The War Without End – Episode 2.2

Unable to find Fallana, Ebon and Shilaze make their way back to the Fortress of the Second. They are battered and beaten from their encounter with the Half-Orcs and must get their wounds treated before doing anything else. Fortunately more of the Med-Jai have returned while they were away, including Zorak and his sons. One of the new arrivals duly provides the healing they require.

While they are being treated, Kaplann the Dwarf hurries over to talk with them.

“What happened to you?” he asks gruffly.

They tell him about the ambush and how Fallana was taken.

“By Moradin’s Beard!” Kaplann curses. “That’s all we need! We’ll have to change all the portals immediately. Fallana knows our secrets, including all the keys. There’s no telling what our enemies might learn from her. I’ll get on it right away. You’d better tell Heiron.”

And so, Ebon and Shilaze go in search of Heiron. They find him in his study talking with a woman they do not recognise.

Before they can speak, Heiron says, “I know. Something has happened to Fallana”

“She was taken” Ebon acknowledges. “We have to find her and mount a rescue.”

“Actually, as is so often the case, things are a little more complicated than they seem”, Heiron proclaims mysteriously. “Ebon, Shilaze, meet Fallana, or should I say Lavera”

He indicates the figure in front of him.

The woman turns. Her androgynous features ripple and she turns into Fallana.

“Perhaps you will find this form more recognisable?” she offers.

“I don’t understand”, says Ebon, perplexed.

Heiron explains that Lavera, the woman before them, is a Doppelganger and that she is the new host of a non-corporeal entity that previously inhabited the body of Fallana. Before the entity possessed her, Fallana had been a member of the Doomguard, and had aspired to become one of an inner sect known as the Tainted. The Tainted are true servants of the Nameless Lord and are twisted through exposure to His madness. Those that survive their ritual of becoming are easily recognisable because they have black soulless eyes.

From this description Ebon and Shilaze realise that the assassin, Tharviol, had been subjected to this torment.

“So what are you saying?” Ebon asks, “That we should forsake Fallana simply because the entity has moved on to someone else?”

Heiron shakes his head sadly. “You have to understand Ebon that the Fallana we knew is gone. The entity made her who she was, and it is no longer a part of her. She is altogether different now.”

Ebon scowls and looks like he is about to dispute his grandfather’s statement but Heiron raises a hand to stay his protest. “Nevertheless, it remains imperative that we rescue her before the Nameless One’s servants discover the truth about her”, the old wizard adds. “The nature of the entity must be kept secret at all costs.”

At this moment the discussion is interrupted by a knock at the door. It is Delwar, come to tell them that Derioch is waiting for them in the entrance hall. This effectively ends the conversation. As they leave, Heiron makes it clear that what they have learned must not leave the room.

When they meet her, Derioch apologises for not having come sooner. She explains that the Gatehouse is being overloaded with patients from amongst the clergy of the goddess Tomeri.

Ebon and Shilaze take her to see their friends.

A short while later, after a thorough examination, Derioch diagnoses that the three Med-Jai have been overloaded with positive energy, and she believes that she may be able to speed up their recovery. So saying, she casts an assortment of spells and then Elsa, Kai and Baratus wake up.

Sadly there is no known cure for Seela. Favoured Souls have a special bond with their divinity; the trauma of severing it causes irreparable mental damage. Derioch offers a peaceful end to Seela’s suffering but the Med-Jai aren’t ready to make that decision yet.

They thank Derioch and she departs.

Once she is gone, Ebon explains to Elsabeth, Kai and Baratus what has occurred during the past few hours.

As he is finishing his account, Lavera emerges from Heiron’s study. She is back in her original form, and simply introduces herself to the others as a Doppelganger serving the Med-Jai. She informs them that she has been enlisted to help them find Fallana and then leaves them to do just that.

The others can only wait for her to return. They gather together in the dinning hall and Heiron comes to speak with them.

The old wizard still looks haggard from his ordeal but there is much they need to discuss.

“To absent friends” he poignantly toasts at the start of the meeting.

First they talk about the outcome of the battle with the Daelkyr.

Heiron looks grave. “It would seem that we failed”, he says, “both in assessing our enemy’s objectives and in stopping them. The portal to Eberron has been totally obliterated, which apparently is what the Daelkyr always intended. And to make matters worse we paid a heavy price for the defeat. I see that among others, Blanca, Korbin and Growler are not here, I assume they also fell in the final battle?”

“No, not all of them” Ebon replies, “Blanca and Korbin were still alive right up until the explosion, but for some reason we ended up back here and they did not.”

Heiron looks surprised. “Then there is hope that they are still alive”, he says joyfully. “That is good news indeed. As soon as I am rested I will use magic to attempt to locate them.”

Next they talk about Fallana’s abduction, though Heiron keeps the details of the discussion that occurred in his study a secret. He simply tells the others that as soon as Lavera sends them word of Fallana’s whereabouts, a rescue will be attempted.

Then he pauses.

“You” he says after a moment. He is apparently talking to some shadows in a corner of the room. The Med-Jai strain to see who or what he is addressing, but try as they might they can see nothing there. “Your presence here has been puzzling me for some time” Heiron continues, “I had thought that you were the champion of the Seventh Tribe, but now I believe that I was incorrect in that assumption. Given what I have observed it now seems more likely that your appearance is in some way tied to my granddaughter… Shilaze can you shed any light on this?”

The others are surprised when Shilaze replies in the affirmative. Apparently, though no one can see him, a Gith Zerai known as the Silent Man is standing in the room with them. Shilaze explains that she first met him in the Med-Jai prison and that he helped her survive. Since then he keeps turning up wherever she goes. He never speaks but in certain ways she is able to understand him.

