The morning of the 24th of Davor, 1329

The next morning, Droog, true to his word, made available to Savan Rahob's spellbook. Droog had spent the last decade trying to decipher the spellbook's draconic script, and had made excellent progress in doing so – but had yet to master a single concept contained within the massive tome.

Savana took up the challenge with relish, although Droog had to restrain her. He very specifically ordered her not to let anyone else look at the book or know of it, directly – even going so far as to invoke a prayer of truthfullness.

Finally understanding how much the spellbook meant to Droog, the young wizardress began asking interrogating questions of the dwarven cleric, such as where he'd gotten the spellbook, and how.

During the War of the Undead, Droog had been sent as an understudy to one of the Warkore Clan's more politically powerful clerics. The other cleric, Skulldrag Orcbane, had considerable political clout among the Warkore Dwarves, and a high rank – and yet his faith in Galgiran was significantly less than Droog's. Droog found himself saving his 'master' more often than not, and the memories had left him with a sour taste in his mouth for the Church of Galgiran. Worse, Skulldrag's behavior had been, on several occasions, questionable. How the Warkore cleric was able to even invoke prayers to Galgiran was beyond Droog's understanding.

During the war, Droog and Skulldrag, along with several other Warkore warriors, had defeated a band of undead that were threatening a small goat-herding village on the side of a mountain. After the destruction of the many zombies, one was found to have on his back the remains of a pack, and within it, a large tome in pristine condition.

Droog saved the spellbook and hid it away for several years.

When the War of the Undead was over, Droog found himself brooding over the nature of the Inquisition, arcane magic, necromancy, and his breaking belief in the Church of Galgiran, thanks to then-promoted Bishop Skulldrag.

Droog began an exhaustive research, working at Lok Giran and Lok Magius, examining the captured spellbook, and expanding his knowledge of the arcane, in general. The decade spent studying the book expanded Droog's mind in many ways, and also made him very secretive of what he was thinking. The dwarven cleric realized that, by letting Savana study the large tome, she might unlock secrets that were beyond him. At the same time, Droog realized that he was growing beyond the needs of the book itself, and more into what the book stood for.

That day, both Droog and Savana spent considerable time in the library, working together on the book. The libraries were mostly empty, with the war going on, and they were able to learn much.

Raho in the elven tongue meant 'great tree', and it turns out that an apprentice known as Raho worked for the greatest wizard to have ever lived, Vyrboth Liss. Vyrboth Liss was rumored to have been a great wizard, a great sorcerer, a great cleric, and perhaps even a great druid, as well. Vyrboth was a name of legend, despite the Inquisition's anti-magic stance. There were whole volumes of knowledge dedicated to the legend and history of Vyrboth Liss, and one of his minor apprentices, some five centuries before the Storm Wars, was Raho – although when pronounced in the olde tongue of that time, would have sounded more like Rahob.

Rahob had draconic blood in his veins, and he was both a sorcerer, and a wizard. He used his arcane studies to understand and draw out his potential as a sorcerer, and used his sorcerous abilities to push his understanding of the arcane arts. Most of the arcane spells stored in his book were related to the plane of air, or elemental air in nature. His sorcerous powered, presumeably, were all gaseous in nature, leading them to suspect that he had the blood of green dragons in his veins.

At one point, Savana noticed that the spellbook itself was heavily enchanted. Most spellbooks from the Great Time of Magic were enchanted to protect them from interlopers, or from damage, such as fires or water. Rahob's spellbook only seemed impervious to damage, with no obvious protections. The young woman saw that the script of the book was the same at the beginning, as at the end, lending her to believe that the book was written later in life for Rahob, when his writing style had solidified. And older mage would have even more to protect, than a younger one, but where were the protections?

Savana stared off into the distant rows of books, contemplating that thought – when she saw the writing of the book shift, just out of the corner of her eye. Was it a trick of the light? She counted the pages of the book, three times. She tried writing in it, using blood to signal something in the book, and a dozen other concepts and devices. Perhaps she had imagined it…

* * *

The next day, they found a missive under the door to Savana's room at Lok Magius. Reed, the Mistress Brin's chief administrator, had left Savana a summons in regards to 'how the dwarf wound up in the desert'. Apparently, some breakthrough had been made.

In the center of Lok Magius' three concentric walls, lay the Administrative Tower. Reed greeted them from behind a pile of paperwork on his desk, his eyes an irritated amber in color.

