Welcome to Gaia! ::

The elves travelled onwards across the slopes, following Cressa's infallible read on the energy trails of the world. Everything around them was desolate and bleak, no plant life or wildlife to be found on the barren, rocky landscape. Then, as they ascended the final cliff, an unpleasant feeling sent shivers down Jessie's spine. He smacked at his ear, and his fingers came away wet, the sensitive pads tingling with a small but unmistakeable bite of cold.

He turned his face to the bleak sky, and was rewarded with a splot of white parachuting onto the bullseye of his nose. It melted immediately on the drow's hot flesh, as Jessie jerked his head and cried out with more ferocity than if he'd been smacked in the face.

"" he seethed, swiping the puddle of residue off his face, "snow. Yaaa...>"

"" Cressa teased, wrapping her arm around his shoulder while he eyed the falling flakes around them with more hatred than if they were prowling nether beasts. ""

"" he complained, ""

"" Cressa gasped theatrically, ""

"" Luathrae smiled at the pair, ""

Jessie reluctantly relaxed into Cressa's hug. Once again, Luathrae's experiences seemed to put things into context. "" he relented, ""

"" Cressa said quietly. She hugged him more tightly. ""

"" he scoffed, "" he corrected, ""

"" Luathrae moaned, ""

Cressa and Jessie ascended the slope behind her, and Cressa's face broke into a knowing smile. ""

Tucked away in the side of another mountain to their right, through the mists of distance, the drow - or Cressa at least - could make out the first evidence of human influence they'd seen since beginning their trek across the mountains. An ancient, crumbling stone staircase led up into a wide, dark maw which was the entrance to... well, it could only be some form of dungeon, built into the mountain itself.

""

"" Corie replied, ""

~~~~~~~~~

"" Jessie puzzled, as they finished descending the staircase on the other side of the entrance. It had led them down into the depths of the mountain and into a truly cavernously gigantic foyer of sorts. "here...?>"

The huge, high-ceilinged hall, reminiscent of a church or a cathedral, had obviously seen better days. It was ancient, many hundreds if not thousands of years old, built with unpleasant grey stone and crawling with cobwebs, arachnids and insects. Some of the bricks had disintegrated into nothing, leaving crumbling walls with damp, bare rock behind them. No earth. Nothing grew on these mountains. It was dank, damp and infested. Why in the world would the Overseer be here...?

Not that any of this bothered the drow. Or at least, not Cressa and Jessie, who had spent a good third of their lives underground.

Jessie turned his head as Luathrae suddenly brushed up against him. She was looking around, on edge, and shuffling closer to the other two.

"" she whispered, ""

The other two looked at her incredulously.

Corie, of course, had to get a sarcastic reply in. "" she muttered, "or act like one. That's an imposter if ever I knew one.>"

"" she squealed, ""

"" Jessie remarked. Cressa, ever unorthodox, bent to her knees and scooped up a particularly large lady who'd been disturbed by their passage.

She held the long-legged spider out in her palm, and though the creature immediately went frantic and scuttled in rapid spirals down the length of her arm, she nonchalantly picked it back up between her finger and thumb and held it out towards Luathrae. ""

All the same, Luathrae's face blanched, and she shuffled closer to Jessie. She made no reply, but willed the man to leap to her rescue, which of course he did.

"" he said, gently taking the spider off her. Then, with a slightly disgusted glance, he threw the thing over his shoulder and out of sight. Luathrae squealed and clung to him, glancing around the way humans do when they think an army of enraged arachnids might suddenly descend on them for their transgression. Cressa, however, pouted.

"" she sighed. For a moment, it sounded as if she would add more, and then simply waved her hand and shook her head. ""

"" she said, closing her eyes. Barely a moment later, she looked up again, expression crossed with concern. ""

"" Jessie asked, voice lilting with surprise. It was very rare that Cressa simply blanked out on the tracking front. It was what had made this mission seem so easy, if long-winded, so far.

"" she replied, frowning, ""

"" Jessie observed, indicating the passages to their left and right. He moved towards the next raise of steps, which led up to a raised area landmarked by a stone dias of sorts, trailing Luathrae like a clinging vine. He glanced at her momentarily as if hoping she might let go, but whereas he might have chastised Cressa he passed no comment over her. Instead, he turned back to his friend, unwilling to pull her all the way up the expanse of steps. ""

She agreed, and trotted up the steps. Her footsteps didn't seem to echo as much as they should have, as if the strange, creepy atmosphere was absorbing the sound. Up on the pillars either side, two ugly, leering gargoyles gazed down upon her progress as if ready to pounce.

They were, however, thankfully immobile, and she completed her ascent without hassle from otherwordly creatures. "" she called, approaching the sundial-like dias with interest, ""

She swept her hand over the top of it as if testing a hot stove, and then peered closer, blowing dust off the ancient surface in one firm expulsion of breath.

