The War Without End – Episode 1.13

Heiron, Graffan, Ebon and Korbin depart from the Fortress of the Second on their way to the world of Aluen to see the Death Knight Tangrel, who is reputedly serving his goddess Wee-Jas as ambassador to the Court of the Queen of the Abeil. They pass through a portal, arriving on a vibrant world that seems more ‘alive’ than any place they have ever been to before. Once they are there Heiron begins teleporting them toward their destination. A full day of travel later they reach a tiered city swarming with bee-people, the City of the Abiel.

As they approach, soldier bees fly down and challenge them. There is a brief exchange between Heiron and one of the bee-people and then the soldiers escort them into the city. Workers buzz busily all around.

They are taken up through five levels before they are stopped by another group of soldier bees guarding the entrance to the next tier. These bees will not permit Heiron to go any further. They fear his sorcery is a threat to their Queen and will not allow him to come any closer. If the others are to proceed they must go on alone.

Heiron assures Ebon that if they need him he will come, and so Ebon, Graffan and Korbin leave the old wizard to wait for them in the city below while they go onward into the Royal Citadel to complete their mission. They are escorted by a Captain Brazzalact, who says he is to be their liaison whilst they are among the Abiel.

“Bzzz… Bzzz… I understand you wish to speak with Ambassador Tangrel”, Brazzalact says. “A meeting has been arranged for noon tomorrow.”

Brazzalact then takes them to rooms where they are to wait until the meeting. Brazzalact is courteous and refers to them as “Honoured Guests” but the companions note that they are kept under guard at all times.

The next day Brazzalact comes early. “There is someone who wishes to speak with you”, he says.

Eight soldier bees then escort them to a large chamber where they meet an adolescent Abiel. Brazzalact introduces him as a Prince of the Royal Blood. His name is hard to pronounce. Apparently the Prince is interested in meeting Humans and is curious about their ways. Brazzalact asks a number of questions on the Prince’s behalf. The Prince never speaks but listens intently to the answers. Most of the questions relate to how each of the three friends functions within their hive. They do their best to answer in ways the Abiel will understand. It is difficult to gauge the Prince’s reaction, he stares at them unblinkingly through his many-faceted eyes, but in the end he seems satisfied and the curious meeting is concluded.

Next they are escorted to Tangrel’s quarters where the ambassador is waiting for them.

It is quite chilly inside. The imposing figure of the Death Knight Tangrel sits confidently behind a huge stone desk, flanked by two large Wights.

Plucking up courage, Ebon questions Tangrel about the events surrounding his death. Surprisingly Tangrel indicates that he bears Rae, or Shilaze as she now appears to be known, no particular ill will. He does not consider a crime was committed against him, as he and Rae both believed that he was being possessed by the Dark Lord at the time. Although this assumption later proved to be incorrect, Tangrel maintains that he would probably have done the same thing himself if the positions were reversed. Tangrel is also puzzled that his brother, Tanemous, would make the case against Shilaze. Tanemous is well aware that Tangrel bears Rae no ill will, so there is no obvious motivation for his actions. Cryptically Tangrel observes that the Tanemous he knew would not have pursued it. He suggests that they go speak to Tanemous about the matter, but he advises caution. All may not be what it appears.

In addition he offers to notify certain contacts he still has within the Eleventh Tribe of Tanemous’s puzzling behaviour. He is certain they will also be quite interested in determining his motives.

“Pass on my regards to Tanemous when you see him…” Tangrel adds “Oh and do let me know how things turn out.”

And so their audience is concluded. The three companions are escorted back to their rooms where they are made to wait another two hours for the time appointed for them to leave. Eventually Brazzalact takes them back out of the Citadel to where Heiron is waiting.

After filling Heiron in on all that they have learned they begin the long journey back to the portal. This time they travel many leagues by magic carpet. When the light fades Heiron causes the carpet to descend and conjures a Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion for them to spend the night.

A short while later they sit around a banquet table in the main hall and discuss developments.

