The normally reserved and quiet Beourn was frantically beating on the translucent stone of the wall shouting "No, you don't understand. I HAVE to get in. I can feel them clearly now, and it is irresistible." He stopped pounding and rested his head against the cold stone.

"Right Beourn; we'll get in somehow. But give us a minute. I mean just look at us. We're all banged up and spells shot and everything. We need to regroup." said Cyril.

"And I'll bet these guys have some cool stuff too. I'm going to check them out." added Stallen thoughtfully as he started back toward the room full of strewn bodies. Katrina followed him and watched as he began to cast a spell. His eyes turned white as the spell took effect.

"Hot damn. I knew it. There is a bunch of magical stuff around here. This and this and this..." said Stallen as he began turning bodies over and pulling swords out of their dead hands.

He and Katrina gleefully searched the fallen githyanki taking anything of value that was reasonably light. Soon, they paused and looked at the mound of valuable stuff they had collected. Then they looked at each other, and began to toss away items that weren't magical. When they finished, the pile had been worked down to a realistic load.

As Beourn watched intently, Pisheo closely inspected the wall before them with her hands and eyes. Soon she said "You were right Beourn. There is a door here." Taking out a piece of chalk, she made a rough rectangle on the wall.

"Now, to find the way to open this sucker." she muttered and once again inspected what appeared to the others to be an area of wall exactly like the rest of the walls. Her abilities to open hidden doors was legendary, but after a through inspection she stood up and said "I can't find a thing. Better get someone else over her to check this out. Maybe they will have more luck." Dromar and Burzmali took over began to search together for the way to open the hidden door.

While they continued to search Cyril said "We are almost out of spells. I think we should look at the scrolls we have and maybe shift them around so we'll be ready for anything." There was much talk about who should receive which scrolls and may promises of their return if they were unused (and if they survived). This process was endured patiently by monst of the rest of the party. No one heard Krom mutter "slackers!" under his breath.

The way to open the door remained a mystery even after everyone in the party had searched for it. Beourn was leaning against the wall making a quiet keening sort of sound in the back of his throat.

"This is really frustrating" Pisheo said. "We know there is a way to get this door open, but no body can find the mechanism.

"Maybe I can help" said Katrina. "If I shift to the Ethereal plane, I may be able to see something."

"We are running out of options at this point." said Cyril. "It's dangerous but if you want to take the risk, go ahead."

"No problem. Here goes; see you in a few!" Katrina replied. She waved goodby to them and began to encant.

As the spell took effect, Katrina's form began to become less distinct until her now wraithlike form was a barely visible shadow. Silently she glided across the wall in the area of the chalk mark. Suddenly, the shadow change shape and began to disappear under the door like smoke up a chimney. She was gone.

-----

Katrina had been on the outer edges of the Ethereal plane many times before. Doing so in this place had been very dangerous in the past. The githyanki could travel to the Ethereal plane too and they were natives of there. When the forms of the rest of the party had the appearance of insubstantial blobs Katrina looked around her anxiously. She saw nothing and enjoyed a deep breath of relief. The walls looked very different from her new vantage point. On the Ethereal plane the translucent walls were opaque like dark grey rock. She searched the wall in front of her closely looking for the way to open the door. Soon, she found a small dent in the right side of the wall directly in front of her. She carefully noted the spot so Pisheo could search it closely later. As she did this, she noticed a tiny sliver of space at the corner of the floor and wall. "I'll just seep in and seep out" she told her self. She concentrated, willing her form through the tiny space at the bottom of the door. In a moment, she was on the other side of the wall.

Seeing none of the githyanki, she looked around her more closely. She was in an passage way. Her form drifted down the passage then stopped when she saw it opened into an enormous room. This place had a ominous appearance. In the center of a pool of water there was an island of the crystal about 20' in diameter. Almost the entire island was engulfed in flame. The flames looked like waving pieces of tissue on this plane. The cavern was a dome shaped and natural. It was filled with water that left no margin around the edges except for a small space near the opening of the passage way she had traveled down. The water looked like light grey oil. This was not normal, this was spooky. After this quick look, Katrina quickly willed herself back to the test of the group.

-----

Katrina shifted back to the material plane and in a rush she told the rest what she had seen. "There is something bad in that room." she concluded. As Katrina was finishing, Pisheo had begun to look at the place on the wall Katrina had indicated as a likely spot for the way to open the door.

"Got it!" Pisheo shouted then in a lower voice continued "All I have to do is slip the "mouse whisker" tool in here and push. The door should open right up. No traps that I can see."

"Are we ready?" queried Cyril. Pisheo moved to the side to let the fighters get near the door. Their swords drawn, Timber and Krom faced the chalk marked spot and nodded.  Pisheo pushed a tiny, thin piece of wire into a hole only she could see, and the door slid aside with a grinding sound. The passage beyond the door was flickering with fire light coming from the cavern beyond. The light was bent and indistint as it passed through the almost clear stone. At the end of the passage, water could be seen. Carefully and quietly they moved toward the edge of room. Because the passage curved slightly they could see much of the room ahead of them. The complete length of the passage was carved from the stone of the giant geode, then polished to a reflective sheen. It  ran about sixty feet to where it opened into the large, domed room.

