The Bridge of Arech

Returning to the larger portal, the heroes examined it for means of closure. Sack used his Spider Climb to clamber off the staircase and down under the bridge.

It proved to be an unsupported slab, protruding straight out of the chasm's side, around forty feet thick at the base, tapering to about ten at the Portal end. The underside was smooth and featureless.

While Sack explored, Hildraft examined the material of the bridge. It appeared to be stone, and this offered the enticing possibility of dropping it into the chasm - surely that would interfere with the Portal and discomode the shadowy guardians. With a grin, he cast a Stone Shape and began to mould a fissure across the bridge, just where it joined the wall. Although the spell worked, something was clearly resisting the magic and progress was slow.

The others had drawn swords, for they had a pretty good idea of what was likely to happen. Sure enough, the shadow figures stirred, and the trained senses of the heroes felt the taint of Undeath intensify. As the twelve tall shade-shapes stepped off their plinths and turned to face the intruders, a wave of bone-numbing cold washed over them, accompanied by the stink of opened graves.

Both Surya and Hildraft recognized them; the dwarf from his priestly training and the Tellaran from... nowhere he could think of. The guardians were Nightwalkers, a dreadful incorporeal undead composed of darkness and evil.

Six of the creatures started forward towards the widening wound in the bridge; six stayed back near the portal - and then suddenly vanished. Hildraft recognized the signs of supporting spellcaster tactics, and used a Quickened spell to place a Blade Barrier across the bridge.

Sack and Surya moved in front of Hildraft and engaged, shielding the dwarf to allow him to complete the bridge's destruction. Their swords flashed, dark and bright, and dealt out massive damage; one creature dissolved into shreds of smoke but the others bore on, clearly capable of absorbing enormous punishment.

Their eyes blazed, and all four mortals felt a magical effect trying to sieze control of their wills for a moment before they managed to shrug it off.

The Stryran knight Ingamin glanced from this scene down at his slender falchion Faebane, and shook his head. Sheathing it again, he dug out his Daylight wand and began to lay down a barrage of illuminating magic instead.

Hildraft felt his magic challenged from a point near the swirling blue portal, and both the Stone Shape and Blade Barrier disappeard. Meanwhile, the nearer five had unsuccesfully attempted some sort of disarming move on Sack & Surya, and another three were slain.

Hildraft doggedly recast his Stone Shape and returned to trying to cut the bridge, trusting the others to hold the Nightwalkers off. The fissure began to widen again, and dangerous creaking and splintering sounds began to be audible.

The spell sputtered and died again, and Hildraft recast it again with muttered imprecations, determinied to press on and succeed. The last of the six that had directly attacked went down, and Surya and Sack switched to bows, as offering a better chance of hitting the invisible spellcaster Nightwalkers. Sack used the magic of the Bracers of Vrasten, and a virtual rainstorm of arrows flashed across the bridge, some striking home and vanishing, some missing and spiraling into the chasm, and some slicing through the portal. Coils of dissipating smoke showed where the fusillaide had slain its targets. The distraction was obviously enough to prevent the Nightwalkers working magic, because Hildraft's Stone Shape was unchallenged and made serious progress at cutting the bridge. Sack and Surya stepped backwards across the widening gap. The dwarf took a moment to try an Invisibility Purge, but rather to his surprise nothing happened.

A few seconds later, with a tearing scream of rending stone, the shaped spur of the rock bridge pulled away from the chasm wall and toppled with ponderous grace into the abyss, bearing the luminous blue portal with it. It turned with seeming slowness as it plunged into the darkness, receding into the distance and the dimness until it was gone from sight. Almost when they had abandoned hope of hearing it, there came a rolling crash from far, far below, and then silence.

Turning their attention back to where it had been, they were rather startled to see two surviving Nightwalkers hovering in place where the bridge had been, visible once more. Something about their demeanour truck Hildraft as odd, and he paused; not so Sack, who launched the last of his arrows at one of them and destroyed it. Surya levelled the Sword of the Dead Legions at the last one and exterted control; to no avail. Not only did he feel his own power slither across the Nightwalker's resistance, but he was aware of a similar effect already in place, an effect that was rapidly disintegrating.

