Beyond the Pale Chapter 4
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Beyond The Pale: Chapter 6 free porn video
Players:
Christian (M) /Isabelle (F) Pathfinder
Brett (M) /Owein (M) Paragon (dead)
Sandy (F) /Dacie (F) Corsair ; Sylph
Kathy (F) /Eric (M) Huscarl
Stephen (M) /Sayer (M) Incantist
Corey (M) /Elisa (F) Priestess
With the sun rising over the horizon, Dacie opened her eyes surprised to
find that Isabelle had not moved from her position all night. After that
long and terrible retreat from the crypt, dragging Owein's body along
the way, the party had finally found a place to hide.
The plan had been for Isabelle to take the first watch, and then wake
the others; however, the Pathfinder had other ideas. No one expected to
sleep, from the terror of almost dying to the loss of Owein but everyone
except for Isabelle crashed hard.
"I should have taken the last watch." Rubbing her eyes, the Sylph walked
over to her friend and circled her arms around her. They held each other
for a few minutes before Isabelle spoke.
"No, everyone needed the rest."
"And you don't?" Dacie raised an eyebrow.
"No, I'm fine. Once we are all safe, I'll get some sleep. "
"So, what are our plans now, oh glorious leader?"
Trying to put some humor into the conversation failed miserably however
Isabelle gave her a half smile for her effort.
"Right well I guess we should vote who should be the party leader,
first."
"Isab...Christopher." The Sylph sighed. "You saved all of us, trust me,
everyone has been looking to you since we got our asses handed to us in
that crypt. I'm sorry...I should have noticed something wrong with Owein.
It's my fault as well."
Reaching over, the Baroness held her friends hand. "It's not your fault,
it's no one's fault. The fault lies in who transported us to Mercia. Our
only fault as a group was not realizing that Owein did not take this
experience as real. In his mind, this was still a game, and he played at
if it was such, not thinking of the consequences. Treasure and
experience points sound great on paper, but the reality is much
different. In this world as in ours, dead is dead."
Dacie made a face. "But our high level characters can restore life. Your
other character, the priestess, she has the power, correct?"
Isabelle shrugged. "You're right Dacie, for the most powerful or those
wealthy those prayers are available under certain conditions but as of
right now, we are not even close to being that powerful." Isabelle
leaned over and whispered. "As it stands we don't even know what dangers
we may face inside the city. In addition, unless Phillip is running
things, we don't have a Game Master to make sure that the encounters are
at our level. We don't even have one to make sure that we all don't
die."
Dacie nodded, she knew that on occasion Philip fudged his die rolls if
it appeared the party was having trouble. She never actually saw him do
it, as he made every roll behind a cardboard GM screen, but it did make
a certain kind of sense. Total Party Kills, although not very common
were often a game breaker and not a lot of fun.
"It's OK, Isabelle; you will get us all home."
"Why do you think that? Most likely I'm just going to do something just
as stupid and get us all killed."
Dacie reached over and held Isabelle close again. "No you won't, I trust
you. I know you will get all of us home safe."
Later, no matter how hard the Baroness tried to make them change their
minds, the others agreed that she should be the party leader. Not
terribly happy about the whole thing but at least willing to try it, she
started to pass out orders; the relief on the other's faces was
palpable.
Deciding to remain in place for the rest of the day to rest, the
campsite first needed to be made secure. Everyone quickly began to work
around the camp as if their life depended on it, happy to be given
direction.
With their campsite hidden from plain view, a decision about Owein's
remains took place. Sayer, who spent the rest of the morning lost in his
spell tomes, didn't hear the conversation-taking place.
"Do we bury Owein?" Elisa frowned. "Even the prayers to keep the body
from decomposing are still out of my reach. Although it's not terribly
hot..."
Wrapped in a number of cloaks, with his armor removed, the Captain of
Dragoons lay in the shadow of a collapsed wall.
"We can't just leave him, maybe we can find a high priest if we make it
back to a larger city."
