GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 12: It All Falls Apart

In which the group faces consequences. (CW: Suicidal Ideation)




As the dust settled from the fight, Pip Squeak began to come down from his poison induced fury. "I need trophies," he murmured, as his eyes returned to their normal red glow. With that thought in mind he set about the nearest cultist body, gnawing at the neck in an attempt to remove the head. "Ow!" he cried, as one of his teeth broke against a metal collar around the cultist's neck. "What is that doing there? I guess I just gnaw a little higher on the throat?"

On the other side of the plaza, Talna was having a similar thought process. "If I harvest the heads of these cultists, I can use my magic to communicate with their spirits and thereby learn valuable information on our enemies," the drowse cleric thought. "Cass! I need to borrow your sword!"

"Huh? Oh, sure thing Talna," Cassian said, absentmindedly handing his great sword to the drow cleric. Talna accepted the sword and began lopping the heads from the five cultists nearest to her.

Balazar, standing up again after having been knocked down, took a swig of his last wineskin. "I'm hungry," he declared to the world in general. "I'm going to go eat that donkey." With that statement, the dragonborn began walking up the hill outside the town towards the waiting wagon and the hapless donkey.

Doing her utmost to ignore her companions, Sadun began examining the cultists bodies. She looked beneath the hoods of those cultists who still possessed heads, determining the cultists were a mix of elves and drow, with a single dragonborn member, and one member that seemed to be two halflings in a long robe. The handling on top had their arm replaced by a tentacle. On closer examination, Sadun saw that the tentacle arms of the cultists were affixed in place of their regular arms utilizing a void very like the one that had been on Max's arm. "Odd," Sadun thought. But these voids were shrinking rapidly, squeezing the tentacle arms off the host bodies as they did so.  "I had thought the void was a particular gift of the gambling god Max had been sworn to, but perhaps I was wrong about that if it is in widespread use amongst this cult."

As Sadun investigated the bodies, Arnick walked over to where Cassian had left the egg, and picked it up. He tapped on the egg, causing the egg to shiver slightly. "Please be careful with the egg," Cassian said, walking up behind Arnick. "I don't like to think what the dragonborn would do to us were it to come to harm."

"Oh, I was just looking it over. It's so warm!" Arnick said. "Let me just make a more detailed sketch of it in my notebook."

"Skulls don't need flesh, right?" Talna called from across the plaza. Not waiting for an answer, the cleric sat down and began stripping the flesh from the bone of the five cultist skulls she had gathered using her dagger.

"Nope! Best if skulls are just skulls," Pip replied happily, as he began eating the flesh off of the two heads he had acquired.

"Your friends are strange," Arnick said to Cassian.

"You don't know the half of it," Cassian said. "They're nothing like my old group." A tear ran down Cassian's cheek. "Well, not much like the anyway," he added. He picked up one of the cultist's cloaks and folded it away into his pack carefully. "Could be useful," he said, to the watching gnome.

"Does anybody know where I can get some arrows?" Arnick called out across the plaza. "I'm running low!"

"Yes, there's an armory underground, we left it be last time we were here," Sadun replied, joining Arnick and Cassian as she completed her search of the now headless bodies. "I'm afraid I found nothing to indicate where these cultists came from," she said.

"Hey," Arnick said, kneeling next to one of the groaning kobolds. "How are you doing?"

"Not great?" the kobold said groggily. "Was all black for awhile there."

"Ok, looks like we're not needed up here," Arnick said, turning back to Cassian and Sadun. "Lead the way to this armory place."

"It is through this building and downstairs," Sadun said, leading the pair to the large tavern building and heading inside.

The trio had gone only a few steps inside before they saw the mess. It looked like there had been a fight in the bar area. Kobold statues lay around the area, and there were several piles of ash. Several breathing kobolds were also scattered around, though they were all unconscious.

"We had best be cautious," Sadun warned, taking her lantern out of her pack and lighting it. "The entry to the armory is down those stairs behind the bar."

"There are footprints here," Arnick said. "Looks like both kobolds and... others. The cultists came through here?"

"They may still be around too," Cassian said. "These kobolds are still petrified."

Quietly, the trio descended the stairs. At the bottom, the secret door hung open, prevented from closing by a shattered kobold statue.

"We'll sneak in," Arnick declared quietly.

"I'll remain here," Sadun said, "I cannot see in the darkness, so I would but be a hindrance to you."

With that, the dragonborn waited as Arnick and Cassian snuck further into the darkened hallways.

---------------------

Balazar walked back into town with a satisfied grin on his face. He carried several bundles dripping with blood, and was munching on the meat of a donkey leg bone. His wineskins were once more full, though this time of donkey blood. As he entered the plaza, he saw Fei, still in her polar bear form, observing Pip with interest. Pip was messily devouring the last meat off one of the cultist's skulls. When he finished, he sniffed the skull, gave it a lick, and then said "No trophy, not strong enough." The ratfllk crushed the skull between his paws with a swift motion.

