Vinespace
Elnamerrna crew, at the bottom of the Great Web
Firstsummer 27th, 2461
"I can't believe it," Kiran muttered.
"I can," Tyfelian returned. "They're below us, in Yelthontrel. Waiting."
The Elnamerrna crew had made it down the web, with no incidents. The interior had been interesting to observe, with small stone areas obviously made to hold giant spider eggs and many abandoned guard posts, but nothing to oppose their progress.
"Bri'kerzz recalled everybody," Tyfelian went on. "He's massing for us, I'd bet my last copper coin—"
The half-drow stopped, both in mid-sentence and mid-stride, as they found the very bottom of the Web. The tube-like corridor of woven vines abruptly turned vertical—downward.
"Another fall-shaft," Tyfelian murmured as he glanced down the length of it. He hopped into it, but as before, he did not let himself fall, merely climbed down. The others followed tentatively.
The bottom of this fall-shaft had no walls; the shaft simply ended at open air ten feet above the vine-net that was its bottom, which rested upon the stony surface of Yelthontrel. Looking about, the Elnamerrnacrew could see the horizon of the small earth body, only a few hundred yards away. Above, them, the vine-web arched upwards impressively; beyond that, the entire sky was the vine-shell of Vinespace, dimly lit by the soft glow of Yelthontrel's kerteoite.
Tyfelian swung down, dangling his full height and arm length, then dropped onto the vine net. He quickly skipped out of the way so the others could follow.
Tyfelian ignored the bizarre view and started looking for a way into the earth body. When the last of them came down to the surface, he waved the crew into search teams and they moved out across the earth body. He wondered how to proceed from this point; he saw no way inside.
The surface of Yelthontrel appeared as relatively flat, though rough, rock. Tyfelian squatted down to examine it. The rough texture felt like sandstone, but it looked wrong for that. Its grayish white color, similar to undead flesh, gave it away as being something highly unusual. Tyfelian guessed that this was the usual appearance and feel of kerteoite. He wouldn't have known; most drow knew little of the useless substance. He looked for Mazar's body, but Yelthontrel was so small, its horizon so close, that the dead dragon was not in sight.
"Jaclyn?" Tyfelian asked.
The psion shook her head. "I can't clairvoy through this without returning it to someone else already inside... I'm blocked out."
"Alzja?"
Alzja shrugged, meaning the same thing; she had no ideas either, but she looked at the softly glowing earth body intently, thinking.
A look of frustration crossed Tyfelian's face, but even as it did, his mind absorbed what he'd just learned about the rare mineral beneath his feet.
"Kerteoite blocks scrying," he murmured, deciding that that knowledge might come in handy at some time.
The bulk of the Elnamerrna crew took a different approach. Moving about in small groups, they circled the spot where the fall-shaft had put them, and tapped upon the ground with their weapons. Each circle took them farther from the fall-shaft.
Tyfelian turned at a call from Autumn. She pointed at an unremarkable location on the ground, but Tyfelian ignored the fact that he could see nothing unusual there and skipped over to join her.
"My sword just slid right through the stone here. I think it's an illusion."
"Jalaysa," the half-drow called.
When she came to his side, Tyfelian held out his hand for her staff. When she gave it to him, he probed into the opening and traced its size, then held the staff down to probe more deeply.
Tap, tap, tap, came the sound of his cautious examination. He frowned, then smiled slightly.
"Stairway," he murmured, handing the staff back to Jalaysa. He glared at the spot on the ground, wondering how to proceed safely. He could imagine a small army of monsters down there waiting for them, and now impossible to surprise because of his staff tapping.
"Abt," he called to the minotaur.
When Abt came to him, Tyfelian explained. "I'm going to stand on my hands, upside down, Abt. I want you to take hold of my ankles and lower my head down there after I draw my blades, then bring me right back up. I'll have a quick look that way."
Abt's horned head nodded.
Tyfelian did a half-cartwheel and stood on his hands. His legs stood straight up; Abt grabbed him by the ankles and lifted him.
Jalaysa moved her hands over the hidden opening, estimating its size and guiding Abt. Tyfelian drew his swords and Abt lowered him, upside down, into the hole with perfect aim, held him suspended for a heartbeat, then pulled him back up.
"Spiral staircase," Tyfelian advised them, sheathing his blades. He pressed his hands to the stone again and Abt let him go.
Half-cartwheeling to his feet, the half-drow once more drew his blades.
"You're unexpectedly cautious here, Tyfelian," Sildara said. "You generally charge right in."
"I won't charge in where I can't see," Tyfelian grinned, and then he stepped right down into the hidden stairway shaft.
Vinespace, center of Yelthontrel
Krynderyl, in Mazar's former domain
Firstsummer 27th, 2461
Krynderyl led three spiders down a hallway. The hallway ended with a large door but Krynderyl did not step through it. Instead, he grabbed a bar that he spotted leaning against the wall to his right and slipped it over the small arms on either side of the doorframe.
"Mazar never expected to use this bar," Krynderyl mused. "Can't fault him for it—I wouldn't have, either, not on the Prime Material."
"Stay here and wait for them. When they come, do not attack them. Flee from them and find me at once."
The spiders had no choice but to obey.
Krynderyl left them and walked slowly back to Mazar's former lair. He thought deeply, wondering, "Will destroying these invaders be within my power, and will it be worth the trouble even if I can?"
When Krynderyl reached the lair, he distractedly went about the task of arranging his troops. Whether from the powers of their magical items or not, these opponents were the most powerful he had ever seen. He looked over the masses of his troops and shook his head, seriously doubting whether they could stop the Elnamerrna crew.
