and he stumbled a step forwards as the momentum
of the attack pulled him forwards rather than inflicting damage on his
foe. Regaining his balance, he looked rapidly around him, recognizing
a Teleport from his experience with other Githyanki and preparing himself
for an assault from behind. Surya did not recognise the creature at first, but from the size of it's tentacle he knew if was going to be enormous. With the powers vested in him by Orcus he was also aware that this creature was no longer living and had passed into the realms of the undead. The lich must have summoned or attracted the beast before vanishing. Surya knew that the undead were not as susceptible to his blades as the living, as they lacked the vital areas he could exploit. The Tellaran needed to slow this monster down, as it would take time to cut it down to size. He recalled a spell that his Red Dust companion, Kobort, had used to great effect all those years ago. Surya then proceeded to cast a huge web over the creature's tentacle, anchoring it as best he could to the crumbling cavern ceiling. With the web in place and for now holding the creature, he could attack with his bow. He knew the web would not hold the monster for long, but it would hopefully slow it down. If nothing else the web may prevent some of the huge boulders from falling on him.
Then, however, three more tentacles breached the roof in different places, dislodging several of the sections anchoring the web, and releasing a torrent of water as they reached towards him. Surya braced himself for the inevitable impact of this wall of water. With an effort, Surya remained on his feet as the current dragged at his knees. Once the tidal wave had passed, Surya quickly returned his bow to the quiver and drew his swords. More tentacles forced their way into view as he changed weapons, followed by a nightmarish beaked face, rotten and decaying but still daunting. Undaunted by the hideous monster, Surya proceeded to attack it with his cursed and dammed weapons. Tormentor and the Sword of the Dead Legions slashed and bit, tearing at the limbs as they looped towards the Last Tellaran. The last ten feet of one dropped away, but the others reached for him, suckers rippling and slime dripping. Surya's hasted body whirled and turned, working to evade the tentacles, and another whipped back in pain as he chopped it to calamari. Eight more still remained, and nothing human could have dodged them all. As the writhing limbs came coiling towards him, Surya managed to get a blade in front of one, and it sheered off. The remaining seven converged. One struck him, rasping its' suckers across his armour and the other remaining limbs tried to seize him. One slip passed his swords and coiled around his chest and started to tighten. A second tentacle then took hold, but this time round his head. Pain shoot through Surya's body as these two great limps continued to squeeze the life from it captive. Frantically, Surya squirmed to free himself as the rotting arms coiled around him and began to tighten. Even his mightystrength was unequal to the challenge, however, and he remained held fast by the creature. As his feet left the floor, and blood began to pour from his head across his armour, he realized desperate measures were called for. Blinded by the tentacle around his head and unable to use his swords effectively, Surya would have to use his new magical skills to break free from he creature. As the crushing pressure of the krâken's tentacles became unbearable, Surya gasped out the words of a spell and launched himself in a desperate blind Teleport aimed to come out atop the monster's head. With a flash, his vision cleared, and the pain eased as the constricting tentacles vanished. Tensing himself to strike, the Last Tellaran suddenly realized that, rather than standing on a treacherously slippery, heaving zombie in the midst of a torrent of water, he was actually in a small room, no more than thirty feet wide, up to his knees in almost still water, and alone. Crashing and rumbling noises, plus the continued palpable presence of undead, supported the theory that he was still somewhere in Ra-Zhul's complex. Sheathing his swords, he whirled a staff out of his Quiver and released its' stored magic, feeling the pain recede as his wounds closed. His relief was short-lived, however, as a distinctive sound from behind him drew his attention. The soft, but heavy sound of two feet splashing into the water. Taking no chances and not expecting to meet anything friendly in this underwater nightmare, Surya draw again the weapons that had kept him safe for so many years and went to investigate the sound. As Surya approached the corner of the room, he could hear slow, irregular footsteps sloshing towards him. Around the corner was a short length of passage, opening into a second chamber containing several rows of catafalques. Around half of these were occupied by prone Githyanki bodies, completely encased in complex ritual bandages. A different observer might have believed them corpses; but Surya was not fooled - the negative energy of un-death rippled beneath the wrappings. Water appeared to have recently filled the room, but had receded again to ankle height. One had left its' slab and was laboriously wading across the chamber towards Surya, as he watched, another swung off and into the water. Surya waited, his swords still drawn, for the creatures to approach. If he entered this area he ran the risk of being surrounded by the mummified Githyanki. Before he resulted to the brut force approach, Surya would to control these creatures with the powers vested in him by Orcus. Surya extended his necromantic senses, preparing to exert control. His reading had introduced him to the potential for un-death inherent in embalming, though he had never seen an animate mummy before. It was instantly apparent, however, that these were something special. He put forth his will; but this was not Thanatos. His own not inconsiderable powers were all he had to call on here, and opposing them was the power and experience of a necromancer with thousands of years of practice and the unique insight of being himself Undead. The nearest mummy stopped, and bowed deeply, its' companion kept coming. Surya felt Ra-Zhul's control on the one he had mastered snap and drain away, then he felt it rush back, directed elsewhere. All through the room, bandaged forms twitched, and stirred, and began