The End of Days
Session Thirty-Two of the Notoriety of Kings Campaign

Sharday, 12 Heathaze 204 [continued]

"Who are you?" demands Raza, although secretly relieved that at least one member of his monastery is still moving. But the gnome is more interested in Raza. "Raza de Luna! Raza de Luna! After all this time! I cannot tell you what an honour it is to meet you! We've been waiting for you, waiting for the longest time. But now you are here. It makes me want to jump with joy! Follow me! Follow me! You can't stay here!"

The gnome leads the party back up the passage way from the monastery. No-one wants to stay in the Cave of Fear it is far too creepy. The gnome eventually introduces himself as Zookie. "That's impossible!" says Raza, "Zookie helped to building this monastery!" – "Yes, I am getting on in years," the gnomes smiles, "but I have finally completed what Logen had intended."

Raza looks at Zookie quizzically. Logen is the name of the founding monk of this Order. "What?" Raza asks. "I've found you, Raza. You are the reason this Order was founded in the first place, although the monks of today have forgotten that small fact. You are special." – "Me? What makes me special?" – "This!" says Zookie ripping open Raza's shirt and exposing his strange tattoo. "You are a godspeaker. You are the fire that will burn the world! You will burn away the corruption of the moon churches. You are what the Order has been searching for all these years!" Raza is agog, Elly is very interested to have a look at the peculiar patterns on Raza's chest. Everyone else wants to know what's going on

However, their questions are stymied by the sound of heavy footsteps hammering down the stairs. Sanjay bundles into the nursery as they are coming out of the tunnel. "Hurry!" he yells. "It's Nicos!" Within minutes the group and Zookie have arrived in the bonsai garden to find Nicos lying on the ground unconscious. He is covered in hundreds of little cuts. Sanjay has stanched the bleeding as best he can. "Nicos said he was being attacked, but I thought it was just another vision. Then suddenly this happened!"

"If the dreams are affecting the real world, we should leave this place immediately," says Zookie. Everyone looks at the gnome who is introduced to a disbelieving Sanjay. "Abandon the monastery?" Zookie smiles. "Now that you are here Raza there is no point staying in the monastery. You cannot save the abbot and the others. I will gather the rest of my followers and we will leave. Keep safe please?" Zookie bounds off back down the stairs.

"Who is that maniac?" asks Elias as he and Raza carry Nicos into the Hall of Inspiration. Raza shrugs, and says that Zookie was an architect who helped to build the monastery about two hundred years ago. "Gnomes don't live that long," says Elly authoritatively. They lay Nicos in safety and then the fact that they don't know where Ravenna is occurs to them. Elias heads into the living quarters to look for her, but is stopped at a shout from Ellyboodle. Ravenna is skipping along the twenty-foot high exterior wall of the monastery, singing to herself.

Our heroes rush to the wall and look up at the sheer surface. "I'll get this," says Ellyboodle and opens her bag. With some dexterity and to the amazement of her companions, she extracts a twenty foot ladder and lays it against the wall. With a smile, she scampers up to the top quickly followed by Elias. Elly nearly overshoots the top of the wall in her exuberance, but Elias grabs her arm and checks her ascent. Then he turns to Ravenna who now seems to have devolved to the state of a five-year old and is having conversation with her mother. Elias looks at the several hundred foot drop on one side of the wall, gulps and moves slowly along it to Ravenna. As he gets closer she giggles and runs away, oblivious to the danger. Eventually he catches up with her, however, and she turns to face him. "Ralyon!" Ravenna cries in delight and embraces Elias, trying to kiss him. Elias bravely fends her off, casts feather fall and pushes Ravenna to the safety of the courtyard. The excitement is obviously too much for her, as she falls unconscious.

Raza and Sanjay are discussing what should be done next, when Sanjay looks around fearfully. "Pixies!" he yells. "Can't you see them? They're everywhere!" Reassuring him that they are simply a figment of his imagination does not help, especially when Sanjay starts taking wounds just like Nicos. "Disbelieve them!" Elly cries wisely, and eventually through strength of will, Sanjay is safe.