Looking across the plaza, Balazar saw that Talna was preoccupied gathering the limbs and bodies of several cultists and beginning to skin them as well, while marking out a ritual circle in their blood.

Turning back, Balazar was just in time to see Pip grow bored of his remaining skull and leap on an unconscious kobold. The kobold startled awake with a gasp, squealed in terror, and plunged a dagger into Pip's side. Pip snarled in response, but his jaws snapped shut on thin air as the kobold squirmed underneath him. Balazar laughed out loud and walked over to the scene. "I'll give you this piece of donkey steak if you twist that knife," Balazar said to the kobold. The kobold, all fear and panic but also full of hunger, stared at the meat and twisted the knife in Pip's side. Balazar laughed again and dropped the meat into the kobold's waiting jaws.

Talna looked over from her circle. "Why are you... you know what, never mind. I'm busy," she said, and began to chant a spell.

Pip growled at the kobold beneath him, and said "Who did all this?" gesturing at the plaza.

"It wasn't you?" The kobold asked innocently. Pip snapped his jaws at the kobold's face again. "It was the black robes!" The kobold squealed. 

Pip tried to bide the kobold again, but Balazar kicked him. "Leave the kobold alone, we might need him," the dragonborn said. Pip tried to get the dagger, still in his side, out of the kobold's grip, but the kobold held on fast. Balazar leaned over and lifted the kobold off the ground, but Pip held on, snapping his jaws again and again as the kobold squirmed out of the way. Each time Pip attempted to bite the kobold, the dagger was driven deeper into his flank. Finally the kobold released its hold on the dagger, and Pip fell to the ground.

"Alright, now that that's out of our system," Balazar said, turning the kobold to face the polar bear in the plaza, "tell me everything you know or I feed you to the bear." Fei growled questioningly at that statement, but the kobold shook with fear in Balazar's grip.

"We were doing our deliveries! The black robes came, we fought them, then everything went black!" squealed the kobold.

"I'm not sure I believe you," Balazar said, "are you hungry bear?" 

Fei roared, and the kobold screamed in terror. Around them, other kobolds began to stir at the sound of kobold terror. More than a dozen stood, grasping their weapons and looking for a threat.

Pip, on the ground, took a deep breath of green gas and let out his on blood curdling roar of rage. He leapt to his feet, spun, and attempted to attack the nearest kobold, only to find himself lifted off his feet by Balazar.

"Now, I thought you were done with all that rat stuff," the dragonborn scolded. Pip squirmed in his grip, driven to a frenzy by the smell of blood and the poison surging through his system. With a cross between a squeal and a howl, the ratfolk grabbed the dagger still in his side and managed to spin in Balazar's grip, driving the dagger into the dragonborn's ribcage. "Damn," Balazar said. "Still weak from the last fight too." And the dragonborn slumped unconscious to the ground, burying the ratfolk beneath his massive frame.

--------------------

While this chaos was occurring, Talna was diligently working in her own circle. Her spell nearing fruition, she sliced her blade along her arm, letting her blood drip into the circle. A red glow suffused the bones surrounding her. In a gush of purple mist, the bones arranged themselves and stood up, a newly formed skeleton under the cleric's command.

The skeleton was a miso-mash of bones from multiple cultists. The right arm and most of the body was from one of the drow, but the left arm had been taken from the halfling that still had a left arm, as all the other left arms had been replaced with tentacles. Talna had been less diligent about getting appropriate feet, and the skeleton stood on two left legs. The skull was from the dragonborn, because Talna had decided it looked more imposing that way.

"I shall name you Greg," Talna said proudly. "Follow me Greg, we're going to go help Sadun."

The cleric walked into the tavern, ignoring the sounds of a scuffle behind her. The skeleton clattering after her. "Hmm, let's get you an outfit," Talna said, entering the bar. She searched among the bodies and eventually found a suitably formal affair. "This should work, you'll be my new butler." The skeleton was soon dressed the part. As a last thought Talna grabbed one of the trays off the bar. "Here, hold this up level with your head," she instructed, handing it the plate. The skeleton followed orders perfectly. "Excellent. Greg the butler. This will work very well."

Talna continued down the stairs to the basement, and found Sadun standing at the secret door, lantern in hand. "What is going on down here?" she asked.

"Arnick saw tracks that may be another of those cultists," Sadun explained. "He and Cass have headed into the tunnels to investigate. I'm staying here, so as not to ruin the element of surprise with my need of light, but I'm ready to run in as soon as I hear a fight."

"Would it help if Greg held the lantern for you?" Talna suggested. "Oh, by the way, this is Greg. He's my new skeleton butler. Don't kill him, please. He's a pet."

