Defending the Lizard Colony II (1st of First Stores, Rose: 47)

Gorbash and Tamroohk battled hard with the dark stranger made of ill-will and shadow. With one powerful lunge, it drove its two dark rapiers deep into Tamroohk's soul thus striking her down. She collapsed and with her unconsciousness the Spirit Guardian bears evaporated into nothingness.

The shadow-man leered over Tamroohk's body as Gorbash rushed up to defend her. It pointed one of its dark blades at Gorbash. "Leave her! Retreat now. Pray that I do not take your life as well."

Gorbash popped the cork on his last remaining healing potion and forced it down Tamroohk's throat. She sputtered and returned to consciousness, weak and dazed, and he started dragging her body away from the menacing shadow-thing that threatened their very existence. Cursing under his breath, Gorbash made a desperate plea: "Hey, Berronar. Berronar Truesilver. Hey. Are you listening? We need a way out of this. Uh, we're going to get killed. Are you listening?"

Almost as if in response, the blue shadow of another female dwarf returned to surround and encompass Tamroohk's body. Tamroohk was barely conscious and weak. In a fit of rage and pain, the blue shadow - the image of Berronar Truesilver - squinted, opened her mouth wide, and began to scream in a rousing battle cry, and just then, Tamroohk's body stiffened, her eyes shot open, and she also began to yell a battle cry at the top of her lungs as she was infused with divine energy!

[DM's Note: Tamroohk received +24 HP from a Cure Wounds].

In response, the mysterious dark aggressor immediately assumed a defensive position with his rapiers and burst into a hundred ravens, soared into the sky, and reformed on top of a large boulder near both Gorbash and Tamroohk. It menacingly pointed its rapiers towards the two Dwarves. "You meddling cunt - I will take both of their lives!" [A little bit of editorial license here - this wasn't said at the gaming table but that's what the entity would have said if the DM were allowed to be a bit more crude...]

Gorbash lunged at the creature with his axes, swiping it ineffectively at its ankles, and Tamroohk cast another Spiritual Guardian spell causing radiant bears to attack the entity. "Argh!", it exclaimed, trying to defend itself from the ethereal creatures, then it burst again into ravens and flew off into the sky.

"Victory!", Vongur proclaimed as Gorbash reached out to Tamroohk's arm to help her to her feet! All three of the dwarves (Vongur included) cheered as a magic circle of blue energy formed around them. There was a blinding blue light and both Gorbash and Tamroohk covered their eyes ...

* * *

"Don't worry about me," Tolman said, his 3'-tall frame fending off five or six sword-swinging pirates just as Siegride, Ma'yah, and Llewellyn witnessed a whole new wave of fleeing lizard folk and marauding pirates rush into the yard.

Panic was everywhere and the pirates were taking down innocent lizard people! Tolman took some good licks from his attackers but managed to feint some of the damage, but he was starting to get low in hit points. Elan, who was being chased down by some pirates, attempted to side-step their attacks so she could get some clear shots in, evoked two attacks of opportunity - both of which rolled a natural 20 - taking her down and tossing her body into the earth.

Seizing her opportunity, the green Cleric of Takhesis cast Silence over the area where Ma'yah, Llewellyn, and Siegride were fighting their way through berserkers and pirates, and suddenly all three of them suffered a severe inability to cast spells! Ma'yah drew her dagger backed herself into a nook in the lizard folks' dwellings, and Llewellyn dashed into a residence. Llew, inside a mud hut with a door made out of wood and reeds could still see into the yard and witness the carnage taking place.

Just then, the red Cleric of Tahkesis burst out of a hut door in a battle cry and sprinted across the yard with her flaming mace! And just then, a new Cleric of Tahkesis - a half-plated, blond woman with a white dragon tattoo that ran up and down her whole body - began sprinting across the mezzanine towards the fray! The party's spirits began to sink.

Suddenly, there was an arcing blue wave of energy that crashed at the end of the yard and both Gorbash and Tamroohk materialized facing the wrong direction, toward the living quarters of the lizard colony. Because Silence was cast earlier by the green cleric, the entire battle created no noise what so ever. Disoriented, they started looking around. It was a pleasant day. Smelled like smoke though. They wondered where they were and who made these mud hovels - Oh! Tamroohk thought, We must have been taken to the lizard colony, completely unaware of her friends' plight until she turned in the right direction to see the melee with half-a-dozen brigands, the sound of their battle completely muted. Then the dwarves, returned to the field of battle, lurched into action!

