PC/CD Gamer UK 28/PCGAMER28.bin/dos/csmag46/install.dat/3EMONSWR.TXT

Text File | 1995-12-12 | 62KB | 1,058 lines

~Demon's Winter

RPG Adventure from SSI/US Gold.


There  were  five of us..... all brave adventurers. Well, to be
honest, all but one of us were brave, but more of our cowardly dwarf
companion later.

The strongest amongst us was a Ranger who went by the name of Lone.
Tall he was,  and  fast  in  battle.  Our  cleric  was a fellow
called Clarence, He worshipped  the  god  Illo.  Illo  is the god of
life so we knew Clarence's ability  to  return the dead to life
(when his god heard his prayers) would come  in  handy  in  our
quest. You'd think that Clarence would be a man of peace because of
his god's distaste for battle but, don't you believe it. I was
surprised  to  see  how often he threw himself into the front ranks
of some our biggest battles. What can I say about the next member of
our band? Fidget is a dwarf. He's quite strong, moderately fast,
certainly not stupid -  and  the biggest coward in Ymros. But his
skill at disarming traps would be  useful  so  we  put up with his
whingeing. Apart from anything else, he made a good pack-horse!

Our  wizard  was a canny fellow called Izzy. Izzy is a dark elf,
skilled in item  lore  and  learned in fire runes. And me? I'm Zeke,
the leader. I may not  be  the  fastest  or  strongest  but  I'm the
smartest and when you're hunting big game, brains can be very
useful.

We  met  up by the ruined village of Ildryn. Clarence bowed his head
at the sight  of  the ruins but the rest of us (except Fidget) were
itching to get our  hands  on  some weapons and bash some heads! So
our first stop was the nearby  town  of  Seaside. I bought myself a
short sword and Lone grabbed a mace while the other three settled
for knives. A quick stop in camp outside town and we were equipped
and ready for a scrap.

While  we  were  in  Seaside,  we  heard  a  useful  rumour  in the
tavern. Evidently,  an  evil  priest, name of Jesric, had gone off
on a quest for a powerful  crystal. He was working for someone
called Eregore. Clarence said we should remember those names in case
we met up with them in the future.

Our next stop was the College of Hunting where Lone learnt to hunt.
We knew it  would  save a lot of gold if he could supply our
provisions rather than us  stocking  up  at the tavern and paying
their exorbitant prices. For the same reason, we agreed to camp out
whenever possible rather than staying in inns.  The  sooner  we got
a decent amount of gold behind us, the sooner we could  hire a ship
and set sail for more adventures. Even Izzy seemed quite excited at
the prospect of a bit of sea-travel.

The  town of Elborat was our next stopping place. And there, things
started to  get  interesting. In the tavern, an old woman told us
how her house had been  burnt to the ground by kobolds. Their camp
was to the south and their leader  was  a  brute  called  Uffspgot.
I saw a gleam in Lone's eye and we grinned  at  each other. "Come
on", I said, and, as one, we turned and left Elborat, heading south.

The kobold camp wasn't far and inside were several camp fires and
tents. We prowled  round  cautiously.  Several  tents were empty but
others contained living  quarters for the kobolds. In another, a
woman was being harassed by some  of the foul creatures. None of the
groups of kobolds lasted long! The woman thanked us and rushed out
of the tent - who could blame her?!

One  tent contained maps which showed that towns other than Ildryn
had been attacked.  In another, Clarence spotted something; a scroll
half-burnt in a fire. He read it out to us. "It's hard to make out
the words" he said "It's very  badly  charred.  Ah, hang on, ....
cult worships Xeres .... catacombs under  the  Temple  of Gamur" he
looked questioningly at us, but none of us had  heard  of  it
either. "Here's another useful bit" he added, "ermm .... codeword
-x-".  Izzy gave one of his rare smiles and said "better look for
this  temple  then". Continuing round the camp, we finally found
Uffspgot's tent.  He  had  2  kobolds  and  2  orcs  with  him - no
problem. Before we attacked,  we  heard him say to one of the
kobolds, "we do not attack again till  my  master  Xeres commands
it". By the time we had finished with him, his master would have to
shout very, very loud for Uffspgot to hear him. By now,  we were
feeling pretty good. I celebrated by learning the mace at the
College in Akistu. Izzy suggested we head for the Guild in New Gleon
to see if  we  were  ready  for  advancement.  We were! On our way
back across the island,  we  stopped  at  the  College  of  Potion
Lore for Izzy to do some studying.  I  won't bore you with our minor
battles, though some were quite spectacular - and lucrative. Just
let me say that we found plenty to occupy our  sword-arms  and we
NEVER ran away, not even Fidget, though he tried to keep out of the
action as much as he could.

Travelling  north  again,  we  found  a  tunnel leading under the
sea to an island.  We walked warily through it. In one side room
full of mist, an old man  met  us.  He warned that the one we were
seeking was just a puppet. He added  that  the puppeteer was eternal
and his talons far-reaching. Leaving him,  we  continued  onwards.
At  the  end of the tunnel, we saw a message painted  in blood.
Fidget read it out and blanched. "Beyond this point lies the  temple
of  the  Death  Lord,  not a place for those who cherish their
lives".  Lone just managed to grab the back of Fidget's trousers
before the cowardly dwarf headed back for the mainland!

Inside the temple, we gave the codeword and were shown to a stairway
at the back. Lone pushed Fidget to the front to check for traps. I
must admit that considering how much his hands were shaking, he
didn't miss one.

Down the south corridor, we found the words "gloriosus victime"
carved on a wall.  In  a room further down, Izzy found a scroll and
we moved a bookcase to find another exit. Through this doorway was a
morgue of sorts. A man lay in  a  glass  case in suspended
animation. "Leave him till later" suggested Izzy  so  we  went back
to the corridor and turned left. In a laboratory, a cage  of  rats
caught Fidget's eye (he must have been hungry) but Clarence picked
up  two  vials  of  serum,  one red and one blue which he handed to
Izzy.

Back  to  the stairway and north. Past another trap and into a
guardroom. A quick  scrap, then on to the next fight with a group of
Xeres' followers in another  room.  Then  we  retraced  our  steps
to the other branch of this northern  corridor. In one room, I
noticed a trail of footprints leading to a wall and stopping dead.
Closer investigation showed us a secret tunnel.

It was hard to map and several times we got lost. But eventually we
came to the end of the tunnel and a Skull Room. Three passages led
off. Two of them split,  each  leading  to  an  armoury. In each
one, a piece of weaponry or armour  lay  begging to be taken. But
hovering round them in each case were some glowing spheres. Should
we try to take them? While we hesitated in the first  room  which
contained  a  special mace, Izzy solved the problem and grabbed  the
mace.  At  once, he was surrounded by will 'o wisps. But they were
easy to defeat and soon all four items were ours.

