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<blockquote data-quote="Nthal" data-source="post: 8105336" data-attributes="member: 6971069"><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Exit Strategy – 10/9/2020</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>Any good knight of the post will tell you obvious advice for a low price or a drink of bub. But it is invariably good advice. What costs more is how to apply it the situation at hand.</em></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em></em></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>It’s usually worth it, because you are going to pay for that knowledge at the beginning or the end. And the end costs more.</em></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The pounding continued on the door along with the shouts of angry dwarves. Iesa and Daneath both pushed back trying to hold it shut, breathing heavily. Both brothers were bleeding profusely, along with Eridan, who was leaning heavily on the workbench. Beepu was oblivious to these details however as he stood there impatiently.</p><p></p><p>“Well, get back out there and finish the job,” he said indignantly.</p><p></p><p>“Beepu!” Daneath grunted, “There were six of them that hurled javelins at us! I didn’t even have time to heat the tongs!”</p><p></p><p>I moved over to Daneath and looked him over as they pushed their backs on the iron door.</p><p></p><p>“I can’t heal you Daneath until I pull this javelin out,” I said grimacing. “Same goes for Eridan.”</p><p></p><p>“What about the one in me?!?” Iesa said, as the banging on the door grew more urgent.</p><p></p><p>“What?” I muttered as I looked Iesa over. And sure enough, lodged in his thigh, the broken shaft of a javelin stuck out.</p><p></p><p>“Sodding Baator,” I groaned. “I barely have enough to heal you all,” I grasped the rod tightly in my hands and started to pull quanta from it. I could feel within me, strands reform as power flooded into me as the glimmering light with the purple sapphire faded.</p><p></p><p>“Myrai…” Eridan started. I grasped the javelin lodged in Daneath and pulled it free, while he gritted his teeth in pain. I then quickly pulled on a strong white strand and started to close Daneath’s wound.</p><p></p><p>“Don’t…don’t bother,” Eridan gasped for air as I turned to Iesa and quickly pulled the javelin from his thigh. He yelped in response, and I pulled on another smaller strand and healed him as I did his brother.</p><p></p><p>“What, I’m not going to let you die from a wound like that,” I said, starting to pull on a light strand.</p><p></p><p>“No—“and Eridan reached out with a hand and placed it on mine. “—You need the ring. It would be far easier to remove if…” he trailed off looking me in the eyes.</p><p></p><p>“What? No there must be another way!” Beepu said grasping what Eridan was saying.</p><p></p><p>The banging on the door was now replaced with a rhythmic booming, as the dwarves started to use something to ram the door. With each boom, the door shuddered, and the hinges started to shift from their positions in the wall.</p><p></p><p>“We aren’t going to be able to hold them back if they keep this up,” Iesa said. “We need time!”</p><p></p><p>Beepu and I looked at each other and nodded.</p><p></p><p>“Open the door, then slam it shut, and move that bench to block it,” I said.</p><p></p><p>“Are you out of your mind?” Daneath said in alarm.</p><p></p><p>“A bit of arcana can do wonders,” Beepu said, as he pulled some fur and glass from his pouch and started to mutter some mystic syllables under his breath. “You ready Myr?”</p><p></p><p>I nodded, pulling on the dark and light strands again, and winding them together and pulling them taught. I mentally kept the tension high and waited. Daneath then grasped the pull ring and looked at Iesa who had a hand on the bolt fastening the door shut. They tensed up and waited. Finally, just after a boom from the ram and just as the door stopped shaking, Iesa threw open the latch, and Daneath pulled the door open.</p><p></p><p>Beyond were a tight pack of enlarged dwarves, using a length of what looked like wood, topped with a cap of iron. They were still moving backwards and looked up with surprise. They dropped the ram, and were about to draw weapons to charge, when I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise. In the Duergar’s black eyes I saw the reflection of light and then sudden look of fear, as a bolt of blue-white lightening, pierced their bodies and hit the wall behind them. The ram they held splintered apart in their hands. And then as they staggered, I snapped the strands, and I heard bones crack and the ram blew apart into splinters as the dwarves fell over, crushed by our magic.