Glancing upwards again, he scanned the face for some place he could rest. There! A small ledge not too far away, it was sufficiently wide enough for him to rest for a bit. His mind began compiling a road of sorts to that destination, mapping small cracks and fissures that looked strong enough to support him. He sent his right hand out in search of that first crack. Slowly, he pulled his body up, repositioning his legs before questing again for the next small grip.

For what seemed an eternity, Lothar crept along the face of the cliff, slowly approaching that ledge he had seen earlier. He amused himself with a simple thought. An observer looking at him sideways might get the impression of a baby crawling across a floor, his body at times unsteady with the effort being exerted. Eventually, he reached what his mind had told him where the ledge should start. Placing one hand on the ledge, he threw his other arm over, somehow getting a firm grip with the meat of his arm. He pulled himself sideways, grabbing the far side of the ledge with first his foot, then his lower leg. In one motion, he rolled the rest of his body up and onto the ledge, facing upwards as he lay on his back exhausted. Closing his eyes to relax, he could hear the faint sound of a woman laughing.

Lothar opened his eyes to find Leah sitting up beside him, giggling like a child. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"You, baby." she said, separating the words in an unusual manner before breaking out again in another fit of laughter.

"Huh?"

"You were making 'goo-goo' 'ga-ga' sounds in your sleep. I'm sorry, but I just couldn't help but imagine you as an infant." Still laughing. Was his dream a vision, or was it just a dream? It was becoming harder to tell.
 

-Excerpt from Codex: Mini Me
The Guild Tower of Ordo Sylvanus, west of Trinsic

As I entered the tower, Servant Hecubus stepped out, looked at me for a second through that green orcish mask of his, then headed out, axe in hand. Wood chopping again. As I closed the door behind me, I was greeted by Lothar, standing in the doorway to Hecubus' workroom. "I am glad you are here, brother." he said. "There is much to talk about. Would you please join me upstairs?"

I followed Lothar up past the guild barracks, through his chapel and into his private chambers. "There are a few more things I need to tell you. First, in the vision I told you of a few days ago, the man's voice that spoke to me called me brother, but it was neither your voice nor Bob's." Before I could speak, he gestured towards some chairs. So, there was more. "Also, during our trip to the Mages' tower, we encountered a mage who claimed to be working for a master. He selectively fought Leah and was an impressive foe, using his assistants to prevent my participation." He wet his tongue. More yet! "In addition, I have had another dream last night, but I'm not sure if it is a dream or a vision." Lothar detailed the cliff dream. "I am also beginning to have reservations of a greater scheme."

"I think I see where you're coming from, brother." I interjected. "The attacks on Skara Brae and Yew were directed to attract your attention. You were knighted as the Patron Saint of Skara Brae and call Yew your homeland. Then why the other attacks, my lord?"

"I have been wondering about that myself since returning from Serpent's Hold. Suppose that another force is involved. A force who, learning of the mages' attacks and when they would take place, staged an assault of their own for their own goals. I suspect now that the mages had a more personal goal."

"Revenge." I agreed. "Tell me, my lord, have you heard of Genjuro's incident in Illneshar?"

"I have heard that he was mortally wounded by a Blood Elemental, but is now recovering under the care of the good El Matadore. I have heard that he would be dead now if not for you and the others involved."

"Then perhaps you have not heard that this Blood Elemental was aided by a Lich Lord, a Gargoyle and a Stone Gargoyle. And we know how close Gargoyles and Daemons are to each other. This throws the undead, the Elementals and the Daemon kind together again. Are they a coalition unto themselves, my lord, or do you think another force is manipulating them?"

"Indeed, I had not heard the details... It is too early to tell." Lothar stood then and handed me a small chest. "Brother, I have a disagreeable task I must ask you to do. You will need what is inside this."
 

The dungeon known as Hyloth

Lothar was first through Aeolus' gate, followed closely by Calistarius, Plato, Gilgamesh, myself and finally Aeolus, who made sure everybody was through before entering. As I emerged on the other side, I found Lothar and Cal were side by side fighting two Hell Hounds, an Imp and a Gargoyle. Plato had already helped them drop another Gargoyle, who lay smoldering nearby. As I started to work on the Imp, Gil fell one of the Hounds with an excellent shot from his bow and Aeolus and Plato combined to obliterate the remaining Gargoyle. As the last Hound fell to the warriors' swords, I thought "We should have this team out more often, that was easy!"

