I became more and more emotional as I recounted Revlis’ story because I was remembering things I hadn’t realized I knew (It was Plinth who had revealed the details surrounding Revlis’ wish to me) and I was still in shock that Panril had wiped my memory of our encounter with the Game Master.  I noticed that Grizzlegar was getting angry at Panril and Kord for this manipulation, and it saddened me because Grizzle had been so receptive to Panril’s teachings at the Temple.

 

I really wanted to go back to the Temple and talk to Panril right then but we had a mission to complete.  We tracked down Mallek at his home and he agreed to help us find the hideout of the smuggler goblin, whose name we discovered was Numbilung. 

 

Mallek told us that he didn’t know the exact location of the hideout.  They had been searching for it for years.  It wasn’t until Refrus, Revlis’ friend had come to them several months ago and tipped them off to where Numbilung would be receiving an illegal shipment, that they had been able to capture the goblin.  But he escaped with the aid of his friends. 

 

“Soon after that, my men found his hideout but Numbilung was long gone.  It was somewhere on this street; disguised as a bookstore.  Now, if you will excuse me, I have an appointment in Third Gate that I must attend to.  I wish you luck.”

 

“Isn’t there anything else you can remember to help us pinpoint the location?”  I asked.

 

The Captain thought for a moment.  “I seem to recall one of my men saying something about a book with a horse on the cover.  I really must be on my way.”

 

We started down the street the Captain had led us to and as we passed a tavern, two of its drunken patrons stumbled out blocking our way.  Actually one of them appeared fairly sober but the other was roaring drunk.  And then I realized it was Malador and Sirak.

 

“Well if it isn’t Captain Tarmikos himself.”  Slurred Malador.  “Thanks for abandoning us on The Cymbeline.”

 

“I didn’t abandon you.  We were all attacked by the Vecna statues and sent…”

 

My memory was clearing up even as I told them this.  We had been sent back in time by the Vecna statues, but only a few weeks.  Back to the very second Revlis had made his wish.  We were still aboard The Cymbeline, only now it was bustling with passengers and crew (but none of them seemed to take any notice of us) and it was clean and fully functioning as if this were it’s maiden voyage (and as far as I know it could have been).  Suddenly Plinth appeared at our side.

 

“Sorry about that.  We must have gotten separated.”  Said the Mage.

 

We had no idea what he was talking about and before any of us could ask, Plinth put his arms around Malador and Sirak and led them across the deck and away from me.  I was about to follow them when someone tapped me on the shoulder.  I turned and was shocked to see that it was Plinth standing beside me.  I looked back and saw that the other Plinth was now standing with Malador and Sirak at the far end of the deck, pointing at something in the water far over the bow.

 

“Come with me quickly lad!”  And the Mage ushered me swiftly into the cargo hold.

 

“I am sorry that you and your companions were drawn into my experiment, but from the moment you boarded The Cymbeline , that is what happened and I had to make allowances.  You see I have turned this entire vessel into a paradox that will help us deal with the rift your cousin created.”

 

That was when the Mage related Revlis’ entire story to me.

 

“There is one more thing I must tell you.”  Plinth continued.  “Because I used the energy of the Vecna statues to create this paradox, Vecna being the god of secrets, you must keep the secret you have been hiding from Revlis at least until the rift has been dealt with.  It would be better if you had no contact with him whatsoever.  Now I believe we can go back out onto the deck”

 

As I was walking through the hold door I heard Plinth exclaim.  “Oh Kerris no you mustn’t- -” The door banged shut on his words and I realized I was not on the deck but was being led down a hallway somewhere in The Temple of Kord by Garain.

 

“Here are your sleeping quarters, you must be tired after your long journey,” Garain was saying. I didn’t question him.  I simply went to the bed and lay down.  I was indeed very tired.

 

Sometime in the night I remember Panril standing over me and whispering. “You must forget this.”  And I was transported aboard the Game Master’s ship.

 

“You still with us Bub?”