Krynderyl liked serving Bri'kerzz and wasn't keen on the idea of leaving his service, but he felt bracketed in this instance. Kill the invaders or be killed by Bri'kerzz. Two options, no more—except to flee if he failed to kill these creatures of the Material Plane... and the chances of that seemed shaky to Krynderyl despite his tanar'ri arrogance.
Krynderyl's mind began to formulate plans of escape.
Vinespace, center of Yelthontrel
Elnamerrna crew, approaching Krynderyl's location
Firstsummer 27th, 2461
Tyfelian's eyes restlessly watched and his sharp ears listened for any threat. He didn't like the quietness, the hush of the stairway.
He liked it even less as, after over an hour of walking down the steps, he found the first landing they'd seen at all, which had no door, but an arch to his right. Peering in cautiously, he saw a large, very bare stone room, with a large door in its right-hand wall. The area's walls radiated the faint glow of kerteoite.
Tyfelian waved the others in behind him. They moved about the room but found nothing at all. The walls, formed of solid rock, loomed over them to a height of at least thirty feet, making the half-drow wonder if they might be about to face giants or other such very tall creatures.
"Giants?" Kiran asked, echoing his thoughts, but he was eyeing the door rather than ceiling.
Tyfelian smiled and laughed very softly, telling Kiran that he'd already had that thought.
"Vinespace's natives, maybe."
Tyfelian glanced around, then, satisfied that this immediate area held no danger in and of itself, he called out softly to everyone, "Take a short rest. We were walking down those stairs too long."
The half-drow waved Sildara and Menlina into guard positions at the door, backed them up with three other Elnamerrna crewmen, then sat down near them, his back to the wall, to rest.
"It's almost a sure thing that Vinespace's most powerful being is somewhere past that door,"Tyfelian thought, glad for the rest before going into a major battle."At least we might, now, get some clue as to exactly what we're up against. Extraplanar, almost certainly. Very dangerous, absolutely."
He absently fingered the Talisman of Zeratzu. He reminded himself to use it destroy "an artifact of evil" when he saw one, recalling Shoriku's words.
He let his thoughts wonder a bit, falling partially into the elven reverie, but he did not let himself deeply into it. He thought hard about the connection between his home world and dragon eggs, and the Bri'kerzz process, but the knowledge still eluded him.
He felt certain that it had to be a childhood memory, something he had heard or otherwise learned in his early education. Even before his talent for killing had been discovered, he realized, and his mother had forced the training as an assassin upon his shoulders. He wanted to discuss it with Alzja, who with her interest in history might know something to jog his memory, but there was no time. He knew that the enemy might come upon them at any moment.
He stood after about half an hour of rest, shaking off the reverie like an old, comfortable coat, and crossed to Alzja, who was resting in a half-trance just as he had been.
"Alzja," he called quietly.
Alzja blinked out of the reverie. "Is it time?"
"It is," Tyfelian replied. "But after we're done here, remind me to discuss something with you. It has to do with the Bri'kerzz process with dragon eggs, and dragon eggs from Erilonia. It might be important. I tried to remember, but even the reverie wouldn't bring it back to my mind."
"All right," Alzja replied lightly, with a hint of a real smile, once again recognizing Tyfelian's intuition at work.
Tyfelian gripped her hand to help her to her feet. "I want you to have that defensive spell against dragon breath ready, along with others. Pass the word to the others to do the same."
Alzja nodded and moved off to do so.
Tyfelian went to the door and examined it. Large but not decorated, and made of thinly sculpted stone, he saw that it opened outward, away from him.
When the crew assembled behind him, ready to move out, he turned the handle and pushed. He felt it give, then stop abruptly.
"A bar is holding it," he murmured to Kiran.
"Nefliss and Krendren—quickly," the paladin called.
The bar slipped and the door opened against their magic. Tyfelian hurried to look past it.
"Nefliss, fast! Three spiders moving away! Sentries!" he signed.
The drow warrior-wizard, reacting quickly, sent a spell soaring down the hallway beyond the door. The spiders froze in mid-movement, their legs still steady on the walls and ceiling.
Tyfelian ran down the hallway, his swords flashing into his hands. Kiran and Abt raced behind him, with Kreg on their heels.
Tyfelian grimaced as they reached the spiders. He was not nearly tall enough to kill them. Even Kiran, at six feet in height, couldn't touch them. The paladin slashed at one with his sword, and missed by over a foot.
Tyfelian looked at them with revulsion, wondering what to do, but help came up behind him.
Kreg and Abt had no such limitations. Considerably taller, they disposed of the spiders easily. Abt's huge axe and Kreg's two-handed sword brought them down swiftly.
"Good work," Tyfelian complimented them, deliberately not looking at the spiders.
About fifty feet long before any break, the hallway was formed of the same glowing mineral as the rest of the construction they'd passed. At about halfway down it, Tyfelian stepped over a dead spider and looked down its length. It went on farther than the eye could see, despite the light, but a large opening connected to it on Tyfelian's left.
The half-drow silently crept to it and peered around with one eye.
A vast hallway greeted his spying eye. Bare for about thirty feet, the rest of it was crammed with treasure—a dragon's hoard, Tyfelian knew! An incredible mass of valuable objects lay scattered about, enough wealth to melt the heart of even the greediest merchant Tyfelian had ever met, with mounds of coins that put the Embimuran national treasury to shame.
This grand hall was more brightly lit than the previous one, so Tyfelian could see the end of it. A huge throne dominated the end of it, massive, ornately decorated. Tyfelian looked at this askance, wondering what a dragon would want with a throne, but he shrugged off the thought. The fact that it held decorations, making it valuable, would make any dragon want it.
