Ambrosia Software Web Board: Omen's Return (TS) - Ambrosia Software Web Board

With the discovery of the new crolna shard the camp was field with commotion. The members of the group were gathering around ferazel to see the shard and others were discussing what to do next with the Ronins.
Shi returned to Brianna's pouch to get some sleep only to find that it was closed. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't get the latch open. Shi considered using a spell but decided that she'd just go look for Brianna instead of running the risk of burning the pouch. Shi felt a presence in the woods that felt like Brianna and flew over to it. She fluttered to a landing on a green shoulder, thinking that it was Brianna only to face another set of pointed ears that didn't belong to Brianna!
"shh..." the stranger said. "Who are you?" "My name is Rogan. I've been following your party," replied the stranger.
Shi took a look at the stranger. He was wearing a belt that had several small pouches and a long glowing rapier. A bow and shield somehow were interlocked with eachother and were slung on the back of the stranger. Now that she took a closer look she saw that she was actually sitting on a kind of chain mail, not a green tunic as she had thought.
"Your armor.. its stranger.. its so soft and it doesn't seem like metal.."
"Mithril. Enchanted to protect me from the elements and camoflouge me. Now I think I'll officially join your group. Would you introduce me to the other members?" "okay. You're a elf aren't you? We have a elf in our party, too," Shi sang in a chirp voice leading the way.

They continued along the path, where they saw Harper, practicing sword moves. Rogar grew alert, watching Harper critically and almost jumped when Shi called out. "Rogar, this is Harper. Harper, Rogar" Harper too was startled, for he hadn't noticed Shi or Rogar, and almost dropped the sword onto his foot. Once he had recovered, Harper stammered out greetings.Shi, seeing that Harper didn't know what to say informed him that Rogar wished to join the quest. At hearing this, Harper smiled, for this was a subject he knew about. "Welcome! I'm pretty new myself to questing. Let me give you some tips… first of all, never wander around without a torch…" Rogar let Harper babble and only really listened when his started telling about the the people he would be traveling with. Soon they reached the group. Shi spoke up informing everyone that they had a new member. They paused from their work to ask him some question about him. Harper gave him some coffee, informing him that it was ambrosia. Katze not to be out done quickly served him some mint tea, informing him actually benefited the user. Rogar smiled and decided to try both before passing judgment. He was sure that he had done the right thing by joining.

Trinias blinked awake for the second time that morning, yawned, and stretched expansively. He wondered briefly what it was that was different about the little group of people milling around the camp; it took a few moments for his brain to catch up with his eyes.

"Rogar!" he exclaimed, climbing achingly to his feet. "Good to see you again, friend. I haven't seen you since the undead war, a few months back!"

"Yes," Rogar replied. "Trinias, isn't it? And how is that strange friend of yours, Kwon Chen?"

Trinias' face darkened briefly. "I'm not sure. We learned another friend of ours - Flynn, you may remember him - was in danger. We sent word to Kwon and some others to go and help him, but we haven't heard anything since. That's not altogether surprising though, we've been tied up on this expedition for a while."

"I see. I hope everything works out well for them. As for this expedition, I've expressed an interest in joining it myself."

"Great! I, for one, would be glad to have you along!"

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

Brianna made her way quietly through the woods, back towards camp. She'd found a stream a short distance away, and had taken the opportunity to freshen up a bit, as well as fill a few water bottles.

To her keen ears, there was a subtle difference to the noise emanating from the camp site. She edged slowly closer, until she could just see between the branches, and make out the figures about the camp. One of them she didn't recognise.

The others seemed to have accepted the stranger readily enough, so she threw off stealth and stepped out from the trees. The newcomer was an elf, she noted - or rather, half-elf. She wasn't quite sure how, but she could always tell; it probably had something to do with being half human, herself.

Shi flew up to Brianna, and perched on her shoulder again. "Look Brianna, we have a new friend. He's an elven too, just like you! His name is Rogar. Isn't his armour interesting? He calls it Mithril."

Brianna, grinning, took a moment to note that listening to one speech from her little friend would probably cure her of the deepest depression, before extending her hand to Rogar and shaking his.

"Welcome, Rogar. I am Brianna; I travelled to this world with my honoured ancestor, seeking adventure, and tales of the same."

Rogar nodded to her politely. "I greet you, Brianna. I am glad to join your quest."

At that moment, Brianna noticed Sasha sitting off to one side, still looking slightly woozy. She hurried over to see if she was all right. "What happened to you, Sasha?" she enquired, looking around at the group accusingly.

Sasha giggled, sounding almost drunk. "Oh, don't blame them! I used some elemental magic, but I'm not very strong with it; I guess I did a little bit too much. Oooh, suddenly I feel sooo sleepy..." With that she closed her eyes, lay down and fell into a deep slumber.

Brianna looked to Trinias for an explanation of this 'elemental' magic, and why it should have had such an effect - but before he could answer, their attention was drawn to a painful groan from elsewhere in the camp.

Velcarn had finally woken up.

------------------
I came, I saw, I wrote the travelguide!