"Uh, ok," Sadun said, nonplussed. "I suppose it would be useful if someone else held the lantern."

"Great. Greg, hold Sadun's lantern, and do what she tells you to. If she says close the lantern, you do this, and if you are to open the lantern, you do this," Talna explained, matching instructions to demonstration as she slid the lantern cover open and shut. The skeleton held the lantern in its free hand, the empty tray still held aloft in its left.

"Thank you Greg," Sadun said, still a little unsure of the situation but determined to make use of it anyway. The dragonborn drew Briarblade and walked further into the gloom, standing at the ready.

"See, you're going to be a great help," Talna said confidently to Greg. 

------------------------

Further inside the tunnel, beyond sight of the lantern, Arnick and Cassian halted in their cautious approach. "There's a light further down the tunnel, is that supposed to be there?" Arnick asked.

"No," Cassian whispered back. "Last time we were here there were no lights, and we didn't leave anything lit when we left. The kobolds don't need lanterns down here."

The pair pressed onwards, more cautiously than before. "I think I hear something, almost a dripping sound," Cassian whispered. 

"It's coming from that room," Arnick said quietly, indicating a doorway a ways down the wall. "That's where the light is too. I'll sneak in."

"Arnick, wait," Cassian began, but the gnome was already on the move. With a sigh, Cassian thought quickly. He picked up a rock from the floor and tossed it down the hallway, past the doorway Arnick was making for. The rock hit the floor beyond with a clink. Holding his breath, the half-orc readied his hammer. Sounds echoed from the room, as of some object being pulled out of something with a squishy sound.

Ahead of Cassian, Arnick snuck carefully to the corner of the doorway, and drew his metal bow. Holding an arrow to it, the lightning bowstring appeared, and in one swift movement the gnome leapt across the doorway and fired the arrow. The arrow flew straight and true, slamming into a kobold from behind. The kobold slumped over, dead before it reached the ground. Next to it, a second kobold began to scream in panic, turning and firing an arrow blindly from its bow. The return fire flew over Arnick's head, as the gnome stepped out of view again. 

Cassian, hearing the commotion, rushed into the room. He saw the kobold Arnick had killed slumped next to the panicking kobold desperately attempting to fit another arrow to its bow. Behind these two were two more dead kobolds, and the unmistakable black robes of a beholder cultists. The cultist's body was unmoving, pierced by multiple spears, two of which were still impaled in its chest.

"Stop!" Cassian shouted at the kobold. "We come in peace, we are not your enemy! Please, did you kill the creature in the robes?"

The kobold, startled by the declaration and the question, nodded mutely at Cassian. "That's a relief. We killed several of its comrades outside just now. Did you see the lightning bolt come through here? The cultist must have triggered a trap as it died."

The kobold nodded again, and gestured sadly at its friend.

"Ah, I am sorry, your friend must have been caught by the trap. But please, we mean you no harm."

The kobold seemed to relax. Behind him, Cassian heard Arnick whisper "sorry", and then heard the sounds of Talna and Sadun rushing into help.

"Are you alright?" Cassian asked the kobold.

"Not hurt," the kobold said, laying a cloth over the dead kobold's face. "Sad about Scurry." 

"Why are you down here?" Cassian asked. "Did the wizard send you?" 

The kobold looked confused. "No, big Eye Boss sent us, we were doing deliveries."

"Why did the beholder's cultists attack you then?" Cassian asked.

"Not Eye Boss's robes. Another Eye Thing sent these," the kobold said.

"Talna, can you speak with the dead? There's another cultist body in here," Cassian called behind him.

Talna strode past the half orc and cut the head from the cultist's body. "I'll put this one in line with the others," she said, gesturing to the skulls lined up on her belt.

Cassian moved to the cultist's body as well, and began searching the robed figure. "What's this?" he said, pulling a sheet of paper from a pocket in the robe. "It's a note, instructions for these cultists. It says, attack at midnight. New information obtained, kobolds are used to enter the tower." Cassian paused, considering, then grew alarmed. "We have to save the wizard! They know how to get through his defenses!"

"I still need some ammunition," Arnick said, gesturing to his rapidly dwindling arrow supply.

"I will take you to the armory chamber," Sadun said.

"Get some bolts for my crossbow while you're at it, I have to go warn the others!" Cassian shouted, running back towards the entrance.

--------------------------

In the daylight the situation had, if anything, deteriorated. Fei, still a polar bear had smacked the berserk Pip with her claws after Balazar feinted, causing Pip to turn his poison addled ire upon the large white polar bear. Heaving the dragonborn off him, the ratfolk had rushed at Fei, claws scratching at her, but the polar bear had merely grunted and smacked the ratfolk to the ground before sitting on him. The kobolds, seeing the white bear come to their aid, cheered Fei on, and gathered around to pet her fur. Fei made happy polar bear noises.