~~~~~~~~~



Make a decision, Jessie...

a. Allow Cressa to examine the artefact.

b. Insist that we move on.



~~~~~~~~~

The creatures may not have been intelligent, but they were demonstrating simple coordination. One hung back, the other struck.

On a single target, of course. A second one would even things out. The other beast was already leaping forwards - no amount of agility was going to get Jessie up those steps and onto it before it hit her. Instead, he headed for the first, waiting for its turn poised by the wall. Cressa sent the other beast hurling backwards just like the first, hindered slightly by its huge forward momentum, but it still fell hard onto its back. Jessie jumped up onto the first one's arched spine, stuck the point of his sword in the wide crack and wrenched.

The beast had been halfway through making its first bound back towards Cressa, but at the feel of something breaking apart its back it whirled around in one leap like a bucking bronco. Jessie held on fast to his sword and gracefully kept his balance. The stone had shifted only so far before stopping, so he pulled out a second dagger and jammed it into another leverage point. The stone gave a little further, so he pulled it out and drove it in again, chiselling away at its hold. Meanwhile, he caught the occassional glimpse of Cressa as his own beast bucked and spun. To his relief, she was on her feet, apparently unhurt, laying into the beast with bolt after bolt of concentrated force. Unlike the large waves she'd used to knock the beasts off of her, these bolts were like bullets, and each blast knocked another limb or sizeable chunk of meat off the stone creature. It was lying on its side with one of its front and one of its back legs missing, struggling to move, but it was still going, ferociously trying to reach Cressa, gnashing its jaws and straining its neck while she removed piece after piece of its body. Its eyes shone with an eerie red light as she decimated it bit by bit.

Finally, half of the beast's back fell away cleanly. Jessie immediately plunged both of his blades into the fault lines on the other side, and it gave on the first wrench, the broken stone crashing heavily to the floor.

One more stab in the center point of its broken hide. Its back legs separated from its front, and the beast crashed to the ground in two halves, thrashing. For all of its unnatural agility when whole, it couldn't support its weight on two legs, and so simply fell on its side, both halves writhing like a severed worm.

"" Cressa growled. Jessie, having hopped down onto his feet, looked around to see her guardian was in a similar, but even worse state - its legs and head were all separated from its torso, but each part still individually convulsed and rolled around on the floor.

Scowling, Jessie brought his heavy booted foot down hard onto one of the smaller chunks of loose stone. It crumbled into pieces and dust, but to his horror, every tiny piece continued to shake and move, relentlessly continuing their singleminded assault, no matter how useless the effort may have been.

"" he said, taking a smart step back as one of its attached front legs made a hard, vicious swipe at his thigh. The creature's glowing eyes glared up at him balefully, shining with the odd essence that had filled the temple for the briefest of moments.

