TLDunn213

The islands get their name from the talking Tikis that are scattered around all of the Islands. While no one seems to know for sure who (or maybe what) make the first ones they seem to be self replicating/generating as new ones are reported every now and again. Or maybe they just move around and/or change appearance as people also report not being able to find older ones who's location was thought to be well known. The Tikis can be bargained with for information, healing, and magic items. Taking information, magic items, and raw magical energy as payment. There is a rumor that it is taboo to ask the Tikis about themselves, but no one seems to know for sure. Much less agree as to what, if anything, happens if you break the taboo. Few people are willing to risk it, and those who have tried to find out have been frustrated in their attempts. It seems that it is impossible to find a Tiki while being followed. If you find a Tiki the people who were following you have lost track of you. Or if you are the one doing the following and lose track of your target you might not find them again. Of course this may just be a feature of the Islands in general, as all attempts at mapping them have proven futile. And getting lost is insanely easy. At least if you are an outsider with out the help of a native guide. Natives and long time residents Never get lost and can reach Any location in the Entire Archipelago in a matter of hours if not minutes. It is even rumored that expert guides can reach locations that are not even in the archipelago at all. Careful research into this later trick has revealed the presence of Wayward Pines at the arrival point. But this just exchanges one mystery for another. While it has long been known that Wayward Pines can transport people from place to place it was believed to just be a sort of random tunnel type of thing. Find one, note where it is, wait for it to flicker to its other location, and make a note of where that is. And you have a secret shortcut between those two places. But no one seemed to know how to set up the link or how they were triggered. But the Tiki Island natives seem to know how to do both. Which leaves me wondering what price is paid for this secret.

Tell me more about this atoll and I'll see if I can locate it on the map

The Tiki Islands, as I may have mentioned elsewhere in these writings, are an archipelago located a rather goodly distance to the east and a little bit to the south of Ha'Ven. Or about a full day's sail Northeast of the Sargasso sea. Places and features of note include the Big Island at the center (more or less) of the group called Big Island, Center island, or Hakaguiluge. (Pronounced: hock a gooy loogy .)(Don't give me that look. I didn't name the place.) Which is also the name of the volcano at the center of the island. The volcano, and the whole archipelago to some extent, is magical. As well as Simi active. While it hasn't erupted in ages. There is a lave chamber with magma that rises and falls regularly enough to keep the mud pools on its slopes bubbling at near boiling temperatures. Even heating them enough to send large blobs of scalding hot mud flying out of the pools and several yards downslope. While this would seem to be a good reason for sensible people to stay away. It is also one of the main reasons for some people to go there. As noted the volcano is magical, and so is the mud from the pools on its slopes. With just a little work a skilled Alchemist can extract a number of different magical Dusts and Powders. As you might expect the levels of magic here are high enough to give rise to Mudmen in a number of the mud pools. So; No, you aren't imagining it. Those scalding hot mud blobs are being aimed at you, more often than not. Still, given that a one pound ball of this magic mud can sell for 5 to 10 Silver. There are a number of people who make their living by dodging scalding hot mud blobs and looking for rare plants that don't grow anywhere else. There are also rumors of a complex of caves and secret chambers up there that have been used as hiding places for different magical artifacts over the years and whatever equipment Adventuring parties that didn't make it might have had with them. There are a number of other features of the Islands that I'll get into next time. As well as a few more details about what's rumored to be hidden in the caves of Hakaguiluge.

You start with C the catalyst Once that's in place you move on to B which by itself is harmless and will be broken down by the body into E which is excreted. But when C is present it is turned into D which is deadly. So to counteract D you take A the antidote. A turns D into E which is excreted but the reaction also turns A into B which then reacts with C forming more D. And so you are trapped by the chain poison. Now the key to getting out of this is in E which can be collected from what you are excreting and then reacted with A to form F. Which can then be used to flush the C out of your system. And without C the B formed by naturalizing D with A just breaks down into E which is excreted and then you're free.

So of course. This time it works. Oh well, at some point all the bugs will get fixed.

Just tried to post something and it is saying my Email address is in use by another member. Got the mass email you sent. Tried replying to it. Didn't work. Trying to post stuff here. So far also no luck.

Good Luck Well that worked And I'm able to change themes. And so far it's only ask one time if I'm a robot. So, Good Job. Keep up the good work.

Android actually. But I don't see why it keeps asking. Does the Mighty Pen have something against artificial lifeforms? And it's still doing it. Seems to be some sort of time out thing. And I can't get the @<_%$#!ing thing to change themes at all now.

