Ye Olde DragonQuest
ADVENTURERS TALES

	Well, we came up with a plan.  I was not fond of the plan, as it hinged on
using magic in the Church, which Moughrim had said would be most difficult.
But I could not come up with a better plan, so I reluctantly agreed to it.
It was, as the best plans are, a simple one.
	Merlaine has to see Enkil's body to renew the preservation on it, so they
will let us into the church.  Now, when they let us in, the plan was that
Merlaine, myself and Shali would go, and Vasquez would be with us as well,
but covered by a spell of Walking Unseen.  Once in the vault with the body,
we know a Priestess will be with us at all times, so very discreetly I cast
a runestick with an illusion of Enkil's body on it.  At the instant the
illusion appears, Vasquez grabs the real body.  As Enkil is a corpse, he is
not living matter, and thus, Vasquez will remain unseen.  So went the plan.
However, when the plan went off, it did not resemble in the least what we
had so carefully plotted.

	I took the day before our plan was to go off to do some preparation.  I
rode out half a days ride, and planted two portal runesticks, along with my
armor and larger weapons in the cover of a bush off the road.  I then rode
back and fashioned three runesticks with the illusion of Enkil's body on
them.   Moughrim said that we should only take a day, no more.  It was his
thinking that the Dolgenen family would not have to come here in person,
but that they would merely tell the Church that we were not to be allowed
to see Enkil's body.  After five days, Merlaine's preservation would wear
off, and Enkil's spirit would be free, to go wherever it is the Dolgenens
go when they die.  With disappointment, we admitted that Moughrim was
probably right, however, we had entertained many amusing scenarios for
ambushing the Dolgenen party when they arrived to claim Enkil's body.
Since it seemed likely the Dolgenens would not send anybody, but only a
message, one day was all we could afford.

	The next day was gray and somewhat rainy, and matched our moods.    We had
managed to get our equipment out of the guild in bits and pieces, saying we
needed to clean and oil it.  We do not think we aroused suspicion.  Bob and
Brianna had ridden out early in the day to the bush where I had hidden the
portal sticks.  They took our armor and heavier weapon with them, as it
would not look good, us walking up to the church armed to the teeth.

