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Love in Wolf's Clothing


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#1 Guest_Bibbi_*

Posted 21 March 2004 - 02:12 AM

Evening settled quickly on the hills. Shadows lined everything as the party made their way to the temple’s entrance. Ajantis still carried the bard’s body, slowing their progress.

“We should be almost there,” Valygar said, looking up from the map. They had encountered several wolves on their way, unnaturally ferocious and bold in their attacks. Cerebus had managed to frighten most away, but the largest wouldn’t be scared off.

“I do not like what has happened here,” Jaheira said. “Whatever holds the lens piece has twisted Nature. It is good that we are coming here.”

Another wolf ran to the group, and they readied themselves for a fight. As the beast got closer, they noticed that it ran on two feet. “A wolfwere?” Jaheira wondered.

The animal paused before coming in range. It straightened and spoke. “Leave here! These woods cursed. Shadows rule all.”

“We know,” Jaheira said, stepping forward. “We have come to meet these shadows. Who are you?”

“Jaheira?” the animal asked. Its form shifted, as if it was writhing in pain, and it dropped to the ground. After a moment, its fur vanished, revealing dark tanned skin. It stood, now a man. “Jaheira and Tybalt!” The man grinned and hugged the two, unaware of his nudity. “It is Durlyle. From the island? You came many moons ago on a ship, before I left home.”

“Durlyle?” Tybalt asked, recognizing the werewolf. “Is it you? How did you get off the island? I thought you would be stuck there forever.”

The man grinned. “Crazy elven mage come back. He forget something. I asked if I could come with him, after the others…” His face grew dark. “The others turned on you. I couldn’t stay with them anymore. So I come here looking for you, but you hard to find.”

“We were kept incapacitated for some time,” Tybalt said with a pained expression.

“So I come here to find a new pack,” Durlyle continued. “Lots of wolves here, and they take me in. Then, shadows come and start killing wolves. We resist at first, but shadows too strong. Corrupting. Wolves disappear and come back different. Soon I am all that is left. I try to fight, but shadows too strong.”

“We were coming here to fight the shadows,” Tybalt explained. “There is…” He looked at Haer’Dalis’ body. “We need to heal someone in the temple here.”

“Then I come with!” Durlyle exclaimed. “Miss you I did, Tybalt.” He hugged the man again shyly.

Ajantis stared at the man. “I think it would be best if you put on some clothes.”

Durlyle looked down at himself. “Does something not please?”

Ajantis blushed. “No, it does not please. You are being entirely inappropriate. No decent being walks around as naked as the day he was born.”

Tybalt, too, blushed and averted his eyes. “Maybe you should put something on, for the time being.”

Durlyle shrugged. “Fine. I have hidden clothes.” He loped off, to return a few moments later with a bundle of clothing. He opened it and put on the garments. “Just for now,” he said. “We talk later when I more comfortable,” he told Tybalt, who blushed even harder and nodded.

They walked on with the werewolf as a guide, soon coming to a stone platform with a staircase leading into the earth. “Must we always go underground?” Aerie sighed. She said nothing more, however, as she conjured another ball of light and led the way into darkness.

They came into a room which could have once been the temple’s entry hall but was now strewn with rubble and skeletons. The area was eerily silent, and each move they made echoed throughout the halls, sounding like a tomb.

They came across a child’s broken skeleton in one corner of the room. “The poor thing,” Aerie mourned. “I wonder how it came to be here.”

They moved on, finding a locked door which yielded easily enough to Valygar’s shoves. A halfing’s body lay inside, only a few days dead. It looked starved, as if it were being held prisoner here for some purpose. Valygar shook his head. “Whatever this thing is, it will pay for what it’s done.”

They moved through the temple, coming to a pillar with a gem on top of it, providing a weak light. As they rounded the pillar, a horde of shadows leapt at them, red eyes amidst indistinct black bodies. They made to defend themselves, but the light from the gem struck the shadows before they reached the party and vaporized them.

“This could come in handy,” Jaheira said, taking the gem.

Another room held a stone face which asked the tenets of Amaunator’s faith. Aerie flipped through the books and answered as best she could, earning a strange golden disc. “I’m not sure what this is for,” she admitted, stowing it away.