Okay then. The themes seem to be working, Except at the home screen, not mobile friendly there. But that's a minor issue. I can zoom out and see everything, if slightly smaller than I would like. Other issue I'm noticing as I'm trying to type this. The site keeps asking me to confirm that I'm not a robot. Not sure what's up with that. Odds are you already know about all this. But in case you didn't... Anyway Good luck getting all the bugs worked out.

Chapter One. The pain faded. He lay there for a time savoring its absence. Once he was reasonably sure that it wasn't going to return any time soon he dared to open his eyes. No pain. That was good. But there wasn't much to see either. Blank stone ceiling in a dimly lit room. He sat up. Still no pain. And not much of an improvement on the view. Small, dim room, carved out of stone with a shallow pool of water beside him and some sort of table and cupboard arrangement against the wall; and a door. That was it. No source of light. Yet he could see, dimly to be sure, But how ? No windows. Nothing giving off light. And things were clearly no brighter near the door. The room should be pitch black, yet he could see well enough. This was not something he could do before. Before? The word echoed loudly in his mind. Fragments of memory flooded his mind and faded away before he could grasp them. Memories that felt right mixed with ones that could not possibly belong. He tried to reach for them, any of them, even the "wrong" ones. It was like trying to grasp fog. He kept trying anyway. And finally he was able to grab one. Just a fragment of time. Walking down some dimly lit hallway. Torch held high, for better light. Then Pain. And darkness. So, he'd been ambushed, knocked out, captured. And brought here? Where was here? Who? Why? The fog in his mind swirled and churned. And then he knew. Thulians. His blood ran cold at the thought. He was clever and now that he was thinking in abstract ideas and not trying for personal memories knowledge was flowing much more quickly and freely in his mind. Which was good; except he did not like the answers he was getting. Why Thulians took people. The fact that he could now see in the dark. His clouded memories. Not good. But the fact that he saw it as bad. Didn't just accept it as how things should be... Maybe there was hope. Dreading what he would find but needing to know. He closed his eyes and started exploring his body by touch. It took only moments for his exploration to confirm what he had expected to find. Bald head and face tentacles. Yep, he was a Kull. An Illith to look at but with his original mind mostly intact and a few bits of information that he had not known before. The most important bits were what would happen to him if his kull nature were discovered. Death. And the fact that the morphosis chamber was on the edge of the compound. For practical reasons. And that it would be a few hours yet before anyone would be by to check on how things were going. On the table were his belongings and in the cupboard was a set of robes. And his regular clothes. After some thought about the matter he put on the robes and packed as much of his other possessions as would fit into his pack while still being able to hide it under the robes. His knifes he could strap in their usual places. His sword had to be hung on his back in a way that mostly hid it under the robes. There was no way to draw it like that. But stealth not sword work was his only real chance of escaping.

