From: Mike Whitaker <MIKEW@SDL.MDCBBS.COM>
Subject: STORY: Midnight's Bane - part 19
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 21:48:58 GMT

	There was a brief shimmering in the air behind them, then it faded. The
ash under their feet was fine and black, not deep enough to hinder movement but
just deep enough to be a nuisance. The sky over the Iron Montains, now to the
south, was leaden grey, a slightly lighter patch to the south-east all that
hinted where the sun was. Tanya leant on Hawk's shoulder for a moment or two,
and Angron frowned worriedly.
	"We should keep moving - they might follow." Tanya's voice was ragged
as she lifted a pale face to the priest.
	"I'll be ok." She grinned weakly. "That's the first time I've ever cast
a fireball - guess they're tougher than I thought." She pulled Hawk's fur cloak
tighter across her shoulders. "Then one of you can damn well lend me some
clothes."

	The five struck out north to, as Tanya put it with forced humour,
"Alcar, fresh clothes and a hot bath", relieved to be out of Irongate. After an
hour, the sorceress, by now wearing Anya's spare boots and assorted items of
clothing from various backpacks, began to stumble, and first Hawk then Angron
carried her for a while. Eventually, they stopped, shared around some food, and
rested. Hawk conducted a quick review of the party's supplies before turning to
Drax.
	"How far have we got to go?" The mage produced his maps and studied
them for a moment.
	"Four days on foot, if we're lucky. Will we make it with the food and
water we've got?" Hawk nodded grimly.
	"Just about. I don't want to have to rely on water from this place
though."

	For the remainder of that day they rested. Over the next two days,
progress was reasonable, though not fast enough to stop Hawk worrying about the
state of their supplies. Tanya slept badly, tossing and turning and crying out
in her sleep, and waking up several times both nights in a cold sweat. In reply
to Hawk's concerned questioning, her response was a half angry, half ashamed
"nightmares". By the evening of the third day, while she appeared to have
recovered from the draining effect of the chain about her neck, she had slowly
become withdrawn and quiet, almost mechanical in her actions. To make matters
worse, the sky grew ominously dark and brooding by late afternoon, and distant
rumbles of thunder could be heard from the west. Visibility grew poorer, rocks
and occasional twisted trees looming out of the semi-darkness as they
approached them.
	Nightfall found the party in some rudimentary shelter in the lee of one
of several large black rocks some fifteen feet high, its surface oddly glassy
and smooth, like many others they had seen over the past days. They huddled
together for warmth, Tanya falling asleep on Hawk's shoulder, wrapped in his
cloak, almost as soon as she had finished eating. The night was somehow
oppressively dark, with storm clouds hiding the waning face of Lyra, and the
mutterings of thunder growing slowly closer, accompanied by occasional flashes
of lightning and fitful drizzling rain.