to climb down from their eternal stone beds. I looked as if Surya would have to use his prowess as a swordsman after all. As the first mummy lumbered slowly towards him, Surya sprang into action. This long dead creature was no match for his lightning reactions and it fell to the floor under the repeated blows of his cursed swords. A second creature approached and was likewise smitten into twitching pieces. The King's whirlwind assault was not enough to do more than mark his third opponent before it was able to attack him. Lumbering though it was, the monster was powerful, and a heavy blow to the head knocked the Surya backwards half a step. To his right, he saw the mummy he'd controlled wading into one of its' erstwhile comrades. Bits of damp bandages flew in all directions as both took a battering. Regaining his balance, he attacked again, bringing down another two undead lurchers and suffering no damage this time. His new follower had downed its' opponent, but was now surrounded by Ra-Zhul's faithful mummies and battered to pieces. With the fall of the renegade mummy all the remaining mummy's now turned their attention on the King of New Tellare. Surya, now alone, stood his ground and brought his terrible weapons to bear against these fell creatures. Tormentor ripped into the nearest mummy reducing it quickly to ribbons. As this monster fell, Surya's other sword more used to controlling the undead, cut and slashed until another mummy was destroyed. Clearing a space for a moment, Surya looked around. He and Thutunkamel had accounted for seven of the lurching dead, but many more now converged on him. Lost moans, somewhat damp and punctuated by the occasional gurgle, emanated from these creatures as they moved nearer. The mummy's heavy blows rained in upon him, which were difficult to deflect with his narrow blades. But defend Surya did, incurring only a few minor injuries. Surya's two deadly blades winnowed their way through the undead, any normal opponent would have fled, having had their morale tested to braking point. The mummies, however, were mindless, or enslaved, or too bloody minded to consider defeat, and they kept coming. Three more creatures fell to the Kings dreadful weapons before one of the undead landed a terrible crashing blow to his head. Stunned for a moment, he let his guard down and another of the creatures seized the opportunity to inflict further damage to Surya's now quite badly wounded body. With his head now clearing from the mighty blow it had received, Surya stepped back out of reach of the mummies. He drew out a staff, made of thick oak shod with gold, from his magical quiver and preceded to heal himself. Now magically restored, he stepped forward and renewed his assault on Ra-Zhul's minions. His two cursed blades cutting and slashing in to the undead. Now with renewed vigour, Surya carried the assault back to the pickled Githyanki, and soon the last one was twitching in sections in the shallow water. This water, he couldn't help noticing was now knee-deep and swirling quite strongly as the complex continued to flood. As he considered this, the floor shifted beneath his feet, and a heavy detonation sounded, followed by a grinding rumble. Surya also noticed that the flow of necromantic energy that had constantly washed around him suddenly lessened. Had he finally done enough damaged to the lich's realm to undo his power, he thought. Or was the Kraken tearing its masters realm apart looking for the pray that got way. Surya went to investigate the new phenomenon. As he stepped into the hallway, the sounds of collapse increased. Water was now pouring through the chinks in the ceiling in innumerable places, although it grew no deeper around Surya's knees. Deeper levels must still be filling, he thought. Ever and anon, big chunks of the roof broke loose to thunder into the water below. Following the corridors by instinct, Surya finally emerged into a vast chamber with a low, vaulted roof. Most of it was flooded; but at one end, several hundred feet away, was a low dais, about ten feet square, with a complex hexagram scribed in the middle, pulsing faintly with a dull, unclean radiance. From two archways in the walls flanking the dais, long files of shambling zombies were slowly lurching. Each was burdened by armfuls of paper or books; and as each reached the hexagram, it dumped its' burden onto the sigil, wherefrom it promptly disappeared, freeing the undead to turn and trudge back for another load. Standing next to the hexagram watching this process was the withered figure of Ra-Zhul. As the steady crunch of stone under the feet of the enslaved dead seemed to weave in and out of his heartbeats, Surya examined the hall. It was a long way to run and fight against such a powerful mage, he would have to get closer before he could unleash is weaponry. The edges of the great hall were quite dark, and with luck he felt he could work his way down to the other end undetected. Once at the other end, however, stealth would be difficult, as the two files of trudging zombies formed a barrier dividing the room. Sack could have sneaked past them, but he would to be spotted if he tried it. With a plan forming in his mind, maybe sheath would not be called for, he would leave that sort of thing to the experts. Surya made his way down the side of the hall to close to where one of
the columns of undead issued from an archway. Once there he prepared to
put the remainder of his plan into action. Firstly he readied the spell
Undeath to Death, this would have little or no effect on Ra-Zhul, but