Dacie made a face. "Problem is, Eric, the cost of bringing the dead back
to life is horribly expensive. What's worse, most prayers only work
within a few days before the sprit crosses over into the realm of the
dead. Even if we found a gate now, it might take weeks or even months
for us to find someone."
"What happens if it takes more than a few days?"
"Rise in price if nothing else however it will also become harder to
find someone with the ability to bring the bead back to life."
"Also just because a Priest or Priestess does have that power, and even
with plenty of coin on hand, it doesn't mean they will be willing. More
than likely it will also require a service or quest on our part." Elisa
looked to the ground, hesitating before she continued. "If we make it
through the gate, maybe need to bury him someplace safe."
Eric frowned thinking how they were going to explain this all to Sayer.
The boy already had it in his mind that the party was going to simply
march into a town, and his brother would be brought back from the dead.
"Isabelle, I also don't like that Owein was killed by one of Ilithar's
children. I hesitate to say this but you know that there's a chance he
will return in some other form."
As a long-term player of the game, the priestess knew that the dead did
not always remain dead. No one thought that it would be a good idea to
inform the Incantist that his brother might come back as a monster.
The Baroness rubbed her face with her hands. "I know, it makes me sick
saying this, but I think we need to bury Owein as soon as we gate to the
nearest town. Best would be in a blessed crypt. That way we will be sure
there won't be any problems later when we return to raise him. "No one
argued with her about the chances of the party actually returning.
"Elisa, will your prayers keep him in place?"
"I think so but I can't really be sure."
"What happens when we get home?"
Elisa looked at Eric lost in the question. "I don't know."
"Do you think he is home now?" The Huscarl's voice sounded a bit
desperate.
Isabelle studied the Huscarl, trying to understand what he was asking.
Did he really think if one of them died, they would suddenly appear back
home or was it something else. "Who knows, it's not like this has
happened before. Perhaps we are all still sitting around the table right
but do you really want to chance that?"
Isabelle understood that Sayer wasn't looking forward to explaining to
his parents what happened to Brett. More than likely, they would all be
blamed for his disappearance.
"No but..." Eric dropped his head.
"I think we need to assume that this is real. If we die here, then we
also die back home. Anything else will get us killed."
Isabelle kicked herself, the conversation they were having should have
taken place a few days ago. The last few days had been a blur as if
everyone else had been running on autopilot. Did it really take the
death of one of their friends to understand the seriousness of the
situation?
She was just as bad finally feeling normal, in a body that felt right,
she forgot herself. Since they arrived a part of her understood what
happened, she should have pressed this and not complacently followed
Owein.
Eric reluctantly nodded.
Elisa reached over to touch him but brought her hand back quickly. "So
what do we do now?"
"Find the tower."
Dacie sighed. "Who is going to explain this all to Sayer?"
Isabelle grimaced, rising from the ground. She looked over at the
Incantist who sat with his face in one of his books. "I'll do it."
With the promise to return, surprisingly the Incantist had taken the
news of burying his brother fairly well. It should have calmed her
fears; instead, it made her more worried. Since Owein's death, the
Incantist had completely shut down.
Once they were safe, it would be another thing they would need to deal
with. Still they had a long way to go until they reached the safety of
the tower, much less help Sayer or find someone powerful enough to bring
life back to Owein.
Much later in the day, the Pathfinder's sword slowly slide out of its
sheath, Isabelle, moving silently as possible, continued to slide past
the edge of a fallen wall. Crawling underneath, she found a better
vantage point to study the creatures that blocked the road.
Large man-like creatures, looking like a combination of a troll and a
goblin, dressed mostly in thick hides, stripped the hide off a
particular large lizard they just killed. She counted a dozen in the Urk
hunter party though it didn't mean a lot; Isabelle knew that hundreds
more could be off in the distance.
The terrain in the upper party of the valley had helped hide their
progress with its gentle hills, but now flattening out as they headed
towards the center of the valley, was getting difficult not to be seen.
Thankfully, there were still plenty of high grass and trees to keep them
out of sight. If possible, the Pathfinder would try to find a better
route around these creatures.