	 As sunrise drew near, the storm finally reached them. Anya, huddled in
her cloak, was on watch when it began to rain in earnest, waking the rest of
them. Tanya burrowed deeper into Hawk's cloak, shivering slightly, as the sky
was rent by bright flashes of lightning and long echoing rumbles of thunder,
and Hawk put a reassuring arm around her shoulders. For half an hour or more,
the rain poured down, cracks of thunder assaulted their ears and the
accompanying lightning showed the rocks around in eerie relief. At last, there
was a small break in the clouds, and the rain lessened. Anya brushed a wet
strand of hair off her face.
	"Thank the gods that's over." Hawk shook his head.
	"Just the eye of the storm. Sterma has more in store for us yet." He
stroked Tanya's hair with his free hand. "Are you alright?" Tanya's pale face
peered up at him from within the fold of the cloak, damp strands of brown hair
clinging to her cheeks, and she summoned the ghost of a smile.
	"No....I hate thunderstorms..." She shivered, and the faint smile
vanished. "And I'm so tired....".
	The lull lasted for about fifteen minutes, in which they all attempted
to dry off, and, just as the rain began to build in intensity again, Tanya,
still huddled half-awake in Hawk's cloak, stiffened, cried out in mingled pain
and alarm, and fell limply unconscious. Angron examined her, the worried
expression on his face, matching everyone else's, visible in occasional
lightning flashes.
	"Relax. She's not dead." Anya let out a long sigh, unaware she had been
holding her breath. "But I can't bring her round, and I don't know what caused
it." Several closely spaced claps of thunder and their associated lightning
flashes assaulted their eyes and ears, and in the comparative silence
afterwards, a softly musical voice could be heard through the sound of falling
rain.
	"There is shelter nearby, if you wish it." Anya and Drax turned, weapons
drawn. Illuminated in the next flash of lightning, standing some ten feet away,
was a man in his late twenties, startlingly handsome with deep blue eyes and
fair hair, robed in the white of a priest of Kerila, goddess of healing. is
accent was odd, almost archaic, as he spoke again, displaying open hands.
	"Please. I mean you no harm. There is a village but a scant few
moments walk away."
	Drax stared intently at the white-robed figure, then bowed slightly at
the waist. Hawk regarded the stranger with suspicion. However, looking down at
Tanya's still form, the ranger growled,	
	"Stranger, your arrival is either fortuitous or planned. I hope for your
sake it is the former. I am worried about our friend and we would be
ill-advised not take you up on your offer if it is genuine. If it is not, I
would prefer to die in combat than from pneumonia! Please lead on." With that
he stooped to pick Tanya gently up, trying to use his body to mask her from the
severe weather. Pausing till Hawk had finished addressing the newcomer, the mage
spoke.
	"We accept your invitation, kind sir. As you can see, our companion is
in dire need of a warm bed and we could all use a chance to dry off and eat a
warm meal for a change." Quickly, Drax introduced his companions, finishing with
Tanya (who showed no sign of regaining consciousness as Hawk gathered her into
his arms) in response to which the priest introduced himself as Esteril, priest
of Kerila. Hawk turned to Drax, who had moved over to help him, and whispered,
"Is there any village on your maps?" The mage shook his head.
	"The nearest settlement," he whispered back, glancing over his shoulder
at the white-robed figure, "is actually Alcar itself, and we're still forty
miles short of reaching there." He frowned. "If he is a cleric of Kerila, we
have nothing to fear, but we should be on our guard just in case." Anya returned
her dagger to her boot, eyeing the priest warily.  She listened to the
conversation, then turned and quietly whispered to Angron. "I think we can trust
him on this." Then, as she moved away and warily watched around them, she
added quietly, "I hope I'm not too far wrong."
	It was still raining hard as they followed the priest to the village,
and visibility was appalling, save when lightning flashes lit up the sky and
they could see for an instant for a hundred yards or so. En route, Drax turned
to the white-robed man.
	"It seems to me that your arrivial was not by chance - you seem hardly
dressed to be out in this weather." The man touched the symbol of a budding
rose around his neck.
 	"Indeed not, for I was awoken just ere dawn by a dream which bade me search
for five who needed my aid." Esteril held out a cupped hand and let the falling
rain gather in it for a second or two, smiling gently. "And what is rain save
my Lady's gift of water? Why therefore should I have fear of getting wet?" Hawk
stole a glance over his shoulder at Angron, following close behind with Anya,
and raised an eyebrow. Angron smiled and shrugged his shoulders in a "seems ok
to me" gesture.
	A particularly bright flash of lightning revealed a small hamlet, some
dozen clustered buildings, suprisingly close. Esteril indicated the village
with a wave of his arm.
	"Welcome to Linnar." He led them through the gloom to the largest of the
buildings, obviously a temple, from which the welcoming glow of a lantern
beckoned. Once inside, pausing to bow reverentially at the altar, he led the way
into a side annexe of three rooms, a kitchen, a living room and a bedroom. He
motioned Hawk through into the bedroom, and helped him lay the pale and still
Tanya on the bed. From the kitchen drifted a smell of hot food, and he indicated
a pile of blankets by the roaring fire in the living room, bade them change out
of your wet clothes and disappeared, first into the kitchen, then into the
bedroom. Once out of his damp clothing and wrapped in a blanket, Drax turned to
the others.
	"I believe Tanya's familiar has died." Angron nodded.
	"That was my guess too - it occurred to me as we were walking here." Drax
glanced over at the bedroom door.
	"Her slow recovery and then sudden collapse do seem to fit with that
idea." Esteril reappeared as Drax finished his sentence, and smiled.
	"You are, I think, correct. However, you need fear not for her life.
She will recover, but for now she should be allowed to rest." He turned to head
for the kitchen. "As I think, should you all, once you have eaten."
        Breakfast was a suprisingly appetising thick porridge, accompanied by
fresh bread, and a warming herbal tea. After they had satisfied your hunger,
Esteril suggested that they rest, having first allowed a fretting Hawk to check
up on the peacefully sleeping Tanya. He enquired about the chain, and frowned
at Hawk and Drax's explanation, saying that there was nothing he could do. At
last even Hawk and Anya slept, eventually conceding that no harm could come of
doing so.
	