Before Ferazel went to see the newcomer, Rogar, and Velcarn, since he had woken, he casted the tracking spell. He made a face, and said it was in the sewers of Cademia. There were many groans all around. Ferazel then went to go see Velcarn. "Hello, it's nice to see you've waken up." he said, "You're just in time to help us prepare to journey to Cademia."

Ferazel smiled, and left Velcarn to pack. He then walked over to Rogar, and said "Hello, old friend." Ferazel said. "Hello to you too, it's been a while." Rogar replied.

Then, Ferazel started to pack up his things.

Katerei had been watching the mornings events with interest, and had gone to examine Velcarn when he awoke. "Forget it Ferazel, Velcarn and the Ronin are in no condition to be travelling. We'll have to rest here for at least another night."

Brianna noded her agreement, and bent back to her examination of the sleeping Sasha. Shi, who'd returned to Brianna's shoulder after her mad dash over to Sasha, peered down at the sleeping form. "She's going to be all right, you know," Shi whispered in Brianna's ear.

Brianna relaxed, visibly. "Thanks for the reassurance, Shi."

"She used some Seldane magic," Shi continued. "I didn't know humans could do that. It drained a lot more of her lifeforce than it would have drained from a Seldane, though."

Brianna sat down against a convenient tree, where she could still watch Sasha. "I met some of these 'Seldane' a few days ago. Tell me about them."

"Well,..." Shi began, and started to relate what she knew. Her voice was so quiet that Brianna almost had to strain to hear what she was saying - and Shi was talking directly into her ear. No-one else could make out a single word.

Rogar took a look at his new companions as everybody prepared for a day off. He saw Harper trying to get the Ronin to play a game to pass the time. It was quite humorous, Harper gave a orange ball that reflected the bright sunlight off of it like a marble. Harper gave the ball to the Ronin who obviously didn't seem understand or agree on the rules of the game. At first the sight of Sasha and Trinias assaulting the ball with daggers and arrows, turning into a bright pin cushion, made it look like some kind of targeting practice but Ulf was smashing it through a ring made of twigs that Harper hung on the nearby trees. Unfortunately Ulf was obviously feeling better and smashed the trees down as well creating a thunderous crash each time.
After watching the amusing play go on for a while Rogar turned to Brianna, the other elf. She seemed to be deep in thought with the ever-talking Shi on her shoulder. Rogar decided to use the time to get to know his companions better and walked over to Brianna...

Ferazel and Katerei were at a corner of the camp. They seemed to be arguing about the best course of action they should take next on the very strange device that had started this quest..... but in reality they were fighting over who would get to play StarCraft

Shi fell silent, as Rogar approached. It wasn't that she didn't trust him - but the Seldane had become so secretive, and she didn't want to reveal anything to anyone that didn't already know them.

"May I sit?" Rogar asked, diffidently.

"Of course, make yourself comfortable," Brianna replied, maintaining a friendly demeanor, although she was a little annoyed at the interruption to Shi's tale.

"Do you mind if I ask you about the people in this group?" Rogar queried. "I'd like to get to know the people I'm travelling with."

"I have no objection; but I'm fairly new to this myself, and I don't know many people all that well. Ask your questions, and I'll do my best to answer them. I hope you'll answer some of mine in return?"

"Nauturally," he replied. They fell to conversing, alternately posing questions of the other, and occasionally Shi. Rogar knew much of the earlier goings on of Cythera, and Brianna wanted to gather as much information as possible for her grandfather.

Before they knew it, it was time for lunch.

------------------
This space available for rent.

Brianna and Rogar stood up as they were called over for lunch. They were surprised to note that Katerei had made lunch. Normally, she didn't cook, which most of the group figured had something to do with her fear of fire.

Katerei served everyone as they sat down. She had made a fruit salad and some sort of flat bread. She grinned and sat down next to Trundaylan. "I decided it was my turn to make a meal, and besides, it didn't involve actually cooking anything."

Trinias looked up. "Well, you made the bread, didn't you?"

"It's not normal bread," Katerei said. "It's made of wheat and everything, but the paste is pounded flat and left to dry in the sun. It's called avaya, and it might not sound great, but it does taste really good. My mother taught me the recipe."

Sasha was surprised. In the time she had known Katerei, she had never heard her speak about either of her parents. Sasha wondered about that, but decided not to worry about it then.

"Well, you're right, it does taste good," Harper said, biting into his slice of avaya. He still thought it odd that bread would be eaten uncooked, but it was edible and good-tasting.

Conversation flowed easily between the adventurers. They were feeling happier than usual, maybe because they had a day off from travelling. At any rate, everyone was looking and feeling better, even the people who were tired or injured.

After lunch, Rogar helped Katerei clean up. He kept glancing over at her. He'd never seen anybody before who even remotely resembled her, but that wasn't surprising as she obviously wasn't human. He wondered what race she was.

At one point, Katerei caught Rogar watching her. She stood up and grinned. "What are you thinking?"

"Um...well...erm..." he stammered, not sure what to say. Finally he decided to ask her outright. "What race are you?"

Katerei didn't seem bothered by this. Rogar figured she was probably used to it.

"My race is the Elemence. My element is water." She glanced curiously at Rogar. "You seem surprised, but that's expected. Well, you're an elf- the Elemence have never really had contact with any of the elves. We never really talked to the humans much, either. We mostly kept to ourselves ever since Vera-" she broke off suddenly, realizing she'd said too much.