In another room, we found the words "forward 3 and right 1 will get
you out of a crush" carved into the floor. We had no idea what it
referred to but I felt we'd missed something so we returned to the
main passages. Back in the lab, Clarence (bless his bald pate) found
a secret passage. We found a food storage  area and a workshop with,
among other things, a mallet. At the end of  the  corridor was a
temple. Moving the altar, we discovered yet another secret passage
and cautiously proceeded down it.

Part  way  along,  I  heard the whirring of massive machinery. "This
is it, guys", I said, "remember the carving .... forward 3 and right
1" and dashed forward  following this pattern, the others hard on my
heels. A bit further and  we  came  upon  a  black doorway carved
with gold runes. Listening, we could hear chanting coming from
behind it. A hobgoblin stood between us and the  door,  but  not
for long, and with him dead on the ground, we hurtled through  the
doorway,  past  the  body  of  the  dead hobgoblin, and found
ourselves  in  a  black  room.  In front of us was a ghostly, white
figure, Remondadin.  Lone  led  the attack, and the five of us,
working together as never  before,  finally  defeated him. With
Remondadin dead, the black room was strangely silent.

On  our  explorations  under  the Temple of Gamur, we had already
noticed a group of wizards praying in the underground temple, but
not to Gamur - they were  praying to the evil Xeres. Clearly, these
catacombs were only part of a  small cult that worshipped Xeres, the
demon who had destroyed Ildryn. It was also clear to us that we must
find Xeres himself before he found us.

We  left  the black room through a doorway to the south and found
ourselves back in the main Temple. However, Clarence reminded us
about the man in the glass  case  and  pointed  at  the  mallet
that Fidget was carrying. So we returned to the morgue.

With  one  swing of the mallet, the case was shattered and we could
see the man  more clearly but he still didn't respond. Izzy looked
closer. "He's in a  deep trance ...... I wonder ...." and reaching
into his pocket he pulled out  the  two  vials of serum that
Clarence had found in the laboratory and given  to  him.  He
examined the man, who stared vacantly into space. "I'll have to risk
it" he said, and gave him a mouthful of the blue serum.

Suddenly,  the  man  sat up., a wild expression on his face.
"Qoorik!, I've seen it!" he cried and grabbed at Izzy's shoulders in
a frenzy. "They tried to  shut  me  up, but I've seen it! Its
entrance is hidden in the forest to the  north-west  of  Idlewood."
As if his body had given up the last of its strength,  he  slumped
back onto the slab. Izzy shook his head and sighed. "He  is  still
alive  but  only barely; we will get no more help from him. Leave
him  in peace" and, with sadness, we left the room, vowing to avenge
the poor wretch who lay within, bereft of his senses.

No-one  tried  to  stop  us  as  we  left the Temple. We headed
towards the south-east  of  the  island  where,  on  our  previous
explorations, we had noticed another tunnel heading out under the
southern sea.

Not far inside, we found ourselves in a large cavern, filled with
the sound of rushing water. A message carved in the floor read
'Pirates' Cove - enter at  your  own  risk'.  "Them's  fighting
words" said Lone and Fidget went a sickly shade of green.

Passages  led  off  north,  south  and  west.  Along  both  north
and south passages,  Fidget found and disarmed traps and soon after,
in each case, we were  attacked  by thieves who we quickly slew. A
College was at the end of each  tunnel,  Disarm Traps in one and
Detect Traps in the other. Having no need for either, as long as
young Fidget was with us, we retraced our steps to the main cavern.

At  the  end  of  the western tunnel, over a stretch of water, we
found the town  of  Pirates'  Cove. Surprisingly, despite the
warning at the entrance and  our  rough reception in the other
tunnels, we were completely ignored. But, in the pub, an old man was
telling the tale of Malifon, so we paused a moment to listen, though
we had heard the tale before, many times. "....and Malifon  made the
Earth his home", said the old man, "but soon the Ancients became
angry  at him and, in a great battle, banished him inside a volcano
to  live  till  the  end  of  time". He finished his tale and picked
up his tankard  to take a draught. Lone tapped my arm. "Sometimes,
my friend, with all the things we see and hear, I get the feeling
the end of time isn't too far away". Somehow, I had to agree with
him. Malifon's volcano might be the last thing any of us saw.

We  left  the  Cove  and  tried  to  decide where to go next. While
we were deciding,  we  visited  two  of  the  Colleges.  Fidget  had
died and been resurrected  twice  during  recent  battles,  so  the
small man decided to improve his skills and took a course in
fighting with the mace. Lone learnt beserking,  which  he  felt
might give him the edge in a tight scrap. At a nearby  town,  Fidget
purchased a morningstar then we took another trip to the Guild at
New Gleon and found we had advanced enough to gain another few
levels. Hereafter, we visited Guilds whenever we came across them,
to check on our progress.

We bought a ship in the docks and set out to sea. I had also learnt
hunting skills,  so  between  us, Lone and I kept the five of us
well supplied with fish  on  our  long  sea  voyage. We travelled to
various islands along the coast, but never straying too far from the
main island where we had started our travels. We also investigated
the small islands in the inlets along the coast.

Lone  enrolled  at  the  College of Armoured Skin which Fidget said
sounded disgusting. However, this skill gave him even more
protection in battle. At Dragontooth,  we heard a rumour in the pub
that someone had found the Shard of  Spring  a  few months back. The
Shard had disappeared 200 years ago and no-one  had  seen  it
since. It is said that if anything happens to it, we will  all  be
destroyed  by  the winter that will follow. While we were in
Dragontooth,  Clarence  enrolled  at  the  College of Mace and later
at the College  of  Persuasiveness at Chandris. It would help us get
a better deal when  we  purchased  new equipment. All this time,
Izzy had been using a +1 crystal  dagger  that we had collected
earlier. Our other fights had gained us  some more useful equipment
and I had a mace, constant speed +2. We also had  some other weapons
that we had collected and since our ship now needed considerable
repairs, pirates and sea monsters having taken their toll, we sold
our  spare  weapons  at  a  local marketplace. We had also gained
two cursed axes which we got rid of as soon as possible!

To the south, we found two islands, and on the furthest south of
these, the town  of  Idlewood,  mentioned by our friend in the glass
case. We bought a lantern  in  the marketplace and visited the inn
where we learned that deep within  the ancient demon city of Qoorik,
there is a place called the Amber Vault  where  one  can  seek
guidance  in  the  flaming runes. The dungeon entrance, invisible
till one stepped into it, lay a short distance away.

We descended into the depths, Fidget checking for traps once we
reached the bottom  of  the  staircase.  To  the  west, we found a
great, black archway covered in runes and south of that, more
passages and rooms led off.

In  one  room  to the far east, we entered a room where three slaver
demons attacked  us.  The  fight  was  long  and hard but when it
was over, Fidget spotted  something  in  a far corner. It was a
black metal wand. "I'll take that"  said  Clarence as he reached
past the thief and tucked the wand into his robes.