They had hardly gone 10 paces down the passage when two Illithid materialized in front of them. Local 509 had seen their type before, but this did nothing to quell the instintive revlusion they felt at their appearance. These intellegent creatures were of the general shape of men, and this was partly what made them so horrible. But the resembalance ended there. What skin showed around their robed forms was a disturbing shade of deep purple. The fingers were boneless, stumpy tenticles as presumably were the feet hidden by their long robes. But most revolting by far were their faces. Where the mouth should be were four tenticles surround a lip less thing that looked like the beak of a bird. Above this monsterous maw were violet colored, utterly inhuman eyes. The eyes seemed filled with hate and loathing for everything they see. A hairless, mottled purple skull covered with small bumps complete the digusting picture. It was like these things were constructed by the gods to be repellant to humans.

In an instant, the battle was joined. Krom and Timber rushed forward to attack the tentacled horrors as, behind them, the mages began casting their spells. But even before Timber could swing his sword, everyone felt the mental concussion of the creatures mind attacks. Ulla collapsed to the floor like a marionette who's strings had been cut. Beourn drew his sword and stood guard over the prone Palidin.  Krom and Stallen were grimly swinging their swords and doing their best to avoid the flailing tentacles of their foes. Cyril was the next to fall prey to the mind blows of the purple terrors and still they used their tenticles to great advantge, causing small holes in the skulls of those they touched. But they suffered many mighty wounds too. At last they fled back to the Ethereal plane as suddenly as they had appeared.

"Are you guys OK?" Victorex asked the panting swordsmen.

The tentacle of the Mind Flayer had made a small hole in Krom's skull as it sought to eat his brain. "I have a hurt right here" he said pointing to his head.

"Too right!" thought Galranwyn as one of the clerics moved over him to cast a spell of healing.

Bending over the uncontious forms Kilana reported "Cyril and Ulla are OK, but out for the count".

"Stay sharp" cautioned Timber. "I think they were just feeling us out. They aren't nearly done with us yet."

In a few minutes, the clerics finished their healing tasks and they began to move down the passage again carrying Ulla and Cyril with them.

Timber was right. They hadn't gone another 20 paces when more of the tentacled terrors appeared both in front and behind them.

In a few minutes of fierce battle, the bodies of six Mind Flayers lie at the feet of the fighters and the rest fled. But Dromar and Katrina had fallen to the mind power of the monsters. The forms of Beourn and Ulla lay together where they had fallen.

"Damn! I hate those things!" said Timber. "Try to eat my brain will you!" He kicked one of the bodies.

"We better stay here till they wake up" said Stallen. "But stay on guard, they could come back at any time."

It only took a few more minutes until the ones who had fallen asleep woke up with only a bad headache to remind them of the Mind Flayers attack. Once more Beourn urged them forward and the party began to advance toward the pool. The arrived at the edge of the water unmolested. The water was murky, and the rocky bottom disappeared a few feet from the edge. A few cautiously moved forward to look into the pool more closely.

"Oh shit" whispered Cyril pointing. Near the edge of the water he had spotted a squid like creature. It had eyes that were almost human, except that it's eyes were purple. The same sick shade of purple they had seen in the eyes of the Mind Flayers. "This is their brood room. We are in so much trouble."

"What d'ya mean 'brood room'" asked Krom.

"That was a baby mind flayer" Cyril replied pointing at the mishappen squid thing. "There are probably hundreds of them in here."

"They don't look tough" Krom growled. Cyril smiled wainly.

"I want to check out this pool." said Timber. He tied a glowing rock to the end of a rope and tossed it into the dark area of the pool not far from where he was standing. As it fell through the water, they had a glimpse of dozens of the squid like forms only a few feet down. Hoping to see more, Timber began pulling on the rope. It suddenly went slack in his hands. When he had retrieved the rope, the end was seen to have been bitten cleanly off.

Inspecting the end of the rope Timber observed "Those suckers have sharp little teeth or something like that.  Don't anybody fall into the water. They could be like phiranna and strip your bones in a minute."

The rest of the group were looking around the room. It's forbidding aspect was as evident as Katrina remembered. The room was dome shaped with the ceiling about 30 feet high and was about 300' in diameter. In the northern part of the pool was a huge crystal that rose about 5' above the water. The top of the crystal was about 20' across and looked like it had been formed when the top of a giant crystal was cut cleanly off. On top of this platform, an enormous fire burned. The flames went to the top of the 30' ceiling and almost covered the small island. The flames gave off a faint roaring sound, but little smoke. It's heat could be felt from where the party was standing near the edge of the water some 200' away. The intense heat made it difficult to see what was burning.

While the party was looking around the room, Burzmali was looking at the squid things in the pool. "Ugly little things. I'll bet they eat brains too." He drew his bow and arrows and shot an arrow at the squids. He hit with his first attempt, and the pierced squid sank out of sight. The next instant, Mind Flayers rose up out of the pool and attacked the party with their mind powers!

In the next second, Cryil, Beourn, Ulla, Burzmali, Ember and Pisheo dropped to the ground uncontious.

"Fall back! Fall back!" Timber cried. Grabbing their fallen comrades, the party fled. They dragged the fallen people back down the passage until they were hidden from the pool. The mind flayers didn't follow them, for which all were very greatful.