</p><p></p><p>I smiled as I saw that at least nine fell to our onslaught, but it fell away quickly, as I saw that there were more dwarves coming. And it wasn’t just a handful, but a full score was outside, taking cover from the chaos that Beepu and I caused. But what alarmed me most was that one of the dwarves was starting to create a bead of light in his hands.</p><p></p><p>“Close it NOW!” I screamed knowing what was coming. Iesa quickly slammed the iron portal shut and threw the bolt back into place, while Daneath and Eridan shoved the workbench in front of the door. From around the sill, the edges erupted in orange flickering waves of heat and Iesa retracted his hands from the gout and shook the pain of singed flesh away.</p><p></p><p>“How many are left?” Iesa asked, as he then helped to pull the heavy bench in front of the door.</p><p></p><p>“Too many,” I said. “We are running out of time.”</p><p></p><p>“Well, hopefully we can hold the door,” and Daneath and Iesa braced themselves behind the workbench, ready to hold it and the door in place.</p><p></p><p>Beepu set his pouch on the ground and pulled out an object. It wasn’t very large, perhaps the size of an apple. It resembled a clockwork mechanism, with brass and silver plates in places, covering barely a quarter of it. He pulled out the two spur gear rings that his parents once wore as wedding bands and started to affix them to the mechanism.</p><p></p><p>I looked at it and turned to Eridan. “There has to be a better way.”</p><p></p><p>Eridan smiled, “Myrai, I have been travelling this world for eighty winters. I have loved, had a family and I have had no regrets. My best friend sacrificed all he was, so he could end the Kershak. I cannot let him down now. I can’t have that regret on my soul.”</p><p></p><p>“I have helped people to go beyond but…they were all in dire straits, beyond anyone’s power to help. I don’t …no I don’t want to do this. The price is too steep.” I said, knowing I was going to lose this battle.</p><p></p><p>“Myrai,” he said grasping my hands. “Remember, ‘Death is a part of life,’—”</p><p></p><p>“—' not an ending but a beginning,’” I finished, drawing my greensteel dagger slowly. I looked at it, doubts weighing heavily on my heart.</p><p></p><p>I did swear I would do anything to see this through, to finally end this. But this wasn’t what I had intended by my prayer. Sacrificing one’s self is easy; especially if you don’t know what that sacrifice really entails. But to sacrifice someone else? Only fiends…or someone with that mindset did that. But for me…this was a price I didn’t want pay.</p><p></p><p>Yet looking at Eridan, I saw he had no doubts in his eyes. He wasn’t a child or even a young adult starting out on their journey. He had walked his path; he had all the time to sample all that life had to offer. He was certain that he reached his time; he had faith in what he was doing; what he wanted to do.</p><p></p><p>I looked at Eridan and smiled, I pulled myself close to him and embraced the genasi, sniffling a bit. He chuckled a moment, and then I pulled back a step and leaned forward, pressing my lips to his.</p><p></p><p>A final kiss.</p><p></p><p>The blade slid between the ribs smoothly, and I could feel the warmth of his blood cover my chest. He shuddered a moment, and I pulled him close whispering into his ear, “<em>May Death grant you peace</em> Eridan.” He held me tight, as the blood poured on the floor between us.</p><p></p><p>“I will…not forget…you…” he said and then he became limp in my arms, and I staggered with his weight, as I lowered his still warm body to the ground, tears spilling forth.</p><p></p><p>“Now Eridan, we can try to…MY WORD!” Beepu said, looking up for the first time. “Myr what did you DO?”</p><p></p><p>“What he asked for. What he wanted,” I said a bit shaken. “His time was over, and he…wanted his end to have meaning.” I looked Beepu straight in the eye. “Let’s not disappoint him.”</p><p></p><p>Beepu looked at me, at the blood, and at the smile on Eridan’s dead face and swallowed. His face was contorted into a scowl when he said “Why not one more to the pyre. The cost the Kershak has incurred is far too high.”</p><p></p><p>Daneath turned to look at us and as he spoke his face paled, “What are you two yam…oh crap. No. No. No.” Iesa turned as well and growled in frustration, pushing against the workbench, trying to keep the door shut.