World Dates: 2010-07-21 to 2010-07-22

   Sin and Ser Issac looked around the wood close by to see if there was anything they could use. They realized that trying to carry the two bodies out was going to be exceedingly difficult if nothing happened, and near impossible if something arose. There wasn’t much at hand to use but trees and branches. It would take them a little while to hack through some limbs and branches and weave them into a pair of sleds; nothing pretty but probably ample enough to get the two out and they could drop them if need be. The two men started through the wood, carefully eying every step they made and they grunted forward. The sleds helped to lighten the loads a bit, but they dug into the soft ground.
   Sin noticed the large “N” burnt into a tree as they approached the giant spider’s lair and called a halt. He let Nessa down carefully and drew his blades while watching the chute the spider came down. There was no sign, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. Ser Issac made his way through first then turned, drew his blades after setting Duke Taveon down and waited for Sin to come through as well. Once both me were cleared, they resumed.
   A few steps past the spider’s chute, an odd smell assailed them and as they pushed forward a little further, they could tell it was something burning. A bit further and they found the clearing with the purple flowers was still ablaze, but the dampness had slowed the wild burn and it was only just now reaching the eastern side where they were at. The smoke was acrid and somewhat nauseating, but they pushed their way around the clearing, avoiding the smoke and making it to the other side.
   A few hundred more yards passed when the came to the rock at the fork. Ser Issac studied it longingly and then mentioned they might hurry from the wood if they were to head down the untracked path. It should only be a quarter mile or so to the edge of the wood and then they’d face a longer trek to the city, but they would get out faster. Both men thought about it and realized it might be better to stay their course and face the path they knew and so the shifted to the right and pushed on.
   Just shortly after pushing on they heard noises up ahead and their hearts sank. Both men cautiously laid down their charges and drew forth their blades. There wasn’t much room upon this little train and so they both edged into the wood slightly so they could fight near side-by-side. The noises grew closer; voices. They tensed until Sin recognized a few men from the Mystral’s Tryst and saw Sable just behind them. Rescue had arrived.
   It was a good sight to see Sable and a few of her crew and it would make the rest of their journey a might easier. Sin turned over Nessa to a couple crewmen, positioned three others in a triangular fashion around them and then picked up the left side of the other sled with Ser Issac since he would not trust his lord to another man while he was in such dire straights. There’d be money for nothing if the Duke passed on their way out.
   They pushed on a bit further and counted themselves lucky. Two of the crew noticed something to their right and while they argued about it being a will-o-the-wisp or not (one felt it was too large and looked aflame to be a will-o-the-wisp), the sight passed them by and soon they found themselves at the bodies they had left of the zombies. This was cause for a brief pause as they gathered a couple of their poisoned blades and placed them next to Nessa’s body to return with.
   The day crew colder and shorter as they pressed onward and the sun was setting when they finally exited the woods. The city had a few lights already lit about it and they trudged slowly toward it, the weight of the wood left behind and a newfound lightness in there step. The Blackwoods Inn was to be had just as the sun touched down on the horizon.
   The bulk of the sailors headed off toward the docks, only Sable and one other crew member staying behind to help get the bodies upstairs. The concierge looked upon them with some concern as they entered but didn’t know quite what to say and shied his eyes away as if he could make the fearsome sight go away by not acknowledging it.
   “We need a healer,” Sin bellowed at the man who had a sudden realization he had to face what was about to happen.
   “I’m sorry sir, but the night has fallen and not a healer I know would be available this time of night. Had you arrived a bit earlier I could have sent a runner, but I’m sure they’ll all be abed by now or soon.”
   “I don’t care if they’re sleeping or banging, wake someone up and get them over here!”
   “I’m sorry sir, I just really couldn’t do that. It would not be proper to disturb men of their status this time of the eve.”
   Ser Issac had let down Duke Taveon during the discourse and so reached into his pouch and pulled forth a small bar. He tossed the mark upon the counter and simply said, “make it happen.” There was no further argument as the concierge lifted the piece, nodded his head and disappeared.
   The four of them carried the bodies slowly up the stairs and to the room they had rented just yesterday. It seemed so odd that they had only arrived just yesterday with as hard fought as the day had been, but it was so. Road weary, they laid the bodies upon the bed of Ser Issac’s room and settled themselves down to the floor for a bit of rest, though sleep was near out of the question until the healers had come and gone.
   Sable sent her man to fetch food from the kitchen for all of them and became the encourager and ray of light for a bit. Both men were beaten down physically and mentally and neither was wholly happy with the choices that had to be made, but they made them and carried on even though it left friends with unknown fates. The hours started to drag by and as eleventh bell tolled, there finally came a knock at the door.
   Sin and Ser Issac had their weapons ready in a moment as Sable moved towards the door. She opened it but a crack and stared outside at the man that introduced himself as Renly the Asclepieion and he pushed forth an oaken staff carved with a serpent wrapped around it as proof of his profession. This staff was finer than some of the others Sable had seen and actually had gray gemstone eyes.
   She let the door open the rest of the way and invited Renly inside. He took quick notice of the apparently slumbering forms and moved toward Duke Taveon first. He examined him briefly, looking at his hands and neck and then doing a quick feel around his body. Everyone waited tensely and then he took his staff and touched it to the Duke’s head as he muttered a quick prayer to Asclepius. Nothing apparently happened but he continued to chant, the prayer repeating itself another verse and then he moved off.
   He did to Nessa as he had done to Duke Taveon, starting with her hands and neck and then examining her body. He gave an upturned eyebrow as he run his fingers under her back but he said nothing. He stood and level his staff toward her, touching the head of the snake to her brow as he started his prayer once again. He continued with it, the chant repeating twice this time and then his brow furrowed and he looked at Sin and Ser Issac.
   “She resists the healing of the gods and there is nothing I can do again for her till the morrow. Mayhap she would be better off in our care at the temple where she can be watched and ministered to by the acolytes with oils and droughts?”
   Sin nodded. “But, she can’t go like this.”
   The Asclepieion looked at him with a slight quirk of his head. “Then how can she go?”
   “We’ll get her changed into something less adventuresome first where she can be ministered to more adeptly.”
   The Asclepieion nodded in understanding and then backed away. Sin and Sable stripped her bare and then laid a fresh tunic and belt upon her body from her pack. The two of them gingerly carried her down the stairs and outside where the healer had the foresight to have brought a cart. They pondered quickly as to what foresight he might have had, but then let those thoughts slip away as Sin asked Sable if she would accompany Nessa to the temple and see she was well cared for.