	Rain still fell gently on the windows, and from the kitchen wafted the
smell of frying bacon. Sitting on the arm of a chair was Esteril, one eye on
the kitchen doorway.
	"You slept well, I trust." Anya stretched and bit back a huge yawn.
	"Very well." She shook her long hair into place. "I feel wonderful." A
voice, Tanya's, called from the kitchen, sounding bright and cheerful.
	"They awake yet?" Esteril smiled.
	"Indeed. If you will excuse me, I will arrange some food whilst you
dress." They did so, and gathered together their possessions, finding
waterskins refilled. Shortly, a veritable mountain of food was brought through
from the kitchen, and all conversation caease for a while. Afterwards, Anya
sighed contentedly, then sat upright as a thought struck her.
	"Esteril? How long have we been asleep?"
	"For around three days. It is mid-morning - you all were in need of
much rest."
	"Three days!" Angron exploded, "Just..... Who *are* you?" Esteril held
a hand up in a calming gesture.
	"Peace, my brother. If you are all rested and have eaten your fill, and
are ready to set out once more, I will tell you." Hawk looked at Tanya.
	"How are you?" A rueful smile crossed Tanya's face, now back to a more
healthy colour.
	"I'll live." She noticed Hawk frown at this. "I'll be fine, honestly."
	"Then we are, I think, ready." said Drax. Estoril bade them accompany
him into the temple, where he reached behind the altar and produced a long
cloth- wrapped bundle. This he proceeded to unroll, revealing an ornate
scabbard for a longsword, made of deep blue leather inlaid with ivory, with a
matching belt.
	"Many years ago, men fought the Lifestealers on the plains between
Alcar and Ferrin, which you now call the Black Plain. With them was the paladin
Valdara, for whom the sword Midnight's Bane was forged by the Firewitch." Hawk
unconsciously touched the deep blue wrapped hilts of his sword. "In a battle
near Linnar, she fell, mortally wounded, and her sword was lost. She was
brought here, and here she died." He paused, and again touched his holy symbol.
"Ere she died, she charged me to keep the scabbard until one who bore the sword
should come and claim it. It will protect the wearer, and those near him, from
the gaze of the Lifestealers." He held the sheath and belt out to Hawk, who
took it as a man in a daze. "I have discharged my duty to my wife. Now I may
rest." Without another word he turned and knelt, head bowed, at the altar.
There was a flash of cool white light, and a faint smell of roses, and then
they were standing as before on a plain of black ash, rain falling gently out
of a grey sky.
	Tanya rubbed a hand across her eyes, and broke the long silence.
	"Damned ash gets everywhere." Anya looked around her.
	"What was all that about a battle, and the Firewitch, and...?" Tanya
cut her short with a half smile.
	"Enough. I do know, but I don't think I should be the one to tell you.
Wait till we get to Alcar, and you'll probably learn more than you ever wanted
to." Hawk nodded, buckling on the belt and sheathing Midnight's Bane.
	"North is that way. Let's go."

