[I'm probably not making myself popular here... but sit tight for the speech.

the plot:
1. Adanil's initiation ceremony.
2. Elkor's less than reliable magic lands them in a monster den or some equally not very nice predicament.
3. Meiltha siege on Vryngard.
4. off to destroy the Shadowers/Lich and save the world.

if I don't see any Aerandir, we'll skip the ceremony for now and flashback on it later. Garthag is welcome as long as he doesn't manipulate OVERLY much... we all know he can kill us with a single spell but keep in mind the dragons. don't get me wrong though... Garthag is an interesting variable.

Anduril, could you possibly wait for the siege to reenter? We could skip plot item #2 if you want. I'm thinking Evlyn could switch sides. Also, your posts are only pointless if you make them pointless. It's hard to include you if you keep making short posts/snide remarks from your chars that don't really benefit the plot. Try putting more thought in them.

the plot is extremely flexible. input/objections welcome.]

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(Fine by me, but Garthag has significantly been weakened and he is down to a level of an average mage or at least it will lead him to struggle and rely on others. Shall we procceed?)

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Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

((Works for me - but if at all possible let's keep #2 in? I was rather looking forward to it ))

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[pretend the ceremony happened before Garthag's entrance. Elkor's back in Baste, but the portal's still open]

Kendath slowly lowered the canteen. He regarded the defeated man before him with no modicum of suspicion. That Garthag had followed them back in time was not surprising. The mage had always desired power, and shifting the river of time utilized that power to its best advantage. Him... reduced to this...

A decoy. An illusion conjured by the real Garthag, who crouched in wait... But why? The Star Crystal was securely locked in Vryngard. Perhaps all he wanted was information. Gyre? he inquired at his dragon.

The jade female only shook her head. No illusion.

Kendath stepped forward, stopping just short of the Cloud Crystal. Its multifarious facets glittered under the torrid sun. Would Garthag, cunning and ultimately self-serving, merely hand it to them? Warily he stooped to pick it up, never taking his eyes off the mage. The Crystal was authentic. Its raw power pulsated against his palm even as he held it.

"Your interrogation's postponed," he said laconically, ignoring Garthag's demand for water. He handed the dangerous artifact to Merrin, the only person he trusted able to harness its power. He gestured to the portal. "You first."

If Elkor the Blundering's more or less reliable portal opened to some demon's den, Garthag could take care of the problem.

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(no no no, please, keep part 2, i'l feel even worse if you don't, carry on, i'l just watch for the mo' )

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Made by Lembas

"So I take it that you won`t be abandoning me to this god forsaken place, if I am still to be interrogated?"

Garthag asked and forced himself up with shaking feet, he cursed bitterly the weakness that devoured him and that he had to rely on others, who weren`t too keen on helping him. Yet they didn`t seem to be quite ready to judge him yet, that meant they had uses for him, a need of him to do something perhaps. Such needs could be turned the other way around, if he could muster the cunning to fool them or deal with them. Garthag gazed at the portal with a grin as it was certainly not one of his creations or what he might have created ever except when he had been an apprentice perhaps.

Garthag stared at Merrin quietly as she was handed the crystal by Kendath. They would indisputably use it for some greater purpose or such, that Garthag would have to see trough, but everything that mattered now was restoring what he had lost, one way or the other.

"I will be needing that back, for now I shall... lend it to you as a proof that I am not a threat agreed? Or well... I am not the one to say the terms here I suspect?"

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Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

"No, I think not," said Merrin. The crystal pulsed against her palms, a heat even more intense than the harsh desert sun. She opened her mouth to elaborate, but stopped with a glance down at the vibrating artifact in her hands, and seemed to think better of it. Instead she looked up at Garthag with a slight frown, then at the shimmering portal through time. "After you."

She was not entirely happy with this turn of events. No doubt Garthag, now he had his claws in them, would be loath to let go. He was not a companion Merrin could honestly say she would welcome.

Wyvern came to stand beside her, sinuous neck snaking down over her shoulder, and fixed a penetrating emerald stare on the mage before them. His less than auspicious entrance had impressed the silver dragon even less than his doubtful rider.

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Garthag coughed and gazed quietly at Merrin, then at the dragons before turning to the portal that no one seemed to be eager to enter first. Garthag shrugged and walked trough the portal, he couldn`t have said that passing trough the portal was pleasant due to the flaws it had. It was unstable and passing trough it was like having someone sudden drop a bucket of cold water on you. Garthag blinked his eyes as he looked around the area he was now in, it didn`t seem all to pleasant than the last yet at least the sun was gone.

Garthag gazed back at the riders in order to tell them to follow as he seemed to be quite unaffected by the portal.

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Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Kendath was uneasy with leaving Merrin alone, but he was even more uneasy with shoving Merrin through with Garthag. But one glance at the overprotective Wyvern eased his fears. Shrugging half-heartedly, he stepped through the portal, Gyre dogging his steps.