Once he felt more safe, Timber said "We wait until they wake up, but stay sharp!"

They were far to startled by the sudden attack to relax, so it was hard to wait. It took a while, but one by one, all of the sleeping people woke up. Burzmali was standing off to one side looking inconspicuous and ignoring the dirty looks he was getting from the rest of the party.

Cyril was getting very sick of being rendered uncontious by the Illithids. In fact, he was beginning to seriously question his wisdom in joining up with this bunch of "cowboys" as he thought of them. With a slight shrug of resignation, he returned to the business at hand. He said "We better rest up. I'm almost out of spells and I think we will need some special stuff if we are going to figure out what is going on." The rest agreed, so they made themselves as comfortable as possible on the hard stone floor and began to discuss their options.

"Hey, wasn't there something about fire or flames in one of the Clues?" Stallen said. They consulted the parchment on which they had written the riddles from the Room of Doors. Indeed, the riddles did  have a solution of Fire or Flame. They needed to get to the fire and check it out closely. Beyond this, they discussed may possible courses of action. As usual, they didn't decide on anything in particular, but had come up with the spells they needed know that would support the possibilities forseen.

The mages and priests lay on the floor and were soon asleep. While they rested Kilak and others were keeping watch. About an hour after the others had bedded down, Kilak felt a presence in her head.

"You can trust us. We are your friends! We would never hurt you, we only want to talk to you. Come in and see us!" said the quiet voice.

It sounded very reasonable and Kilak was tempted to do as they asked. But then, her own mental voice reminded her that these were enemies. The spell broken, the quiet voice fell silent.

"I was just attacked!" cried Kilak. "They were trying to influence my mind the bastards! Guard your thoughts friends; they are not safe here."

They settled down again, but it wasn't long before Dromar stood up and began walking toward the pool without a word.

"Hey Dromar.." started Cyril, but seeing no reaction from Dromar to his hail he realized something wasn't right. "Get Dromar before he gets to the pool!" he shouted and lunged at Dromar's legs. Kilak, Ulla and Beourn jumped up and dragged Dromar to the floor. In a few moments Dromar stopped struggeling and growled "They're gone. Whew, thanks for stopping me. Those tentacle faces are strong! No, really, I'm OK now so let me get the hell up!"

His natural gruffness returned, they figured the influence of the Mind Flayers was gone and unpiled them selves from Dromar. Then they and all walked back to their post near the party. Fortunatly, there were no further mental attacks. In several hours, the spell casters had rested and consulted their spellbooks and prayed. Feeling re-charged and ready to go, they assembled to discuss how to proceed. Their discussions were no more useful than the one before their rest.

"We need and Idea" said Victorex.

"We have plenty of ideas! What we need is a plan!" answered Galranwyn.

"No, an Idea. From the great Bob. I will ask him for an Idea." With this, Victorex began to pray. In a few moments, the far-away look in his eyes disappeared and Victorex said "Illithid can not see invisible scouts".

Cyril said "That's your big idea?" Victorex nodded. Cyril rolled his eyes and asked "Does anybody understand that? What does that mean?" His voice was sharp with impatience.

Stallen looked toward the fire and said "I'll be the invisible scout. I'm going to fly over there and check it out."

"I'll go with you!" Burzmali interjected.

"OK" said Stallen "but no squid killing this time right?"

"Uh, right" said Burzmali quietly.

After invisibility and protective spells had been cast on the duo, they began flying toward the flames. Half expecting to be attacked by the Mind Flayers again, they were very, very nervous. But the reached the flames safely and began to examine them from the air. It looked like the flames were coming from black rocks on the top of the crystal island. They could see from the distortion of the images seen through the flames that their heat was intense. They couldn't see through them clearly enough to search, so they returned to the party.

"I couldn't see anything from outside the flames. I'll have to go in. Anyone got a spell that will protect me?"

While the rest looked on with interest, Stallen rendered himself invisible and Victorex cast a spell that would protect him from the intense heat of the fire. Once protected, Stallen used his magical boots to fly up toward the flames. Carefully he circled them, trying to find what was their source.  Then he saw a square area of darker black. He landed on the small border of rock just outside the flames. He began to cautiously walk onto the burning rocks heading toward the black area he had seen. The spell protected him completely from the heat and he was able to get to the spot without difficulty. From his closer position, Stallen could see a metal rod protruding from one edge of the black square. It had a large metal handle. This was what he was looking for. Taking a quick glimpse around him, all Stallen could see were the flames. This was making him very nervous as he couldn't remember how long the spell was supposed to last and it was obvious that without it, he would be consumed in an instant.

He quickly flew back to the rest of the party and told them about the handle. This confirmed their suspicion that the way to get to the legs was by using the handle inside the fire.

"Maybe we can put it out" said Katrina. "Anybody got a spell that would work?"

Galranwyn cast a spell that caused rain to fall over the fire while Cyril cast a spell that created a dome of ice over it. The only effects of these spells had was to cause huge plumes of steam to fill the entire room with boiling hot steam. The steam forced them to retreat up the passage again.

"Right" said Timber, "that didn't work worth shit! What now?"

Cyril looked a little abashed and said "I didn't know that would happen. It's not my fault."