	By late afternoon on the ninth, they had left the Black Plain some miles
behind, and Alcar was in sight, the golden roof of the high temple to Heslor
visible in the light of the setting sun some five miles to the north- east.
Quickening their steps across the grassy plain, in the hope of avoiding another
night in the open, the keen-eyed Anya pointed to a speck high in the sky to the
north-west, approaching and growing larger at incredible speed. As it closed,
it could be seen that it had wings not dissimilar to those of a dragon, and
Hawk yelled "Scatter!". As the party spread out and began readying spells and
weapons, the winged shape approached closer and lower, slowing down as it did
so. It soon grew close enough to discern that its wings were motionless, and it
was in fact not a creature at all, but some strange white vessel like a ship
with a single stubby mast. Tanya began to laugh.
	"It's all right." Drax looked at her incredulously. "They're friends."
Indeed as the huge winged vessel settled to the ground a couple of hundred feet
away, they could see several figures on deck. At the front of the great ship
stood a tall figure in red-gold armour and a dwarf - like many of the others,
they were wearing deep red cloaks. Tanya let out a yell. "VALGOTH!"
	After a moment's pause, two figures disembarked from the ship, one tall
and lanky, and red cloaked, one small and slim, and began walking towards them,
followed about fifty yards behind by the figure in red-gold armour and a
tallish woman with long red hair. As they closed, they recognised the small and
slim figure as Cherri, garbed, as ever, in black. The one accompanying her was
robed as a priest of Tal (apart, that was, from the red fur cloak) and
unfamiliar to them. The wind whipped Cherri's long hair around her face, and
there was an amused light in her green eyes as she and the priest stopped
around ten feet away. "You made it, then?", she enquired, simultaneously with
Tanya's "Hi, Ewan"
        Hawk moved to stand by Tanya, hand on the hilt of his sword. He greeted
Cherri with a slight nod of the head, a mask of grim determination on his face.
        "Where is the other Tanya?" he enquired urgently.
        "Don't worry." Ewan's tone was reassuring. "We dealt with it." The tall
priest of Tal's face was serious. "But Tanya's familiar..."
        "I know." Tanya's voice was almost inaudible. Ewan looked up at Hawk,
then down to the scabbard at his belt.
        "If you'll pardon me asking? Is that Midnight's Bane?" Hawk's face
registered surprise.
        "It is. How did you know?" The other two had by now reached the little
group. The tall figure in red-gold armour was quite obviously a paladin of
Heslor, from the golden sunburst across the front of his armour. He had red
hair and beard, and an ornate hand-and-a-half sword at his waist. The woman was
youngish and fresh-faced, with long red hair and two longswords sheathed across
her back. She smiled at the assembled company.
	"Ewan just knows things. It's his job." She waved back at the ship,
then turned back to them. "Hi. I'm Alisande. This is Valgoth." The paladin
grinned.
        "Hi. You want a ride?" Anya smiled back.
        "Please. It would be nice - we have been walking all day." Angron
frowned.
	"Are you certain that it was Tanya's doppleganger you 'dealt with', and
not instead that we have merely allowed a double of her to be planted on us."
Valgoth smiled grimly.
	"It was a doppleganger - I'm sure." Drax looked at him.
	"You can't be sure that we aren't." He turned to the High Priestess.
"Might I suggest some form of detection spell to prove we are who we say we
are." Cherri nodded, and turned to lead the way back the short distance to the
ship. When they were ten or so yards away she motioned for them to stop.
        "Please excuse the discourtesy, but, as Drax said, I think we ought to
take a few precautions, ..." She hesitated. Alisande grinned impishly.
        "...because we're paranoid." Cherri sighed.
        "Exactly." At Cherri's nod, atop the ship, another priest of Tal,
somehwat older, began to murmur the words to a spell.
        "Who's that?" asked Anya of Angron.
        "Duncan. He's the High Priest of Tal in Sasarka." In a couple of
moments, the old priest completed his work and smiled down at them all.
	"Well, you all are who you seem to be, or so my Lord assures me." They
climbed aboard, and were welcomed by a slim half-elven woman with silver hair,
wearing a white cloak over a white surcoat upon which was emblazoned a
seven-pointed star of deep blue, surrounded by flames. Under all this she was
wearing mail, and introduced herself as Brigid of the White Company. There were
another half-dozen or so women in the same uniform on board, along with around
a dozen priests, a score or more of warriors in various liveries, several
people who appeared to be nobles, half a dozen dwarves, and a small group of
which Valgoth, Alisande and one of the dwarves apppeared to be a part. Anya,
who  had been watching Tanya during this trek with a curious expression, asked,
"Care to introduce us to your friends?" The sorceress smiled.
	"I don't know half the people on board here! Let's see. Valgoth,
Alisande and Ewan you've met. This is Dharin." The stocky and balding dwarf
she indicated thrust out a calloused hand.
	"Pleased to meet you." Tanya grinned at him, and then turned to the fair
haired female half-elf on his right.
	"This is Karla - she's our other spell-caster." Next to the blue-eyed
and slim mage was a diminutive woman in the white of Kerila, dark of hair with a
shy smile. "And this is Kerydd, our healer." Tanya pronnounced it 'Kerrith'.
	"How does this thing fly, then?" enquired Anya. The half-elven girl
laughed.
	"Everybody's been asking that. It's complicated - it involves using a
mage or a cleric's spell energy to power it. Right now, Beth - she's one of the
White Company's mages - is flying it. If we get some spare time in the next few
days I'll show you."

