Turn 62 -- FIRE! FIRE!

Kre sits up and immediately regrets it as his head begins to spin, "Ohhh...that stupid priest...What the heck was in that flask Ortho? You coulda warned us."

"A pinch o' this, a dash o' that. Me own special concoction," answers Ortho with a hearty smile to Kre. He then moves over to help the young thief stand, "Here, friend Kre, let me help ye oot the door."

As he gains his feet, Kre reaches to a pouch on his belt and hands it to Ras, "Here, put whatever looks valuable in here. It'll hold everything and then some. I don't seem to be able to tell up from down right now or I'd do it myself." He smiles and clutches his head again, "Ohh...we'd better hurry, that fire looks nasty."

Slinging his axe over his shoulder, Ortho grabs the back of Kre's belt and using that for leverage, helps him walk toward the door and out of the room.

Taking in the extent of the fire, Druckner figures that there's no time to waste. "We should loot this room! Maybe Ranchefus has some valuables. I'll check out the other door." He then sprints for the door opposite the secret door, vaulting a prone zombie corpse. Seeing that the door is not locked, he quickly opens it and runs into the room. Taking a moment to look around the room he notices that it is apparently the bedroom and study of Ranchefus. It is very opulently and comfortably furnished and decorated. There is a huge four-poster bed in the center of the room that is hung with silks and fine silver fox and wolf pelts. Cursing himself for having to leave behind the expensive pelts, Druckner puts his shoulder to the bed and moves it out of the way, across the room.

Back in the other chamber, Beleg looks to his companions that are looting the room and says, "Hurry, before the fire spreads too much we must search for Jelenneth and any others who may be imprisoned here." He then heads for the door that Druckner just entered. As he does, he sees the stout dwarf shoving a fine looking bed across the chamber floor, revealing a medium-sized chest in the center.

"Aye! There she be," excliams Druckner as he sees the chest. "Give me a hand with this Beleg," says Druckner as he spies the large Paladin.

"We've got to find any captives and get out of here," answers Beleg as he grabs the chest from the dwarf. Seeing no captives and nothing else worth having, they both head back into the other chamber.

Noticing that everyone else is intent on pillaging, Talimar heads for the door pulling a cloth over his mouth to filter the smoke out. "Come on, people, let's get out of here before you join Ranchefus in his funeral pyre!"

Dain senses the urgency in Talimar's voice and discontinues his search of the room, angry at the lack of any spellbook or scroll to be found. Of course, who knows what is going up in flames. "Hurry men, those timbers in the ceiling won't last long!" The flames beginning to spread across the ceiling, heading to the outer hallway.

At the doorway, Gnore sheaths his great bastard sword and helps everyone get out of the room as the smoke becomes thicker billowing out of the doorway. As Ras is searching the body of the priest and tossing several items into the magical pouch of Kre's, Kersath comes over to help him.

"Come on, little one," he says as he grabs the body of the priest, hoisting it over his shoulder. "We'll just take him with us and sort through it all later." With a nod, he and Ras then make their way out of the chamber.

Lyntern and Kuiper lead the group back into the hallway and up the stairs as everyone exits the chamber, coughing and choking from the thick smoke following them. Randor and Beleg hail Gnore and Garth to head on up as they were protecting the doorway.

As Randor reaches the room with the stairs, he turns to see that Beleg is not behind him. Turning back into the hallway, he sees the huge Paladin heading back west.

"Beleg!" cries Randor, "Where are you going?! Come back!"

"I must make sure there are no prisoners here!" cries Beleg back over his shoulder as he runs past the opening that earlier contained the evil altar.

"In Tyr's name!" mumbles Randor as he hefts his warhammer and pulls his shield in front him, preparing to run after his friend. He takes only a few steps before the ceiling before him comes crashing down, ceiling off the passageway before him!

"Beleg!" shouts Randor in frustration.