Beneath her, Pip began scrabbling at the ground. Digging furiously, he created a short tunnel, emerging from the ground behind Fei before rushing at her, biting her in the back. The enraged kobolds all swung their weapons at Pip, five of them landing hits with a mixture of spears and daggers. Roaring in frustration, Fei turned and clawed Pip viciously. The ratfolk squealed in pain, and began digging another hole to escape, taking several more blows from the kobolds as he fled deeper into the earth.

Balazar regained consciousness with a curse, and lay on his back staring at the sky, still too exhausted from his wounds to make a move.

At that moment, Cassian burst from the tavern door. Before him he saw the disappearing form of Pip digging into the ground, a bloody polar bear surrounded by kobolds attempting to murder the ratfolk as he fled, and the barely conscious Balazar on the ground. "What in the hells are you doing out here? We have more important things to do! The wizard is in danger, the beholder cultists know how to get into the tower! We have to go help him!" He ran over and began helping Balazar to sit up. "Why are you covered in blood Balazar? And why are you still a polar bear Fei?" As the half-orc stood up, several of the kobolds by Fei disappeared into a nearby house, emerging moments later with several buckets of water which they began to pour down the hole Pip had disappeared into.

Talna emerged from the tavern into the daylight, adjusting her sunglasses. Behind her were Sadun, Pip and Skeleton Greg. "We found some bolts for our crossbows," Talna called out. "Oh what the hells happened to Balazar? He did not look that bloody when we went inside."

"I don't know, he's still too groggy to tell me, and Fei is a polar bear," Cassian said, as Talna walked up to cast Cure Wounds on the muddled dragonborn.

"Ooh, can I get a ride on the bear?" Arnick asked, looking excitedly at Fei. In response, Fei returned to her human form. "Aww," Arnick said, disappointed.

"I am sorry, I do not know you well enough for that," Fei said in a neutral voice.

In the bottom of his hole, Pip found himself chest deep in water as the kobolds continued to pour buckets after him. The shock of the water brought him back from his berserker rage, and he took a large gulp of the water in front of him to calm himself down further. Finally in control of himself again, he began to burrow up at an angle towards the surface again.

"The wizard is in danger," Sadun agreed, having read the note Cassian found, "but the attack was to come at midnight. We do not know if that was midnight last night, or midnight tonight. As it is midday now, and we are exhausted from our fight with the cultists, we would benefit from a rest before we travel to the tower. We're practically there as it is. And if the attack was for last night we are already too late, and if it is tonight, we should have time for a rest."

"I agree with Sadun," Talna said. "I need to rest, and we all have wounds that need tending."

Cassian sighed. "Your reasoning is sound. It would do no good if we showed up unable to help the wizard. I just do not want to lose a potential ally. I cannot imagine how they discovered the way to penetrate his shield though."

The group took an hour to rest. Arnick wandered off on his own, talking softly to the stone Elle had become and drawing the stone in his notebook. Sadun pulled out some whetstones she had found in the armory and began scraping rust from her new great sword. Talna, after bandaging the group as best as she could, began cleaning the flesh from the skull of the cultist from the basement.

Finally it was time to leave.

"Hey, kobold, I'll give you some donkey steak if you come with us to the wizard's tower," Balazar called out. An eager kobold scampered over to act as our guide. As the group walked through the trees towards the tower, they passed a large rock on the ground. The kobold took three steps past the rock, stumbled and fell over, and looked around confused. Standing again, it shrugged and continued to lead the group towards the tower.

"That is where they teleported away to the tower before," Sadun said in a worried voice. "That means the kobold teleportation spell is not functional."

The group reached the tower. "The door is open," Pip said. "It wasn't open before, was it?"

"Maybe we should sneak closer," Arnick said. "Pip seems good at that too. We'll signal you if the way is unguarded."

"Agreed," Talna said. 

Leaving the group behind, Pip and Arnick darted to the stairway leading to the front door. They crouched in the shadows then made their way cautiously up the stairs. The door to the tower was indeed hanging open, a kobold body hung from the door itself, impaled on a spear. There were no sounds of fighting from within, and no enemies popped out to attack them however, so Arnick turned around and began making the hooting calls of an owl, while Pip whistled sharply. The rest of the group ran up.

"He's still alive," Talna said, walking up to the kobold on the door. "Unconscious, but alive. Let me just," she placed her hands on the kobolds body and muttered a spell, "stabilize him." As she said that, she pulled the spear from the kobold's abdomen, and then cast Spare the Dying again, stopping the new round of bleeding. The kobold slumped down the door and lay still, breathing in shallow breaths. Talna carefully picked the kobold up, and lay it across the doorway as though it were dead. "Just in case there are foes around, but this way we can all freely enter the tower," she pointed out.

