Céann 2

"We wish to know about the plans of the Ivory King."

Céann's body darkens, as if a shadow has passed across it. "He seeks to devour his mother and become as a God himself. Other Godlings wish the same, fighting like barracuda over scraps of flesh, but He has the means to reach his goal. Even now, he works to gain access to his Mother's flesh. Should he eat enough of it, he hopes to devour her divine spark, and thus boost himself into the heavens. This would be a terrible thing for the world indeed."

A communal sigh issues from the group. This time, Malachite doesn't look happy. "I knew it," he mumbles.

"He has called all to him, and the ghouls swarm to be with their master. He will draw upon them at the last. More than just you seek to stop him, but few are in a position to succeed."

"How soon?"

"Within the week. Less, almost certainly. You have not been fast enough, and his plans reach completion."

"How far are we away from Nacreous if we continue at our current pace?"

"Two weeks or more."

A glimmer of an idea forms in Velendo's eye, and he and Malachite exchange glances. "How far if we wind walk sixteen hours a day, all of us, straight there?"

Agar shakes his head. "Malachite, we can't..." The paladin cuts him off with a commanding gesture.

"How far?" he demands of Céann.

She shrugs, ripples coursing through her body. A fish-like scream echoes distantly through the surrounding wall of water. "If you do not become lost or distracted? Three days. One amongst you can divine the way." She points to Stone Bear, and the shaman feels his death spirit Elder uncoil within him.

I can sense the way, Elder confirms, when seen through your senses. I can guide you, and guide you truly. The darkness is calling.

Stone Bear nods. "I think I can guide us, if I'm not being lied to."

Oh, no, chuckles the shadowy form of Elder. I will guide you truly.

Velendo turns to the others. "If we reduce our numbers to the bare minimum, I think we can do it."

"Do we return to the surface and go directly to Imbindarla's corpse - wherever that is - or hurry onwards to Nacreous?" They discuss this for a while, and take a vote. Since it is easy to return to the surface but difficult to return to the underdark, the group decides to continue onwards to Nacroeus. If they need to, they can use Céann's gift to return to the surface and deal with the divine corpse.

"We'll have to do something about the dwarves."

"Not a problem. They need to be messengers. If sending still isn't working, only our troops can carry the message about how to cure the plague. Whatever it means, getting that information out quickly may save numerous lives. I suggest we have them carry notes and send them off to as many temples as we can between Eversink, Gaunt and Corsai. They can also carry word of our progress to date."

Splinder nods. "A fine idea. Some of my boys are well traveled, so we have some options. They'll be sorry to miss the end of things, but they'll follow orders." He harrumphs. "As long as they end up with a proper share of loot...?"

"Of course." Malachite sounds almost insulted, but Splinder chuckles.

"Best to have these things spelled out ahead of time. I have a different path for myself."

Mara turns from Grgl to the dwarf. "Splinder, what's that?" Behind her, without Mara to act as buffer, Tao and Grgl exchange hateful glances.

Splinder sighs. "You heard what she said about the Ebon Gate. I'm going to do what I should have done when we first heard about the place. I'm going to go assume the mantle of guardian."

Nolin blinks. "Splinder, you're going to be dooming yourself to an eternity in dark and lonely caves!"

The dwarf leans on his axe and raises one eyebrow. "Then you better win, and find me some dwarven settlers to keep me company, eh? If you fail, I'll be needed as a bulwark to keep back the ghouls. In any case, it's what's best for everyone. It's a sacrifice I'll gladly make."

"Splinder," says Tao, "we've known each other for years. We fought the Imbindarlites on top of Tovag Baragu together, we rode lizards across the desert together. It's worth saying that I'm proud of you."

The dwarf winks. "Don't fret, lass. I get the boring job. You still have the hard work ahead of you." Everyone else is silent, and more than one person claps Splinder on the back before he goes over to talk to his troops. Then, without long goodbyes or particular, the sturdy dwarf dissolves into a cascade of silvery water.

"What about Grgl?" asks Mara, concerned.

"Mara, we don't have space on the wind walk. I'm afraid he's going to have to stay."

"No! He terribly loyal to me, and he won't be any bother. He's not evil, he's just enthusiastic. Can't we take him?" Grgl, sensing that the incomprehensible conversation is about him, looms menacingly near Mara.

"Our enemies might find him," worries Nolin.

"We can't, Mara," says Malachite. "We're down to the bare minimum. If we take Luminor, we can't take Grgl." Mara stratches out a hand to touch her war horse's neck, and sighs. She turns to the lovestruck formorian giant.

"Grgl, I'm going to have to leave you again. I have a tremendously important mission for you, though."

"No! Grgl come with love! Grgl fight evil woman for right!" He shakes his club at Tao, who is clearly more than happy to oblige him. Mara steps between them again.

"But this is important! I need you to guard our back, and tell people lies about where we are going."

The giant looks heartbroken, in a hideous and malformed sort of way. "Grgl can lie good." His voice makes it obvious that this is not exactly correct.

Nolin shakes his head. "This isn't going to work," but Mara's eyes light up.

"Grgl, you kill any undead you come across, but don't tell anyone that we're continuing on by foot. Okay?"

The huge giant nods sadly. "Grgl not tell no one that you charging forward." He knocks his huge head into the ground between her feet. "Come back to me."

Mara touches him lightly. "Go with peace, and do good."