   The cart slowly eased away as Sin returned upstairs to find Ser Issac sitting upon the floor once again, eying the bed with some measure of desire. Sin looked at him, looked at the bed and then smiled and motioned that he should take it as he sat lotus-like upon the floor, thinking he might meditate for a few so they could trade watches throughout the night. They had Duke Taveon now and he was damn sure they weren’t going to lose him again.

   Shane didn’t really hurt, but he was a little groggy and cold. He realized he was laying upon something hard, probably the ground and he felt as if he’d been stripped. He blinked his eyes open to see a strange landscape of darkness and twisting lines of magic before him. The lines wrapped around a large room, descending in some predefined pattern and two of the lines came down to him and wrapped around his wrists as cold metallic bracelets.
   He was sure he was captured and as sure he was locked up tight somewhere and he hoped he was still within the caverns he had been in. There was no way to know just how much time had passed, but he felt it couldn’t have been too long even though he was a bit hungry and thirsty and other bodily functions were needing to be handled in short order as well. Still, it was a horrible position to be in.
   He intoned a brief word as he pointed his finger generally down and a fire sprung from the rock. Another intonation and it danced up into his hand where he could hold and direct the flow of light a bit. He was in a large room, larger than could be illuminated by such a small fire, and saw bodies around the perimeter, each with a chain binding them and collecting at the top of the chamber as some type of magic device or system. He chanced a detection spell upon the chains but got nothing he didn’t know.
   He was naked except for his underclothes and the cold stone was very hard and chilled him through the thin fabric. With the light, the body next to him started to move a little and moan softly. He looked over at the backside of what appeared to be a ten or twelve year old girl who was a bit on the chubby side and who was completely naked. She moaned a bit more, seeming as if she were going to come around, but couldn’t quite make it to consciousness. He reached out his foot and nudged her a bit as he cried at her.
   After a few nudged and cries, she finally came to and she rolled around, bound as he was, and looked at him with fear in her eyes. He beamed at her as he realized she wasn’t the girl he thought she was, but was instead a young woman of the gnomish variety, who, while of average comeliness, was enough to stir his loins for a moment even here. “I’m Shane,” he said smiling at her.
   “What…where is this place? How did I get here? What’s going on?” She was scared, nervous and apparently had little to no recollection of what had happened to get her into this mess.
   Still, Shane wasn’t so concerned about her fears at the moment as he was about escape and other plans. “What’s your name?”
   She stammered a bit as she tried to cover her charms but found her two hands were lacking in range and count as she sheepishly said, “Ella….of Frell.”
   “Well Ella, we’re chained up here in a dark elf cave, somewhere underground in the Blackwoods. We seem to be the only two alive, or at least moving, and I plan to keep things that way and get us out of here in the short term.”
   He held out his hand to her as she tried to get to her feet. Once there, she found she had more play with the chains and a little more freedom, but it didn’t help her modesty at all. Shane got to his feet as well and held out his hand to her. “Let’s do this,” he offered.
   She took his hand hesitantly and he offered up the words of magic quickly. They only moved a short ways, but it was enough to get them half way across the room and free of their bonds. It also had the side-effect of leaving Shane as naked as she, and while she felt that was a bit more fair, he strode across the room to reacquire his small clothes and cover his manhood.
   ’ve not seen a man in your condition,” she blushed.
   “Well, there’s a first time for everything. Now, why don’t you come back here and make it look like we’re chained up a bit more. I need to rest if I’m going to do anything else.”
   She crossed the room to sit by him, unsure as to what else she might do. It was cold in here, colder so for her without any small clothes and then it was dark as he let the light lapse so he could recover his magics. They sat that way for a while in the darkness, neither saying a word nor able to see one another. Finally, after what seemed an eternity to her, the light came back and into his hand.
   They stood and started toward the exit at last with Shane in the lead and Ella behind him. They made their way into the passage and found it was short and “Y”ed almost immediately. To the left, they both heard voice, male voices with one saying “I don’t care about your wishes, I want that entrance sealed immediately and more troops brought down. Now obey me.”
   There was a moment of silence in which they thought something should happen but it didn’t. Finally Ella asked if it was safe and Shane erupted inside. He knew that if they were close enough to hear, then their enemy was close enough as well. He backed up just a step and prepared, the spell ready so he could lash out at anyone rounding the corner. They waited as seconds past, but nothing happened and nobody came.
   When nothing happened after nearly half a minute, Shane peaked slowly around the corner and saw the cavern beyond was lightly lit but he could see nobody within. He waited and then finally dropped the flame in his hand and stepped around the corner, motioning for Ella to stay close behind him.
   They stepped forward only four steps and then they were in the cavern. Ahead and to Shane’s left was an elf, sitting in an iron chair. The elf looked at him without worry, without emotion. “My snacks have gotten loose, I must bind them back up it seems.”
    started walking slowly toward the elf while the elf stood and withdrew his blade. The blade was apparently made of glass, long and nearly clear and he handled it as if it were an extension of himself. Shane took another step forward and then the elf shot a stream of fire from his fist. Shane deftly ducked out of the way, but Ella wasn’t well versed in combat it appeared and she took the blast square to her shoulder and screamed.
   Shane had little recourse left to him and realized the only way they were getting out was to teleport. He reached back and grabbed Ella as he incanted and they immediately found themselves queasy, disoriented and standing in the warmth of the grass just afore the Blackwood with the city of Hyrnan just a short distance away.
   Shane sat upon the ground as Ella tried her best to cover herself again. It was bad enough to be naked around a stranger in a cave, but to be naked around a stranger out in the open was another problem. Still, there wasn’t anything to do about it and as she eyed the woods thinking she might find some large branches or something, Shane bid her to stay lest dangers befall her. And so, she waited, shuffling her feet back and forth as Shane recovered.
   At last, Shane stood and stretched and started marching down the rutted wagon track toward the city. It took then half an hour or so to make the walk and then they entered the darkened city. While most of the lights were off, there were a few here and there and Ella felt very naked until she finally managed a hanging sheet and wrapped it around her. They were close to the Blackwoods Inn and she followed Shane into the Inn.
   Shane stopped at the front desk and asked the concierge where his room was and was told it was the same as it had been the night before. The concierge was somewhat taken aback at their attire, but said little more as they walked upstairs and to Ser Issac’s room. Shane opened the door, bursting in and was met with drawn swords before the door hit the wall.
   Sin smiled and bellowed as he slid his sword away. Ser Issac slipped his away too. Shane looked him square and said, “You owe me $300,000 for my armor and stones.”
