The walls are cold and damp and the air is heavy with the scent of these accursed shadows. I know not when my dreams will not be filled with nightmares of this place. The fear which grows in the pit of my stomach is gradually being replaced with the conviction that my body and some of my most prized possessions must surely rest forever at the bottom of this dark tomb.

This desperate vision of my fate comes because I write this now not from the friendly confines of my favorite room at the Mayoi Inn, the second on the left with the comfortable green couches, nor from the harsh but hospitable corner of the second floor of the Teth Bowyer's. No instead I find myself cramped and uncomfortable on the dank floor of the dreadful Mountain Fortress nearly due south of Qualab'ar. I will relate now the story of how I came to be trapped inside this place, lost deep in the bowels of the mountain.

It is perhaps a fitting irony that I have trained for so many months now to learn the secrets of portal magic and that now with the end of my studies tantalizingly close, I am trapped as a living prisoner of the mountain. Had I already mastered the magic of Lifestone Recall as my fellows had done, I would now be comfortably housed in front of a fire in Qualab'ar. However, life is frequently full of ironies and I must attempt to persevere. Perhaps this experience in the mountain will lend the clarity to these last cryptic passages that hide the secrets of Portal Magic. My pursuit of portal magic has turned out to involve some very interesting basic and fundamental principles of the composition of all things in Dereth such that if one can learn to manipulate the properties of an object, you can, in time, learn the secrets of teleportation.

My story begins at my home away from home, Fort Teth, where I was joined by my friends Rach' mann and Pain Corp. These two more than any others are responsible for any success that I have achieved since I came West to this hostile land. In addition to the natural benefits I have accrued from being their patron, they have provided ample opportunities to hone my skills on the creatures of The Dires while they took the brunt of the punishment. Through such study I managed just last night to learn a new more powerful Bow Mastery and Unarmed Mastery spell as well as a spell to boost the target's Coordination. These new spells, in each case the fourth variant I have learned, surpassed even the powerful items that Pain and Rach' carried with them. This pleased me immensely for I realized I had become jealous of their jewelry which could offer them more constant and consistent protection for only a few pyreals upkeep.

Pain and Rach' approached me on the subject of pursuing a new unarmed weapon, a katar, whose powers we can only imagine. Beryl was nearby and soon we had joined into the magical bonds of fellowship which would facilitate our communication. Pain had with him the tooth of an Ash Gromnie and our first task was to deliver it to a collector in Eastham. For his tooth, Pain received a letter of introduction that we then delivered to a woman in Zaikhal. She gave Pain a key and we learned that the Mountain Fortress near Qualab'ar held its match. A quick portal, a moment to attune to a nearby lifestone, and a run S put us at the dungeon entrance.

Inside we began our search of the upper reaches. We found a few clusters of 2-3 Zifrits and what looked like a throne room or meeting hall with perhaps 5 or 6. I barely had time to drain them to recoup stamina lost to my buff spells before our crew dispatched them. Soon we found some adult shadows and their Lieutenant commanders. Our careful preparations and cautious descent easily overwhelmed all that tried to block our progress. We wandered the halls looking for a clue that would lead us to the bowels. Perhaps it was up? No a red herring. Perhaps down? No a dead end. At one point we ran into a pair of friendly adventurers, Tostig and another whose name I can't recall. They complimented us on our handling of a Shadow and Lieutenant and even gave me a couple heals as they ran by. Later they asked us to be on the lookout for a corpse of Tostig as it had a couple valuable rings on it. "Uh oh, that’s not a good sign" we muttered to ourselves. I should have seen it for the portent that it was.

Inside we began our search of the upper reaches. We found a few clusters of 2-3 Zifrits and what looked like a throne room or meeting hall with perhaps 5 or 6. I barely had time to drain them to recoup stamina lost to my buff spells before our crew dispatched them. Soon we found some adult shadows and their Lieutenant commanders. Our careful preparations and cautious descent easily overwhelmed all that tried to block our progress. We wandered the halls looking for a clue that would lead us to the bowels. Perhaps it was up? No a red herring. Perhaps down? No a dead end. At one point we ran into a pair of friendly adventurers, Tostig and another whose name I can't recall. They complimented us on our handling of a Shadow and Lieutenant and even gave me a couple heals as they ran by. Later they asked us to be on the lookout for a corpse of Tostig as it had a couple valuable rings on it. "Uh oh, that’s not a good sign" we muttered to ourselves. I should have seen it for the portent that it was.