~~~~~~~~~



Make a decision, Jessie...

a. Examine the dias.

b. Examine the creature's body.



~~~~~~~~~

Jessie nodded at the passage closest to them. ""

"" Cressa replied, halfway between praise and teasing. She held out her hands in a genteel gesture, and he, with a quirked smile, accepted them and helped her rise gracefully to her feet.

"" she said theatrically, dropping into a deep bow with a calculated sweep of her arm. When she felt the join of her robe give, she stood back up quickly, and the material fell completely away from her front to her total horror and surprise. "" she cried, throwing a hand to her forehead and thrusting out her chest, ""

Tongue in cheek, Jessie reached forward and grasped both sides of the robe, tucking them around her waist and beginning the fiddly task of tying them together as if she were his child. Cressa, eyes filled with mischief, moved closer to him as he worked, until there were centimetres between them. Jessie didn't protest. It made securing the material tightly, the key to the whole process, easier.

He finished the chore and gave her a small, pseudo-scolding smack on the hip with the back of his hand. He'd made some minor changes to the wrap, which left the material to fall in a much more modest style, totally covering her thighs and the rest of her legs, though it still split in the middle. ""

"" she pouted, folding her arms, ""

"" Jessie replied with a smile.

~~~~~~~~~



Make a decision, Jessie...

a. Go down the passageway in front of the women.

b. Stay together in a group.

c. Second-guess and choose a different path.



~~~~~~~~~

"" Jessie said, perturbed by the unusual sensation. The other two looked at him.

"" said Cressa, taking his face in her hands and tilting it up to meet hers. She looked hard into his eye, examining the sclera, which was at that moment its normal pearly, clear white. Her eyebrows furrowed, but at the same instant she was considering turning away a sickly yellow blotch appeared, seeping up from the water line. She looked at the filthy appearance in shock. ""

"" he replied quietly, ""

Cressa fished into her robes and pulled out a vial of clear, medicinal-greenish liquid, passing it to him. He unstopped it and downed the liquid in one go, and then all three stood and waited.

"" Luathrae asked tentatively. Jessie blinked, then gave a small involuntary shiver, placing a hand to his stomach.

""

He repeated the dose, and it didn't take long this time before he shook his head. ""

Cressa took another look at his eye, her own alive with tension. ""

"" Luathrae said. Her voice was laced with worry, but Cressa sounded remarkably calm despite her body language.

"" she said, ""

"" said Luathrae, pulling out and thrusting one of her stowed, bloodstained arrows towards her. She was obviously living deep within the realms of 'overly eager to be a help of any sort,' though whether this was because she wanted to redeem herself for her poor performance so far or she was overly concerned for Jessie's wellbeing wasn't entirely certain - though at that moment, it was actually the latter. ""

"" she said, running her keen senses over it. She seemed a little surprised by what she found. "<...There are still... traces. How unusual.>"

"" Jessie said gravely. He sounded serious, but anxiety-free. He and Cressa had obviously been in situations like this before from the way they were keeping their heads. Luathrae wasn't looking quite so composed, her face pale and pinched and her long ears appearing to droop, though this was probably just an illusion caused by her deathly expression.

"" Cressa replied, "imbued. With a strange energy. No normal antidote can cure this, no more than enchanted skin can be broken by a normal weapon.>"

Jessie might have rolled his eye if the situation hadn't been so serious. ""

"" Corie echoed, her disembodied croak muttering around the party of three, ""

"" the sorceress continued, ""

""

Cressa smiled. "" she paused, ""

"" Luathrae blushed, averting her eyes, ""

"" Jessie protested, ""

She looked back at him with a hard, earnest gaze, as if confessing a sad secret. "" she answered truthfully, ""

"" Jessie said, with adamant finality. Cressa agreed, upholding her track record of friendliness over the past few days.

""

~~~~~~~~~



Make a decision, Jessie...

a. Seek out an antidote.