"Nor mine either" said Galranwyn quickly.

"I guess we just have to hope it goes away soon" sighed Cyril.

It took more than an hour for the steam to turn to fog and finally turn to water running down the cold stone. They waited impatiently until the fog was completely gone before venturing into the pool room again.

"Well that sure as hell didn't work" Krom rumbled. "Any other ideas?"

"We need to try and use that handle" said Timber thoughtfully. "If I can get through the fire, I can pull on it, but I think it might need two people at least to make sure and get it open."

"I'll go with you" sighed Pisheo. She was not happy about walking through flames with only a spell to guard her, but she hated the thought of Timber going in alone.

She and Timber prepared themselves using their rings to become invisible and then transformed themselves into bats so they could fly over the water. Once the heat protection spells cast by Victorex were working, they flew across the water. They landed on the small border around the flames and made sure they were not burned. They first regained their human forms and then walked into the flames and out of view of the rest of the party. Dimly through the distorting heat they saw the handle Stallen had described to them. Timber pulled a metal bar out of his backpack and passed it through the handle so they both could lift. They both strained against the handle for some time and it didn't budge. Then with a great grinding sound, the handle lifted. The black square began to rise up and this revealed a stairway underneath. But they barely had time to notice as at the same time the island began to sink into the water!

"Holy shit!" said Timber. "Get down, get down!" He and Pisheo jumped into the hole. They tumbled down the stairs and ended up in a heap at the bottom. They looked around them in wonder.

-----

Unable to see Timber and Pisheo through the flames the party watched and waited on the edge of the pool. As they waited they heard a loud grinding sound and saw the island of fire begin to sink into the water. Their two friends did not emerge from the flames as the island continued to sink. The ground underfoot was shaking and vibrating.

They only had a moment to watch before the Mind Flayers attacked. Two appeared on both sides of the opening and attacked with abandon. As their tenticles whipped out to strike the skulls of their opponents, a great form rose out of the water. It was even more sickening to look at than its childeren with whom the heros fought. It was almost 15' high, and most of that length was occupied by the enormous brain of the creature. The brain was almost 12' in diameter with a tiny illithid face at the bottom complete with writhing purple tenticles. A shrunken, naked body dangled bonlessly under the brain. It radiated an aura of fear around itself, but it was not so strong that the experienced members of Local 509 did not run. The giant brain sent forth a mighty mental concussion which struck the minds of all. This time, no one fell. Neither did they notice that the firey island was continuing to fall toward the water.

The fighters were continuing to attack the Mind Flayers near the edge of the water. Victorex cried out in agony as two of the tenticles imbeded themselve in her skull. Ember was struck and held a moment later. Both were trying with all their might to pull the tenticles out of their heads and screaming as they did it. Kilana and Katrina moved to help them as the Mind Flayer struggled to drag their victems into the water and drown them.

Katrina grabbed Ember around the legs and hung on. Kilana attacked the Mind Flayer who had Victorex in his clutches, hoping to kill it before it could drag it down. The Eldar Brain (or so they felt this thing should be called) used it's giant brain to attack again.

This time, Victorex fell to the mind attacks and was dragged into the water before anyone could react.

A grim tug of war began between the Illithid, it's tenticles deeply burred in Embers skull, who was trying to drag it's victem away and Katrina who was holding on to Ember's legs like grim death. Back and forth,  in and out of the water the struggle continued with one side then the other taking the advantage. Between them, Kilak screamed with the pain.

While the fighters battled with the Mind Flayers at the shore, Dromar and Stallen fired arrow after arrow at the hovering Illithid in the pool. Although spells were cast on the creature too, it seemed immune to them. But gradually, the arrows began to take their toll on the creature. But despite bleeding from a half a dozen wounds, the creature continued to batter at the minds of the party. Then Stallen remembered the arrow. It was a magical one he had been saving for so long he almost forgot he had it. Drawing the magic arrow from its hidden spot in his quiver, he kissed it for luck. Then he drew and shot at the giant brain over the pool. It hit, and an incredibly loud explosion reverberated throughout the cavern. Through the flames, pieces of the Elder Brain could be seen raining down into the water. The small squid creatures began to swarm about, fighting to eat the still hot pieces of their mother. Those of the party with a moment to note this were repulsed even more by their tentacle foes. The other Mind Flayers were bleeding from numerous wounds and at last, began to fall under the frantic attack of the fighters.

It was then that the level of the island reached the level of the water. The water turned to steam which quickly filled the room. Within a minute, no one could see farther than a few feet around them. This made the battle even more difficult as it effectivly made missle weapons useless. It also became impossible for the group on one side of the battle see those on the other side. It did serve to somewhat muffle Embers agonizing screams as his body was being pulled in two directions.

"With the Elder Brain gone, I think the battle is in hand." Stallen thought. He quickly cast a spell on himself that allowed him to see the magical auras then popped a green stone into his mouth. Then he shouted to the rest "I'm going after Victorex!" and dived into the pool!

"Me too!" cried Dromar and he too jumped in and began to swim through the now warm water.

-----

The rest of the group continued to fight with the remaining monsters. They were much more skilled and difficult to damage than any of those they had faced before. The fog made the floor slippery and wet and the air was hot now and the temprature rising. Sweat from the heat and exersion poured from under their armor and began slowly sapping their strength. It was now hotter than a sauna but they continued to fight.