The ghostly head turned and gazed at the group on the truncated landing. A voice, dark and low, spoke one phrase: "I am free...". Then the undead creature began to rise vertically, soaring up the chasm and away from the bridge to which it had been bound for ... how long?

In the interests of making sure, Sack packed everyone into his Bag of Holding, and Spider Climbed down the chasm, all the way to the bottom. There, they found the shattered rubble that was all which remained of the bridge and the portal gate. Some parts still crackled with dissipating magical energy. Disapointingly, there was no treasure dropped by previous failed crossers of the bridge as Sack had hoped.

Back at the stairway, the dwarf worked another Scrying, and once more they found themselves looking at the bony visage of Tersoal. He appeared unsurprised to see them, and by the looks of the equipment around him, had been scrying something only minutes earlier. Themselves?

"Well done," he conceded, "you have won a small victory. My power remains, however, my Jart are right here; I shall return."

Surya suggested that he should try another plane for his conquests, but Tersoal demurred. It seemed he held to the Amber Hypothesis, a view held by only a small number of planewalkers, that there was One True Prime Material plane - Prime Zero - and that all the other Material planes were reflections, shadows, imitations of that plane, and not as "real" as Prime Zero. Its' detractors held that this was merely the inability of the clueless to adjust to the infinity of the Cosmos, but the supporters of the Amber Hypothesis had equally strong arguments for its' veracity. Unfortunalely, this meant that Tersoal would have little interest in other Materials.

Returning to the surface, the group located Hansen, and prepared to depart the Fens of Korvux. The eerie mist that had been such a feature of the place from their arrival was utterly gone, and a swift experiment revealed that whatever force had been preventing Hildraft from using some of his magic was now gone.

Relieved that they would not have to slog back through the swamps, the group gratefully submitted to Hildraft's Wind Walk, and left the dreary fens far behind in moments.

Emrys, Stryre, 15^th February 1602

Their next stop was the residence of the gatecrasher Xerxes, probably the best source of planar knowledge they knew. The peaceful little grove was exactly as they remembered it, and the door was opened to their knock by the grizzled dwarf himself. He remembered Hildraft and Surya, who'd visited him before, but Sack, Hansen and Ingamin were strange to him. The bard and the knight were quick to give their names, but Sack of course could not say his. Surya stepped forwards to ease the awkwardness, and performed the introductions - but named the half-orc as Sack, the only name he'd ever known him by. Xerxes eyed the vampire hunter narrowly for a moment, and then invited everyone in; but Sack was very aware of the slight tension in the air, and that the Gatecrasher was making sure he had sight of him at all times.

Notwithstanding this, the dwarf made everyone comfortable, and listened attentively while Surya told their story. So did Hansen, who'd missed large chunks of it. At the end, the dwarf reciprocated, telling the tale of Sarugost and the Jart.

Sarugost was a parallel material plane, and the world of origin of not only the Jart, but the elves as well. Aeons ago, before the coming of elves to Alair, the two races had coexisted there in a state of unceasing warfare. Then, as now, the elves were pastoral, sylvan, cultured and peaceful by nature; the Jart were aggressive, expansionistic, and warlike. The martial power of the Jart was such that the elves were driven to the brink of annihilation, and the few survivors were forced to make a desperate attempt to breach the planar walls of Sarugost and escape elsewhere.

They succeeded; but the power unleashed in the process was such that the plane they left behind was ravaged by the backlash. Millions of Jart were slain outright, and the survivors doomed to a slow death in a suddenly-reduced and barren universe. None survived.

It was clear that, despite his firm declarations of retirement, Xerxes was deeply intrigued by this matter. The location of Sarugost itself was no trifle; but the suppression of magic involving planar shifting - as which he identified the effects of the mist easily - was outside his considerable experience. He even went so far as to agree to consider going back with them for another look - although he insisted on sleeping on the matter, and offered the travellers the hospitality of his house for the night.