Sanctuary for Teliez

It is a sore, chilly, tired group of adventurers who awake the next morning. Their jubilation at surviving the brutal fights of the previous day is tempered by the knowledge that they'll facing the Ivory king within the next few days. "I can't believe it's actually going to happen," remarks Velendo as he chews on a piece of dried salt pork for breakfast. "We're not even close to ready. We're going to get crushed."

"I fully expect to die," remarks Malachite with uncharacteristic light-heartedness. "But did you hear Céann? Velendo, she said that something is going to come after. It isn't destined to all end here. At least some of us might survive. We're doing the right thing, at the right time. I can live with that." He settles back against the wall of the cistern, chewing his salt pork as if it were filet mignon. Crouching beside him, the bullywug gladiator Burr-Lipp flicks beetles off the wall with his long adhesive tongue.

Agar stands up to stretch, then keels over backwards; his familiar Proty launches himself into the air in agitation. Tao manages to catch the halfling, and Agar's eyelids flutter. When he sits back upright, his face is white. "Ooh. I didn't like that at all."

"A vision? What did you see?"

"I was standing knee-deep in black slime. I was in daylight, and it must have been winter, because the icy cold was worse than anything else I've ever felt before. I was staring at a pile of empty chains, and I was horribly afraid of what was behind me." He looks around, eyes latching onto the shaman. "I could hear Stone Bear nearby, whispering to himself, but with the sound of the sunlight you couldn't make out what he was saying."

"Sound of the sunlight?"

Agar nods. "It was roaring, like an ocean storm."

Everyone exchanges a glance. "You know the legend," recites Nolin. "Before mankind, the world was made of wurms, and the Gods banished them from our sight. Those were what Dale Greldin and the church of Imbindarla had been trying to free a few years ago with the comet. The Gods missed two of them; and these they bound in chains of sunlight and left for all eternity." His voice has taken on a sing-song quality as he remembers the old tale. "When Imbindarla died, all magic ceased. Do you think...?"

"That one or both of those wurms are free?" finishes Velendo grimly. "I hope not. There isn't a whole lot we could do about them, if it took the gods themselves to bind them the first time."

"Just the same," considers Mara, "I think I'll mention them in my prayers tonight. In case someone is listening."

Soon they have cast wind walk, and the group is flying swiftly through narrow tunnels. They are guided only by Priggle's innate direction sense and Stone Bear's spirit guide as they roar through tiny crevices and jagged chasms. Velendo surreptitiously casts find the path to confirm that Elder is correctly guiding them, and is gratified to find that the shaman's death spirit seems to be taking the most direct route.

In the mid-morning, Agar experiences a second vision. He sees a tall woman as she sheathes a heavy sword into a paper sheath. She is clad in rainbows, her sleek hair is pulled severely back from her face, and the icy smile on her lips doesn't quite touch her eyes. In some odd way she makes him think of a smug otter, fast and slick and so very satisfied about something. Not one thing on her is out of place – not a single hair, not a facial expression, not a fold of her clothing. She is made of distinct angles, as if she was carved or chiseled instead of born, and she is beautiful. The line where her body stops is painfully obviously, almost rimmed in light, making her look somewhat as if she is superimposed on the scene. She strides through a dispersing gray cloud, and the people around her on one knee slowly sicken and fall over. She doesn't notice.

The mutilated dead body she leaves behind her looks like that of a badly charred halfling. A minute before, Agar knows, she caught a falling, flaming star that thought it could be more than it already was. Then the vision ends.

"Everyone!" yells Agar as he rushes to catch up with the rest of the wind walking adventurers. "We need to talk!"

They pause beside a cavern of pencil-thin stone pillars and get a drink while they consider the vision. "Who is she?" asks Nolin. "She doesn't fit in with any mythological or historical figure that I can remember."

Velendo drums his fingers on his shield. "The disease she's leaving behind her makes me think of Yorrine, the God of plague. In particular, the reference to a halfling makes me think of Yuute, that little bastard who we dealt with in Eversink." Stone Bear turns his gaze questioning to the old cleric, and Velendo elaborates. "I think he was some sort of a demigod or proxy. With the help of Calphas' gift, I sent him plummeting to the center of the earth. Only the high priest Dale Greldin and a Torazian deathgranter have also had that done to them." He pats his shield, which also acts as a talisman of pure good against enemies of the faith.