	Around mid-day, Merlaine, Shali and I, with Vasquez in the rear Unseen,
walked up to the temple.  We told the distressingly well armed guard that
we were here to renew the preservation on Enkil's body.  The guard  bid us
wait, and soon reappeared with a lay-Priestess, whose name I forget.  She
said that Mother Superior Droshte was indisposed, and so she would be
observing and assisting us with the preservation.  So sayin, she led us
into the temple and through the workrooms and such to the door which led to
the tunnel to the crypt.  We all held our breath as Vasquez walked in (
although only Merlaine could actually see her walk in).  Moughrim had told
us that temples can defend themselves, and are always warded.  We did not
know of course, what would trigger the wards, but we figured it was likely
that a person entering with an Unseen spell on them might.  We were lucky,
and Vasquez's unseen state did not trigger any alarms.
	We entered the crypt, and there was Enkil, looking just as dead as when we
last left him.  Without much ado, Merlaine set about doing her
preservation.  It had been agreed that she would finish, and just at the
end is when we would enact our plan, for we did not know when we might next
have a peaceful half hour in the next five days.
	All went well, until the end of course.  Merlaine was on the verge of
completing her work, and so I discreetly ( I hoped) withdrew the runestick
and turned away, pretending to cough.  I mumbled the spell and moved the
stick through the motions.  As Moughrim had warned me, I felt resistance to
the magic, and even though I put more than the usual energy into the
casting, it failed.  I made sure that I had not aroused the suspicion of
the lay-Priestess, and then tried again.  This time, in spite of the
resistance offered by consecrated ground, the magic punched through and my
spell worked.  As the spell took hold, I cast the runestick on the table
where Enkil lay, and suddenly, bang!  there were two Enkil corpses laying
on the table.
	Everybody waited, and nothing happened.  Vasquez was still waiting for her
cue, which she had missed.   Now the lay-Priestess, seeing two corpses,
screamed ; and the sound was echoed and amplified by the vault.  She was
screaming something about black magic and evil sorcery, and she took off
like a shot down the corridor.  Shali lit off in pursuit and Vasquez,
realizing something had gone horribly wrong, finally grabbed Enkil's body.
Shali realized that the lay-Priestess was as fast, if not faster, than she
was, and so, with a quick glance back to wink at Merlaine, Shali began
screaming at the top of her lungs about black magic and evil sorcery and
took off down the corridor after the lay-priestess..
	Actually, there was some magic other than mine.  It took Vasquez a second
to get Enkil's body, for she could no longer tell which was real and which
was illusion and grabbed the illusion at first.  Once she grabbed the real
corpse, a bright white pillar of light appeared around her.  Not being able
to tell what had become of Vasquez, I waited a second, and when nothing
more happened, I too dashed down the corridor yelling about horrors from
beyond.
	I actually feel sorry for the guards.  They heard yelling, and as they
were heading to investigate, the door from the workroom opened, and three
screaming females and a bellowing Mountain warrior emerged.  I know I'd not
like to be beset by such a horde.  I could tell that whatever we had done,
it had set off some wards.  The guards had a golden shimmering about them
that reeked of divine magic, and the blades of their halberds glowed with a
bright white light, that I was sure meant that they would hurt a lot more
when they hit me.
	The lay-Priestess threw herself on one of the guards, frantically pointing
back the way we had come and yelling about black magic.  Taking her cue,
Shali threw herself at the other guard, grabbing his chain hauberk and
tugging on it all the while yelling and screaming.  Merlaine did likewise
to the guard who had just managed to disentangle himself from the
lay-Priestess.  The lay-Priestess ran further down the corridor and pounded
on a very ornate door, yelling for Mother Droshte to come save the temple
from the evil magic.  Mother Droshte's familiar, a large dog, began barking
furiously, adding to the din.  And me, I did my best by continuing to head
for the door, hollering that it was surely a demon and I could not fight it
alone.
	It was when I saw Merlaine maneuver so that the guard she was besetting
would have to back against the inner wall of the corridor to get around
her, that I knew Vasquez must have made it out, and was right behind us.  I
did not scream and yell at the guards like the others, but kept heading for
the door yelling about armor and needing weapons.  Down one of the side
corridors we heard the ancient but still powerful voice of Mother Superior
Droshte yelling at everyone to be quiet and that she was coming as fast as
her old legs would carry her.  I for one, did not want to be around when
she arrived.  Not only was she a powerful Priestess of Ishtar, but she
carried a staff of solid silvered steel, and still had the strength to use
it, even at her advanced age.
	The guards had begun to get things sorted out.  One of them had ordered
the other to stay and guard us and restore order, while he went down to see
what had caused all the commotion.  The one ordered to remain behind was
doing just that.  He had ordered the lay-Priestess to go help the Mother
Superior, and then barked commands at Shali and Merlaine to be quiet and
tell him exactly what they had seen.  When Shali and Merlaine continued
screaming hysterically, it looked as if the guard might just use the butt
of his halberd to quiet them.  Time to leave.
	I turned into the entrance hall, and the large doors at the end were
closed.  I ran forward to open them, hoping that at least Vasquez would get
out in the confusion.  The instant I started forward, a wall of blindingly