Céann emerges from her reverie and speaks. "My time here fades, for I have much to make right after my absence. Drink from my hands, and receive my gift." Céann's watery body bends over, and everyone takes a sip from the icy fluid that suddenly appears in her cupped palms. "And thus you receive my gift. May it carry you far from here, and may you find success. That is hidden from me in the currents of uncertainty, but I will know." And with that, Céann's body drops unceremoniously into the pool, and the shielding walls of water drop as well. The Plaza nearby is littered with dead kuo-toa, and dozens of faintly phosphorescent elder water elementals tread back and forth as they hunt down and destroy the creatures that held their mistress captive. One nearby has a dead kuo-toa floating inside of it.

"Hey, there you are!" From across the plaza a voice calls in common, and the half-orc explorer Shaw sprints towards them. He pants to a halt. "Some visit this turned out to be!"

Stone Bear looks at him with shadowed eye sockets. "How is it that you're still alive?"

Shaw looks surprised. "I was having a nice visit with the King before everything went to Hades. This your doing?"

"Yes, more or less."

Shaw looks impressed. "You don't fool around. Listen, there's no ghoulish ambassador here as far as I know, but there IS a mind flayer emissary from the nearby city of Tothokkil. There's also a whole lot of slaves being kept under the palace." The group quickly agrees on strategy; all the dwarven troops will go with Shaw to retrieve and escort the human slaves out of glubyal. Once they are safely on their way to Akin's Throat, the dwarves will use Céann's gift to deliver their hastily written messages. Meanwhile, the core of the defenders will speed towards Nacreous and the Ivory King.

Shaw grins, his small tusks prominent in the faint gray light. "I'd love to meet up with you again and hear what happens. Good luck."

"Thanks." The Defenders reluctantly take their leave of the steadfast dwarves and hustle away from the palace, leaving the royal plaza of Glubyal behind them as they continue on their way.

"Say," asks Nolin conversationally as they pass the newly-created lobster tree, "how the heck do we get out of here?" Everyone groans.

Tao considers, and makes a snap decision. She darts forward and clobbers a kuo-toa who happens to be running by. "You!" she spits. "We're leaving. You're telling us how." Easily cowed, the kuo-toa explains how there are old evacuation tunnels along the northern edge of the city that might be useful. Suddenly, Galthia reels backwards.

"Mind flayer." Galthia's face is torn by a rictus of hate.

"Keep going," urges Priggle. "We don't have a lot of resources left." They make their way back to the gate and the tunnel there.

"You can swim?" asks the captive kuo-toa.

"No." Galthia shakes him. "We're going to need a barge that can travel beneath water."

"We'll have to get one!"

"Then we will. We'll be right back, guys." With one hand still firmly griping the back of the unarmed kuo-toa's harness, Tao and her prisoner dive into the canal. The rest of the Defenders stand around nervously at the edge of the canal, waiting for her to return.

Why are you waiting here? asks an insidious voice in Malachite's head that sounds like tentacles scraping against silk. You can swim and breath underwater. Dive in and help her. Unthinkingly, Malachite obeys. His armored body immediately sinks out of sight.

"Malachite!" Velendo's panicked thoughts sound over the mindlink. "What are you doing?"

"Don't worry," answers Malachite calmly. "I can swim." He opens his mouth to take a breath, and water rushes in. Knowing that he can breath water, Malachite inhales the canal water, and loses consciousness within seconds.

"He says he can breath water," explains a confused Velendo with a shrug. "Malachite? Malachite?" Nothing. "Crap!"

From somewhere behind him, Galthia feels an insidious titter in the back of his head.

"It's the mind flayer."

"We've got to get him out!"

Stone Bear dives into the water. His spirit sight instantly spots the drowning Radiant Knight, whose spirit is battering against the confines of flesh to leave the body; clearly, he's almost gone. The shaman grabs him and tries to lift him, but the armor if heavy. Let him die, advises Elder, but the shaman perseveres. With help from the others above, Malachite is hauled up onto dry land seconds before he otherwise would have died. Velendo uses his last healing spell to bring the unconscious paladin back to awareness.

"What happened?" asks Malachite, once he finishes vomiting dirty canal water from his lungs.

"Mind flayer again," explains Galthia tersely. "It's still back there somewhere."

"Accursed squid heads!" Malachite is furious as he struggles to his feet, head pounding and stomach roiling. "You out there, creature?"

"You are not welcome in Tothokkil, cattle," the whispered voice keens. "Unless you will serve us. A favor needs doing. Will you do it?"

"I will kill you. Is that the favor?"

"Then the way is sealed against you, brainsnack. Would you like to go swimming again?"

Malachite restrains himself with icy force of will, even as Galthia reports that he can't spot the hiding illithid. "And here comes Tao in a barge. It's time to go."

"This isn't over."

The illithid sounds amused. "Certainly not."

Fifty minutes later, the group has found the old tunnels that they were told of. They scuttle the barge and rip off the ancient rusty grate that protects the tunnel. Crawling upwards through a narrow stone chute, they eventually find themselves in an empty cistern at the confluence of four tunnels. It isn't comfortable, but it's dry and free of everything but a beetle or two.

"I don't even have any spells left to give us shelter," laments an exhausted Velendo. "We're going to sleep on the stone for the first time in an age."

"I don't care," says Agar. "This day feels like it has lasted for months. We started with being washed down the tunnel! It's hard to believe everything that has happened. And now we're past Glubyal, which is badly destabilized."

Malachite nods. "And we're on to the end game. We'll have to be ready for it."

Silence. Eventually, snores. And the night passes uneventfully.