-----

Neither Dromar or Stallen had any idea where in the huge pool Victorex may have been taken. Both remained at the surface, wondering what the reaction of the squid things would be to their presense. As they tread water watching, the noticed that the water was hot and getting hotter. The squids apparantly didn't like it that hot at all. Instead of attaking the swimmers, they were writhing in agony. Some were already motionless and begining to float to the surface. So much for the squid threat at least for the moment.

Trusting to the gods, Dromar and Stallen chose a different direction and began to swim underwater. Both had the Rocks of Air in their mouths, so they could stay down as long as they wanted. Unfortunately, they were not fast swimmers. Stallen struck out in a direction and hoped that he would see the magical aura of Victorex's rings better than his eyes could in the murky water. He was beginning to give up after more than 5 minutes of frantic searching. Where was Victorex? Was he still alive, or would Stallen find nothing but a brainless corpse? Forcing himself not to panic, Stallen continued to swim to and fro as quickly as he could. Dromar adopted a more organized method of searching. He swam down to the murky bottom and began to swim outward in a spiraling patter around the area he chose.

Then, Stallen saw a magical glow some distance away. He swam towards it as fast as he could. Approaching the glow he hoped was Victorex, he saw a Mind Flayer swimming quickly toward the glow as well! Fearing the worst, Stallen pulled strength from deep inside and swam still faster. Finally, he could see the uncontious form of Victorex just as the Mind Flayer grabbed it. It was trying to make off with the corpse! With a burst of air that was a shout, Stallen swam to the Mind Flayer and began to attack.

-----

On the surface, the tug of war for Ember continued. Galranwyn followed the sound through the fog and was almost on top of them before she saw the struggle. She began to attack the mind flayer with her staff. Each time the staff hit, there were sparks and the creatures muscles constricted involentarially. There was powerful magic inside that staff!

On the other side of the opening, a cheer went up from the fighters there as the first of the Mind Flayers fell. It's tenticled face was a black, bloody ruin. Without stopping for celebration, the fighters moved over to all attack the remaining monster they could hear was nearby.

Finally, the Illithid that had captured Ember released it's grip and tried to flee into the water. With an uncharistic cry, Galranwyn struck once more with her staff and struck the creature squarely. It stopped moving and its body began floating. Galranwyn notice that the water was steaming now and it's surface was almost completely covered with the bodies of the squid like Illithid tadpoles.

A triumphant shout errupted from the other defenders as the last of the creatures fell under Krom's sword. The battle at last was won! Following each others voices they began to regroup near the edge of the water and wonder where Stallen, Dromar, Pisheo and Timber were. They feared the worst.

-----

The mind flayer held Victorex's limp form in its arms while it's tentacles lashed out at stallen. Finding the sword was not easily used underwater, Stallen dropped it and armed only with his dagger continued the attack. The dagger plunged into the creature again and again, but it steadfastly retained its grip on Victorex.

At last, Victorex awoke. He began to struggle in the arms of the Mind Flayer which made it direct it's attacks at him and away from Stallen. Although the creature managed to attach a tentacle to Victorex, the priest was able to rip it free. After what seemed an age, Stallen's attacks began to have an effect. The Mind Flayers attacks slowed and then, at last, stopped.

Stallen and the rescued Victorex swam slowly toward the surface. Victorex gave a great cry as his head appeared above the water.

When Stallen surfaced, Victorex said "I owe 'ya one man. I thought I was gone for sure." Stallen just grinned in answer and began to swim through the squid bodies that covered the water to rejoin the rest.

-----

A warm welcome was shouted out when the party could see the two swimming through the fog. Many back were pounded and hands were shaken once the two were back on land. Soon Dromar surfaced and upon being told that Victorex was safe, swam back and rejoined the party. Counting heads, it was confirmed that there were no losses; all but Timber and Pisheo were present.

-----

Meanwhile, Timber and Pisheo found themselves in a large domed room which was completely surrounded with water falls. The water fell into troughs lining the floor. Then the water spilled into 5 spoke like channels that ran toward the center of the room. Just in front of the waterfall at a spot opposite of the stairs they had fallen down were stairs that led up to a pedestal. On the pedestal were life-sized legs made of gold! They had found them at last!

Pisheo walked over to one of the channels and made to step over it as they were only a couple of feet wide. But she was surprised when her foot met an invisible barrier. After much examination, the found that the field covered all of the water ways. This restricted their movement to the wedge shaped area they had entered.

"Let's head back out. We can't do anything more here" said Pisheo. They turned and walked back up the stairway.

"Well, so much for getting out" sighed Timber. He had seen that the opening at the top of the stairs was covered by a deep purple shimmering curtain of force. Both Timber and Pisheo had seen these spells at the other exits of the dungeon and knew they did not have any power against them. They were stuck between the purple curtain and the invisible barrier in the room below.

"Cribbage?" asked Timber. Pisheo shrugged and together then went back to their wedge of space in the waterfall room and made themselves comfortable.

-----

Back at the edge of the pool, the rest of the group was trying to figure out what to do.

"Timber and Pisheo haven't come back yet." said Cyril nervously. " I hope that means that they found the way down."