Notes. Right now I'm just sort of sketching out the main character and related points. So if you want the story without spoilers skip down to chapter 1. Throckmorton was born in the town of Demi. The half-elf son of a half-elf mother. Which means that his father is likely also a half-elf. Although he could be anywhere from 1/4 to 3/4 Elf and still have a son who would count as 1/2. Now as to Who exactly his father is... Well, given that his mother is a Tavern Winch; that's a bit of an open question. After all Demi is a Half-elf city. Not to say that there aren't a fair number of Humans, Full Blood Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Halflings, and so on living there. With nearly half again that many just passing through. Which is hardly surprising given that Demi is one of the three biggest port cities on the Eastern coast of Estria. The other two, just for the record are: WayMeet to the South. The largest Elf run city in the region that allows other races inside its walls in large numbers. And Ha' Ven to the North. Home to the Adventures Guild. A city with enough racial/species diversity that you Are a Minority, no matter what race you belong to. There are slightly more humans than any other single race but they still only make up 20 to 25 percent of the total population. But enough about the world. We're here to talk about young Throckmorton and his early years. Being the son of a Tavern Winch naturally lead to the learning of the skills associated with the Rogue's trade. And when given a chance by some of the local Bards he discovered that he had rather a bit of talent for that craft as well. Which lead to his attracting the notice of the Dragon SilverFrost who just happened to have stopped in( in human form) for a drink. SilverFrost was impressed by young Throckmorton's talent and gave him a letter of introduction to the Bards Collage at the Adventures Guild in Ha'Ven along with a bit of traveling money. At the Guild young Throckmorton excelled at both music, and Rogue craft. Well, once he was able to find the Rogue's section of the Guild. Being able to find it is, after all, one of the requirements for admittance. Over time he became an Adventurer, joined a party, and after a number of rather routine missions aboveground, he set out on a mission to the Underdark. And that is where our story begins. And as his memory is rather fogged over at first... Well I had planned on just starting in the Morphosis chamber So if you want to be as befuddled as our hero skip to chapter one If you don't think it will matter if you know the high points of his backstory; Well if you're reading this you probably already read the rest of this section anyway. Some points to consider. Throkmorton is a Rogue and a Bard. So what level in each ? I'm thinking 2nd or 3rd for each, making him a 4th to 6th level character overall. So, what spells would he have as a 3rd level Bard ? And can he use any of them after becoming a Kull ? Would he gain psi powers? Just brainstorming here. But if you have any thoughts on any of this feel free to share. Detail about Thuliens, particularly the Illith phase: They do not talk. Telepathic communication definitely. But no spoken communication. The lungs just don't connect to the mouth. Normal Illith having inate psi powers would have no reason to bother with Arcane magic. But someone who was an Arcane spellcaster before becoming a Kull... That is a very interesting question. After thinking about it I believe that the spells they already know would gradually change over to equivalent psi powers/abilities. Singing is something that I believe could be done telepathically. So with some practice a Bard in this condition would be able to regain their abilities. Now preforming publicly as a Kull is something that would be very location dependent obviously. Due to prior knowledge of Arcane magic the advantages/limitations of the Magus class, or at least an equivalent Psi-Magus type class would apply. Slower progress in terms of learning new Powers/Abilities but more powerful/lower costs due to understanding how to manipulate both Order and Chaos. Now someone who was an Eldritch spell caster would probably not be able to convert those spells into Psi equivalents. Taking the Silent Spell feat would probably allow them to use that form of the Eldritch spell. This is of course just speculation, as there aren't enough cases of Eldritch spellcasters becoming Kulls for any reliable information on the subject to be available.

A couple of questions about the ChoKa have been brought to my attention as not having been fully covered. The first being there relations with the Aqualith. Given that the ChoKa can retain the ability to breathe water, and their low/outcast status in Thulian society. And you are quite correct; ChoKa are used as envoys to the Aqualith by some groups of Thulians. As well as Varna and even the occasional group of free ChoKa. Free in this case may be a bit of a misnomer as such groups are found almost exclusively in coastal areas that also harbor Aqualith outposts. And so such groups may be better considered as part of the Aqualith empire than actual members of Thulian society. This is further confirmed by the frequent presence of free Varna groups and some level of trade between all three. With Aqualith slime being a notable trade item. And the apparent use of that slime in regulating their lifecycles in favor of Varna ChoKa offspring. It is unclear at this time just what the Aqualith are taking in trade for the slime or what other advantages they gain from their association with the ChoKa and Varna. Further research into this is clearly needed. In any event, the fact of a connection between the ChoKa and Aqualith brings us around to the second question to be addressed here. Namely the remarkable regenerative abilities of the ChoKa. I've noted elsewhere both that they have the ability and that they use it as their means of reproduction. What I failed to address was the rather obvious question of how and why the ChoKa have a healing factor that is clearly much stronger than that of other types of Thulians and Thulian kin. There seem to be two factors at play here. The first is the fact that ChoKa, unlike other Thulian spawn, never go through a morphosis process. True there is the initial transformation from tadpole to humanoid form. But if we regard that as simply normal growth, then there is no morphosis in there lifecycle. And that is, I believe, the key to their fast healing. The ability to breakdown and reform their bodies, as other Thulians do, has simply become an ability to repair themselves all through their life rather than using all that ability in a single transformation. So, what does this have to do with Aqualith slime, given that I alluded to a connection between the slime and their healing factor earlier? First off, good for you for paying such close attention. And second, there is some evidence that the ChoKa are able to use the slime to not only argument their healing factor for themselves but to also use it to make a potion useable by other races. The exact formula is, of course, a closely guarded secret. But it seems to involve a mix of Aqualith slime and ChoKa blood along with at least some of the standard ingredients of basic healing potions. Which could well be one of the things that the Aqualith gain from their trade with the ChoKa. There are almost certainly other factors at play on both sides as I am quite certain that the Aqualith are fully able to make healing potions for themselves. But I am also convinced that there are clear advantages to gaining healing potions this way even though I have not as yet discovered what those advantages are.