We  returned  to  the  corridor  and  travelled south, then west. A
doorway beckoned;  Lone  moved  to the front and shouldered the door
open. It was a blacksmith's  shop.  Inside,  the  blacksmith  -  an
old  troll,  his face disfigured  so  that one eye was permanently
closed - gasped as we entered. Then  he  seemed  to compose himself,
smiled and spoke. He said he had been working on a new weapon,
designed for the ones who wish to kill Xeres. Lone stepped  forward,
thanked  the troll and took it. It was a jewel-encrusted broadsword.
However, I cautioned him not to use it until we had identified it
properly. My caution was well justified; it turned out to be cursed!

Heading  back  towards  the  stairs  we  had  entered by, we went
through a doorway  and  found ourselves in a stately mansion with
three doors leading off the main hall. In a bedroom, which looked as
though it hadn't been used for  a  long  time,  Fidget  investigated
a  bed with a straw mattress and emerged grasping a pair of
spectacles. He perched them on his nose and said "these  make me
feel smart". Lone laughed. "They must be magic if they make YOU
intelligent"  he said. The dwarf made a face, pulled off the specs
and passed  them to the wizard, who patted Fidget's shoulder to try
to cheer up the small man.

We also collected a blank piece of papyrus and in a library, we came
across a  tome, the only book that was left. Izzy tried to read it
but failed till he  wore the spectacles. Then he told us that it was
about some gods called the  Ancients who created everything but died
out many eons before man ever walked the Earth.

In the corner of the library was a bookcase. Lone and I moved it and
behind was  another  room.  Black  runes were carved on the walls
and at a desk, a skeleton,  its  skull  shattered  but its hand
still clutching a quill pen, caught our attention. I saw a piece of
paper on the desk which read - Ymros is  mine! - and pointed out to
the others that the arrangement of the runes matched the number of
letters on the paper; five runes, a space, two runes, space,  then
four  more.  "I'll  memorize the runes" said Clarence, with a glazed
look in his eyes.

Two  doorways  back  on the main floor had so far been barred to us.
One, a tunnel  from  which  the  stench  of  death  blew  out,
turned  out to be, apparently,  a  dead  end.  The other, the
entrance to a dark temple of red stone,  was  also impossible to
enter; the sense of evil permeating from it and  an  unseen force
both combined to push us back. "There must be another way  in"
murmured  Izzy. "Clarence? Do you think the wand might help?" The
cleric shook his head. "There's nothing here to operate it on" he
said "but perhaps,  the  arch  we  saw when we entered? That was
black and covered in runes...."

We  retraced our steps to the arch. Clarence took a deep breath (I
think we all  did) and used the wand. The next thing, we were
transported to a small room.  A  door  lead  south.  Quietly,
Fidget  pushed it open and we crept through.  A  corridor  on  the
other  side was the entrance to the Demon's temple.  The  entrance
was  not  unguarded though - in front of us stood a level 6 mage, a
level 8 fighter and an evil spirit.

Manoeuvering  into  position, we quickly dealt with our assailants
and then investigated the surrounding rooms. In one, a staircase led
downwards so we took it.

At  the  bottom of the stairs, we entered the third level of the
dungeon. A room  to  the  right contained an empty bag which
Clarence took. A corridor lead  north and a small, elegant room to
the left housed a level 14 mage, a priest  of  Xeres. "A human!"
cried Lone "How can he ally himself with that fiend?"  and  the
lanky  ranger  raced forwards, oblivious to the imps who obviously
acted as servants to the priest. A short but vicious fight ended in
our victory and a prize - a skeleton key - which Izzy took.

In  another room to the top left, an apprentice's room (the only
inhabitant a  level  10  mage who quickly gave up the ghost),
Clarence spied a pile of red  dust  which  he  collected  in the
bag. To the right was an altar room complete  with  skulls on the
blood-splattered walls and drawing of demons. "Love  the decor"
muttered Fidget as he examine the altar which had demonic references
to the demon Xeres. Lone and I pushed the altar aside to reveal a
short passage into another small room.

Clarence  took  a  pile  of  small  black  coins  from  one corner
and then investigated  a  censer in the room. Noticing a residue of
red stuff inside it,  he quickly poured the red dust into it. A
demon appeared and said "the father  of  demons  sees  all. Only
those who possess the Demon Crystal can escape  his  sight"  and
then vanished. "I wonder where that can be?" said Izzy.  "Oh  well,
no doubt we'll find out - sooner..." "...or later" added Fidget.

As we walked towards the northern doorway from the altar room,
Clarence had a  closer look at the coins and passed some across to
me. They were ominous black objects with a picture of a scythe on
them.

Through the north door, we found a large area with several rooms
around it. There were some corridors that transported us to other
parts of the dungeon too  which made life very confusing. In one
room at the south end, Clarence collected  two  more  items,  two
phials of liquid, one a greenish ooze of goblin  blood  and  one  a
transparent  silver  fluid which he told us was unicorn blood. In
the same room was a microscope but we were unable to move it.

At  the  north  of this level, we entered a room with a stairway
guarded by two  gargoyles.  After  we  slew the creatures, we
stepped warily downwards into  the darkness of the fourth level.
This level was somewhat smaller but interesting  to explore. In one
room was a magic circle though it seemed to serve no purpose.
Another area was a small graveyard which had a large tomb with a
magical stone door at its west end.

Walking  cautiously  south,  we  came  upon  a  wall of silver
bricks. Izzy pointed into the distance to draw our attention to a
fabulous silver palace visible  above  it.  However,  there was no
doorway in the wall. Around the corner  at  the  end  of  this
passage,  we surprised two slavers who were attacking  an  old man.
After we had dispatched his assailants, the old man thanked  us  and
explained that he was the groundskeeper of the palace. He went on to
tell us that there was a secret entrance into the palace through the
silver  wall  we  had  just  passed. As he slowly trudged off down
the alley,  we  retraced  our  steps and Fidget walked along the
wall, suddenly turning and disappearing from our sight as he walked
straight through it!

We  followed the dwarf and found ourselves in a beautiful garden
with trees and  grassy  walkways.  In the centre was a healing pool
but fortunately we were  in  no  need  of  it  - yet! A door led out
of the western end of the garden  and  we  passed through it into a
hallway guarded by a large silver snake.  I  thought  we were in for
trouble but luckily the bigger they are, the  harder  they  fall
and with all of us working together to defeat him, even  a  huge
serpent didn't survive. Two rooms led off; one was empty, the other
provided us with a jade torch which burnt with a magical blue flame.

I  took  it and led the others back to the main room where I had
previously noticed  a  pillar  shaped  like  a serpent with an open
mouth full of oil. Using the torch on the pillar opened a secret
passage leading west. Luckily Fidget  was  checking  for  traps as
we walked down it as he discovered and disarmed a trap which could
have caused us some injury.