"What if it means they got turned into ashes?" said Krom

"Nice image. Thanks Krom." Gal said sarcastically. Krom grinned at her.

"We have to assume that they found something." Stallen offered. Then with a swipe at the mist continued "I wish this fog would go away so we could see something."

"Dromar and Stallen say they didn't see anything underwater and all the clues point to the fire. We have to assume they found something." said Victorex.

"So what can we do?" asked Dromar.

After careful planning, the party decided to risk travel to the ethereal plane. They hoped that being on the Ehterial plane would protect them from the heat and allow them to see enough to locate Pisheo and Timber. Some of the party would need to disappear into Cyril's magical picture or they wouldn't have enough spells to get the rest there. Althouth this would mean that some of the group would be isolated, they couldn't think of any other way past the flames.

Once they had shifted to the edge of the Ethereal plane, the fog that had filled the room disappeared and they could see the crystal island again. It had sunk until the surface had fallen just under the water ensuring that eventually the heat of the still burning coal would evaporate the water, and not fill the opening they saw in the middle. They willed their instansive selves through the the tissue paper flames and down through the opening in the center of the island.

At the bottom of the stairs were Pisheo and Timber with the cribbage board between them. They didn't even notice the shadowy forms of the party as they floated down the stairs. But when the group moved back to the physical plane everyone rejoiced at their happy reunioun. Everyone that is except for Beourn and Ulla. The instant they returned to the material plane, Beourn began running toward the golden legs on the pedestal at the other side of the room.

Timber yelled "look out theirs a ..." but didn't get to finish his warning as Beourn jumped across the first of the channels that had been protected by the invisible wall. There was a bright flash of light from the edges of the all the water channels as his semi-devine form dispelled their protection. Ulla ran close at his heels. In a flash, Beourn had run up the stairs and was reaching toward the legs. There was another brilliant flash of white as another magical barrier fell. When their vision of those near the stairs cleared, they could see Beourn with the golden legs in his hands. The expression on his face was unreadable. Then he looked at Ulla and a look of resignation passed between them.

Beourn brought the legs to the bottom of the stairway, then stretched out beside them. Ulla drew his sword.

"I can't watch" said Galranwyn and turned away.

"What do you mean?" Burzmali asked her. "Watch what?"

"What Ulla is about to do to Beourn" she said with a shudder.

"Do what to ..." Burzmali started but his sentence was never finished.

Everyone felt a presence in the pool in the center of the room. When they turned to look, they saw a gigantic figure appear there. The form filled the pool completely. The water came up to the giant figures waist, but it head still brushed the ceiling. From that moment on, only a few of the members of Local 509 were able to move. The rest were paralyzed by the magical aura of the god that had materialized before them.

There was no doubt of who this was. They had seen images of that face throughout the dungeon. It was the creator of this place; Ralishaz. A smile lit his face and he seemed friendly enough, but the heroes were not inclined to accept his expression at face value (excuse the pun!).

In a voice as giant as his form, Ralishaz boomed "You have pleased me! I hope you enjoyed my little playground as much as I enjoyed watching you fight your way through it. You should be proud that you are the first to get past my tentacled friends. And this place has remained hidden for 800 years! I don't know what you want them for, but the legs are yours. You have earned them. Yes, it was quite amusing. I particularly like where you..."

The voice of the god was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a fantastic figure directly in front of the colossus. The waves of magical power which rolled from this beautiful women left no doubt of her divinity. She was barely dressed in a black leather harness that covered only her most intimate secret and did nothing to hide her bountiful breasts. She nodded casually and invitingly at Ralishaz.

"Welcome Lovitar my lovely one! It is always a pleasure to see such a ravishing creature. But what brings you here?"

"Do I need a reason to visit my good friend Ralishaz? As to why now, I must admit to curiosity."

"About what, oh beautiful one"

"The legs handsome. What do you plan to do with them?"

"These mortals have passed the test and are entitled to receive them as their reward for survival through my protection."

"Now you know that's against the convocation don't you?" pouted Lovitar.

"If you remember, I never signed it" said Ralishaz with a slightly petulant tone.

"I remember, but I don't understand how they came to be in your possession."

"That is a very long and quite boring story my dear, and not one I'm inclined to tell."

"I guess it doesn't really matter." she said flippantly. She moved her luscious body and suddenly, it became irrestable. All of the men (and a couple of the women) would have thrown themselves at her feet if they hadn't been prevented by the paralysis. The presence of the heroes around them seemed be irrelevant to the conversation they were overhearing. Suggestively, Lovitar moved closer to the giant form and laid a delicate hand against the enormous nipple of the bare chested god before her.

In a whisper that carried to every inch of the room she said "What do you care about these humans. So what if they won? If you give me the legs, we could have a really great party. It's been so, so, long for us."

Ralishaz looked thoughtful for a moment then smiled crookedly and replied "Sorry darling, not today."

Lovitar was obviously not used to being turned down. She moved away from Ralishaz and her back seemed to arch like a cat. In a screeching voice she yelled "So these stinking mortals mean more to you than I do. That is the last time I make such an offer. And don't forget, I have a lot of friends that would like me to have the legs."