his helpers should drop, well, stone dead. He looked this way and that in the resulting confusion for the culprit who had scattered his life's work across the floor, as Surya drew his weapons. The steely slither of blades leaving their scabbards, faint though it was, caught whatever unnatural senses lichs use to detect sound - being bereft of ears or eardrums - and Ra-Zhul pivoted towards the intruder just as Surya cast his second spell, teleporting him across the room to just behind the lich. Taking care not to step on to the sigil, Surya brought his terrible swords down in a lightning strike. Thrown completely off his balance, Ra-Zhul fell forwards onto the hexagram and vanished instantly, leaving the King of New Tellare to stand, swords raised, on an empty dais while rotting corpses and melting spell books bobbed silently all around, and haywain-sized blocks of rubble crashed into the now rapidly-rising water with increasing frequency. One again this creature had evaded his swords, this time more due to luck than anything else. Surya was now face with a dilemma, to jump into the unknown after the lich lord and hopefully catch him by surprise or to stay and search for clues to his whereabouts in his crumbling domain. Surya knew Ra-Zhul would have to return to his lire at some point to retrieve his more valuable possessions, but would there be anything left of it. Just then a huge chunk of the ceiling landed closed to where Surya was standing and in an instant his mind was made up. He stepped on to the hexagram and in an eye blink, everything changed. Surya senses went in to overdrive as he struggled to cope with the sudden change. The temperature rose from the chill of the Githyanki undersea city to the stifling, close heat, of the wilderness he now found himself in. With this new heat came a skin-cracking dryness, in stark contrast to the pervasive wetness of the watery depths. The deafening noise of tons of rubble plunging into ever-deepening water in caves punctuated by the occasional moan of the unquiet dead was replaced by the howling of a constant wind tearing past him at an unimaginable speed. The sight that greeted Surya was also very different. Gone was the perceptible dimness of the stone chambers of the lost city and in its place was a blurred whirl of grey indistinctness and swirling dust. Not the sort of place one would choose for a vacation, Surya thought, but where was he. Judging by the degree of disorientation he had experienced during the shift, Surya assumed he now found himself on one of the Outer Planes. Surya looked round for some sort of reference, for some clue to his new whereabouts. He had appeared in some kind of desert from the look of it, not roasting hot, or Abyssally hot, but dry, dusty, sticky, swelteringly hot. The air was filled with grey particles of dust, but not sand. The howling wind drove these into every crevice and joint of his armour, abrading his skin, invading his nose, mouth, ears. Surya wrapped his cloak around him as tight as he could, in an effort to keep the dust out and with the aid of his robe of eyes he was still able to continue his search for the lich. Surya had hoped to find Ra-Zhul nearby, or more preferably under his armoured feet, as he had stepped on to the hexagram only moments after the lich had fall throw. Surya also wondered where the books and treasures were that he was so desperate to save from a watery end. Surya took stock of his current predicament, with no visible sign of his foe, he turned to other methods to locate the lich. Surya could sense a trace of evil, magic and the undead coming from nearby, but with no frame of reference he could not tell if it was north, south, east or west. Surya turned himself to face the direction his arcane and necromantic senses indicated, and struggled away into the whirling grey obscurity. Without the ability to so locate his target, he would have been hopelessly lost. As it was, the trace grew stronger as he walked and, after about half an hour, he began to perceive a darker mass in the featureless blur ahead. Gradually it took shape, resolving itself into a building, grey, blocky and blunt. Steps led up out of the sand into a black opening. It looked like a maw, but it offered shelter from the flying dust, and at that moment that was Surya's most urgent priority. Once under the lintel, the maelstrom abated a little, just sufficiently for Surya to discern that the entrance hall had two sets of right-angled turns in it. After negotiating these, he reached a place completely sheltered from the tempest. Now out of the dust storm he took a few minutes to check over his equipment for any ill effects from the penetrating sands. With all is equipment now in order he took a flask from his pack and swilled his mouth out with the cool fresh water. With his month now clear the dirt he allowed himself to drunk deeply. He returned the flask to the pack and moved on in to the building. He found himself in a high hall, made of the same blocks as the outside, plain and undecorated. Directly ahead, a massive flight of steps led up to a second level, a large landing at the stair head and a gallery leading around the walls thirty feet from the ground. Doors dotted the walls along the gallery. Light flooded the hall from an opening at the top of the stairs, directly ahead of the human warrior, an opening that appeared to be a window onto somewhere brighter than the 'outside' he had just left. By his light, he could see occasional scraps of parchment and small dropped objects that indicated the zombies had passed this way, and probably ascended the stairs. Cautiously, he ascended the stairs, drawn by the paradox of the inconsistent light. At the top, he paused, smitten with astonishment. The aperture at the top was indeed a window, but in defiance of all sense, it looked out, not into the grey sandstorm, but over a completely different scene. A vast circular crater, ten miles across at the least, in which the window he stood at was the merest speck, extended down to the limits of vision, even when he put his head out and looked down. The shaft was evenly lit from no discernable source, and some movement was visible deep down, though no details could be discerned. Surya took out his looking glass and tried to make out any further detail, but could see little more, something square perhaps at the bottom. Surya could also see several of windows similar to this one, quite widely spaced both horizontally and vertically. Looking up he saw an equally dizzying perspective. It appears to go up for ever. Again, movement was visible, this time closer; Surya could see winged humanoids moving through the air, they had a fiendish look to them, though it's hard to tell. Not normally troubled by heights, the vertigo began to make his head spin and he stepped back away from the window. As he turned away, he could see for the first time the wall opposite, and the door at gallery level that was directly above the entrance. This door was rather larger than the others, and bore a peculiar crest or glyph above the lintel, Surya had seen this symbol once before - on Ra-Zhul's throne. Hovering quietly about five feet in front of the door was a round white object... a skull, Surya realized, but with a tiny sparkle of blue light visible in each eye