</p><p></p><p>“Daneath,” I said, moving toward the table and I slung my shield onto my back. I then started to push against the workbench with all my weight and strength. “You need to…remove his head.” Daneath looked at me wearily and winced. But he moved from the table and drew his sword. I saw him take aim and swing, and Eridan’s head rolled away from the body in one clean stroke. I watched remorsefully, as I strained against the workbench, pushing with my legs trying to hold the door fast. As I did so, the door shuddered again with a dull booming sound.</p><p></p><p>“They got another ram,” Iesa said. “The door is going to fly from the hinges, and then this table is going to give quickly.” The door shuddered again, dust flying and the sound of stone cracking, as the dwarves kept hammering away.</p><p></p><p>Beepu reached down and pulled the ring away from the decapitated corpse. He quickly smashed it on the ground, breaking away the clay cladding, and the coppery ring beneath was revealed. As he did so, he spoke to Daneath. “Keep your sword out, and with your other hand grasp the orb.”</p><p></p><p>He doffed his shield and slung it on his back, “Myr and Iesa aren’t going to be able to hold the door for long.” He pressed his hand to the orb, and from within I heard the whining of gears starting to turn faster and faster</p><p></p><p>“Well…It is going to be only her in a moment, because I need Iesa and his dagger as well.”</p><p></p><p>“I can’t leave her—” Iesa protested.</p><p></p><p>“—It will not be long. The device is charged, I have put some arcane energy into it. Once you touch it, my spell will activate the orb and with it we can open a portal to...somewhere. I need you <strong><em>now</em></strong> Iesa!”</p><p></p><p>“Go,” I said to the Knight of the Post. “I only need to—” <BOOM> “—hold the door for a little while.”</p><p></p><p>Iesa looked at me and nodded. Keeping his back on the workbench, he pushed with his legs, as he drew the dagger. He held a moment, and looked at me, and I gave him a nod. He stepped forward and dropped down to his knees, reaching out and laid a hand on the orb. Then, Isea and Daneaths faces contorted in pain as the device started to pull<em> something</em> from them. Wisps of haze and fog poured off their skin and swirled into the device, now at the center of a small arcane storm. Howls emanated from it, like warped Aoskar hounds baying at anti-peak. The orb gave of a brilliant white light, and the whining gears inside increased in speed and pitch. Beepu touched some buttons on the curved surface and frowned.</p><p></p><p>“No!…it still not fully powered up. It requires more time!” Beepu said angrily.</p><p></p><p>“We better hold the—” Iesa started.</p><p></p><p>“—Do NOT let go!” Beepu shrieked. “This can only be done once!”</p><p></p><p>I continued to push on the workbench, my feet slipping on the stone trying to keep it in place against the door, when the upper hinge burst free from the stone. I could feel the workbench sliding backwards with the repeated banging on the door and watched as the iron latch in the jamb started to bend in place. It would not be long before the door was loose.</p><p></p><p>“Beepu!” I shouted. “You need to throw everything you have into it now! I can’t hold it!”</p><p></p><p>Beepu looked at the brothers who were struggling in pain, as their essence or perhaps a part of their souls was being drawn into the orb. Frowning, he reached into his pouch, and pulled out a smooth orange stone. Looking at it for a moment, he lifted his hand and smashed down the stone on top of the orb.</p><p></p><p>The orb started to hum, its reverberations overtaking the high-pitched whine of the spinning gears. I could feel the Weave shudder a moment and then I felt it tear apart, as I felt lashed by the unwinding of the Weave near me. Then a brilliant white light lit the room, not from the device but from an angle from the ceiling. A new howling sound erupted from the orb…or was it a scream? The light lit the orb up, and the howling, the gears whining all increased in intensity and volume. As I squinted my eyes to watch, I saw a hole tear open right behind the gnome. Light and moving shadows and colors streamed through it as it grew in size.</p><p></p><p>“What is that?” Iesa shouted, still in pain.</p><p></p><p>“Our exit portal. I think I have it set to a city on the mainland, we must go no—”</p><p></p><p>The door’s last hinge broke, and the workbench now slid into the room, my strength a feeble match for the large muscular dwarves behind it. I turned and pulled on a weak dark strand and pulled out the miasma, and I saw the dwarf that was barreling through the ruined doorway in pain, and behind him another growled with equal anger. Spinning I started to run.