bright light sprang into being with a sound like fish burning in the
skillet.  Much more solid looking than the wall which had surrounded
Vasquez, I had no real option but to continue forward and hope I could
shrug off whatever magic this was.  Big mistake.  The instant I hit the
wall, searing, burning pain filled my entire being, and I was thrown a good
few feet backwards to land on the floor.   Now, I had gone from being only
mildly tired from casting my illusion runes, to being near dead.  And
behind me, I could heard the guard beginning to get more forceful about
restoring order to the temple.
	I dared not open my eyes, for the wall which had near killed me was still
there, and would no doubt blind me if I looked at it directly.  I decided
against praying to any of the gods I knew, for I figured that praying to a
god while in a different goddesses temple could only make things worse.  So
I put one hand on my new runewand in order to sap the energy from it that I
needed.  I threw down a mate to one of the runesticks I had planted by the
tree, and cast the spell.  Again, I felt the resistance of consecrated
ground.  It took almost every bit of energy in my runewand, but the spell
went off!  With a "snap" the runestick glued itself into place.   Then,
with a last mighty bellow of "Oh, its got me, its got me!" I rolled over
onto the runestick.
	I hate the feeling one gets when using runesticks.  Your senses get all
fuddled by the sudden change.  I felt grass under me, and so rolled off the
stick to allow the others to follow if they got the chance.  Bob and
Moughrim were over me in an instant, helping me up and asking "so, how'd it
go?"
	I replied that it could have gone better, and that Bob had better prepare
that healing spell of his.  As I said this I doused myself with the water
in my canteen, for I think my beard was still smoldering.  I then put one
runewand away and withdrew the other one.  I sapped the energy from that
wand as well to prepare a counterspell to my own spell.  And then I waited.
Thankfully, I did not have long to wait before the others came tumbling
off the runestick with the loud "bang!" that always accompanies a runestick
transport.  Last to arrive was Merlaine, she nodded at me and said that all
of us were safely out.  I cast the counterspell, and the runestick went
dead.  No one would be following us using that particular path.
	Merlaine went over and touched Vasquez, who, much to all our relief,
became noticeable, carrying the still deceased Enkil.  Moughrim grinned and
said that he had not expected all of us to make it out, and what with only
one of us ( that'd be me) taking any serious hurt.  When Moughrim and Bob
asked how we had done this, and did we do it according to the plan, Shali
told him the tale of our time in the temple, summing it all up by saying "
basically, we grabbed the body and ran screaming from the temple."   Which
was, all things considered, the truth.  After a second of slack-faced
silence, the lot of us burst out in gales of laughter.   After that, it was
agreed that speed was paramount, so while Bob applied his herbs and Earth
Magic to my wounds, the rest of the party packed up what was not already
packed and saw to stashing Enkil in a secure sack.
	Then without further delay, we were away.  We set a breakneck pace, riding
the horses to their limits.  Moughrim is not much of a horseman, and so
Shali had to Bind the animals so that we could all stay together.  It was
then that Moughrim told us that he could now, perhaps, make up for his lack
of horsemanship and his bad leg.  He told us that if we could, we should
try to find a cemetery; one outside of a town or long forgotten, so that
the consecrations that the Priests and Priestesses of Ishtar put on such
places had worn off.
	We had Brianna read the stars as soon as it was dark enough, and Bob
scouted the land, and Merlaine tried using her Arrow of Location spell,
even though she did not have a specific cemetery in mind.   Between all of
our efforts, we determined that there was probably an unconsecrated
cemetery some dozen or so leagues to the west, so west we went.  The ride
was arduous.  There was no trail and so we spent almost half the trip
dismounted and leading our horses through deep woods.
	Eventually we arrived at the place.  At first glance it appeared nothing
more than a few overgrown mounds.  Upon further examination however, it
proved indeed to be the remains of a cemetery.  We were very tired, and all
of us were for a rest before continuing.  Merlaine however, used her
crystal ball to spy out the tree where we had met after escaping from the
temple.  She spied nearly twenty heavily armed men on horseback, well
organized and disciplined.  As she watched, the commander of these men
received a report from a scout.  Directly afterward, the commander ordered
his men to form up and move out, which they did... following our trail
exactly.
	At that, Moughrim had us locate what we thought to be an old mausoleum,
and then unearth the entrance.   This we did within several hours with much
work of shovels and pick.  The door to the mausoleum was ancient iron.
After a cursory check for traps and such, Merlaine used her spell of
opening to open the portal.  The dank air that issued forth smelled stale
and unhealthy.  Moughrim then had to use some of Shali's chalks and such.
He explained to us that what we were about to witness was one of the
Secrets of his collage, and that only because the circumstances were so
dire was he doing this at all.  Also, he said that he desperately wanted to
make it back to his Guild before Samhain, which was less than four weeks
away.  The prospect of covering 2,500 miles in less than a month is
daunting, to put it mildly.
	Moughrim then went to the back of the crypt, and began drawing circles and
runes and many other arcane symbols which I did not recognize, on the back
wall.  All the while, he had black candles burning in a circle around him,
and muttered under his breath.  We could all feel the magic he summoned