   Ser Issac smiled at him then laughed out loud and said, “Put it on my tab.”
   “This the guy…Ferdinand?” Shane almost missed and used the Duke’s name, but managed to catch himself.
   “Aye, it’s him. We managed to get the four of us out by our short hairs,” answered Ser Issac.
   “Yes. We tried to get him healed, but the healers weren’t able to bring him all the way. They couldn’t do anything for Nessa either and so they took her to their temple where they could watch her and try again later.”
   Shane looked around the room and saw Nessa’s wand with the shrunken head atop it. He snatched it up, crossed the room and tapped it to Duke Taveon as he blasted out a healing spell and the Duke’s eyes fluttered and he finally awoke. Ser Issac laughed out loud again and moved quickly to his side.
   “Shane, who’s the girl,” Sin finally asked.
   “Oh her,” Shane said jerking his thumb in her direction. “She’s Ella from some frelling place in Caithness. I rescued her from the dark elves and she’s been following me ever since.”
   “It’s not like I have anywhere else to go just yet,” she retorted. “Not like I even have clothes,” she sobbed yanking at her sheet.
   Sin looked at her and offered up his room. “Why don’t you head across the hall and take your rest and we’ll see what we can do with you in the morning. Go on, it will be alright.”
   Ella looked around the room at the four men there and decided she really didn’t want to be there anyway and so she backed out of the room. Across the hall was another door as she’d been promised and it held a large, comfortable bed that she was able to curl up in, warm herself and feel safe and comfortable for a bit before falling asleep. She hadn’t been up long, but she was still hurt from the fire, tired from the walk and worn from her shame.
   Meanwhile, in the other room, Shane was ranting and very angry about the loss of his gear and wanted to storm back into the dark elf caves and kill them all. Sin was trying to calm him and placate him just a bit and forestall any more demands that Ser Issac or the Duke reimburse him for his gear and tried to tell him he should be happy just to be alive and then they heard the Duke and Ser Issac speaking, but only caught the last line as Ser Issac assured the Duke, “they are men of honor and you can trust them.”
   Both Shane and Sin turned back toward them and approached. “Your Grace,” Sin started, “We are glad we could be of service. It is our duty to fulfill your journey to Tredroy but we may be more effective if we know what is happening here and why. Why are you here in a dark elf cave riding alone from city to city?”
   “It is a sad story I assure you and the tale is worsened by words of war. My son Kel and his wet nurse were kidnapped a while back when it became apparent I might side with the Southron Lords and send troops to Tredroy instead of westward. They have given me a chance, but the chance will take me away from dealing with the politics of Tredroy.
   “Ser Issac tells me though that you are men of honor and men I could trust to see my son returned whilst I travel south and deal with the governors of your fair city. If you will take that mantle, I shall leave my man to take my place and become Ferdinand. What say you?”
   Sin thought about it for only a moment. It was imperative the Duke get to Tredroy and get there soon if there was any chance they might repel the Cardien forces. The only way that was going to happen was if they took up his mission. It might give them an in with a powerful noble as well, especially since they were still in the volunteer portion of their jobs and hadn’t seen coin for anything in the past month. “We’ll do it.”
   “That is good. We should make haste for Bannock in the morning where I’ll find passage south through al-Wazif.” The last bit he said with more contempt than he probably wanted to show, but it fell through nonetheless. “I might even owe you a favor should you manage this process.
   “But I should put a warning to you. If you fail me in this, I shall withdraw whatever negotiations I have with your fair city and turn my forces toward those men that have my son. There will be only one chance for all of this and my son must come home safely. Do you understand?”
   Both men nodded their heads and then Shane turned and stormed out yelling something about catching Nessa and getting her back on her feet and then he was gone. Finally, Sin and Ser Issac bedded down as well, but they were wary of anything else happening and so would sleep with one eye open.
   Shane made his way into the city. He’d had a chance to get himself dressed once again, but he still felt naked without his armor and arms. He was glad Sin had recovered his swords at least but he wanted the rest of his things. He was tempted by the wand in his hand to return to the cave and take on the elf by himself to get back his gear. It was seriously tempting, but he didn’t know how much power was left in her wand and he wanted her healed anyway.
   He marched around the city, looking for the temple of Asclepius as there were few people on the street and he didn’t wish to speak with anyone as well. It took his quite some time and he was tired or walking, tired or this city and tired of this mission, but he finally found the place and stomped his way inside. There were a few acolytes around and they pointed him toward Nessa when he yelled at them and then he forced his way to her, stomped up and laid the wand on her and tried a full healing and her eyes fluttered.
   “He’s awake and we’re leaving in the morning,” Shane stated flatly and then he dropped the wand on Nessa, turned and left.
   Sable and Nessa hurried to their feet and followed Shane who marched straight back to the Blackwoods Inn and roused the concierge who roused one of the cooks to aid Shane in his pickling. Both women got the full story from Shane about what went on, even about the the girl sleeping in Sin’s room. The night passed on as they drank and eventually they managed their rooms and a brief respite of sleep.

   The next morning came and everyone prepared. The rooms were paid for, the cart and horses loaded and sent to the ship with Ser Issac and the Duke.
   Sin entered his room and found the girl still asleep in his bed. She had wriggled and twisted so that she was no longer covered. She was short, chubby and marginally attractive. He sneaked forward and pulled the sheet up over her and then shook her awake. She came awake relatively easily and pulled the sheet close to her as she looked Sin up and down.
   “So there…Ella. What are we going to do with you.”
    “I don’t know. I don’t really know what I’m doing right now, don’t know why I’m even here.”
   “What is it you do. There’s not much you can do right now, but if you’re useful….”
   “I’m an engineer. I like to build things primarily from metal.”
   “An engineer huh? We could really use someone like that right now and I know Sable could probably use the help on her ship as well. What say we get you clothed and see how you do and go from there?”
   “That sounds good I suppose.”
   “Good then. I’ll get you one of Nessa’s tunics and then we need to be moving. We need to be in Bannock by nightfall.”
   To his word, Sin brought one of Nessa’s tunics and brought Nessa with him as well and left the two girls to help each other. Nessa saw her wound and was able to heal her as they tried to get a tunic that fitted a little better than another. With that done, Nessa helped her out and the two made their way to everyone else and eventually down to the docks and aboard the ship.
   They had Ferdinand Antigua and Roberts of Craine stowed in a cabin of their own and then found a room for Ella from Frell as well. Once they were underway, Sin gathered Shane, Nessa and Sable together to make sure they were all aware of what was going on and what their new mission was going to be. Everyone understood and they went their own way for a few hours until they arrived in Bannock just after supper time.