Heiron admits that although the Silent Man is mysterious, it seems he can be trusted.

Following on from this, Elsabeth also lays some cards on the table. She tells them that a letter has arrived from Legagog, saying that he wishes to meet with her. He has offered to return the magic rods that he “borrowed” if she goes to see him once again. Given her previous experiences with the creature, it would seem foolish to accept another invitation, nevertheless she is inclined to go; not only because the rods are powerful but because Legagog may have information regarding a personal matter that is of some importance to her. Only a few weeks ago, her Uncle went missing under suspicious circumstances and on their last meeting Legagog hinted that he knew something more about the disappearance. At that time she had been in no position to press him further.

Heiron promises her that, when the immediate crisis is over, the Med-Jai will assist her in finding her Uncle. Ebon nods his agreement.

“We should never forget that this tribe is our family”, Heiron declares.

And speaking of lost family, Heiron has news of Ebon, Shilaze and Blanca’s mother, Grisa. The Modrons have revealed that ten years ago, while stranded on the Eberron side of the portal, Grisa discovered an infiltrator trying to open a gateway to their world. She struggled with the creature and the two fell into the portal and disappeared.

Heiron does not know what became of her after that but he believes that she may have somehow been returned here. He shows them an image of the infiltrator that the Modron provided. It is a faceless insectoid, dark and spindly in form. Heiron gives the image to Elsabeth.

“When you next see Legagog, ask him what he knows of this creature. No payment is required for this service. Legagog is already in my debt. Tell him I said this.”

Finally Heiron apprises them of some changes to security that will be occurring. The location of the gate between the Fortress and Sigil will be changing. It will be moved to the interior of a temple, dedicated to a long forgotten god. There it will be guarded by a number of caryatid columns, which will animate and defend the portal if the correct password is not spoken by anyone who approaches it.

With the meeting concluded, Heiron informs them that there are matters that he must attend to that prevent him from accompanying them on the mission to rescue Fallana. Given what they have dealt with in recent weeks however, he is confident in their abilities to get her back. He excuses himself and leaves them to wait for Lavera.

About half-an-hour later the Doppelganger returns with word of Fallana. It seems she is being held in an underground lair, guarded by a Dragon.

Ebon, Shilaze, Baratus, Kai and Elsabeth rapidly ready themselves for battle and then follow Lavera into the portal.

They emerge in a shadowy tunnel. Up ahead there is a faint glow of illumination.

Moving towards it they come to the top of a steep slope that leads down to another level. The decline is shaley and there is little chance of them descending without making a lot of noise, so Baratus casts a silence spell to smother any sound.

The group precariously slips and slides their way down to the bottom of the slope. They find themselves in a dimly lit hall. Facing them are two large wooden doors.

Cautiously they move up and attempt to get them open. Between the two of them, Ebon and Shilaze are just able to budge the doors enough to see that behind them is a solid stone wall.

“It’s a trap!” Shilaze warns, just as a number of black-clad, Dwarvish figures suddenly materialise out of the darkness around them.

A desperate struggle follows, as the Evil Dwarves continue to appear, attack and then vanish back into the shadows. It is difficult to judge their numbers.

As the Med-Jai try to defend themselves, a winged shape drops out of the darkness above them. The Dragon swoops down towards Elsabeth. Its soulless black eyes bore into her soul.

Somehow Elsa manages to survive the attack, slipping through the Dragon’s clutches and trapping it on the other side of a wall of force that she conjures behind them. The spell only has a short duration however, so it will not protect them for long.

The Dragon glares at her and then retreats to the top of the slope. As it does so it blows out all the torches so they can no longer see where it has gone.

For a while the hit and run battle with the Dwarves continues, but then they start to hear scrabbling and burrowing noises coming from behind them. Chunks of masonry begin falling from one of the walls and they see the Dragon emerging through a hole it has created.

Bursting past the Dwarves, Shilaze charges the frightful creature to stop it getting into the hall with them. The rest of the Med-Jai are unable to aid her as they are still caught up in the fighting. In single combat she will not be able to hold it for long.

With the situation deteriorating, Baratus calls out to his god, “Fharlanghn, Dweller on the Horizon, hear my prayer and send us your aid”

The results are impressive to say the least. For a moment the hall and all its occupants are bathed in a blinding white light. Where the holy aura touches the Dwarves they scream and fall to the ground, covering their eyes and ears. It leaves them shivering and weeping, blinded and deafened. They are no further trouble to the Med-Jai.

With the Dwarves incapacitated, Ebon rushes to help Shilaze with the Dragon, but he is too late. It forces its way past her and, with a flapping of its great wings, takes to the air once again.

As it ascends, Elsabeth tries to disintegrate it, but it turns on her and then gets away.

Ebon quickly moves to protect the injured sorceress but the Dragon disappears up into the darkness. They wait for its return but it does not reappear.

After a while, Baratus casts a flight spell on Shilaze and Ebon, and the two cautiously rise up to the ceiling to flush the Dragon out. However it has mysteriously disappeared.

A short while later, Lavera discovers a secret passage that leads to another room containing various instruments of torture. The rack, among other things, appears to have been in recent use.

An open portal beckons from the opposite wall. Thick tendrils of fog seep through from somewhere beyond. The friends can only presume that this is the way Fallana has been taken.

To be continued…

Notes:

The Med-Jai were told that the Doppelganger Lavera has had an arcane mark placed upon her upper arm so that she can be identified by those who know it is there.

Baratus’s god, Fharlanghn, is the god of travellers and adventurers.