Rogar raised an eyebrow, but did not ask any more questions.

***

Later that night, anybody coming to the camp would have seen what they would expect for a camp- people spread out over the site, fast asleep. But most people would not notice the small, ice-blue wolf creeping around the edges of the camp, now would they notice the empty bedroll lying there.

The wolf walked around the perimeter of the camp, making no noise as it padded around. At one point it stopped and turned its head to the moon, sitting and waiting. It did not blink as it stared at the velvety-black sky.

Then finally, the wolf rose up onto it paws and trotted off into the forest.

***

Very early the next morning, the ice-blue wolf returned to the campsite. It looked around at the sleeping people, then hiding in the cover of the trees, turned back into Katerei.

***

Later that morning, around ten o'clock, everybody was finishing their breakfast and packing up their gear. They were nearly ready to set off.

Ferazel glanced around at them. Finally, everyone was done packing up. Ferazel grinned. "Well, if everyone's ready, then I guess we're off to Cademia!"

Seeing no objections, Ferazel started the walk to Cademia. Midway through the walk, it seemed to get dark. "Strange," Ferazel said, tapping a device on his wrist, "It's not even close to 6PM!" Murmurs from all around. Then, fog started to fill the area. Omen glided in, shadow form, laughing his evil laugh.

"I see some adventurers, trying to get the Crolna!" he said, mockingly. He avoided several arrows shot by Trinias, and was about to shoot a fireball at Velcarn when a dagger hit him on his left shoulder. Omen scanned the group, and spotted Katerei pulling out another dagger. He was just about to send a fireball at her, when he was hit three times to the right of his heart by Trinias' arrows.

Enraged, he was about to shoot lightning at Trinias when he was blinded by a light. He never knew it wasn't a light, but instead a spell Shi had casted. "I'll get you all, next time!" he shouted, trying to fly away in the right direction as well as cast Restoration at the same time.

The fog cleared, and daylight came again. There were several sighs of relief, and the group continued for Cademia.

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

"Here we are," Ferazel said, gesturing towards the sign that read "The Two-Tailed Rat", "We'll be staying the night here. Everything's arranged, just go get the key to your room, and we can get some rest. In the morning, we'll see Aethon about going in to the sewers. Don't worry, some people can stay behind in their rooms." Ferazel finished, grinning at Brianna, Shi and Katerei.

As Brianna set down her things in the room Shi decided to go and explore the new city. With a flutter she flew out the window into the dark night. Shi had heard ferazel tell the members of their group to be careful when going out into the streets of Cademia, but Shi couldn't stand staying in the room. The night was cold and only a few stars sparkled in the dark sky. A falcon shouted in the distance. Shi felt herself shiver as if her body had become a part of her wings. As she turned back to return to the warmth of the room she smashed into something large and furry.


"Ah.. finished," Brianna said as she stacked the last of her gear beside the bed, "Shi, let's go get something to eat... Shi?" Brianna look around her room in search of Shi. She looked in her bags and went out to the kitchen but didn't find anything. As she returned to her room Brianna saw an animal flash by. She hurried to the nearest room which happened to be empty and went to the next room which was Katerei's room.
"An animal in a city like this? I don't think that's likely," said Katerei after hearing Brianna's story.
"No. You're right.. and it felt more human than an animal. A polymorph? or.. Is Rogar next door?"
"Yes," Katerei replied, "why?"
"I just checked there. Noone was there..."
"You don't think... you don't suspect Rogar do you!"
"Well... Wasn't strange how he had been following us without joining us?" asked Brianna.
"But still.. I don't know him very well either but all of the 'veterans' seem to know him.."
"Alot of elves can take the form of an animal. I think it was hereditary but, anyway. That's the only way I can explain the way I felt. And Shi was the first one to meet him and even she seems to be a little wary.."
"OK. Let's go tell the others," said Katerei.
"No. I'm going to go look for Shi first, I should've been watching over her more carefully...," was Brianna's reply as she went to her room to fetch her bow and arrows.


Shi was struggling with the intruder. It was a wolf, or was in the shape of a wolf and had torn a rip through her wings with a swing of its paw. Shi tried to defend herself with magic but couldn't summon enough power as panic rose inside of her. Finally the wolf had Shi pinned in a corner. Shi tried to call for help but her voice froze as soon as she saw the claws of her attacker in the light of the full moon. Shi closed her eyes and made a final cry as the claws came down with the light of the moon reflected on them. Suddenly another pair of claws appeared and cut deep into the back of her attacker. Shi looked up to see a pair of powerful wings rise up behind the wolf's back with blood dripping off of it's talons. The falcon rose up high and started to plunge back toward the wolf. The wolf simply held it's paw up to intercept the falcon as it dropped to attack. The falcon started to come to faster.. too fast for the wolf. Then there were two flashes of sharp points flying toward the wolf. The beak of the falcon tore through the paw of the wolf like an arrow severing it and dropping it to the ground. And a long arrow protruded out of the back of the wolf. The wolf raised its head and howled as it turned to face its attacker. Brianna stood behind the remnants of a broken down wall. The line of her bow still quivering. She quickly ran and duck behind a box as the wolf charged her. She fumbled with the arrow as her cold fingers refused to listen to her. The wolf landed on top of the box she was hiding behind. It growled showing its white teeth as it prepared to pounce on her. Brianna tensed, her muscles froze with fear as the eyes of the wolf seemed to penetrate her. The wolf tensed, muscles full of power, ready to spring on its prey. Then suddenly the wolf exploded in a fiery shower of flame... Brianna covered her eyes and waited for the flames to extinguish, and there was Gwydion with Shi on his shoulder shouting and cursing.
"I told you to save her not burn her into a crisp! I knew I shouldn't have let you use your magic aga.."
"Shi! Its alright. I'm OK.." said Brianna.
Shi simply looked at Brianna and ran over to her in tears.