Zookie returns with seven other monks, some of which Raza recognises. Zookie explains that these are The People of the Dream; they are all that is left of the monks who remained true to the original vision of Abbot Logen. It does not take long for Zookie and Raza begin a great argument. Raza cannot accept Zookie's demands, or his version of history. "Logen believed that one of the moontouched, such as yourself, raised as a monk could spell enlightenment for the populace; could reveal the sham that all gods really are. You have the power. Will you use it to end the influence of these gods before a war to end all wars is upon us?"

"No!" cries Raza. "What you are asking would start even more war!" Zookie says that this would be true only initially. Eventually, the people of Urova would flock to Raza's banner and drive out the oppressive and evil moon faiths. (Elias is glad that Nicos is unconscious and cannot hear any of this). "Everyone has the right to chose their beliefs!" says Raza. "We would not choose for them, simply convince them," Zookie replies. Raza will have none of it. He does not trust Zookie and he is not leaving the monastery without saving the monks asleep in the Cave of Fear.

"You cannot save them!" Zookie cries, frantic now. His mania stems from a desire to protect Raza, Elias is sure, but that doesn't make him any less dangerous. "You must not even try to help them." Zookie says he does not exactly know what is going on with the monk's catatonia and the visions, but he is sure that this is all a trap for Raza. The monks fell into this state just two days ago. Raza is too important, Zookie argues, to risk on a mission such as this one. What if he fell into a torpor like Abbot Magen and the others, where would the world be then?

Trap or no trap, Raza is staying. He and the others search the upper levels for any clue to what has happened, but discover nothing. Eventually they descend to the library levels, leaving Shredder to guard Nicos and Ravenna. Raza has an idea to search for Mad Jacob's journals dating from when he was Father Abbot. These tomes are missing however, and cannot be traced. Raza screws his courage to the sticking place and determines to return to the cave of fear to see what can be done. "No!" Zookie exclaims. "You mustn't. You are too important! If I tell you what is going on, what the Cave of Fear really is, will you change you mind?" Raza says he will consider it, and Zookie begins his narrative.

"For many years, we thought that the Cave of Fear was just a way of making your innermost fears flesh, but it is much more than that. When we sleep, we dream, and when we dream we create worlds of fantasy to live in for the duration of the dreams. These worlds are not simply in our own heads. It is a secret that has only recently found its way into the hands of some of the moon faiths, but there is a world of dreams out there. A different plane of existence, and all we have to do to enter it, is fall asleep. In that plane, our mind creates little universes for us to dwell in, and in our dream world we are the god. The Cave of Fear lies at the very border of the World of Dreams. Anyone who falls asleep there is taken instantly into its heart. But it seems that this world of dreams is not as safe a place as you might think. There are parts of it that are very dangerous to life. Magen and the rest of the monastery are trapped in such a place. They cannot be woken."

"The abbot started investigating the cave more when you and Sanjay came out of it having experienced the same vision, but something in there bewitched him. He began spending more and more time in the cave, and persuading other monks into the cave as well. Two days before you arrived everyone went into the cave and subsequently into the Dream. I am sure they are being held by a malevolent entity. There are creatures powerful enough to snare someone's dreams and make them real."

All the Chosen can appreciate this. They remember all too well the lucid dreams they suffered on the Plains of Acheron. Elias shudders at the remembered sight of Alessandre hanging from a gibbet. "This is why you must not go, Raza. If Magen was trapped so easily, how well do you believe you will fare?"

"I don't think you're a real gnome," says Ellyboodle to Zookie. "Real gnomes are fun and they laugh and the play practical jokes, and they don't get all serious about evil they trick evil and jump over it, and it goes away. You're not a real gnome." – "I have been many years from my home." – "And are you down on all religions, or just the moon ones. What about Garl and Baervan and all the others. The proper gods?" Zookie says he isn't 'down' on any gods. It is the moon churches that he is against. He considers them evil and corrupt organisations.