Quickly returning to the party, Isabelle laid out her plan. Although the
new path increased the distance travelled, it would keep them out of
harm's way.
"How many more Urks are we going to run into?" Elisa sighed.
"Baroness, why are there so many in the first place."
Isabelle smiled the first in a while. "Remember those weird antelopes as
you called them, Sayer, the Urks follow the herds. With the snows
falling in the mountains to our north, those creatures move through the
valley to the warmer lands to the south."
Eric looked around. "Can you imagine living in this valley with hordes
of Urks moving through every season?"
"So what now?" Dacie asked.
"We go around them of course; if our luck holds we should be able to see
the tower fairly soon."
Nodding to themselves, happy not having to fight, the group understood
under Owein's leadership they would have fought each group of Urks as
they came across them. Eventually the fighting would have brought down
enough of the creatures that it would have cost all of them their lives.
Dacie looked up at her friend impressed. They were all beginning to
understand the decision to make Isabelle the new party leader was the
correct one.
As the sun began to set, the party came across the first actual ruins of
the city, and off in the distance stood a tall black tower surrounded by
a grey wall. The ruins themselves, most thought would look like Pompey,
with its obvious streets and buildings looked quite different.
The elements had not been kind, since the city's demise many hundreds of
years ago. With most buildings collapsed, its appearance was more like a
city of grass-covered mounds not ruins. Some larger structures remained
mere skeletons of their former glory but nature had taken a heavy toll.
However, the main thoroughfares through the city and some of the side
streets remained free of weeds and grass. Obviously, some residual magic
kept them clear. The tower too, constructed of some unknown material,
appeared untouched by age.
Isabelle almost collapsed at the sight of the tall black tower. All of
their hopes lay in the fact of its existence. The view of the black
spire immediately lifted everyone's spirits. Isabelle decided they would
move deeper into the city to spend the night, hopefully hidden from any
prying eyes.
Since the incident in the tomb, the party had been able to move around
dangers, their only objective to get out of the valley as soon as
possible. Unfortunately, their luck did not hold.
Due to lack of experience, or carelessness because their goal being so
close or just plain old bad luck the party walked right by a large
contingent of the savage looking Urks. Neither Isabelle, nor the Urks
scouts came across one another. Only after the two groups passed, did
Elisa look back surprised to find them so close. The Urks too were
shocked but being Urks charged first.
The creatures should have run at first sight of the party. Instead, they
poured all the rage, the terror and grief of the last few days into the
attacking Urks. Most of the Urk's didn't even reach the party, Eric and
Isabelle quickly dispatched the rest.
Leaning down Isabelle wiped the black blood off her blade. At least
everyone came out of this fight without a scratch. Retrieving her
arrows, the Baroness noticed the others looking through the bodies for
anything of value. Nothing was found of course, unless one liked the
taste of dried lizard meat.
"It's not your fault." Elisa interrupted her brooding.
Isabelle looked surprised; she didn't realize that she was brooding. "I
should have...."
"No, don't start. You know as well as I, this will happen. Thank the
goddess none of us were hurt and move on. We still have a long way to go
before we reach the tower."
The Baroness smiled at her friend. "You're right."
"Of course I'm right, I'm always right." The priestess grinned for a
moment then looked around sadly. "Such violence, it's simple butchery
you know that."
Isabelle couldn't help but agree.
With night now almost upon them, the group was now close enough to see
the tall grey walls that surrounded the tower. According to Isabelle,
the Gate that would hopefully transport them out of the valley could be
found towards the top of the tower. However, not even the Baroness knew
what dangers lay ahead, so tackling the tower in the morning seemed
prudent.
Elisa closed her eyes in prayer, feeling the loving touch of her
goddess. While setting up camp for the night, the atmosphere was
subdued. Thoughts of home drifted in everyone's mind however passing
through the gate was just one small step towards home.
Living as a woman even for this short time had been quite the
experience. She understood that the ability to feel comfortable in this
strange body was only because of her patron. The priestess wished that
Eric could feel that warmth.
She knew he was having a difficult time. It was bad enough switching
genders but to be thrown into an unfamiliar place as well, it was pure
luck the two of them had not been driven insane.