The giant face of Ralishaz darkened at this and his voice became still louder as he returned "This is my realm. I won't be threatened here no matter how you try to veil it. Forget about the legs and we can still have some fun!"

"I'll have you censured you twerp. I don't give a shit about your little game. Give me the legs!"

"Stay out of my business bitch or you'll be very sorry!"

"Bitch! You DARE to call ME that!" Lovitar grasped a cat-of-9-tails out of mid air as Ralishaz hands began to writhe and a magical aura sprung up around them.

"Oh shit" thought Galranwyn, "gods fighting and they've forgotten we are even here. The last time this happened, hundreds of square miles were turned into desert!" Although she was one of the few to escape the paralisis that effected the rest, Galranwyn remained motionless, waiting for disaster.

Before Lovitar could strike, the magic Ralishaz summoned sprang forth from his hand and struck the beautiful woman before him. But this burst of energy seemed to reflect off of an invisible  barrier that surrounded her and struck the wall nearby. A great chunk of the magically resistant stone was blasted away and fell to the floor with a crash. Lovitar struck back with her flail, but Ralishaz deflected it. The metal tips of the weapon struck the floor and chips of broken stone sprang away buzzing like bees.

Timber had the misfortune to have been looking up at the ceiling when the paralysis struck. As a result, he could not actually see the gods as they fought. This was a very awkward position to be in as gods did battle. Somehow not being able to see what was happing made it much more threatening. It did his state of mind no good at all when he noticed something pushing the stone of the ceiling around. It looked like a bubble in the rock that moved quickly across the ceiling and down onto the floor near where the gods fought.

"More trouble" thought Timber, and he was right.

The bubble placed itself between the two fighting forms, then suddenly became a grey skinned human of great age with stone grey hair and stone grey robes.

"HOLD!" the old man shouted and the very stone seemed to repeat the command. Even the gods stopped their battle in mid spell.

"Ur'lou, how good to see you" said Ralishaz nervously.

"Welcome great one" purred Lovitar.

But these pleasant greetings did nothing to remove the face of anger from the old man. It was obvious that the stone one was very angry. It was also clear that somehow, he was more powerful here that the two gods before him combined. This was not good.

The old man of stone turned to Ralishaz and said heatedly "You were to be the protector of this place. I entrusted you with one of my most holy sites and I can now see you have defiled it!"

"I was just having a little fun. No harm done. Nothing I can't fix you know." said Ralishaz consolingly.

"Look what you two have done here!" the old man continued. He pointed at the ceiling where the energy bolt had struck. "You have struck my stone down. And now I find that you have done much carving of the holy rock and my temple is carved up. You have deceived me!"

"It wasn't me" whined Lovitar. "I just got here.

"It's not what you think" said Ralishaz.

Beourn rose up from his spot lying next to the legs and said "Don't trust him. He has perverted the races living in this place and has allowed many beautiful places to be defiled by new constructions."

"Silence Mortal" the old man said and with a gesture, froze Beourn in his spot.

"He is a lying, oath breaker" screamed Lovitar pointing at Ralishaz.

"Shut up!" shouted Ralishaz. His finger pointed at her and another bolt of energy leapt out from it only to be reflect away again. A second chunk of rock fell to the crystal floor.

"Enough!" shouted the old man and the sound left the ears of the mortals ringing and almost deaf. "This is my realm and you are here on my sufferance. I banish you immortals from this place and send you away!"

Lovitar disappeared just as her weapon was lashing out and an instant after Ralishaz shouted "I'll get you, you bitch" he disappeared. Silence filled the room.

The grey old man turned toward Beourn and walked over to him. He touched Beourn on the shoulder, and Beourn seemed to sag as he became able to move again. With a wave of his hand, the old man dispelled the parilization that held the rest in place. Timber gratefully turned and looked at the old man for the first time.

"He's not such a bad sort" Timber throught.

The old man smiled kindly at Beourn and in a quiet voice said "You have walked softly on my stone.  What little damage you did, was only in response to the great damage done by Ralishaz the Unreliable. You may have what you came for."

"I thank you Ur'Lou.  I have been horrified by the destruction of natural beauty and the perversion of the people in this place. I would repair this damage but would enjoy your help."

"You repair it? You are mortal. You can not help me in this. Your weak magics will have no effect on the sacred stone. You must know this. I fear your mind is bad."

"I may be mad, but I still will heal what I may. But first there is something I must do."

"I do not understand," the old man replied "but I will wait and see."

Beourn nodded at this and once more looked toward Ulla. Ulla nodded grimly and once more stood over Beourn as he lay down next to the legs. Galranwyn was not the only one to turn away from the bloody scene that followed.

Ulla knelt on the floor with Beroun's feet in front of him. He wiped the tears away from his eyes and with his sword, took careful aim.

WHACK! and one of Beourn's feet was struck from the leg and rolled off to one side. Crimson blood spurted from the severed arteries.

WHACK! and the other foot was struck off. Beourn was screaming in agony and trying to hold his mangled legs steady with arms that shook.

Then Ulla moved to his left and targeted the thighs just below the torso. He was sobbing audibly now as he took the knife from its scabbard and quickly cut the muscles all the way down to the bone completely around first one thigh and then the other. Beourn's hoarse screams were beginning to get faint and his face was completely drained of blood. Ulla took aim with his sword again.