Before any further discussion can begin, there is a sound of something climbing the stairs to them. Soon, Father Magen enters the library, but it soon becomes obvious that although it is Magen's old, bald body it is not his mind. He walks with a jerky motion as if he is a puppet and someone else is pulling the strings. The abbot stops abruptly in front of Raza and speaks in a strange and eerie voice.

"The monks of this place are trapped at my command, and suffer to my will. Only one thing will move me to release them from their torpor. I want Yisweran Larrien. Sleep in the Cave in Fear, Yisweran. Sleep and come to me. Come alone. It is the only way to save your order. Come to me. If do you not appear within ten minutes I will begin to kill your brothers one by one. If you do not come alone they will all die. Do not delay, Yisweran. Come to me." Magen's body drops to the ground. It is still soundly asleep.

Yisweran Larrien? Who calls him Yisweran Larrien except….. Raza feels sick. "It is as I suspected!" cries Zookie. "A trap. Whatever demon has captured the monks means to lure you in there as well. You must not go. The creature must have trapped the monks in the Dreamheart. You can die in the Dreamheart Raza, you must not go."

"I must go," says Raza and moves to the stairs. Zookie blocks his way. "I will not allow it Raza, it is for your own good." Raza, Brack and Elias look at Zookie. He is just over three and a half feet tall and he is completely ancient. However, he is a monk and a monk who has lived for a very long time. Elias is under no illusions that if they try to fight, they will have their arses handed to them in no small order. Then Raza has an idea. If they knock him unconscious then he will fall asleep here! Brack is happy to oblige and hits Raza over the head, knocking him out. However, this does not have the desired effect. Raza must sleep in the Cave of Fear, not in the library. Now it is just Brack and Elias against Zookie and they are carrying an unconscious Raza.

Brack and Elias try to barge past Zookie. He fights to stun them, and it becomes obvious that Zookie is as proficient as a monk can get. Blow after blow rain down on Elias and Brack and they make very slow progress. Elly puts her hand in her magic sack and pulls out a couple of tanglefoot bags that she throws at Zookie, unfortunately she misses. Zookie strikes Elias and Brack hard, and then somersaults over them and strikes them again. By the time they have got down one flight of stairs to the second level of the library both Brack and Elias are very wobbly. "Please stop," says Zookie. "I do not want to harm you, but I will not allow you to jeopardise Raza or Abbot Logen's great plan!" Brack tries to leap over Elias to barge past the gnome, but catches his foot in the back of Elias's head and renders his friend unconscious. He drops Raza and sends the monk spinning across the floors. Zookie then smacks Brack unconscious.

Meanwhile, Zookie's seven followers, The People of the Dream, have pursued the group downstairs. Elly has captured two of them in an enthral spell but five others now arrive to help. Things are not looking good, when Raza gets uncertainly to his feet. Zookie faces him shaking his head. "Come back to the surface, Raza, we must leave this place." Raza refuses. He doesn't know how he can outrun Zookie, but he must try. Suddenly a tanglefoot bag strikes Zookie in the back, biding his legs together. "Got you!" cries Ellyboodle. Raza uses the opportunity to leg it down the stairs. Zookie tries to free himself and fails. He sighs and opens a dimensional portal that he uses to leap down to the nursery, ahead of Raza.

The remaining members of the people of the dream try to follow, but are set upon by Sanjay. He fights valiantly, but is ill equipped to prevail against such odds. However, just as everything looks bleak for him, the Zookie's monks start to fall asleep one by one. Everyone is puzzled until a shaky Ravenna wobbles her way down the stairs. "What is going on here?" she asks, surveying the unconscious Elias and Brack.

Raza tears down the stairs with the speed of a jet-propelled hunting spider. He is dismayed to hear Zookie's voice in front of him when he reaches the nursery begging him to stop. But Raza jumps over the gnome with ease. Zookie cannot run after him and Raza hurtles down the tunnel to the cave of fear. He arrives utterly out of breath collapses next to Brother Sarin. Gritting his teeth he knows what he must do. To save the monastery he must sleep, he must sleep perchance to………

As Elly tries to explain everything that has been going on to Ravenna, Brack and Elias bravely get to their feet. They can hear footsteps on the stairs. Soon the library is filled with dozens of monks. One of the monks, Brother Quinn, seems to be in charge. He demands an explanation as to what is happening. Quinn says that Raza is down in the Cave of Fear asleep and no-one can wake him. They fear he is in the place where they were imprisoned. Elias explains what has happened and shows Quinn the inert form of Abbot Magen on the next level. Magen is still in a deep sleep. Obviously, whomever has Raza prisoner did not release the abbot when he released the rest of the monks.