Back at the Two-Tailed Rat everyone had awoken. Brianna was looking after Shi and her broken wing at everybody was congratulating Gwydion. Drinks were being served all around when a Rogar limped in. He had a cut running from his ear down to his side and was bleeding badly. Shi and Brianna looked at him, realization dawning on them.....

------------------
???

Trundayalan quickly dashed over to Rogar, administering a healing spell; Rogar nodded to him gratefully, and eased himself into a chair.

"What happened to you?" Velcarn demanded. "Do we need to prepare for an attack, or something?"

"No, there is no danger now," Rogar replied. "There is something strange afoot, though; it was a peculiar wolf that did this, but it didn't feel like a wolf, if you follow me." He looked around the group, hoping they understood. It was then he realised Brianna and Shi had quietly disappeared.

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

Brianna slipped silently into her room. She'd left the others as soon as she possibly could without being noticed, leaving Shi to Katerei's healing ministrations.

She leaned against the wall, and slid down into a seated position. The night's events had shaken her badly; she could feel the other rising, struggling for mastery of her body. That could not be permitted! She had to maintain control...

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

In spite of Brianna's unobtrusive exit, Shi hadn't failed to notice her friend's departure - nor that she'd seemed to be somewhat troubled ever since the attack. As soon as Katerei had repaired her wings (and she'd appropriately expressed her gratitude) she followed after Brianna, to see if there was anything she could do.

The door to Brianna's room was open, so Shi flew straight in. She found Brianna sitting on the floor behind the door, holding her fists to the sides of her head, and gently rocking back and forth.

"Brianna? Are you all right?" Shi landed on the ground, and walked slowly up to her. As she approached, she noticed Brianna was staring glassily into space - and her eyes had changed! Instead of their usual emerald green they were a pale gold, and vertically-slitted like a cat's.

Those strange eyes suddenly seemed to become aware, and focussed directly at Shi. A high pitched, cat-like rumble started to sound from deep in Brianna's throat. Shi instinctively darted into the air, just as Brianna pounced. Shi squeaked, covering her eyes in fright. Brianna let out a loud yowl, and fell silent.

When Shi opened her eyes, Brianna was lying on her side, hugging her knees, and rocking again. Her eyes were once more unfocussed and staring - but they were her eyes. Tears were flowing freely down her face, and she was quietly sobbing.

Shi landed skittishly, and edged closer; Brianna gave no sign of recognition. Shi reached out and brushed some stray hair from her cheek. Unsure of how she could help, she sat down to watch over her friend.

er hadn't known about any of it. In fact, he had been enjoying himself. He had told ferazel as soon they had arrived that he was going to see how Brink was and would probably be staying in his own home.Harper was very disappointed to find Brink away and on locked the office with his key. There was a letter on Harper's desk, from Brink. However, just as Harper was getting ready to open it, he noticed "Do not read before end of quest". Harper put it back down, almost ready to open it anyway. Harper took a brief look at Brink's notes on business and decided to treat himself to a good lunch. He walked into Dare's Eatery and sat down at a corner table. There were a lot of new people that he didn't recognize. Back in the old day, Harper had known everyone. A booming voice sounded from the other end of the room. "HARPER?" Harper quickly turned around to see Dares himself, his ol' pal. "Dares!" Dares rushed over to the table "How you been you ol' pirate?" ( More star Wars!) Harper grinned, feeling better then he had for a while. "Good, very good. How about you and the wife?" 'She still got the temper!" said Dares, laughing. "Remember the time she tossed Brink out on his rear, when he said to put it on his tab?" The two men laughed heartily "Harper, your going to get me to do something I haven't done in years. I'm going to cook you a meal myself' Harper looked shocked, for he knew it was a great honor. It was well known that the last meal cooked by Dares had been to serve the king. Since then Dares had hired some great chefs, but none could equal Dare's 35 years of experience. The meal was long and tasty and Harper ate as much as he could hold. "Dares, you have out done yourself! The King couldn't have eaten better!" Dares grinned cheekily. "He hasn't!" As the lunch time ended, people filed out, while Dares and Harper reminisced over a drink. "Good times" said Dares. "These are good times too" stated Harper. " No excitement, you know. " Harper laughed. "I've had a lot of excitement one this quest!" "So spill!" said Dares "I'm ready for a good tale". So Harper begun telling Dares his strange tale.
***Many hours passed***
"……and then I said to Omen, think you can pull it off, buzzard brains?……"
And the two friends spent an evening in the warm glow of friendship, an evening we'll spent , talking of times of glory and fame, a time that perhaps, just perhaps, those times had not ended.