   Roberts took Sin, Shane, Nessa and Ella into the city and back to the Sprinklin Inn. He paid for their lodging with individual rooms for all and paid for their horses and cart to be tended as well. Meanwhile, Ferdinand made his way to the Inn as well so he could meet with the next leg of his journey so that he could then easily pass it onto the rest of the group afterward.
   Once everyone was settled, Roberts took Shane and Ella shopping. For Shane, he would purchase him new armor with the best enchantments he could afford on a budget and then he managed to find a few Powerstones, the largest ones they could find, and purchased them as well. Ella would have some basic clothes and gear purchased for her so she could give back Nessa’s tunic and then they would return to the inn for the night and wait till morning..

World Dates: 2010-07-21 to 2010-07-21

   Everyone stepped back away from the slowly drifting poisonous smoke. Knowing what the elf had done at this last, Shane guessed where the pastille might be and figured an area large enough to encompass that where all fires would be extinguished. The smoke started drifting slower.
   Nessa was still reeling, but she was conscious. Ser Issac was doing just a bit better than she was and so Nessa tried some healing upon him so he could be back toward the front line. Before she could do the healing though, she needed a bit of time and some energy and so pulled her athame and slid next to one of the unconscious elves as she started her ritual.
   While she was going that, Sin went body by body, placing his sword through their throats and Shane picked their bodies clean of magic items finding one ring and three phials on each of them. When the looting and killing was finally finished, Shane cast some last bits of healing on both Ser Issac and Nessa and then they prepared to move out.
   Ser Issac wouldn’t be in the lead this time. The honor would fall to Shane. He would hold his breath, push through the cloud and to the left and see what was there. Ser Issac would give him a two-count and then follow and Nessa and Sin would do the same.
   Shane led off, swords in hand and rounded the corner. Two seconds later, Ser Issac followed him and Nessa spoke out that she heard the sounds of battle. Shane had encountered a group of elves that were keeping him in place, fighting him in the hall and keeping him in the poison. They were shooting at him with their flaming jets while he tried to strike at them with his swords. Just as Ser Issac touched his back though, the elves got in a good shot and Shane dropped both blades.
   Sin ran forward as soon as Nessa informed him of what was going on, but came up on Ser Issac and could go no further. He held his breath, maneuvered around to try to see what was going on, but just couldn’t get anywhere close to the battle. Nessa followed after him, holding her breath as well, and was stuck in the poison cloud at the juncture of the “T”. She had nothing to do but prepare a fireball and hope she would need to use it soon.
   Meanwhile, up at the front of the line, Shane continued fighting with the two elves. The fore elf had dropped down to a crouch and was blasting away with dual flame jets while the one just behind him did the same. The blasts went back and forth for a few seconds until Shane got a solid strike in on the one on floor, took him out of the fight and was able to press in a bit and found himself outside of the poison at last.
   Ser Issac and Sin were able to press in a little bit, but neither could quite make it out of the poison just yet and let Shane have the room he needed to fight. They fidgeted as they held their breath, unable to do anything else while behind them, Nessa grew her fireball to it’s fullest size. She was feeling a little cocky and ready to throw it when the chance occurred when she felt a sudden conflagration take her from behind; the fireball she held fell to the ground even as her eyes closed and darkness overtook her.
   The fireball exploded down the hallway further, scorching the armor of Sin, Ser Issac and Shane and even touching upon the fallen elf at Shane’s feet. Sin turned and looked, and noticed Nessa was down and realized they had just been ambushed from behind. It made sense that they would wait on either side of the intersection and the probably saw the tremendous amount of magic items and so could easily target them even through the poison cloud.
   Sin turned and ran down the corridor and exited the poison cloud to find himself facing off against half a dozen elves with fist of fire pointed at him. He dodged and spun around as the jets of flame licked at him, some even catching upon his armor before being deflected and then he grabbed the arm of the nearest elf and twisted it around intending to use him as a shield. He yelled back for Ser Issac as the blasts came at him again.
   Shane pushed himself forward in the diminishing light from Ser Issac’s shield even as the elf he was facing off against retreated. Behind him, the light wavered after he heard Sin’s call and the light all but left him. He could see it refracted in the poison cloud behind him and could see numerous points of light before him…the tale-tell sign of magic items wielded by the group of elves before him.
   Ser Issac ran into the chamber with Sin, stopping short of the pitfall they suspected might be there and was shocked to see the group of elves on this side as well. He put up his shield to block off the first blast of fire and then the world started to change…

   The world shifted to a realm of darkness. They were standing on a board or eight squares, alternating in color between black and white. Sin sat as the white king, Nessa was the white queen, Shane the king’s rook, Ser Issac the queen’s knight and Sable was the queen’s bishop. A number of sailors took the position of their pawns and they found themselves shy three pieces. Across from them sat two ranks of elves filling all positions. It was their turn to move.
   To the left of the board, and some distance across a vacuous expanse, sat a large golden throne upon which sat a large horned, red demon. The demon looked down upon them and spoke, “Play for my pleasure.” It was Hcitib again….it had been a while since he had made his presence known.
   At once Sin started plotting out moves while Shane kicked back and greeted the old magic spirit with his normal fondness and contempt. Sable was thrown by the whole situation, as were her sailors, but they listened to her and Sin and Shane were able to explain to all of them what was going on. Hcitib wanted a good game, the game was the answer to his riddle this time, and if they played well, he would be more giving while bad playing or a loss would hurt them. They had to try even though they knew not how much time was passing by.
   What they did know was there were sixteen elves arrayed against them which showed the group was over matched most likely. Shane recognized one of the elves across from them and Sin thought he recognized a few more, but there were a lot they didn’t know. What they did know was that there were sixteen of them and they happened to have only enough pieces with Sable and her crew to come up short by three…that left them three against sixteen since Nessa was down.
   The game started slowly with Sin being cautious with his pieces, but the elves set up their queen for a trade and he had to take it. He and Sable started debating every move even as Shane explained that Hcitib was really only in this for the game and they didn’t need to work so hard…they just needed to make it interesting for him. The demon sat in his golden chair squealing every time a piece faded from the board.
   The game dragged on as they exchanged piece for piece until they came down to just a few pawns and Sable versus the elven king and his rooks. It was about that time they realized they had been so wrapped up in the game that they had missed the true boon that had been granted them. Sable and her crew were aboard the Mystral’s Tryst still and didn’t know where they had gotten off to and this game them the ability to communicate and seek her aid. It seemed so obvious as the game wound down.