	Drax turned to Cherri with a bemused expression, as the great white
vessel took to the air with a barely perceptible lurch.
        "High Priestess? What, if anything, have we arrived in the midst of?"
Cherri permitted herself a smile.
        "Actually, you've arrived on the eve of what I suspect history will
remember as the Second Council of Alcar. If history is around to remember us."
Her expression turned serious. "It's a gathering of the leaders of the Eastern
lands, both secular and holy, along with those of you who have had more direct
involvement, to discuss and act on the current situation. Things start
tomorrow, so you'll have time to rest first, but I suspect that the five of you
will have a few important things to tell us." She raised a hand as Hawk started
to speak. "Not now - we'll be there in no time, and I have an hour or two's
work ahead of me protecting the temple. But I do wish to hear your story
sometime this evening."
	Tanya was thoughtfully silent for the short journey, having left Anya
talking to Karla and the others, until Hawk, who had also been quietly
brooding, looked at her in a concerned manner and enquired if she was all right.
	"I'm fine. You can stop worrying about me." A smile took the edge out
of her words. Hawk smiled back and winked at her.
        "Let's just say I've grown accustomed to watching out for you." The
sorceress laughed softly.
	"So, what's bothering *you*?" Hawk sighed.
        "The meeting with the spirit made me think. If it was a spirit we met
then he seemed content with 'life' for him. Perhaps death isn't an empty void
but is akin to sleeping, where we dream of better things? I've always thought
that my wife and son were gone forever, that they had no existence at all in
this world. That hurt a lot. Now... I don't know. If they were in fact content
in some afterlife then..." He shook his head in confusion. "Priests say they
know, but I've never really been much for religion and 'gods'. If you've seen
and felt a fraction of the pain and suffering I have, then you begin to wonder
why?" Tanya rested a hand gently on his shoulder for a moment.
	"Maybe you and I should have a long talk sometime." The ranger looked up
at her thoughtfully, and was interrupted by Alisande's cry of "We've
arrived!" and the gentle shock of the vessel touching down.

	Alcar was built out into a lake, on a small rocky island joined to the
shore by a short causeway. The temple dominated the island, being built on its
summit. Circling around the city as they entered were three white pegasi, with
riders. Their small procession made its way up the main street, twisting
clockwise and winding steeply to the temple gates. In the entrace hall, what
seemed at first to be a scene of total choas resolved itself eventually, as they
noticed a small dark-haired woman, clutching a sheaf of papers, assigning
servants to show the new arrivals to rooms. Tanya turned to Karla.
	"Did you rescue my things?"
	"Of course - they're in our room." As the two disappeared upstairs,
Alisande ushered the rest forward, now that the nobles and priests had been
dealt with.
	"Hi, Bryony. These are Hawk, Drax, Anya and Angron." Bryony looked up,
gave them a welcoming smile and scanned the list in her hand.
	"Ah - you're on the third floor of the dormitories, room three. I'm
sorry I had to put the four of you together, but we're a bit tight on space."
She smiled again. "There'll baths ready in around a candlemark if you want, and
dinner will be served in the lower hall in around an hour. Alisande will show
you. If there are any problems, just come and find me."
	"Come on," said Alisande, retrieving a key off Bryony and leading them
off up the stairs that Tanya and Karla took, and along corridors and more
stairs till she stopped at a door. She unlocked it, pushed the door open on
well-oiled hinges and waited for a second or two, hands poised above the hilts
of her longswords. "Can't be too careful." The caution proved unfounded, and
she left them with the key to the room.
--
This story is a compilation of a PBeM campaign, by:

	Mark Little ...................	Hawk
	Janet Huss .................... Anya
	Rob Holden .................... Drax
	Alan Braggins ................. Angron

	Mike Whitaker ................. GM and central casting
	Anne Rundle ................... Ewan
	Phil Allcock .................. Valgoth, Karla
	Lissa Blackburn ............... Alysande, Kerydd

Back episodes of Midnight's Bane are available by anonymous ftp from:
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