I began to mark my own rune in this hallway as the rest charged onward down the hall into the next room. Following them through the double doors of the room, I heard Gilgamesh playing a melody on his lute. The fight raging on inside was devastating. Cal and Lothar were back to back, fighting off three Gargoyles and two Daemons, with a third Daemon and a fourth Gargoyle heading in their direction. Both Aeolus and Plato had found a corner from which they were raining energy bolts against one of the Daemons in an effort to quickly lessen their numbers. As Aeolus began to recharge his battery, I joined Plato in assaulting the second Daemon with energy bolts. Meanwhile, Gilgamesh approached the warriors to aid in healing as he let fly a steady barrage of devastating arrows into the Gargoyles, two of which had already fallen. Now it was Plato's turn to recharge, as Aeolus and I began to mix up the spells a little against the last Daemon.

Only thing was, it was not that last Daemon, for as we were working on him, two more Daemons materialized, one near us and one in the next room, along with two more Gargoyles. Again, I heard Gilgamesh strum a tune on his lute, causing the two Gargoyles in the next room to start pummeling each other with spells and fists. Again it was Aeo and Plato raining destruction as I recharged. The warriors held steady, with excellent cross-healing making their wounds almost unnoticeable. There were several times that one or more of us would start a cure spell only to find that the warrior poisoned was cured by the other before we could even finish the chant.

It was not long before the beasts caught on to our strategy, sending a lone Gargoyle into our corner to disrupt us. Aeolus was the closest and, in the face of this beastly creature, stood his ground. I stepped closer to him to start bandaging his wounds as we concentrated our forces against this sole Gargoyle. Aeolus was hit only once, and not badly wounded at that.

And still their reinforcements came. The room was soon littered with their decaying bodies. Lothar ordered the warriors to move to their right near an open wall, lest they trip over one of the many dead. And they sent another attack at the mages, this time a Gargoyle and a Daemon. Again, the Gargoyle attempting to attack Aeolus whilst the Daemon started to pursue me around the room. Again, the three of us joined forces to quickly destroy the Gargoyle as the warriors held steady, dropping another Daemon to start another pile of bodies. As I continued my escape around the room, healing myself along the way, a second Daemon and a Gargoyle turned from the fray and started to pursue me.

I was trapped, so I forced my way through the Gargoyle to avoid the two Daemons and fled to the far corner of the room, hurt badly in the attempt. Both Aeolus and Plato quickly healed me as Gilgamesh tore away from the warriors to provide additional aid. We were taken out of our rhythm, as the two warriors continued to steadily hold most of the beasts in combat, the mages and Gil were now bouncing around the room trying to recreate some assemblage of order while at the same time both attacking the pursuing creatures and healing each other. First Plato, then Aeolus were eventually able to overcome their opponents so that they could setup once again. Gilgamesh freed me from my pursuers by again playing on his instrument, causing them to fight amongst themselves.

As we neared the end of one wave, and before another was expected, Lothar ordered us out into the hall. "We should leave, we have fought long enough and not learned anything. This place holds nothing more for us." Aeolus and I both opened a gate back to the tower at the same time as Plato was helping the warriors finish the two remaining Gargoyles.
 

The Hall of Virtues, city of Britain

Lothar and I had just finished a pilgrimage that had started in Trinsic, circled towards Skara Brae and past Yew into Minoc, then back towards the dungeon Despise. A tunnel we discovered along the way connected us with the Ice Isles known as Kos Heb in the lands of the second awakening, where we boarded a ship and sailed across to the mainland before working our way back to the lighthouse. From there, we walked back through the underground passage into Yew before finishing our long journey into the metropolis of Britain. Together, we had defeated countless lesser foes, once again fighting our own personal war to help make this land a safer place for its citizens without anyone none the wiser. Lothar was used to such extreme exertions, but it was a long, tiring walk for a scribe such as myself, and I, for once, welcomed the relative comfort of this sanctuary.

As Lothar offered his tithe to the humble monks caring for the sanctity of this place, I looked about. This part of Britain isn't too bad, I thought. No hordes of people selling useless items or just loitering by a bank. No people rushing into magic shops to buy all the reagents that were available. None of the stuff that I have come to despise in our civilization, and Britain had become notorious for being at the forefront of such activity.

"I've been meaning to ask you." I said, as Lothar returned from his ritual. "Where has your brother, Mini Me, been lately? Some of us miss his company, you know."

"I've been wondering when you were going to ask me about him." he replied. "He is doing a special task for me, something only a mage could do, otherwise I'd have done it myself." His voice betrayed a sense of regret, but I chose not to press him about this. If he wanted to tell me more, he would have already. "We should get back, I am sure you must be tired from our journey." That was an understatement, and I was on horseback! "I know I am."
 