Only Isabelle embraced the changed and that made her worry for her
friend. How would she react to switching back to the male Christian?
However it turned out, she would make sure that she was there for her.
"Sayer, how are you this evening."
"Ok, I guess." The Incantist looked up. "Do you really think that...?"
Elisa nodded; she knew what he was asking. "Trust me...Stephen; everyone
here will try their best."
Sayer turned. "Isabelle, she always keeps her promises doesn't she?"
"Why do you say that?"
"I don't know she just seems the type. She does though, right."
The priestess nodded. "I have never known her to break a promise. Did
she promise that we would be able to bring your brother back from the
land of the dead?"
Sayer frowned for a second, the land of the dead sounded so alien but
also very familiar.
"No...it...don't worry about it, doesn't matter."
"Oh, well believe me, whatever she said that's exactly what she will
do."
"We should have followed her instead of Owein." Sayer dropped his voice
barely above a whisper. He loved his brother but Brett never admitted to
his own limitations. What happened in the crypt was typical of how
things often worked out.
"What?"
"Nothing Elisa." Reaching for his book, the Incantist was about to ask
about what spells would work best indoors when Dacie let out a scream.
"Stay back." She roared in terror.
In the shadows, Owein walked into the moonlight. The body twisted,
radiating evil, reached out for the Sylph. It was one thing to see such
a creature in the movies, quite another to run into one in the flesh.
Worse, the monster before her happened to also be her friend.
"Stop foul creature." Elisa strode forward, her palm held up. "By Sylia
golden light, return to the darkness from which you came."
A beam of pure white light struck Owein in the chest. It did not just
harm him but consumed the body whole. Bathed in white flame, the Captain
of Dragoons turned to ash before the party's eyes. The encounter was
over in a second.
Elisa sobbed quietly in Dacie arms, as a very concerned Eric looked on.
On the other side of the camp, Isabelle spoke quietly with Sayer. The
Huscarl knew that the boy and his girlfriend were on the very of having
a serious breakdown.
"He wanted some time to himself but we all need to keep an eye on him."
Isabelle reluctantly returned to the group after comforting the
Incantist. "How are you...Corey?"
"It's all my fault." Elisa whispered.
Isabelle knelt down holding her friend's hand. "No, it's not."
"I could have..."
"What? Chopped him to pieces while Sayer watched? As soon as he was
embraced by Ilithar power, Owein's fate was sealed." The Baroness spoke
a little more forceful then she intended. She too blamed herself.
"Is there no way to bring him back?" Eric frowned. Corey often spoke of
such wonderful magic in his games.
Dacie stroked the priestess' head. "Yes, but it's no longer a matter of
finding a priest or priestess, Eric. It would require a direct appeal to
the gods themselves. Even at our highest level, we could never bring
back anyone after they were embraced by the goddess of death."
"What about mages?"
Elisa sniffed. "No, not even my Archmage has such power. Although there
are legends of mages who once lived in these ruins who held such power
but they are long gone."
"Is that true, Isabelle?"
"You're asking me?" For a moment, she looked confused, forgetting that
she knew more about this world than anyone else did. "No, she's right.
At the height of their power, the seven Archons who ruled these lands
welded such power. However, even those mages needed the help of a god or
goddess to intercede on their behalf."
"So we just need to find a god that's willing to help us." Eric
shrugged.
Isabelle gave a small sad laugh. "We'll work on that."
The next morning, Isabelle made the party break camp as soon as the sun
rose over the ruins. With dangers ahead of them, she needed the group to
focus on the getting to the tower safely, not on what happened the night
before. While Dacie kept a close eye on Sayer, the Pathfinder took her
place forward of the party.
With the tower in sight, the company moved quickly but cautiously,
reaching the ruined wall that surrounded the Archon's tower well before
noon.
Returning to the party after finding the entrance, Isabelle set out her
plans. She and Eric would lead the party, while Elisa and Sayer in the
second rank with Dacie a little bit forward ahead of the party.
