The War Without End – Episode 2.4

After spending a few hours at the Temple of Heironeous persuading the Arch Prelate to help him with Fallana, Ebon leaves the priests preparing for the first part of the ceremony to revive her, and returns to the Fortress of the Second to seek out his friends.

When he arrives he finds a note left for him by Shilaze. It reads…

Ebon

Too much time has elapsed. Too much has been lost or taken. No longer can I stand by and do nothing. It is time I acted on what I have learned.

In all of this, perhaps only Blanca is innocent. Find her and guard our sister well.

Shilaze

Mutely Ebon folds the parchment and places it back inside the envelope. It seems that Shilaze has chosen to leave and pursue her own course. Perhaps he should go after her, but he has friends here and cannot abandon them so easily. Though he feels the loss of his sister’s strength deeply, he must stay.

Since his departure from the Theocracy he has felt little need for faith in the divine but now he glances heavenward and offers a short prayer for his sisters and their safe return.

Almost everyone is out, so after a short talk with Baratus, Ebon retires to his room.

Some time later Elsabeth seeks him out and delivers a disturbing message. There is a solemn, funerary air about her, she looks pale and her eyes are puffy around the edges. She is garbed from head-to-toe in black.

She tells him that two men approached her on her way to the Temple to pray for Kai’s soul. The men knew of her association with Ebon, and informed her that they had unfinished business with him. They demanded that she instruct him and his sister to meet them at a given location in three days time.

When Elsabeth describes the appearance and manner of the two men, Ebon is left with little doubt that one of them was Marann. It seems that the Knight Enforcer of Pholtus, who Ebon slew in a duel but a month earlier, has returned. The past is not so easily laid to rest.

Then Elsa hands him a second message from Shilaze. It reads…

Ebon

Graffan has joined forces with your old enemy, Marann.

Together they hunt you. Watch your back

Shilaze

After Ebon has digested the note’s contents, Elsabeth, who is deeply upset by the death of Kai, angrily vents her hurt and frustration regarding Ebon’s failure to inform them of the truth about the mission to rescue Fallana. She accuses him of placing them all in danger and says that she doesn’t know whether she can trust him any more.

Ebon is distressed by this and begs her forgiveness. She is one of his few surviving friends and he deeply regrets having kept things hidden from her, even though he was only following Heiron’s instruction. He admits that she, Baratus and Kai all deserved to know the real reason why they had been sent to recover Fallana; though in his defence, he points out that his own intentions had been to save Fallana, the same as theirs.

He goes on to tell Elsabeth what he knows and realising that he had concealed less than she imagined, she accepts his apology. In turn she admits that she may have been a little hard on him because she feels a certain responsibility for Kai’s death. The monk was her friend and she should have at least found a way to save his soul from the Wraiths.

They go on to talk about many things; Shilaze’s departure, the news that Blanca is alive but trapped in Carynach, the mystery of what happened to Ebon’s mother Grisa and the Infiltrator after they fell into the portal, the disappearance of Elsabeth’s Uncle Cornelius, the encounter with Sigora Brern, and the threat of Marann and Graffan.

During the conversation Elsabeth reveals that she intends to go back to Lexploor Forest to see Legagog. Despite the dangers, she has compelling reasons for accepting his invitation. Not least of which is to find out what he knows of her missing Uncle. She suggests that Ebon may wish to accompany her, since Legagog may also have answers to some of the many questions haunting him. However, she warns him that Legagog’s answers always come at a price.

Ebon has never met Legagog but he knows from talking with Elsabeth that the creature is not to be trifled with. Maybe he will find the answers that he seeks in Lexploor Forest and maybe he will not, either way he intends to accompany Elsabeth to make sure she is safe there.

At dinner, the weight of the empty seats around the table lends the meal a solemn air. Those present are Ebon, Elsabeth, Zorak and a new face at the Fortress named Stanton. The absence of their fallen comrades reduces them to an uncomfortable silence.

Later Elsabeth quietly excuses herself and retires to her room, at which point Ebon gives Zorak and Stanton a brief account of what has happened.