An instant of freezing cold, another instant of feeling as though his entire body was electrified. Then it was over, and Kendath stumbled quite gracefully through the other side. He also collided with the stone wall opposite. In the painful kind of way. He rubbed his sore limbs and waited for his eyes to adjust.

They didn't.

He felt the walls. Natural stone, untouched by man. Taking another step, he rapped his forehead on a stalactite. The steady drip-drip of water reached his ears from somewhere deeper within the tunnel.

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Merrin wondered for a moment if it were not, perhaps, entirely safe to take an artifact of such formidable power - like the one she held - through what seemed a rather formidable magical construction. But she abandoned the thought, and as a precaution drew her rapier before stepping into the multicolored miasma of what seemed the threads of time. She remembered vividly what had happened upon her arrival back in time, and if at all possible intended to avoid it occurring more than once.

Wyvern nudged her forward and Merrin stepped off the sunbaked sand into - what? An oblivion of blinding dark and light where time stood still, and upon attempting to draw breath Merrin found it impossible. At first she thought it was taking an unnaturally long time, and then felt stone under her feet and realized the darkness was no longer interrupted by chinks of light.

She reached out blindly, and took an uncertain step before meeting abruptly with stone wall and switching directions. Where were - ? "Kendath?" Her voice echoed wetly and Merrin sheathed her drawn rapier - more likely she'd stab him than anything that might be dangerous.

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There was a movement and a voice calling out right behind Garthag, it was indisputably Merrin and Garthag turned towards her all tough he could not see her. With a few words, a flame lit in the hand of Garthag and the space was dimly lighted now by the magical fire.

"Glad I can help"

Garthag said in advance as, if he was expecting them to thank him and raised his hand higher to see further onwards.

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Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

"If you weren't able to, you'd be dead," Kendath replied in all solemnity. He squinted into the darkness, which seemed to stretch on forever in a maze of stalagmites and their ceiling counterparts. "Gyre?"

"I would fire this place up for you, but if the tunnel's sealed off I don't want you breathing sulfur."

Kendath mentally strung together a list of curses he'd someday bring down on Elkor's thick head. The dwarf must be situated comfortably in his private quarters now, laughing his beard off. But now there was nothing to do but follow the tunnel to wherever it bloody well may lead...

The darkness stirred.

"Did you see that?" he asked sharply.

Currently preoccupied with stretching her neck in the tight confines, Gyre snapped back, "What?"

His falchion escaped its sheath with a hiss of metal. He dropped to a crouch and proceeded warily onwards. Suddenly the entire tunnel trembled in its stone foundations. An inhuman groan echoed off the bare walls.

"Oh, that," Gyre acknowledged. She cocked her head. "Sounds like a stone golem. What do you say, mage?"

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"Hardly, no golem would go about this kind of a cave without a master and I must wonder what kind of a master would choose to live in here or even send his precious creations in it. No, golems are solely guided by the will of their masters, an earth elemental it might be or something far more nastier I presume..."

He said with a suspicious face as he gazed around the cave trying to pinpoint the danger that seemed to grow stronger. Garthag prepared himself mentally to cast a spell at any second, all tough he was weakened he could do something at least.

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Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

"What if this one is an exception?" said Merrin, peering into the blackness beyond Garthag's light. There was a rather intimidating groan, as if earth were breaking apart, and the sound of stone crumbling like ash. Forgetting that a sword was hardly any use against either a golem or an earth elemental, Merrin groped for the hilt of her rapier.

Wyvern took a step further into the darkness, neck outstretched as if scenting. He drew back abruptly with something akin to a sneeze - a few stray sparks escaped his nostrils, in any case - and hunched over in the confines of the passage looking uneasy. "It's coming closer."

And in the distance pounding footsteps could be heard, undoubtedly moving their way.

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"Look golems are mindless tools, I know this because I have created a few with somewhat mixed success and came to the conclusion they were only good muscle in a fight. I am a mage, if I may remind you, my knowledge isn`t limited on guessing..."

He said before gazing towards the sound and suddenly throwing a ball of light towards the sound, the ball parted from his hand yet another remained in his only weaker, but it was soon fueled by more magic and grew ever taller. The ball of light wildly rolled on the floor of the cavern before stopping into something at lighting it to the group. Garthag couldn`t help, but grin at the sight.

(You can decide whatever the thing is)

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Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

"What," Kendath breathed, "is that?"

"That, as the mage so conveniently pointed out, is an earth elemental," Gyre was all too happy to elucidate. She snarled and lashed her tail. I could crush it. But I need more room.

The leviathan towered fifteen feet above them, its husky frame carved of stone. Its slitted eyes narrowed as it ripped a stalactite off the ceiling. With impossible dexterity it shaped the formless stalactite into a stone maul, its head as large as Kendath was tall. He gave ground, raising his butter knife of a falchion.

The tunnel gave another tremor.

"Here comes the second one," Gyre predicted. She listened for a while. "This one's a bit larger."

How Kendath loved irony.

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