   The game was getting tense as one more rook fell and then the other and at last, down to nothing but the elven king, there was no game anymore. and then they were gone…

   Sable found herself aboard deck on the Mystral’s Tryst, fully aware of what had happened. She surveyed her deck and found five men down; those being the five pawns that had been taken. She surmised that Shane, Nessa and Ser Issac would also be down and that would leave Sin alone with the elven king. She started around to her people and hoped Sin could handle matters by himself while she prepared to go after them at last.
   Little by little she and the conscious top-deck crew were able to rouse the downed men, but it was a bit of a struggle to get them to come to. The men knew what was happening when they realized the predicament they had been left in. There wasn’t much convincing needed to get five of them to join Sable as they prepared to go ashore and make way to the wood…she just hoped she had enough in the way of direction to get there.

   Sin awoke and found himself with a small chamber of downed elves and one downed knight. The light from his sword and Ser Issac’s Shield kept things known for the moment. Sin took his sword and finished off the elves one-by-one to make sure they couldn’t harass them any longer. Once that was done, he nudged Ser Issac, then pushed him harder until he came around.
   The two surveyed the area and then moved through the poison cloud, snagging Nessa on the way and dragging her to the next chamber. The chamber held another nine elves that were down, but there was no sign of Shane. Sin and Ser Issac dropped off Nessa and finished the rest of the elves then started through the passages until they had made their way in a circle back to where they were and found only one way that might lead deeper.
   Nessa wasn’t breathing too well, but they dared not leave just yet. Ser Issac followed as they pushed forward into another chamber where sat an elf upon a wrought iron throne. Behind him stood another elf in robes and from a further passage there emerged an elf they both recognized as the king. Apparently this king was no more king than Sin had been, but was the highest ranked individual amongst those chosen to play the game.
   “Why is it you have invaded my domicile and killed my students,” the main in the iron throne questioned?
   “We come looking for a man, a man we believe you took just a few short days ago, and we shall not stop until he is liberated.”
   “Hah! One man! Why should I give you one man after you have taken so many of my students from me? I should drink you know and be done with you!”
   This last line made Sin and Ser Issac a bit nervous. They didn’t know exactly what the line meant, but they could not fathom any pleasant experience that involved them being drank. They were at least happy this elf spoke a degree of Anglish since none of the others had and their interpreters were both down.
   “You give him back to us and we’ll leave you and yours alone from here on out. There needs to be no more bloodshed.”
   “Fine and well. I’m not interested in any more battles. Felewyn and Seran, fetch the man they seek!”
   The two other elves looked upon him, but did not question. They simply headed down the passage the former “king” had come from and disappeared.
   Sin and Ser Issac stood there, braced and ready but unsure what to do next. Sin then spoke up saying, “and fetch my man too, we won’t leave him behind.”
   “No! The deal has been made and you did not bargain for your man. You will take what you bargained for mensch or I will destroy you!”
   This was going downhill quickly. Sin was sure that they had truly fallen into some type of personal hell. The creature wasn’t going to negotiate anymore as far as he could tell. He couldn’t very well leave people behind and risk this again, but he didn’t feel like he could fight either. The situation as a whole seemed untenable and he didn’t know where to go, but he felt that fighting might be his only choice.
   The elf on the throne was quicker than he thought though and seemed to anticipate his moves. The room was suddenly filled with fire. While it didn’t affect him or Ser Issac so much, the flames themselves and the sudden light gave them a moment’s pause with which the elf used to sprint down the hallway.
   Sin activated the extra speed enchantments he’d added to his armor and sprinted after while Ser Issac came along at a slightly slower pace. It only took a couple seconds to leave the room dash down the short passage and into one last room. Ser Issac was only a second behind him.
   Along the edge there sat a number of people with chains around their arms that tracked up to the ceiling and across to a central area where a line descended down to the elven master who had attached himself to it. The master also held a blade that appeared to be made of glass and wielded it one-handedly with incredible deftness. Sin waited cautiously for a moment as he scanned the room. He found Shane on the far side of the room, chained as well, and saw the other two elves still working to disengage another man from the chains. Ser Issac entered and acknowledged the man they were working on was Ferdinand Antigua.
   “Come any closer and I will kill them all. Or, you may take your bargain and leave with that one.”
   Sin thought about it hard. He didn’t like the notion of leaving Shane, but he needed to get the Duke out first and foremost for Tredroy. He didn’t know what the Duke was going to bring, but it was important enough that he was here and as the two weighed on him, he felt Tredroy was more important than him, or any one member of his team. He lowered his weapons and nodded his head.
   The elf looked at him, searching him for a sign and then he did something and everyone around the room twitched as if in pain. “Do not forget, I will kill them all if you try anything. There is nothing you can do to stop that, so take your bargain and leave my home!”
   Once he was freed, Sin motioned for Ser Issac to fetch him as the two elves backed away. The Duke was unconscious and so Ser Issac packed him up over his shoulder and started away slowly. Sin watched, keeping himself between them as Ser Issac left and then there was a problem.
   “Sin, there’s poison back here!”
   “Hold your breath and push though,” Sin yelled back as he back cautiously away from the elves who were forming up in the middle of the room.
   “Not me! Ferdinand can’t hold his breath, his not conscious!”
   “Just run him through and pray then, we don’t have time for this.”
   Sin heard the step behind him as Ser Issac labored through the room and then he held his breath, turned and sprinted through. They met on the far side and quickly made their way back to the room where Nessa lay. Sin grabbed her over his shoulder and started toward the exit. By this time, the poisoned area had cleared somewhat, but they still held their breath as they passed through. There was a clatter upon the floor and Sin saw Shane’s blades there and so stopped to grab them up and place them in his pouch.
   The two men carried their fallen comrades slowly out, working them slowly through the narrow opening and then they found they were in just as bad a situation as ever that they were in the Blackwood once again.

World Dates: 2010-07-21 to 2010-07-21

   Sin pushed his blade up and behind him, trying to catch the wolf on his back, and managed to hit him square in the neck. The splash of blood that hit him was hot and violent and he knew it would soon turn sticky, but there wasn’t anything to do about it just yet. With the wolf down, and heavy upon his back, he tried rolling and swung his blade around to strike at the wolf tugging on his left leg and caught it square as well. As he did so though he noticed the majority of the wolves making a sudden break for the trees.
