September 5, 1372
September 5th finds you teleported to the reverse wishing room. This is
a 30' X 40' room with two doors in the wall at one end and one door in
the wall at the other.
In the middle burns a fire of green flames...with no source of fuel!
Dor tries not to think...and succeeds.
Kadlian looks expectantly at Trinity. "Who were you able to get to make the anti-wish for us?"
Galil raises her brow in surprise at Lord Kadlian's comment. "I do believe I volunteered yesterday."
Galil turns to Trinity, "I am ready, I have practiced the words you have told me to say."
Galil waits until either Lord Kadlian or Trinity indicate that it is time to speak the words of the wish.
"Galil, step into the flame and say, 'I wish that Niko was not alive, healthy and here.'"
"Into the flame?" Galil asks uncertainly though she does carefully step into the flame, her heart pounding.
When she does she feels no heat. Then, the word 'WISH' appears in the air before here.
Once in the flame, she repeats the words Lord Kadlian bade her to say - "I wish that Niko was not alive, healthy and here."
Nothing appears to happen. The word fades out.
"Galil, try stepping out and back into the flame. And then speak
the words again. That should have worked as that was the wording
I used to bring back you, Edelle and Windul about six weeks ago."
Trinity is concentrating on the flame, waiting for a thought to hit her.
"Why, Lord Kadlian? We wished that Niko were not here, so he must be elsewhere, yes?" Galil asks in confusion.
Kadlian shrugs. "The first time I tried it, it did not work,
either. The second time, it did. I do not understand how the
flame works, just that it did with those words for you, Windul and
Edelle, all whom are elves. Please, just try it."
Galil nods.
"Certainly Lord Kadlian," she replies, stepping into the green flame once more.
The word 'WISH' does not appear.
Galil takes a deep breath and again says, "I wish that Niko was not alive, healthy and here."
Nothing seems to happen.
"I am sorry Lord Kadlian, it seems I have somehow failed in this
endeavor," she says somberly, still standing within the green
flame as if somehow things could be different. "I wish I had been
able to return your companion to you, whole and happy." Galil
sighs, "I guess my remaining in the flame will have little value at
this point." she says, stepping from the flame. "I am very, very
sorry to have failed you."
Kadlian turns to Trinity, puzzled. "Now what?"
"Now we go home," replies the mage.
"And how do we retrieve Niko?"
"I am deeply sorry for the loss. I wonder if it failed because I was once the recipient of the powers here?" Galil asks.
Kadlian shakes his head. "You did nothing to fail me. I do
not know what went wrong, but you said the words that I asked you to
say and therefore you have nothing to apologize for."
"Might I suggest another go at the flame thing?" Galil asks,
before continuing with her idea anyway. "Perhaps it is not always
a thing of anti-wishing and the word in the flame lets the user know
which way it is go to? If another of us could step in and see,
wording the wish according to what sign the flame may give?"
Trinity puts her hand up.
"I'm trying to remember what I have seen happen here," says the
mage. "It is also possible the powers that be have removed the
power from this flame, and that will cause no end of havoc to my plans."
Galil nods, "The powers that be often take exception to the plans of
those who depend on their powers. If such is the case, we must
find another way to help your companion right away."
Trinity speaks. "Let us return to Occa's place. it is possible
that Niko is alive there, since we did not bring his body with us."
You return to Occa's mansion.
Going to the stable, where the servants had stored his rotting corpse, you find that it has disappeared.
Galil raises her brow in surprise. "I will check the rooms in the house
and ask the servants if Niko has been seen. Perhaps the grounds
should be checked as well, and other areas that your companion enjoys."
Galil hurries off to see if Niko is within the house and question whichever servant she may find.
You search and question the servants and staff for half an hour. No one has seen hide nor hair of Niko.
Trinity gets the crystal ball from Kailar and looks for Niko.
She sees Niko...alive and stark naked. She likes the view. He is
looking through a doorway into a passage. An empty room is behind him.
"Trinity, does the room or passage look familiar? Any chance that he is back in Golgar?"
It does not look like any dungeon you have ever been in. The decor is different.
"Can we get Kailar up here, as I remember he can teleport as well, so
at a minimum, we need to get some of us there with Niko to protect
him," says the mage.
Kailar is present.
Niko, meanwhile, proceeds down the passage and reaches a door at the
end. The door there shimmers away. Through the opening you see a larger
chamber, dominated by a large window (you think) in the opposite wall.
Desks and consoles are here and there, facing the window, as are a
number of chairs. The place is dimly lit.
Sitting in here with their backs to you are four orcs. Their attention
is focused on the view through the window. It depicts a starry sky
filled with constellations that you do not recognise. In the centre of
the view is a ship...a sailing ship, but one unlike any you have ever
voyaged on. It is of delicate construction, with several masts sticking
out of its hull at odd angles. Enormous, gossamer sails billow out
before it. You are struck by its beauty.