</p><p></p><p>I saw Beepu grab the orb and he ran for the fissure in the weave. He dove for it, and in a blink, he was gone. Daneath and Iesa, still grasping their weapons, followed him blindly. Each crossed the threshold, and I could hear Mo shriek in Iesa’s pack as he disappeared into the portal. Close behind, Foggle dove for it, wings folded in close to its body, streaking at it like a golden raptor diving for prey, and he too crossed and disappeared across the portal’s boundaries.</p><p></p><p>I then threw myself at the portal. Time seemed to slow, and I could feel my heart pound with every step. I leaned forward and reached my hand out straining to breach the threshold. It eerily felt like it did one hundred and forty-six days ago as I dove under the transom in the bar, where a portal appeared unexpectedly. I flung my body forward towards it and stretched to grasp the entrance to the escape that Beepu had created.</p><p></p><p>I then gasped for air, as a body slammed into me. Glancing at my side, I saw an armored dwarf had collided with me, and I fell onto one knee to stabilize myself. I instinctively turned and threw a punch at the nose of the dwarf, and I was rewarded with the sound of bones cracking. The dwarf backed up a step and shouted in anger, and then launched himself at me again. He forced me off balance as he sought to pin me against the wall of the well that stood in the room.</p><p></p><p>My strength was no match against the foe, and I gave up ground rapidly. I found my body pinned against the brick and mortar of the well’s wall, and I felt it start to sunder. Although I was crushed against it, the dwarf kept pushing, and suddenly the wall gave way. I heard the roaring sound of the dwarf’s laughter, as I found myself falling into the shaft of the well. Twisting around, I watched from my back as an ugly face of the dwarf gave me an evil grin. But the image quickly receded away as I fell.</p><p></p><p>So, this was it, the end.</p><p></p><p>I felt the air stream through my hair as I fell. The pain in my chest was distant and unimportant. I closed my eyes and relaxed; there was nothing to be done now. I smiled as I realized that I had helped cement a victory against the Kershak. That I helped my friends escape with their lives.</p><p></p><p>I smiled as I descended; I felt free. Any concerns on what I owed whom I left behind as I fell. The only regret I felt was that I would break my promise to see Arnara again. But somehow, I knew she would forgive me.</p><p></p><p>Below I heard rushing water, but I knew I was falling too far and fast. If the fall didn’t kill me, I would likely drown in the water below. At least I knew what the end was like, and any pain would be brief.</p><p></p><p><em>I’m ready Kelemvor…</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>NOT YET!</em></p><p></p><p>And then I felt it, my body crossing between places, the cool air being replaced with warm. My eyes widened in shock and surprise and…</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nthal, post: 8105336, member: 6971069"] [CENTER][B]Exit Strategy – 10/9/2020[/B] [I]Any good knight of the post will tell you obvious advice for a low price or a drink of bub. But it is invariably good advice. What costs more is how to apply it the situation at hand. It’s usually worth it, because you are going to pay for that knowledge at the beginning or the end. And the end costs more.[/I][/CENTER] The pounding continued on the door along with the shouts of angry dwarves. Iesa and Daneath both pushed back trying to hold it shut, breathing heavily. Both brothers were bleeding profusely, along with Eridan, who was leaning heavily on the workbench. Beepu was oblivious to these details however as he stood there impatiently. “Well, get back out there and finish the job,” he said indignantly. “Beepu!” Daneath grunted, “There were six of them that hurled javelins at us! I didn’t even have time to heat the tongs!” I moved over to Daneath and looked him over as they pushed their backs on the iron door. “I can’t heal you Daneath until I pull this javelin out,” I said grimacing. “Same goes for Eridan.” “What about the one in me?!?” Iesa said, as the banging on the door grew more urgent. “What?” I muttered as I looked Iesa over. And sure enough, lodged in his thigh, the broken shaft of a javelin stuck out. “Sodding Baator,” I groaned. “I barely have enough to heal you all,” I grasped the rod tightly in my hands and started to pull quanta from it. I could feel within me, strands reform as power flooded into me as the glimmering light with the purple sapphire faded. “Myrai…” Eridan started. I grasped the javelin lodged in Daneath and pulled it