   Ser Issac had gone quiet and Shane noticed he wasn’t struggling anymore. The wolves broke for the tree line just as he had finished building his fireball and it became apparent that Ser Issac was no longer conscious. Two dogs dragged him face down by his ankles and his sword slipped from his fingers. The wolves were slowed by his weight and that of his armor and so Shane thought he’d take care of the problem and lobbed his fireball at the nearest one.
   The fireball struck the wolf squarely and bathed it in fire so intense and sudden that it yelped and went rolling forward, releasing Ser Issac. The other wolf stumbled under the sudden added weight of their pray, thought better of things and let it go before dashing to the woods. The other wolf lay afire in the flowers and caught them quickly.
   With the matter settled, Shane settled back down to the ground while Sin stood quickly, arcing over his back to stand once again. The glade was quiet for the moment. Sin moved toward Ser Issac to check him and see if he still lived. Shane watched around for the moment and was about to fetch Nessa, when the three wolves that they thought Sin had killed suddenly leapt back to their feet again, their yellow eyes blazing. Shane shot back into the air.
   As Sin went for Ser Issac’s ankle, the flaming wolf before him stumbled up to it’s feet and bared his teeth. Sin drew forth both blades as he faced off against the flaming wolf that seemed to burn less fast than it healed. It was a frightening prospect to be facing off against a flaming wolf that appeared dead just moments ago. Behind him, Shane yelled something about the other wolves, but before he could turn he saw them racing past and the flaming wolf turned to join them.
   Shane launched another fireball into the midst of the racing wolves and bowled one over, but it recovered its feet momentarily and sprinted off. For moments they watched the red flame of the wolf speed through the underbrush and then they were alone once again.
   Sin fetched up Ser Issac and returned him to the path Shane had burnt while Shane summoned up some more fire, fireproofed Nessa and then burnt the area around her to cinders such that he wouldn’t come in contact with the flowers. Once done, he dragged her limp body over to where Sin and Ser Issac were, where Sin was already undoing his armor to try to see what had happened to him and see if if couldn’t help some. Shane dropped a healing spell onto the knight to stabilize him, just in case, and then while Sin worked on Ser Issac, Shane continued his original mission and burnt through both his side, Nessa’s side and the central path on the direction they were heading.
   After a few minutes, Nessa slowly gained consciousness again, blinking back the darkness and seeing the lighted glade they were in. Shane was sitting peacefully, meditating while Sin worked on the near naked body of Ser Issac but he couldn’t tell much of what was wrong.
   “It’s about time you decided to rejoin us,” Sin jibed sardonically. “Fainting out there probably wasn’t the best battle tactic you’ve come up with to date.”
   “It was…” Nessa trailed off when she realized nothing she could say would help at this moment…at least not in those regards. “What’s wrong with him?”
   “The wolves ripped at him pretty badly. They never pierced his armor from what I can see, but they shook him near to death, pulling at his legs and arms.”
   “I can help there,” Nessa said as she leaned forward toward him and intoned the words to a healing spell. Ser Issac shook his head and blinked his eyes open at last. “Feeling better?”
   “Better! Damn near feels like they were making a wishbone of my legs and my nads were popped off to make it happen. I ain’t had a pulled groin like this in years, not since that time I slipped off the horse and he pulled me by the one leg. You ever pull your groin like that?”
   “Well, I…um….”
   “Yeah, she’s real good at pulling groins,” Sin interjected.
   Nessa blushed a bit at this and Shane let his lips curl up into a smile. Ser Issac looked upon them as they enjoyed their own private joke and then he continued.
   “It’s a might deal more sore than a pull, but I can walk as long as we don’t move fast.”
   “Lay back and let me take care of it,” Nessa said and as he did so, she lay her hands near him and intoned the words to her healing spell once again.
   “With tender healing like that I think I’m ready to enter the fray once again.” He looked around for a moment and realized where he was and that he was fairly defenseless at present, “at least once I get some armor around these skivvies.”
   Sin tossed him a couple pieces of his armor. “Good, then you’re on watch while the wizards recover some energy. I have a feeling we’re not even close to out of this yet.”
   The time passed as both Nessa and Shane meditated to recover their energies. They were quickly ready to push on ahead and so decided since Nessa no longer held the Trace on Duke Taveon, they would have to push forward as close to straight as they could based upon what she remembered feeling. Ser Issac knew a thing or two about orienteering and felt he could keep them on track and so he took the lead, followed by Shane then Nessa and finally Sin.
   The trees were thicker here now that they were off any natural trail or path and Ser Issac had to push and chop in places to get them to move forward. Slowly they made their way into the darkness of the wood again. At least with their trailblazing, there were sounds to hear occupied while they pressed on…still the wood was unnerving.
   They pushed deeper int the wood when suddenly Sin felt something behind him. It was more than a feeling though, it was a slight sound, the pressure of something approaching and so he dove what little he could to the right to get out of the way. There was a thumping sound where he had stood and there in his place landed a spider the like and size they had never seen before.
   The spider reminded them of some venomous types they had seen before. Its eight legs were hairy and sharp, its eyes black and piercing and its body bulbous and disgusting. But what frightened them the most was the dripping venom that dripped from the twelve inch fangs the giant spider had. It reared back on four legs and tried to catch Sin who hacked at it and caused it to retreat a bit.
   Shane saw what was happening and pushed his way around, trying to close the gap to the giant spider, but the wood was thick and he had to push through branches and around trees to come close. Even as he did so, the giant spider leapt backward, up through the chute that seemed so obvious from this angle, but that they had all missed when they had pushed through. Sin and Shane could hear expletives coming from Ser Issac about then and begged everyone to back up slowly and they did so.
   Sin would keep a more cautious watch behind them as they moved forward again, nobody wishing to come face to face with one of those spiders again. They pressed on, their movements still slow and measured as they cut through the wood where they needed to, slid under low hanging branches when they could and generally made progress.
   “What’s that”, Nessa nearly shouted as she pointed to a rocky hill not too far from their make-shift path. Shane had seen it nearly at the same time but didn’t want to make as much noise in pointing out its presence, but even with Nessa pointing right at what she thought might be an opening in the rock, the shadows and curves made it all but invisible to Ser Issac and Sin. They had to move over to the shadowy area to really understand there was an opening.
   “It’s about as wide as a man and I think we can scrape down it,” Ser Issac commented after pushing himself in a bit. “It’s dark as a witches heart though and drops. I can feel it with my foot sure enough. We’d be a might smarter if we had some light for spelunking as these aren’t the kind of holes I’m so used to finding myself in anymore.”