WHACK! The leg bone was severed. Ulla kicked it quickly off to one side.

WHACK! The other leg was broken, but not severed. With a cry of utter horror, Ulla struck again.

WHACK! and the leg rocked a bit as it settled now cut completely.

The stone floor around the two was awash with blood and Beourn was struggling only weakly now with his arms thrown across his face. Ulla pulled the golden legs over to where Beourn's stumps were. He pushed them up so they touched the open wounds where Beourn's legs were a few moments before. The golden legs seemed to send out root like tendrils that grew into the incisions and pulled the metal legs closely to the torso. Ulla retrieved the severed feet and placed one at the bottom of the golden legs. Although still wracked with tears he could be heard saying under his breath "left foot, left leg - right foot, right leg" as he placed the other foot near the leg it went with. Once again, the golden legs sent out golden roots that grew into the feet and secured them there.

By this time, there was only a slightly irregular seam to mark where the golden legs ended and Beourn's torso began. A golden light began to radiate from the seams to suffuse Beourn's body. He stopped screaming and passed out for a few moments. Then his eyes opened fluttered open again as the golden glow reached his face. He moved his new, golden legs tentatively and then wiggled his feet of flesh. Seeing this, Ulla rose from the floor where he had been weeping and faced Beourn with his head bowed and his eyes averted.

In another moment, Beourn stood up. His entire body seemed to be made of gold now and glowing. He turned and smiled at the old man who had been watching this process wordlessly. Beourn bowed and the old man bowed too, but less deeply.

Stretching his arms out to the sides and planting his feet far apart, Beourn seemed to summon power from some unknown place until the golden glow seemed to scorch the eyes of those who watched.

In a voice as loud and commanding as that of any god Beourn said ""I seek the boon of sufferance of the Ur'lou to aid the living creatures of this place without effecting it in any way."

The old man nodded his approval and a beam of golden energy sprang from him to touch and merge with the glow surrounding Beourn for an instant. A sphere of ever-expanding surface exploded away from the pair. The enormous magical power washed across the mortals who could do nothing but watch. It made their skin itch and caused goose bumps on the necks of the mages.

Raising his arms again Beourn shouted " "It is wrong that the humans here be enslaved as they are. They shall come to me and be comforted!" As the old man nodded, once again golden energy enfused Beourn and a ball of magic left him and passed through the stone. In an instant it returned, but it was much larger. When it touched the floor in front of Beourn it disappeared and revealed the handful of humans that had been enslaved by the giants. As soon as they saw the golden Beourn, they fell to their knees in worshipful aspect. Murmured prayers could be heard as they gave him their facts.

Beourn looked away from them with a strange expression on his face. He looked toward the old man and asked "Are the Dwarven carvings to be fixed, or shall we strike them away?"

"They lived here long with my permission and the Dwarves gave me many sacrifices to allow them to cut the rock. Their works may continue."

"I have in my mind many of the desicrations wrought on this place by Ralishaz the Undependable. You may use them to help repair the damage." With the nod of the old man of stone, Beourn once more called upon his unknown resources of power and cried "The holy stone shall be repaired!"

The golden light enveloped the two and then seemed to seep from them into the rock. For a single, dazzling moment, golden light seemed to come from the rock all around them and then recede into the almost clear stone. They could still see its glow for some time as it spread throughout the giant geode that surrounded them. In it's wake it removed every trace of the long time spent as the plaything of Ralishaz.

"It is good." said the old man to Beourn with surprise.

"Yes, it is good" Beourn replied. His voice was weak, but did not waver.

"You must leave now. I shall conduct you away from here and owe you a boon. Where will you go?"

Beourn answered, "I must seek the Soul of these legs which lies on the outer plane of Pandimonium. "

"I can't take you there from here. We must move out of this place first. Gather together mortals, or be left here!"

There was a brief rush as they all crowded around the two men. Then they all began to sink into the floor. It seemed that they were in a giant bubble of moving stone and they were fascinated to see the walls of the bubbles change from crystal to black rock to grey rock and then to brown dirt as the bubble moved effortlessly through the planet. With a slight "pop" they arrived on the surface of the world and the bubble disappeared around them. For the first time in weeks, they smelled the sweet air of the living place and not the damp, stale air of the dungeon.

The old man faced Beourn and said "I will make a hole to Pandimonium if that is your wish. I owe you a boon. But I have heard little good of that place."

Beourn smiled and said "It doesn't matter what the place is like, it is there that I must go. Will you take care of our friends here?" then pointed to the small group of humans who had born the strange journey through the rock by keeping their heads down and praying the whole time.

"That is but nothing" said Ur'lou. He gestured, and they disappeared. "I have sent them to the Temple of Ralishaz in Greyhawk. He will be kind to them through fear of me. Will you leave now?"

"Yes great one. Many thanks for your kindness."

"And thank you for your help and knowledge. May your quest result in your happiness". With a complicated gesture of his hands, the old man created a black circular hole in the air large enough for a crouching person to pass through. With some reluctance the Local 509 followed Beourn into the hole and vanished from the face of that world perhaps, forever.

In the darkness that surrounded the Local 509 in the spot were they immerged from the magical gate, a voice rang out "I hate this place already!"

The End and The Begining