"Follow me," he called to his troops. "Expect a surprise attack—there are side openings and doors along this hall, with a throne at the end."
They moved slowly down the hall. The footing turned out to be treacherous, with all the coins around, but all of them had been in dragon lairs before and shuffled carefully through the mess.
Tyfelian eyed the throne and the area around it—especially the twin doors on the walls to its right and to its left—for any sign of movement.
Vinespace, Mazar's former domain
Krynderyl
Firstsummer 27th, 2461
"Master! They here!" Dretch burbled.
"What?! The spiders didn't warn me!" Krynderyl roared.
"They here! They here! In the coins!"
"Attack! Now!!"
Vinespace, Mazar's throne hall
Elnamerrna crew
Firstsummer 27th, 2461
Every door in the grand hall burst open.
Each one disgorged horrible creatures and spiders in vast numbers, which fell upon the Elnamerrna crew in savage, roaring fury.
Ready for it, the crew snapped into seven tight formations, each surrounding a wizard. Tyfelian's swords blasted a small mane into smoky vapors. Kiran's sword and shield slashed and bashed at a big vrock, a bizarre creature that looked half-human and half vulture. Kreg and Abt led their own formations, their weapons weaving a deadly dance of menace at a small legion of attacking draconians.
Then the entire Elnamerrna crew heard and cringed at a hideous laugh.
The laugh came from the throne. Sparing a split-second glance that way, Tyfelian spotted what had to be a tanar'ri lord or at least a minion of one.
A very tall, extremely menacing-looking tanar'ri stood upon the dais before the throne. His vaguely insect-like, multi-colored, segmented body supported human-looking arms and legs, but the head was that of a gold dragon.
Tyfelian shuddered, remembering the head of the Bri'kerzz dragon in Alzja's laboratory.
"Who are you?" Tyfelian shouted at the tanar'ri as his sword sheared off a vrock's arm.
The cambion laughed again. The sound was bone chilling, cruel, deeply evil.
"Find your own answers in your last minutes of life, Embimuran. I'm going to kill you, all of you."
"Go ahead and try, you son of a bitch!" Tyfelian roared.
Tyfelian rammed his left sword point into the vrock's lower jaw and his right sword blasted through its chest. Still the creature wouldn't die and its claws groped for Tyfelian with an accuracy remarkable for a creature with a broken neck.
Krynderyl watched the Elnamerrna crew do battle with deep concern. The swirling, ever-shifting crowd of humanoids defending against his army never faltered for a second—over forty highly skilled warriors with seven wizards. At the moment, the battle appeared to be at a stalemate, but that would change.
Krynderyl saw, with dismay, a blinding barrage of magic rip into his troops, cutting them down. Some of the draconians exploded on the spot or collapsed into puddles of acid, hurling Elnamerrna crewmen in every direction, but they simply rolled back to their feet to fight again or leaped out of the acid pools.
Krynderyl had fought adventurers before, so he knew how dangerous they could be. Half-recalled memories of such battles swam around in his brain—those memories were oddly murky, muddled, but definitely present. Few monsters in the multiverse could match a skilled adventurer in combat.
However, he had never seen so many at once. The display was both breathtaking and alarming to him.
Alzja cast.
Draconians, manes, and a vrock died screaming under one of her storm cloud spells. Jalaysa sent two crackling balls of flame rolling into the midst of a clutch of attacking spiders. Krendren blasted bolts of lightning and energy arrows into an Aurak draconian. Nefliss and Chalizon, as they had practiced, kept the enemy wizards—Bozak draconians, in this case—pinned under the suppressing attacks of fireballs and the strange spell that called forth writhing black tentacles from the very stone. The furious defense of the seven Elnamerrna wizards roared on and on.
The crew continued the marvelous dance of their weapons. Jekrelt's morning star knocked aside a giant spider that leaped at Kerliak. Yarga, the Elnamerrna's half-orc, ran a Sivak draconian through the belly with her sword. Dremley, Reamie, and Haroley stabbed and slashed at Baaz draconians with saber and stiletto.
The seven rings of warriors around each wizard held their positions tenaciously, but loosely, to allow them to duck and dodge both physical and magical attacks; each warrior in each ring complemented his or her fellow crewmen in a dazzling display of sword skill. Kiran had drilled the crew at this until they'd become able to do it in their sleep, and now it paid off in a blinding net of defense.
But it was Jaclyn who devastated the enemy most, aside from the wizards.
Telepathy and clairsentient powers were not Jaclyn's most important talents. Her most powerful mental abilities were those related to her own body. Using one of the greatest of these, she transformed herself into a wingless dragon-shape and then began to make herself bigger and bigger.
Then she became faster—her dragon claws and teeth and slapping tail whirling faster than the eye could see, tossing draconians, manes, and spiders and tearing them to shreds.
Tyfelian's swords twisted around the vrock's claws, incidentally cutting them cleanly off, then he kicked a hezrou in its seemingly fat belly, ripping it off his swords to fall over and melt into a foul-smelling cloud of smoke as he sent it back to the Abyss. Distantly, he heard the buzzing sound of lightning as the Aurak draconians died.
He raised his swords, but nothing came to greet him. Then there were suddenly no more enemies to fight; he stood with his crew in the midst of a thousand piles of carnage, with bare spots of smoking acid, and scattered bones, where the Bozak and Kapak draconians had been. Tyfelian heard some of his crewmen coughing from the smog, or moaning as vrock spores grew in them before Alzja could get to them, but nothing more; no screams of agony. The sudden stillness, the quiet, was profound.
No enemies left.