The next morning, at breakfast, Elsabeth announces her intention to go and speak to Legagog. In an effort to promote openness she explains her reasons to those present, Ebon, Baratus and Stanton.

Throughout her childhood, as she was growing up, her guardian, Uncle Cornelius, had been afraid of something. He had kept it hidden from her, never saying anything to even suggest that it was so, but she had known it to be true all the same.

In the years before she came to the Fortress of the Second, the signs that her Uncle felt dogged by some dark peril had grown progressively more apparent, as though he sensed that which pursued him was drawing nearer. When she left to take her place amongst the Second Tribe of the Med-Jai, Cornelius had placed two magic rods in her keeping. They were ancient artefacts and, though he made little of it at the time, it seemed clear that he believed they were of great importance.

To her dismay, a short while after she left him, her Uncle disappeared. She had not known whether he had gone into hiding or whether something had happened to him.

Since the rods have been in her possession she has puzzled over their secret. It was only recently that she discovered that they contained two scraps of parchment and, during her first encounter with Legagog, the spider creature had translated them. He told her that they gave clues to the location of the Book of Derelict Magics; a tome prized above all others by the fiendish Yugoloth. They would destroy worlds to obtain it. Hence she believes the Yugoloth to be the enemy that her Uncle was afraid of.

Having borrowed the rods from her during their second encounter, Legagog has now sent word that he has completed his study of them and has invited her to come and reclaim them. He has also hinted that he has some information for her regarding the disappearance of Cornelius. Consequently she must go and find out what he can tell her.

Ebon and Baratus volunteer to accompany her and Stanton, a practitioner of both the Arcane and the Divine arts, is sufficiently intrigued that he asks if he can join them.

A few hours later the small group depart for the Outlands and Lexploor Forest. Heiron has not returned since Ebon told him of the encounter with Sigora, so they leave word of where they are going with Delwar.

As Fallana is no longer around to guide them, Baratus agrees to take charge of transportation. He leads them through a portal to the Outlands and then uses magic to teleport them into the Forest. From there they follow the road towards Legagog’s domain.

After they have been walking for some time, there is a rustling in the undergrowth and they are attacked by a small group of tusked, red-skinned humanoids, each with four arms.

Stanton flies up into the air and Baratus turns invisible, while Elsabeth creates a magic wall of wind around herself and Ebon to protect them from the flights of arrows that pepper them from the bushes.

When it becomes apparent that Elsa’s magic has rendered the archers ineffective, the creatures change tactics and around a half-dozen of them burst out of concealment wielding wicked looking scimitar-like blades. They converge on Ebon and Elsabeth.

The sorceress rapidly weaves an enchantment to create a number of phantom copies of herself, in order to confuse their adversaries. Meanwhile Ebon lashes out with his glaive, but the four-armed creatures are agile and he finds it difficult to get a solid hit on any of them.

With the creatures darting nimbly in to attack, Elsabeth’s duplicates are slowly whittled down, but then Ebon finally manages to land a few blows and, after he kills one creature and badly injures two others, the remainder withdraw.

No sooner have the creatures gone than the protective wind that Elsabeth conjured around them is twisted by some dark magic. It turns malevolent, howling angrily like a wild thing, and the temperature plummets to well below freezing. A blizzard rages about them and hail pelts them from the heavens.

As they retreat from the fury of the ice storm Ebon briefly catches a glimpse of a monstrous pale-blue mantis-like insect through the snow, but then it is gone. Later, when he describes the creature to the others, Stanton identifies it as an Ice Devil called a Gelugon.

As soon as the group are clear Elsabeth opens a Dimensional Door and transports them away. They materialise further up the road. For the time being, they have left their mysterious attackers behind them.

They continue on into the forest and for a while there is no further incident, but then suddenly Elsabeth turns pale and has to sit down. When Ebon asks her what is wrong, she replies that she sensed a wraith-like presence at her side. Before departing it had wailed at her in an agonising tone “YOU… LEFT… ME… BEHIND.” She felt sure she had recognised the voice. It was Kai

“He has come back to haunt me” she whispers forlornly.

