One night Zlotvor, the Evil Doer (as he calls himself), had promised
a number of townspeople in the frontier settlement of Unity that
he would open a gate and escort them into the "spirit world."
No one seems to remember exactly why the settlers were eager
to enter, but they were. I know I wasn’t too eager, but
since I had recently been elected First Citizen of the town (by
a massive majority, of course), I felt pressured to go along.
--Why we were following someone who calls himself "the Evil
Doer" I don’t know. I mean, the guy isn’t even
alive; he’s pale and well, actually I’m not sure what
he is . . .
So, for whatever reasons, we followed the colorful cloak of Zlotvor
as he opened the gate and stepped into another plane. I remember
going down stairs of some sort - or was it a ladder? - and then
our group of about 15 was in a very dark room. The room seemed
to be about 30 feet long and its uneven walls were some 20 feet
wide. Barely able to see, we all mumbled and groped around to
see who was next to us. I heard Zlotvor telling us to be careful,
in his evil, understated way. (He’s the kind of guy who’d
hand you a cup of spider venom, smile and quietly say, "it
has a bit of a bite to it.") Well, no sooner said than two
humanoids jump out from the darkness at us and start flailing
on the people in front. Having bravely volunteered to cover our
rear, I could only hear the clang of steel and grunts of someone
being hurt. I did make out a couple bodies falling to the ground,
and saw Dennis the Rat and Calamity’s silhouettes bouncing
in the melee. Then it was over.
I found out that our superior forces overcame the two spirit
warriors, and after Paddock and the barbarian shaman Nudnik had
finished healing the wounded, Zlotvor set off down a hallway.
He stopped when he came to a doorway. He told us there was someone
behind the door who wanted to see us. Brilliant! I thought. It’s
probably Death himself! But Bear and Blake lead the way into
the room. With my partner Ruprik on my left, I cautiously scanned
the room. It was lighter in here, and it seemed to be about 25
feet square, with a nook in the far corner. Then the bad news:
pacing back and forth on the far side of the room was the Gem
Mage Eru. He was flanked by four or five of his monks and his
slimey some-time apprentice, Darow. (Darow was infamous for betraying
the town to Old Mr. Death.)
They had a few unpleasant words for each other (it seemed that
Iru thought Zlotvor had betrayed him somehow), and then Iru said
that he was furious with the townspeople.
The burden of leadership was heavy on me (or was it just the
Galenese ale I’d had before we set off?), and I stepped
forward to use my usually silver-tongued skills. Kneeling before
him (for effect) I began, "Oh great Eru, we mean no harm
in coming here--"
"Silence! You people have killed my monks. You have taken
the gems that were due to me, he snapped." Clearly he hadn’t
gotten enough gem mage beauty sleep.
I smiled. "Well, your Awesomeness, it’s funny you
should mention that because--"
Apparently my silver tongue was too tarnished, because Eru
raised his gem-encrusted staff and angrily threw a spell at me.
I remember that in the next instant I had enough time to think
"that’s not a spell I recognize," so I willed
my spell shield to dissipate his attack. But Eru simply threw
the spell again. The next thing I knew was that I couldn’t
move. Trying to understand what had happened, I realized that
I could see and hear, but I wasn’t breathing. Since I couldn’t
even move my eyeballs, I tried to take in my knees which stuck
out as I kneeled. Stone. I could see that my legs had been turned
to stone. As I was comprehending the gravity of this, I noticed
Zlotvor and Eru having a heated exchange.
Someone else tried to speak for the town, and Eru cast the same
spell I that got me on him. Since he was in my field of vision,
I could see that it was the big barbarian warrior, Bear. It was
then that I noticed Ruprik slide in behind Bear to hide. Ruprik’s
no fool; he wanted no part of Eru. Some brave heart -- I forget
who it was; he didn’t last long -- stepped out to attack
Eru and the nasty mage promptly petrified him too. Other’s
began to move anxiously, and Eru quickly petrified four or five
more people. "Impressive," I thought to myself. "How
is he casting all those powerful spells?" I wondered. Before
I could look for an answer he looked around and decided to turn
the rest of the group to stone! So there we were, all 15 of us,
stuck as statues in some strange corner of the spirit world.
"Brilliant," I thought, "just brilliant."
Eru rambled on about the injustices done to him and the debt
that was owed to him. If I could have rolled my eyes I would
have; these gem mages just have the strangest perspectives on
things. After some griping childish name calling, Zlotvor challenged
Eru to a game. "If I win the game, the townspeople can leave,
and you’ll drop any claim you have against them," said
the Evil Doer. --I started to wonder why Zlotvar was taking our
side in this, but quickly gave up attempting to understand his
twisted reasoning.
"And if I win the game," Eru barked, "I keep
them all here in this realm until I’m satisfied."
"Well," Zlotvor said, tossing his long hair to one
side, "I suppose that will do." And he went on to explain
the game.
"You can select two of your monks to represent you. I’ll
select two people to represent the town. I’ll grant the
representatives special powers to kill with one surprise blow.
There will be no spells cast. The goal of the game is to kill
the two players on the other side."
I didn’t like this at all. Besides the burning question
of why Zlotvor cared about us settlers, there was just something
about this that stunk like week-old fish. Regardless, I thought,
I want to represent the town. Ruprik and I were great partners,
and we could do as well as anyone, I thought.
