The Temple Of Doom

They peer in to see that they are at the doorway to one massive room that fills the entire level of the tower. Its walls, floor and ceiling are covered in the same black marble as the entrance hall. As is the case with the whole tower, the room has suffered from the centuries of neglect, but seems to be in a better shape than the majority of the tower they have seen to date.

As Faewen'il holds the lantern above her, they gasp as you realize that this room is a temple of some kind…a temple of death. The majority of the room is taken up by rows of pews, some of which are occupied by some 15 skeletal figures dressed in decomposing rags of plum and charcoal gray. They are wailing softly to themselves as they hold their boney fingers together before the altar.

On the party's left is a raised dias, upon which sits an altar in the form of a huge skull, some six feet tall. Inside the eye sockets, a red fire burns, illuminating the room with a ruddy glow. It seems as if some rich incense is being burned in there, as a sickly rich scent fills their nostrils.

Before the altar is another hooded figure, knelt silently in front of the altar. It appears to be dressed in the same robes as its followers, but the robes are not decomposed as the others.

As Bennett kicked the door down, all within the temple turn to view the intruders. As the head figure turns around, the party see that it is once more skeletal in form, but differs from the followers in that its eye sockets are lit by fierce pinpricks of red light that is almost hypnotic in intensity, a figure not that dissimilar to that which they have slain less than an hour before. Although the figure seems equally as terrifying as the previous, they manage to control their nerves and do not flee.

While the rest of them have been observing the inside of the room, Hrust has been chanting. Once more, he is rewarded by seeing his holy rod start to glow with blue and purple sparks, followed by the almighty thunderclap that deafens them all momentarily. As the sparks disperse, eight of the followers collapse to the ground and start to crumble into dust.

As they do so, the wailing of the remainder increases in its intensity and they raise up, coming towards the party fast. The warriors grip their blades and run towards the undead to fight them off.

As Winnacer wields the silver longsword to fight off the followers, he notices that the hooded figure is starting to gesticulate:

'HE'S CASTING!' Winnacer shouts out as fast as his pounding lungs will allow.

Faewen'il reacts instantly. Mimicking the hooded skeleton, she too starts casting, muttering an incantation while pointing towards the hooded figure. In her hand she has a strand of cobweb.

Before the hooded figure has a chance to finish the incantation for its spell, a huge web descends from the ceiling, engulfing the figure in its sticky strands. The creature struggles to free its boney arms from the hold of the web, but the more it struggles, the more it gets entangled.

There is no time to congratulate Faewen'il on her fine and timely work, however, as the seven unholy acolytes come charging towards the warriors.

Winnacer lashes into the oncoming horde with the longsword, fury in his eyes as he looks to make up for his running away from the previous combat. As the silver longsword sweeps through the air, one of the acolytes falls to the ground and another is injured. The injured one claws at Winnacer, seemingly intent in trying to get past the young lord to try and get to Hrust. Winnacer easily manages to parry the figure's skeletal claws away with his shield, however.

Bennett too has his pride to regain and hurls 'Retribution' into the acolytes with all of his strength. The spindly bodies of the skeletons are no match for the brute strength of Bennett and his axe and the two before him are smashed into pieces before they get a chance to strike back.

Xavier misses with his first swing, but makes up for it with his second as he plunges it deep into the creature, plunging the weapon into it right up to its hilt. As the figure stumbles backwards, it almost threatens to drag the weapon from out of Xavier's hand. Not wanting to lose it, the Saxon thinks quickly and brings his boot up to its chest, grits his teeth and pulls the weapon free as the skeleton tumbles to the ground and shatters upon impact.

Seeing Bennett take out two, Zsolt steels himself against his affliction and charges in. He gets a good blow upon one, but it does not fall. The abomination tries to fight back, but Zsolt avoids it with ease.

Jihan decides to test out his new shortsword on the last of them, but he is unused to the lightness of the blade and misses it. The surprise also means that he misses with Todtaenzer as well, although he easily manages to avoid the skeleton's clumsy follow up.

Will steps in to come to Jihan's defense. With an almighty swipe of his longsword, Will hacks the creature in two. However, he was totally unprepared for the ease of how he cut through the creature and the long blade continues through the air to hack into Jihan's arm.

The elf, totally taken by surprise, drops his new sword on the ground as he shouts out in pain from the unexpected attack and feels the pain shooting up his arm from it.

Will simply stares in horror as to what he has done, before thinking that the elf is obviously cursed!