"Where's Nicos?" asks Ravenna. "He was with you," says Elias. What could have happened to him? Then something terrible occurs. "Was Shredder with you?" Ravenna says he wasn't, and suddenly it seems that Nicos is in terrible danger. Elias and Brack will go to the Cave of Fear. They will sleep and try to help Raza. In the meantime, Elly and Ravenna will see if they can locate Nicos, who might well be with Shredder. Elias just hopes that his friend is not inside Shredder.

Raza opens his eyes to a terrible falling sensation. He is hurtling through a multi-coloured space, buffeted left and right by hurricane force winds.. Images flash past his eyes. Pictures of people he has never seen in places he has never visited. A bright light encompasses him and he is sitting in the front row of a Vítaen church. A wedding is taking place. The priest, a kindly old man, gives his blessing and touches the forehead of the man and the woman standing before him. Despite himself, Raza feels slightly warmed by the scene. This makes him all the more horrified when the minister transforms into a dragon-headed demon and bites the bride in two showering the congregation with blood and entrails. The floor opens up and Raza falls through it.

He lands at a family picnic in a large park overlooking the city of Uris. An old woman is happily enjoying her food when it gets wedged in her throat and she begins to choke. Her daughter rushes over to try to help, but it is too late and the woman dies of affixation. Raza looks around him. Floating in the sky are other scenes, other snippets of people's lives. He rises into the air again, as if drawn forward by an irresistible force. Raza understands. He is dropping into people's dreams; and their nightmares. It is a disconcerting experience.

Suddenly before him is a huge whirlpool of colour, so large it fills his field of vision. Raza accelerates into it, and finds himself falling down, down into oblivion. Just before he blacks out from the pressure, he strikes the ground. Sitting up he sees that he is on a gassy heath, underneath a starry yet moonless night sky. There is a bite to the air and his breath rises in front of him.

Inexplicably it begins to rain. The drops are hard and cold and the monk begins to shiver. Something strings his shoulder, scratching him. He looks down at the ground. It is a flower. A black rose. A second black rose falls and then a third. "Hello Yisweran Larrien," says a voice from above him. Raza raises his head with a mixture of fear and curiosity. A figure clad solely in the black armour of the Brotherhood of the Black Rose descends slowly from the sky. Floating by the figure is a large transparent sphere. Trapped with is Abbot Magen. He is alert and watching Raza. "I sent the others back, but I held onto this one, Yisweran," says the knight. "I thought he would like to watch. It seems you are detested by your Order, almost as much as you are hated by us. Welcome Yisweran. Now it is time for you to die!"

Raza hasn't time to speak before the dreamscape erupts around him. Fire spouts from the ground, lightning crackles from the sky toward him. But Raza is fast. He dives out of the way of harm. A city rises up around him. It is old and decayed. Buildings start to topple upon him, but again the monk rolls to safety. "You cannot run forever, Yisweran!" screams the knight.

In the real world, Ellyboodle and Ravenna head up to find Nicos. He is not where they left him. For that matter neither is Shredder. A sinking feeling comes over both of them and they begin their search. "There's Shredder!" says Elly pointing down into the steppe garden. "And it looks like he's burying something." Ravenna and Elly trade looks for a second before bolting out into the gardens and running down to where Shredder is. As they get closer Ravenna can see a leg that looks a lot like Nicos's sticking out of the ground. Shredder seems very protective over Nicos, however, and won't let either of them near him.