The  study  at  the  end  was small but lit by an unknown source. It
looked empty  too  but Izzy's eagle eyes spotted a silver pen in one
corner and he passed it to our cleric who filled it with the silver
unicorn's blood.

The  pen  began to glow and Lone gave the piece of papyrus he had
collected earlier  to  Clarence. The pen seemed to move with a life
of its own and we watched  spellbound  as it wrote a message on the
papyrus that Asaht is the Holy City of the Ancients.

In the same room, tucked away and so we almost missed it (it's lucky
Fidget has  good  eyesight)  was  a  tiny  scroll.  The dwarf picked
it up but the writing  on it was far too small for even him to read.
We walked back up to the  room where we had found the microscope.
Fidget put the scroll under it and  said "this could be useful. It
gives the location of the Ice Temple of the  Ancients - it says it's
in the tundra far to the north." "Perhaps we'd better head that way
once we've dealt with Xeres" said Lone.

At  Clarence's  suggestion,  we  returned  to  level  four  and
entered the graveyard.  The cleric tried the skeleton key on the
tomb door and the door shimmered  and  changed  from solid stone to
a curtain of blue light. I led the  way  as  we  stepped through and
found ourselves in a larger graveyard with tombstones stretching far
into the distance.

The  graveyard  was full of mist and our footsteps were strangely
dulled as we  slowly traced a path between the stones. The stones
got closer together and  gradually  we  found our path being blocked
by them. But at one point, Izzy  stepped  forward  and the
tombstones shifted in front of us. We found several  other  places
in  the  maze  that  did  the  same  thing  and  by manoeuvering
carefully, we found we could clear a path through the whitened
blocks.

On  the  other  side  were more stones, though dotted sparsely about
on the damp  earth.  Ahead of us, way to the north, Lone pointed out
a large mound so  we  headed  that  way.  But  soon, a river crossed
our path and we were forced  to  travel along the bank, hoping for a
place to cross. Instead, we were  startled when a shadowy figure
appeared out of the mist - a ferryman. He  said  nothing,  just
held  out a skeletal hand and waited silently but expectantly.  Izzy
hissed at Clarence, "pay him", and the cleric cautiously held  out
the  black coins. The bony fingers closed over the coins and the
deal  was  made; we had our transportation over the river, though it
wasn't what we had expected.

"Not  more  graves" muttered Fidget as we disembarked from the ferry
and we saw  yet  more  gravestones  stretching  into the far
distance. There was a passage  between some stones to the far west
temptingly labelled "exit" and the  dwarf  would have taken it if
we'd let him but Lone led us through the stones to the mound we had
noticed from the other side of the river.

The  path  we  took  led  to  an  entrance,  but it was guarded ....
by the Gravekeeper  and his entourage; an evil spirit, a ghoul, a
skeleton mage, a ghost, a zombie and a skeleton. The Gravekeeper
advanced towards us through the  fire  and mist, his skeletal form
striking terror into all our hearts, but I knew we were equal to the
challenge.

Lone,  Fidget  and I laid about us with our weapons while Izzy
blasted away with  spells  gleaned  from  his knowledge of fire
runes and Clarence tried turning  the  undead  creatures.  The
fight  was  hard but we succeeded in destroying our enemies. The
Gravekeeper, the last to be overcome, dissolved into  grey  ooze
which  turned  into smoke and floated away with the mist. Before
us,  a  dark,  ominous  tunnel  lead  into the mound and we knew an
important confrontation awaited us down in those sulphurous depths.

The  lowest  level  was  strange in shape, a central maze of tunnels
and my heart  started  to  race as we went to enter it. A stone
archway framed the entrance  and  a  huge  fire  blazed  in front of
us. A ruby eyed snake - a salamander  -  barred  the way. As it
died, a voice rang out, echoing round the  whole  area.  It  was
Xeres! "Woe the mortal who stands in my way" he cried  "for  Death
shall follow swift my hand." But there was no choice, we could only
go forward.

So, we walked deeper into the tunnel, Fidget checking for traps but
finding none.  The path wove round and round with several dead ends
but finally, we came to the centre of the maze and Xeres himself
stood before us. He looked down  at  us  and  said  "so you have
found me. Killing me will not end the destruction."  His  eyes
passed  over  all  of us in turn and he continued "There  is
something bigger here than your mortal minds can understand. If you
kill me, all of Ymros will go down with me."

Xeres  was  flanked  by  two  salamanders,  a  gargoyle  and a
slaver. Izzy discharged  the  biggest  column-of-fire  spell  I  had
ever  seen him use straight  at  Xeres (like the rest of us, I think
he panicked a bit) but it did  the  trick  and  the  demon  was
obliterated. His minions fell swiftly though not without cost to
ourselves. With them all dead, we looked through the  archway  ahead
of  us  and saw the town of Idlewood, looking far more peaceful
now, but as we passed through the arch, we all felt we had missed
something.

Izzy  slapped  his  hand  to  his  brow  in exasperation. "The Amber
Vault, remember?  We  heard  about it in Idlewood but I didn't see
it. Come on, we have  to go back and find it. It must hold some
useful information for us." A quick trip back through the dungeon
and we were back at the lowest level. To  the south of the area, the
normal fabric of the dungeon was replaced by a  length  of
brickwork. This difference gave us hope that we had found the
location  of  the Vault and we walked along the wall till we found a
secret passage.

Inside  was  the  Vault.  Flaming  runes covered the floor and
skeletons of demons  hung  on  the  walls.  The  heat  almost drove
us back but Clarence examined the runes closely. "I can translate
some of it" he said "using the runes  we found earlier that said
'Ymros is mine'." He frowned. "That gives 'se-re-  en-r-n-e  ...'."
Izzy  interrupted  him "that's got to be 'secret entrance'  surely?"
"You're right" said Clarence, "and that gives us a few more letters
and means it's easy to translate the rest of the message.

'Secret  entrance  to  Ice Cathedral leads to Demon Crystal'." Lone
grinned and  reminded  us  of  the message we had got earlier (it
seemed a lifetime ago)  when  Clarence  had burnt the red dust in
the censer. At least now we had a new location to aim for - if only
we could find it.

We started our search for the Ice Cathedral, travelling by boat from
island to  island,  looking  and searching, avoiding ghost ships,
fighting pirates and sea monsters until we began to doubt that we
would ever find it. On our way  north, we found the College of Fire
Runes on one southerly island. But we pressed on, going ever north.

Landing on one northern island, we spotted a dungeon entrance. Lone
led the way  as  we  entered  a twisting passage. In a large room,
we came upon the biggest  ice  dragon we had ever seen - alright,
I'll be honest, none of us had  seen one before .... but he WAS big!
Izzy prepared to cast a column of fire  at  the  creature  but
before he could do anything, the dragon moved forward, his blue
scales glinting in the dim light, and breathed a spell at the wizard
who was immediately frozen in ice.