Eventually the small band reaches the edge of Legagog’s domain. Colossal spiders lurk in the trees to either side of the road, but the arachnids make no attempt to stop them. After a while, a small mechanical spider scuttles up to them and leads them onward.

Outside Legagog’s cave, many spiders seem to be gathering. As the group of Med-Jai arrives, a large number of colossal spiders head off into the forest in semi-organised fashion. Something seems to be up.

One of Legagog’s daughters comes to meet them. “My father is expecting you,” she says.

She makes polite conversation as she leads them through the tunnels. “He was delighted to have the opportunity to study the rods. He found them of great interest.”

Ebon asks about the movements of the spiders outside.

“You were followed by one of our neighbours” Legagog’s daughter replies. “It appears that one called Leannapazrak bears you a grudge. We would not normally interfere but she has trespassed in my father’s domain. This cannot be tolerated. His children will deal with the incursion”

“So Leannapazrak returns from the dead” comments Elsabeth.

Soon the companions arrive in Legagog’s inner sanctum. Pleasantries are exchanged and Legagog returns the rods to Elsabeth. He informs her that it was the Yugoloth that captured her mentor Cornelius and that, after they had finished with him, they sold him into slavery.

Apparently moved by Elsabeth’s distress at hearing this, Legagog makes her an offer. He knows of someone who would be willing to help her get her Uncle back, though mysteriously he will not say who it is. He offers to arrange for them to contact her if that is what she wishes. With little choice, Elsa says that she does.

When his business with Elsabeth is complete, Legagog turns to Ebon “Ebon Mordain. I see you are here without your sister. Do you know where she is?” he asks slyly.

“Which one?” Ebon cagily replies.

Legagog smiles. “Why Shilaze of course” he replies.

“No”

Legagog considers Ebon’s response for a moment and then asks. “And Blanca?”

Ebon suspects that Legagog is testing him. It seems that the creature already knows all the answers and is merely interested in seeing how he responds to the questions. He thinks carefully before replying, “I have recently discovered that she is trapped on the 637th layer of the Abyss, but what I don’t know is how to get her out?”

Legagog smiles. “There is only one being that I know of who might be able to answer that question”, he offers.

Ebon humours the spider creature by asking the obvious question. “Who?”

“Are you willing to pay the price for this information?” Legagog asks.

“And what would that price be?”

“Should you go to see this being you must tell me everything that occurs, everything that you hear and everything that you see.”

After some consideration Ebon agrees to this.

Legagog then reveals that the being in question is known as the Blind Clockmaker, an immensely powerful Yugoloth, one of the twelve fiendish beings from whom all other Fiends are believed to have sprung. Going to see him is not something they will be able to attempt any time soon.

Then Elsabeth shows Legagog the image of the Infiltrator that fell into the portal with Grisa. Legagog is able to identify it as one of the Kaorti, a powerful race of beings who dwell in nightmares and madness and seek to distort all reality to their own. It is rumoured amongst some that they come from the resting place of the Enemy.

With their business coming to a close, Legagog asks them if there are any further questions. Ebon decides to attempt one more trade. He offers to tell Legagog the name of the Lich Queen in exchange for anything that Legagog can then tell them about her.

“Very well young man. I accept,” Legagog chuckles.

“Her name was Sigora Brern” Ebon says.

Legagog thinks for a moment before a sly smile spreads across his lips. “Ah yes! How intriguing” he exclaims. “Though I am surprised you did not work it out for yourself. The clue is in the name after all.”

Ebon looks puzzled.

“Had you not considered rearranging the letters?” Legagog asks. “If you do you will discover that Sigora Brern is Grisa Reborn”

Notes:

This was the third appearance of Legagog (John Hurt), his first appearance of Season Two.

The translation of the pieces of parchment hidden in the magic rods occurred in Season One Episode 1.16: Dragons, Spiders and Trolls (Part One)