Elly conjures an illusionary dog as large as Shredder. The dog bounds over and tries to chase Shredder away. Shredder stands and fights. While Elly's concentration is on the illusion, Ravenna slips over to Nicos and begins to dig him out of the earth. To her relief he is still alive, but is very badly off. She sighs and casts her healing magic upon him. Nicos awakes to find Ravenna collapsed on top of him again. "What is going on with this?" he asks, picking up Ravenna.

When Shredder sees that Nicos is on his feet he forgets the illusion and charges for the fire cleric. "Run for it!" Nicos yells Ellyboodle, and the two sprint back to the kitchens, slamming the door in Shredder's face just in time. The orc-hound leaps up at the window, his mouth foaming. "We have got to talk to Brack," says Nicos.

In the Cave of Fear, Brack and Elias arrive to see Zookie standing over Raza's body. "He did it," says the gnome. "I hope you are satisfied with yourself. He has placed himself in ultimate danger in the Dreamheart. If he dies, the entire continent will suffer." Elias says that they are here to help, that he and Brack will enter the Dream if it will do any good. Zookie confesses to not being an expert on the Dreamheart. He knows that death and damage suffered in the Dreamheart is as real as it is in the real world. In this the pair might have a chance to. "Whomever this abductor and attacker is, he must also be in Dreamheart. That means if he is killed then his physical body will die, and what is holding you there is gone. You will be able to will yourselves back to the real world. To save Raza and Abbot Magen you must journey into the Dreamheart and kill whatever creature is holding him there. It is the only way!" Zookie cannot go with them. "I would be more hindrance to you than help," says the gnome. "You must focus on Raza. Get to him. Help him. For all out sakes."

Brack and Elias lay down in the chamber next to Raza and fall asleep. Instantly they awake in Dugmantle's Hold in Kulhâzan. There is chaos all around them and a banging on the stone doors. "Not this again!" says Brack and starts to run away from the doors as fast as he can. "What are you doing?" yells Elias. Suddenly the doors fly open. Elias sees Abrinthor killed by flying rubble. Brack doesn't look back as he hears the spirits and demons he knows are there surround Elias and butcher him.

Elias wakes up. "I was torn to pieces by demons," he says to Zookie. "Be glad you didn't get as far as the Dreamheart," Zookie says. "Now fall asleep again and don't get killed!" Elias falls asleep again and finds himself on top of a large cliff. He is looking out over a rolling ocean. Elias knows this is only a dream, and thinks that he can do anything in a dream. He imagines he can fly, jumps off the cliff and plummets to his death. Zookie gives him a stern look when he wakes up in the cave for a second time. "I know what I'm doing this time!" he says, and quickly dozes off again.

Elias sleeps and wakes again. He is lying in a soft bed, a warm female form is nestled against his chest. "Now this is more like it!" he thinks. Slowly he turns his head to look upon the woman lying in the bed next to him. He sits bolt upright. It's Drasha! Drasha stirs slightly, opens one eye and smiles at him. Then Elias hears the knocking on the door. "Elias? Elias? Are you in there?" It is Alessandre's voice. Elias now has a small panic attack and looks from Drasha to the door and back again. "Brack! Must find Brack!" he thinks, and disappears.

Elias finds himself in a cage swinging from a gibbet. A crowd of children are standing below him, poking him with spears. Even so he feels his situation has improved. Suddenly he sees Brack striding purposefully toward him and calls to the dwarf. Brack acts quickly, takes an axe and throws it at the rope holding the cage. It plummets to the ground crushing the children. One of the spears skewers Elias in the backside. Brack races over and opens the cage. "Can we concentrate on finding Raza now?" the dwarf asks. Elias nods.

In the meantime Raza has been dodging everything the night can throw at him. The ground has turned to knives under his feet and he has danced away, he has been dropped into an orc orgy and fought his way clear…. through it all the knight and the imprisoned abbot follow, watching him. It seems to Raza as though he has been keeping this up for hours. He can't keep it up forever.