   “Nessa, why don’t you give us some light on his shield? I can pull my blade and it will illuminate a bit as well and then we can push in.”
   Nessa acquiesced to Sin’s order and cast upon Ser Issac’s shield and it lit up the area like daylight. She remembered back to when she had done a similar casting, in simpler days, upon the weapon of an old friend of hers and how his ‘magic sword’ had one the day against the nuisance demons they had fought that day. She wanted to rest a few minutes before going in and let the fond memories of simpler days and times fall over her and then reality intruded as they were ready to descend.
   The entrance was spacious for Nessa but everyone else felt their armor scraping along the sides of the walls as they pushed in and down. The cavern wasn’t too deep, but was great enough to put them squarely underground into some type of natural cave system. There were odd smells and Sin quipped to Ser Issac, “What if we find your Duke down here captured by a dragon? Will you fight it while we flee?”
   “Sir, there are some deaths even honor can’t abide and that would be one of them.”
   There was a general round of chuckling as everyone was realizing Ser Issac was human after all. his honor bound him to many things, but stupid deaths were apparently beyond the scope of his nature and they felt much better traveling with him for that. They knew they could count on him to stand beside them, but that he wouldn’t rush forward foolhardy.
   At the bottom of their descent, the passage opened slightly that they wouldn’t scrape against the walls anymore, but it would be impossible for anything more than one to go down the passages. The passage split left and right and the right passage was chosen though neither passage seemed to offer any more hope than the other. It curved around the the left and soon opened up into chamber that was a few yards across and had an egress to the left and one across from them.
   Ser Issac made for the left-hand egress which let Sin and Nessa in behind him and Nessa called for a stop. “See the footprints on the floor? They go around here, and around there, but not a one of them scuffs the center of the room. I bet it’s a trap of some sort.”
   “Now who would go trapping a perfectly good floor in an underground cavern,” asked Shane. “Dis this some type of lair do you think?” His words dripped, but it helped to remind everyone that there might be more than just natural problems down here.
   Ser Issac pushed down the left-hand egress with Sin behind and then Nessa and Shane following up. The new passage extended down for only a short distance before they found themselves on the right-side of a “T” intersection. Ser Issac turned his shield down the new passage to see what could be seen and immediately a mote of power exploded upon his chest and sent him back into the rock of the passage with a loud clank.
   There was no way to react since Ser Issac took up the entirety of the passage intersection. Sin and Shane both itched to see what was going on, but were trapped in the small passage and so Sin activated his armors missile deflection while Shane cast the same upon himself. After what seemed like an eternity, but in what was only a single second, Ser Issac pushed himself to his right and out of the way for Sin.
   Sin slipped into the position Ser Issac was in and a mote of fire came flying at him in that same moment but veered away at the last moment, striking the wall above his head and showering the area in sparks. He saw three elves in a cavern before him, two of which held small balls of fire in their hands and one of which appeared as if he had just thrown. They were just far enough away that he couldn’t close to them and attack well, but as long as they kept up the fireball attack, he felt pretty comfortable and safe. He needed to close and so pushed forward where he would have room to maneuver and was suddenly attacked from hidden elves to his right who shot streams of fire at him. He barely dodged out of the way.
   While Shane checked behind them, knowing they were in a particularly bad position in this “T” intersection, Ser Issac slipped into the chamber behind Sin and Nessa pushed forward into the intersection. The elves were communicating amongst themselves in elven and both Nessa and Shane heard them say they suspected the golden man of having a deflection up. Nessa relayed their knowledge to Sin and Ser Issac in Anglish so they would know the enemy tactics were about to change.
   Sin took another two steps forward and slashed at the center elf with both swords, only to have them both parried away. Ser Issac slashed at another elf on the far left and hit him square, slicing from shoulder to hip. Another elf that had been hidden on the far left and was unseen when Sin first looked in took a step toward Ser Issac and unleashed a bolt of fire from his fist. Ser Issac’s shield came up quickly and he pushed forward, knocking the elf down while deflecting the bolt of fire, and the elf was out.
   Nessa prepared a sleep spell, while Shane grew more impatient to get into the chamber since he could hear the sounds of battle and Sin and Ser Issac seemed to be having too much fun. Sin finally caught one across his torso and the spray of blood was still in the air when the body hit the floor. Ser Issac laughed and told him he was behind this time as he moved toward the remaining three, two of which had been firing bolts of fire from their hands.
   Nessa’s spell went off and another elf fell down. Shane could wait no longer and shover her hard, knocking her out of the way and he stepped up into the intersection, but could see no more elves standing. One of the elves tapped Ser Issac and he was blown back and started swaying as if he were about ready to fall. Sin stepped up so that he was the center of attention for the two remaining elves and took a couple of swipes at the closest one, hitting his twice, but the elf didn’t go down.
   Shane burst into the room near Sin and slid his sword into the same elf, pulled it free with a gush of blood and the elf dropped. The other elf stepped back and raised his hands into the air even as Nessa took a few hesitant steps into the cavern.
   Sin looked upon the last elf and said, “Are you surrendering?”
   The elf looked upon them without saying a word until Shane translated the words. “I could never surrender to the like of fools like you,” the elf spat back.
   Nessa started to incant but the elf had been waiting for someone to do something and he beat her to the punch with a quick word of power on his lips. Nessa’s spell took hold of him, but she wouldn’t see if it lasted as Sin dropped a blade and ran his finger through the elf’s eye and breaking the bones of his skull and sending the fragments through his brain. He would miss the smile that played across the elf’s as he died.
   Both Shane and Nessa pondered upon the words and action the elf made and both realized it had simply ignited fire, but that made no sense as there was no apparent fire. There was a moment of wonder and then Nessa smelled something foul and her lungs felt as if they burst into flame and she staggered forward out of the smoke that had just welled up around her feet. “Poison,” she croaked out.
   They assembled in the chamber as the smoky poison billowed into the room, trapping them. Sin was beyond irritated at this point and went around finishing off the elves that had merely fallen. Ser Issac finally managed to recover enough to tell them how much he hurt and then they all looked at the cloud of poison that would keep them trapped in the chamber, even as it expanded into the chamber…

World Dates: 2010-07-21 to 2010-07-21

   By “ride”, Ser Issac really meant they would walk, bonded in their mission as the wood was only a mile or so away and they all knew they would have to forgo their mounts shortly after entering the woods. For the initial part of the foray they had decided to try to stick to the paths and trails as much as possible until Nessa bade them to push through the darkened wood.