 

Grizzle’s words brought me back to the street in Melinir.  My reverie was so vivid, I felt as if I were reliving it.  I turned to Malador.  “I’m sorry.  I realize now that from your perspective, I did abandon you.”

 

“You better believe you did.  That crazy Mage left us to the mercy of those statue things again and the whole thing started over, repeating, again and again only this time you were nowhere to be found.  Each time he would come up to us and say “Sorry about that.  We must have gotten separated.”    And he kept showing us that black hole or whatever it was out in the water, with the giant heart that kept getting pulled into it.  Finally after I don’t know how many times we were spat out into the sewers under Melinir.  The only good thing that came out of the whole ordeal was finally finding a brew in this town with some actual flavor.”

 

“He means at the tavern we found across from the place where we left the sewers.”  Explained Sirak.  “He took full advantage of it.”

 

“I can see that.”

 

Malador looked on the verge of passing out.

 

“I could probably help you find the place in the sewers where we dropped out.”  Said Sirak.  “But right now I should secure him a bed somewhere so he can sleep it off.”

 

“We have something else to investigate right now anyway.”  Said Grizzlegar.  We’ll find you later if we need you.”

 

“Oh, and you might need these.”  Sirak handed Jerro a roll of bandages. “They’re treated with the same elixir I used on The Crimson Hawk.”

 

“Thanks, they might just come in handy.”  I told him.  He took off down the street swaying from side to side as Malador leaned on him for support.

 

 

 

We were able to find Numbilung’s hideout when we saw the book with the horse on the cover in the window.  I checked the door for traps but didn’t detect any.  I knew I had made a miscalculation as soon as I turned the knob and heard a click.  I flung the door open but held onto the latch and yelled:  “Get inside quickly!”  Grizzle and Jerro made it in but as Pax was running past me something sharp in the knob’s mechanism pricked my hand and I let go of the latch.  A fireball fell on me and the cleric.  We quickly rolled the fire out but it had caused us significant bodily injury.

 

While the others searched the ground floor I went upstairs and found what appeared to be a small apartment.  When I searched the bookcase, I found a letter written by Revlis to a girl named Miranda.

 

“We’ve found the right place!”  I yelled out as I came back downstairs.

 

“Yep and while you were gone we found the entrance to the rift in the basement.”  Grizzle told me.

 

We decided the best course would be to go back to the Temple and find out how Panril and the monks wanted us to proceed.  When we arrived, the monks were at prayer, but Garain greeted us and led us to an antechamber.

 

“We need to speak with Panril immediately.”  I told my old friend.

 

“Panril left on an urgent mission this morning off the Island.”  Said Garain .

 

“How about the Mage Plinth?  Is he still here?”

 

“He left the Temple that night after he spoke to all of you.  We’ve heard rumors that he was banished from Mage Isle.  Something about a experiment he was conducting that the other Mage’s disagreed with.”

 

I had the feeling that if the rumors were true, that pompous Rogard was behind the banishment.

 

“Listen.”  Said Grizzlegar. “We located an entrance to this rift thing in the sewers under Melinir.  What do you plan to do now?”

 

“I know Panril would be pleased to hear this news.  As you saw we are at prayer right now but I want to send two of our recent Paladin Graduates back with you to guard you against any evil that might befall you if you intend to investigate this find.”

 

Cristic and Valet were the names of the Paladins who escorted us back to Numbilung’s hideout.  After some debate we all ended up transported through the Rift to a landscape we had never seen.  Moments later we were attacked by a huge tentacled plant that we soon defeated.  Then we saw it:  A towering spire that dominated the countryside.

 

We found no entrance on the ground level so we used the climbing rings Menolloy had given us on the Game Master’s ship (Cristic and Valet showed their worth by scaling the spire with their bare hands) At the top of the spire we were greeted with sight of  a Moon Calf creature, but I didn’t have much time to take it in.  There was a flash of light and I felt energy surge through my body.  Whiteness and then blackness.

 

“RISE MY FAITHFUL SERVANTS!”