"Why are you out to the front?"
The Sylph smiled, answering Eric's question. "Traps, enchantments and
other protections inside the tower, I will hopefully see first. Don't
worry; I'll still be keeping close, as I have no desire to run into any
dangers alone."
Surprisingly, the courtyard surrounding the black marble like stone
tower appeared as if the calamity that befell its owners did not happen.
Cleared of all debris, the party easily crossed the courtyard heading
towards a long white stairway that ended at a set of large bronze doors.
Dacie reached it first, kneeling down she realized that everything
around the tower had a magical aura. It was going to be difficult,
although not impossible to determine what magics were harmful and which
ones were beneficial.
Sayer's ability to read the aura, although it required a spell, would
prove invaluable. She half expected the stairs at least to be trapped
magically. Unfortunately, the Sylph had no recollection of the adventure
that took them to their tower originally.
"The stairs should be fine, Dacie, the doors about as well. However,
there should be plenty of guardians waiting for us in the other rooms."
Elisa looked surprised. "You actually remember the adventure Izzy?"
The Baroness raised an eyebrow at the name then smiled. "Mostly, as it
was the first time my girlfriend played with us."
Dacie turned away blushing. "Ok then, let's find this magical gate of
yours and get the hell out of this valley."
At the height of the city's power, beautiful stone statues flanked the
wide stairs. Statues of the goddess who once protected the land, now
little but her feet remained. The stairs, quickly taken, brought the
party through the large set of opened bronze doors.
Once through Elisa prayed to her goddess, lighting up a large round room
revealing an ancient bronze staircase leading upwards. Etched on the
floor, a beautiful mosaic displayed the stars above. Several archways
showed darkened corridors, but they were ignored. The party needed to
climb higher to reach their goal.
"How study does the staircase look?" Eric spied the stairs warily. A
thousand years seemed a long time for such a structure to still be safe.
Dacie nodded. "Don't worry; the magic in this room alone is impressive.
Have you noticed that the tower shows no sign of age? It as if the
inhabitants just stepped out for a moment."
Sayer closed his eyes. "Baroness, we are alone." He could feel guardians
off in the shadows, waiting for them to entered guarded rooms.
"Let's move then, we can take the stairs at least to the floor below the
gate room."
Once the party reached the top of the stairs, Isabelle knew they would
need to pass through numerous other hallways and exits. The founders of
the tower made sure that unless you knew your way, finding the gateway
would not be a simple matter.
Much later, the party stood before a large silver door, and although he
did not have the magical senses of the Sylph, his spells were more
powerful and more through. Studying an enchantment long enough, an
Incantist could even decipher its properties. "
"Not this door either, it will set off a series of alarms. "
Sayer looked towards the Priestess who was also lost in thought. "It's
as if someone changed the layout to the tower. And I thought it was
confusing the first time we were here."
"I agree." Dacia nodded, at times almost being overwhelmed from the
magic auras that protected the place.
"Baroness?"
"Sorry Sayer, we need to go down the corridor further." Before
proceeding once more, she touched the walls. Powerful magics might hide
the true path but for some reason, she knew the exact direction to take.
"It's as you say Elisa, it's different from what I remembered but we are
going in the right direction."
Several doorways later, the party entered a long rectangular room, at
the end of the room a set of stairs led higher into the tower. Slowly
they entered the room, prepared for any unwanted guardians. When they
walked further into the room, they were not disappointed.
Soon a bright ball of energy appeared in the center of the room throwing
out fingers of lighting. From the ball of energy, a figure stepped
through, a man like creature created out of black stone. With the
creature fully in the room as second appeared.
"Golems!" Dacie yelled, stepping forward the Corsair fired her Arcane
pistol sending two balls of energy into the globe, destroying a third
golem that had been materializing in the room. Collapsing upon itself,
the magical field detonated with a burst of magical energy damaging the
two golems in the room.
From Sayer's hands, a bolt of lightning slammed into the closest of the
guardians, pushing it back. Without a pause, Eric roared into the fight
swinging his weapon in a wide arc. From Elisa, a prayer to her goddess
settled about the room, bringing holy protection upon the party.