Except Krynderyl.
The Abyssal Lord's lieutenant looked over the devastation. He chuckled.
"Very impressive," Krynderyl sneered. "Now there is me, and... GUARDS!!"
A hundred Baaz draconians swarmed through the doors on either side of the throne at a run. Three dozen Bozaks strode in, pompous and cruel, with twenty Kapaks right behind them. A dozen Sivaks and five Aurak draconians likewise marched to the attack...
... then Tyfelian and all of the Elnamerrna crew gasped in horrified wonder.
A sixth type of draconian—three of them—took up positions around Krynderyl.
Krynderyl smiled widely as he noticed the looks of confused terror on the faces of the Clueless before him. It was always so very satisfying to Krynderyl to see that look on the face of any Prime Material creature.
Standing taller than Kreg, these draconians filled out large suits of light chain armor with huge muscles, but they appeared less repulsive than the other five varieties—the faces and hands of these new draconians reminded Tyfelian of newts, though their scales were silvery, almost mirror-like.
Still, he knew better than to assume that any new kind of draconian would be less dangerous than an Aurak. No one would bother with creating anything like that. On Krynn, Auraks held the top position among draconians, and the others were plenty tough, so these had to be even more powerful!
Tyfelian's eyes widened as the connection between the Bri'kerzz process and Erilonian dragon eggs suddenly leaped into his mind.
"Sky dragon eggs!" Tyfelian shouted. "You took them from my home world!"
"Very good for a mental vegetable!" Krynderyl smirked. "Talpak draconians—one of Lord Bri'kerzz's greatest triumphs!" Krynderyl laughed with evil joy. "All thanks to Erilonia, the Hearthworld itself! Behold their power, Silver Triop fools!!"
Krynderyl sucked in a deep breath and let out a roar of command.
"Let us destroy them!!"
Yalthra'teyka, city of Braskrakel
Lord Bri'kerzz
Firstsummer 27th, 2461
"It's been too long," Bri'kerzz growled irritably. He marched up to a side wall of the temple to himself near the center of Braskrakel and activated the planar gate.
He saw nothing of note in the cavern beyond the gate, so he stepped through and began the long, difficult walk through this unusual planar gate from Yalthra'teyka to the Prime Material Plane.
Vinespace, Mazar's lair
Krynderyl and the Elnamerrna crew
Firstsummer 27th, 2461
Tyfelian met the charge head on, Kiran at his side. The rest of the crew crashed into the Baaz draconians and the stony creatures fell, one rank after another, to the flashing blades of the Elnamerrna crew. The wizards resumed their magical attacks, while Jaclyn blasted through the enemy ranks, still moving so fast she seemed a blur, and assaulted the Bozak wizards. Her tail swept them aside, falling and banging into each other as she sought to keep them from casting spells.
But the Bozaks were no longer the only wizards present.
Three fireballs roared into the Elnamerrna crew, cast by the talpaks. Jaclyn's mind again transformed the heat into light, but she knew what repeated fireballs could do to her crewmates, so she took off like some scaly gazelle right toward the talpak draconians and Krynderyl, scattering lesser draconians, shouting and cursing, as she passed.
Krynderyl shot her with a lightning bolt, but once again, her mind shed the furious energy as light. She barreled into him, twice the size of an elephant and far faster, and she, Krynderyl, and the talpaks went down in a twisted heap of claws and teeth and scales.
Tyfelian, Kiran, Lygalliz, Kreg, and Abt pushed in behind her, slashing and kicking at draconians who got in their way. Jaclyn's passage had cleared a narrow corridor to Krynderyl and the talpaks, momentarily, so they were near her in moments.
Tyfelian whirled around a talpak, driving one sword deep into its side, the powerfully enchanted blade blasting through the chain mail; his other sword deflected a bite from Krynderyl, though the impact nearly broke his wrist in doing so.
Abt, roaring, swung his axe in a vicious swipe, aimed straight for Krynderyl's head. The tanar'ri lord ducked but the axe still got him in the upper back, sending scales cascading to the floor.
Krynderyl darted away from Tyfelian, bending down to all fours, and bit Abt on the right leg, but Tyfelian sent both of his blades into Krynderyl's left leg, distracting him from tearing Abt's leg off, while Kiran moved to the other side.
Kreg's club slammed into the back of Krynderyl's neck, but Kiran's attack proved the most effective. The paladin slashed his blade down Krynderyl's back, and the great tanar'ri howled in agony, releasing Abt's leg, as Vesgar's Holy Avenger long sword burned like acid deep into him.
Abt, biting his lip over an agonized scream, stood on one foot and drove his axe into Krynderyl's head, with all the force he could muster with a mangled leg.
Tyfelian risked a quick look around, and what he saw looked promising. Some of the Elnamerrna crew, about fifteen, he guessed, had formed a ragged circle around Krynderyl, the talpaks, and Tyfelian and the other four there. For a short time, it would be raw fighting power against raw fighting power—the crewmen could hold off the other draconians.
Behind it all, Alzja glared at Krynderyl, started to cast a spell, then changed her mind. She reached into her belt for another of Tash's scrolls.
Tyfelian stabbed Krynderyl in the back, but then Jaclyn crashed down on top of the demon prince and bit his neck hard.
Krynderyl screamed, but his mouth opened and he breathed flames as befitted his golden dragon head.
Abt let himself fall and rolled away, burning but not mortally fried, and Kiran likewise ducked aside at just the last half-second. However, they hadn't been Krynderyl's real targets.
The flames hit the backs of the ring of Elnamerrna crewmen and all of them caught on fire. Rolling to the floor in horrible pain, they put themselves out but were temporarily unable to keep the other draconians away...