Lone and I rushed at the dragon, weapons at the ready, trapped the
beast in a corner and slew him before he could do more damage to our
party. Clarence and  Fidget  didn't  get  a chance to strike a blow.
We collected our poor, frozen  wizard  and  explored the lair and
surrounding tunnels. Despite the attentions  of  mountain  giants
and an ogre, we completed our explorations quickly,  finding  the
College of Ice Runes in a northern passage and, in a small room to
the south, an icicle which Lone took.

A  quick  trip to the healers restored our friend to full health,
though it cost  us  quite  a  bit  of  gold,  and we continued our
search for the Ice Cathedral.

"Land  ho!"  shouted  Fidget, rousing us all from our slumbers and
we leant over  the  rail  to  see  an  island  to  the west. Was
this the one we had searched  for  all  these weeks? Yes! On the
island, we found a temple made from blocks of ice. "This must be the
Temple of the Ancients" said Izzy. We could  tell  that  once  it
had  been beautiful but the blocks of ice were tumbled  and  cracked
so  that  the  once-proud  edifice now lay in ruins. Inside, we
found the entrance to the Ice Cathedral but the scattered blocks
that had formed the entrance many centuries ago had fallen to block
the way in. We knew from our discoveries in the Amber Vault that
there was a secret way in - but where? Lone led the way again as we
started to search for it.

We found it at last, a secret passage through a wall. The Ice
Cathedral was still beautiful, despite the great damage that had
occurred. At one end was an  octagonal pedestal of blue ice on which
was a dark violet crystal. "The Demon  Crystal"  whispered
Clarence.  Dark mist swirled between us and the crystal  and  I
could see strange shapes forming in it and then dissolving again.
For  a  moment,  I felt it seemed to examine us, then it cleared to
reveal  the  crystal  in  all its horrifying glory. Clarence stepped
slowly forward and took it. Then we left the Cathedral as quickly as
we could.

Back  outside,  in the main body of the Temple, a library in the
north-west corner had been ransacked, just a few scrolls littering
the floor. Clarence pushed  the  scraps  of parchment aside to
uncover a prayer scroll which he took.  A passage east looked a
likely route to take but a noise alerted us. Rounding  a corner, who
should we come across but Jesric of the High Temple of Malifon!

He  turned  to  us  and said "Until I find the Demon Crystal, I
claim these ancient  ruins  to  be mine!" His tone told us he would
take no argument on the subject but, unfortunately for Jesric, we
had other ideas.

Despite his sword and armour, we defeated him fairly easily. Fidget
noticed a  medallion  around  the dead priest's neck. "It shows he's
Malifon's High Priest" said the dwarf, taking the heavy amulet and
passing it to Lone. "It might  come  in  useful  then"  said  the
lanky ranger, tucking it into his pocket.

A doorway nearby led into a corridor. The air was chilly and
instinctively, I  drew  my  cloak tighter round me but it made
little difference. A squeak from  behind  me made me turn, to see
Fidget, mouth open, pointing a little distance  down the corridor.
What the small man had noticed but the rest of us  had  missed  was
-  a pair of ghosts! One was an evil-looking man, the other  a
kind-looking  priest.  They  seemed  to  be  arguing  and, to our
amazement, we could hear what they were saying.

One  voice said "You are a fool! Your god is dying and still you
pray." The other  responded  "He  is  still  strong. Find me a god
who can break these walls  and  I  shall  worship  him  instead."
As  we  walked into the next corridor,  the voices followed us.
"Long have I quested, and at a volcano a spirit  conquered  my
mind.  It  is  a  spirit as old as time. It once was strong,  but
was defeated and rests now, regaining power ....... behold its power
....." We all gasped as images of fire and pain engulfed our senses.

Faint  heartbeats echoed in our minds as the ghost said "Oh Dark
One, whose power  is  so  great  -  I  cannot  worship thee. Instead
I offer to you as sacrifice  an  old fool who cannot see a candle in
the shadows." We all got the  impression of a blade and pain, then
the heartbeats ceased. I realised we had witnessed a murder from
long ago.

Returning to the main body of the Temple, we found a door made of
ice, and, noticing  a  hole  in the door, Lone inserted the icicle.
Suddenly we found ourselves  transported  to the other side of the
door in an Altar Room with an altar of blue ice against the south
wall. Clarence put the prayer scroll on  the  altar  and as the last
of the foreign words from it left his lips, the Temple was flooded
with light. A powerful voice spoke to us.

The  voice spoke to us, not aloud but through our minds. It told us
how the White  Knights  had  created  an Orb of great power, capable
of acting as a catalyst  between  the Ancients and Mortals. The
voice continued to explain that  it  was  the  last of the Ancients
who Malifon believed were dead and that,  with  help,  Malifon  had
broken through the Imprison spell that had trapped him. Ymros was
doomed unless he could be bound again.  Finally, the voice said
"Through the Orb, I can give you the power to renew his binding. It
lies in the Vault of the White Knights, northeast of the desert,
guarded by  Kalek-Zin,  the  greatest of the Knights. He can surely
be persuaded to give the Orb to you. When you have it, return to me
and I will give you the powers  of the Gods. The Ancient has
spoken." The light faded and the voice was gone.

Reverently,  we  left the Temple of the Ancients and sailed east,
passing a few  islands,  until  we  came  to a small one that was
mountainous in the centre  but  had  an  inlet  that could be
entered from the south coast. We landed  on a beach and to the
north, found the entrance to the Vault of the White Knights.
Appropriately, the walls inside were painted white and Izzy pointed
out  the  Knights'  names  carved  on them. "This whole Vault is a
memorial  to the Warriors of old" he explained.  An octagonal pool
sparkled in the centre and Clarence identified it as a healing pool.
I realised this pool  might  come in useful as I expected some
challenge awaited us inside; there  seemed little chance we could
just go in and take the Orb.  A secret passage in the north wall led
into the Fire Chamber of Kalek-Zin.

Though  a  wall  of  fire  ahead  of us filled the room with light,
no heat emanated  from  it.  "Karek-Zin's burial chamber," whispered
Clarence. "The greatest  of  all the Knights." An alcove in the
flames became apparent and we  edged  towards it. Inside we could
see a glowing Orb and I sensed great power coming from it.  We moved
into the alcove. A pure white spirit weaved in  and  out  of  the
flames, guarding the Orb whose colours changed as we watched  it.
Clarence reached towards the Orb to take it from its pedestal but
the spirit intervened. "The Orb of Evertime is the greatest artifact
of the  White  Knights"  it  said. "If used unwisely, it could
endanger all of Ymros  but since I sense Ymros is already in great
peril, I will release it to  you  if  you  can  show you are worthy
of it. Pass the tests within the Vault and the Orb is yours.