"That was when we turned Malachite into a tapeworm!" Nolin snickers rudely.

Malachite nods, unsmiling. "It certainly was. Perhaps that is why the halfling in the vision is burning and charred. Or it could be that it symbolizes Imbindarla's fall to earth."

Agar wrinkles his nose and pats Proty. "I just hope the halfling in the vision wasn't me."

"But who is the woman?" asks Tao.

"Let me think about it," says Nolin, and casts the spell improvisation. He focuses the entire spell effect into his knowledge of religious and historical legends, and suddenly he sits bolt upright. "There's one possibility. You know that Deifos is the God of Law, and our friend Claris worships Deifos' son Vindus, God of Vengeance and Retribution. This woman might be associated with Vindus in some way. I heard a garbled legend two years ago mentioning that he had a servant who might fit that description, but there weren't any details."

"Hrmm," muses Velendo. "So what would the God of Vengeance want with a demigod of disease?" He throws his hands in the air and looks skyward. "I don't suppose you want to give us any answers, do you? Instead of these damn riddles?" He looks disgusted and begins to turn back into mist. "Time is fleeting. We can talk about it while we fly."

The wonders of the underdark rush past too quickly to be properly appreciated. Forests of massive mushrooms... a lava-filled chamber with vast platforms dangling by chains from the ceiling... caves filled with shining stone and glittering gems. An abandoned city of drowish design, now flooded by an underground river. A massive waterfall thundering into the depths of the earth. And miles upon miles of twisting, suffocating, claustrophobic tunnel. By the time the group stops to rest that night, they estimate that they've gone dozens of miles and saved at least a week of travel.

"We've only had to backtrack a few times," remarks Priggle as he pulls his high stool up to the dining table in the Flickering Needle. "I think we're doing pretty well. Thanks, Stone Bear." Mouth full of stew, the shaman nods.

Nolin pokes his food and takes an appreciative bite. "We're lucky to have a Daern's Instant Fortress that comes with its own magical cook," he comments. "It's amazing what Mary can do with salt pork and stale biscuits. But I do miss the comfortable castle."

He's interrupted by a resounding CLANG on the outside of the metal tower. The sound of the impact reverberates from room to room, and the food is abandoned as the Defenders rush to the tower's roof and front door to see what made the noise.

That sounds familiar, thinks Nolin to himself. That sounded like... He reaches the roof and looks over the edge. He catches sight of a lanky figure sitting on the ground rubbing his head, and the wooden outgrabe floating above the stone nearby. Uncharacteristically, Nolin begins imagining all the ways he could kill him from up here. He shakes his head to clear it.

"Dylrath?" Nolin blinks in surprise. "Dylrath!" Then the figure looks up at him, and Nolin realizes it isn't Dylrath; it's the demigod Teliez, teenaged son of the God of Murder, and he doesn't look good.

Teliez looks up at the top of the tower and lets out a frustrated whine. "Let me in!"

"No!" shouts Nolin. "What have you done with Dylrath?" Seeing the floating wooden outgrabe that is one of Dylrath's favorite toys, Nolin feels panic bubbling up inside of him. "Did you steal that, or kill him for it?"

Teliez has dark blood trickling down his face, and he stares blankly at the bard for a few seconds. "What, this? He gave it to me. Now open up and let me in! I need sanctuary!"

Mara scowls. "Sanctuary? From what?" She blinks, and suddenly the beaten and battered teenager is standing on the roof of the tower next to her. Thinking quickly, Agar casts his powerful spell truth conversion and listens in on the conversation.

"Haven't I always favored you? I help your friend, I helped defeat Greldin at the battle of Tovag Baragu, and I've turned from my promised role aiding the God of Murder. You thank me by throwing me out a gate into an unpassable desert. And now all I ask is some protection." He shivers, and it's apparent that he's in bad shape; his fine clothing is ripped and dirty, and he looks like he's been beaten within an inch of his life. Exhausted, he drops to his haunches. "I just need a few minutes, then I can go."

"True," thinks Agar. "I'll let you know when he tells a lie."

"Oh, for crying out..." Velendo rolls his eyes. "Let me heal you."

"No!" Teliez jumps back to his feet, acne-pocked face pale. "I'm seething with negative energy. You'd be hurt." At this, Malachite and Mara take a step closer and half-draw their weapons.

"And why," Malachite says calmly, "are you seething with negative energy?"