socket. As he approached the skull down one of the galleries, Surya's senses identified it as one of the Undead, but not all that powerful. Surya did not recognise the type of creature but he was sure it was not one of the zombies that Ra-Zhul had used to rescue his belonging from rising waters of the world they had just left. It bobbed quietly until he reached the angle where the gallery turned from along the side of the hall to lead across to the bigger door. Then it rose from around waist-height to slightly above Surya's head level. He could now see clearly the glowing blue crystals within its' orbits. The skull spoke. The words meant nothing to Surya, but he recognized the language - Githyanki, almost certainly. Surya thought unfamiliar with the language had been around the Gith and he clearly knew the creature was asking a question, probably a request for a password, token or authorization. Surya experimented with a few carefully chosen words, but the only change was in the question asked by the creature when the name Ra-Zhul was uttered. Surya changed tack at this point and attempted to gain control of the creature. Flexing the powers granted him by Orcus, the King of New Tellare reached his will out and gripped the gently bobbing skull. Rather to his surprise, it yielded instantly, falling under his control. However the basic problem remained. They didn't appear to share a common language for him to command it in. Surya now tried a third approach, one he had trained for many years at. He now drew Tormentor slowly from its scabbard and hit the door warden with all his might. The skull instantly turned to powder. Sometime, Surya thought, the direct approach to a problem is often the best. With sword and shield still in hand, he now moved cautiously towards the large doors. After a careful check produced no evidence of any ambush laid, Surya robustly opened the door to discover a short hallway containing a flight of spiral stairs. Ascending these, he discovered a long thin room, nearly the length of the galleries below, running back towards the great crater. All along its' length were square plinths, about 4' cubed, standing against both walls. On each plinth stood a figure. For a moment he took them to be statues, but then one moved, changing its' position slightly. This drew his attention more sharply to them, and he realized that they all bore the stamp of the undead. Examined closely, they presented a motley appearance. Most, but not all, were human or human-like, and each one was dressed and equipped differently. As he walked down the hall, he saw humans, elves and dwarves, Gith and lizards, and an almost infinite variety of other humanoid creatures. Clothing was equally variable. He saw antique Erlyid armour, rough skins, peculiar plain green and brown garments with irregular patterns, weird plate armour covering the entire figure, colourful costumes, a Dragonarmy uniform on a lizardman of Varkar's empire. All seemed to be soldiers, all had weapons of one sort or another. Every so often, one or another would shift position, taking a different stance and then returning to immobility. "So" came a voice from the far end of the room. "Does the Hall of Trophies meet with your approval?" It was Ra-Zhul. Surya scanned the room to see where the voice had come from and once seeing the lich at the far end of the hallway answered. "Yes, if you defeated them all at once" Surya responded with a smile "through I would have preferred you had sent them to the halls of their gods, rather than keeping them here as un-living trophies. But each to there own" Surya then asked Ra-Zhul, politely, about the place he now found himself in. The undead monster chuckled, seeming to enjoy the return of Surya's poise. "We stand in the unmapped depths of Hades, on the plane Tariclya. A barren windswept desert, as you have seen, though once home to the Varnimora, a race of beings of great power. They did this to themselves, and are gone. Now only knowledgeable planewalkers of the undead know of this place. I add to the trophies from time to time." While Ra-Zhul spoke Surya moved towards him, keeping a very careful eye on him and his trophies. Seeing the lich was in an informative mood he quizzed him about the strange structure he had seen from the window. Ra-Zhul again answered his questions explaining "The Varnimora Tower does not exist on this plane, you did not see it outside because it isn't there. Their greatest creation, a mighty wound across the fabric of the lower planes." Surya probed the lich further and asked why it was that only seconds separated their passing through the gate into this world, but they appeared to have arrived in different places. This line of questioning appeared to amuse the lich and after another dry rustle of humour he answered. "It did not, physically. But I arrived two hours before you. Time runs differently here. Your survival was remarkable." Surya responded smiling "Well I'm a remarkable moral, as my achievements to date bare testament" At this point in their conversation, in an attempt to relieve some of the tension in this strange situation, Surya sheathed his sword and lowered his shield before continuing, but still moving towards the lich "But as remarkable as I am, I still have a problem here. I have been sent to 'kill' you and I am capable of doing so if only you would stand still for long enough. You know this to be true as you set your minions against rather than facing me is open combat. I have defeated all but the kraken, which not even you could fully control" Surya paused, more for effect than anything else and then continued "You will not return with me to reconcile your differences with Vlaakith" Ra-Zhul interrupted at the mention of the Queens name reiterating his position "My death... ending... would be assured the instant she saw me. She dare not leave me alive" Surya continued "Because of a secret you posses, a secret so terrible that it would doom me to the same fate if I where to have knowledge of it. So what am I to do? Chase you until I have achieved my quest or leave and face Vlaakith displeasure." All the time Surya was talking to the creature he was moving ever closer, preparing his next move. When he was about ten feet from the Lich he put his plan into action, he did not initially reach for his swords as the lich had expected but cast a spell. The lich was taken aback with this type of attack, he had expected to be