Exploring  the  Vault,  we found two secret passages, one on either
side of the  Vault.   We  found  that  these  linked  with each
other, also passing through  a room adorned with paintings of the
ancient Warriors. Leading off this  maze  of  passages we found a
series of rooms, one for every class of adventurer,  not  only  our
own but also visionary, scholar and others.  We entered each room in
turn. Each was a proving room where we would be called upon  to
show  our worth, each according to his own class specialities. In
rooms  that  did  not  apply  to  one of us a voice told us we were
free to leave. Lone had to fight a cave bear, Fidget to disarm a
trap; gradually we all completed our own tasks.

Leaving  the  final  room  we  returned to the alcove. This time the
spirit allowed  us  to  take  the  Orb  and Clarence reverently
picked it up. Even Fidget  seemed  somewhat subdued as we turned and
retraced our steps to our ship  and from there, sailed west to
return to the Altar Room in the Temple of  the  Ancients as we had
been instructed.  On the way, night fell and as we slept on the ship
we all heard the same voice speak to us. It said, "The Orb  of
Evertime now is yours, but your quest remains in vain. I was alive
before  mortals  touched  the Earth and no mortal there can touch
me. It is true  that  with  the Demon Crystal I can lay neither
tooth or claw on you. But  I can make you wish you were never born."
"Let these words of Malifon be  heard  -  The  sky  shall flare the
Earth shall bleed. All that is dark shall  rise  up  in  Glory,  and
all  that  is  Light  shall  be  trampled underfoot."

It  was very hard to go to sleep the next night in case the voice
returned. It  didn't .... but instead we experienced visions. Dark
and gloomy forests and  rivers  of blood ... great battles and a
black force with power beyond our  comprehension.  One  by  one,  we
saw the gods killed - the Eagle, the Swan,  the  Raven,  the  Woman
of Colours, the Tiger. One by one they were defeated  and  fell
into the flaming waters below. We saw clerics all over Ymros  wake
up  to a new day with the feeling that something had been torn from
their  souls.  Great thunderbolts fell from the skies and each
temple was  turned to ruin.  We woke, stunned. Clarence put into
words what we all suspected.   "They're  dead,"  he  said, his voice
quavering. "The gods are dead.  What  can we do? Who will help us
now?"  "I have a feeling that will be answered when we get back to
the altar room," said Izzy, laying his hand on  the  cleric's
shoulder - though he was no longer a cleric in truth, his god having
been destroyed with the rest.

"Come," continued the wizard. "Let us see what the Ancient One has
to say." We  returned  to the altar room, using the icicle to enter,
and  once again Clarence  used  the  prayer scroll on the altar and
the Ancient One spoke. "You  have  done well. With the Orb, I may
now transfer some of my power to one of you. I offer to make one of
you a God. The Power of the Ancient Ones lies in the God Runes. Two
spells it allows you to cast in camp are Uncurse and  Imprison."
The  voice  went  on  to  explain.  "To  keep Malifon from
communicating mentally with the natives near the volcano, we put a
curse on the  land  round  it.  This  is done through the three
crimson glyphs. Each glyph  sustains  the  curse  on  the land round
it and any mortal who walks there  will  rot  with  every  step.
You must destroy each glyph using the Uncurse spell while camping on
the same space as the glyph. Until all three glyphs  are  destroyed,
you  will not be able to use the Dark Chapel to go back in time to
the Dawn of Man."

The  voice paused, then continued. "Only in the Chapel of the Past
will you find  the  entrance  to  Malifon's  volcano. Imprison is
used to seal off a passageway  and  the room it leads to so no
creature can pass. This is what you  must  do  to  defeat  Malifon
as it would be impossible to kill him in combat.  Even  all  the
Ancients could not kill him. His power is so great that even the
Demon Crystal will shatter if you come too close to him. Cast the
Imprison  spell when the Demon Crystal glows white, it costs 100
spell points."   There  was  another  pause and then the voice said,
"One will be given  enough  experience  to gain the wisdom you need
and 200 spell points with  which  to  cast  the  God Runes. Go to my
holy city and convert to my faith  for,  in  the  time to come, the
new gods shall falter and die. Good luck."

We  sensed we were being scrutinised and then the voice asked us who
wished to  become  a  God?   I  looked at Lone, he looked at
Clarence, Clarence at Fidget  and  Fidget  at  Izzy.  Izzy didn't
look at anyone. He just stepped slowly  forward  and said "I do." We
expected some sign that our friend had been  elevated  to  such  a
rank but, no. He turned back to us, looking no different,  but
calmly  reminded  us that we must travel to Ancient's holy city.
We had previously learned at Qoorik that Asaht was the holy city of
the  Ancients,  so  it  was  to  there  that  we  set  sail.
Entering  the oddly-shaped  temple  at  Asaht,  Izzy converted to
the faith of Ancient. A trip  to  the  Guild  confirmed that he had
indeed gained several levels of experience,  and  we were once again
ready to continue on our quest. "Where to?"  asked  Fidget as we
returned to the ship.  "East", replied our divine companion, his
eyes fixed on the distant horizon.

Directly east of Jacanth we found a small, mountainous island with
an inlet containing  a  healing  pool. We sailed back out of the
inlet and continued east  where  we  found  another  larger  island.
Anchoring the boat on the shoreline, we started to explore.  We
walked into the mountains and through onto  a  sandy  beach  with
buildings  around it. To the northwest was one containing  a small
room full of maps showing a volcano south of the island and  the
Dark Chapel that the Ancient One had mentioned to us on an island to
the  south  of  that.  Back outside and along the beach to the
south, a ship  lay at anchor on the inland sea. Guarding it were two
mountain giants and  a  Titan  -  a huge figure wielding a huge,
shining sword. Lone gave a battle  cry, at least that's what I think
it was, and we attacked. Within a short space of time, the ship was
ours.

We sailed back towards the entrance and, leaving the ship, walked
along the beach  to the east. A short bridge led over the water to a
small island and a  bell tower. Just inside the entrance was a short
corridor. Two rooms led off, one north, one south. In the north room
was a skeleton mage called the Bellkeeper; a powerful assassin, he
had been hired by Eregore to keep watch over  the  bell  tower.  He
screamed threats at us and attacked. Lone and I killed  him  and as
he breathed his last, we felt a cold force fly past us, followed  by
the ringing of a massive bell to the west.  In the south room was  a
dog, obviously the Bellkeeper's pet, but at the end of the corridor
was  something far more important - a huge bell. On the wall above
the bell were  some runes and, squinting at them slightly, Clarence
translated them. "'Ring  bell  at midnight'" he said. "But how?"
asked Fidget. "We're always asleep  at  that  time  -  it  seems
impossible to stay awake that long." Confused, we returned to the
outside of the dungeon.