Inside the tower was a scene of chaos. Piles of stone littered the floor, as well as several kobold statues. There were a few, but not enough, black cloaked bodies. The walls and bookshelves were scorched, and ashes covered every surface. There was a single statue of a cloaked cultist as well.

The group walked through the devastation in a somber mood, and ascended to the second floor. The walls here were also scorched, and blackened scrolls littered one corner. A large cauldron full of something viscous sat in the middle of the room, relatively untouched. A single kobold came scurrying down from the third floor clutching an armful of empty vials.

"Is the wizard alright?" Talna demanded.

"No!" the kobold replied absentmindedly, hurrying to a cabinet full of vials, each full of a different colored liquid.

"I can heal him!" Talna said urgently. The kobold stopped what it was doing, grabbed Talna by the arm, and rushed her up the stairs to the third floor.

The sight that greeted her as she opened the door to the third floor was the kobold wizard, lying on his in a pile of books, a spear protruding from his left side. The room was in similar disarray to what the other floors had been. The wizard was still alive, and he looked up as Talna entered.  "Did you find... oh, it's you. Good timing."

"I can help, I have healing magic," Talna said, moving towards the wizard. 

The robed kobold held up a hand. "Just let me die, would you?"

"Why would I do that?" Talna asked, walking over and moving to heal the wizard. He slapped her hand away. "You're serious aren't you?"

"Did I not sound serious? Let me die! I'm tired of this life. I've failed to protect my people, I've failed to defeat the beholders, I'm tired."

"You can't give up like that! What about getting revenge on the beholders?"

"You think I didn't try that once upon a time? There's no point. And yes, I can give up like that. I already have." The wizard slapped Talna's hands away again.

"Cass, could you hold his hands down, I need to get him healed up before getting the spear out," Talna called over her shoulder.

"Don't you dare," the wizard said, flames licking the side of his mouth. Cassian ignored him and grabbed his wrists. As he did, the wizard let loose a breath of fire, scorching Cassian's eyebrows off and singing Talna's robes.

"Damn it, don't make this so difficult!" Talna shouted, casting Spare the Dying and pulling the spear from his side before channeling a powerful Cure Wounds to cause the wizard's side to begin knitting back together.

"If you want to die so badly, help us kill the beholders," Cassian said. "Then your death would have meaning."

"No," the wizard said adamantly. "Why should I help you? What could I do anyway, I couldn't protect my own people."

"Are you giving up on those of your people still alive? These kobolds need you!" Talna protested.

"Yes I am giving up on them. Half of them are dead. I already told them to stop trying to heal me, they're just stubborn," the wizard explained.

"Hey, if you want to die I would be happy to kill you," Balazar said, entering the room and drawing a knife from his belt.

"Yes, please do! That sounds great!" the wizard shouted.

"But only if you help us first," Balazar said. "I'm going to kill you one way or another, but Talna seems to think you can still help us first."

"Damn you!" the wizard said.

"Come on Sadun, let's go make sure there are no enemies still hiding here," Balazar said, walking through and heading up to the higher floors. Talna began bandaging the wizard's wounds, despite his continued protests.

"Ok," Sadun said, looking sadly at the wizard as she departed. Fei followed after them, heading to the top of the tower.

The wizard watched the dragonborn depart with a disappointed look on his face.

"You're really determined aren't you?" Cassian asked.

"Of course!" the wizard turned back around. "What is that egg you are carrying?"

"Oh this?" Cassian looked at the egg he had slung around his chest in its carrying blankets. "We found this in a wagon on the road. Sadun and Balazar think it's a dragon egg."

"A wagon on the road? Was there a kobold there?"

"No, just the cart and some kobold footprints in the dirt."

"Pity. I had sent one of my most trusted minions to find that egg. You must keep it safe!"

"I'm keeping it safe alright," Cassian said.

"Those eggs are very powerful. Or were. They stopped hatching when the beholders came, though I have no idea why. Anyway you should definitely keep that egg safe and let me die here."

"I'll keep that in mind," Cassian said. "Could you enchant my hammer so it comes back to my hand when I throw it?"

"Certainly I can do that. You should kill me, and then I will enchant you hammer."

"Nice try," Cassian said. "That's the wrong order though."

"Fine. There might be something on the second floor that would help you."

"Great!" Cassian turned, grabbed Pip Squeak as he came up from the second floor, and marched back down the stairs. "You're going to help me find something to enchant my hammer Pip," he declared as he went.

"Good, that's got rid of him," the wizard said. "Are you going to let me die now?"

"Absolutely not," Talna said. "What is wrong with you? This attitude of yours disgusts me."

"Good," the wizard replied. The pair drifted off into an angry silence.