facing a soldier not a spell caster. Then to the lich's horror he realised what spell had been cast, antimagic. Now Ra-Zhul faced a mortal fighter, both with all their magic stripped away from them. Surya now cast aside his shield and drew both his swords. They felt different, un-tainted, normal, for once they were just plain steel swords and they felt very good. The King of Tellare, now using only his natural strength and fighting prowess lunged forward with his weapons expecting to feel the jolt as his blades cut through the dry bones and paper-brittle flesh of the lich's body. But instead, there was a flash of light, and the Master of Kamyn-Dhun, unarmed a moment before, made a desperate parry with a sword of shimmering energy. For an instant, Surya doubted his sanity. The antimagic field was working, there was no room for doubt, his own magic was gone. How was this possible he thought? But then Surya realized, being Githyanki, Ra-Zhul had access to that race's powers of the mind. Different to magic, psionics were suppressed by different things. Robes fluttering, Ra-Zhul lunged and dodged, wielding his mind-blade in a desperate battle to stay unalive. As the conflict progressed, it became very apparent to Surya that though Ra-Zhul had a psionic sword to wield, he had little skill to use it with. The fight was Surya's, to end at his whim. With nothing but a mind blade which he could not wield, the lich was no match for a warrior of Surya's experienced. Grinning as he sensed the advantage, King of Tellare surged forwards, beating down the lich's last defences, until a jabbing stab of his left blade angled slightly up under Ra-Zhul's empty ribcage, and a simultaneous slash of his right carved the dead Gith necromancer's head off. Ra-Zhul dropped without a sound, his emaciated corpse sliding slightly across the thin layer of sand on the floor of the Hall of Trophies under the impetus of the final blow. Then all was still again, except for the slight sounds made as the exhibits moved again... and again... and again... in their eternal gavotte of empty display. But this lich's thousand year life was not over yet. Surya knew from his experience with the repeated slaying of Artila, the Kin warrior and sorcerer, that a lich's returns after it have been killed. For Surya to finally defeat Ra-Zhul he would have to find his phylactery. From his earlier research into the subject, Surya knew that the most common form of phylactery was a sealed metal box containing strips of parchment on to which magical phrases would have been transcribed. These boxes or jars where normally quiet small and tended to be very well hidden, finding it would not be an easy task. To confound matters further they could also take the form of rings, amulets, or other similar items. The quest before Surya was not a simple one. Surya took stock of the current situation, with the antimagic shield still running the lich's life force was probably still close by unable to leave, but once the spell ended it would return to it jar. But where was the jar, here on Tariclya or back in the watery depths of Surya's home world. At least with the antimagic spell running it gave the King of Tellare time to think and recover from the fight. Surya sheathed his weapons and retrieved his shield, but ensuring that he did not stray to far from the lifeless corpse of Ra-Zhul. During the hour or so that passed before the spell ended, Surya searched the lich's body for any clues to the whereabouts of this jar and any other items of interest. He found three small potion bottles filled with liquid, two rings, four scrolls, a rod, an amulet, and an enormous great clear gemstone. Surya removed all these items from the corpse, but would have to wait until the spell expired before he could identify them properly. As a rule Surya had very little interest in money and jewels, but this great gem was of interest to him. Could it be Ra-Zhul's jar, only time would tell. The time approached for the spell to end, now mental prepared Surya stood weapons once again drawn, waiting for anything further the lich could throw at him. As the spell expired, the battered corpse of the Githyanki lich emitted a faint sigh and a lambent cloud of vapour rose from it. For an instant it took shape as a nebulous, twisted image of the lich himself, reaching for Surya with hate-filled eyes and clawed hands, and then it was gone, blown to dust. At the same time Surya felt a cold, clammy assault on his soul that strove to force him out and then the felling faded. Surya turned to the items he had found on the Ra-Zhul's body and cast his identifying magic upon them. He had hoped to find Ra-Zhul's jar amongst the objects but no such luck, all the items, though magical, where not what he was looking for. He placed them all in his bag of holding for safe keeping and turned to the matter in hand, finding the jar. He recalled that in the hunt for Artila they had attempted to scry for his soul with some success. Surya would attempt to find Ra-Zhul's jar by magical means before he embarked on the painstaking search of this complex and of other places. He took a large finely wrought mirror of highly polished silver from his Bag of Holding, propped it upright against the one of the walls of the trophy room and then began to weave his scrying magic upon it. This was not going to be easy, although he had first hand knowledge of the creature, he was not so aware of its soul. With only a brief encounter of his life force at his death and the occasion the lich had entered his mind through the power of psionics to go on, Surya completed the spell. He then focused on the mirror and a few seconds later the reflection changed, revealing a vast blue jewel, cored with fire, surrounded and partly buried in rubble, and clearly underwater. The space it was in appeared enclosed and no more than two or three feet across; a pocket in a pile of collapsed masonry. Surya was quiet surprised at his success in picturing Ra-Zhul's jar and was now convinced that it lay under the sea of his home world. He would return to the watery depths and search for the resting place of the lich, but not before he had explored this complex first. Surya decided to enrol some help. He would try to take control of the undead trophies and use them to search their master's home on Tariclya. As a precaution he disarmed the unfortunate creatures before trying to control them. Surya's initial attempt to