<u>Recap: The Story So Far</u>

Seven brave adventurers(Lorath, Ulik, Evon, Tamora, Bas, Anne and Gan) came to a new world, each for their own purpose, none of them knowing each other beforehand. But so far it has turned out to be a terrible place that raises more questions than it answers.

Gan has fallen to unknown circumstances in the great jungle where the seven first arrived, after travelling to the east with Tamora, Bas and Anne, searching for druidic wisdom. Those four also met an odd elf named Balth, who, much like the world, seemed to raise more questions than he answered, but not more than he has so far asked. His appetite for knowledge, especially about the world of Achen from which the four hail, seems voracious.

Lorath, Ulik and Evon elected to be more careful. After meeting a bizarre alien thing being called the Sage by a tribe of lizardmen, they headed into a nearby swamp to examine ruins left by the Rhulisti lifeshapers. So far their adventures have involved bizarre parasites and finding what appears to be a lost expedition of explorers from another world.


<u>Lorath, Ulik, Evon</u>

It took the trio a few tries before they managed to get a good start on unfolding the structure, their first attempts produced warning, metal screeches as various parts scraped along or got stuck on each other. The object quickly began to take on a puzzling shape as they worked on it, however, that of a three-sided pyramid taller than Ulik and four feet wide along each of the base's sides.

One of the three faces, the one that Evon faced as they work, eventually stood almost vertical, while the others leaned into it.

When they finished, several small catches seemed to click into place. They could collapse it again, if they wanted to bring it along, but they didn't need to stand around, holding it up.

At first, nothing odd seemed to be going on, but then Evon started laughing and stuck his hand through the face of the pyramid he was standing in front of, it promptly disappeared up to his elbow, but without any of the bleeding, screaming or horror that this would normally be accompanied by. He then withdrew it, and it returned. Repeating this a few times seemed to entertain him to no end. Then he stepped through entirely, and disappeared from view.

Walking around the structure to where Evon had stood, Ulik and Lorath could see that the thing appeared to have opened a doorway in the air. On the other side was an expanse of cobblestones, surrounded by a low stone battlement, under a cloud-covered twilight sky. A mild breeze was blowing from the doorway, and Evon was standing just on the other side, but other than that it seemed surprisingly unremarkable for a portal.


<u>Bas, Tamora, Anne, Balth</u>

Balth stayed silent as he scouted upriver with Tamora, seeming grim and on guard for anything terrible that might ambush them. Both of them found nothing, however, neither an ambush, halflings or any sign of Gan, and soon returned downriver again, catching up with Bas and Anne easily. Those two had stumbled across anything terrible either.

With no vegetation in their path, the group made swift progress, it also helped that they were moving slightly downhill, away from the mountains, their first day of travel passed without incident.

On the second day, the river widened and deepened as they moved onwards, it's waters also seemed to run considerably swifter. The surrounding jungle wasn't much different, though, there were a few flowers and plants they hadn't seen before growing near the rushing water, but otherwise all was normal.

Shortly before noon, however, something happened. They were walking along the riverbank, Balth splashing through the water's edge, occasionally examining an interesting shell or picking up a smooth rock from the riverbed to send skipping downstream, when there was a commotion on the opposite side of the river.

A halfling burst from the thick vegetation, covered in blood, grime and terrible wounds, her war-paint smeared. She didn't seem to notice the group at all, instead, she seemed entirely focused on two things: The river in front of her and something behind her. As she reached the river she stood as still as a rock and listened, when something rustled close-by behind her, she began wading into the river. It went well till she was about a third across and the water reached to her chest, then she seemed to slip on something and went under, disappearing from view.

Whatever had been behind her seemed to move around in the vegetation some, then retreated, making no more sounds.

A few miles farther downstream they found her again, dead. She looked as though she had drowned.

Lorath looked through the portal at Evon. It seemed he was safe, as nothing had swooped down and carried him away. Despite the appearance of safety he wanted to make sure that it wasn't a trap of some sort, and asked Evon if he could walk between that side of the portal and the one they were standing on.

Anne

Anne stared blankly at the unfortunate halfling's corpse for several long seconds. Whatever she had been fleeing from could no longer catch her. Was it relief she had felt in death?

The last couple of days had the interesting effect on Anne of having her thoughts going down avenues they had never before ventured down. Gan's fate had particularly troubled Anne. He had come to this new world in search of something new.