-------------------

Downstairs, Arnick pulled the wounded kobold inside the tower and shut the door. "There," he said, "from what people said this should at least keep others from getting in here." He looked around at the walls, lined with bookshelves. "I wonder if there's anything that could help us here," he wondered, walking along the the shelves searching for any books that seemed to be about beholders, leviathan dragons, or elder gods.

After a few minutes search, the gnome had retrieved several books with pictures of beholders on the covers, although they were mostly written in draconic. "I hope somebody here can read these," he muttered, heading up to the second floor. "Maybe there are more books upstairs."

On the second floor, Arnick discovered Cassian, holding Pip in one hand and flinging open cabinet doors with the other. "Anything magical in here?" Cassian asked.

"Give me a second!" Pip protested, "I have to look carefully through the goggles. Yes, this cabinet is full of potions that seem magical."

"Great, which one helps my hammer?" Cassian asked.

"I don't know! There's like 20 of them in there," Pip said.

"What are you doing?" Arnick asked.

"The half-orc thinks something on this floor will make his hammer return after he throws it," Pip said.

"The wizard said there was something down here," Cassian said.

"Maybe we should go ask the wizard which potion it is?" Arnick suggested.

Cassian paused. "Oh yeah, that's a good idea, let's go." With that he turned on his heel and marched back to the third floor, Arnick walking up behind him.

--------------------------

"Mr wizard, have you heard of these stones that are super powerful and may contain the essence of a dead companion?" Pip asked as soon as they reached the third floor. "And it could probably make anything?"

"Of course, why do you ask?"

"Mr. Wizard, Can you bring someone back from one of these stones?" Arnick asked, holding up Elle's stone.

"When did you get so polite?" the wizard asked, peering at Arnick.

"Oh, this is a different gnome," Pip said. "See, when we closed the void in the forest, Elle got sucked inside and trapped in this stone," he continued.. "She was struggling with the body of some goblin, and the next thing I knew the void was gone and so was she."

"Oh, different gnome, that makes sense," the wizard said. "Sure I know about those. There's a stone like that in the desk over there."

Pip immediately squirmed out of Cassian's grip and rushed to the desk. Rifling through the drawers the ratfllk soon emerged holding a stone of the same size and color as the stone Elle had disappeared into, although this one was marked by a wizard staff. "This one has no magical energy in it!" Pip said, disappointed. "Can you recharge it?"

"Do you think I didn't try? If you can figure it out you will have gotten one up on a powerful wizard," the wizard said bitterly. 

"Will the stone kill us?" Cassian asked warily.

"That depends on what went into it," the wizard replied cryptically.

"We found a some potions downstairs, is one of those what will make my hammer better?" Cassian asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, absolutely." 

"Will you tell me which one?"

"You'll figure it out, I'm sure," the wizard said in a dismissive voice.

"Fine. Come on Pip, I need your help again," Cassian said, picking the ratfolk up and hauling him back downstairs.

As the half-orc left, the two dragonborn returned from their sweep of the upper levels of the tower. "If there are more foes they are well hidden," Sadun said. "We did not find any hostile presence."

"I'm bored now," Balazar complained. "Nobody stole my kill, right?" he walked to the wizard. "I wonder if I can touch your soul, little thing." With a look of determination, Balazar reached his ghostly hand into the wizard's chest.

"Balazar no!" Talna shouted, pulling the wizard away from him. The wizard shuddered as his body was pulled off of Balazar's incorporeal fist.

"I think I had it!" Balazar said happily. "That will be pretty entertaining."

"He almost killed me!" The wizard said angrily. "You shouldn't have stopped him! I could feel my soul leaving my body, it was glorious!"

Across the room, Arnick walked up to Sadun. "Here Sadun, I think you should still hold on to Elle. The wizard says there may be a way to get her out, but he's very cryptic about things, and I'm not sure it would be safe. I'm going to go look for more information the wizard may have written down about our enemies here." With that, the gnome walked to the stairs going up, lost in thought.

Fed returned to the third floor a moment later. "I found this painting upstairs," she said, holding a framed picture up to the group. It depicted the kobold wizard, looking younger, and an older human man wearing a druid mask. "The mask the man wears is that of my teacher. Who is this druid with you?"

"Oh yeah, that's Arnor. You are his student then?" the wizard asked.

"I am. He was something of a father figure to me. I miss him every day."

"Then you should go back upstairs. Look for a piece of wood with metal stuck in the middle of it. That's for you."

"Metal?" Fei asked, slightly aghast.

"Oh yes, I know how you druids are about metal. Don't worry, Arnor wanted you to have it. Go on, get out of here! I need to talk your friends into helping me pass on still."

"Sadun, hold onto the wizard," Talna said, handing him to the dragonborn as Fei went upstairs. "He's so determined to die it disgusts me, and I can't take it anymore. I'm leaving." The drow walked to the stairs.

