Enter Elder

Mazes are so peaceful, thinks Soder as he hangs in null space and casts a quickened spell on himself. Rotting and invisible wings beat the non-air of the planar trap. No one attacking you, no real danger, just as much time as you want to plan. When I return, the most important thing will be to cut off the accursed Godlight. With that gone, they won't have a chance. He swivels the demiplane around him, sliding the draconic bulk of his borrowed body past myriad planes of force. His mind flickers past the remaining spells that lie quiescent in his mind, caressing them mentally as he considers their best use.

A wall of stone may be best for what I have in mind. It should stop Velendo and the goody-goody twins in their tracks. If it paralyzes Nolin as well, then I'll simply teleport him to safety and return to the fight. The end of the maze looms before him, and Soder hesitates for just a few seconds as a worry nags at him. He shakes it off, blinks dry nictitating membranes over his reptilian and rotting eyes, and bursts back into reality.

Below him the monk Galthia swings acrobatically around a pillar on top of the rubble, deliberately risking an unobstructed line of fire from the ghoulish ballisteer brought in by Soder. Galthia has been around enough mind flayers to know what to do when he faces a psionic foe: hit them hard and fast.

"Tsk tsk," gloats the verminous ballisteer as it waggles a mocking finger at Galthia. A telekinetic urge flings a crystal sphere into Galthia's face where it shatters easily. Glutinous green slime spatters out and coats the monk's head and chest. Two more spheres crash into Galthia's chest, also doing minimal damage but covering him in flesh-devouring ooze. The undead skaven settles back on its haunches with a wide grin on its rotting lips, anticipating the fun of watching Galthia's skin deliquesce.

"You probably don't know this because you've never been to the surface," Galthia uses a forefinger to flick some of the deadly slime away from his eyes as he leans in confidentially, "but green slime is instantly killed by sunlight." The undead skaven's eyes widen in confusion. It follows Galthia's gaze down towards the brightly glowing after-image of the sun god thirty feet away, looks back at the monk, and understanding clicks in place at about the same time that Galthia crushes its skull with a flurry of blows.

Behind the collapsing skaven, three more archers are destroyed by both Agar's sunburst and a positive energy burst from Malachite. Galthia stands to jump down and attack the Ivory King, who is now almost devoid of guttering flame but still howling in agony, but Soder's crushing fist of spite slams down fifty feet away and the monk almost falls from the shockwave.

Velendo curses as he picks himself up out of the crater made by the descending force fist. "It missed my invisible wall!" he snarls to Cruciel. Glaring up at the hovering spell effect, Velendo mutters an ancient prayer designed to strip away enchantment. The massive fist fades away, but Velendo's arcane sight catches a glimpse of something else flying overhead. "Agar, I see something up there. Is Soder back?"

Agar glances up with his true seeing. "Uh oh."

Just like that, a domed wall of stone encloses the glowing patch of holy sunlight lighting the ruins.

With the light cut off, darkness and soul-draining cold descend like an icy rain. The last of Nolin's fire is snuffed from the Ivory King's burning body, the unprotected Tao shouts in pain and surprise, and Soder giggles at the familiar burst of buoying power. He flicks a simple disintegrate at Mara and follows with a chained darkening bolt. Deteriorating eyes scan the rubble beneath him.

His Majesty was on fire; maybe something that Nolin did? Of course it would be; that boy is resourceful. If anyone could hurt the King, it would be him. Soder chuckles to himself in pride. I'll have to save him before His Majesty decides to punish him, though. Hmmm; where is he? Probably dimension doored to safety or something similar.

Malachite is thrown backwards as the force of the chain darkening bolt radiates off from Mara and hits him. "Mara?" He shakily regains his balance. "Are you..."

"Fine," calls the other Radiant Knight. "I have on Velendo's necklace of iron body. I guess Soder is back. Where is he?"

"He's invisible, but we'll deal with him," thinks Velendo over the mindlink. "We need that damn wall shattered NOW! I'm horribly crippled without the sunlight, and the Ivory King and Soder are only strengthened. That's our top priority."

"On it," mutters Priggle. He converges on the cold stone dome along with Galthia and Stone Bear. Each of them begins to hit it as hard as possible, intent on shattering the magical rock and releasing the light inside.

Tao shudders under the assault of negative energy. The tree-like angel she has just gated in grasps her with one gentle hand, and instantly the insidious weakness ceases. Tao looks up into the solar's ancient eyes. "Help us!" she gasps, regaining her breath. She gestures with one sword at the Ivory King, squaring off with Mara and Malachite across the rubble.