A huge serpent reaches up and winds itself around Raza's wrist. He is pulled down as a dreamscape appears in the ether all around. The snake wraps itself firmly around his body until Raza is completely pinned and unable to escape. As he hits the ground a stone dais rises from the floor and he thumps down onto it. The snake transforms into the thickest and strongest chains Raza has ever seen. Abbot Magen floats into view and the member of the Brotherhood steps out of the darkness toward you. "And so you are caught," Yisweran Larrien. "Do you understand where you are? Do you understand that death here means death in the real world?" Suddenly the chains tighten around your body, crushing your lungs. You feel a rib snap under the pressure. Blood rises in your throat. "You and all your moontouched will be scoured from Iourn."

"Why do you fear the moon gods?" Raza asks, desperately trying to overwhelm the pain that is coursing through him. He can't seem to feel the link to his sword any more. He can't draw on its strength. "We do not fear those 'gods'," scoffs the knight. "It is they that fear us. The moon gods are dedicated to the destruction of elves and dragons, but they cannot work directly, they must work through intermediaries such as you. That is why the Brotherhood of the Black Rose exists. To exterminate beings such as you. The only way that they can gain a true foothold on this world again."

"I am not a threat to you! I would never speak to the gods!" The knight laughs deep-throatily. "And I am supposed to take your word for that, am I? I do not think so." The knight begins to torture Raza. There is a terrible desire on the knight's part to cause as much pain, as much discomfort as possible to him. The knight has evidently not had a great deal of experience in this line of work, but what is lacking in practical knowledge is made up for in raw enthusiasm.

After several minutes Raza is in abstract agony, although he is doing his best not to call out in pain and give the knight any satisfaction. His torturer seems impressed and turns holding a toe that used to be connected to Raza's foot. "You deserve to suffer as we have suffered." Raza gasps, "How have you suffered? I haven't done anything to you, and I won't!" – "That's what Grimalkin said. He said that the Brotherhood should step away from you. That you should be allowed to walk the world while capable of what you are." – "Then you're not here with the rest of your order? You're working alone?" The knight chuckles and takes a step closer to Raza and slowly removing the elaborate helm. Beneath is the starkly beautiful face of an elven woman. The same elf Raza saw in his nightmares in the Plains of Acheron. The same elf he was married to. The same elf that was mother of his child. "Only one of us is required to destroy you, Yisweran," says the elf says slowly.

Ravenna, Nicos, Sanjay and Ellyboodle arrive in the Cave of Fear. Zookie explains what is going on to them as best he can. He adds that Brack and Elias are probably not up to the task of saving Raza and urges them all to go in and help him. Sanjay immediately agrees, as does Ravenna and Elly. Nicos is unwilling, but eventually bullied into it by Ravenna. "Concentrate on Brack and Elias," says Zookie. "Locate your friends and then find Raza."

The four dreamers are catapulted into the world of dreams, and soon catch up with Brack and Elias who are being pursued by giant bicycle-riding grasshoppers. "We have to concentrate on Raza," says Ravenna. "That's what we've been trying to do," says Elias. "It's as if there is some force keeping us out of the Dreamheart."

"Do not struggle so, Yisweran Larrien," says the elf. "You do not have the skill to manipulate the Dreamheart as I do. I am all-powerful here. Now hold still, there is still more skin to peel off your legs." – "You are a fool for doing this!" Raza yells. "We should not be fighting one another! We should be on the same side! I fight a bigger danger than the moon gods! That is why I have the sword!"

"You have the sword because it was stolen from Shellambor with the other five. You have not been chosen for your mission by a force any more divine than a senile old human with some small understanding of wizardry." Raza shakes his head. "You are wrong! The Enemy to the south is enemy to us all, we must fight him together!" The elven maiden scoffs. "Karatath is nothing more than a jumped up sorcerer. He is no threat when compared to the moon gods." Then she pauses. "You are chained to a stone dais, tortured and have half your skin missing and still you are willing to argue with me?" – "This is too important," says Raza. "My life, your life it doesn't matter compared with the evil to the south. I've seen what it can do in the Plains of Acheron. I saw what is coming to all of us if it isn't stopped. The moon gods aren't important compared to that! I've held off talking to them all my life, I can hold off indefinitely. But I have the sword. I can make a difference now. You must join me!"