... but Krynderyl's breath had not been well aimed. He killed a large number of his own forces in the process of attacking the Elnamerrna crew. Over twenty Baaz and a dozen Kapaks died, turning to stone statues or, with the Kapaks, turning into acid pools.
The Elnamerrna crew in that area scattered just as the Kapak skeletons exploded.
Tyfelian caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to meet the attack of the talpak he'd stabbed earlier. He worked his swords in a blinding flurry, and the talpak kept pace with him, but then Tyfelian broke off and leaped to the talpak's side. He dug his sword points deep into the creature, one into the belly and one to the back.
Jaclyn dug both of her front claws and both rear ones into Krynderyl, and her bite upon his neck never relented. She reared her head up, trying to tear Krynderyl's head from his shoulders, but Krynderyl was no mortal creature and she could not. Krynderyl's head simply wouldn't come off his neck.
Kiran fought viciously against another talpak, but then it went down as five burned and smoking Elnamerrna crewmen attacked it.
Like a kapak draconian, the talpak's skin and flesh shriveled away upon its death, and Kiran and the others gave ground, but the talpak's skeleton didn't explode...
... the crumbling flesh did.
Kiran and the others were literally lifted off their feet in the explosion. Kiran slammed into Jaclyn, who nearly lost her grip on Krynderyl, while the other five hit the wall behind the throne, or in the case of one, Lanna, fell into the throne. A few chunks of stone got blasted from the walls.
The skeleton then picked up its dropped weapon, raised it high, and let out a hideous screeching noise that made everyone in hearing distance press their hands to their ears, if they could. Those who could not suffered greatly; Jaclyn had never felt such a searing pain from her ears.
By automatic reflex, she lashed her tail at the talpak skeleton, wrapped it, and flung it against a door. It got smashed, but dissolved into a pool of acid, incidentally killing more draconians fighting the Elnamerrna crew in that area.
Tyfelian's talpak died as he stabbed it from both directions, but the half-drow could not draw back his blades in time, so the thing exploded in his face, blasting him across the floor to skid into a host of Elnamerrna crewmen. No screech came from this one, though—although Tyfelian dimly saw it go through the motions. He wondered if the earlier screech or one of the explosions had deafened him, but it was not so, he quickly realized.
Alzja had cast a spell enforcing silence to avoid a repeat performance of that.
Then merciful blackness took the half-drow.
Jaclyn had had enough. She slammed her rear claws right through Krynderyl's lower back, nailing him down, then her front claws grasped his head and repeatedly slammed it into the floor.
Krynderyl reached to his sides, drew two small daggers, and savagely stabbed Jaclyn's scaled neck, but she would not stop. Again and again, she rammed his head on the stone floor, though Krynderyl chewed hard on her right claw. That was done distractedly, because, now desperate, Krynderyl tried to use his inborn teleporting power to escape, but he found that for some reason, he could not.
Then Kiran came and rammed the blade of his Holy Avenger down Krynderyl's throat.
The third talpak decided to take the better part of valor and ran, but Jalaysa shot it down with a lightning bolt, then the crew shot it with arrows.
Alzja chased it with another spell of silence. It screeched impotently within the spell's effect, and Krendren incinerated it to nothing—or acid, rather—with a small ball of fire.
Kiran tore the Holy Sword of Vesgar from Krynderyl's mouth. The black mist of a defeated extraplanar creature issued from Krynderyl's body.
Jaclyn eased off the tanar'ri lord, tensely, in case it was a trick. Such an illusion would not be difficult to cast.
Krynderyl rolled over limply, his substance hissing from him, dissolving. Jaclyn and Kiran started at the movement, but Krynderyl did nothing else. He spoke, his voice mangled by the throat wound from Kiran's strike.
Kiran and Jaclyn couldn't be sure through the ringing in their ears, but they later agreed that they believed Krynderyl's last words to be:
"You're like nothing I've ever seen!"
"Alzja! Tyfelian is down!" Hargis called to her.
"Again?" Alzja smart-mouthed, but she ran to him and cast a healing spell swiftly enough.
Tyfelian stirred, and groped dizzily for one of the healing potions in his belt pouch. Alzja stopped him and cast again, making the half-drow more aware.
"How did it end?" he slurred.
"We got 'em," Alzja smirked. "All o' the crew are in miserable shape, but one more time, nobody on our side died."
"I'm surprised he didn't use his natural spell powers to escape," Tyfelian marveled.
"Hehehe," Alzja smirked. "No teleporting with all this kerteoite, remember? Well, maybe a god could. And I used one o' Tash's spells from a scroll to prevent innate powers from working." Alzja tittered gleefully.
"I don't think I can stand," Tyfelian stated. "Tell Kiran to start the crew looking for that artifact of evil Shoriku mentioned—bring it to me when you find it. Tell them to take what treasure they can, too."
He slipped a hand into his belt and drew forth the Talisman of Zeratzu.
Bri'kerzz stepped through the planar tunnel and into the Prime Material Plane. Nothing had changed in the cavern during his passage, so he confidently strode across it to the narrow exit leading to Mazar's lair, muttering curses on Krynderyl all the way.
He bowled over Dretch, standing at the end of the exit passage.
Bri'kerzz kicked the dretch clear back to the gateway cavern.
"Go to Braskrakel, Dretch! Await my return!"
Dretch scurried off in a hurry.
Bri'kerzz stepped over to the end of the passage, where it, by appearances, had a dead end.
"Krynderyl, you pathetic sod, I'll blow you to bits if you haven't killed them by now," he swore as he shoved aside a secret door at the end of the cavern and stepped into the next room in Mazar's lair.