"I can not help you directly, Tao Camber," rumbles the solar. "There is a reason. Look." He lifts Tao into the air and bids her to gaze out at the dead Goddess's body a quarter mile away. Suddenly, Tao sees. Four massive angels with ebony wings stand like cenotaphs, one on each side of the body, stretching up and up towards the ceiling until their solemn faces are lost in the shadows. Tao looks at them and the only thing she can think of is "undertaker." They are puissant, and eternal, and just seeing them causes unnoticed tears to course down Tao's cheeks. The angel of Galanna puts Tao down, and the vision ceases. The solar speaks.

"Your companion Agar Smoketallow foresaw this, priestess. He dreamt of a funeral where servants acted as pallbearers and could not move on until they had a new master. These are the servants of Imbindarla, and it is their duty to stand with Her until another assumes her crown. I will fight one of the contenders if you wish, but I will attract them, and it will mean my death. You are the blessed of the Goddess, and I am your soldier. The angel bows his head, waiting for Tao's request.

"No," says Tao reluctantly. She nervously spins a sword in each fist. "Can you heal us instead?"

"I can." The nearby Defenders are momentarily bathed in a dappled green light that reminds them of the sun piercing thick leaves, and myriad wounds close. The Ivory King snarls and moves towards the stone-encased sunlight, planning on stopping its demolition before the stone is shattered. Mara and Malachite step up to block his path.

"Get out of my way." He's clearly still in pain from Nolin's sacrifice, and his bubbling voice is furious.

"No." The two paladins glance at one another and both move forward with weapons drawn. Malachite grasps something tightly in his other hand.

The Ivory King shrugs, deposits of smoking fat bobbling as his swollen bulk lurches forward. "Fair enough, whelp. You already died once. I hope you enjoyed it." His steaming tongue snakes out and enwraps Malachite in a barbed embrace. The paladin is yanked forward. Unimaginably sharp teeth snap down on Malachite's head, but they grate instead off the gorget of his githyanki-designed crystal armor. Malachite looks up into the reeking maw that just devoured his friend, and with watering eyes manages to barely flick something down the gullet.

The Ivory King stops, coughs, and uncoils his tongue to fling Malachite away from him. Odd unseen shapes begin to distort the blubbery skin of his throat. With a vast retching noise he brings up the foreign object and tosses it aside, and then points to the shadowy air above them where Soder is trading deadly attack spells with Velendo and Agar. "Idiots. I heard how you killed the dragon. I'm about to become the Lord of Death, and a measly plant isn't going to stop me."

The growing Quaal's Feather Token of a tree tumbles down the slope of broken bone behind them, and Malachite's face falls. "So much for secret plan number one,"he thinks wryly to the others. "If we don't get back in the sunlight, there's a good chance we're going to die."

"Almost got it!" pants Priggle as he swings his magical pick for all he's worth. A small keyhole of brilliant light lances from the stone mound and across the dark hill. The deep gnome glances over to Stone Bear, who is suddenly standing stock still instead of attacking the wall. "What? Stone Bear, what is it?"

Stone Bear doesn't hear him. He's listening to the voice in his head. Elder is there, filling his consciousness.You have been patient, Stone Bear, the death spirit hisses. and I thank you. Do not worry. This undead will not become a God. We will not allow that to happen.

Uh oh, interjects his spirit guide Bear, I think that. . . Elder drowns out the animal spirit with ease. His sinuous voice is horribly loud in the shaman's head.

You have brought me here, Stone Bear, here to this place of death. I will deliver you. The corpse of the Goddess is the key to my ascension. Once I devour it myself, the ghoul will hold no more power over you.

"Uh, guys...?" begins Stone Bear out loud. His voice is cut off by a shuddering earth tremor. Several hundred feet from the bone hill, partway between the ruined mansion and the calcified body of the fallen Goddess, something erupts from the solid rock in an explosion of bone and darkness. The shape is so black that it seems to devour light, and it writhes up from the ground like a horrible worm.

I am Elder.

Agar's jaw drops. "What the heck is that?"

Velendo's face has gone completely white as understanding comes crashing in. "It's Stone Bear's spirit guide. It's one of the two remaining undead primal worms that have been on Spira even before the Gods. And Calphas help us, I think it wants Imbindarla's essence for itself."