Teliez gives him a filthy look. "Because I'm trying to save things. I'm trying to assume Her portfolio before anyone else has a chance to. But it's... hard..." He gasps. "And that bitch isn't making it any easier."

"Who?"

"Halcyon. She's the daughter of Vindus and some mortal slut. She's a bully, and she's trying to kill anyone who plans on assuming Imbindarla's place. She's already slain at least two others, and now she's after me." He grins humorlessly. "I figured I'd come ask the most powerful friends I have if they'd offer me any help. I need it."

"All true," worries Agar over the mindlink.

"Friends. Huh." Mara can't believe what she's hearing. "And you've brought her HERE?"

"She cornered me, and I just barely escaped." A crackle of darkness coruscates up his sallow face, and he swallows, trying to control the ambient negative energy. Pain washes fleetingly across his expression, and he tries to manage a twisted grin. It turns out to be more of a grimace.

Malachite crosses his arms and considers the gangly youth. "So, you want to become the God of Undead." His voice is heavy with unspoken emotion and warnings that Teliez completely misses.

Teliez shrugs confidently. "Who else? The Ivory King? I've got to be better than that fat bastard. And I'll tell you, this whole 'God of Adventurers' thing that Dylrath tried to work out for me just isn't flying. I don't have enough worshippers. They keep dying on me."

"Still true," thinks Agar. "And kind of funny, in a sick sort of way."

"So, I figured, why not God of the Undead and the crawly things in the night? There are lots of them, which means lots of power." His voice becomes syrupy. "No more of my father telling me what to do."

With his spell up, though, Agar hears the actual truth – and he has to fight to keep from laughing. "Umm, guys? That's not entirely true. Actually, he wants to become God of the undead to... to... oh, my. To meet girls and get laid."

Simultaneously, all the Defenders break into snorts of sarcastic laughter. Teliez looks confused for a minute, concentrates, and then a hateful and embarrassed expression crosses his face. "Oh, I see. Yeah, I'm hoping to meet undead girls. Not ghouls or zombies, mind you – but vampires? Vampires are sexy. They have that whole dark child of the night thing going on, and they're hardly going to say no if I'm their patron God." The laughing redoubles, and Teliez shouts in blazing anger. "Stop it! Stop laughing! You try having poisonous skin! You try killing everyone you touch! I touch a girl, she dies. Do you have any idea how..." His voice is plaintive, and now no laughter can be heard. "...how lonely that can make you? Never to be able to touch anything living without killing it?"

His voice is pathetic. "It's horrible, and I'm sick of it. I killed my own mother, did you know that? I want it to stop. This may be my only chance."

Everyone looks at him silently, some with pity and some with disdain.

Malachite snorts. "And thus, you wish to become the new Enemy."

"Pretty much." Teliez perks up a little as a thought occurs to him. "Speaking of which, Nolin, do you mind if I date your girlfriend?"

Nolin blinks, not yet putting two and two together. "What?"

Teliez spits on his hand and slicks back his thin hair. "You know, Telay. You know she's a vampire." Nolin blinks in horror, and the demigod's voice giggles with cruel laughter. "You didn't know she's a vampire! Oh, yeah; a penaggalan, actually. One of those ones whose head and organs pop out of the body in the middle of the night, flying around to strangle their victims." He demonstrates by wiggling his hands. "Telay was turned while you spent that time in Hagiok's academy. You had already been charmed by normal vampires, and they were able to take her by surprise without you ever knowing. She left rather than see you disappointed." Teliez's smug grin is revolting. "Didn't you wonder why you haven't seen her since?"

Nolin looks at Agar, desperately hoping that Teliez is lying, but the halfling just shakes his head sadly. Malachite puts a comforting hand on Nolin's back, but the bard stiffly brushes it off. "Sure, Teliez," Nolin says mechanically. "If she wants to spend time with you, she's all yours. I think she has better taste, though. Malachite?"

"Yes, Nolin?" His voice is heavy.

"If you're ever given the opportunity, please slay Telay for me. Give her rest. She may be a sensate, but I love her, and she wouldn't want to exist like this."

Malachite's voice is quiet. "I will." Suddenly he notices that all gradiations of color have leached from the rooftop. The shadows have become sharply defined, and there is a rigid quality to every edge that was not there seconds ago. Down below them in the cavern, a rainbow flash splits apart the air.

"Oh crap," whines Teliez. "She's here."