Llew saw an opportunity in the sudden appearance of the dwarves. Standing inside one of the mud residences, he was outside of the range of the Silence spell and could sing! He cast a minor illusion that created another armed dwarf in the middle of the marauding pirates. Some actually fell for it and started swinging at the illusion instead of at Siegride.

Meanwhile, having dispatched his own set of pirate groupies, Tolman went old-school Rogue and Climbed Walls to get onto the mezzanine level of the yard. With that vantage point, he could see the flaming red-haired Cleric of Tahkesis rushing across the yard, long-jumping over some wading pools, to rush into battle with Siegride.

Tolman, fast thinking as he is, thought of just the right spell. Concentrating, his mind focused on the area in the yard near Siegride. That area began to glow with a faint light and was magically endowed - the friction removed from the surface of the earth. He cast Grease causing several pirates and the red cleric to (most un-triumphantly) slip and fall to their asses when attempting to rush Siegride!

Still, that didn't seem to deter the newly-arrived white Cleric of Tahkesis who long-jumped down from the mezzanine right into the pitch of battle to take Siegride on! The cultist prepared her mace which extruded this cold, icy substance along the grip and ball of the mace, as her Goddesses' divinity infused the weapon with wicked cold energy! Gleefully, the white Cleric stepped menacingly into battle with the Tempest Cleric of Isthmeira!

But ... just before the white Cleric could start delivering her Goddesses' wrath and punishment ... there was a small matter of Ma'yah. Ma'yah, you see, was backed up in an alcove under the mezzanine. The white cleric leaped right over Ma'yah's head and landed just in front of her, exposing the white Cleric's back entirely to Ma'yah. Ma'yah ... contemplated. She stared at her gleaming dagger, a magical dwarven dagger she obtained back in the Mines. Then she thought of a spell. Magic Missile would work. But that would mean burning through another spell slot. Then she thought of the dagger. Why not use the dagger, she thought? I could stab the white cleric in the back! I'm not a thief but maybe I should have been but maybe I could be, too, I could stab the cleric in the back, I could ...!

Spell. Dagger. Spell. Dagger. Hmmm. What to do? Well, at the gaming table, Allen and Camille reminded Melissa that the dagger was a finesse weapon and her Dexterity modifier could be used in her attack bonus. Gleefully, that only settled it for Melissa. "I'll stab the Cleric!", Melissa exclaimed and started rolling the die while the DM chortled cockily thinking, Pththt Yeah whatever, the white Cleric's AC is 19 and there's no way in Hell that roll will ... "HIT!", Melissa exclaimed ... "Crap," said the DM, erasing hit points ...

... and a magical dagger thrust into the unsuspecting white Cleric's backside! The White Cleric fell to one knee and (albeit she wasn't terribly injured) dramatically screamed in surprise. But, you see, she was in the middle of a Silence spell, so her scream really did nothing, falling on deaf ears, so she mouthed a lot of swearing curse words that would probably not be appropriate for her order ... and continued on her march towards Siegride!

After her attack, Ma'yah thought some more. "I could be a thief, sure, yeah, I could be a thief!" and she successfully Climbed Walls up on to the mezzanine [DM's Note: It just takes a DC 10 Ability Check, folks. Look it up. Jesh.] "Look at me!", she thought, rushing for a door of one of the huts. She burst in to find a weaponless lizard woman freaking out in the back of the hut, and Ma'yah turned and slammed the door behind her.

Meanwhile, Gorbash attempted to help Elan. Frisking her body, Gropebash ... oh, pardon me, Gorbash ... retrieved a vile containing a Elan's healing potion and forced her to drink it, reviving her, just as they were rushed by a crowd of berserkers and pirates!

The red Cleric, trying to get up from the greasy earth, slipped again, and fell to her ass. Tolman watched from above, and in his hand, the dagger he claimed in the spooky White Stands, Silverscale, was vibrating angrily at the red Cleric, alerting Tolman to the fact that this adversary had magical weapons and armor. But he couldn't think about it too long. There was another pirate up on the mezzanine with him firing arrows down on his friends. As a Rogue and not wanting to be outdone by the Magic User, he did a thiefy-backstab against the fellow and took him down.