free, while he gritted his teeth in pain. I then quickly pulled on a strong white strand and started to close Daneath’s wound. “Don’t…don’t bother,” Eridan gasped for air as I turned to Iesa and quickly pulled the javelin from his thigh. He yelped in response, and I pulled on another smaller strand and healed him as I did his brother. “What, I’m not going to let you die from a wound like that,” I said, starting to pull on a light strand. “No—“and Eridan reached out with a hand and placed it on mine. “—You need the ring. It would be far easier to remove if…” he trailed off looking me in the eyes. “What? No there must be another way!” Beepu said grasping what Eridan was saying. The banging on the door was now replaced with a rhythmic booming, as the dwarves started to use something to ram the door. With each boom, the door shuddered, and the hinges started to shift from their positions in the wall. “We aren’t going to be able to hold them back if they keep this up,” Iesa said. “We need time!” Beepu and I looked at each other and nodded. “Open the door, then slam it shut, and move that bench to block it,” I said. “Are you out of your mind?” Daneath said in alarm. “A bit of arcana can do wonders,” Beepu said, as he pulled some fur and glass from his pouch and started to mutter some mystic syllables under his breath. “You ready Myr?” I nodded, pulling on the dark and light strands again, and winding them together and pulling them taught. I mentally kept the tension high and waited. Daneath then grasped the pull ring and looked at Iesa who had a hand on the bolt fastening the door shut. They tensed up and waited. Finally, just after a boom from the ram and just as the door stopped shaking, Iesa threw open the latch, and Daneath pulled the door open. Beyond were a tight pack of enlarged dwarves, using a length of what looked like wood, topped with a cap of iron. They were still moving backwards and looked up with surprise. They dropped the ram, and were about to draw weapons to charge, when I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise. In the Duergar’s black eyes I saw the reflection of light and then sudden look of fear, as a bolt of blue-white lightening, pierced their bodies and hit the wall behind them. The ram they held splintered apart in their hands. And then as they staggered, I snapped the strands, and I heard bones crack and the ram blew apart into splinters as the dwarves fell over, crushed by our magic. I smiled as I saw that at least nine fell to our onslaught, but it fell away quickly, as I saw that there were more dwarves coming. And it wasn’t just a handful, but a full score was outside, taking cover from the chaos that Beepu and I caused. But what alarmed me most was that one of the dwarves was starting to create a bead of light in his hands. “Close it NOW!” I screamed knowing what was coming. Iesa quickly slammed the iron portal shut and threw the bolt back into place, while Daneath and Eridan shoved the workbench in front of the door. From around the sill, the edges erupted in orange flickering waves of heat and Iesa retracted his hands from the gout and shook the pain of singed flesh away. “How many are left?” Iesa asked, as he then helped to pull the heavy bench in front of the door. “Too many,” I said. “We are running out of time.” “Well, hopefully we can hold the door,” and Daneath and Iesa braced themselves behind the workbench, ready to hold it and the door in place. Beepu set his pouch on the ground and pulled out an object. It wasn’t very large, perhaps the size of an apple. It resembled a clockwork mechanism, with brass and silver plates in places, covering barely a quarter of it. He pulled out the two spur gear rings that his parents once wore as wedding bands and started to affix them to the mechanism. I looked at it and turned to Eridan. “There has to be a better way.” Eridan smiled, “Myrai, I have been travelling this world for eighty winters. I have loved, had a family and I have had no regrets. My best friend sacrificed all he was, so he could end the Kershak. I cannot let him down now. I can’t have that regret on my soul.” “I have helped people to go beyond but…they were all in dire straits, beyond anyone’s power to help. I don’t …no I don’t want to do this. The price is too steep.” I said, knowing I was going to lose this battle. “Myrai,” he said grasping my hands. “Remember, ‘Death is a part of life,’—” “—' not an ending but a beginning,’” I finished, drawing my greensteel dagger slowly. I looked at it, doubts weighing heavily on my heart. I did swear I would do anything to see this through, to finally end this. But this wasn’t what I