To  the  east of the island a small path led into the mountains, and
at the end  of  it  we found a small hut. Inside, an old peasant
woman greeted us. Smiling,  she  waved her hand to encompass the
interior of the hut with its sweet-smelling  herbs.  "Please  stay.
If  you wish, you may sleep here in comfort"  she  offered.  Izzy
smiled at her. "I accept, on behalf of myself and  my  companions"
he said.  We settled down and were soon sound asleep. But  suddenly,
we woke to the screeching of an owl outside.  Everything was still
and  quiet, the moon seeming suspended in the heavens with a magical
feeling to the air. But there was no sign of the old woman.
Collecting our weapons,  we  walked outside into the darkness.
Fidget looked up at the sky and  gasped. "It's the middle of the
night. Quick, let's go to the bell and ring it!" We hurried down to
the bell tower and rang the bell. The sound of angels crying opened
up from the heavens, then everything went quiet again. Lone
frowned. "Now what?" he said. "Nothing's happened!"  Despondently,
we walked back outside, having no idea what to do next.

Boarding  the  ship,  Clarence  suggested  we  set sail to the
south as we hadn't  yet  explored  in  that  direction. Leaving the
ship on yet another small,  sandy beach, we had walked just a few
steps when we noticed a gate, standing open, inviting us to enter.
With a chuckle, Izzy said, "I bet this was  shut  before  we  rang
that bell!" and, with Lone leading the way, we entered.   A short
way down the corridor, a voice from nowhere spoke. "Only those  who
worship Malifon may enter this temple. What is thy name?". Quick as
can  be,  Izzy  replied "Jesric". "You may enter," said the
disembodied voice.   The  corridor  led deep into the mountains into
a small room which was completely bare. "This is strange," said
Izzy. "Where's the temple?" We explored  every  inch  of  the  room,
then returned to the corridor. To our surprise,  where  there  had
previously been a bend in the passageway there was  now  a
crossroads.  To  the east was a healing pool but south another
passage beckoned us deeper into the mountain.

Soon we came to a small, square, sand-filled room with its walls
painted to depict  a  desert  landscape.  Two  huge salamanders
leapt out of the sand! Defeating  them,  we  walked  to  the  south
end of the room and a passage suddenly  opened in the east wall as
the doorway, through which we had just entered,  vanished.  Through
the new exit a bridge led over a small stretch of  water  and split,
one piece going north, one south.  As we explored the area, we
discovered that the whole place was a series of transporter rooms,
each with its own climatic characteristics. After the desert room,
we found one  with  walls  of  fire,  twenty feet high, guarded by a
fire elemental; another  was  bitterly  cold  as magical snow fell
onto us and an ice demon surveyed  us  with its cold, blue eyes
before attacking. Soon we had mapped the  area,  apart  from one
section. In one seemingly normal room, a purple haze  filled the
north wall. I tried to walk through it but failed and none of  the
others had any better luck. But on the side wall was a crystal eye.
Lone  pointed  out  the  carving above it. "'Only high priests
allowed past this  point,  show  identification'",  he read. "I
wonder...." and reaching into   his  tunic,  he  drew  out the heavy
amulet we had taken from Jesric after  he died and held it in front
of the eye. Then he smiled at us as the mist slowly dispersed and we
saw a corridor leading north.

Thus  we  entered the main part of the High Temple, with its high,
engraved ceiling  and  wide  hallways.  The  size  of  the building
dwarfed us (with apologies  to Fidget) and made me feel very
vulnerable and helpless. To the left,  a  doorway  led into a room
of dreams and to the far southeast was a beautiful  cathedral,
guarded  by three orange spellbinders - giant snakes which  moved
hypnotically  before us. But the octagonal room to the north, with
its crystal floor decorated with geometric designs and inscribed
'Only the  right  path  will  bring rewards' seemed more promising.
We discovered that the north, west and east walls were not solid,
though they appeared to be  at  a  cursory glance and, remembering
the inscription on the floor, we went  east  ...  right.  Once
through the "wall", we found a corridor going north with two
doorways. The first one led into a room inhabited by a demon lord,
selected  by  Malifon to watch over Eregore and make sure he did his
job.  Killing  the  demon  lord  and his two attendant hounds, we
entered a second  room  whose  cracked  walls  still bore evidence
of a complex spell which  had  once  been  carved  there.  It
appeared to be the God Rune for breaking  a  binding  and Izzy
pointed out the places where the apprentices would have stood to
cast the spell.

The  second  doorway  from  the  main corridor led into a room
containing a large  crystal  ball.  To my amazement, the voice of
the Ancient One issued from  the  crystal, assuring us that we were
doing well but that we must go on,  for Malifon had gained control
of the Shard of Spring and was planning to  destroy  it.  All  of
us knew that if that happened the world would be plunged  into
deepest winter!  Hurrying, we had just rounded the corner of the
next  corridor  when  a voice rang out - it was Eregore! "So, you
have found  me,"  he  cried  from  the northern end of the room we
were about to enter  as  his followers, a collection of highwaymen,
thieves, fighters and mages,  watched  with  evil  eyes  glinting.
He pointed at us. "Destroy the infidels!" he shrieked, and the
motley crew advanced towards us.

Eregore's  followers  attacked  us  and  the  fight  was  long and
hard but eventually  we were victorious though none of us escaped
unscathed. Eregore stood  at  the north end of the room in front of
a large black mirror and a look  of  horror  came over his face as
he realised we had triumphed. I led the  way  as  we  walked
towards  him. As we got closer we could feel evil emanating  from
the black mirror but to the other side of Eregore I noticed a
beautiful,  round,  multi-faceted mirror which hung by a thread from
the ceiling.  Eregore  spoke. "You fools - you believe you are so
powerful. You have  no  idea what true power is. Malifon, my master,
is the supreme power ... you're lucky he let you live so long." "He
cannot harm us as long as we hold  the  Demon  Crystal  of
Kalek-Zin,"  replied Izzy, in his usual calm voice.

Eregore  looked  questioningly  at  the  mirror,  then  said,  "Who
is this Kalek-Zin?"  "He was the greatest of the White Knights, but,
alas, has been dead  for  centuries," responded Izzy. Eregore looked
even more worried and we realised he was but the tool of a greater
power. He looked to the mirror for  more  guidance  and  said,  "All
the White Knights are dead. There is no-one  to  stop  me taking
over Ymros. Malifon will help me take power and make me ruler of
these lands." I was amazed when Fidget stepped forward and said,
hesitantly,  "If  he  plans  to help you, then why has he stolen the
Shard  of  Spring?"  "That's  not  true!"  screamed Eregore, turning
to the mirror.  He  stared  at  it  and asked "Do you have the Shard
of Spring?" A powerful  voice spoke from the mirror and replied
"Yes." Eregore shook with fear  like  a child. "If you destroy the
Shard, a bitter winter will strike the  land." Then he thought and
added "Of course, you will spare your loyal followers....."  The
voice  spoke firmly "Your purpose was to free me. Now you  have
done that, I have no need of you." "Why?" asked Eregore. Malifon
replied,  "My  winter shall cleanse the land of mortal souls and
once again silence shall embrace the Wind and Gods shall walk the
Earth."