During the conversation Ebon begins to question why Tanemous would orchestrate these events. He must know that holes in the case will eventually result in Shilaze being freed, so the best he can hope for is a temporary imprisonment. What benefit would this bring? Unless enemies of the Med-Jai intend that something happens to Shilaze while she is imprisoned or it is a ruse to keep Heiron and the Second of the Twelve distracted.

Heiron believes that the Twelfth Tribe may have simply engineered this in an attempt to reassert the Rae persona over Shilaze. Rae was created in an environment of hardship and abuse. Shilaze will suffer plenty of these in Carceri. If Rae returns the Hu-Ren Dai regain a useful instrument and the Second of the Twelve are deprived of one. It could be as simple as this.

Alarmed by this revelation, Ebon proposes finding some way of getting him into Carceri so he can help Shilaze resist reverting to the Rae persona, but Heiron argues that for the time being they are better served by continuing with their investigation. Grudgingly Ebon yields to his grandfather’s wisdom.

That evening Heiron uses magic to determine that Tanemous is on one of the cubes that make up the Battleplains of Avalas. In this place there are an infinite number of cubes moving through space, periodically colliding with one another. All are different sizes and, on their surfaces, armies are constantly fighting. This presents Heiron with a problem, as it will be extremely difficult to determine Tanemous’s exact location, because the cubes are constantly moving.

The next morning Heiron declares that he will attempt to build a Planar Compass, a device that will lock on to Tanemous and direct them to him. He proposes that once the compass is built he will use the Mirror of Triumphant Transportation to open a gate to Avalas so that Ebon, Graffan and Korbin can fly through on the magic carpet. Once there they will simply have to travel from cube to cube until they find him. Heiron will scrye them periodically to see how they are progressing and when the mission is complete he will open the portal again so they can return.

With their course of action determined they complete the journey back to Sigil. Heiron then locks himself in his study and begins work on the Planar Compass while Ebon, Graffan and Korbin go to the Temple of Heironeous to ask the Prelate for a holy relic called the ‘Staff of the Saintly’. Graffan believes that, if Tangrel is correct about Tanemous not being who he seems, they may be in need of some of the staff’s legendary powers of exorcising demons.

The next day, after Heiron has worked through the night on the compass, all is ready. He uses the Mirror of Triumphant Transportation to open a portal to Avalas and Ebon, Graffan and Korbin go through on the magic carpet to start their search for Tanemous.

Above them two massive armies fight across the surface of one cube, below them two more cubes crash into one another.

After many hours following the planar compass, they arrive at a small cube with what appears to be a cave-mouth on one side. They land the magic carpet on the surface and go inside.

Soon afterward a group of Hobgoblin guards escort them deep within the cube to where Tanemous is waiting.

“Why have you come here?” Tangrel’s brother demands.

Ebon replies. He attempts to question Tanemous regarding his part in Shilaze’s trial, confronting him with the fact that Tangrel does not consider what Shilaze did to him to be a crime. In response Tanemous remains stoic and unhelpful. He observes that it is the court that decides whether there has been a crime, not Tangrel.

They talk for some time but they make no headway. Tanemous stubbornly refuses to be baited into revealing anything. They are guests in the ‘Lion’s Den’ and he knows that he has all the advantages. Ultimately it is Ebon who tires of the verbal sparring. He thanks Tanemous for seeing them and indicates that it is time for them to depart. He does not wait to be escorted out by the guards.

Tanemous does not prevent them from leaving the room but there is a sense that they may not be allowed to get far. As they walk down the spiralling passageway that leads back to the surface, a half-dozen Hobgoblin guards close in menacingly behind them.

Then suddenly, two huge creatures materialise out of thin air. One fills the passage ahead of them, blocking their path, and the other is behind.

Ebon takes another step forward and slips effortlessly into a fighting stance.

“Well, at least we can be pretty certain Tanemous is one of the bad guys now” he mutters to Graffan.

To be continued…

Notes:

First appearances of Tangrel (Jurgen Prochnow) and Tanemous (Laurence Fishburne)

The two massive creatures the Med-Jai are facing at the end of this episode are Braxats.

This episode is continued in Episode 15: The Truth About Tanemous