Just then, the red Cleric - planting her legs firmly into the ground - managed to get up and attack Siegride! The war cleric managed to get one hit in of a multiple-attack, and smacked some avenging fire-goddess wrath into Siegride! Her mace exploded into fire upon the strike and magical flames briefly engulfed Siegride's armor!

As for Siegride, she was trained to brush off such damage with her Heavy Armor Mastery and took less damage than what the red war cleric was intending. Pouty Red Cleric. And then - quite suddenly - the Cleric of Tahkesis got to taste a wee bit of Tempest Cleric wrathiness of Siegride's own, as lightning erupted from the earth and electrocuted her. More Pouty Red Cleric.

Then things started taking a turn for the worse. Casting Chromatic Orb from his hidden vantage position, Llew was able to strike some hard magical damage into the white Cleric engaging Siegride. But that didn't stop her. The white Cleric swung at Siegride, and at first seemed unbalanced and unlikely to hit her, until the War Cleric expended her special ability to add +10 to any weapon strike, sending her own mace square into Siegride's body which then was smacked with ice! Siegride was hit! Hard! And she collapsed to the ground!

On the mezzanine, a berserker rushed up to the door that Ma'yah was hiding behind and ripped it off of its hinges. Ma'yah screamed and stabbed at him with his dagger. "Ah-HA!", she exclaimed, causing a wee scratch. Simply made angry, the berserker (who gets to roll at Advantage) attempted to hit the nearly defenseless Mage trapped in a mud hut and MISSED. He looked confused. Then Ma'yah cut him again. "Ah-HA!", she shouted again, his blood dripping on the floor and running down her hand. "I really like my dagger!" And then the Berserker went wild and attempted to hit her, and, missed, again. Then Ma'yah stabbed him again, and backed out of the mud living quarters to be on the mezzanine.

Ma'yah shouted out to Tolman who was just thirty feet away. Wide-eyed and a little suspiciously-crazy looking, she held it up, dripping gore and ooze down her magician's sleeve. "Look at my dagger!" Tolman frowned and mentally resumed to recalculate the amount of time that it takes magic users to descend into insanity ... and then he saw a potential opening in the fight in the yard below. He leaped from his position!

On the field, the red cleric and white cleric regrouped, backing themselves against each other. They looked magnificent: expert fighters, armored, their shields defending each other, and their maces glistening with divine energy! The sun shown down from the morning sky - an epic silence and slow-motion camera pan - white blinding light glinting off of their armor, helms, and shields! Their wicked dragon tattoos writhed on their flesh! Like two heads of the same dragon, the holy clerics of War prepared to take on more of their adversaries!

The red-haired Cleric of Tahkesis was badly wounded with her battle with Siegride and neither Cleric could cast a Cure Wounds in the zone of Silence that they found themselves in; meanwhile, the blond-haired Cleric of Tahkesis popped a vile and consumed a Potion of Healing of her own, just as Tamroohk rushed up to heal Siegride.

Siegride was coming to her senses as the White Cleric and Red Cleric took turns smacking on Tamroohk, rendering her almost unconscious - but Tamroohk was clever and was trying to pretend to be unconscious! But the Red War Cleric was badly injured from the fight and one of Elan's arrows had just hit her. She was still in the Silence spell and incapable of saving her own life - she was trying to speak, putting her hand up to her throat, trying to get out the words that could heal herself! And it was during this engagement that Tolman rushed up from behind and backstabbed the Red Cleric! The Cleric of Tahkesis fell.

The White Cleric was trying to avoid the slippery Grease spell's area of effect and get out of the silence so that she could cast some spells of her own. Faking unconsciousness, Tamroohk attempted to provide more healing-feeling for Siegride, who was trying to stand to defend against the White Cleric! Another arrow - WHACK! - and Elan dealt some serious damage to the Cleric before she could cast any spells. Siegride re-cast Spirit Guardians and the ethereal, unearthly eels came back into being, eating away at the White Cleric, just as the Green Cleric (who'd tried to make a run for it across the yard was smacked bad by one of Elan's arrows) cast Dispel Magic to get rid of them again.