Wow. And I thought I took long breaks in my writing. 😁 Hope you are able to keep going on this for a while. I want to know how this turns out.

Quick notes for now. A Dracon in service to the White Dragon: Lady Horefrost, approaches a group of adventures about rescuing a Dragon egg stolen by the servants of the ArchLitch: Angmar. Angmar' s motives involve a long standing feude with Seline Deathshadow. (see Behind the House of Usher for details)

The room was dimly lit, with the client seated at the small table in the middle, cowl up, face and form hidden. "You, Seline ?" He ask. He spoke softly, but to Seline's trained ears those two words were enough to reveal gender and hint at social status. "I am; Rich man. Who are you, and who do you want eliminated ?" "You may call me Vrill." He placed a glass rectangle on the table and slid it tword her. "This is my rival, Doxx." A bag of coins joined the rectangle. "I need him disposed of; and for reasons, which need not concern you, I am constrained from doing the deed myself." Seline picked up the glass rectangle and looked at the image it held. A man of means, mid-twenties, nice looking. Perhaps she would take the seduction route... An ornate dagger joined the bag of coins on the table. "I wish for you to kill him with this; and return it to me afterwards." Seline looked at the bag of coins and the dagger with out touching either. A second bag joined the first. She opened them without picking them up. Gems. The guy was paying in gems. She almost turned him down right there. No one offers that much unless the target is extremely dangerous and hard to kill. She took another look at the image in the glass. Even the deadliest spellcaster tends to let his guard down along with his pants. She smiled and picked up the bags and the dagger. "Is there any rush on this?" "I will be in town until the end of the month. I would prefer sooner, of course. But I know that these things can take time. And I have no idea what his plans are or how long he will be staying." "Understood. I should be in touch with you within a week or so."

The Deathcap is a "natutaly" occurring fungus found along the banks of the Styx. It is unclear if they are an offshoot of the Sporinids or were the base stock from which the fungus men were crafted. In any event they were cultivated and refined from their original wild state into the form we know today during the Zombie Wylding War. In fact there were several strains of them created by both sides for an assortment of purposes: Servent, Spy/Assassin, Shock Troops, etc. Being both plant and zombie they are vulnerable to things that can effect eather one, but also have a chance to be unaffected as well. For example, a circle of protection against undead might stop them but it might not. Due to their being both undead and plant. The alignment of a Deathcap is normally Neutral. But can also match that of their controller or that of the person the Deathcap sprouted from. This is most common when the corpse is quite fresh. It is also worth noting that if the corpse is both fresh and that of a spellcaster the resultant Deathcap may be able to cast some of the spells known to the original being. While there are some similarities to the Yellow Musk Creeper and its "Zombies" The Creeper Zombie is a plant that has used an animal as a template to grow on an replace with the process being fully biological. Death Caps on the other hand invade only a small amount of the creature that they reanimate. Growing and spreading over time as the original creature decays. And there is clearly a supernatural component to a Death Cap's reanimation as anti-magic zones tend to stop them most of the time. The few specimens that have been found moving about in an anti-magic zone were quite far along in the plant replacement process.

(My own add-ons ) We call you from the Blackest Hells With Obscene Rites, and Eldritch Spells Screaming out your name, Jolene. And when you from the Pit doth Rise With acrid smoke that fills the Skies And Eldritch Flame that sears our eyes We will call the bringer of our demise; Jolene.

Disclaimer: I found this on iFunny, and it looks like a re-post from some other social media platform. I'm just posting a easier to read version. If the originator sees this, get in touch and I'll add a byline. ****************************************** Eldritch Horror Jolene By (Unknown) Your teeth are sharp Your mouth agape Your claws rend flesh There's no escape From the judgement of the Eldritch One Jolene. He screams about you in his sleep And when he wakes, does naught but weep In terror, of the one they call Jolene. Blackening the summer skies With burning wings and countless eyes We tremble at the sight of you Jolene. We cower here beneath your gaze That sets the earth and sky ablaze Have mercy at the end of days Jolene.