Seeing that he cannot help his friend and feeling the heat increase around him as the flames grow stronger, he turns back and heads up the stairs to join the others. Randor reaches the top of the stairs and and joins the others just as the flames start coming through the floor below them. The other companions are running out of the room and into the courtyard beyond, Ras and Gnore stopping to scoop up the loot from the previous battle. As the group reaches the outer courtyard and collapses to the ground there, they look back to see the flames begin to reach the ceiling of the keep.

"Where's Beleg?" asks Ortho of Randor, "I thought he was right behind you?"

"He was," answers Randor sadly, "He went back to look for anyone trapped down there. I was about to follow him when the ceiling collapsed before me, cutting him off from me. He's lost to us."

"Damn that fool Paladin!" shouts Kersath angrily. "There's a time for heroism and then there's time for common sense! And now he's lost to us!"

Garth lowers his head and begins a silent prayer to Selune for the warriors soul as the others grow quiet, each trying to deal with the loss of their friend their own way. The only sound heard is the crackle of the flames from the keep and the occasional collapse of timbers as the roof caves in on itself.

"Let's get away from this evil place," says Talimar as he breaks the self-imposed silence. As the group gets to their feet, Garth and Ortho again help Kre to walk. As the party is about thirty feet from the gates, they hear a loud crash to the south. Turning to look, they each see the door the southern buildings flying through the air, landing loudly in the dirt, knocked completely off it's hinges. As smoke comes billowing out of the doorway, a large form walks out of the doorway.

"Beleg!" shouts Ras excitedly as he sees his friend.

White teeth greet Ras as Beleg smiles to his comrade, his face a dark mask of soot. In his arms, he carries the limp form of a woman. She is wearing no armor but does not appear to have been a captive inside the keep.

Night has fallen as the group exits the keep walls and collapses to the ground outside. The fire from the keep lights up the night sky as Beleg begins to tell his tale.

"I couldn't just run out of there with the possibility of captives being in there," he begins. "I would rather die than live with that thought. Unfortunately there were no others captives. I found this woman in an old storeroom. She attacked me but I hit her over the head and brought her out. She seemed quite mad."

He stops momentarily to take a drink from a flask offered to him by Garth. "Thank you, my friend."

"Thank you, friend," begins Kersath as he looks over at the decapitated form of Ranchefus, "you probably saved us from that evil cleric. I truly owe you one. I think we all do...Although I would have liked to undo him myself." Looking appreciatively at the paladin, he says, "Well friend, you'll have to teach me some of those moves..."

"Any time," smiles Beleg.

As the companions set about to rest up outside the keep and look at the loot taken out, a mysterious apparition begins to form before them. The form fades in and out, shimmering and shifting before finally becomming solid. As swords are instinctively drawn, daggers pulled forth for throwing and bowstrings become taught, the figure steps forward to address the group. Standing before them is a large man of late middle age. He is dressed in full plate armor and bears a crest that is familiar to the group, a longbow and harp on a field of pale blue; much like that worn by Beleg. A great warhammer sits in massive arms cradled before him.

"Hold!" cries Beleg as he makes out the form before him. He quickly falls to his knees.

"My Lord," he says disbelievingly at the figure before him. "What? How? are you doing here?"

"I do not have the time to answer that question, my son," begins the form as it addresses Beleg. "My time here is short. We are in great need of you in your homeland. The great Wyrms of the North have awakened and are coming down into our homeland again. Were it just them it would be fine. This time though they bring with them hundreds of thousands of evil Spaunen before them. They are intent on ravaging everything in their path and destroying us all. The Paladins of Forseti have already been formed up and sent before them to meet them on the fields of Dimas. I am calling all those on their Soul Journey back to our homeland to purge this evil from the land. You must leave as soon as possible and make haste back to Rockholme. We know that this journey will take you several months to complete but we can hold till then. Hopefully the reinforcements from those on their Soul Journey at that time will prove enough to turn the tide in our favor. Pray that we can hold out that long...."

With those final words, the image shifts once again before vanishing into the chill night air.

"My friends, I must leave you...." says Beleg in disbelief as he stares where the image had been moments before.