Story:

Chapter 6 – My Dinner With the Magus

As soon as the Therans' attention was away from us and back on the Liferock, Eldan decided to run back to the boat to let Ka'El know of the ominous invitation to dinner.  Meanwhile, the Therans were milling about the Liferock, making us uncomfortable.  Tylee stayed hidden but flitted about, examining the astral area.  She discovered that the Dwarf was a powerful Adept, more powerful than her master Lindar.

The Dwarf mage and his assistants positioned themselves around the Liferock, well guarded by Theran soldiers.  We made our devotions at the shrine, keeping an eye on the Therans' activities.  The mage and his assistants cast some sort of spell over the Liferock.  Cairngorm and I felt weak for a moment; I felt as if something was ripped from me, then returned after a moment.  The mage's assistants looked drained, though he merely looked a bit fatigued.  Since we no longer had Eldan's services as interpreter, the Dwarf signalled by gestures that he was ready to return the the kila

The Therans had crossed over in a balloon — on top of which Tylee was now hiding.  A griffin rider landed and approached us; he introduced himself as Lieutenant Radak, and in basic Throalic, asked us to surrender our weapons and armour for safekeeping before accompanying the High Magus back to the kila.  We were unhappy about this, particularly Cairngorm whose fine gear had been fashioned by Master Kalvaro, but we complied; the Therans searched our baggage for any other weapons, and removed Hantar's bola and net.

The balloon, piloted by an Elementalist, took us to the kila, which looked exactly like a big castle in the sky, with four corner towers and a wall surrounding a central courtyard and tower, as well as stables and barracks.  Once there, we were escorted to the center tower.  Tylee managed to sneak into Hantar's pack before we entered the tower.  Squall, Hantar's wardog, was allowed in with us.

We were greeeted by a Human male called Nurok, who escorted through the castle.  Inside, the kila was palatial, decorated with marble, paintings, inlays, gold, statues, fountains, and all manners of luxury.  Nurok took us to a comfortable chamber where a bath, cushions, and food were prepared; he told us that he would return in two hours to help us dress for dinner.

As soon as he was gone, Tylee emerged from her hiding place and we exchanged what information we had gleaned.  We bathed and relaxed as much as we could.  Nurok returned with four oppulent Theran-style robes that would fit Cairngorm, Hantar-jorn, myself — and Tylee.  "I guess you'd better come out," Hantar called to her.  We sheepishly dressed, and were escorted to the dining room.

The room was lavishly appointed; lighting was provided by fire creatures, perhaps elementals, in sconces; and four musicians in loincloths and twisted headscarves were playing exoric music in a corner.  We were formally introduced to Theodorus, High Magus of Thera, the Dwarf we had already met; and to Senior Captain Ratha Belthorm of House Zanjan, a large female Troll wearing gold caps on her fangs and horns. 

We discovered that Theodorus was nos speaking perfect Throalic; I am not sure whether this was due to a spell or whether he had merely been feigning earlier.  I performed introductions in my best style, and Hantar and Captain Ratha immediately engaged in Trollish boasting and insults, if in very subdued fashion.  We were served food, and engaged in light conversation.  Emboldened by the relatively relaxed atmosphere, I dared to ask the High Magus the purpose of his visit to Ayodhya. 

He was quite willing to answer questions about his "research project", and launched himself into a complex theoretical discussion of the interactions of magic, Threads, astral space, and spell matrices.  After a few minutes, he realized that this was much too technical for us, and reversed course; he gave us an elementary, perhaps a bit condescending, explanation of his investigation.  He said he was conducting an experiment on the nature of astral taint.  Even cast through a spell matrix, very powerful magic leaves a temporary residue that attracts Horrors.  Theodorus was trying to find a means of clearing polluted areas of astral space, theorizing that some locales associated with Name-giver activity may clear faster.  He had conducted experiments in Thera to establish the time normally needed for astral taint to clear, and had just performed a similar experiment over the Liferock of Ayodhya to observe how long the process would take.  He would stay until astral space was clear again, and expected that he and his force would not have to stay for the full three weeks needed in more mundane locations.