Rogar put the thought aside. If Brianna and Shi were together he was sure they'd be able to handle most things by themselves. Rogar went along with Gwydion at his side, who was obviously disgruntled by the fact that as soon as the wolf was destroyed Shi had taken his magic away again. The group approached the now scorched box which Brianna had been hiding behind before Gwydion had arrived.
"The strange wolf that I was talking...." Rogar stopped. There was nothing on the box. No body, no remains... nothing. "was right here. It was right here wasn't it Gwydion!?"
"Yes, it was. This is where I burned that creature to dust. But I'm sure that a creature as large and powerful as that would leave some remains..." replied Gwydion.
"hm... well then, since we won't be able to examine the creature maybe you should start from the beginning, Rogar," suggested ferazel.
"OK.. While I was unpacking I saw something outside. Since I'm an elf, er, half-elf, I have good sight, even in the dark, as you all know. I was sure that it was an animal, maybe a bear because it was so huge! So I.. well all of you probably don't know this, there are very few who do, but my ancestory allows me to change into the form of a bird, a falcon or eagle to be more precise."
"I thought...!" blurted Katerei, "well, me and Brianna thought that the wolf was you! You weren't in your room and... well. I guess I owe you an apology..."
"No, no. It was a fair mistake. Even I thought that maybe the creature was Brianna. Anyway I figured that a bird's eye point of view would be safer and more accurate, but when I got up there I saw Shi flying straight toward the beast. I tried to warn her but I guess I was to high up. When Shi was cornered I pretty much just stalled the wolf. Oh I did fly down and tear his paw but that was pretty stupid as you can clearly see," said Rogar pointing to the side of his head, "Brianna was the one who really saved Shi. If she only had more experience she could have killed it by herself... Well, the Gwydion came with Shi and well.."
"Hm.. You said that it didn't feel like an animal?" asked Sasha.
"Yes.. It felt more like a human.. or maybe seldane? or someone else of the elements.."
"BUT THATS WHAT BRIANNA SAID TOO!!" cried out Katerei. Everyone stared at her out of surprise more than annoyance.
"Well then, it wasn't a true animal, possibly another polymorph, and we have no proof that Gwydion had been able to kill it," stated ferazel.
"But.. I'm sure of it.. no animal would have been..." cried Gwydion.
"Yes, but you see! That's the whole point! I see what ferazel is getting at here. No animal or normal creature would have been able to withstand your magic," said Trinias.
"Yes, you even destroyed two seldane!" exclamed Ulf.
"So the wolf must have been Omen," stated ferazel.
A murmur arose from the group and off to the side one could hear ferazel say,"So.. as we near the completion of the crolna Omen begins to show his power..."
Suddenly with a shriek Shi flew into the crowd. Slightly tilted to one side because of her hurt wing and terror.
"Brianna! Brianna, something is wrong with her! Please, somebody hurry and go help her..."

------------------
???

Unknown to the group, Shi was still standing by her fallen friend, trying to comfort her...

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

"Shi" led the group to the slums of the city, which made several people, specifically Katerei, wonder what Brianna was doing in this place of despair.

Trundaylan nudged Trinias next to him, "I'm getting some odd body signature from Shi. Something seems different, but I don't know what. Be careful."

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

Ferazel approached the figure that was Brianna. He casted a spell, frowned at the results, and stepped back, muttering to the other Ronin, Velcarn, Rogar and Katerei. "I don't think this is truely Brianna," he said, "If my spell worked correctly, I believe that this is instead Kuran, one of Omen's servants." Katerei replied, sounding mildly shocked, "Has she been like this for the entire journey?" "No, thank goodness. It was only recently, since that night at the Two-Tailed Rat, I believe." Ferazel replied.

Another thought passed through Ferazel's head, and he casted a spell on Shi. "Just as I thought," he said, "This isn't Shi. This is Delir, Omen's other servant." "Why yes, it is," replied Delir, changing back to his true form. "Gwydion! Fire magic, NOW!" Ferazel yelled, ducking.

Ferazel had forgotten that Gwydion had no fire magic, but Trinias shot a number of arrows with properties of fire at the Undine.

The fire magic in the arrows scorched the startled Undine, and he stepped back, losing health very rapidly. He advanced on the group again, and Ferazel shot lightning at him. Delir cringed, and fell over, nearly dead. Gwydion gave Ferazel a look of puzzlement. "Simple," Ferazel said, very calm, "Undine are water, aren't they? Water and electricity don't mix too well."

He grinned, and was caught off guard by a fireball send by Kuran. Unconsious and at a very low state of health, Ferazel fell down as Kuran advanced upon the other members of the group...

Trundaylan, Sasha, Rogar and Velcarn all had their swords out, but none of them thought for an instant they would be any help. Everyone backed away as Kuran approached, unwilling to take him on. Even though the Ronin's weapons had been enhanced by the elementals, their power was no match for even one Undine.