Gorbash was in a grand melee with a bunch of pirates and berserkers that were surrounding him, and Tolman rushed in to try and assist, but he was all alone. Llew saw this, and, then, saw another opportunity. There were maybe nine or ten lizardmen guards who'd coalesced near Llew, and they saw that he had a lute. The lizardmen guards anxiously pointed at the lute and - in lizard tongue - were urging the bard to either play or give them his instrument.  They kept pointing at the Green Cleric, apparently having figured out who their real enemies were, and then looked back to Llew for guidance and inspiration! Llew removed his lute! The lizard guards cheered! They readied their weapons and prepared for a battle that would go down deep in lizard folk history! They would be heroes, champions, lead by the Charismatic Llewellyn the Bard ...! And Llew knew this was his moment ... his moment to command his own little Lizard Army! To convince them, lead them on, to run across the yard and attack the Green Cleric, and Llew recalled the lines to his battle poems and rolled ...

... a 1 on a Charisma check.

The lizard guards stopped cheering. They dropped their arms. Two even dropped their weapons entirely. They looked about the yard, confused. They weren't quite sure what the human bard was trying to say. Something about tuna and sandwiches and green algae ...

Then, at the gaming table, David threw down a poker chip! A poker chip representing an inspiration point, that would allow him to re-roll! Burning a re-roll, he rolled another Charisma check... a 2. Nuts.

Yep. Still something about green tuna/algae sandwiches. The confused lizard folk guards muddled around, looking at each other, trying to understand the strange tones and sounds coming out of Llew's mouth. Some of the lizard guards looked at each other, shrugged, and pointed at the green cleric, and waved Llewellyn to follow them. They cheered, grabbing their weapons, and as a mass fighting team started across the yard. Llew felt like he finally got through to them and cheered them on from the rear!

Meanwhile, the battle continued for Gorbash who was standing on his own but needed help. Elan whipped out two more arrows. One at the Green Cleric who took too much damage and died, and then at the White Cleric, who suffered a natural 20. Upon impact with the arrow, the White Cleric's body exploded in a mess of blood and gore. The Silence spell snapped out of existence.

Llewellyn's Lizard Army was rabble-rousing across the field, noticed that the Green Cleric had perished, and then started making for the crowd of pirates and berserkers that had surrounded Gorbash. Llew urged them on! Some pirates broke off and tried to take on the Lizards.

... whew! And that's where we stopped! More next week!

R

Defending the Lizard Colony (1st of First Stores, Rose: 47)

Tolman, Siegride, Elan, Ma'yah, and Llewellyn watched as the first wave of pirates were attacking the lizard colony.

Magical fires erupted from bright explosions in the sky and descended upon small storage huts, catching fire to them! Lizard folk men, women, and children were running in every direction for their lives! They were relentlessly pursued by pirates and berserkers and were struck down indiscriminately at every opportunity.

The group decided that they couldn't wait for the dwarves Tamroohk and Gorbash to make it back to the colony in time - if they did, the fight would be over and hundreds of lizard folk would be slaughtered!

At their vantage point, they got a layout of the colony: there was a gate area that lead to the beaches which was currently under assault; a stores area where the huts were on fire; a living area where the lizard folks made their dens; and a prayer area where a temple was built into a cliff-face. The party decided to make their stand at the living area. Far in the distance, three black ships were anchored off shore and a wave of smaller rowboats were coming-aground, landing even more pirates!

This area of the colony had a central system of wet soaking pools in a yard, and around the yard there were huts and mounds of undergrounds dens with small doors. The dens were stacked on top of each other so there were as a walk above the yard to those domiciles. Women folk were fleeing from the pools; men and children were coming out of their dens, wondering what was happening.

Arriving at the scene, Ma'yah cast Tongues on Siegride. Siegride immediately told a nearby guard that the colony was under attack by clerics of Tahkesis who've come to defile their goddess.  She told the guard to get the people and their queen to safety. The guard, completely taken back, followed Siegride's instructions and went off to inform the queen.

Tactically, the party had some advantages. First, there was a high and low ground - the low ground being in the yard and the high ground on the walk-way against the dens. Elan was first to perch herself on to the walk-way to take arrow-shots at the wave of pirates.

Second, there were two pinch-points - two areas where the pirates were rushing into the yard and they were guarding the only stairs into the prayer area. Third, there were the soaking pools in the middle of the yard that provided a rough terrain movement disadvantage for anyone caught on the opposite side.

