The Hallows

Surya and Hildraft's last sight of the cambion Zerhal was of his hands beginning to move in the gestures of a spell. They flinched, expecting him to shift into the Ethereal and attack, but then Surya recognized the spell as a Locate Object and realized that Zerhal's desire for the sword was far greater than his desire for vengeance. Then Hildraft invoked his Word of Recall, long since laid on the shrine to Kord that he'd made within the ruins of Khundrukar.

In the blink of an eye, the pair were whisked across the hundreds of miles, appearing once more within the darkness of the stone chamber, once the tomb of mockery made by the orcs for the dwarven mastersmith Durgeddin, since re-consecrated by Hildraft as a place of genuine rememberance and sancity.

They knew that Sack, teleporting into Khundrukar by magic rather than Kord's grace, had to have arrived in the old thronehall - the only place left unwarded against teleportation. Hurrying through the door connecting the two, they called his name and were rewarded by a clanging din as he bashed two abandoned Duergar helmets together in response.

Sure enough, the half-orc was there, the sword Zero-One at his feet, and his mighty bow ready in his hands. Surya picked up their prize, and checked it fit into the Quiver of Efficiency on his back, before handing it across to Hildraft, who laid a spell of Obscurement on it before returning it to the Quiver.

But time had been passing, and Zerhal Avara had not been idle. A shimmer of red light at the end of the hall rapidly coalesced into a yawning portal of burning flame, and two huge figures stepped out into the Thronehall. Pit fiends!

They were smaller than Bel himself, though not by much. It was only much later that the companions' researches revealed this pair to be Phobos and Deimos, Zerhal Avara's most trusted lieutenants; for the moment they were simply trouble.

Sack backed rapidly away to missile range, clawing his Arrow of Slaying out of his quiver as he went. Surya drew his weapons and lunged forwards to engage the devils; and Hildraft gripped his prayer-axe and commanded the monsters, in the Name of Kord, to begone!

To everyone's amazement, Deimos blinked out, hurled back into the Hells by the force of the dwarf's faith. An instant later, Sack's precious Arrow whistled through the empty space where the devil had been standing, as the Tellaran squared up against the second Pit Fiend.

Phobos, disconcerted by his brother's disappearance, spread his wings menacingly, but Surya drove inwards with both swords, striking a series of incredible blows at the monster's head. Black blood flew, and the fiend crashed backwards, its' entire head mashed to a pulp.

Hildraft fumbled in his bag for the Glarith Key, and then it suddenly occurred to him and Surya that Niotanv had not actually told them how to use it...

Surya's hand clamped on the dwarf's wrist. "Not here!" he said, and turning to Sack asked him to Teleport them to Reital, his notional home. His thought was that, shielded by the dimensional shift of the Quiver and the Obscurement spell, the sword might be harder to detect once they'd moved again.

Sack opened his Bag of Holding and laid it down, and the pair sprang inside. As he bent to pick it up, a flash of light attracted his attention from the foot of the throneroom.

To his horror, he saw not one but two figures appear within the sanctum. To the left, where Phobos and Deimos had appeared, a similar flaming portal opened, and a familiar figure stepped out - Zerhal Avara, a heavy mace gripped in his hand and murder in his inhuman eyes. To the right, a humanoid shape faded into place, materializing rather than entering through a gate.

The newcomer was tall, taller than human, and with an attenuated head and body, elvish in feature, though somehow more elvish than the elves Sack knew - as if of an older, purer type. His long hair was a deep, rich red in colour. And overlying all his features was the unmistakable stamp of vampirism. His interlocking armour of baroquely decorated metal plates made no sound as he swung his gaze across the hall, locking it on Sack as if he expected him to be there.

For a dreadful moment, the half-orc feared this might be Cain himself, already escaped by some dreadful freak chance; and then a glimmer of what he'd read came back; the meaning of an elvish name: Long, thin, golden-red; Cullinan.

Sack didn't hesitate. Grabbing the Bag, he tapped his helm and invoked the Teleport magic. As he did so, both Zerhal and Cullinan moved - and caught sight of each other. The half-orc saw a moment's glimpse of terrible fury and hate springing into life on each of his foes' faces before the scene in front of him blinked and he was looking at the inside of Reital Castle in New Tellare.

Once Surya and Hildraft had emerged from the Bag, the dwarf immediately unpacked the mysterious Key. Holding it in his hands, he prayed to Kord for guidance, and in five minues or so, its peculiar shape was glowing with the same pale blue radiance as the Axe of Glass.

While he did this, Surya unpacked the Sword of Absolute Law, and speculatively swung it, hefting it and getting the feel of the Primal weapon. He was transported. He could feel the might of the blade, and the power it brought thrumming through him; though he also felt its' nature warring with his. Zero-One was an artifact of Primal Law; created before Good and Evil existed to colour the Primal Forces. He felt the pain as his strong individuality clashed with the sword's uncompromised drive for Order, and in a flash of intuition realized that no creature existing within space and time - a cosmic construct which post-dated the weapon he held - could possibly satisfy the sword's criteria for a wielder.

He didn't care. Every fibre of his being lusted to posess the Sword of Law; to keep what it gave, his, forever. Only a thread of his human reason shrieked at him that it would kill not only him, but all that he held dear, if he did not give it up.

Suddenly, glowing blue walls of energy erupted from the floor, enclosing a cylinder around ten feet across around the Key. The three companions could see at a glance that the area outside those walls had changed; was no longer the dour stone walls of Reital Castle at all...

Hildraft lifted his head, and gestured to Surya to step through the curtain of energy. For an instant more the Tellaran hesitated, agonized. Then he gathered his willpower and strode into the blue fire. Hildraft glanced at Sack, who stood alert, his bow strung and the Arrow of Slaying nocked, ready in case his comrade's willpower was not enough; the half-orc indicated that he would stay where he was. Hildraft stepped into the curtain.