Galil gasps in surprise, her eyes widening at the sight. She
actually stammers for a moment before saying, "I know those
ships!"
She leans closer to the sight, as if wanting to reach out and touch the
image that is revealed in the crystal ball. "It is said among my
people that those of the West Land still voyage in these star sailers -
they travel to distant points of light in the heavens, using the sails
to catch the star light much as water sailing vessels catch wind for
motive power."
Galil stares at the sight, mesmerized and feeling an odd pang of regret
at the majesty of these sailing craft and that she has never
experienced such a thing.
After a moment Niko turns away. The door rematerialises. He goes to a
door close by. The door opens to reveal a small (5' square) room,
entirely taken up by a hole in the floor and a corresponding hole in
the ceiling.
Galil frowns when the image is gone, wondering what new sights will be revealed.
"This is very odd. Why would Niko be there? What were you
thinking, Galil, as you made the wish? It's clear that he is
alive, but not here," the mage says.
Galil shrugs lightly, "I was only thinking of the wording, wanting to
be careful as I know that things can go wrong. I have not thought
of the sailing ships for some time now, though I've always been
intrigued by the tales."
"We need to get there. Kailar, what is Sir's price to either bring Niko here, or take us to him?"
"Kailar, can you teleport Niko back here based on that image or do we
have to go to him? And, if we have to go to him, how many of us
can you take with you?"
"I can not teleport someone who is not near me to my location. I
think that would take a wish. Sir might be able to. If we
shrink, I can take everyone. But I can only teleport once per day."
"That's fine. I can bring my books and memorize the spell for the
return trip. It's just with Niko naked and all, we need to get to
him, or get him here as quickly as possible," says Trinity.
"Can't we contact him via an esp cast through the crystal ball?" says Trinity.
"Then we go in force. I have a portable hole we can use as
well. We can put Niko's equipment in it and a few people for a
few moments, I believe. We hole up somewhere and then teleport
back when you or Rage has memorized the spell."
You rush around and gather up your supplies and equipment, gathering again within five minutes.
Everyone but Kailar climbs into the portable hole.
As Niko ponders, Kailar suddenly appears out of thin air before him.
After a perfunctorily bow, the gnome takes out a portable hole and spreads it on the floor.
Out climb the rest of the party.
Niko stands in the doorway of a 10' square room. There is a hole in the floor behind him.
Kailar and company are in another 10' square room. There is a door to
the left (relative to Niko), and a small hatch located at floor level
to the right. The hatch is only about 2' high, and perhaps just a
little wider. The air in here is warm, dry, and has a somewhat stale
scent to it. There is also the odour of something else, as well.
Kadlian recogises it as orc-scent. You feel a slight vibration and
hears a low hum.
You feel somewhat heavier than normal.
Kadlian hands Niko's equipment to him from the portable hole.
"Sorry, this was the only way we could get you back from wherever this is," Kadlian whispers.
Niko whispers back, "Thanks for bringing me back! Four orcs with
blasters below sitting in a room about to launch an attack on an Elven
star sailer. We've got about two or three minutes."
Niko quickly grabs and puts on his cloak of the manta ray, ring of
invisibility and ring of fire resistance. He also grabs Dwarf's
Envy and magic dagger, then puts the rest of his stuff in the portable
hole.
Kadlian sighs. "Okay, what do blasters do?"
"Hand held weapons that shoot out energy...or something like that. I saw something like them in the community chest."
"Great. Okay, we just have to stop them from using them."
"We need to take them out quickly and carefully. No fireballs,
Trinity. I have a feeling that would be a very bad idea.
Magic missiles would be ideal. Beware that the doors disappear when you
stand in front of them. Shall we go?"
"No fireball?" asks Trinity. "What about lightning bolts?"
Niko frowns and shakes his head "Don't even think about it."
"You die, we wish you back to life, and you are no fun at all,"
says the mage. "We clearly forgot your sense of life in the
wish. Galil, you'll have to remember that next time."
"I have not lost my sense of life. When you see what I see
downstairs, you'll understand why fireball and lightning bolts are bad
ideas."
Kadlian nods. "Edelle, Trinity and Niko, use magic missiles to
take out the orcs. I will go in with Dor and take them on hand to
hand."
Niko shakes his head "I don't have spells, but Sleep might be good, too. I'm going in hand-to-hand and invisible."
"Galil, Dor, Windul, you have our backs, then. There are probably
more orcs around, I would guess. Niko and I will attack hand to
hand, Trinity and Edelle will unload whatever magic missiles they have
available as quickly as they can. Since we do not know what these
blasters can do, we need to kill the orcs before they have an
opportunity to use them."