had intended by my prayer. Sacrificing one’s self is easy; especially if you don’t know what that sacrifice really entails. But to sacrifice someone else? Only fiends…or someone with that mindset did that. But for me…this was a price I didn’t want pay. Yet looking at Eridan, I saw he had no doubts in his eyes. He wasn’t a child or even a young adult starting out on their journey. He had walked his path; he had all the time to sample all that life had to offer. He was certain that he reached his time; he had faith in what he was doing; what he wanted to do. I looked at Eridan and smiled, I pulled myself close to him and embraced the genasi, sniffling a bit. He chuckled a moment, and then I pulled back a step and leaned forward, pressing my lips to his. A final kiss. The blade slid between the ribs smoothly, and I could feel the warmth of his blood cover my chest. He shuddered a moment, and I pulled him close whispering into his ear, “[I]May Death grant you peace[/I] Eridan.” He held me tight, as the blood poured on the floor between us. “I will…not forget…you…” he said and then he became limp in my arms, and I staggered with his weight, as I lowered his still warm body to the ground, tears spilling forth. “Now Eridan, we can try to…MY WORD!” Beepu said, looking up for the first time. “Myr what did you DO?” “What he asked for. What he wanted,” I said a bit shaken. “His time was over, and he…wanted his end to have meaning.” I looked Beepu straight in the eye. “Let’s not disappoint him.” Beepu looked at me, at the blood, and at the smile on Eridan’s dead face and swallowed. His face was contorted into a scowl when he said “Why not one more to the pyre. The cost the Kershak has incurred is far too high.” Daneath turned to look at us and as he spoke his face paled, “What are you two yam…oh crap. No. No. No.” Iesa turned as well and growled in frustration, pushing against the workbench, trying to keep the door shut. “Daneath,” I said, moving toward the table and I slung my shield onto my back. I then started to push against the workbench with all my weight and strength. “You need to…remove his head.” Daneath looked at me wearily and winced. But he moved from the table and drew his sword. I saw him take aim and swing, and Eridan’s head rolled away from the body in one clean stroke. I watched remorsefully, as I strained against the workbench, pushing with my legs trying to hold the door fast. As I did so, the door shuddered again with a dull booming sound. “They got another ram,” Iesa said. “The door is going to fly from the hinges, and then this table is going to give quickly.” The door shuddered again, dust flying and the sound of stone cracking, as the dwarves kept hammering away. Beepu reached down and pulled the ring away from the decapitated corpse. He quickly smashed it on the ground, breaking away the clay cladding, and the coppery ring beneath was revealed. As he did so, he spoke to Daneath. “Keep your sword out, and with your other hand grasp the orb.” He doffed his shield and slung it on his back, “Myr and Iesa aren’t going to be able to hold the door for long.” He pressed his hand to the orb, and from within I heard the whining of gears starting to turn faster and faster “Well…It is going to be only her in a moment, because I need Iesa and his dagger as well.” “I can’t leave her—” Iesa protested. “—It will not be long. The device is charged, I have put some arcane energy into it. Once you touch it, my spell will activate the orb and with it we can open a portal to...somewhere. I need you [B][I]now[/I][/B] Iesa!” “Go,” I said to the Knight of the Post. “I only need to—” <BOOM> “—hold the door for a little while.” Iesa looked at me and nodded. Keeping his back on the workbench, he pushed with his legs, as he drew the dagger. He held a moment, and looked at me, and I gave him a nod. He stepped forward and dropped down to his knees, reaching out and laid a hand on the orb. Then, Isea and Daneaths faces contorted in pain as the device started to pull[I] something[/I] from them. Wisps of haze and fog poured off their skin and swirled into the device, now at the center of a small arcane storm. Howls emanated from it, like warped Aoskar hounds baying at anti-peak. The orb gave of a brilliant white light, and the whining gears inside increased in speed and pitch. Beepu touched some buttons on the curved surface and frowned. “No!