"What do you think was hunting for her?" she asked her companions, pointing at the halfling's corpse.

Bas examined the corpse, trying to judge if the marks on its body were made by the same creatures that had marked up the trees back in the clearing.

"Whatever it was, we should keep moving in case it decides to return for us. We know that the animals may not be able to control their own actions, which means our lives are at risk despite our respective skills."

Tamora

Tamora nodded along with Bas’ assessment of the situation. “Any number of the animals we’ve seen signs of already maybe or something that we have not,” she answered Anne’s earlier question. She regarded the halfling thoughtfully then knelt to examine her equipment and possessions for clues as to her way of life. She was fascinated at the thought of yet another forest people that could teach her of this small corner of this new world. She looked up to where Balth was watching proceedings with a slightly bored expression. “Have you had dealings with these people Balth? What do you know of them?”

Ulik walks through to the other side of the portal to see if an identical pyramid existed or if it was just a hole in space.

<u>Ulik, Lorath, Evon</u>

Evon seemed oblivious to Lorath's question, standing around and staring at the sky with an expression of utter amazement. He seemed quite at home in his new surroundings.

Ulik found that the portal was extremely easy to pass through, much simpler than the hole between worlds that he had used to arrive in his previous location. It was simply like a hole in the air, like a doorway, that could be stepped through.

On the other side, he found that there was a similar pyramid, though this one was attached to the ground so that it was constantly unfolded. He could also quite clearly hear sounds from the other side of the portal, so it was Evon's ears or interest that were the problem, not the portal that was blocking Lorath's calls.

The cobbled expanse seemed to be the roof of some larger construction, it was square, about fifty yards along each side, and there were stairways near the center, where the pyramid was, which lead down. One thing that struck Ulik as soon as he arrived was how utterly silent it was. Except for the sound of the wind, his footsteps and his own breathing, nothing was making any noise. It was as though the place was completely dead.


<u>Bas, Anne, Tamora, Balth</u>

As far as Bas could tell, it was quite possible that the same sort of creature as had flayed the previous halfling had injured this one. The cuts and tears weren't from weapons, but from claws or talons.

On the corpse, Tamora found a large stone dagger, almost the size of a short sword, in a sheath, and little else. She looked as though she was used to carry a heavier load, but most likely it had been dropped during her panicked flight from whatever had attacked her. She was also wearing a necklace made from large predators' teeth, after a few seconds of looking at it, though, the ranger realized that she had seen the teeth somewhere before: They were the teeth of lizardmen.

Balth regarded the corpse with barely disguised disgust as he answered Tamora's questions, "I haven't met many, but they are as savage as animals. Cannibals and killers every last one of them," he prodded the corpse with his boot, "Barely any more civilized than whatever hunted and killed her, most likely."

Tamora

“Well this one was certainly no friend of the lizardmen,” Tamora responded holding up the necklace for the others too see. “I think I’ll leave that here.” She un-sheaved the long stone dagger and gave it a couple of experimental swings trying to assess its weight and balance. She shrugged and decided to reserve judgement on it until later. If nothing else when they made it back to the lake the lizardmen would probably find it useful. She shoved it into the gap at the centre of her bedroll.

She stood up and looked down at the halfling again. Balth’s opinion had received some corroboration from the tooth necklace and had taken the edge off her desire to learn from the diminutive forest-dwellers. She also judged that it made it much less likely that Gan had survived. Given what she could make of the ranger’s behaviour from his tracks, the idea that he had been taken in and helped by the halflings had seemed like his best chance. Not any more. Tamora picked up her spear and cast a glance around the area. “Come on,” she said to the others, “lets go.” She started back downstream slowly, waiting for the other to get organised and catch up, straining her senses for anything that might threaten the group before they got back to the relative safety of the lake.

[ 03-11-2007, 05:49 AM: Message edited by: Armen ]

Lorath shrugged and stepped through the portal. Hey, everyone else was doing it, and after looking around a bit they could go back and let the door taste his companions to see what artifacts the door was hiding. Once on the other side, he walked over to the battlements and had a look over what else this place was holding.

[ 03-10-2007, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: Man Who Fights Like Woman ]

Bas nodded at Tamora suggestion to continue moving. He clutched his staff tightly in his right hand, his eyes scanning the far bank of the river for any more surprises.