dominate the exhibits of the Hall of Trophies met with failure. Despite their mindless mien, he discerned that the animating force was both powerful and singular. One undead spirit controlled them all - and it reacted to him as a new acquisition, with an effort he threw off the assault. Surya tried again, this time realizing the scope of the creature he would have to try and control. After a brief struggle, the Hall yielded, but it was a hollow victory, the exhibits were sustained by their connection to the undead puppet-master; removed from it, they disintegrated in seconds. Surya was not too disheartened as these poor creatures had finally been put to rest, he would have to search alone. Back on the gallery, the assorted doors opened into a variety of rooms which the King now searched. One contained probably the largest single item made of gold that Surya had ever seen in his life, a mighty sarcophagus. Small peculiar items were gathered around it, maybe Surya thought, connected to it? A detailed inspection of the coffin reviewed…. That the coffin itself was empty, although several alarming-looking extrusions on the inside seemed designed to penetrate the body of any occupant. The attached items glowed and hummed. Surya then attempted to gleam further information about the golden tomb using some of his magic which named the item as a Transition Case, and revealed its' function to be powerfully necromantic. Surya then continued to search other rooms off the gallery and discovered to his delight a vast library. Shelves of books lined the walls, then shelves of other things, that were probably books to someone. Also piled in the centre was a heap of books and scrolls, some of them wet Many where in the Gith language, though some looked like they may be spell books. Surya browsed the tomes, books and scrolls and decided to take took all of the books and scrolls. Those in written in Githyanki he would return to the Astral plane when this quest was over. Once his search was over he filled his bag of holding with as many of the books as it would hold and using the Amulet of the Planes Surya returned home to Reital. It was good to be home, if only for a short time. The Amulet of the Planes had taken him directly to his workshop, where he dumped the books he had rescued from Tariclya. He would have to make many more such trips to complete the task of just rescuing the books, so he enlisted the help of Talamos. With the use of this creature's great strength and a few large crates the job was completed in a very short space of time. The pair of them turned to the matter of the coffin. Once again the great power of this creature was invaluable and their combined muscle was enough to move the golden sarcophagus back to Surya's forge. Once there Talamos started on the task of reducing this necromantic artefact in to currency and before long the treasury of Reital was once again over flowing with gold. Once the transportation of the books and coffin had been completed Surya turned his attention to the small matter of finding the lich's jar. He re-cast the spell Transformation of the Deeps and teleported back to the watery depths of Kamyn-Dhun. The lost city of Kamyn-Dhun was in a far worse state now than when Surya had first entered it. Although the taint of undeath was gone from the water, and Necrogith and undead fish no longer roamed the waters, the city itself was decidedly the worse for wear. Considerable tracts of Ra-Zhul's underground lair appeared to have collapsed, wreaking ruin on the city above. As far as Surya could tell, all of it was now flooded. Finding the resting place of Ra-Zhul would not be easy. Surya turned to his magic to help find the jar, but every think he tried failed to locate the object. He knew it was here, but it was probably now buried deep underground. Surya made one final effort to enter the underground lair, but too much of it had collapsed and he abandoned his search. Surya thought if he could not find the jar, the chances of anyone doing so was very slim. Disappointed that he had not completed his task he decided to report his progress to the Queen of the Githyanki. He would let her decide the final fate of Ra-Zhul, but first he paid a visit to Jaruh in the Silver Forge. He told the old Gith of the fate of the lich and of the new danger that the ruins now held. He implored the Gith leader not to explore the ruins of the city and advised him to move away from this area if he could. He also told Jaruh that he would now ask the Queen of his kind if she would welcome his people back to the astral plane, but warmed him that this action carried a considerable risk to him and his people. Jaruh was rather puzzled and taken aback by the concept of 'our people' not welcoming them. The more Surya spoke with him, the more he realized that Jaruh, and his people, isolated far away from the bitter, xenophobic aggression of Gith society, had evolved into something else… probably rather better. The old man was thoughtful, but hopeful for the future. Surya bid the old Gith farewell and returned to Reital to prepare for his trip to the astral plane, but before he made his trip across the planes of existent there where a few lose ends in Stryre that he needed to address. Firstly he teleported onto the shores of Stryre a few miles from the village of Ealmere and called to his dreadful steed, Saethor. A few minutes later the creature appeared out of nowhere in front of his master. Surya mounted the fiendish stallion and bid the creature to find the Talanquin. After a few hours of searching Surya found the vessel still anchored near to the position he had left it almost a week ago. Not wanting to alarm the crew of the ship to much, he bid Saethor to vanish and return to Reital, while he teleported from his ride to the deck of the ship. It would have been easier just to have teleported on to the ship from his castle but the spell required that Surya knew the precise location of the ship, which he did not. Once onboard he quickly found the captain. Narmor Wavestar was very surprised to see him still alive and after a brief re-introduction Surya asked if they could return to Ealmere. During the short voyage back Surya told the captain of his adventures, embellishing the story where necessary, but missing out some of the finer details that Surya through would be best not to disclose. For a while the sea captain was sceptical. However, as he completed his