Vinespace, Mazar's lair
Elnamerrna crew, looting Mazar's wealth
Firstsummer 27th, 2461
"There it is," Krendren hissed to Kiran.
"What is it?"
"It's that crystal statue of a lion," Krendren pointed at the object lying near the throne. "That's the artifact of evil Shoriku mentioned." To Krendren's detect magicspell, the crystal lion radiated magic quite strongly.
"Take it to Tyfelian," Kiran told him.
Krendren cast a telekinesis spell to do so, not wanting to touch the object, and it rose from the floor amid some broken treasures, crushed or burned in the battle, and moved toward Tyfelian.
"THAT'S FAR ENOUGH!!!" a roaring voice shouted.
Lord Bri'kerzz strode into the grand hall. Abt and Kreg raised their weapons and attacked him, but the wounds were superficial where they should have been lethal. The two unfortunate crewmen held weapons, that though magically enchanted, were not enchanted strongly enough to hurt Bri'kerzz.
This they realized when he hurled them out of his way to get to Tyfelian—and to the floating crystal statue.
Tyfelian tried to stand, to make a run for the lion statue, but he couldn't rise and slumped weakly. Bri'kerzz interposed himself and caught the floating crystal lion in midair, easily wrenching it from Krendren's telekinesis.
"No, damn you!" the tanar'ri lord screamed. "You're all going to die—but first, where is Krynderyl?"
"Who's Krynderyl?" Tyfelian bluffed. He could guess easily enough.
"Ah, you've destroyed his form on this plane," Bri'kerzz chuckled. "Well, well, well, aren't you the sparky ones?"
"What? That tanar'ri lord we killed?"
"That's the one," Bri'kerzz guffawed. "You got him somehow, did you? You'll never defeat me. Put your puny swords down so I can slay you quick."
"You don't know who you're dealing with here," Alzja laughed at him. "We'll blow you back to the Abyss this day, tanar'ri."
"Hehehe," Bri'kerzz giggled, thrilled with the display of chutzpah. "The lot of you don't look like you could take on an army of butterflies, let alone me.
"C'mon, then," Bri'kerzz said with a bored smile, drawing his long swords, but keeping the lion statue in his vast right hand.
Tyfelian bit his lip and swore softly with frustration. He knew that they couldn't win this one. Now, if they'd been fresh and all wizards at full power, they might have been a credible foe for an Abyssal Lord—with Tash present, that is, Tyfelian suspected—but not now. Among them, the fighters were too badly hurt and fatigued; the wizards low on battle spells. Bri'kerzz would get them, barring a miracle.
Then, Tyfelian's expression hardened as he realized where a miracle just might be found.
His fingers tightened on the Talisman of Zeratzu. It felt hot in his hand.
"Die, tanar'ri!" he yelled as loudly as his battered body would let him, as he hurled the Talisman at the crystal lion statue.
Deep in the vastness of the Astral Plane, that silvery void between everything, Zeratzu himself—or Celestian, as he was known to most mortals—felt his Talisman for the first time in five thousand years.
Somehow, it had been hidden from him. Someone, somewhere, had accomplished that. Even with all his powers, he had never been able to find it. He knew, had always known, that it had to be on the Material Plane, somewhere in what was once illithid territory. That knowledge helped little; the long-ago illithid empire—however short-lived—had been vast, spanning literally thousands of crystal shells in the Rainbow Ocean.
Now, though, he knew exactly where it was.
"YOU CURSED FOOL!" Bri'kerzz roared as the Talisman struck the crystal statue of a lion, knocking it out of his hand to shatter all over the floor in hundreds of tinkling fragments.
Bri'kerzz leaped at Tyfelian, shoving Elnamerrna crewmen aside in his burning rage. If he could kill the half-drow before he arrived...
"I'll take you to my home and show you what pain really means, mortal wretch!!" Bri'kerzz yelled, grabbing Tyfelian's tunic and lifting the half-drow completely off the floor. His other hand reached up to break Tyfelian's neck.
Tyfelian curled his legs to get the daggers in his boots. He actually drew and stabbed, but, though his daggers had enough magic to them to harm an Abyssal Lord, the half-drow was too badly hurt and weakened to sink the blades into the demon flesh.
Some of the crew hacked at Bri'kerzz and, with their fury over the attack on their leader, they might have brought him down—had their weapons been able to harm the tanar'ri lord. The weapons of the general crew inflicted little real damage to Bri'kerzz; the wounds mostly closed up moments after the crew inflicted them. The wizards likewise blasted him with spells, but those that got through his powerful resistance hurt him only slightly.
Bri'kerzz's hand twisted and Tyfelian's head started to turn the wrong way. He heard it begin to happen.
"I'll kill you a thousand times and—"
A pair of hands stronger than those of Bri'kerzz grabbed the Abyssal Lord's wrists and tore them off the half-drow's neck. Tyfelian dropped to the floor, screaming softly. He was unable to move from the neck down, and he was not breathing very well at all.
Bri'kerzz whirled and raised his hands as though to cast a spell or attack, but then his too-human eyes widened nearly enough to fall out of their sockets. Then, the Abyssal Lord disappeared in the loud pop of a teleport spell.
"Celestian!" Alzja cried, awestruck.
Everyone else could only stare at the god, the well-known yet mysterious deity of stars, space and the Astral Plane, until he diminished his divine aura to let them act normally.
Celestian walked slowly, with infinite grace, to the spot where his Talisman lay within glittering chunks of shattered crystal. He picked up the artifact, examined it, then actually smiled and held it lovingly.