   They had all armored up and prepared themselves and then left the Inn. The road that ran before the Inn headed northward toward the Blackwood as well as south toward the sea. At fist, the road was well maintained as they walked out of the city, but the road grew into disrepair as they marched closer and closer to the wood. By the time they reached the edge of the wood, the road was little more than two wagon tracks with low-laying grass upon both sides and down the middle.
   There was a distinct division between the wood and the grassland, far more of one than should be natural and all saw it for what it was. The thick, old-growth looking wood was only a few years old at this place, or so Ser Issac had told them, and yet it was as thick and overgrown as any wood they had seen. Just beyond the border, the temperature dropped from a comfortable, warm sunny day to a slightly chilly and darkened path. They all knew this border kept the natural and the supernatural apart and their thoughts wandered as to how much longer it would keep the wood from the city.
   With caution, the moved forward into the chilly wood. The path was just wide enough that they could walk staggered in a cover formation, but the eerie silence still put them on guard. There wasn’t a perfect silence, but it was enough to say something was wrong. They paused for a moment for Shane to analyze the wood and he found the trees themselves radiated some type if magic, but were not magical in their self. He checked each person and found they were free from any curse or effects as of yet, but they were not sure how long that would last.
   Sin turned over a bit of undergrowth just off the path and found the layer underneath to be rife with small crawling insects. Once he opened the area to the light, they skittered away underneath the nearby undergrowth as fast as they could. This gave some reason as to why the ground seemed to shift around them in subtle waves. Nessa closed her eyes and took a deep breath, not wanting to think about how many trillions of insects might be around them.
   They moved slowly down the path, keeping eyes and ears out for anything unusual. It was slow going, but there seemed to be nothing to fear or worry about. They pushed forward through the thick and darkened wood, with just a hint of daylight making it’s way down to them, for nearly an hour before they came to a fork in the path. They studied the path, which wound lazily around a large rock, and found the hint of tracks leading from their right to the left. Nessa felt they should head to the right though and so they moved that way.
   The path quickly grew more narrow until it was barely wide enough for one to pass behind the another. Moving started to slow as they pushed through the low hanging branches that scratched at their armor, hands and faces and tore gently at their clothes. They seemed almost as if they were moving through a moment frozen in time when Shane called a quick halt.
   Everyone stopped and Shane pointed the their left side. Heads turned, ears pricked and eyes scanning but they could detect nothing. Still, Shane held his hand aloft to signal they should hold fast and he heard another sound and knew there was something stirring in the wood. The sound was as of metal links moving across one another and he thought immediately that it might be someone in chain armor. Moments later, Nessa spotted something moving toward them, just as Shane did.
   Nessa whispered quickly and a ball of flame appeared in her hand and she pushed power into it to grow it slightly. Shane slipped his hand down to his side and drew forth his blades even as he started activating his defenses. He saw three shapes shambling toward him and as he scanned around, he found two more groups of shapes shambling on either side of those. That made for a total of seven and he said as much to everyone.
   Sin and Ser Issac both freed their weapons in preparations for what was to come. Ser Issac slipped down the trail a bit further to allow the shambling shapes to enter onto the trail between he and Shane. Everyone was prepared for what was to come next as Nessa threw her fireball into the midst of the three shambling shapes in the center.
   There was an explosion of fire that spew across the three of them and suddenly their shapes were less hidden. The fireball blew the mud and debris off them to reveal three men clad in steel armor about their torsos and chain on the rest of their bodies. They held shields that bore the arms of Megalos and they wielded broadswords in their opposite hands. They were once Legion. Now they were little more than armored zombies hunting the scent of blood in the air.
   The combat started almost immediately with three upon Shane, two upon Ser Issac and two upon Sin. The fighting was difficult, with only a lucky shot or two managing to pass by shields, parries or armor. Oddly though, none of the zombies moved against Nessa even when she slammed a fireball into the side of one facing Shane. A cry erupted from Ser Issac and they saw he was down on the ground before the two zombies and so Nessa started to make her way to help.
   Nessa was just behind the two zombies facing off against Ser Issac when she noticed he was not necessarily down, but had recovered his sword and shield and had just stood and disarmed one of the zombies. While this was going on, Sin managed to dispatch the two he faced off against, while Shane was still holding his own against his three, neither giving nor receiving any blows.
   Shane had realized their skin was nearly as tough, if not tougher than their armor by this point and discovered he was having a very difficult time punching through their layers. Still, he wasn’t sustaining any damage from them as his Blur Ring and magical shields gave him an amazing degree of protection.
   Sin shifted over to attack one of the zombies on Shane and slid his sword through the pack on it’s back and realized there was no armor there, only the thickened skin. The blade slipped deeply in and then he yanked it downward and the zombie fell to the ground. He moved toward the next one in line and found he and Shane both faced off against it as the third had moved against Nessa.
   Nessa was trying, but her magics were having little effect at the moment and she realized she would need to adapt to these creatures. They were more than zombies she finally realized and she wasn’t sure how much power to put behind her attacks anymore as the level she normally would have used for zombies was insufficient. She held her staff loosely in her left hand as she tried to parry off blows with her gauntlet, but a blade slipped through and struck her across the chest.
   Shane and Sin whipped through the last couple of zombies on them and then looked to Nessa’s wounds. Shane cast a quick healing on her while Sin slipped past and started upon the zombies from behind. He took out the first while Ser Issac plunged his blade through the second and then tore off it’s head and they were alone in the wood once again.
   They started rummaging through the remnants of the zombies, or whatever they were. Each carried a broadsword, though one had been broken on Ser Issac’s armor. Each wore a steel breastplate with chain mail arms and legs and thick soled leather boots. Their shields were battered and damaged and it was impossible to say how long they had lain amongst the mud and detritus. Their packs were empty save for mud and other wastes and it was then that Sin noticed something strange.
   One of the swords he was looking at was coated in some black, viscous liquid. He looked toward Nessa and saw a similar mark across her tunic where the sword had struck and he realized that whatever poisons had been on the blade had struck her and been healed inside when Shane cast his magics. They were very worried at that point, especially Nessa, but the poison was having no effect as of yet and so they thought they would press on; still they would leave everything behind as they didn’t want the infected objects amongst them.
   Before they left though, Shane thought he’d see if the poisons left any magical trace as the woods themselves seemed to be magically active. Each of the blades gave off a faint glow showing the viscous fluid was indeed magical and they wondered then what sort of magical malady would befall Nessa now that she was infected.
   Still, they moved on; the narrow