b. Allow Cressa and Luathrae to treat the poison themselves.



~~~~~~~~~

"" Luathrae whispered, ""

""

Luathrae gave her one more worried look before she put her hands out and placed them parallel to Cressa's on top of Jessie's breastbone. The two women closed their eyes and reached out into his body, becoming still as statues as they probed.

"" Cressa was muttering, ""

Luathrae could see it herself. It was like a deep, evil, putrid violet mass, stalking through Jessie's bloodstream like many thousands of living razors all connected to one another in one indecipherable mass. Cressa wasn't approaching it correctly. She was pushing it, pulling it, trying to force it out of him, and so it just clung on more tightly with its disgustingly maniacal claws. Jessie gave a sudden, hard shudder as the poison drove deeper, and Cressa had to pull her attention away to stabilise him.

The younger elf actually felt slightly ridiculous sitting opposite a centuries-old sorceress and observing her battle with the imbued venom. If Cressa was failing to make any impression, what on earth could she do? She was a quarter of her age and a tenth of her skill.

Cressa was pushing back in again now. She'd sort it out soon. She had to.

Suddenly, like a relatively harmless-looking slug suddenly morphing into a gigantic, many-tentacled and vicious octopus (and the poison was hardly a benign slug to begin with), the poison transformed. It retreated further into Jessie's system, spreading itself out to every corner of his bloodstream. It was already in his lungs. Now, it moved into his brain - into his heart. She heard an awful, groaning, slow inhale come from Jessie's lips, and the sound almost broke her concentration entirely as she fought the urge to look at him. It was like a death rattle. It was a death rattle.

It seemed, she realised with a dreadful lurch of her stomach, that she was going to sit and watch Drisdril die from the inside.

She thought she could heard Cressa cursing under her breath, but then she realised that she was praying, and calling down fervent spells in several different languages. She hadn't realised Cressa knew how to recite spells. No matter what she did, though, the poison seemed to resist, as if it were covered in an armoured shell off which every one of the witch's assaults bounced off.

Cressa's presence disappeared, and the muttering stopped. Luathrae looked up in shock, and saw that Cressa was leaning down over her mate, breathing slowly onto his face. The air that came from her lips was filled with golden, swirling light. Luathrae didn't understand the significance of what she was doing, but it was definitely something to keep him alive. He was fading fast, and when Cressa looked up at her, her green eyes spoke an ocean of icy fear that chilled Luathrae to the bones.

She didn't say that she didn't know what to do. Luathrae could see it. She closed her eyes again, the image of the other woman's terror still burning her eyeballs, and knew that she had to try. It didn't matter how inexperienced she was. She had to try.

Please, leave this body. I ask that you leave, for all that is natural and good in this and all other worlds.

The poison didn't budge. Her will wasn't strong enough to force it out. A moment of panic struck her, and she tried again, with fear in her request. Her command had become pleading.

Please leave this body! I ask that you leave! In the name of all that is natural and good, I ask that you leave!

Nothing happened. No response. She could feel tears prickling her physical form. Soon enough she might be too upset to maintain her contact. She heard herself whimper and choke on tears, and she tried again and again, fearful and desperate, begging with the venom to leave. It was all that she could do. It was all that she could do.

Remarkably, however, something began to change. The more desperate she became, and the more violently unhappy her pleas, the poison seemed to take notice. It was as if a great, black boa constrictor were turning its reptilian gaze upon a mouse that was catching its interest.

It was at that point that Luathrae understood the meaning of true malevolence. The venom had been aggressive, violent. It was killing Drisdril in the most awful, frightening way imaginable - yes, like a boa constrictor slowly arresting its prey. But now, she realised, as that baleful attention fixed upon her, that this was an entity of most absolute evil. It was drawn to her misery. It whispered to her, with the voice of a thousand nails on a thousand chalkboards scraping inside her head.

I could leave. But what will be my price?



~~~~~~~~~


Jessie took the sudden, deep breath of a drowning man returned to the surface, causing Cressa to jump with surprise. She took his head in both of her hands, staring into his wide-open eye, certain that this was the end. However, his hands leapt up and wrapped themselves around her wrists, and he returned her gaze not with the blank, glazed, faraway look of an already-corpse, but with his ruby-red eye as bright and alive as always.

"Cressa!"

"" she choked, and suddenly tears were in her eyes. She threw her arms around him, kissing his face and mumbling prayers of thanks to everything and nothing at once.

""

"" she wept, cradling him in her arms. ""

Meanwhile, Luathrae sat quietly to the side, still as a sculpture. Her own eyes were still closed. She opened them slowly, and smiled at their joy, though it was as if her mouth were part of a mask. She looked tense, and sad, and gave a small sigh that alerted the other two to her presence.

Jessie prised himself out of Cressa's hold. ""

"" Cressa replied. Her face crossed with puzzlement, and she looked towards Luathrae, the saviour of the day. Luathrae, however, cut her off.