 

Pax and I got to our feet.  We were standing in an opulent throne room and seated on the throne was a colossal man with red hair and a beard.  This was Kord Himself!

 

“AND YOU CRISTIC, COME AND STAND BEFORE US!  THIS NEWLY MINTED PALADIN HAS SACRIFICED HIS LIFE FOR YOU!  HE SHALL BE GREATLY REWARDED IN MY REALM!

 

It seemed as if neither Pax nor I could find our tongues.

 

“NO NEED TO SPEAK GERARD OF KLEINE AND PAX IRONLIGHT.  YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTER HAVE A GREAT DESTINY BEFORE THEM.  AND YOU LAD, I KNOW WHAT HAS BEEN TROUBLING YOU.  NEITHER I NOR PANRIL SHORTENKORD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR MEMORY LOSE.  YOU MUST SEEK THE CULPRIT ELSEWHERE.  NOW HURRY! I AM GRANTING YOU THREE PALADIN ATRIBUTES THAT YOU MAY WIELD FOR MY HONOR! YOUR FRIENDS NEED YOUR HELP!  DO NOT LET CRISTIC’S SACRIFICE BE IN VAIN!”

 

And we found ourselves back atop the spire. Cristic’s body was crumpled beside us.  We all banded together and defeated the Moon Calf and his minions.  We discovered a slain dragon underneath the Moon Calf lying on top of a hoard of treasure.  As we were admiring this we began to hear a rustling sound behind us and we realized that the minions were coming back to life.

With Pax’s ability to rebuke the undead we soon had them all covering in a corner.  We judiciously decide to set them on fire and burn them to a crisp.

 

I took the first watch and as I was sorting though the treasure I found an opening into the spire that had been hidden by the dragon’s hoard.  I also found a ring and several bottles of potions.  I thought one of the potions looked familiar; it was cloudy gray. Grizzle relieved me at midnight and in the morning we elected to explore the interior of the spire.

 

The first room we were able to explore seemed to have a blood stain on the floor that led out into a hallway.  At the end of the hallway we found another room.  This one had a chest in it but I also noticed a strange fog hovering close to floor by the chest.  We had seen this type of fog before it was a vampire.  Grizzle chased the vampire into the next room that was filled with six coffins.

 

We were all set upon by four more vampires but again thanks to Pax, they were all rebuked and set on the run but not before one of them had bitten Grizzle and he tried to stop us from killing it.  Pax subdued him with a holding prayer and Valet and I chased after the last two vampires.  Grizzle broke free and tried to attack Jerro just as Valet placed a deathblow on the vampire who had bitten Grizzle setting the gnome free from her thrall.

 

Grizzle came up with a plan that would have been brilliant if it had succeeded.  He stationed us at all the doors leading out of the coffin room we were going to open the coffins and have Pax rebuke them then as they fled we could block their escape and kill them.

 

Pax opened the first coffin and filled it with holy water then she had us dip our weapons in the water.  While our attention was on this Jerro opened another coffin and started fumbling inside it.

 

“Well that didn’t work.”  We heard him say.

 

“What did you do?!” Roared Grizzle

 

“Nothing.” The wizard said sheepishly.

 

“Who dares disturb the slumber of Gulthias?!!!”

 

An exquisitely dressed gentleman raised himself out of the coffin.

 

“What did you do?!!”  Roared Grizzle again.

 

“Apparently I woke up the head Vampire.”  Jerro said just as sheepishly as before.

 

“Oh no dear boy. I was also a Mage so I believe that makes me a Litch.”

 

“You woke a Litch?!  YOU WOKE UP A LITCH?!!!” Grizzle roared for the third time.

 

Luckily, as soon Gulthias found out his pet dragon Ashardalon was dead he disappeared to the top of the spire to investigate.  Unluckily we knew as soon as he confirmed the dragon’s demise he would be back to exact vengeance on all of us.

 

Looking for an escape route, Pax opened a door to a room we had not yet been to and was almost knocked down by the stench.   The room was filled with corpses.  But we soon found out that one of them was very much alive.

 

Her name was Yesha Falkin.