Then, remembering who had found it and who had let him know, even if accidentally, he walked back to Tyfelian.
Alzja eyed the half-drow. He was still conscious but he was going to die—no doubt of it. His neck had been partially broken and Alzja doubted that even her most powerful healing magic could save him. Her best magic would be worth a try and she could work in a few tricks she had in her doctor's bag, but it would be doubtful... yet she didn't feel dismayed. A god was present.
Celestian pressed his hands to Tyfelian's neck, then passed them over the half-drow once.
Tyfelian sat up on his elbow, fully healed, though he guessed that he still could not stand without help. The full healing power was an almost excruciating torture in itself, and he willed his body to fight off shock as well as he could.
Celestian raised his Talisman.
"I have been missing this for five thousand years and more. You have my gratitude for returning it."
Tyfelian nodded modestly, closing his eyes, but then glanced toward the throne. He started to speak, but so did Celestian, so he kept quiet.
Celestian began to say something, but then he cut himself off, as though noticing something.
He laughed. The sound was delightful.
Eyes literally sparkling with mirth, Celestian smirked at the half-drow.
"Lolth owes you a favor!" he laughed. "My congratulations. It has been many, many years since a mortal has made me laugh. I'd advise you to never call in that favor, however—she is a deceitful wretch."
Celestian nodded his approval at the fact that Tyfelian had already realized as much. "However, I see that Lolth took advantage of Bri'kerzz's plans to get you to do a truly dreadful thing..."
The avatar swept a hand in an arc, passing over Sildara, Menlina, Chalizon, Krendren, Errsuz, Faprol, and Nefliss. Evidently he made the survivor's guilt and the heartache of loss go away with his will, for their faces relaxed with inner peace for the first time since Nauthe'hressishtel had been destroyed.
Tyfelian smiled as he felt the same thing; Celestian spread both hands to affect them all. His horrible feeling of being dirtied by his failure in Listraeespace dissipated. He still remembered everything, but his heart released the bitterness, the rage, and the sorrow.
He swooned on his elbow, but when he got control of his movements again, he watched Celestian closely until the avatar looked back at him.
The half-drow glanced at the throne again.
"What about Bri'kerzz?"
"I do not know..." Celestian said thoughtfully, suddenly serious. He turned and walked over to Jaclyn. "Have you... ahhh, you have." Celestian looked deep into Jaclyn's eyes, into her mind.
"This is very disturbing. Bri'kerzz wishes to make all of creation merge with his layer of the Abyss, Yalthra'teyka." Celestian thought for a moment, then went on.
"This is a Material Plane matter—so far, at least. You must stop him."
"He is nearly a god... and he almost wiped the floor with us. I'm not sure..." Tyfelian trailed off, feeling a little helpless.
"'Nearly' is the operative word," Celestian assured Tyfelian. "He is no god, but he may wish to be a god."
"May?"
"There are other aspirations of ultimate power besides divinity," Celestian replied. "Some are too terrible to contemplate. Nevertheless, Bri'kerzz is acting within certain... allowable limits, so it is a mortal matter unless Bri'kerzz moves on to other planes besides the Material."
The avatar paused.
"That is one reason that Lolth did not stop him when he drove you away from the world-spanning tower and made you forget all that happened there. She used him, gambling that you could and would stop him yourselves. And indeed, you must."
Seeing a possible refusal on Tyfelian's face—and on the faces of many others in the crew—Celestian went on, his voice almost, but not quite, stern.
"The Material Plane—or at least that part which you call the Hearthspace Cluster—will never be safe, in fact, will not even be here if you do not stop Bri'kerzz. All the crystal shells will disappear and become part of Yalthra'teyka—and your dream of spending years exploring the Rainbow Ocean and discovering the past will be lost."
Tyfelian's expression hardened. He didn't fully understand, but he got the gist, or at least the bottom line, of what Celestian actually meant. They had little choice if they wanted to pursue that dream of a long exploratory mission. But...
"But... there's an important part of all of this I don't understand at all. Jaclyn told me what she learned from Mazar's mind about Bri'kerzz wanting to make everything, everywhere, part of Yalthra'teyka, but I can't imagine how anyone could do that, by any possible way. How could anyone... dissolve... or absorb, maybe—the Material Plane? How does he plan to do it?"
Tyfelian's expression showed complete bafflement.
Celestian smiled at Tyfelian, much as an adult might laugh softly at a child's question.
"It would take time to explain it to you... and Jaclyn will, eventually, when she untangles more knowledge that she gained from the Great Red Wyrm's mind. For now, I will tell you that it is a matter of belief. It is that simple. If enough people in a certain place come to be, or believe, a certain way, that place may shift over to another plane with similar character."
"That would take centuries," Tyfelian replied, astonished, as Kiran limped over to him. The paladin looked like death warmed over but helped Tyfelian to his feet.
"Sometimes," Celestian replied gently. "Bri'kerzz intends to do it much faster, though...
"... but enough of this. I take my leave of you, with one final word of advice—marshal and collect your strength as well as you can. The next time you encounter him, I will not be there to stop Bri'kerzz. You must stop him yourselves; I cannot interfere—because, as you would have found out eventually, Bri'kerzz is native to Hearthspace."
Tyfelian blinked, but then his battered face relaxed, realizing.
"So that's why he seems familiar to me. I've read about him before."
The avatar held up his Talisman. "My Talisman was your salvation... this time."
Tyfelian swallowed, but he made himself nod agreement. "In that case... I would ask you a question."
"Where are your four dead friends?" Celestian told the half-drow before he could say the words. "Yes, I see that they would indeed be helpful to your cause, including the one who loved you. My cleric." Celestian smiled again at the thought of Fing.