fishing sweep, and brought up nets, not filled with living fish, but containing more live than dead, and none undead, he became convinced. On arrival at the key side of Ealmere, the boat was greeted by the mayor, Kilbrand. He was delighted when Surya informed he that the seas where now safe to fish once again and he immediately set about organising a festival in his honour. Surya begged him not to, but he insisted. That night the whole village gathered in Surya honour and much merriment was had by all. During the evening Surya spent a while with the local priest of Karlan, Juncara. The cleric apologised for doubting him when they first meet, but Surya said he had no cause to feel this way. In fact it was he that should apologise for not being completely truthful, but in his defence Surya said he was 'Only here to help'. He told some of the story to the cleric, but was deliberately sparing with the whole truth. Then he bid the priest fare well, adding if he ever tired of this congregation he would be very welcome in the city of Reital. The cleric thanked Surya for the offer and finally summoned up the courage to ask "Who are you" Surya looked the preacher directly in the face and said "I wanted to tell you when we first meet but I think you would not have believed me then. I am the king of New Tellare, emissary of Kord, slayer of Varkar the great wyrm, destroyer of the Kingmaker and the vanquisher of the Shadowkami at the Battle of Vlan Gera. But, I am not welcome in the kingdom of Stryre" Surya finished by asking the cleric not to mention that he had visited Ealmere to his king, should he ask. Surya bid Juncara farewell and slipped quietly from the party and left Ealmere. Once clear of the village he cast the spell that would transport him across the planes. The magic of Plane Shift whirled and shimmered, and Surya found himself in the cool, eternal silver mists of the Astral Plane. Ahead lay the dark bulk of Khemla Sidira. A thought took him to its' edge, and the guards, baroque and attenuated Githyanki. A moment's telepathic check, and they knew who he was, two separated from the group to escort him in. Once more he found himself in the awful presence of the terrible lich-queen, with only his trademark - splendid, reckless, arrogance - between him and the black terror. The books he had brought floated across to a courtier... a wizard most likely... and Vlaakith settled herself with a leathery creak to hear his tale. As the Last Tellaran unfolded his tale, the Queen stared impassively at him. He could feel the tentacles of her massive mind stroking the outside of his psyche, and the effort of keeping the existence of the Aquagith deeply buried was one of the hardest pieces of mental exercise he had ever had to perform. Finally, he had finished, and there was silence. Then, suddenly, with no warning, the Lich-Queen rasped two questions, sharply, one straight after the other: "Are you sure his phylactery is unreachable?" "What did he tell you about his past?" Surya felt sure that not only his face but his surface thoughts were under close scrutiny as he readied his answer. "I agreed to rid you of a foe that either your knights where not capable of defeating or you where not willing to put them up against. I have honoured this agreement to the best of my ability, in part for your aide at the battle of Vlan Gera." At these words, the whole throne hall was filled with a susurration as hundreds of Githyanki drew a sharp breath at the insult implied. A human, a Prime, thinks he's better than the Queen's knights? Vlaakith made no comment, so he continued. "Ra-Zhul's jar is beyond my reach as it lies buried under the ruins of the ancient city of Kamyn-Dhun, which itself lies two miles under the ocean. I think it will be millennia before he escapes that tomb, if ever" With a brisk nod, the Dead Queen confirmed both that she agreed with his final opinion, and that she approved of the outcome. Surya paused before answering the second question, he knew the Queen needed to know if he knew the terrible truth that Ra-Zhul had elided to. "I know nothing of the past of which you speck, but I am aware he knew of things he should not. Ra-Zhul offered to impart this knowledge to me, but warned it would sunder me forever from the Githyanki people." Surya paused again before finishing "I value highly our alliance and also the friendship I have with some of your subjects, so I refused his offer, but that secret may lie in the books I have returned. You may wish to read his works first. As he spoke the words, the concepts and memories needed to say them rose up in his mind. As they did, he was aware of the Queen's horrendous mind, insane by human standards, observing them as they went past. As he finished, a silence gripped the throne room. Then the Queen raised both skeletal arms with a snap, fingers spread. Lines of eye-aching light lanced savagely out in all directions. An instant later, Surya and Vlaakith were the only remaining beings in the throne hall. Curls of smoke rose from twists of ash where her courtiers had been, and of the books there remained not even that. The Dead Queen folded her hands calmly in her lap. "I believe you," she said quietly. "Even the existence of the secret must never be known, however." At that Surya, begged the queens leave and asking only to visit Kazoth before he returned to his home. Vlaakith agreed and called for her guard to escort him to the Kyrath of Stenfors. Fortunately for Kazoth, he had not been in the throne hall, or even in Khemla Sidera, when Surya had his audience. Surya's meeting with his old friend was brief and nether spoke of the queen's assignment. Surya passed the silver sword to Kazoth that he had found in the Silver Forge. His alien face split in a wide grin as he took the sword. "Magnificent!" he said, bringing the sword, so unbalanced and clumsy to Surya, to the ready with a swift flick! "I shall ask this of the Queen as part of my reward for this mission!" The two parted and Surya returned to his home.
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A
month later, Surya was seated in his rather overblown pavilion, sixty
miles outside Kelorsal, on the north-westernborder of New Tellare. A rather
larger than average band of feral lizard men, almost an army, had broken
his borders and ravaged the newly-settled farmlands, burning several villages
and had settled down on the edge of the forest for a dreadful feast. 