Targon took his place, and the rest of us followed suit. Once the rest of us were in place Latara began inscribing the Runes from the spell book into the clay figure. There was a flow of Power, growing stronger with each Symbol inscribed. At her signal we began to Chant. The Power flow seemed to double as each of us joined in. Then, finally it leveled off and the memories started to flow. All our memories were open to each other if we'd had the attention to spare to look. The strongest of course were those of the Dracolitch, Seline Deathshadow, master assassin. Or so she had called herself, before the change. Her entire life, Her entire being was flowing through us from the Dracolitch to the clay figure, soon to become living flesh. Her entire life flowing through us and we had to watch those memories without getting caught up in them, without missing a word or even a syllable of our appointed part of the Spell. Born in a brothel, with no clue as to who or what her father was. Thieves Guild. Assassins Guild. I wanted to look closer here, see what lead to this choice, But I couldn't take the risk. Ah there it was, Her mother's death, a desire for revenge, the discovery of a talent for killing. Then the Major turning point. The discovery of her draconic heritage. These memories were too strong. I felt my awareness slipping away, then splitting. Part of me was still standing in the Circle, Chanting. But the rest of me was there, with a young Seline, entering a dimly lit back room of the tavern, that was the cover for the Assassins Guild.

O.k. upon reflection I have to admit that sky cities are likely not an option for here on Earth. The gas bags just have to be too big compared to the size of the living space you're trying to lift with it. This does not rule out the possibility of both crewed and non-crewed research platforms able to stay aloft indefinitely with little to no support from the ground. Especially small unmanned lighter than air aircraft/drones. A small blimp covered in solar cells and designed to catch water from clouds. Catch water and then float up into the sunshine and break it down into hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen for lift and fuel in a fuel cell to run the electrical systems when there isn't enough sunlight.

Powers, abilities, and other details. O.k. first off, as the idea was to weaponize them then it follows that they must have some combat abilities. And they do: all Necro-Snails can generate a stun field out to a ten feet radius. And Necro-Ghouls can fire a stunbolt up to fifty yards. Spawners are often able to cast spells and or use psi-Powers. And both Ghouls and Spawn are able to weild most normal weapons. Beyond these basics, it's a grab bag, Any spell that can be Cast from a Wand, Rod or Staff was tried. And if the control aspect had worked they would have been quite formidable. Each Spawn could control up to two Ghouls or fifteen Snails or any combination there of. With a Ghoul being able to control five or six Snails. Each Snail would have from one to three spells inscribed on it, with three or four charges and the ability to absorb incoming spells and or lifeforce to recharge. As well as the digestive acids and draining touch that go with their basic feeding process. The problem, as noted above, was in the control aspect, memory retention linked to how to Snails were made. There were two ways of making a Necro-Snail. The slow way, which let you customize the spells, and avoidedthe memory retention problem, Well, mostly. Someone with a strong enough sense of self could still be a problem. But the odds were way better this way. But the process was slow, a full day, or more to inscribe the spells needed to make just one Snail. We'll ignore the time needed to make the ink as it was needed for both methods, and could be made in large batches, assuming you had the ingredients. The second way used one spell, and a vile of the Ink, to copy the inscription from the casting Spawn onto the snail-to-be. Much faster, but now you're copying the memory boosting Runes. There is a way around this problem, and I'm not sure why it wasn't used. Likely there is some detail in the process that makes it trickier than it would seem to be at first glance. The idea is to simply inscribe the Runes you want to use on a skull and use it as your template rather than your own head. But, As I said, there must be some detail to the process that makes this complicated and not the easy answer it seems to be.