Eventually our twistings and turnings took us back to the entrance. We regrouped and entered again, this time looking for some passageway right at the beginning that would lead us into a new area. We soon had found what we wanted. A long staircase descending with several Shadow Children on it. Down the stairs and through the passages were more Shadows. We had begun to notice that the Shadows in this dungeon were particularly hard to spot, not appearing to us until they were practically on top of us. Indeed there were times when I could hear the sounds of battle joined and was close enough to almost touch my companions yet I could not isolate and identify the Shadow. So we proceeded with caution, but we knew we were on the right track. Soon the straight and angular passages gave way to the rough and jagged edges of a natural cave formation which wound its way into the heart of the mountain. Through these twisted paths we inched along certain that we were close to our goal.

Then disaster struck. It was innocent enough, a single Lieutenant who was no different than 3 or 4 others we had already dispatched. Yet this one creature managed to seal the fate of our expedition when he mortally wounded Pain Corp faster than my healing magics could revive him. Consecutive blasts of powerful magic struck a blow to our group sending the leader of our wedge back to the Lifestone in Qualab'ar and dooming us to have to attempt to return through the respawn.

In retrospect, Beryl and Rach should have just Lifestone Recalled while I waited with the body. I probably would have died to respawn, but it would have been preferable to what happened. I must now live with the shame and guilt that my fellows died to save me when they could have safely returned themselves outside of the trap that we now found ourselves in.

Just after we downed the Lieutenant who killed Pain Corp, we agreed to try and leave as quickly as possible and return with Pain. Rach' lead us back through the caves, heading back the way we had come. This Mountain Stronghold has tricks however. I noticed in several spots we had just passed, subtle tricks of geography that were intended to lead one astray on the return from the center. Whoever built these halls desired that no one should leave. At the point where the caves return to the straight and angular passages, we found a pair of shadows. We fought valiantly to hack through them, but Beryl is soon near death. I work to heal Beryl, but more shadows come. Now I have lost my contact with Beryl….Now the shadows are all around us…Beryl is back but now Rach is injured. There are too many of them. I must run too as I have them around me, though fortunately they are not chasing me having smelled the blood on my archer companions. I must frantically move about these unknown passages searching for a spot in which I can heal my friends from safety, but it is not meant to be. Soon Beryl has died and soon after Rach' mann too. I manage to escape 5 angry shadows by retreating once more into the natural caverns.

There I sit, able to smell a Lieutenant guarding the passage. I can detect the corpse of Rach' mann just under his watchfull eye and I am certain that the Lieutenant means to maintain his vigil should the adventurers be so bold as to try and recover their corpses. I know that Beryl's corpse is in the passage just beyond. I have no means of even landing a spell on a Lieutenant let alone being able to survive a toe-to-toe battle so I am stuck. I must wait.

Magically, through the bonds of fellowship, I communicate with my companions, gathered at the entrance once again. They begin the long and dangerous descent, hoping to be able to find their way back. I spend my minutes trying to keep as many protective magics around myself as possible without wasting the precious mana that is stored in my items. I know not how long I will have to wait in these accursed halls and I do not wish to be caught without the items upon which I have come to depend. In addition I am dangerously low on certain spell components. Rach' has already had to give me some Cinnabar and now I am down to just 2 Hyssop.

As I am nervously standing there with an eye on the Lieutenant in the passage beyond, I am suddenly hit with a spell from behind. Fortunately it is not offensive magic, just a preperatory spell to weaken me for the onslaught that must surely follow. But still I know it to be the signal of my doom. I quickly attempt to detect the enemy presence but can sense nothing. Where is this beast? Who approaches me?

There he is: a shadow. Almost invisible in these surroundings, he has sprung out of nothingness almost on top of me. I whirl about and head toward the Lieutenant knowing that my only hope is to find the ramp up to the surface that we descended and to hope that there is enough room for me to squeeze by. Fortunately my recent devotion to improving my Magic Defense and a decent natural speed puts me at an advantage against these foes. But their numbers are staggering. I turn the corner and push past the Lieutenant turning quickly into a side passage hoping perhaps to loose them while they attempt to cast spells on me.

But around the corner are another pair waiting….and then another pair further on. I run madly turning corners and retracing steps. A couple times I reach a dead end and once I am trapped by two of them where two passages intersect and must backtrack. The preparation of my physical self has given me an endurance unusual for one devoted to sorcery and I need every bit of my life force as their blows gradually weaken me.

I find no exit, no ramp up, nothing that looks like what I had expected to find. Finally I find something promising, though I've never seen it before. A very long straight passage. I run down this passage and, thank the gods, there are no shadows at the end. A lone shadow pursues me, but I double back down the passage and then double back again. Finally he gives up the chase and I limp cautiously down the passage.