The wizard sighed in Sadun's grip. "You want to know why I've given up drow? It's in the drawer over there." The kobold indicated a second desk in the room. 

Talna walked to the desk and withdrew a series of pictures from the drawer. "They are pictures of adventuring parties," she said. The first one depicted the wizard, very young, with a rabbit folk, a satyr, a ratfolk, a tabaxi and one other odd looking creature Talna could not put a name to. The next picture depicted the kobold again, slightly older, but several of the other members had changed or disappeared entirely. The third picture showed a tired looking older version of the kobold, with an entirely new group. In each picture the kobold looks sadder than the last.

"I knew you were one of the first champions," Talna said quietly.

"We tried over an over again, and each time my friends would die. Is it any wonder I've given up? I thought I could at least protect my people here in my tower, but even at that I have failed. I have been doing this for so long. How many champions have died now? What is it all for?"

"You still shouldn't give up like this. You could help us, we can put an end to this cycle!" Talna said.

"Can you? That is what we all said so many times. I'm tired of seeing people die. I've been doing this for too long."

Talna threw up her hands. "I can't handle this. I'm leaving." She walked down the stairs.

------------------------

"That cauldron is full of magic!" Pip said as he was dragged back to the second floor. "Let me take a look at it!"

"Fine, maybe that's what my hammer needs," Cassian said, letting the ratfolk down. 

"Hmm, it appears to be a spell in liquid form," Pip said, examining the cauldron from all angles through his magical goggles of detection. He pulled out his remaining cultists skull from his cloak. "I wonder what would happen if I..." Pip dipped the skull into the liquid, and then brought it to his muzzle. He licked the skull, and found himself hurled backwards. Cassian caught the ratfolk, but the skull dropped to the floor where Pip had been standing and shattered. "Damn it!" Pip squealed in frustration. "That was my last skull! I'm going to need to go get more now!'

Getting down from the half-orc's grip, Pip walks back to the cauldron. "I wonder if this might work?" he said, and dropped the stone he had found in the wizard's desk into the sloshing liquid, then ducked back out of the way as the stone shot straight into the air. Bouncing off the ceiling, the stone arced away from the cauldron, where Cassian caught it and handed it back to Pip.

"Are you about done playing?" Cassian asked. "I need to know if one of these potions will help me."

Pip grumbled about oppressive brutes, but followed Cassian to the potion cabinet. "Well, this one looks like it might be a healing potion. And so does this one. Basically the red ones look like healing potions." 

"Any potions that might make my weapons return to me?" Cassian asked.

"There are dozens of potions in here! It would take a while to figure that out," Pip complained. "Let's just go ask the wizard which one it is!"

"Oh yeah, that is probably a good idea," Cassian admitted. 

"Good, I'm glad you can see my genius for what it... hey, I can walk myself you know!" Pip shouted, as Cassian picked him up and started walking back up the stairs.

--------------------------

On one of the upper floors, Arnick was rummaging through a pile of books, still searching for anything about beholders or leviathans. "This looks promising," he said, pulling out a book titled Tales of Leviathan. Standing up, the gnome was about to leave when another book spine caught his notice from a shelf behind the door. "The Tragedy of Leviathan, huh? I'll definitely want to read this one when I can," he said. 

He passed Fei again on the stairs, this time the gnome descending as the druid walked back up to the top.

"Did you see anything wooden with metal in the middle?" Fei asked.

"No, but I found some neat books," Arnick said.

"Hmm, that's no help. Thanks, I'll keep looking."

-----------------------

"Can I kill the wizard yet Sadun?" Balazar asked. "It's not nice to let me off my chain and then stop me from killing him."

"Let me ask a few more questions," Sadun said. "I am reluctant to allow cold-blooded murder, but he also seems very much not to want to be here anymore."

"Yes! Let the angry one kill me!" the kobold pleaded. 

"Where did the beholders come from?" Sadun asked.

"I don't know. Nobody knows. The death beholder showed up one day and started killing people. We tried to stop it, but obviously we failed. The other two appeared awhile after that."

"If the beholders are employing your kobolds, why would they attack you?" 

"I wouldn't say they are employing the kobolds. I told the kobolds to go along with the beholder so they wouldn't get killed. But the beholders don't like each other. Each one sees itself as the perfect being, and all others are beneath it. That's why they've divided the land up like they have."

"Hmm, I wonder why the northern beholder is said to have made friends with the town up there then?" Sadun wondered. The wizard simply laughed at that.

"Well, I can't think of any reason to deny your wish," Sadun said begrudgingly.

"Take care of that egg, alright? It's important," the wizard said.

"I promise I will protect it," Sadun said.

"Hey, I'll protect it too! Don't think just because I'm a cold-hearted murderer that I'll let harm come to a dragon egg," Balazar protested.

"At last, someone who can be trusted," the wizard said.