The term Necro-Snail refers both to the creature and the spells used to create one. I say spells because, even though they are all the same base enchantment, requiring some bit of a Necro-Snail as the material component, there are several variations that allow the subject to retain greater or lesser amounts of their original being during the transformations. Of which there are three, if everything goes right. First is from freshly dead spell subject to Necro-Snail. Second, once the snail has consumed enough raw materials, into a Necro-Ghoul. More about that stage in a bit. Third, if all went well, Necro-Spawner If things did not go well, or if the Necro-Snail was one that formed spontaneously, the third form will be a mongrel amalgam of all the beings that were consumed along the way by both the Snail and Ghoul forms. This "final" form being will automatically have the Necro-Snail Enchantment and its skull will transform into a Necro-Snail at death unless steps are taken to prevent it. Description: The Snail form is the size of a human skull, having the shape of a normal snail shell in back, and the look of the face bones, (minus the lower jaw) to the front, with the snail body below. The Ghoul form takes the snail form and places it atop a humanoid body with see through skin and flesh. Which become more opaque over time. The head still looks mostly like a skull shelled snail with the eyestalks protrudingthrough the eyesockets of the skull. Once the Ghoul form has consumed enough raw materials it becomes a Necro-Spawner. A bald, ear-less humanoid with corpse white skin and a snail shell pattern "tattoo" on the head. The eyes are still eyestalks, although when retracted they look almost like normal eyes. Which can allow these creatures to pass as human around 80 percent of the time. Sometimes there are runes and other arcane symbols on the head and body. These are the mark of a more complex form of the enchantment which allows the Necromancer to retain far more of their original being than would otherwise be the case. These beings are insane to one degree or another due to being an amalgam of all the beings that were consumed along the way. In snail form the main drive is to consume as many dead and dieing creatures as possible so as to transform into the next stage. The Ghoul form is the most unstable as each fragment attempts to gain control. The Spawner form tends to be more stable as at this point one fragment has gained control or the fragments have merged into a single mind. Although such control/merger may be incomplete and unstable. Necro-Snails occur "naturally", or at least spontaneously, along the banks of the Styx. And are sometimes found in the living world at sights of massive death and dying The Yun-Xi and their Necromancer allies discovered Necro-Snails during the War and attempted to adapt them for their own ends. On the whole this did not go well. The spell and spawn process did allow some Necromancers to escape death by becoming Necro-Spawners without losing too much of themselves along the way. The other intended use, that of conscripting enemy dead in to the ranks of the Necromancer's army. Was a complete failure, due primarily to the very things they were hoping to exploit. Namely the retention of memory. One can talk to the dead, with the right spells. But once you make them undead that stops working. The Necros were seen as a way around this. But the retention of memory and a sense of self lead to rebellion against their controllers. And the project was mostly abandoned. But no effort was made to clean up the related mess. So there are still Necro-Spawners out there. And every now and then someone with a strong enough sense of self will come back as a Necro-Spawner with memories of their former selves. And sometimes they can even be fully restored.

We looked at each other and nodded. "We're doing this then; Right. So, where do I fit ? " Targon ask as we all gathered round the work table at the start point. "First we bleed into the flask here, until it's up to this mark. Then we mix that with the powdered Dragonbone in this bowl. That will link us to each other and the Dracolitch. Then you will take your place in the Guardian's circle over there. Once the lines start glowing you will be able to step out of the small circle and travel freely around the perimeter. You'll have a view as if this were the edge of the island. And your job will be to warn us of anything if anything big enough to break through the spells shows up." I explained as we each took the ritual knife and added our blood to the flask. I felt a rush of power as my blood dripped into the flask and we became linked. In that moment I gained a deeper understanding of the allure of Blood Magic. Then I poured the blood into the bowl of powdered Dragonbone. The world went away for a moment, or an eternity, and when I was able to notice details again I was happy to see that none of us had fallen. Although it was clearly a near thing. I felt the Dragon's pleased laughter in my/our minds *"Impressive. You are a party worth joining."* she said/Thought.

She was huge. It is one thing to know that Dragons are Big, and quite another to be face to face with one. Words truly cannot convey the feeling of being in the same room with a creature who's head alone is taking up more space than your entire party. The room itself was also on an epic scale. Even with the Dragon's skull taking up a good fourth of the available floorspace; there was still plenty of room to walk around the transmutation circle, carved into the middle of the room's floor, and get a good look at the worktables, alters, and so on set up around it. And walk around it we did. It was likely the single largest, most complex ritual spell setup any of us had ever seen. or were ever going to see, even if we lived for another hundred years or more. And yet, once you got past the sheer scale of the thing, and the number of spells layered into it; It was elegant. Each spell streamlined and crafted so as to flow smoothly as possible into the next. Magic is sometimes called The Art; and this was a Masterpiece. While the whole was complex, each part was as simplified as possible to the point that even an apprentice could have followed the general flow of the whole and told you what each part was supposed to contribute. There was really no way to hide anything in the ritual. It took time to walk through all the steps, but each was simple and flowed easily into the next. We went over it twice, as much to admire it, as from any other need for understanding or fear of treachery. The Dracolitch watched us, with glowing points of light, where her eyes had once been. Lights that shifted from reddish-orange to a mellow contented blue, as we openly admired her handiwork. There is something satisfying about having your work admired by a fellow craftsman who can fully appreciate it.

"Once, I did not trust Dragons or Spell Casters. Yet, now I am friends with several. Mayhap, the time has come to find that an Undead can have honor and earn my respect." "Thank You, Barbarian. That is the kindest thing anyone has said to or about me in a very long time." "Enough Talk. Those who know spells need to see your Ritual Chamber and spells; then we can decide and Act. Lead on skeleton." And so we followed our boney guide through a maze of twisting passages until we came to the Lair of the Dracolitch.