""

Cressa's puzzlement turned to surprise. Jessie gave a small laugh. ""

"" the sorceress protested. Luathrae neither forbade nor encouraged her to reveal the truth. Her eyes were just filled to the brim with unhappiness. "you who removed it.>"

"" she acknowledged without enthusiasm. Jessie looked at her in surprise, obviously impressed.

"" he said, ""

Such bittersweetness. Luathrae couldn't help but feel a rush of pleasure at his compliment, even though all she'd achieved was hardly a victory. Then again, he lived. That was success enough for her. "" she replied quietly, her smile growing by a fraction of an inch.

They spent only a few minutes recuperating, as Cressa adamantly insisted that they had to get out of there as soon as possible. Then, they were left with another choice of where to go. The library had three doors - one to the south, the door to the east which they had come out of, and a door to the north. Upon inspection, none of them were trapped.

The question was, as always, which way to go... and, on top of that, what trials they would face when they got there. It was an absolute certainty - the Temple was out to get them.

~~~~~~~~~



Make a decision, Jessie...

a. Eastern door.

b. Upper door.

c. Lower door.

d. Search for another option.



~~~~~~~~~

"" Jessie said, peering upwards as he led the way through the doorway. ""

"" Cressa said, stepping through behind him. ""

"" he replied, running one hand lightly down the surface of the rock. It was smoothed down, as if worn by many years of water erosion, but as the Temple was thoroughly man-made it was more likely to be sanded by hand or by magic. "what purpose?>"

"" Luathrae listed, ""

"" Jessie finished for her. Suddenly, the passage before them widened out into a gigantic chamber, so huge that the drow found themselves faced with the typical "wall" effect that signalled the furthest reach of their vision. The passage leading down to the cavern had been dotted with lamps, but through the door lay nothing but darkness.

The three of them stepped out into the open, though Luathrae was reluctant. ""

""

"" Cressa replied.

At that moment, a loud, slow grumble broke through the darkness from an unknown source. The party of three froze in place.

"" Jessie cursed, as the groan gradually came to its end. The room had also rumbled with the sound of a great body moving, shifting itself around, and for one horrible second the forbidding sound of a single set of gigantic claws clacking on the stone ground. ""

"" Luathrae whispered back, "big down here with us.>"

"Hist," Cressa commanded, wordlessly raising her arm. A ball of dim light appeared on the end - enough for Cressa to take a good look at what they were up against, and for the other two to catch a glimpse. In the far corner of the room, Jessie caught sight of a vast, pitch-black mountain rising up out of the ground, and then the light went out abruptly.

"s**t,>" the sorceress hissed, "dragon down here. A ******** DRAGON. What the hell do they need a ******** DRAGON for?!>"

Jessie felt the familiar tug of a clinging woman on his right sleeve as Luathrae inched closer and held on for dear life.

"" Cressa whispered, gesturing to the left, ""

The three proceeded to do just that, sliding silently across the floor. The benefits of stealth were obviously in evidence. When they'd crossed roughly half the cavern, Luathrae whispered fearfully into Jessie's ear. ""

"" he replied confidently. She wasn't convinced.

""

""

""

""

""

""

Lou furrowed her brow and moaned, faceplanting her head into the crook of his neck in despair. ""

""

" On a scale of one to ten, how ******** are we?"

He thought for a moment. ""

"" Cressa whispered, just before Corie chose her moment to let out a loud, earth-shattering sneeze.

The dragon gave off another loud rumble, and nobody missed the large reptilian eye flying open, luminous yellow in the dark and as big as one of Cressa's oversized breasts.

""

~~~~~~~~~



Make a decision, Jessie...

a. Stay perfectly still.

b. Look to Cressa.

c. Draw your weapons.



~~~~~~~~~

As the first beast drew near, Jessie quickly darted off to the side. The gargoyles changed trajectory with inhuman reaction time, and Jessie felt the trailing part of his robe pulled by the slipstream of a gigantic stone creature as it leapt from him from the side and just barely missed. s**t. He'd severely underestimated these things, and doubled his pace for his life.