Dead end. I am trapped. But I am alive and terribly lucky. Nine times out of ten a reckless flight through an area like that would result in death, but I have somehow survived. I communicate with my fellows to let them know that I am safe and then set about healing and resting myself. When my magics have restored me to full strength, I decide to do a bit of exploring. I am standing in a long E/W passage at the extreme Eastern end having fled from the S and hoping that the exit lays somewhat to the N.

I inch back down the passage scanning visually for shadows knowing that I will probably not survive if I stir up the hornets nest again. A passage opens up to the S, the direction (I believe) that we had come from. I push on. Another passage to the S. Then I see something, but not a shadow. Something on the floor.

It is the corpse of Tostig, the one that had been lost by the pair of explorers we met in the upper reaches. Wonderful. Now I know that I am lost. I have officially crossed into the "You are lost with no hope of being found" section of the Mountain Stronghold and I mutter a curse under my breath. Clearly if this were the way out, then we would have stumbled on this corpse on the way down. This is no minor accident that we found this area full of shadows when Rach, Beryl and I attempted to quickly retrace our steps. We are, all of us, trapped in some unknown corner of the dungeon. A trap designed by the makers to appear to be the exit but in fact be a totally separate area. Still there may be a portal or a passage up if I continue N. I have no choice but to proceed.

Then a shadow jumps me and the chase is on. I race further on W down the passage. A Lieutenant guards a crossing where a passage leads N. I circle around while to avoid the Shadow pursuing me and hope to draw the Lieutenant out of the passage. Eventually I manage to push past him only to find that the corridor leads to a simple loop that returns to the long E/W passage at the western most edge. Now I know that there are perhaps 7 Shadows to my S, no exit to the N and two Shadows pursuing me. I can feel that death is near.

However I decide to test my luck again and do laps down the passage to the eastern terminus and back hoping that if the shadow decides to stop and cast a spell, he will loose contact with me and give up the chase. Indeed after a couple laps he does just that and I breath a sigh of relief, lucky for the third time tonight to have fled the Shadows in halls filled with them and not died.

So now I know that my only salvation is to wait for my companions to rescue me. Through the magic of the fellowship I am in contact with my friends. They have managed to find Pain's body but not to find Beryl or Rach. I recount what I can remember of what we did from Pain's body but to no avail. To pass the time I read over the dozen or so scrolls I happen to be carrying and make sure that I know every basic Creature spell I can cast on myself. The night wears on and hope of ever recovering their corpses begins to fade. It is now so late in Dereth that none of our group are reachable for an SOS call. The recovery will have to wait another night.

I resign myself to my fate that I will have to commune with my avatar here in this dismal tunnel. And so that is how you find me now, writing these words fearful of an attack from the Shadows should they learn of my position here within their walls.

POSTLUDE

Before my friend Beryl calls in the National Guard, I must add this bit to my adventure. After our fellowship disbanded, I left my corporeal body to commune with my other world Avatar, Chris, hoping to restore my energy which had been severely taxed through the long night. My dreams were haunted with visions of Shadows and I awoke with a brilliant thought.

Tostig. His corpse had a couple valuable rings. His corpse would probably soon decay, perhaps already had and if I were lucky I might recover those precious items. Indeed it would be worth returning to my corporeal form to investigate. As my consciousness infused my body, I heard the sounds of battle ringing in my ears. What's this? Some noble warrior happens to be engaged in battle not three feet from me? No…it is only a Shadow Lieutenant. Aaaahhhh.

I run madly down the hall scanning for items as I go. I find no corpse but lo and behold I spot Rach's corpse within range of my senses. I had not even realized I was so close. And his corpse has not yet vanished, though when I consider it his body is not even five hours cold. The Lt is gone for the moment and I raise my wand to cast a protective magic.

"Uggh", I hear my body exclaim as I feel my consciousness leaving that place and entering portal space.

Free I am free. What have I lost? I quickly scan my new corporeal form to see what I have left behind in the Stronghold. My Great Mana Charge (expected), Life III Orb (have spare on me), Armor Self III Bracelet (have replacement in Mayoi and don't use anyway), Mana Renewal III necklace (ouch). Well I really liked the necklace and all the other stuff is replaceable. I am actually very lucky that I did not loose the Focus ring or Willpower Bracelet that I carry. Those would be much harder to replace.

I am of course not happy that I died, but as soon as I returned to consciousness the Lieutenant was going to force me to run anyway. I knew that my luck would run out some day and I am just as glad to have the ordeal behind me. Tonight we will try to storm the place again perhaps bringing in some additional Source friends to help us in our quest.

In a week or so I will have finally have mastered this portal magic and I'm sure there will be many times where I cast Lifestone Recall without giving it second thought. But down deep I will know just how precious the knowledge of that magic is and I will remember my night trapped in the bowels of the Mountain Stronghold until my last days on Dereth.

Peace to all and many safe journeys,

-Khali