By concentrating as one Ravenna, Nicos, Elias, Elly, Sanjay and Brack have found the huge whirlpool that leads to the Dreamheart. Now, focusing on Raza, they leap their way through. They can see a grassy hill in front of them. On a stone table at the top, Raza is chained down, a elven woman in the black armour of the Brotherhood stands over him with a wicked dagger in her hand. They seem to be talking, but Ravenna is not taking any chances. She sends a stream of magic missiles are the elf as the group rush forward to safe Raza.

"Stop!" the knight commands them. "I am the ultimate power here!" The very land rises up to snare the party. They fight their way through to Raza. The knight looks at Raza, for the first time uncertain at what she has come here to do. Suddenly the ground lurches and everyone falls to the floor. Raza's chains disappear, and a huge dark shadow falls across the Dreamheart. The elf shakes her head and looks up. A half-skinned Raza gets to his feet. He helps the elf to stand, an act that rather puzzles the rest of the party. He looks at the darkness that is rushing toward all of them. He has seen its like before.

"Do you know what that is?" he says to the elf. She stares, confusion and fear in her eyes. "We have summoned Karatath," she says matter-of-factly. "I have summoned him, when I invoked his name." – "It's him? It's really him?" asks Nicos. The elf shakes her head. "We have summoned his dream from where he sleeps in the Great Dark. This is what you and your companion saw went you slept in that Cave. This is what you stumbled across. But we are not simply in the realm of Dream, this is the Dreamheart, and such a dream will kill us all here."

Then Dreamheart changes, and the party find themselves observing the final victory of Karatath. It is a dark dream that some of them have seen before. A great fleet of black sailed ships are moving north. Nailed to the prow are men in rusted plate armour, ravens feasting on their eyes as they scream for mercy. Uris is in flames. Darkness rolls around the sky obscuring the moons and the stars. Buildings crumble. "This is it!" cries Sanjay, "This is what Raza and I saw. This is the End of Days!" Armies of men march south to be met by greater armies of dark and twisted things. The land lurches and splits. Instinctively, Raza, Elias, Nicos, Ravenna and Brack have their swords out and are standing firm against a great dark cloud billows toward them. The swords are glowing with a white light and vibrating madly. Sanjay and Elly look at one another. They haven't a clue what to do. Ravenna curses that they do not have the sixth sword with them to give to Ellyboodle. The surviving members of the Chosen of Narramac hear a fell and terrible. YOU HAVE NOT THE NUMBER TO STOP ME!

"You must help us!" Raza calls to the knight. "You said were master of this place." The elf shakes her head. "Compared to you I am the master. Compared to this, I am nothing." The cloud washes over them. It is a terrible chill, akin to the one they felt from the creature at Castle Caled all those months ago, but many times greater. Ravenna and Elly collapse to the ground frozen and unconscious as the cloud passes over them. Brack falls awkwardly and screams in pain as his leg is broken. "You can at least try!" Raza yells. "Perhaps the reason this Grimalkin has let me live is because he recognises the importance of the work we do!"

Before the Chosen now, in the wake of the dark cloud, is an army of giant-beetle riding monsters armed with lances. The elf swallows, and makes a decision. "Take my hands!" she screams over the wails of the dying. "If I have the power to flee this nightmare I will. Hold on!" Ultimately she fails. "It's too strong," she says. "Then let me help you," says Raza and draws his sword. He focuses in imbuing her with the strength of will that he gains from the blade. It flashes meaningfully. They elf nods and gathers her wits and her willpower. Their dream-conjured assailants are mere feet from them when the knight screams and wrenches the Chosen, Elly, Sanjay, the abbot and herself out of the Dreamheart and to safety.

They materialise on a sunny meadow in Spring. There is the laughing of playing children nearby. Ravenna and Elly are still unconscious. Brack's leg is still broken. Raza is still skinned. "Where are we?" asks Elias. "A dream," says the elf. "A normal dream." Raza moves forward and thanks the elf. "Do not thank me, Yisweran Larrien. You are moontouched. By everything the Brotherhood holds dear you must die. You believe I have saved you from a greater evil, I do not know whether I acted from altruism or fear. Neither option exonerates you." She regards his wounds. "All wounds taken in the Dreamheart are real wounds. Yet, I have some small power. Be healed."

