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Kysantel casts multiple mount spells to aid the party's journey towards the kingdom of Vainndor. Three camels and six horses take the strain as they head southeast across the plains.
Before long the sorcerers' two familiars, a vulture and a crow, spot a deserted farmstead in the distance, long abandoned and left to the elements. It is one of many on the plains but what sets this one apart is the flickering light that can be seen under the collapsed roof.
They decide to investigate. Kysantel and Irmirsul can sense something unusual as they take cover at a dry stone wall a few hundred yards away from the building. The vampyre senses no heartbeat but there is something sentient inside; it appears to be a small creature made of fire, no more than a foot tall but with a nervous disposition.
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Using ESP the two sorcerers manage to communicate with it. It is called Immolan, a fire sentinel from the elemental plane of fire. The creature weaves them a tale of a lost master called Ranchart, "The greatest magician this side of the sea," he repeats constantly. But Kysantel is sceptical about the creature, she does not believe half of what the fire sprite tells her.
Tammaret confirms her suspicions by using Ulnar's compass to jump into Ranchart's mind. The scene the sorcer witnesses is of a vagabond drinking ale with two vagrants and bemoaning Immolan as an irritable and irritating companion.
"We are well shut of the little bastard," Ranchart says.
"I'll drink to that," one of the vagabonds says.
At the point when the party are about to abandon Immolan the fire sentinel suddenly learns to communicate and tells them cryptically, "I know what you have stolen...my fire can illuminate your magic and reveal their secrets."
Irmirsul is tempted by this and liberates the fire sentinel with a show of fakery that the creature believes. For the rest of the day Immolan sits on the back of Irmirsul's mount and chats to the vampyre.
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He demonstrates his abilities by revealing that the Ring of Shadows is linked to the guilds and is a secret symbol that has tangible power that will open doors for the assassin, both spiritual and actual.
Impressed by this the vampyre tests other magic but the fire sentinel is unable to discover the secrets of every item, in fact in his attempts at discovery he manages to destroy Irmirsul's staff and apologizes with a grin. "Oops."
They rest in Leafblight's rope trick that night. Irmirsul manages to create a scroll of fireball and the rest of the party continue to discover the three tomes they took from the Astral Tower.
Next morning Kysantel casts mount spells and the six horses and three camels head to the border of Vainndor. During the morning the familiars discover they - and the party - are being watched by a mountain eagle. Kysantel recalls her crow and they watch the watcher carefully, aware that it is probably a scout of the Hierarch himself.
Atris disguises herself brilliantly as a tiger with the furs she took a few days earlier, although any casual observer would simply see the strange sight of a slumbering tiger on the back of a horse!
The demarcation between the plains and the kingdom of Vainndor is marked by a small hut in the middle of nowhere, where a border guard with a peaked cap eyes them as they approach.
Kysantel heads out to meet the man. "You haven't seen us," she says with the guile of a master of hypnosis. The border guard takes a long drag on his pipe and returns inside the hut without comment.
A few hundred miles away is a signpost with the words Welcome to Vainndor emblazoned across it. Shortly afterwards they reach a road which will ultimately take them to Castle Stormstone, the richest citadel in the Iron Realms.
Later that evening they reach one of many wayside Inns, this one called the Merry Farmer and decide to stay the night. Kysantel secures a room to sleep and a common room for an evening meal for a reasonable price.
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During the meal Tahlia, the thief, befriends Immolan and entices the fire sentinel into her lamp. The sprite is able to shrink inside and appear like a normal lamp light.
Atris decides to sneak outside to try out her new-found knowledge of the Ring of Shadows. As she slips from one inner plane to the other she stalks a drunken farmer on the way home. Without a sound she spits a lethal dart from her blowgun and the farmer falls dead. She avoids the body but knows the cause of death will remain a mystery to these locals; only a skilled assassin would be able to discern the cause of death.
But Atris realises that she is not alone. To her horror she watches as the Hierarch slips out of one of the shadowy doors that she herself has just moved through.
Atris feels the blast of a dispel magic and knows instinctively that her protective spells such as stoneskin are gone, she fends off a lethal strike by the Hierarch with a glowing dagger and screams the courtyard down. Her only chance is to raise the alarm as she backs off, hoping to survive the deadly Hierarch before help arrives.
The party hear the screams of their companion and scramble through shutters and the doorway into the courtyard. Atris turns aside several blows and is pleased that her companions have charged into the fight.
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Leafblight is first to react; she casts a fly spell and is out in the courtyard first bearing down on the fight. But the Hierarch turns swiftly and directs a Death Spell at the flying battlemage. Leafblight is felled instantly, her soul taken in less than a heartbeat by the deadly spell.
Valorn positions himself at one of the windows as his friends rush out to the Hierarch to revenge their fallen companion. His first arrow is fired at the feet of the combatants, a dispel magic that has no effect. But his second arrow is more effective, a silence spell that would hinder any caster.
Kysantel moves in from the shutters, her lightning bolt strikes the Hierarch in the face and hurts the him. Tahlia speeds agiley from the common room, her quick movements take her into the courtyard where she throws on her chameleon cloak to help her sneak up on the dangerous Hierarch.
The Hierarch weighs up his options; surrounded and hindered from casting he starts to look for ways out, an escape route into the shadows. But he fails to notice the second Wildling, Wyrin, whose nimble progress comes at him on the blind side. By the time the Hierarch realizes the danger it is too late - a dire mace crushes his skull and sends fragments of brain and bone across the courtyard.
As quick as it began the combat was over. Kysantel has the presence of mind to hack the remainder of the head from the dead body and carve out the heart.
Atris is relieved but recovers quickly. She starts to harvest the body parts and blood of the Hierarch with the intention of creating nasty poisons later on.
Irmirsul strips the body of equipment along with Leafblight's stuff which is distributed amongst the living: The dagger of Asagoth, Cloak of the Mage, Ring of Granite, Elf Stones from the White Wood and the Wand of the Night Stalker.
Tahlia manages to take the Elf Stones and goes to a quiet corner to converse with her new friend Immolan.
"What do you eat?" she asks curiously.
"I eat magic," Immolan says with a fiery grin. "Watch me." He approaches the vampyre, Irmirsul, who asks for help in discovering the power of Valorn's newly acquired dagger of Asagoth.
The fire sentinel touches the hilt with his flame. "My fire will illuminate the power of this magic," he says confidently. But the dagger is consumed by the sentinel's powerful touch.
"Oh dear," Immolan says. But when he returns to Tahlia he winks at her and burps like a pig...Tahlia cannot help herself as she laughs heartily at the amusing little fire sentinel...
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