Then Eru had some of his monks move the "statues"
around the room to make it "more interesting," as he
said. The only thing I was glad about was that I ended up back
against a wall, so I could see better. Eru pointed to two of
his big-lipped monks, "You and you. The rest of you stand
back in that corner," he said as he waved. "And don’t
disappoint me, he hissed." I didn’t like the sound
of that, whatever it meant. Zlotvor started walking around the
dark room.
"Hmm, yes . . . " Then he saw Ruprik, who was trying
to look like he’d been petrified, crouching behind the "statue"
of Bear. "Yes, I’ll choose Ruprik and, uh . . ."
he looked around, "and Ashabar. Yes, that will do nicely."
Ashabar? Oh no. Ashabar is a grand person and all, but she wouldn’t
be one of my first choices to defend my fate in battle. While
she was a decent battle mage, without her spells she had only
her staff to fight. I didn’t think a 6-foot staff would
be the ideal weapon in a game of stealth. "We’re doomed,"
I thought, and started to set my mind to what might become of
us.
But just then Zlotvor stepped toward Ashabar -- who was turned
to stone -- and cast a spell. Her rocky surface melted away from
solid grey to its natural colors. He beckoned her forward, along
with Ruprik, and explained the rules. They had to kill the two
monks before they were killed. Simple, but not easy. Ruprik and
I knew that Eru’s monks were trained in the ways of stealth
and assassination. Even with the magical powers that Zlotvor
was granting them, they would be hard pressed to survive.
Then I noticed the sound. There was an odd sound which I could
neither identify nor find the origin of. It was a bit like a
giant, mechanical heartbeat mixed with some kind of other-worldly
drumming. It was getting loud. I’m not sure who summoned
it, but a mist then started to fill the room. At first I thought
it would just make it harder than it already was to see. But
as time passed, the noise got louder and the swirling fog got
thicker and thicker, until I couldn’t see the floor two
feet below me at times.
"The game begins now!" Eru said. The mist parted
for a moment, and I saw Ruprik to my left. He was crouching down
behind a statue.
"Smart," I thought, "he’s trying to look
like a statue." This was going to be interesting, I thought,
realizing that if any of the four mistook a statue for a person,
they could waste their limited ability to kill with one blow.
Not only that, but in paranoid atmosphere of the mist, one could
easily mistake a friend for a foe!
After a few minutes of seeing only the mist getting thicker
and thicker, I noticed a shape creeping right in front of me.
Until he almost bumped into my head, I couldn't tell it was Ruprik.
He drifted past me quiet as an owl, turning his head silently
from side to side, looking all around, then he was gone into
the mist.
Suddenly I heard fighting to my left, but after a few seconds,
it ended as quickly as it had begun. Then nothing.
Another couple tense minutes crept by before I heard or saw
anything. Then I saw a monk crawling on the floor near me a dagger
in one hand. He was moving like a snake almost, and a shiver
went up my spine - he was going toward where Ruprik went! My
mind burned to help, but there was nothing I could do. The monk
slid past me and was gone.
Moments later I heard what sounded like a dagger being plunged
into someone's chest; my heart fell. How could Ashabar defeat
two of the monks? But then from my left came a shape drifting
toward me...it was Ruprik and there was fire in his eyes. Yes!
We had the advantage now! He saw me and gave me a wink, but I,
of course, couldn't even return that small gesture. He drifted
on past me to my right.
I heard some shuffling feet out in front of me somewhere,
but couldn't see anything. It ended quickly and I couldn't tell
what had happened. I hoped that Ruprik was sneaking toward the
noise. Then I heard a commotion and recognized Ruprik's voice
as he yelled once, but I understood that he was yelling in pain...then
I heard the sound of a body hitting the ground. Brilliant...
"We're doomed. That's it. We're doomed," I thought.
I imagined that Ashabar was hiding in one corner of the room
with her staff out at full length, eyes closed, shaking. I tried
to shake my head, but was instantly reminded that I was still
a statue. Time passed.
After a long five minutes I sensed a form coming toward me
from ahead and left of me. It was Ashabar, creeping on her toes
and furtively looking around. I could almost hear her heart beating.
Sweat gathered on her lip. She came close to me and paused, still
twitching her head constantly. Then she suddenly straightened
up like a watchdog hearing a sound. Her head snapped to the right.
Then I heard it too, barely noticable: a sound of someone scraping
along the wall slowly. To my astonishment, Ashabar lept past
the other "statue" near me and began thrusting madly
with her staff. Again and again she poked into the mist where
the sound had come from. And then it was over. A Monk's body
slumped toward me out of the mist, and Ashabar collapsed in front
of me in relief. Tears trickled down her face...
"It is over!" Zlotvor stated quietly.
"This is an outrage!" Iru snapped. "There's
been treachery! Treachery I say!"
"No. The rules have been followed and you've lost."
Zlotvor replied. "Now return the other humans to their natural
states."
As we were leaving that place, I gace Darow a wink to anger
him. "Lots of fun, eh, Darow?" He fumed and glared.
Then I noticed the spirit gem on his necklace, with a quick grab
I tried to take it and run, but he started shouting.
"Iru, help! I'm being attacked!" he yelled. That
was enough for me. I jumped through the gate, figuring I was
lucky to get out alive...as usual...