Sadun closed her eyes, and Balazar reached his ghost hand into the wizard's back again, gripped something, and pulled. With a jerk, the wizard slumped lifelessly in Sadun's grip.

"So this is a soul," Balazar said, holding something. "I wonder what I can do with this."

Cassian arrived at that moment with Pip, who was holding the stone in his hand.

"Did you already kill the wizard? Maybe you can recharge this stone with that soul!" Pip said excitedly.

"Good idea!" Balazar declared. Marching up to Pip, the dragonborn began pressing the soul in his hand against the stone. The stone seemed to repel Balazar's hand, so he kept trying. Each time his hand came away, the stone glowed a little brighter.

"I think it's working!" Pip exclaimed.

Suddenly in a flash of light, a soul emerged from the stone, and Balazar plunged the wizard's soul into the stone to replace the first. The staff symbol on the stone faded, replaced by a dragon head breathing fire.

The stone from the soul rushed through Balazar, and he found himself witness to somebody else's memories. Memories of fighting alongside the kobold wizard against bandits, against a red dragon, joining with the other members of the first party from the pictures Talna had found. The group came against the beholder, and Balazar saw each member of the group die save for the wizard. Through another's eyes Balazar saw unfamiliar hands rush through the motions of an incantation, and then all was black as the soul rushed past Balazar and flowed into the lifeless wizard's body. 

A sudden burst of psychic energy exploded across the room. Fei, who had been coming in from the floor above, was hurled back up the stairs. Cassian yelled in defiance as he was pushed back inch by inch, but he refused to give way. Balazar and Pip were hurled into the wall behind them. Sadun was hurled back as well, through the window she had unwittingly been standing in front of, carrying the wizard's body with her. She tumbled down and slammed back first into the ground ninety feet below, the wizard's body still held in front of her.

"Is the egg alright?" Balazar asked, concern in his voice. 

Cassian checked his strap. "It seems alright, still pretty warm too!" he replied.

Talna and Arnick rushed into the room. "What was that?" Talna demanded. 

"I just stuck the wizard's soul into the stone," Balazar said, "and then something hurled us into the walls. Sadun fell out the window though."

Arnick ran to the window and looked down. "She's moving," he said, "but looks pretty out of it. The wizard's body is hovering in the air? And there's some sort of light coming from it. Is that supposed to happen?"

Balazar and Arnick rushed down the stairs and out of the tower, in time to see the wizard's body slump to the earth next to Sadun, who was beginning to stir. Several kobolds surrounded Sadun and the wizard, looking at them in confusion.

Balazar walked up and reached out to poke the wizard's body, when the wizard's arm snapped up and grabbed his wrist. "Don't touch me," said a voice that did not sound like the wizard they knew. The wizard's other arm raised and a beam of energy flew from its fingers, smacking Balazar away.

Arnick gasped. "That was an Eldritch Blast," she said.

"What happened?" the wizard's body sat up. "I feel stiff all over."

Arnick stuttered a moment. "Uh, well, a lot happened? Here, this may explain it best," he held up his dagger and angled the metal to reflect the wizard's form back into its eyes.

The wizard gasped. "What are you doing to Sorzen, why is he in that blade!?" another Eldritch Blast erupted and knocked Arnick off his feet.

"Who are you?" Balazar asked. "And who is Sorzen?"

"Sorzen is that kobold wizard, he is a friend of mine," the wizard replied.

"Ah, so, your soul was in a stone, and I pulled your friend's soul out of his body and your soul went into his body," Balazar explained. "Trust me, I was doing him a favor, the bastard."

"What? That makes no sense!" The wizard exclaimed.

"We are here to fight the beholders," Sadun said, sitting up with a groan. "We were sent here by the gods themselves to rid your world of this threat."

"It's about time," the wizard said. "The gods should have stepped in long ago. Wait, did you say beholders, as in more than one?"

"Yes, there are three beholders," Sadun said. "They seem to have taken over this world. We may be the last hope to destroy them."

"Three? How long have I been out?! There was only the one, last I knew."

"You were in the first group of champions," Talna said, coming out of the tower.

"Champions? What are those?"

"Each group that fights the beholders is called the champions," Talna explained. "As far as we know there have been at least three dozen groups to try and fight the beholders. All have failed."

"So, what the dragonborn was saying," the wizard said slowly.

"Yes, you are actually in your friend's body," Talna confirmed.

The wizard fainted.

"So, what do we do now?" Talna asked, in a weary voice.

--------------------------

At the top of the tower, Fei stood in triumph from the pile of treasures the psychic blast had hurled her into, holding a short wooden wand with a piece of metal in the middle of it. "This must be it," she said. "My teacher's legacy. I should get Pip Squeak to look at it for me, and let me know what it does."

She walked back down the stairs in search of the ratfolk.

TO BE CONTINUED