"Got it Boss man," says Trinity.
Niko steps back into the opening in the room behind him...and hangs there...despite his best attempt to descend.
A loud howling sound rips through the air.
Then, the noise starts to slowly fade, as you hear a sucking noise...like the very air were being evacuated from the area...
You start to have trouble breathing. Inhaling deeply does not help.
The floor and walls suddenly shake.
Kadlian has the portable hole.
Kadlian hands it over to Niko.
Niko quickly reaches for his rod of security in the portable hole.
Niko opens it up and removes his rod.
Windul is gasping. You will be in a vacuum within a minute.
After closing the hole, Niko holds the rod in one hand and Edelle's
hand in the other. He indicates that everyone should do so
quickly, too.
When everyone is touching he activates the rod of security.
Kadlian grabs Windul's hand and Edelle's.
"Hurry!" he croaks.
Kailar and Ragnar also join hands with the group.
Niko activates the sanctuary, and you enter, breathing fresh, pure air once it seals behind you.
"What happened?" asks Trinity. "And do you have your crystal
ball, Kailar? Can we peer out to see what is happening? And
can we cast teleport out of here, without putting ourselves in danger
again?"
"I think the orcs knew we were there and took steps to kill us."
"I don't think that's necessarily true. It could be that they elven ship detected the orc ship and put a hole in it."
"And I was hoping you would know the answer to the teleport question."
"Does anyone have a spell that creates a sphere of air or force?
We could reduce everyone into the portable hole and then Rage could
teleport us once we return. I wouldn't want to try a teleport
spell here...unless it was a teleport without error spell."
Trinity gives Niko an odd look.
"Whom do you think should be doing the teleportation?" she asks.
Niko gives Trinity a confused look back, "Well, I had assumed
you...unless someone else has a Teleport spell or something else to
take us back home."
"You said Rage. I am not Rage and she is not here. And when
we wished you back, you appeared here. I am beginning to get
suspicious. There is something very odd at work here," says
the mage, dropping into PBEM paranoia mode, "Or am I imagining
everything?"
"If you are, then I wish you had given me more muscle," Kadlian quips.
"Niko, any idea why you ended up on that orc ship?"
"Nope. I assumed it had to do with the wording of the wish to
bring me back to life. Either that or I was captured by space
aliens. It's a shame that we didn't have the chance to capture
that orc ship...I would have loved to get a closer look at that elven
ship!"
Galil nods in agreement. "I too would have loved to experience
being on that ship. I had only ever heard the stories before and have
always been intrigued by them."
"I only caught a fleeting glimpse of the ship, but it was more
beautiful than words can describe. Truly, they are the stuff of
legends!"
Galil nods, in a manner much more animated than her usual reserved
self. "I was amazed to see it in the crystal ball. As a child, I
had heard the stories and wasn't sure if they could really be true. It
is hard at times to imagine that we Elves still venture out there, in
the stars, though I guess it shouldn't be that hard to believe. I
know it was done in the old days, but so much is now gone that used to
be. I suppose it is true then that the Elves of the West Land do
still voyage in them which makes me truly wonder why they are the only
ones that still do." Galil pauses briefly before adding, "Though
perhaps if they do, others do as well. I could not tell which
Elves were sailing in that ship."
"Kailar, can you see the elven ship again in the crystal ball?"
Niko turns and bows to the mage, "Apologies, Trinity. A slip of
the tongue and nothing more. As for appearing here, what were the
words used in wishing me back?"
Trinity looks at Niko, "The fact that I had another friend replaced by
a double, well, I get a bit suspicious. As for the wording, we
used the same wording as we did to restore Galil when she was killed.
Galil, what exactly did you say?"
"I said, I wish that Niko was not alive, healthy and here," Galil
replies softly, still distracted with vision of Elven sailing ships in
her head.
Niko ponders for a moment, "I take it you made this wish at the
anti-wish flame, eh? Well, considering I was both alive and
healthy, one would suppose that it was not necessary to say 'not
here.' In any case, I think we should first work on a solution to
get home rather than figuring out what went wrong with the anti-wish..."
Kailar remarks, "Ah, it should have been 'I wish that Niko was not
alive, healthy OR here.' Does that mean that you are
unhealthy too?"
Niko shrugs, "I seem as healthy as ever!"
"Trinity, do you have wall of force in any of your spellbooks?"
While this conversation is going on, Niko grabs the rest of his equipment from the portable hole and get dressed.
However, when he opens the extradimensional space of the portable hole
within the extradimensional space of the sanctuary, you hear a terrible
ripping sound, as a rent in the space-time continuum opens, and you are
hurled through it...