Isabelle, with her blade now enchanted, now joined the fray, leaping
back as the second tried to pummel her with two of its fists. Sweeping
back, she slashed at an outstretched arm surprisingly enough shattering
the creature's wrist.
Eric grunted as a stone fist almost picked him off the ground. "How do
we kill these things?"
"Keep hitting them." Dacie yelled while sending two more arcane bolts
into the chest of the same golem. "Enough damage will disrupt the
enchantment."
"We need to take them down one at a time." Jumping back again, Isabelle,
less armored than the Huscarl knew that a solid blow from one of the
creatures could be devastating. "I'll keep this one busy; take the first
one down everyone."
++++++++++
Eric opened his eyes, wondering why he lay on the ground again. Trying
to move he stopped, everything seemed to hurt.
"Sit still sweetie, let me heal you." Those words and the warm touch
that followed came from the person he so desperately needed.
"Corey?"
The priestess giggled. "Yes, well I don't exactly look like him right
now, so sit still."
"How is he?" Another voice broke through the fuzz in his head.
"Kathy always had a hard head, nothing changed. Give me a few moments to
get him back on his feet."
Isabelle stood up, surveying the damage around the room. With the
enchantments disrupted, the golems had eventually collapsed.
"Escaped injury again, I see?" Dacie said amazed. Once more, the
Pathfinder walked away from a battle without any real injury.
The Sylph besides being bruised in a number of locations walked around
with a slight limp. Like the others, she insisted it was nothing and
that Elisa needed to deal with Eric first.
"Just lucky I guess poor Eric keeps taking it in the chin though."
Dacie dropped her voice. "Damn that Owein, we could really have used him
in this fight. How much further?"
"Next floor." Isabelle said thoughtfully, she could almost feel the
gateway in the room above.
As the Baroness predicted, the next flight of stairs brought the party
into a large round room. Embedded into the floor in the center of the
room, lay a large silver circle.
"Sayer, I believe this is your party." Isabelle smiled at the Incantist.
Dacie scratched her nose; the heavy enchantments in the room made her
want to sneeze. "We need to take care; the room just reeks with magic."
"Agreed." The Baroness nodded to Elisa, who prayed to her goddess
reinforcing her blessing.
Kneeling on the ground, Sayer studied the runes carved into the metal
disk. Picking out a few familiar symbols, he said. "It's like a puzzle."
Isabelle knelt next to him. While the two of them discussed what runes
would take them into the Empire, Eric looked over with interest.
"It reminds me of Star Gate a little but lacking those other
interlocking disks."
"I thought you hated that show." The priestess complained.
"Not true, you just made me watch it all the time."
After some time, Sayer finally exclaimed. "We got it. Pretty simple
really, press the runes on the floor then charge the metallic ring with
an enchantment."
"Any spell?"
Sayer shrugged but looked to Isabelle for confirmation.
"Seems about right, however, how do we to pick a rune for an Imperial
city that didn't exist when the tower was built."
"Then how in the hell are we going to get back." Eric grumbled.
"Because our dear friend here has some knowledge and knew at least one
of the symbols."
Sayer gave the Baroness the eye. "Your excellency, I can tell you
recognize every one of these runes."
"Well...err...yes. I just wanted..." The Baroness looked down embarrassed.
The Incantist grinned.
As the group stood in the center of the circle, Sayer began chanting.
Slowly the ring began to turn. As it picked up speed, it started to
glow, blocking the party's vision of the room.
For a brief moment, they had no idea where the magical disk transported
them. According to Sayer, the group should be standing in the center of
the town of Colmar. Instead, they all sat around the gaming table.
"Dude thanks again for that figure, you're awesome." Phillip came into
the room, settling back into his chair as if nothing happened.
"What?"
"So, let's get the game started." The Game Master chuckled, actually
oblivious to the shocked looks of those sitting around the table.
Stephen all of a sudden sobbed. "Brett."
Phillip looked up from his Games Master screen confused. "Who's Brett?
End of Book 1
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