…it still not fully powered up. It requires more time!” Beepu said angrily. “We better hold the—” Iesa started. “—Do NOT let go!” Beepu shrieked. “This can only be done once!” I continued to push on the workbench, my feet slipping on the stone trying to keep it in place against the door, when the upper hinge burst free from the stone. I could feel the workbench sliding backwards with the repeated banging on the door and watched as the iron latch in the jamb started to bend in place. It would not be long before the door was loose. “Beepu!” I shouted. “You need to throw everything you have into it now! I can’t hold it!” Beepu looked at the brothers who were struggling in pain, as their essence or perhaps a part of their souls was being drawn into the orb. Frowning, he reached into his pouch, and pulled out a smooth orange stone. Looking at it for a moment, he lifted his hand and smashed down the stone on top of the orb. The orb started to hum, its reverberations overtaking the high-pitched whine of the spinning gears. I could feel the Weave shudder a moment and then I felt it tear apart, as I felt lashed by the unwinding of the Weave near me. Then a brilliant white light lit the room, not from the device but from an angle from the ceiling. A new howling sound erupted from the orb…or was it a scream? The light lit the orb up, and the howling, the gears whining all increased in intensity and volume. As I squinted my eyes to watch, I saw a hole tear open right behind the gnome. Light and moving shadows and colors streamed through it as it grew in size. “What is that?” Iesa shouted, still in pain. “Our exit portal. I think I have it set to a city on the mainland, we must go no—” The door’s last hinge broke, and the workbench now slid into the room, my strength a feeble match for the large muscular dwarves behind it. I turned and pulled on a weak dark strand and pulled out the miasma, and I saw the dwarf that was barreling through the ruined doorway in pain, and behind him another growled with equal anger. Spinning I started to run. I saw Beepu grab the orb and he ran for the fissure in the weave. He dove for it, and in a blink, he was gone. Daneath and Iesa, still grasping their weapons, followed him blindly. Each crossed the threshold, and I could hear Mo shriek in Iesa’s pack as he disappeared into the portal. Close behind, Foggle dove for it, wings folded in close to its body, streaking at it like a golden raptor diving for prey, and he too crossed and disappeared across the portal’s boundaries. I then threw myself at the portal. Time seemed to slow, and I could feel my heart pound with every step. I leaned forward and reached my hand out straining to breach the threshold. It eerily felt like it did one hundred and forty-six days ago as I dove under the transom in the bar, where a portal appeared unexpectedly. I flung my body forward towards it and stretched to grasp the entrance to the escape that Beepu had created. I then gasped for air, as a body slammed into me. Glancing at my side, I saw an armored dwarf had collided with me, and I fell onto one knee to stabilize myself. I instinctively turned and threw a punch at the nose of the dwarf, and I was rewarded with the sound of bones cracking. The dwarf backed up a step and shouted in anger, and then launched himself at me again. He forced me off balance as he sought to pin me against the wall of the well that stood in the room. My strength was no match against the foe, and I gave up ground rapidly. I found my body pinned against the brick and mortar of the well’s wall, and I felt it start to sunder. Although I was crushed against it, the dwarf kept pushing, and suddenly the wall gave way. I heard the roaring sound of the dwarf’s laughter, as I found myself falling into the shaft of the well. Twisting around, I watched from my back as an ugly face of the dwarf gave me an evil grin. But the image quickly receded away as I fell. So, this was it, the end. I felt the air stream through my hair as I fell. The pain in my chest was distant and unimportant. I closed my eyes and relaxed; there was nothing to be done now. I smiled as I realized that I had helped cement a victory against the Kershak. That I helped my friends escape with their lives. I smiled as I descended; I felt free. Any concerns on what I owed whom I left behind as I fell. The only regret I felt was that I would break my promise to see Arnara again. But somehow, I knew she would forgive me. Below I heard rushing water, but I knew I was falling too far and fast. If the fall didn’t kill me, I would likely drown in the water below. At least I knew what the end was like, and any pain would be brief. [I]I’m ready Kelemvor… NOT YET![/I] And then I felt it, my body crossing between places, the cool air being replaced with warm. My eyes widened in shock and surprise and… [/QUOTE]
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