"For you to retrieve them is not impossible, but you will have to leave off your quest to stop Bri'kerzz for a time. Only you can get them—I cannot. They are at final peace, living upon the Isles of the Blessed." The avatar glanced at Kiran, knowing that the human had wondered about just that.
"No deity can take anyone from the Isles. I will speak to the deities the ghost mentioned on your behalf on this matter, but that is all I can do for you. If you want them, you must go there yourself and get them. Your chances to win out against Bri'kerzz will improve with your lost friends at your side once more, yes, but it will lose time. Choose well."
So saying, Celestian faded away to nothingness...
... but so did the vision of the Elnamerrna crew of Mazar's lair. They felt the long-familiar disorientation of teleport, then they were standing or lying in Shoriku's crypt.
"Shoriku?" Tyfelian called as he started to faint, as the shock of being healed from the edges of death began to overwhelm him.
The ghost of the shukenja rose from his coffin.
"Yes?"
Tyfelian let go of Kiran's arm and let himself crumple to the floor.
"Watch over our rest, please."
Vinespace, Shoriku Harazawa's crypt
Elnamerrna crew
Midsummer 2nd, 2461
The Elnamerrna crew awakened slowly, to find all of their wounds completely healed. Tyfelian looked himself over curiously; even after some rather powerful healing spells, he had been near death when he'd passed out.
Tyfelian looked up to find Alzja smirking at him, as usual, but somehow he didn't mind at the moment.
"Shoriku and I have been busy," she explained. "I took you and the others into the Border Ethereal so he could help me."
"How long?"
"Three days."
"What about him—Shoriku? Were he and his men released to their reward?"
"He said so. The others're already gone, but he's still here, for the moment."
Tyfelian stood and walked over to the dais supporting the shukenja's coffin and hopped up on it.
"Shoriku?"
The ghost rose from his coffin.
"Ah, you return to us from the land of dreams," Shoriku smiled at him. "I will leave now for my eternal rest with Zeratzu. I wished to thank you personally for your accomplishment."
Tyfelian bowed clumsily, as he remembered seeing Shoriku do before.
The ghost stepped close to Tyfelian, so close that the half-drow could feel the chill of the grave that emanated from a ghost, any ghost.
"Did you really see Zeratzu?"
"We did. He saved us from Lord Bri'kerzz at the end of it."
"I wish I could have seen him... but I will, in but a few minutes," the ghost added happily. "Just quickly, the artifact of evil you destroyed was another lost item, misplaced by the dead god Haritzu... he was worshipped by some of the humans enslaved by the illithids so very long ago."
"You knew this all along?"
"No; Zeratzu told me in a vision. There are other artifacts lost by the gods in Vinespace, but they are better left alone, I assure you."
"I believe you," Tyfelian smiled.
The ghost stepped back from the half-drow.
Shoriku raised his hands in blessing on the Elnamerrna crew.
"May Zeratzu be with you always. Farewell."
Shoriku Harazawa faded from sight until nothing remained but the dark emptiness of the crypt.
Tyfelian straightened and drew a breath, then turned to his crew and spread his hands, but offered a reassuring smile.
Then he hopped down and led them out of the crypt, his step firm and confident now.
Hearthspace
Elnamerrna, en route to Quatha Vellar
Midsummer 2nd, 2461
The Elnamerrna blazed through the Hearthworld crystal shell, already past the Itreyan gate, loaded with the dragon eggs from Vinespace.
"They're not corrupted," Jaclyn told a relieved Tyfelian while they were standing in the cargo bay. "Neither were the ones we rescued from Krynn. Mazarixopellin knew."
"And the warrior-slaves from Quenna-taylee?" Kiran asked.
"I'll turn them over to the immigration people on Itreya," Tyfelian replied. "The Itreyans can nationalize anyone—you know that," he said with a small smile.
Kiran looked at his friend curiously.
"We accomplished a great deal of good in Vinespace, yet you don't seem satisfied."
Tyfelian took a breath and let it out slowly, measuring his answer.
"I'm satisfied with what we did do, but we didn't find Shoriku's old starship, and if those ancient artifacts he mentioned were in the dragon's lair, we didn't recognize them for what they were."
"We can go back sometime," Jaclyn pointed out for him. "Fact is, we may have to. Celestian said we'll have to tackle Bri'kerzz, and there's almost got to be a way to his lair somewhere in that complex. He'll close it, but perhaps we can reopen it."
"True," Tyfelian said thoughtfully. "And I want to face him, but there are some things we have to do first. Among them, we have a clue regarding how to get our friends back from the dead, and we need to discuss whether we should follow up on that."
"I'll inform the crew," Kiran stated. He started to turn, but he paused just a step or two away from Tyfelian and Jaclyn.
"You know, there's a lot of history in Vinespace... some of it dating back to the times of the Illithid Empire," the human observed. "If we can find it all, it'll take years for Appler's sages to examine it."
"But they'll be ecstatic to get their hands on it," Jaclyn stated with a chuckle.
Kiran laughed, then walked away from them.
Tyfelian and Jaclyn went to the bridge. As the Elnamerrna settled down onto a dock at Quatha Vellar, Tyfelian felt some hope, a commodity with which, in his heart, he had not left Hearthspace.
His heart bolstered, Tyfelian saw to the routines of docking, then went to his quarters. There, he downed a cup of hot chamomile tea and went to take his reverie. He was, in a way, looking forward to seeing what might happen next.
No longer did he feel lost and helpless; his dreams were easeful, soothing—
—and once more, he dreamed of home.