Raaka too is emboldened by the success of the rest of the party. He lunges at the creature in order to try and finish it, but the skeleton dodges its jaws.

Hrust and Yaz were about to start casting their fireblade spells. Seeing how easily the warriors have been able to dispatch the undead, however, they decide to save their spells. Instead Yaz goes for the same one as Raaka with his new scimitar, bu doesn't come close to hitting it.

Just two damaged skeletal figures remain before the warriors, but not for long in all likelihood.

Winnacer strikes out at the one that he damaged, but his silver blade does not strike home, but nor does the figure. The seemingly charmed Bennett and his wonder-axe, however, continues his amazing run of luck and cleaves in its skull with another obscene show of power.

Both Will and Jihan are too shocked by the accident to do anything about the injured figure before them, but the clumsy creature before them is as unlucky as the pair of them and stumbles to the ground in front of them. In the prone position, it is simplicity itself for Xavier to finish the creature off with another powerful blow from his bastard sword.

With all of the acolytes dead, they relax a little. Will starts to apologize to Jihan profusely:

'Oh, Jihan, I'm so sorry. It's just that…errm…well, I didn't expect to take it out so easily.'

'Don't worry' replies Jihan with gritted teeth, as he tries to stem the flowing blood from the gaping wound that Will caused, 'I'm getting used to it.'

'I think that we're forgetting something' interrupts Winnacer, and motions to the entangled form of the head of the unholy clergy that is still entangled within Faewen'il's web.

"See, Jihan, if you would have been wearing that mail, that shit wouldn't happen to you!" Bennett says as he sees the elf reeling from Will's unfortunate blow.

The elf just shakes his head at the warrior's remark, completely uncomprehending of how the man can be so callous towards elven values. He sees that the combat is well in hand, and shrugs painfully, then attempts to apply pressure to staunch the flow of blood from his wound. With hardly more than a grunt in acknowledgement of his terrible luck, he tears off a strip of bandaging with his teeth and roughly ties off the gash, then bends to retrieve his sword, sheathing it in its place at his back. The elf keeps one blade in hand, and then makes his way cautiously over towards the entangled priest, careful not to let its fell gaze fall directly on him. Morbidly curious, he investigates the markings of the creature's robes.

He sees that the head creature's robes do show the mark of the progress of the centuries, but they have not suffered the rot that the followers' robes have.

"Man, I love this thing!" says Bennett as he kisses the blade of the axe loud and lovingly.

He then strides up, ignoring the web-trapped figure, to smash the big skull with all his might. However, as he goes to do to it, he sees that the skull is not made of bone, but is rather cast from some kind of metal.

Jihan comes up to it and takes a look at it. He taps it with the pommel of Langzhan and it gives off a dull ring:

'It's solid silver' he says, obviously quite impressed. 'It must have taken quite some casting. I would imagine that it must be very valuable, a couple of thousand gold pieces worth of silver in there I would estimate, as I doubt whether anyone would be interested in buying it as it is. However, there is the problem of how to get it out of here to worry about.'

Jihan then turns around to the rest:

"Now what are we going to do about this thing?" he asks, gesturing to the still struggling skeletal form. "A quick stroke with Xav's mace may be the best route..."

Xavier strides forward, his step full of purpose. He sheaths his bastard sword, and pulls from his belt the beautifully balanced mace at his hip.

"Yar with great pleasure, I shall despatch this foul abombination. It, and all who dwell within this place are an offense to life itself, and to vhat the gods have created upon earth. Any who take pleasure in creation of such filth, deserve death."

"My father once told me how some Priests could communicate with the dead," says Winnacer. "He himself was privy to one conversation with a slain uncle who they questioned about the battle he had fought and lost his life in. Perhaps that would permit us to talk to this insult to nature. If not, let us send this creature to join its' peers."

"Well, I can't speak to it" responds Yaz, "even if I wanted to"

Winnacer looks towards Hrust to see if there is any sign that the bugbear is going to do anything, but he does not seem to indicate so.

'Very well" says Winnacer. "I guess that we have no alternative but to send it the way of its followers."

Faewen'il interjects at this point:

"Don't ye be tryin to hit it with ye weapons while it's still in the web. Ye'll only get ye weapons stuck in there too."

"Well can you make the web disappear then?" asks Winnacer

Faewen'il shakes her head as she responds:

'I cannae cancel it before it runs its course, and that be almost an hour."

"Well, I' m not waiting that long" Bennett says with a scowl as he reaches for a torch along with his flint and steel.