The
phrase was clearly a standard description of any god used by a subject
of a despot who bans worship of anyone but herself.
The
priest then cast a spell, which Surya recognised from his time with the
Hand of Kord, Stoneskin. Surya thanked the priest for the blessing, but
thought it's effects would have warn off long before he would need it,
but it was a nice gesture. Surya then turned to the captain of the vessel
and asked about the unusual catch. The captain, Narmor Wavestar, explained
that most of the deathly fish had been encountered about 20 miles from
shore, west by south-west. He and the other captains had taken to avoiding
the locations where the dead fishes where most prevalent. Surya asked
the Narmor if he would take him out next trip. Captain Wavestar said he
sailing with the morning tide, and would take Surya, although he hinted
strongly about losing a day's catch. Surya agreed to compensate the captain
for his loses and handed him a pouch containing 100 gold pieces.
With Surya
now controlling the beast, it descends into the depths and after a couple
of hours reached the sea floor, along way down. The water pressure here
was enormous, though the shark was unbothered by that. Surya could now
see the green colours of the ocean begin blurring against the darker backdrop
of the encroaching sea floor. Further below rested great shards of stone,
like the shattered teeth of a god strewn across the seabed. Dimly, the
regular lines of buildings and roadways come into view. Other sea creatures
were now visible, moving slowly through the ruins, some clearly, some
as distant shadows, all with a particular air to their motion giving away
their undead nature.
Jaruh though
appeared to have a bit more about him. He swam to meet Surya and welcomed
him warmly. There was intelligence in his eyes, and Surya could feel the
flow of magic around him. 
There was
short pause then Jaruh said "May the powers guide you, my friend.
I cannot thank you enough for your help."At that moment Jaruh drew
his sword, not quite what Surya was expecting, but then he reversed it
and handed it to him hilt-first. "Take this," he said with deep
reverence. "It is a relic of the great people we once were, and holy;
it will open some of the doors of the Silver Forge that nothing else can
breach." 
Surya spent
the next hour preparing to attack on the forge. He studied the map which
he had been given and formed his plan of attack. Most of his battle plans
had to be flexible as his opponent's strength could only be estimated.
This was no exception so he wove his usual battle magic, in anticipation
of a worthy foe. 
To the north
and south were two low stone platforms, with long, strange tools of black
metal hanging behind them. As he stared at the silver flames in the pit,
it became apparent that distorted, ghostly shapes danced within the fire…
The devil
rose to meet him, ready for the fray, but Surya was quicker and he hammed
in blow after blow against the creature's heavily armoured hide. To Surya's
surprise the creature had taken damage from just one of these blows and
black blood could be seen pouring from the Cornigon's leg. The devil now
swung his weapon at the mortal king and the mighty chain lashed at him,
tearing through his armour causing damage to Surya's chest. The devil
swung it a second time, but Surya was ready for him and the blow just
bounced off his armour. Surya attacked again, this time with a little
more success. Two further wounds appeared on the monster where his cursed
swords bit into the creature. And all the while the dancing flames clawed
their furnace heat around him.
Surya returned
to the forge to take stock and investigate the gift bestrode on him by
Merixilash. Surya once again wove his magic in an attempt to discover
the nature of the cloak. His spell flared, functioning perfectly, and
put to rest any qualms about the possibility of having damaged his spell
casting ability by straining it. The results left him with the realization
that Merixilash's gratitude had been perceptive and, for a fiend, genuine.
The garment was a wondrous one, a Cloak of the Archmagi. Surya packed
the new cloak way for now and continued his quest. 
Surya's
journey back was surprisingly uneventful and he was soon, once more, in
the presence of Jaruh. The elderly leader's eyes gleamed at the sight
of the surface-worlder King. Eagerly he asked for tidings, and was a little
deflated at the news that Ra-Zhul was not slain. He was flabbergasted,
however, when told that his pendant was a key into a sealed area of the
Forge. He and his people had never entered the air-filled areas of the
forge; ironically, these were now deadly to them. Without hesitation,
he doffed it and handed it to Surya, wishing him continued luck with his
quest.
Surya's first
flurry of strokes crashed home on the first humanoid, but the monster
was tough, it took three full-blooded strikes to the chest before he landed
a telling blow. Surya moved on to the second Sahuagin, which also proved
a worthy opponent. It took several solid blows to the head before it fell.
Surya engaged another, almost severing the creature's leg from its body.
As the bodies of his two victims swirled away under the impact of his
attack, Surya noticed through the corner of his eye two of the rays explode
into a swirl of waterborne dust.
At
the top, seated in the throne, was the hideously decayed Ra-Zhul himself.
In appearance, he resembled a dead and badly-rotted Githyanki in tattered
clothes. But the lie was given to this by the pinpoints of green fire
that glowed in his eye-sockets, and the worms of green energy that slowly
twisted and writhed through his disintegrating flesh. Calmly, he gazed
down at the living human that had dared to come through ocean depths,
undead guardians, and tides of fear to confront him.
The
mighty bow of Maranus hummed as shaft after shaft was propelled from its'
string into the questing tentacle. Meshed in the web, both the limb and
the roof seemed pinioned, allowing Surya to rake it almost at will, although
water continued to pour in through the breach, the Tellaran was already
up to his knees.