I almost (but not quite) felt sorry for Eregore as I saw his face
change as realisation  dawned.  Suddenly  he saw what he had done
and how he had been used  by  Malifon.  Taking a curved dagger, he
calmly killed himself before any  of  us could stop him. Malifon's
voice spoke once more: "Your meddling has  become  a  thorn  in my
side. Eregore died a fool's death, your deaths shall  be  worse. For
now I shall shatter your precious Shard and my Winter shall  begin.
Do not believe you have felt the last of my wrath, Your pain is my
sustenance, your blood my drink. I do not intend to starve." We
heard a  shattering  sound  that  shook the bowels of the earth. The
black mirror shattered  but  the  faceted  mirror  remained  whole.
Swiftly, Lone rushed forward and took it, then we left the Temple.

Outside,  a grim sight met our eyes. As predicted, the land was in
the grip of a bitter winter and all the towns were in ruins. We were
on our own. "We have  to continue," said Izzy. "We've gone too far
to turn back now." So we returned  to  our  ship  and  sailed
south, avoiding battles with pirates, monsters  and  ghost  ships
now  there  was  no  way we could get our ship repaired.  Fairly
quickly we came to the island with Malifon's volcano and found  the
glyphs  the  Ancient  One  had  mentioned.  Anchoring  the ship
off-shore,  we  walked  to the first glyph, each of us losing one
hit point with  each  step.  Arriving  at the glyph, we set up camp
and Izzy cast the Uncurse  Spell.  Lightning flashed and the glyph
was gone. The land was now safe  to  walk  on in this section of the
island so, once we had rested and regained  our  strength, we
carried out the same procedure at the other two glyphs.

Each  spell  cost  Izzy 50 spell points. In a bay to the south of
the large island,  we  found a smaller one on which was the Dark
Chapel. On the floor in the centre of the building was a large,
round circle of glass from which a  never-ending  stream of
blinding, yellow light poured out. Lone held out the  facet  mirror
over the circle of light. Powerful beams of light burst off  its
facets, blinding us, while I felt my head reel. We felt ourselves
being  sent  back  in  time  and when everything eventually slowed
down, we found  ourselves  in the Dark Chapel as it had been ten
thousand years ago. The  shifting  walls  had  solidified  into
white stone and the Chapel was filled  with the spectral forms of
grossly-disfigured men - haunting images from the dawn of Man, their
heads bowed in prayer.

At  four  alcoves  round the edge of the Chapel were circular
carvings with runic  inscriptions.  One showed a lightning bolt, one
wind being sucked up into  blackness,  another  the creation of the
universe and the fourth some kind  of  ghostly  apparition. Clarence
translated the runes: "Power, Void, Divinity  and  Spirit."  Soon,
we  found  their significance as a spectral priest  at  the north
end of the room chanted "Power, Divinity, Spirit...." and  paused.
"Void"  replied  Izzy. Without warning, a huge, blue fireball burst
into the mountain, melting the rock and opening a passage from which
stale air flowed. The passage led deep into the mountain, to a room
with an ancient stone staircase which was covered with runes and
cracked by time. A huge  stone statue dominated the room but, as we
entered, it came to life -a guardian was attempting to stop us
continuing.

It  had reckoned without Izzy's column of fire spell. Luckily he had
enough spell  points  spare  to  blast the statue and, defeated, it
turned back to stone. Sulphurous mist flowed round our ankles as we
ascended the staircase to  emerge in an icy waste at the top of
Malifon's volcano. Another pit led down  to  our  left and we
descended yet again, this time into the heart of the volcano. The
Demon Crystal glowed violet as we explored the caverns. At the  far
east end we fell down a shaft, even deeper into the volcano and in
this  section  we found a golden bridge spanning a lake of fire. It
was not unguarded  but  once the two dragons and the demon
commanding them had been destroyed  (our  hardest fight yet) we
crossed. The crystal was glowing red as we entered a hall full of
purple mist.

The mist swayed as though it was alive and as I looked into the
mist, I saw faces  of  people we had known and places we had seen on
our travels. As we stepped  into the mist, we travelled through our
memories - the tent at the Kobold  Camp  - the octagon room - the
old woman's hut - and the icy tundra of  the  northlands  by  the
ice  dragon's cave. During all this time, the crystal  had  glowed
violet, red and orange but as Lone stepped forward to enter the cave
Fidget shouted "Stop! Look at the Crystal!" and I saw it was glowing
pure white. Quickly, we set up camp just outside the cave and Izzy
cast  the  Imprison  Spell. Light flashed and a resounding primaeval
scream was  heard  from  the  depths  of the volcano. The walls
shook and began to crumble  around  us.  As  the  Imprison  Spell
took  effect, the sounds of Malifon's  agony  were  quickly  stifled
but  the  walls  of  the mountain continued to shake.

Just  as  I  felt  the  walls  were  about  to collapse about us, a
strange combination  of darkness and light surrounded us and the
Ancient One spoke: "You  have  done  well.  As  long  as  the  spell
holds, Malifon's evil is contained  in  the volcano. Many
adventurers set out to destroy the root of this  evil.  Many  died
along the way and many gave up the quest when they could  not find
the courage to continue. You alone have succeeded, time and again
... to destroy Xeres, acquire the Orb of Evertime, destroy Malifon's
High  Temple  and eventually imprison Malifon himself." "Although
Malifon's evil  has  been  contained, the effects of his evil are
still being felt on Ymros.  With  the  Shard  gone,  the  land
still lies in Winter and though Malifon's  Corruption  is  now
ended, many towns have been turned to ruins. Perhaps  worst  of
all,  the  Gods  that the people of Ymros relied on for centuries
are  dead and the people have lost hope." "I do not say the work is
yours for you have done more good that the land can ever repay.

For  this  reason, I can offer to reward you by making you immortal
and you shall  rule  by  my  side  for  the  rest  of  eternity." I
couldn't see my companions  but  I felt their agreement when I said
"We must decline. There is  too  much  work to be done here on
Ymros". "You are indeed noble," said the  Ancient  One.  "If
mortality is your wish then it shall be granted. I will  make  sure
the  rest  of  your lives are visited by good fortune and
prosperity." And so it was. Lone went back to the town of Woodhaven
and was instrumental in its reconstruction.

After  rebuilding  the  city, he settled down there and lived to a
ripe old age.  Clarence  became  the  first in two millennia to take
up the title of High  Priest  of  the Ancient One. With his
accumulated wealth, he built an enormous  temple  to  The  Ancients
and spread word of the new God. Fidget heard  in  the  tavern  of
untold wealth in lands to the north and went in search  of  the
fortune.  He  gathered a party and explored many dungeons,
eventually retiring in luxury. Izzy went on a great quest for the
Lifestone in  order  to build a new Shard of Spring. While he did
not live to see its completion,  the  new  Shard  was named in
honour of him and still protects Ymros. What happened to me? Well,
that's another story!


~                           *****  THE END  ****