The Tower of Insane Mages, deep under Serpent's Hold

Lothar and I came through the gate to a light reception; only one lesser mage guarding the room, although there were sounds of activity beyond the wall, more mages waiting outside. After quickly spilling the guard, Lothar told me "You must stick close by me this time, I am looking for one mage in particular." I knew that tone from Lothar, it was not only a simple precaution but an order in the best interest of the guild. Why had he invited only me if this was so important? "Time to go outside." he said, stepping onto the teleporter.

As I followed him through, I materialized next to three mages, but they weren't interested in me as they locked into combat with Lothar. He pulled them away from me and I squeezed my way through to his backside so I could aid in his healing before helping him defeat his adversaries. As Lothar went through the belongings of each mage, I noticed that he was carefully studying the face of each of the fallen, something he usually doesn't do. As he handed me a bag of reagents, he gestured that I follow him.

Through another teleporter he went, materializing across the chasm at the base of the other side of the tower. Four more mages had discovered our intrusion and were bearing down on Lothar. Again, he quickly disposed of them; and again, he carefully studied each face before moving on. At the first room, two more mages and two Hell Hounds were slaughtered, for lack of a better term. He handed me another bag of regs. And so Lothar pressed onward, as I followed closely. As we neared their great conference room, he put his ear to the door, then whispered a warning to me "Careful, there is much danger in the next room."

As Lothar barged into the room, two young mage guards turned inward on him, one from each side of the door. To his right, another guard quickly approached as a fourth stood his ground, guarding the sealed double doors. In front of us sat four mages dressed in the blue robes covered in intricate patterns that denoted the more powerful mage lords. They looked up from their discussion in mild amusement at this intrusion. As Lothar was able to cut down one of the first two guards already, the last guard committed himself to the fight and the mage lords stood in anger. Even in the midst of the battle raging directly in front of me, I was able to overhear one of them whisper to the others "I must warn him." before his body faded against the wall behind him.

The other three mages quickly descended upon us, hitting Lothar with a barrage of powerful spells. But we had learned a lot from our experience together, and Lothar would not be easily defeated. Even against their most powerful spells and lethal combos, he continued to slay all that stood before him. When the last of their number had fallen and before he even began to go through their possessions, he picked up one of the guards who lay beaten beside us and told me. "Open a gate to the tower, now."
 

The Guild Tower of Ordo Sylvanus, west of Trinsic

Carrying the dead mage upstairs, Lothar strode with quickness and purpose. My curiosity forced me to follow them to the chapel, where he lay the deceased fellow down on a cleared pew. As I stared in amazement, he grabbed something along the base at the back of corpse's skull and pulled upward, revealing the face and hair was just a disguise. I gasped at the familiar face staring back at me in deathly stillness. "Lothar!"

"Be quiet or be gone." was his reply as he laid his hands on the corpse' chest and bald head, closing his eyes in solemn prayer. Mini Me revived a few moments later with a deep breath, a breath of shock that lifted his torso off the bench. His eyelids fluttered as he fought to regain his senses, all the muscles in his body that I could see were tense as his mind warred with some alien presence. That's what he told me later, anyway.

His eyes focusing again, his body relaxed and he managed to sit up. "The next time you kill me," he said with a grimace, "do me a favor and don't him me in the groin. I'd like to have children one day."

Chuckling, Lothar responded "Sorry about that. It was a tight space and you guys didn't give me much room to maneuver." Not really an excuse, but it was the truth. "So tell me, how do you feel?"

"I can tell you two things, my lord. First, I never realized how much facing death - or experiencing it, for that matter - changes one's self. How do you deal with it, brother?"

"As long as you remember your goals and motivations, you can deal with anything. The second thing?"

Solemnly, Mini responded "It is as we feared, brother. Kwan Li lives yet. And it was he that arranged the attack on Skara Brae and the Ophidian invasion of Yew. He was also the one that personally trained Azareal, who was supposed to end your wife's life before your eyes, as they anticipated your investigation would start at that tower. And one other piece of information. Kwan Li is not hiding at any of the known mage lord strongholds. He is hiding someplace new."

I could refrain myself no longer and asked "And what of the mages at the meeting, what were they planning?"

Turning his head slightly to look at me, "Nice to see you too, Nadia." Mini replied, as I lowered my head in shame. "Oh don't worry about that. To answer your question, they were discussing the same things that have worried us. They were trying to figure out who was behind the other attacks and what their motivation was. The intervention of another power had stalled their plans somewhat and they were hesitant to continue without more information. By the way, those explosions of yours really hurt."

"I'm sorry." was all I could manage.

"It is time for you to rest now, brother. You have done well despite my fears."

"I will take your word for it, but do thank Luto for me the next time you see him. That mask was a beautiful disguise, and I don't think they would've accepted me without it. That scar along the jaw was simply marvelous."