On the first round, Siegride cast Sleet Storm on the area/huts that were targeted by the Flame Strikes. That helped to both delay the advance of pirates and put a stop of the fires. Everyone else got into position and started taking down what targets they could at long range, but there was another complication. The board was filled not just with pirates but with innocent lizard folk that were intermixed with the pirates, and would be the target of area-of-effect spell attacks. The combat was on, and it was going to be complicated!

* * *

Meanwhile, as the party was engaged in battle, up in the foothills, the dwarves Gorbash and Tamroohk were enjoying a leisurely morning in the dense fog - completely unaware of the attack on the colony - when Tolman's owl familiar arrived on-scene. The owl had a note clutched in one claw and it attempted to land with just one leg, bouncing up and down, trying to keep its balance. It bounced away as Gorbash tried to approach it, preferring instead to bounce over to Tamroohk who accepted the note and read it. It was from Tolman and said something to the effect of: "The colony is under attack. Your presence is appreciated."

The dwarves immediately gathered up their fighting gear and started rushing down the foothill path towards the colony. Rushing through the fog, they were no more than ten minutes into their run when they noticed they were not alone. That parliament of ravens was back, flying above them, rushing from tree to tree along side their path, watching where they were going.

It wasn't long before the dwarves encountered a fork in the path and there the ravens flushed from the trees and coagulated into a single dark mass! The shadowy form took shape, turning into the dark figure with an enormous brimmed hat, and two shadowy rapiers extended from its sides as if in a fighting position. And in their minds (Vongur, the dwarven amulet around Gorbash's neck included), they could hear it say in Dwarvish: "Your meddling in these affairs will not go unanswered, and I shall take your champion."

Vongur suddenly cursed an oath as he witnessed a blue transparent field of divine energy surround and encompass Tamroohk! A blue shadow of another female dwarf with braids and a fist full of energy came into being - it was the shimmering image of Tamroohk's Goddess, Berronar Truesilver! When Tamroohk spoke, it was both her voice and the voice of the Goddess in tandem: "You can try."

[DM's Note: I pulled a stunt here were Tamroohk, infused/possessed by the power of her Goddess, temporarily received +3 to her AC, +3 to Hit, and could cast spells as a 5th Level Cleric. The Dwarves would need an extra boost against this particular adversary.]

With that, the shadowy form raced up to the dwarves and started swinging! It was a spectacular fighter, committing two attacks per round and when striking caused psychic damage against the dwarves! Then, on a bonus action, it would burst into ravens again causing the flock of birds to race across them both and do piercing damage/scratching as the birds rushed by! Then it would re-form back into the shadowy figure and re-engage with them at a new initiative!

As Gorbash and Tamroohk connected theirs axes and maces against the foe, they learned the awful truth. The creature had resistance to those forms of attacks and the damage made against the creature became greatly diminished! It was barely phased. This was going to be a long fight!

* * *

While this was happening, back at the lizard colony, the player characters would engage the encroaching pirates for another four rounds. A flood of new pirates would arrive and they would try to hit them with distance weapons and spells, and mass-effect spells where possible. Eventually Siegride would cast Spiritual Guardians creating a small sea of spectral eels around her that - when adversaries stepped into - would attack her enemies.

Also, two clerics of Tahkesis arrived, as expected.

One was in green robes - apparently the green dragon cleric that the party had met last cycle fighting the pirates!  Unarmored, she lead her brigand force in to battle and backed them up by casting Dispel Magic on the Sleet Storm that was preventing them from going anywhere. She'd eventually take some serious damage from the party, but managed to get in a Flame Strike affecting two party members before play stopped.

Meanwhile, another one wore red armor, had a helm, a shield, and a mace. She had blazing red hair. When she arrived on the field of battle, she attempted to cast Silence on the party but Ma'yah performed a Counterspell to dismiss it. Later, the red Cleric would emerge from a Fireball spell cast by Ma'yah with flames licking off of her armor, and she was smiling gleefully as if she was both unaffected by the spell and really enjoyed the summertime heat. Eventually though a rash of arrows from Elan would force the red Cleric to take cover in a hut. While in the cut, peering through the reeds, she cast a Guiding Bolt on Llewellyn. When play stopped, she was still in the hut.

* * *

Back with the shadowy figure and the dwarves, the fight continued!