"Oh, how I wish I had my shield," Sasha lamented, as she clumsily backed into a bucket and knocked it over. In the rush to see the scene of the battle against the wolf, she'd left it at the inn.

"I'll take you one at a time if I have to," Kuran bragged, as the group diverged. He changed his track towards Trinias, who still backed away slowly.

Suddenly, Kuran stopped in surprise, and looked down at his feet. In his determination to reach Trinias, he'd walked straight through the puddle of water from the overturned bucket; behind him, seizing her opportunity, Sasha had plunged the Sapphire Fang into the water, freezing it solid, and locking his feet in place. Kuran struggled uselessly, as the freezing cold travelled slowly up his legs, until it reached his knees. Then Sasha withdrew the sword.

"Come on, that won't hold him for long!" she called, dashing back towards the inn. Ulf stopped to pick up Ferazel, but otherwise, everyone immediately followed. As they put some distance between them and the Undine, with no sign of persuit, they slowed; Sasha held Trundaylan, Katerei and Trinias back from the rest of the group.

"Shouldn't we hurry? Won't they be following us?" Katerei asked, before Sasha could speak.

"I don't think so," Sasha replied, quietly. "They're just toying with us. We haven't seen the slightest hint of their true power, yet. Undine are of water, fire only affects them in large quantities; Trinias' arrows should have had little effect. The only elemental power that could stand against them for long is the power of the earth."

"I agree," Trundaylan murmured. "This quest has been far too simple. If Omen really didn't want us to find the Crolna shards, why hide them on Cythera at all? He could just take them out to sea somewhere, where we could never touch them. No, he has some deeper plan, I'm sure of it!"

Sasha nodded in agreement. "I think these three Undine are young - at least younger than our time with them, since I don't recognise their names. It may be they don't realise who we Ronin are, and that we've witnessed their full strength first hand before."

"Another thing," Trinias interrupted. "As Sasha said, Undine are water elementals. Their power is incapable of extending to the making of fireballs, yet one of them did. Have they finally mastered mana based magic?"

The group fell silent, deep in thought, as they approached the inn.

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

Delir opened one eye, and looked up at the motionless Kuran.

"Have they gone yet?"

Kuran chuckled, concentrated briefly, and the ice swiftly receded from his legs. "Yes, they've gone."

"Shall we go after them? It's a lot more fun than I expected, playing with them like this!"

"No Delir, that's enough for now. Let them think they got the upper hand."

The two Undine glowed briefly, then faded away.

Sasha, Trundaylan, Trinias and Katerei returned to the inn shortly after the rest of the group. Katerei immediately went off to find Ferazel. Ulf had taken Ferazel to his room, where he lay on the bed unconscious.

Rogar and Sasha soon came into the room, where they found Katerei kneeling down by the bed. She looked up as they entered.

"I used some healing spells," Katerei said, biting her lip, "but I don't think they really helped. I don't know what else I can do for him."

Sasha could see that Katerei was very worried. She bent down next to the blue girl and spoke. "Don't worry about Ferazel. He's gone throught a lot before, and he'll be ok. All we can really do right now is wait, and when he wakes up we'll go from there."

Katerei nodded, but she couldn't help worrying. Her mind drifted back to when they had met the Ronin back in time. Ferazel had nearly died then, but the pheonix had helped him...She shook her head. This wasn't life-threating, hopefully. Anyways, Sasha didn't seem too worried.

Rogar interrupted Katerei's thoughts. "I'm going to go find out where Brianna and Shi really are. I asked Velcarn as we came in and he said Brianna hadn't been in the lobby, so she's probably still in her room."

"Yes, since she wasn't with us before, of course," Sasha agreed. "I don't know where she went after she returned with you, Shi and Gwydion earlier. I expect that she would still be in her room, then. I'll stay here with Ferazel and Katerei; you go look for Brianna."

Rogar nodded and silently left the room.

***

The night's incidents had greatly disturbed Katerei. Shi and Brianna had been attacked by a strange wolf, they had been led by a false Shi into a trap, the Undine were still after them (of course), Ferazel had been injured, and now Brianna was missing. And then there had been the fire back there...Katerei shuddered, trying not to think about that.

Katerei desperately hoped that Ferazel would wake up soon. She had an odd feeling that something strange wad going to happen.

***

Rogar walked to Brianna's room, hoping she was there. Having a member of their group go missing after all this was just too much.

The door to Brianna's room was closed. Rogar quietly knocked on the door. "Brianna?" he said cautiously.

Shi awoke at the sound of knocking at the door. She sat up and stretched - then suddenly realised she was resting on a pillow, which had been placed on the dresser. Brianna's bed was roughed up, as if it had been slept in, and Brianna herself was talking to someone at the door.

"We're all right," Brianna said, "thanks for asking. I needed some time alone, and I guess poor Shi was just worn out."

"Well, a lot's happened," said a voice Shi recognised as Rogar's, from out in the hall. "I suggest you both meet with us by the fire, to discuss it."

Brianna glanced around the door, back into the room. "Aiya! You're awake, Shi! They're looking for us; are you alert enough to come?" Shi nodded, then yawned. Brianna grinned, and walked over to lift Shi onto her shoulder. "And thank you, for everything," she said quietly, eyes smiling, as the tiny phaerie sat down and made herself comfortable.