"I hope her ladyship won't object to singeing the creature a little?" he adds, his voice rich in sarcasm.

Faewen'il ignores him totally.

The warriors form a semi-circle around the web, ready to strike as soon as the creature is set free.

Once they are all in place, Bennett throws the torch into the web, and it erupts in flame. They shield themselves from the heat as the flames take hold. The skeletal figure within seems to take little damage from the flames, however, and immediately starts casting.

The warriors hurry to strike at the creature before he can finish casting his spell.

Will strikes first with his magickal dagger and then follows up with his longsword, but neither strike the figure. Jihan attempts to strike with his shortswords next, but he too is unable to strike the creature.

Winnacer follows up with a strike from his silver longsword, but he is not able to get a hit upon it either. Raaka's bite also fails to strike home.

As Zsolt is almost about to strike the creature, he suddenly stops still and his eyes go glassy as the creature points towards him. The Pannon then changes target and brings his bastard sword down on Bennett instead, but luckily the damage to him is minor. Zsolt then tries to follow up, but sends his sword flying out of his hand, narrowly avoiding hitting the skeletal creature.

'The bastard's charmed Zsolt!' Bennett cries in alarm. 'Someone try to stop him.'

Bennett tries to dispense with the creature as quickly as possible, knowing that the enchantment will end if the creature is slain. He continues the party's bad luck, however, and fails to strike the creature.

Xavier is even more unlucky, as he slashes down upon the creature. The skeletal figure neatly sidesteps, however, and the Saxon smashes his weapon into the ground, shattering his bastard sword into shards of metal, destroying it completely.

Yaz tries to help out with his scimitar, but the party seems to be totally cursed, as the weapon flies out of Yaz's hand and hits Winnacer in the back, causing the young lord to cry out in pain.

Perhaps it was as a result of over-confidence, or just a simple twist of fate, but what should have been a simple task to take out the creature before you has turned into a desperate battle for survival.

Will immediately drops his weapons and reaches into his pouch while uttering a familiar incantation. As he finishes his utterings, he throws a pinch of rose petals towards Zsolt. To everyone's relief, the Pannon falls to the floor, deep in slumber.

Jihan strikes out at the creature again as he sees that it is about to start casting again. Realizing that the party will have to get their act together or suffer the consequences, the elf's aim is true and he strikes the creature with both his new sword and Todtaenzer. His new sword causes pretty horrific damage to the creature for such a light blade, but he has an even better success with Todtaenzer, hitting the creature in its head stunning it temporarily and ruining its spell.

Winnacer's run of bad luck continues, however, as he fails to strike the creature. Bennett is back on top form, however and brings 'Retribution' down hard upon the skull of the creature, cleaving its skull in two and leaving the creature quite dead.

They all breathe a sigh of relief as the disastrous combat is finally ended so swiftly. Will goes to wake up the sleeping form of Zsolt. The Pannon looks incredibly confused as he gets up, obviously having no idea as to what the hell happened. Yaz walks over to retrieve his scimitar with a guilty look on his face. He speaks to it as he picks it up:

'Are you sure you're magickal?' he asks it rhetorically. 'I'm sure that I was more successful with my previous one.'

Xavier just looks at the broken shards of his bastard sword, seeing as how it is the second sword that he has broken:

'Sometimes I think dat I don't know my own strength' he says shaking his head as he tosses the hilt of the sword away and draws his mace.

With the danger over, Winnacer takes a look around the temple. He sees that there are a couple of areas within the temple curtained off to the north. With the longsword in hand, he carefully checks them out in case there are any more hostiles hiding behind them, but there are none. One of the areas simply contains a number of other sets of robes, in a similar state of decay as the ones worn by the followers. The other area is a storeroom. There is a large quantity of prayer books stored there, the pages yellowed through age.

He returns to the altar. Behind it he sees a flat lump of black marble which is stained a dark crimson color.

'This looks like it was used for sacrifices' he says, the disgust obvious in his voice.

Using a cloth, he touches the blood to see whether it has been used recently, but the dried blood just crumbles into dust at his touch. It has obviously not been used for centuries.

'Come' he says. 'Let us cleanse this place.'

With that, he starts pouring Holy Water upon the altar, the sacrificial platform and so forth so as to purify the unholiness of the place. He then begins to sharpen up his silver sword. The look of determination within his eye is not easily dismissed.