Tamroohk healed Gorbash to keep him in the frey as monstrously large claws emerged from the shadow to strike at him, rending at his soul!

Inspired, Tamroohk cast Spiritual Guardian and spectral bears began attacking the otherworldly foe, and this time, the damage was double - it apparently had vulnerability to Radiant damage - and now the Dwarves were able to kick it up as the spectral bears clawed their way through the shadow!

.... and that's where we left it!

More next week as the party takes on the next waves of pirates and Clerics of Tahkesis, and deals with the spooky shadowy thing!

R

The Truth is Out There

It was the 13th of First Harvest in the 47th Year in the Age of Rose: summer in the northern reaches of the Shattered Isles, and at the deep-water port of Shyn-Valour, a squat three-mast Caravel named the Dreaming Goddess approached the cliff-side mooring points and was secured to the dock.

Its captain, Rheese of House Cantour, descended the plank to confer with the Harbormaster and pay her ship's slip fees. Behind her, members of the crew began the work of securing the vessel and preparing cargo for lifts; travelers from Floreth departed the ship carrying their belongings and gear.

Two travelers made their way up the long seven flights of stone stairs to finally reach the town's square. The statue of its Matron held a lantern out with an extended arm to the sea.

One of the traveler removed a parchment from the folds of his black and brown robes; his companion, a woman of smaller stature, wore similar-colored robes, and she let her leather traveling bag collapse to the ground. He glanced over the parchment, nodded, and put it away. "This is it."

His companion rolled her eyes. "That was the longest, coldest, waterborne transit that I've ever experienced. It's freezing here and it's the dead-middle of summer. We're on the northern edge of the Fathoms, Mully. What ever do you ever expect to find here?"

"Sculder," said the man, turning around to face the rest of the town. He examined its shops shaped out of the stone itself. "According to the record, the artifact was last seen here in this Shyn, last year, Wintertide. There - at that Inn - The Wayfarer's Landing. That'd be a good place to start. But not the best place."

His blonde traveling companion wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to keep herself warm. Her academic robes were better suited for the drier cold of the mainland. "Not the best place? What do you mean?"

"The best place to start," Sculder responded dryly,  "may be to ask the horse directly."

* * *

The bellows roared at the Four Dwarves Smithy. Whik, one of its proprietors, was busy slamming his hammer into the shoulder plate of a soldier's armor to shape it just right when the large barn doors of the Smithy slid slightly open to reveal two strangers to the Shyn, wearing the black and brown robes of teaching academics from Pax Arcana. Whik slowed his strikes and squinted at the strangers.

"Greetings," said the taller one, closing the door behind him.

The shorter one removed her cowl exposing her "It's quite warm in here. Very comfortable."

"Aye," Whik responded cooly. He set down his hammer and stalled his bellows. "Hot. That 'appens 'round here. Now, can I help ye?"

The taller fellow approached. "Yes. I'm Savant Mully and this is Savant Sculder. We're from-"

"-Pax Arcana, yes, boy, I recognized yer robes," Whik said, cutting him off. "I'm a dwarf, lad. I recognize yer uniforms. I asked 'ow I could help ye?"

Rolling her eyes, Sculder allowed herself to look about the shop and its many displays of tools spread across the wall - armor and weapons and shields hung there - while her partner continued and removed a parchment from his cloak.

"We are following-up on reports of an uncataloged artifact. Last year, at a Wintertide celebration held at Wayfarer's Landing, witnesses reported a singing amulet."

Whik's face flushed red and he waved his arms. "A singing what? Preposterous! I don't know what yer talkin' about."

"A singing amulet," Sculder stepped in, now looking directly at the flustered blacksmith, apparently becoming aware of his unexpected emotional response. "One that conversed freely with others and seemed to have its own will. It was supposedly made of stone yet it surprisingly demonstrated physical emotive characteristics. It reportedly even became intoxicated-"

"Missus Sculder!", Whik declared and brushed his hands against his smithy apron to smear black smut across it. He extended his arm to the door. "I swear to the both of you that I haven't seen no happy-talkin' drunk amulet 'round these parts an', if I ever run across it, I will notify the good folks at the university right away. Now, I bid ye a good day!"

The man named Mully interjected with a cool, dead-pan stare. "But sir, the amulet. It was reported to have been worn around the neck of a dwarf."