The light from the gem opened a passageway through what the group had thought to be a wall; the wall turned out to be solid shadow. “To wield such power over shadow,” Ajantis marveled. “This beast must be powerful, indeed.”

“Yes,” Durlyle said. “Too powerful for wolves. We will fight it, though.”

They came to a room of lava filled with skeletons and mummies. A narrow passageway led to safety. “I’m not sure if I can ward them all away,” Aerie said.

“Try to push them in the lava!” Jaheira commanded. She and Valygar made a bull rush and knocked the first monsters into the lava, pushing them back until their frames burst into flame and they fell still. The group repeated this until all of the undead were gone.

“Who puts a pit of lava inside a temple?” Aerie wondered. The next room held an ornate sarcophagus inscribed with Amaunator’s holy symbol. “This must be the priest’s burial spot,” Aerie whispered.

Shimmering light filled the room and ghostly figures materialized before the group. “Who comes into the Sun Lord’s temple after so long?” the ghosts asked.

“We come to free temple of shadows,” Durlyle said.

“You would defeat the Shade Lord?” one of the ghosts asked. “Then you must awaken the priestess. She can tell you how to defeat it.”

“How do we do that?” Valygar asked.

“Bring her bones here, where they should have been buried long ago.”

“Do you think he means that child’s bones we found at the entrance?” Aerie asked.

“You have seen Amauna’s remains?” the ghost asked. “Bring them to us.”

The group went back and carefully collected the child skeleton, making sure to carry each bone. They set the bones down on top of the sarcophagus. The ghosts sighed and disappeared, replaced by a smaller ghost.

“Thank you,” it said. “I can now go to my rightful rest. I was once the last priestess of the temple, before Amaunator lost his power and abandoned the temple. Now the Shade Lord rules here and the light has gone.”

“What can we do to help?” Ajantis asked.

“Take these,” the ghost said, handing them a second golden disk and a shadowy stone. “With all three disks, you may breach the Shade Lord’s sanctum. He is guarded by a shadow dragon, however, which is why I give you the shadow stone. Use it to confuse the dragon, and attack before it gets the chance to strike first.” After handing the items over, she disappeared.

The group continued on, battling another group of undead before reaching a room covered in tiles. Letters occupied each tile, leading to a set of doors on the opposite end of the room. “The books warned of these,” Aerie said. “If you step on the wrong one, you will be punished.”

“Which ones are the right ones?” Ajantis asked.

“You must spell out Amaunator.”

“I will go.” Valygar carefully hopped from one tile to the next until he gained the other side. In the first room was a large statue cradling an empty basin.

“That’s it!” Aerie shouted. “That’s where the book says the bodies were laid.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Tybalt asked, running across the floor. The others yelled at him, too late, as flames shot from the ceiling at him. They struck but he kept running until he reached the far side. He didn’t appear hurt; there were no scorch marks visible anywhere.

“Tybalt!” Jaheira cried. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” he shouted. “Come over.”

The others made their way more carefully, reaching him without bringing down fire. “How could you be so stupid?” Jaheira demanded, swatting him on the shoulders. “You could have been hurt.”

“Why were you not hurt?” Durlyle asked, cocking his head and examining the man.

Tybalt shrugged. “Something I picked up during our stay with Irenicus, I guess. Nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing my…” Jaheira muttered.

Ajantis set Haer’Dalis down in the basin, glad to be unburdened. “Is that all?” he asked.

Aerie read one of the books closely. “No. You also need to place the heart of the master vampire in the basin.” Valygar tossed Bhodi’s heart in with the bard. They waited, but nothing happened. “Maybe we have to defeat the Shade Lord first,” Aerie suggested. “He could be blocking Amaunator’s power.”

“Of course,” Tybalt said quickly. “We’ll try again when the bastard’s dead.”

“Mean much to you does this man?” Durlyle asked him.

“Yes. He-I-we care for each other,” Tybalt said quietly. “I don’t want to see him taken away.”

Durlyle nodded knowingly. “I felt this way once, too,” he said.

“For whom?”

The werewolf wouldn’t say.




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