The dogs hounded him like, well, hounds, keeping pace a single bound behind his flying feet. They performed perfect circuits of the hall, and luckily the beasts didn't have the sense to split and perform more complicated manoeuvres to corner their prey. They nipped at his heels with every step. Making any kind of sharp turn was a risk, because they could easily seize the moment to pounce upon him. All he could do was take a run-up across the full length of the huge hall and scale one of the vertical pillars lining the walls - first in bounds of momentum, then by scrambling, quick as a squirrel, as far out of reach as he could get.

Four massive stone bodies slammed, one after the other, into the pillar just below as he climbed. Hard enough so that bits of their bodies broke off - toes, ears, noses and other such extremities went flying as Jessie scrambled further and further up and away. Finally, he came to a rest, clinging hard to support himself on the smooth structure.

Fortunately, while the dogs were fantastically powerful on a horizontal basis, their massive weight kept them from jumping very high. They could perform as many running jumps as they liked, but they were never carried high enough to come within reach of him - not even close. That didn't stop them from trying, however, determinedly hurling themselves up at the elf-shaped pinata that dangled far out of their reach. Jessie dangled on, trying to calculate what to do. Their eyes wouldn't be destroyed by normal weapons, so shooting them out with one of his guns was out. He needed to get back down there and get within range without being crushed and savaged. If only he'd stood his ground in the first place, perhaps he would've had an advantage. He hadn't anticipated just how agile they could be in open spaces.

The section of wall that hid the secret passage creaked open at the other end of the hall. Lou peeped out, and cursed to see that he was cornered.

What could they do now? Were they going to have to wait for Cressa to finish... doing whatever she was doing to the dragon? How long could Jessie hold on?

He happened to be wondering the exact same things. As for how long he could hold on, well... it was like asking "how long is a piece of string?" Could be long, could be short, could be somewhere inbetween depending on an awful lot of things. He was banking on more than an hour but less than forever when one of the beasts suddenly slammed its entire body into the pillar below. The cracks made previously enlarged and the whole structure shook, causing its hanger-on to give a gasp of surprise as he slid down a metre and a half. He'd said it before, and he'd say it again: s**t.

No more time to sit thinking. Lou crept out through the hidden door, tiptoeing across the vast expanse of the hall. Her heart hammering, she bent down and removed one of her boots with fumbling hands. When she stood up, however, she seemed gathered and calm, and ready for her imminent act of bravery.

She hurled the boot as hard as she could. It fell far short, but the dogs whirled around immediately at the clatter, and broke off after her at the same instant she turned to flee. Jessie cried out in horror and leapt from the side of the pillar, coming to land on the back of the last beast. He quickly broke its glowing, marble-like eyes, and its body crumpled, skidding to a halt.

The other three gained on Lou quickly, who thwarted them at the last second by dropping down to her knees. Brains over brawn. The monstrous wolves bounded straight over her and their massive bodies skidded slowly to a halt, by which time she was turning and running back towards the safety of Jessie.

She reached out to him as she approached and he caught her with his free arm. Their arms briefly interlocked; he gave hers a reassuring squeeze before she slipped behind him. "" he said, ""

The dogs were racing back towards them, and they both braced themselves for contact. After just a few long, horrible seconds, the grotesque leader of the pack loomed in front of them like a runaway train about to make contact. Jessie swung his sword into the beast's brow, holding it there firmly as he, Lou (her hands on his sides for support) and the dead gargoyle slid across the ground. The elves both ducked just as Lou had done once before as the two other beasts bounded over their dead sibling, and over them. Two down, two to go.

Jessie darted forward, pulling Lou with him by the hand, to meet the third one as it turned its massive body around - it was either that or wait for them both to close in on them in a pincer. Lou hadn't anticipated the movement or its speed. Her hand jerked from his halfway through, and before he could turn around again after destroying the beast he heard the gut-wrenching sound of Luathrae screaming. She hadn't managed to evade a third time, and Jessie had to destroy the final monster's battery perched on its back as it pinned her to the ground.

~~~~~~~~~