Faewen'il is scanning the area with a Witchfinder rod. She goes into the robing room and the gem glows as she passes it over one of the robes. Carefully feeling inside, she pulls out a scroll tube. She looks inside it and finds that it contains a scroll, a very long one. Reading the first line, she hails Yaz over:

'This is for you, rather than me' she says handing it to him.

Yaz looks at the scroll with interest:

'Interesting' he says. 'These are hardly spells that one would expect to find in a temple of death. They are mostly nature spells.'

He looks down the spells and reports his findings:

'Once of them allows the caster to become one with nature, another allows the caster to move from one tree to another, a third, to take on the form of a tree. This one here would allow the reader to meld my body into a single block of stone, another to help locate a known object and this last one allows the reader to speak with the dead.'

'It's a strange combination of spells indeed to find in such a place. Unfortunately, I am unable to use such a scroll. I think that Ishal take it back for Kesryk, as I am sure that he could make good use of it.'

Faewen'il does not answer as she has moved on to examine more of the room. She brings the rod down to the body of the deceased creature:

'It be wearing a medallion around its neck an it be magick.'

They all look down to see the medallion. It seems to be made of gold and is hanging from the creature's neck from a fine golden chain. Upon the medallion is a symbol of a large eye.

Jihan stands over the now still corpse and brandishes his new blade:

"It calls..." he says in almost a whisper... "I know you now, my brother wrought of earth's own fires and quenched in the circle of the waters..."

His eyes seem to glaze over a bit, and he seems as if he is looking on a far away place, or time:

"You were made, taking of Her own image, to bring down this foul tower, and yet your good work was halted, and twisted to the ends of evil with magicks most dire and potent. You were sent, with great honour, out into this world to see the defense of Her realm accomplished... You are Makanuru... Deathslayer..."

He holds the sword in front of his face, and his eyes snap back into focus:

"In first the heat of battle, your name was drawn, and again, it finds its way to the light."

He looks carefully at the form of the singed, fallen priest, noticing the medallion that Fae pointed out. Gingerly, he wraps his left hand in a bandage and carefully takes it off of the body, fearful of a nasty burn from its recent exposure to the flames of the web. He wipes it off carefully, then holds it up to the light, bending a trained eye to the estimate of its worth, and for any identifying marks. He sees that it is rather plain except for the symbol of the eye. As a piece of jewelry, it is worth a maximum of 20 gold pieces. Calling Will over to examine it, he hands it gently to Fae, still wrapped up in the piece of bandaging and lends his eye to the investigation of the back cubicles.

Will looks at the medallion in Faewen'il's hand for a while, trying to work out whether he has come across the symbol before. He then shakes his head sadly:

'I'm sorry but it would appear that I know little of the objects here in the Tower. I suppose that it's not really surprising considering the fact that nothing in here has seen the light of day for half a millenium.'

Faewen'il investigates it carefully also. However, she knows nothing of it either:

'I shall try it on an see what happens, but iffin it be cursed an tries to strangle me, then you'd better try and get it off me.'

While the rest of them watch her, Faewen'il tries the medallion on, bracing herself in case the chain starts to tighten around her neck. Luckily for her, it does not.

She is emotionless for a while and then the hint of a smile comes to her face for a brief moment. Then she controls herself and her face is still once more:

'I…I can't be sure about what it does' she says. ‚I shall keep it on for a while and see whether I can find out over time.'

"Konan would no doubt be interested in these prayer books," Jihan says, carefully leafing through one.

"We must take all care to get a few out safely for his examination."

So saying, he bundles a few together and wraps them up with one of the better looking robes from the wall, adding it to the growing pile of artifacts to carry out.

Winnacer sets the priestly robes of the undead aflame, in an attempt to erase this scene from existence.

Bennett's attention is fixed upon the giant silver skull:

"This I think can wait until we clear the whole tower, then we can take it back to Holitze and have it melted down. Probably worth more in the casting, but I would feel pretty good about melting it down and maybe making some silver weapons for the inhabitants of Holitze, plus we would make a pretty penny on the deal, in trade or goods or whatever."

After all is said and done, Winnacer turns to the rest of the party:

"Our wounds are not so great as to force us to retreat back to camp. Let us scout out the next level before we leave."

With this, he replaces the silver longsword in its sheath and draws ‚Old Bohavia' forth.