------------------
This space available for rent.

Katerei had dazed off when she was watching Ferazel, and she was awakened by a loud snore. Startled, she jumped a little, but saw that Ferazel had recovered, but had fallen asleep. Smiling, she shook him a little, and one of his eyes opened a slit. "Go away," he mumbled, and fell asleep again. Probably just really tired. Katerei thought as she walked back to her room.

Mostly everyone showed up for the conference in the living room of the Two-Tailed Rat. "I think we all agree that Omen didn't just steal the Crolna for a game." Trundaylan started, "I think that there is something bigger behind all this." "I agree," said Sasha, "the Crolna could have been a way to cause chaos until Omen executes some big plan." There was agreement all around.

"And the Crolna could not serve as that purpose either." Velcarn stated, "This might all be some big trap." There was more agreement. "Then what is the big master plan Omen has been cooking?" Trundaylan said. Murmurs from all around. "No one can quite guess this, and it would be rather hard to. There's so many things that Omen could want. For example, he could have a plan to steal all the grapes from Cythera!" Trundaylan continued, with several laughs at the end.

The conference continued for about half an hour more, and they all went to sleep, for tomorrow, they would be searching around in Cademia's sewers.


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


In the morning, everyone present met in the living room of the Rat before they went to the sewers. Aethon was there, he was going to serve as a guide down in the sewers. "Down there, in the sewers, lurk some nasty things." Aethon said. "There's rats, and if you searched enough, you might find a polyp or two. I know every twist, turn and secret down there, so you'd better stay in a group with me and Ferazel leading, since he knows where we're going. Got that? Okay, good."

Not everyone was thrilled of the idea of searching the sewers for a Crolna shard. Katerei and Brianna volunteered to stay behind. Ferazel said that was completely fine with him. With a final safety lecture from Aethon, the group set off for the dark and smelly sewers of Cademia.

Since Brianna had decided to stay at the inn, Shi landed on Ulf's shoulder to look around more closely. She wasn't quite sure whether it had been right to leave her friend, but she was so curious as to what these 'sewers' the humans had been talking about were. Now that she actually saw them, she wished she had stayed at the inn or explored the city. The sewers were dark, except for the torch that Aethon carried. That in itself wasn't necessarily bad, Shi actually enjoyed roaming the forest at night or watching the night sky, but the sewers were also filthy, and they stank. Shi wrinkled her nose in disgust. Why was there so many filth and garbage, anyway? Shi uttered that thought, to nobody in particlar, but, as expected, she got a reply nonetheless.
"It's from the city above." Sasha explained, pointing. "The sewers are here to dipose of the litter and everything, transporting it down to the sea through those ditches."
"But then the sea will get all polluted!" Shi exclaimed. "Don't the animals ever complain?"
Sasha let herself fall back to walk next to Ulf and looked up at Shi, perplex. "Complain? The animals?" It was a thought that had never really occured to her.
"Yes." Shi nodded gravely. "Like, somtimes animals from the forest come and ask us to help them against ruthless hunters. They used to ask help from the Seldane, but nowadays even those who used to wander the lands have retreated to their underground home. Now we help as best we can, disabling those cruel traps they tend to set and stuff."
"Oh."
Shi nodded again, to emphasize her words. "Do we have to stay down here for long?"
"Probably." Ferazel looked back at her. "It's quite a way down, in the unused parts of the sewers. Maybe even in the caves beneath, I'm not quite sure."
"Oh." Shi frowned, and fell silent.

Brianna and Katerei took their time over breakfast, since they weren't going with the others. They chatted as they ate, about things that were of little consequence; neither was prepared to discuss their deepest troubles with anyone else just yet.

"I'm surprised you didn't go with them," Katerei commented, part way through the meal.

"Ugh! Down in that smelly place? No thank you! In fact, I'm surprised Shi did go! She'll take it worse than any of us, I think."

"Perhaps she simply didn't know what to expect," Katerei replied, reasonably.

"You may be right. Anyway, since we're in Cademia and I don't have to be anywhere, I should check in with Grandfather at the Alraeican Tavern," Brianna said, as she pushed her empty plate away and stood up. "Do you want to come?"

"I might as well, I have little else to do," Katerei replied.

They arrived at the tavern not long afterward, and were surprised to find the Scribe deep in conversation with another elf.

"Brianna! come join us," the Scribe exclaimed, standing, as they walked through the door. The other elf followed his example.

"Hello grandfather! We were in the neighbourhood, and I thought I'd bring you up to date. This is Katerei, another of the people on this quest."

"Pleased to meet you," the Scribe replied. "My friend here is...where is he?" the Scribe frowned, the other elf had vanished. "I suppose I'll ask about this another time, for now how about some lunch?"

The three of them sat back down, and started to exchange tales while they dined.

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

Sasha approached Shi again, this time holding her nose. "Are you sure you're OK with this, Shi? I'll take you back, if you like."

Shi giggled; it was obvious that Sasha was looking for any excuse to get out of the sewer, herself. The dark, dour warrior woman had always made Shi a little nervous, before; this was the first time she'd felt any connection between them.