Whik's mustaches twisted into a knot.  "What're you sayin'? You're thinkin' that I've got some chatterin', obnoxious amulet shaped in the head of a dwarf around me neck? Right now? 'Cause I'm a dwarf? Here!" And Whik ripped open his shirt to expose a very fury, gray tuft of naked hair. "No amulet! Now get!"

Mully nodded at Sculder. "All right. We'll go. Sculder." And both of them exited the shop. The door slammed loudly behind them.

Sculder threw her cowl up over her head and marched down the path with Mully. She called out to him, "You heard him, Mully. We never mentioned that it was a dwarf's head. He's seen it before, that's obvious. So why are we leaving?"

Mully gave a sneer out of the corner of his mouth. "His testimony helped confirm some of the details that had been lacking in the initial reports."

"But Mully," Sculder replied as they made their way to the Wayfarer's Landing. "Shrunken talking heads isn't exactly new to magic. There are plenty of documented examples where rituals have kept severed heads alive post-death and enchantments that would both shrink the head and keep it talking, none of which represent true consciousness. They are common parlor tricks and not indicative of true infusement of both the spiritual and intellectual form, like what you're asserting is here."

Mully got a stubborn look about him and kept walking. "How else can these reports be explained, Sculder? An amulet that sung Wintertide carols? That told stories to small children and anyone who would listen? That reportedly conveyed unique experiences told from the perspective of a dwarven warrior? No, what we're dealing with here isn't common magicka in a role of trickery but in a role of transcendence.  This is unlike anything we've ever encountered, Sculder."

"What are you saying?", Sculder asked as they approached the Wayfarer's Landing. Mully rested his hand on the door and paused before opening it, and looked directly into Sculder's blue eyes.

"I'm saying that the amulet in question wasn't just animated, Sculder. It was birthed. It's a living, breathing thing. And it was here. I know it."

* * *

"Yah, I remember. Last year. Wintertide."

Ehren of House Hawthorne served both of the strangers a cold white ale in wooden mugs. Sculder found it oddly satisfying; Mully pushed it away and seemed to favor of the mug of water and bread they were served. He was showing the proprietor of the Inn rough sketches of the amulet.

Ehren's husbands busily attended to other patrons and managed the cooking in the kitchen. She pointed at the drawing. "It had a heavier chain. Brass, maybe. And it talked, yah, but it was, um, grumpy, you know? Always tellin' Gorbash to do this an' do that-"

"Gorbash?", Sculder asked, placing her hand gently on the hand of Ehren. "Any information would help with our investigation, miss. Who is Gorbash? Did this 'Gorbash' wear the amulet?"

"Did it look like he could take it off? Remove the amulet?", Mully interjected, looking seriously at Ehren.

"Yah, yah - he removed it, threw it in a mug, sure," Ehren said, withdrawing her hand cooly from Sculder's. "It sank in there and and it would talk. It made bubbles! It was kinda funny."

"But it was made ... made out of stone?", Sculder insisted. She looked bat at her partner. "Mully, this makes no sense. How could stone breathe?"

Mully took a long drink of his clear ale and he looked calmly at Ehren. "This Gorbash character. A dwarf himself? Or a local man? Which House did he belong to?"

Ehren glanced back at the kitchen to make certain her husbands weren't overwhelmed with the orders. She then smiled at her guests. "No, he was a dwarf of the Kingdoms. A freeman. He traveled with a companion, another dwarf. Her name ... her name was Tamroohk."

"Tamroohk?", Sculder said, looking back at her. "Another dwarf?"

She nodded. "Yep. Another dwarf."

"How do you spell that? T-a-m..."

"Excuse me," and Ehren went back to the kitchens to help expedite the dinner process.

Sculder leaned in over the table and looked directly at Mully. "What're the odds of so many dwarves converging in a single space in the cosmos at one moment in time?"

Mully washed down his last drink with a long pull on the water. "What're the odds of an animated shunken head being capable of befriending dwarven kensmen? Listen, apparently this Gorbash ... he could freely remove it-"

"-which would indicate a non-possessive, un-cursed metaphoric expression of the magicka," Sculder finished Mully's thought. She then took a long draw on her mug of ale. "But if there were numerous dwarves like Whik, and Gorbash, and Tamroohk, why did this amulet choose Gorbash?"

