Plane shift
I never expected to find myself on an evil plane with an evil ally. Kaurophon says he”s done with evil, maybe a tall task for a demon (ok, half demon), but Acgar and I both believe him. I also never expected to hold Alek”s life in my hands. When I think back to the first time I heard Jenya talk about him, I remember the jealousy that bubbled up in my heart. And here I am kneeling beside him, healing his wounds.
The battle was not even over and Kaurophon was talking about the test of the smoking eye or some such. Alek took some serious damage and I wanted to focus on healing. I overheard the others talking. Kaurophon made a strong case that we shift to the Ocipitus plane, pass the tests and then head back to Cauldron.
We decided to message Jenya with news in hopes that she could keep the mayor from attacking the merchants. We heard back that Cauldron is at a balance point. For the moment, there is peace. Her final words were, of course, about Alek.
Kaurophon says that the strength elixir saps the person”s wisdom. It makes sense why Alek seems so deranged. I thought it was simply god madness. Sadi cast owl”s wisdom on him to help focus his thoughts. It helped.
The next morning we joined hands, the eight of us, and Kaurophon cast plane shift. Suddenly we found ourselves on this hot smoky plateau. In the distance, in all directions, were huge mountains. Blasts of fire periodically filled the sky. Kaurophon had explained that there are three tests to pass in order to control this plane. If we can do it, perhaps we all become the savior.
As we started to the first test, we practically stumbled on to three vulture-like creatures. We saw them first and before we could group to discuss what to do, Alek pulled out his sword and charged the one on the far left. “Pelor, give me patience”, I thought. He certainly caught it by surprise, but his sword seemed to glance off the creature”s shoulder instead of taking off its head. Alek took a step back in surprise and the creature opened its mouth and spewed chunks of something all over him. The other two creatures cast a circle of darkness over themselves.
I whispered a quick prayer to Pelor for aid. Cinder and Sadi took cover on opposite sides. Glonda and Acgar moved to the left near Sadi. I wondered what Kaurophon would do, would he turn on us? He took two big steps towards Cinder but then let off a huge fireball right in the middle of the dark cloud. We heard squawks of pain. I ran up behind Alek as the vulture raked him with both claws and tried to tear his arm off with that powerful beak. Alek kind of sighed and slumped to the ground. As I reached him I saw that small plants were growing out of his face. The chunks from the vulture”s mouth had been seeds, I guess. It was horrible to see his handsome face covered with small green tendrils. And I couldn”t help but be aware of how close I was to the creature. If he decided to spew again, I would be hit. I could sense the life force ebbing in Alek. I called upon my most powerful healing spell; I would save him for Jenya. The wounds were most important — the spores could wait online pokies until after the battle.
I heard Sadi”s bow close by. The arrows bounced off the vulture. Myntilly, Kaurophon and Cinder were working on the other two. I heard Acgar say “Move!” I pulled Alek closer to me as Acgar breathed acid at the vulture. That got his attention! With Alek stabilized I turned to the battle. I pulled out my golden sun, held over my head and cried out. “Hear me, demon spawn. The great god Pelor commands you fall in supplication. Fall to the ground. I command it!” The one in front of me swayed but stayed upright. Damn. I couldn”t see if the others were affected.
At that moment Glonda called down lightning on them. It seemed to hit all three and my heart lifted. The vulture in front of me flapped his wings and flew about 30 feet behind me. Double damn. He landed near Kaurophon and Myntilly. They half bowed to each other and let loose with fireballs. He almost exploded from the impact.
Acgar opened her mouth to breathe acid again and this time Alek got splashed. Since he was unconscious, he didn”t flinch. I shot her a dirty look and she shrugged her shoulders. I healed Alek again and by the time I looked up the cloud had dissolved and I could see Cinder ramming her rapier into one of the vultures. The other collapsed from three spells fired at once.
Sadi ran over to tell me that Cinder had been hit by some of the spores from her vulture. I removed the disease completely. Unfortunately I can only do that spell once a day. Sadi, however, was able to neutralize the spores in Alek. I can”t help but wonder if he will bear scars of the attack. And if so, what will Jenya think when she sees his face?
Our Hen House
Compassionate Cook