building.  After an hour, Moughrim ceased his chanting.  The back wall of
the mausoleum shimmered and looked now as if was more a mirror than a solid
wall.  Moughrim explained that the ritual he had just performed was called
Paths of the Dead.  This ritual allowed the caster and several others to
travel in the Land of the Dead.  The starting point must be an honored
place of the dead, as must the ending point.  Time and space are not the
same in the Lands of the Dead as they are here, so by traveling through the
Lands of the Dead, much overland travel on this plane can be spared.
Moughrim said that as long as you know where you are going, the danger is
minimal.  He gave us strict instructions to follow him,and not to wander of
the path, or get distracted in any way.  He said that we must hurry, for
the Lands of the Dead suck the very life out of everything that is in them.
He suggested Shali keep the horses bound.   So saying he blithely stepped
into the back wall of the crypt, and disappeared.  After a brief moment, we
readied ourselves and followed him through the wall.
	The Lands of the Dead are indeed a place hostile to life.  We found
ourselves on a plain of gray ash, with a lead gray sky overhead, and no
trees or hills nor any feature to mark the horizon.  And the air was chill,
but in a way that no cloak nor fur could undo, for this chill seemed to
start within our very bodies and spread outwards.  A most disconcerting
feeling.
	We traveled for what seemed many hours.  It was hard, for Moughrim still
limped along at a pace painful to watch.  Every now and again we would
glance around us to see if anything at all had changed.  Usually it had
not.  However, one of the times when Shali was watching, she noticed a
group of figures behind us, and their speed was such that they would soon
overtake us.  Shali passed the alarm ahead to Moughrim, who stopped and
turned.  After a few minutes the figures were close enough to see well.
There were seven of them, and they were six or so feet tall, and so thin
they appeared to be dry skin stretched taught over bones.  They had huge
eyes that were absolutely black, no iris, no pupil, just black.  Their
mouths were overly large for the size of their heads, and these mouths were
full of what looked to be hundreds of tiny, very sharp teeth.
	When these creatures were near the rear of the party, Moughrim limped back
to stand between them and us.  One of the gaunt beings opened its mouth,
and a vile hissing sound emerged, interspersed with clicks and guttural
sounds.  Moughrim made noises back at this being, which appeared to listen
to him.  After several exchanges of these unnerving sounds, the creatures
turned and walked back along the trail we had come by.
	Moughrim explained that these creatures were called Ghauls.  They looked
somewhat like the ghouls we are familiar with, but are much more
intelligent, and have some innate magical abilities.  Moughrim went on to
explain that he had told the Ghauls there might be many people following
us, and they had gone on to encounter them rather than attack us.  Moughrim
said that he hoped, for their sakes, that the guards following us had not
reached the graveyard while the gateway to the Lands of the Dead was still
open.  Or if they had, that they were not foolish enough to enter it,   for
the Lands of the Dead do not like the Living.  Moughrim explained that the
longer we were in the Lands of the Dead, the colder it would feel to us,
the more beings we would encounter, and those beings would be increasingly
hostile.   So saying, he limped again to the front of the line and
continued us on our journey.
	Eventually we saw what appeared to be some low hills on the horizon.  We
headed into these hills, and soon came to a cave which we entered.  Once we
stepped into the pitch blackness of the cave, we felt the chill leave us,
and when I kindled my spell of Light, we saw that we now stood in a huge
vault, fully 100 feet on a side and over forty feet high.  The walls of
this vault were ancient stone that had been intricately carved with many
writings and murals, which time had faded and eroded almost completely
away.
	"We do not know who built this city, or when.  We do know it was abandoned
over 600 years ago, and that this vault was a place where they honored
their dead.  I suggest we rest here before continuing.  We have just
traveled 500 or so miles overland, so I doubt we have to worry about
pursuit by the guards." Said Moughrim as he rested his pack on the ground
and sat down with his back to a stone wall.  The rest was a most welcome
thing, even if it was in a cold and dank vault in some forgotten city.  I
took the opportunity to ask Moughrim what language it was that he had
spoken to the Ghauls in.  He replied that it was thought to be the language
used by an island people a century or so ago, until their island was
engulfed by a volcano and that tribe was extinguished.  Moughrim explained
that it did not matter which language you used in the dead lands, as long
as it was a dead language, for if it is dead, then the inhabitants of the
Lands of the Dead know it.
	And so now we rest. Vasquez is using the last of her energy to heat up a
rock, that we may eat a hot meal without the need to light a fire.  Shali
is seeing to the horses, Bob and Brianna are looking around the immediate
area of our camp to see what, if any, dangers it might hold.  And I, I
shall now put aside this journal, eat a most welcome meal of warmed trail
bread with honey, with a bit of jerky from our stores,and then sleep, for
Bob and Shali shall take the first watch.  I am sure I will be able to
sleep, so tired am I.  However, my head is still reealing with what we have
done... we have walked through the Lands of the Dead, and survived!
Perhaps someday I should arrange to have children, so I can tell them this
tale.



		By My Burned, Cramped and very Cold Hand
		This 15th day of Saptembre, I think.
        		The Year of our Lady 540

						Drashak Khea Milari



DJA
holwinkle@oocities.com