Jihan still does not seem to notice the greatness of the extent of the pain he should be feeling, the plague's numbing effects still lingering in his brain. When his usually nimble fingers slip while he's attempting to pick up a book, he takes the time to assess his wounds, and his face gets grim:

"Can anyone lend a little divine aid to these?" he asks. "I fear that I heal too slowly for the rate that this place keeps dealing me injuries..."

Yaz looks sadly towards the elf:

'I'm sorry, Jihan, but I've done all of the healing that Prirodna has blessed me with this day. I think that Hrust has done all of his casting as well.'

Bennett doesn't push, but states that he is more than ready to keep going upstairs, voting that they check out the room that the skeleton warrior came out of first. He thinks the group surely has enough left to at least explore the level.

"Very well" says Winnacer. "As all seem in favor of carrying on, let us see what things lie in wait for us."

The young lord does not have to wait long to find out.

He turns to go to the door, but recoils in shock as he sees that a large figure is standing in front of the doorway.

The creature is a terrifying sight to behold. It takes the form of a hulking knight, just over 6 feet tall and weighting more than 300 pounds. Its face is a blackened skull covered with shards of shriveled, rotting flesh. It has two tiny, glowing orange-red pinpoints for eyes. Its armor is scorched black, as if it had been on fire.

As they behold the terrifying creature, it speaks to them in a deep, chilling voice that seems to echo around the temple:

'Intruders, you have trespassed upon the property of Lord Boscobelous and have slain two of his highest-ranking henchmen. In doing so, however, you have proved yourselves worthy adversaries. Lord Boscobelous has sent me to bring you all to him, so that you may sit at his side as replacements for those you have slain. Draw your weapons and do your best to defend yourself, but it shall do you no good. Soon you will all feel the power of what it is like to live the life of an immortal such as I.'

 Winnacer stumbles for a suitably heroic line to come back with against the skeletal figure, but can think of nothing in the heat of the moment. Then he suddenly remembers one of his brother's favorite insults:

'LICK MY ASS!' the young lord shouts defiantly.

Winnacer strides up to the death knight with 'Old Bohavia' in hand. He is about to strike at the figure, but when he gets close to it, he suddenly becomes overcome with fear and runs to the back of the room. Hrust starts to cast another flameblade, as does Yaz.

Will bravely draws his weapons and advances on the figure, but he too is overcome with fear as he gets close to it. Zsolt is the next one to try his luck against the fearsome foe, but he too is overcome with terror and joins the rest of them cowering in abject terror at the back of the room.

Jihan, after managing to keep calm while fighting the last undead monstrosity, advances towards the death knight in the hope that he can repeat the feat. He too, however, is terrified when he gets close to the creature and is forced to flee.

Xavier and Bennett both try to face the opponent, but both of them are similarly effected by the abomination.

Faewen'il stands her ground and starts to utter an incantation. She then points her hand towards the creature and two magickal darts fly towards it. One of the darts dissipates as it gets close to the creature. The other, however, stops in midair as it gets close to it, and then retraces its path before impacting back upon Faewen'il, causing her some significant damage.

Of all of them, it is only Raaka that has the courage to face the creature. It charges at the creature and sinks its jaws into its shoulder. The abomination is furious at the attack from a mere worg and strikes back at the wolf, inflicting a fairly horrific wound upon it.

Seeing his animal companion being hurt by the creature in such a way, Yaz is overcome with anger and goes to the worg's rescue. He launches into the death knight with his flameblade, but the death knight manages to dodge and Yaz almost falls over.

Raaka is about to strike once more at the undead creature, but the death knight is faster than the worg and sinks its longsword into the worg's hide, killing it with one massive blow.

In killing the worg, the death knight has moved a little into the room. Shaman Hrust goes to try and strike it, but not even his faith in Blesk is enough to give him the strength in order to face the horrific figure. Seeing the escape route outside now open, Hrust charges out of the room and down the stairs.

The rest of them, seeing that this is their only chance of escape, quickly head out of the room, making for the stairs. All apart from Yaz.

At seeing the denizens of the tower kill another of Prirodna's children, he is furious and launches himself into the death knight with renewed vigor. The knight, however, is wearing plate mail and the druid is unable to get a hit upon it. The death knight, however, has no problem in finding a way through Yaz's leather armor and hacks into Yaz's side, causing him some tremendous damage.

The horrific wound knocks some sense into the druid. As he sees the rest of the party charging down the stairs, he realizes that it would be certain death to stay and face this terrible adversary alone. Quite sensibly, he turns on his heels and bolts for the staircase.