With a gesture reality shifts for just a second and the Chosen are healed of their wounds. Elly and Ravenna awake. Then she regards Raza again. "Perhaps I did act in haste. Perhaps Grimalkin's edict was not made in error. We shall see. Farewell Yisweran Larrien. Farewell, Raza."

A portal opens in space. It leads to nowhere in Dream. Beyond its colour-bleached confines is the Greymere. The knight looks at them for a second and steps through. Everyone looks at Raza as if they blame him for something. Raza shrugs. "Can anyone tell me what is going on?" asks the abbot.

With some difficulty the group returns to the real world where they are greeted like heroes. Magen, Quinn and Zookie have many questions, but all the Chosen and their friends want to do now is rest. They are given rooms in the living quarters (Nicos complains about his wooden pillow) and they soon collapses into a blissfully dreamless sleep.

Morday, 13 Heathaze 204

In the morning the group rests and recovers from their wounds. It is after lunch that the seven of them journey up to the office of Abbot Magen. Zookie is there when they arrive. He smiles benignly at Raza, but Raza ignores the monk. He doesn't like the way that the rest of the monastery seems to have accepted Zookie and his People of the Dream. Magen motions them all to sit when they enter the office. Magen is about sixty seasons of age and has a grandfatherly appearance. He begins by thanking them for all they have done for the monastery and then he turns to Raza directly.

"Raza, in the Dreamheart we discovered what you were. Moontouched. I had never heard of such a think before. May I see the birthmark?" Raza stands and removes his shirt. "Remarkable, remarkable," the abbot continues. "Your involvement with the moon faiths is the antithesis of everything this Order stands for. But I have spent a great deal of time since yesterday talking with Zookie. Although I find it hard to believe that this is the same Zookie to helped to build this place almost 200 years ago, he is most convincing. I cannot subscribe to everything that he says, but he knows Logen's mind more than I could ever expect to. Raza you are a monk of the Order of the Seventh Moon. I will not cast you out because of this. Whether you follow Zookie's mad path is up to you, but I advise you to find your own way. We do not reach enlightenment following the dictates or others. Not even one who claims to speak for Abbot Logen. You came here for the trials, you and Brother Sanjay, and it is to the trials that I now turn. Come forward Raza."

Logen gives opens his draw and takes out a signet ring that bears the symbol of the dark moon. He takes Raza's hand and places it on the little finger of his left hand. "The third trial is a trial of fortitude. I saw you resist the tortures inflicted on you in the Dreamheart. Thus you are worthy of this token." Magen puts his hands back into the draw and takes out two long leather straps. Taking Raza's hands he slowly winds them around the palm. "The fourth trial is a trial of agility. I saw you dodge and avoid everything that woman threw against. You persisted for several hours. Thus you are worthy of this token. You may find them of practical use, too," he winks. "Thus you have completed the first, the third and fourth trial. Three of the four trials a monk of your ability should have under his belt. There is one more of course. This afternoon you and Brother Sanjay, and your friends if they wish to go, will leave this place and go through the tunnel down to the town of Kelrin. There Mistress Weaver is waiting at an inn called the Spinning Top. There the second trial – The Trial of Temptation – will take place. Good luck, Raza. And thank you for your willingness give up your life for the lives of others."

Raza doesn't know what to say. Sanjay is a bit annoyed that suddenly Raza is two trials ahead of him, but the annoyance doesn't last long. He is happy for his friend. The rest of the Chosen are happy to – happy to be heading down to civilisation to spend a few days at an inn with comfy beds. After months of sleeping on cliff edges it will certainly be welcome. Raza, however, has something else to occupy his thought. He must spend a week in the presence of as much rich food and drink as he could possibly consume and with beautiful and eager women. He must resist them all for as long as possible. Even after his experiences in the Dreamheart, nothing has ever terrified him more than this.

End of Days Index | Previous Session | Next Session