I asked several questions about the precautions taken against acccidents and Horrors, and whether the Therans had considered the effect their presence had on the local populace.  Captain Ratha Belthorm made it clear that she cared little what Barsaivians thought when their "Overlords" came to visit.  High Magus Theodorus asked Cairngorm to let his Rock Brothers know that casting spells in the vicinity of the Liferock would be inadvisable for the next few weeks.

Bloated after a twelve-course Indrisian meal (Theodorus much loved Indrisian culture), we retired for the evening; Theodorus was offering us his hospitality for the night and would return us to Ayodhya in the morning.  Captain Belthorm invited Hantar to visit her in her quarters, while Cairngorm, Tylee, and I returned to the room that had been prepared for us. 

Despite a storm that was beginning to brew around the unmoving kila, we went to sleep with our guard down.  If not for the sharp ears of Squall, we would have been murdered in our beds.  Hantar's fierce wardog woke up when a group of Name-givers sneaked into our room, and she attacked them.  She was gravely wounded for her trouble, but we woke up and were able to defend ourselves.  There were five attackers in black armour: four with short swords, and one wielding a sword of fire.  We seized on makeshift weapons — food trays for Tylee and I, a screen partition for Cairngorm — and defended ourselves as best we could. 

This was the first time we had ever fought alongside each other; Tylee proved herself a worthy student of the famous Lindar, and defeated the elementalist single-handedly.  I am proud to say that I fell one of the intruders, but I then took a mortal sword blow.  If not for the Death Cheat amulet — now a pale washed out crystal hanging at my neck — this would have been the end of my tale.  The amulet saved me, but I remained unconscious for over an hour.

While I was out of combat, Tylee and Cairngorm finished off the intruders, the last one standing surrendering.  And when they were able to get their bearings, Cairngorm and Tylee realised that the sounds of thunder they had been hearing was now that of cannons, rather than simply the storm.  In the distance, they could now hear screams.  Nurok had been killed at our door, from a single sword blow.

Meanwhile, Hantar had been awakened as Captain Belthorm was hurriedly suiting up for battle; she told him to stay there, and ran off into the night.  Fumbling in the dark, Hantar found a ceremonial axe in the captain's quarters, and rushed out to find out what the commotion was.  Servants were barricading the door giving entrance to the tower, but Hantar easily intimidated them into letting him through.  In the courtyard, he tried to make sense of the noise and fury, and ran into a group of Barsaivian sky raider Trolls.  He managed to detach himself from their group and checked the stables, where an injured grifin rider flew in.  Hantar considered stealing the griffin, but decided againts the idea.

Instead, he returned to the tower and made his way to our quarters.  Cairngorm and Tylee had been unable to learn anything from their one conscious prisoner, a Troll in Theran uniform who did not speak Throalic.  Hantar questioned him in Trollish, but received nothing but insults.  By then, I was just waking up from my brush with death. 

Hantar was threatening to cut off the prisoner's fingers and toes, when Captain Belthorm burst in, looking for him.  Upon hearing that our attackers were Theran, she briefly questioned the prisoners, than ran out, ordering us to stay where we were.  She promptly returned with a dishevelled Theodorus, who was sporting a black eye.  He questioned the prisoners in more detail, then somberly ordered them released. 

We were stunned, and asked what was going on.  We eventually learned that these Name-givers gave their loyalty to House Krand, a rival of House Zanjan; they had intended to take advantage of the sky raiders' attack to strike a minor blow against Theodorus, hoping to scare him (or rather Captain Belthorm, who was resposible for his safety) into returning to Thera and thus failing in his experiment.  We, of course, would have been blamed for releasing the air elemental that had attacked Theodorus.

We were only a few hours from dawn.  In the morning, Theodorus cast an Invigorate spell on us to help us heal faster; we were then dropped off at the Liferock.  Because the Therans were still watching the area so closely, Cairngorm was unwilling to merge with the Liferock, but I penned a warning to visitors against using magic in the area, and left it on the shrine's altar.  We returned to the Serpent River, only to discover that our boat, Ka'El, and Eldan were gone!

We took the Pilgrimage Route to return to Lake Ban.  In a small shoreline village, we spotted Zadoren who was looking for us.  We told him of our adventures, and he nodded with interest.  He said he had sent Eldan and Ka'El on another mission, and made us tell our story in detail. 

More