cy 4862 Juniand 28th - 29th

The party share the spoils from Ellivin’s corpse. Along with some gold coins are the two powerful rings; The Ring of the Dead and a ring of protection. Malaras, the necromancer, makes a strong case for the first ring and quietly slips it onto his finger. Shihan takes the protection ring.

At night Malaras concentrates on the Xenarth Stone and uses it’s power to shroud the party from the prying mind of the Marraq that is hunting them. Escobar confirms that the masking has worked.

Next morning they head into the Wolf and Bear clan territories, two of the most prominent of the Nadir tribes. As they reach the edge of the lake they turn southeastward and soon Malaras – through the Ring of the Dead – can see spirits like Ellivin before him. A derelict town is before them with a massive graveyard. The spirits gather round Malaras and – eventually – he uses them as scouts. They tell him that Yekan, a vampire, rules the town which is called Xerath and Malaras is sure that this creature is the eyes and ears of Illeum in the plains. He sets up camp and waits for night fall.

They gather wood for a fire. Persidium borrows four magical sling bullets (from Gatsol’s musket) and this tempts Shihan to unwrap the demonic weapon and try to dominate it. It is a risky strategy. As his hand grips the weapon the demonic soul is all over him, Shihan staggers back as the full force of a mighty demon is unleashed upon him. The rest of the party are anxious, their fears realised when Shihan’s eyes turn a deep crimson colour.

Malaras spends the day building a stone fortress. Tymm – who has a natural mending ability, helps out and after a few hours they have a good defensable position with many arrow slits and musket points.

Meanwhile viscount Taymar is plagued by telepathic messages from the Marraq. Whilst this does not unduly concern him Taymar tells his companions everything. The messages soon become taunts and threats as the Marraq is angered by Taymar. The viscount is too shrewd; he does not take the bait.

Suddenly there is a loud burst of thunder. An arrow from the dreaded darkbow appears inches from Escobar’s head and hits him squarely between the eyes. The shaft bounces harmlessly away (thanks to Malaras’ stoneskin he cast on the horse earlier).

Yekan is a pale man. As the sun sinks behind the Jandraki Hills he emerges from his underground crypt, but as night takes hold he gets stronger. In the desolate town of Xerath there are no living creatures, no rats, no insects, nothing. The vampire is pleased to have so many living things in his midst. He can barely hide his hunger.

But Malaras exerts himself and Yekan admits that he has been tasked by Illeum to help them. "I fear it is too late however," the vampire says, "for there are elves everywhere – a small army converges here Malaras. I fear you are trapped."

The spirits confirm this as they hurry back from their scouting. The party prepare for the worst and Escobar informs them that a single elf – queen Illyanth herself – approaches out of the darkness. She is soon before them and offers them all a way out if they leave the Xenarth Stone behind.

The party are disrespectful and taunt the queen who remains calm throughout. It soon becomes clear to her that they will not accept her terms. As she turns to leave the thief Persidium tries to sneak up on her, a knife in his hand, the sense of danger palpable. She clutches an amulet that houses the brother stone to the Xenarth and in one sweeping gesture opens her hand and faces the vampire Yekan. Incredibly the vampire explodes into dust before their eyes. She follows this action by casting a dispel magic that wipes out any protection the party have stored.

It is the signal for violence. The entire party have her within melee range and the rest of her forces are far enough away to make their advantage count. Persidium is closest and lunges at the Elenorian queen. Illyanth has already drawn her katanas and swirls like a dancer as she decapitates the thief with an almost contemptuous flick of the blade. Tymm retreats and draws his longbow, whilst the rest of the party prepare to attack.

Illyanth leaps amongst them with the grace of a master swordswoman and it is to Shihan, the deadly assassin that she faces first. He halts her whirlwind attack by catching the sword arm and he manages to avoid the second blade by ducking under it. But without a weapon – other than the demonic musket – and facing a woman who has multiple attacks his defence crumbles. Shihan is cut from the top of the head downwards, the blade finally making a gory exit just above his left hip.

The stark realisation that they face an opponent of far superior skill and also an impending charge from elven cavalry make the party flee for their lives. Sakkarim the sorcerer jumps away but is cut down by the relentless elven queen. Viscount Taymar turns Escobar away from her and rides as fast as he can to the north, painfully aware that he charges headlong towards thousands of elves.

Malaras uses Time Shield to halt one of Illyanth’s expertly thrown katanas and move quickly to the vulnerable Tymm. The fighter looses his first shot, which Illyanth snatches easily from the air and discards with a air of arrogance. Malaras reaches Tymm and – during the confusion – takes them both into a rope trick.

Taymar is almost upon the elves. Escobar throws thoughts into the horses’ minds and the elves have difficulty maintaining control of their steeds. A channel opens that Taymar rides through, once he has penetrated the line of cavalry he knows that no horse will ever catch Escobar. But even when through the line of elves Escobar has a warning; "There is still a Marraq out there and he knows where we are!"

The words are timely. A thunderclap heralds the arrival of a deadly dark arrow, a shaft that appears inches from the victim before it hits. Taymar holds his breath…

Then the impossible happens. An arrow cuts the dark shaft from the sky in mid flight, a truly impossible, improbable and outrageous shot. Escobar is already away, his telepathy shielding his rider as best he can as he churns up the soft ground and puts miles between them and Illyanth’s forces.

Back at the scene of carnage Malaras and Tymm sit quietly in their extra dimensional hiding place and watch a tall Marraq bow before the queen. Illyanth picks through the bodies of the dead and wipes the katanas clean on Shihan’s cloak. The Marraq is shaken, he discards the darkbow on the ground at the queen’s feet and she throws a questioning glance at him.

"The viscount and that horse have help," he says.

"So?" she replies waspishly, "I want them dead!"

"You don’t understand your majesty; it is aid beyond my skill…and possibly beyond yours."

Queen Illyanth regards the Marraq critically. Only then does she see the abject fear in his eyes, his whole body quivers nervously. He is broken. She turns to her closest guard.

"Strip the bodies and burn them! We’ll regroup at the lake." Her eyes follow the Marraq’s gaze north where the noble Taymar and the horse have fled. Then she turns to the space where she knows the Xenarth Stone to be…she sighs and spits on the ground.

"This is not over dwarf!"