"Choice, free will, Sculder," Mully said. "Don't you get it? That's one of Anbar's First Principles. What we're dealing with here isn't an artifact or an item or a thing. It's an entity. An entity bound to a stone representation and suspended from a brass chain."

"What you're suggesting, Mully," Sculder shot back with a little bit of a drunken swagger, "is that our problem here is more of a possession than an enchantment. Perhaps we should be speaking to the Sister of the Shyn's Abbey-"

"Nonsense, Sculder. Magicka 101: the arcane isn't entirely isolated from spiritual. One man's spiritual possession is another man's cantrip. What can't be inordinately explained by the controlled wielding of cosmic forces can't be directly contrived as the workings of either deities nor demons-"

"-but nor can it be dismissed!", Sculder said, slapping the mug to the table. She frowned, apparently uncertain why she was feeling so light headed.

Mully cocked his eyebrow. "But the Abbey. That's a good lead. Let's go."

* * *

Sister Susyn of Gaia joined the pair marveling after the beautiful stained glass that hung in the Abbey. Susyn smiled and greeted her visitors.

"It's been too long since I've conferred with scholars of Pax Arcana. Especially so soon after the fall of Rhackdalia. It is a pleasure to meet with the both of you. How can I help?"

Mully bowed. "Rhackdalia's collapse unleashed a bevy of magical devices and artifacts into the wild and our order will spend decades to account for their loss and to re-catalog the inventory. But we're here today on another matter."

Sculder and Mully explained that they were following-up on witness accounts of a singing dwarven amulet at the Wayfarer's Landing over last year's Wintertide. They explained that they considered the artifact highly dangerous and needed to catalog it before it could do more damage.

"More damage?", Susyn asked. "You feel that it's somehow capable of manipulating its host?"

Sculder began. "It's possible that, originally, the stone amulet was by itself an innocuous stone amulet until a ritual was cast on it-"

"-cast on it as if it were a vessel-", Mully added.

Sculder continued. "-and the spiritual essence, a residue-"

"-a soul?", Susyn added. "A soul. You believe that the amulet trapped a soul within it? Or that it's somehow possessed? Why - that would be a feat of arcana and belief, plus the willingness of the subject to forgo eternal life with the Mother?"

"Willingness?", Sculder asked. "What do you mean?"

"A spirit is rarely compelled to remain somewhere that it doesn't want to be, Savant Sculder. Only the most cruel and powerful of magics can bind a soul to this plane. The subject would have willingly desired to remain and not pass to Mother's embrace."

Mully asked, "So you're saying that it's possible? That it's possible a malevolent spirit is trapped on this plain and suspended from a chain around some unsuspecting fellow's neck?"

Susyn shrugged. "I'm saying that a spirit - be it either malevolent or benevolent - could be bound or otherwise compelled to stay, given the right combination of will and sustaining magicka."

Sculder and Mully looked at each other.

Mully first said, "Sustaining."

Sculder then said, "Draining. But until what?"

Susyn looked at the both of them and smiled. "It is, um, rather spooky, how you complete each other's sentences."

* * *

"You know, boy," Vongur said from his hairy dwarven chest, looking out into the darkness and rain underneath a magical dome that kept them dry.  "This is cheatin'."

Gorbash had a very dwarven chest. It was the model of dwarvenness and would have been nearly pornographic to dwarven women who - if they were there and paying attention - would have drooled to put their face up to it, or, spend just a few minutes nuzzling in its awesome furyness. Gorbash, looking out into the darkness sporting a fake pirate eye patch, waiting for the darkness to suddenly sprout another hydra head, shrugged. "Whatchya mean?"

"Magics. Transparent domes. There's nuthin' a little bit of wet ever hurt," Vongur replied. "Does you good. Sleepin' under the stars. Snorin' in a mud puddle. The elements, lad, they toughen you up. Make you better. This here, yeah, it's like, well-"

Gorbash squinted at the darkness. He thought he saw it move. Gorbash felt tired; it'd been a long day. He's felt so lethargic lately. Must be all the sailing and sea-faring stuff.

"-unhealthy." Vongur finished. "And you need to be healthy, son. You need to be ... really healthy."

And then suddenly, Gorbash could make out a shadow in the darkness, human, walking along the edge of the camp ...

R