Still giggling, Shi flitted from Ulf's shoulder over to Sasha's. Imitating Sasha's action by holding her own nose, she trilled in Sasha's ear: "Maybe it won't be so bad if we have someone to share our misery with!"

Sasha smiled, and suppressed a laugh; she didn't dare breathe in any more of that rank, fetid atmosphere than she had to.

The stench in the sewers was just unbearable and the members of the group came to think of it as a blessing that they only had a small torch to light the way. Nobody was very anxious to see what they were walking through. Rogar was less fortunate. His ability to see in the dark made it hard to pay attention to the rest of the group.
"And to think that for all these years I've been living on and off an ocean that was polluted with all this!" exclamed Rogar, "Can you estimate how much more we'll have to go to find the crolna? You said that it was just somewhere in the sewer right?"
"Yes. We are getting closer but I'm not sure how much more we'll have to go," replied ferazel.
Everybody was complaining about the smell and the sound of small rats scurrying around. The only person that was quiet was Sasha who was in deep thought about the current events with Omen.
"ferazel.... the nature of the spell you use when you search for the crolna? Wasn't it supposed to find the nearest piece?...."

------------------
???

"Yes, that's right," Ferazel replied - then stopped, frowning. "What are you getting at?"

"Well, this is far closer to Pnyx than the ruins of Abydos," Sasha continued. "If that's the way the spell works, why didn't it take us here first?" Ferazel's eyes went wide, as the implications of the question sank in.

Rogar was also quick on the uptake. "Omen's been leading us around in circles! What's his game?"

Sasha shrugged. "What choice do we have? We have to restore the Crolna, so we've got to keep looking."

The group became far more subdued, as they continued on in search of the next Crolna shard.

------------------
Two wrongs are just the beginning.

Ferazel then stated, "That's not his game, I think. I believe this isn't the true Crolna. If my theroy proves correct, he's holding the correct Crolna in his lair, and planting fake Crolnas about Cythera. I don't know if this is true or not, but we'll see once it's all fused togther." Ferazel's eyes suddenly grew wider. "Do you see...what I see?" he said. About fifty alligators were swimming towards them. "And if my scans prove correct, those just might be fifty Undine in an alligator form."

There was panic all around, and they all scrambled up on to several ledges in the side of the wall. "Is everyone out of the water?" Ferazel asked. Everyone nodded, assuming he's joking, until he sent a lightning spell at the sewage. All fifty alligators were fried, and fourty-eight carcasses floated there, while Kuran and Delir came up from the remaining two alligators. Behind his back, Ferazel replicated a Crolna shard, and broke off a tiny piece of it. He casted a spell on it, and throwed it at Delir, sticking to him unknowingly.

They grinned at each other, and sent fireballs and lightning all around the sewer. This became difficult as with a sewer constantly being full of electricity with fireballs headed at you, there's not too much you can do. Mostly everyone jumped or ducked, but the mages casted protection spells. Eventually, the Undine got tired of casting spells, and flew off, in shadow form.

Carefully, everyone lowered themselves back into the sewers, except Shi who stayed on Sasha's shoulder. "What was that that you threw at Delir?" Sasha questioned.

"A shard of Crolna, with an energy signature different then the others. With a certain spell, I can track their position." Ferazel said, grinning. "Anyway, we're about 200 yards from the Crolna. Just past that turn up ahead in a cavern."

The group trudged on....

Rounding the corner, the group spotted the Crolna. Its radiant green light reflected off the sewer water and the walls. Ferazel smiled, and ran over to pick it up. In doing so, he merged the Crolna he had with the new shard. Everyone else shrugged. It was just another Crolna shard... Katerei was about to sit down on the side of a ledge, when she screamed "Look out!"

Everyone was confused. First, Katerei had stayed out of the sewers. Second, there was nothing to be afraid or suprised over. That's what they thought... Omen, in shadow form, came through the wall behind Ferazel, and quickly casted a spell on him, and Ferazel vanished. One by one, each of the other group members vanished.

They woke up some time later, and the first thing they noticed was that they had new clothes on, and were trapped in cells! Omen, Kuran and Delir walked through the corridor separating two rows of cells. "I see the prisoners have awaken." Omen said, mockingly, rattling the birdcage Shi was in violently. "And I bet they are planning either escape or revenge. I'm afraid I can't let either happen." The three Undine walked out of the room, and Ferazel was banging his head against the bars of his and Trinias' cell. "I knew this was a trap!" he muttered to himself, over and over.

Pleased with the amount of pain he had delt to himself, he then said "I've been here before. This isn't truly Omen's, he simply stole it. That doesn't matter. Anyway, I know a way out. This is the plan: we escape, and we kill Omen as quickly as possible. And this won't be easy either. Be prepared for anything. Oh, and let me guess. They teleported Katerei and Brianna to the sewers, right?" He didn't need to look up to see them nod.

He banged his head against the bars again, muttering that he was so stupid, he couldn't even remember the secret way out of these cells. "Oh, and we can't just teleport out of here either." Ferazel said, continuing to bang his head against the bars. "Just let me think for a while, an idea will fall out my nose."