He found Surya standing staring around. It was a sight worth staring at. The Hallows was a cylindrical chamber half a mile across, plain white in colour. Around the walls, about five feet from the ground, ran a ledge. Standing on this ledge, shoulder to shoulder, were tall, magnificent figures, twenty feet high, robed and winged in white, mighty swords rested point-down between their hands in front of them. Solars; the highest angels of the Gods of Good, placed here by each of the deities of Alair to watch the Sword of Law - for ever.

The Solars paid the pair no visible attention, but the sensation of being watched was overpowering. With it, though, came immense peace. Surya in particular felt relaxed, calm - the dark urgings of the dreadful weapons he wore and was bound to stilled. Hildraft, bathed in the power of his god, was beatific, confident, uplifted.

Not without lingering regret, the Tellaran carried the Sword of Law to the centre of the chamber, where a white rock stood, a slot cut into the top; its' purpose was obvious. Surya raised the sword, and drove it down into the stone. It plunged into the rock, shedding blazing silver sparks, and lodged. He released it, and stepped away.

Their mission accomplished, the pair returned through the blue curtain. Sack, waiting alertly, glanced at Surya - who appeared downcast and depressed - and at Hildraft, who nodded reassuringly. The half-orc unstrung his bow.

With a rush, the energy dissipated, and the castle chamber was normal again. Their mission was accomplished. Pulling himself together with an effort, Surya set off for the courtyard of the castle, followed by the others. It seemed fitting that the key should be broken here, where Skufruss had performed his mighty summoning of dragons. With trepidation, Hildraft laid the glittering thing on the ground, and smote it with the Axe of Glass. The Key exploded into slivers.

A shattering detonation blasted from the breaking, blotting out all their senses for an instant. Blinking, they quite expected to see the castle flattened around them, but in fact it was quite unharmed. The effects seemed to have been on a different level to the strictly material, though those with the arcane senses to feel it would have heard the blast across all Alair.

On one level it had been quite perceptible enough; that of sound. The hammer of running feet heralded the arrival of the castle guard, and the commander of the guard, Talahisa. Surya shook off the last of his regrets, and tore into the commander, demanding to know how he and his friends could have appeared unmarked in the castle and operated for many minutes without being spotted. He also ordered a full mobilization; the chances of Zerhal having missed the Sword's brief appearance on the Prime Material were slim, he felt.

Sure enough, in a few minutes the guard reported a disturbance, located where the three questers had first appeared in the fortress. Talahisa snapped out orders, directing reinforcements to the scene, and the three heroes went with them. If this was who they feared, the human guards would have no chance.

Reaching the chamber they'd come from, they found a swarm of guardsmen boiling around a single figure, attacking from all possible angles. It looked like a totally one-sided fight, but as the three rounded the corner they were barely missed by the flying form of a guardsman, his body crushed and smashed almost beyond recognition, who crashed into the wall behind and crumpled into a bloody heap on the floor.

The lone combatant was Zerhal Avara, and his mace was smashing a terrible swathe through the guardsmen, helpless in their humanity before his inhuman might. Surya bellowed orders, instructing the guards to pull back from their foe, and the three questers - plus Talahisa, who appeared unwilling to back off after his earlier failing - faced their adversary.

Zerhal was clearly wounded; slashes marked his armour and body in several places, and black steaming blood was leaking onto his green skin. He must have beaten Cullinan, thought the companions, and the thought was not comforting.

Hildraft attempted another Banishment, but to no avail. Springing forwards, Zerhal battered the dwarf with his dire mace, splitting his helmet and sending blood coursing down his face. Sack unleashed his terrible Arrow, but it glanced from the devil's armour. Surya and Talahisa advanced with swords, but their strikes were inefective. Things looked black.

Fury boiled up in Surya's heart. Having surrendered the wonderful Sword of Law, he wasn't going to die at the hands of this half-fiend now. Drawing more deeply on Tormentor's power than he had ever before, he released his self-control and let the blood madness that lurked in the grey steel wash over him. Discarding any pretence of defence, he hurled himself against his foe in a berserk all-out attack. Leaping and spinning, he moved faster and struck harder than Hildraft had ever seen him do before, and the priest of Kord shuddered as he considered the consequences.

Changing his choice of magic, Hildraft launched a spell of Destuction against the cambion - normally forbidden to him, he felt Kord would forgive him, and begged his god to smite the ungodly monster he opposed. Nearly it worked; but the half-fiend's power shrugged it off, though it clearly cost him dearly. Sack and Talahisa pounded bolts and blows at their foe, but to no avail other than to keep him on the defensive.

To his horror, Hildraft realized that Zerhal was using the same spell - Destruction - on him! He gathered his faith and shrugged it off, feeling the agony of near death wash through him.

In such a battle as this, only one slip or mistake is needed to bring an end. With an unnatural scream, Surya luged forwards, cutting and slashing, and Zerhal, wounded and battered, stumbled and missed his parry. The two dark swords met with a crunch within the compass of the cambion's slanted skull, collapsing it and spilling the contents abroad. The body hung from the two swords for a moment, and then dropped to the floor, black fluids pouring out to flow across the stone.

Niotanv's projected form smiled at the Hunters of Cain. The approval and gratitude - not only of Kord, but of all the Gods - washed across the three, soothing their hurts and weariness. Without words they knew that their service had earned them a rest, and gifts from all those deities who had pooled their power to build the Hallows. The form of these gifts would become clear in time. Certainly, any of the Gods would be glad to accept their souls when the time came.