As he starts to turn, the death knight lashes out at him again, and once more he causes the druid another horrific injury. This certainly motivates Yaz to get the hell out of there and he bolts down the stairs at an incredible speed.

As he continues to tear down the stairs, he can feel the creature following just a few paces behind him. Yaz passes Zsolt, who is at the rear of the running party, coughing badly.

They run for all they are worth, knowing that the abomination is following them. They run down the two sets of stairs and along the corridor that they know leads to the outside. With relief, they burst through the door and into the light of day outside of the tower.

One by one, they exit the tower, with Yaz bringing up the rear. They turn towards the door and drop to the floor in relief as they see that the monster is not following them any more. As they are beginning to relax, Hrust starts to bellow with a mixture of rage, sorrow and shame.

'ZSOLT!' Bennett cries, realizing that the Pannon is not following them. 'THE BASTARD'S GOT ZSOLT!'

With that, Bennett picks up 'Retribution' and makes back towards the Tower with a look of vengeance upon his face. Before he can enter, however, Hrust gets up and goes after him, securing him in an…errm…bugbearhug.

Hrust is barking something at him, but Bennett obviously does not understand what exactly. It is obvious, however, that he is trying to stop him from re-entering the Tower.

Eventually, Winnacer's fear subsides and he takes stock in the situation. In frustration he flings 'Old Bohavia' high in the air with a shout:

"SPRAVEDELNA! WHY DO YOU IGNORE US!"

He chokes back what may be tears and takes a deep breath, pacing back and forth for a minute as he collects himself.

"This is the most difficult thing I have ever had to say. We must leave Zsolt to his fate now. Any hasty foray to save the brave warrior will lead to our collective doom. Perhaps you all wish to call me a coward for not charging back in there right now, but then again, you would all be right. If my father knew this was how his son would turn out, I'm sure he would have dressed me in skirts."

"But my cowardice is besides the point, we are in no shape to fight such a being. Our best chance in my mind is to prepare and heal. Perhaps Yaz and Hrust can call upon their faith to instill the courage of the divine into each of us, for my faith is surely lacking. Only with such support will we have a chance at saving Zsolt from an unnatural end."

Winnacer shuts up abruptly and walks off to retrieve 'Old Bohavia' from the ground. He whispers to himself:

*Spravedelna....I have failed you with my body and with my spirit....but I plead with you.....allow Zsolt to meet a fair and quick fate....spare him from the horrors of undeath....I beg of you....*

Jihan is thoroughly exhausted from the loss of blood and the hasty run from the tower. Returning is the last thing on his mind, though he cannot fit a word in edge-wise between his desperate gasps for breath:

"Can't... go...on... all... die... if..."

His speech is interrupted by a violent fit of coughing, which he has difficulty controlling. He nearly doubles over with pain, and when he draws away his sleeve from wiping at his mouth, there is blood on it. For all this, there is a spark in his eyes... something none of you have seen before...

Hate.

"Must... rest..." he mutters, and then slumps to the ground, almost in a faint. Yet his eyes are still focussed darkly on the tower.

With their emotions a mixture of dejection and fury, they walk back towards the camp. No one utters a word as they make their way there, lost in thought and mourning for their lost colleague.

It is just after noon by the time that they get back to the camp. Robert is waiting for them, as usual. It is obvious that he is getting increasingly worried about them after every trip they make. His fears are justified when he sees that their numbers are one man and a worg less than when they started out earlier in the day.

Winnacer tells his squire what has transpired, and Robert joins them in their grief. He pulls himself together eventually and goes to make them a meal.

There is little to do in the afternoon. Hrust spends most of the afternoon on the closest hilltop, praying to Blesk to protect Zsolt's soul. When he comes down, it is obvious that he wants to speak with the rest of them, but has no more spells left. Yaz too spends much of the afternoon in front of Viirin's cairn, praying for the soul of Raaka, the second worg to be consumed by the horrors of the tower.

Will and Min go off hunting on their own, not wanting to alert Bennett to the task, so as not to start another confrontation between him and Jihan. Bennett is in no mood for arguing, however. He too spends the afternoon alone, deep in thought as he mourns the loss of his new friend and sparring partner.

Will returns later in the afternoon with a brace of rabbits. He gives them to Robert and the squire makes a stew from them. No one is terribly hungry though, and so most of the stew goes uneaten.

Night falls once more. There is no shortage of volunteers to stand watch during the night, as none of them are much in the mood for sleeping.

It is with great relief to them all that the cursed day of Friday the 13th finally comes to an end.