The chief administrator was a moderate man of moderate height, indiscriminate background, and brown hair pulled back in a tail. He could have been from anywhere, and blended into any crowd, save for his eyes. His eyes changed color at will, although more often, he let them change color on their own, reflecting his mood.

He handled a few more documents, before turning his attention to the young woman and the grizzled dwarf before him.

Reed showed them one-page letter that had the first letter of every sentance circled by another pen, and a page from the log book used by the clerics in charge of the Eye of Galgiran, down in the courtyard next to the Administrative Tower. The log book was written in a variety of hands, but one entry matched that of the letter. The entry was for a set of coordinates deep behind ogran lines – and it was where Father Rolth had sent Barome and Droog the week before.

The letter was nonchallant, and discussed nothing in particular, but Droog looked at the circles on the parchment. The first letters of each sentance, when taken together, spelled out a sentance of their own: 'get the bat and use the bat'.

Reed explained that several days before, near the outset of the war, one of Lok Magius' sorcerers had come across an interesting individual. One of the local guards in Kashin – who was involved in flushing out the assassins' guild there, known as the Scorpions' Guild – suspected that the Scorpions were involved in more than killing people. The guard, and an accolyte of Whalin, had done more than help flush out the guild; they had found someone the guild wanted dead, and why.

Evelin Battachirus was, supposedly, a minor merchant with an interest in herbs and gardening. In reality, his incredible intellect had made him the richest man in Rakore, bar none. 'The Bat' as he was more commonly known, had begun to put the pieces of the puzzle together, and sense the invasion well before it happened, hiring out the the guard from Kashin and the cleric of Whalin to delve into the mystery even deeper, despite the enmity of the assassins who wanted the Bat dead for what he had discovered.

The assassins were supposed to have lain in hiding until the invasion of Rakore by the ograns, and they may have worked for Doom Rex – a known traitor, and a thorn in the side of Rakore for many years. 'Doom' being an ogran title akin to 'duke', a whole nest of conspiracy theories and troubles began to emerge, especially as the war began and the guard and the cleric were proven right.

At that point, Gabriel – a wolven sorcerer for Lok Magius – had gotten involved, and helped to kill Doom Rex's wife or mate. Since then, though, Doom Rex had faded into the background as the war began in earnest. Gabriel had had the Bat transferred to Lok Magius for safe-keeping – only he had gone missing not too long after that. The letter was all that was found in the Bat's guest quarters within Lok Magius, and no amount of arcane might had shown who had written it, or where it had come from.

Reed had caught the likeness of the writing, and put Two and Two together. Doom Rex definately had had a mage working for him during the battles with the guard, the cleric, and Gabriel, and so Lok Magius had a traitor with traitorous connections.

The code within the letter proved troublesome. It implied two 'bats', with only one of them known, Evelin. The guard from Kashin had originally suspected Evelin of being part of the plot against Rakore, but later exonerated him. Questions within questions arose, and no answers were to be found.

Savana and Droog left Reed's office as stumped as the chief administrator was, torn between two almost unsolveable mysteries: Rahob's spellbook, and someone possibly out to kill Droog or Barome.

Savana returned to the library to research more of Rahob's spellbook, while Droog sought out Mistress Brin – headmistress of Lok Magius. He found her in the Tower of Illusions and Enchantments, in the main common room at its top. There, in an illusory map of Rakore, he saw how bad the invasion was going. A quarter of the Tikranor Plateau had already fallen, and the sheer numbers of the ogran invaders indicated that there was no way to stop them from taking the rest of the plateau – or the rest of Rakore.

A vast army of ograns was already poised to take Droog's home, Mount Lavanor, and they were also only a week's march away from storming Kashin, if they chose to assault the city directly off of the plateau.

Mistress Brin, during a lul in the war plans she was making with her people, answered some of Droog's questions, but didn't have much in the way of valuable information for him about what had happened. What she shared with him about the war was just as valuable, though, and he treasured that information, even if it disheartened him about the war.

Droog spent the rest of that day rebuilding his signet ring, lost to him deep in ogran territory. He sat in Savana's parents dining room, the blank ring in a vice, slowly chiselling off bits of the bare metal, when something occurred to him. He had seen another bat.

When he had reforged one of Barome's silver arrows into a new medallion to Galgiran, he had seen a stamp in the blacksmithy, such as used to identify equipment or materials. The stamp had been one of many, but it had been that of a bat.

Working on a hunch, Droog visited the smithy again, and asked about the bat stamp. The smith described the young mage that used the bat stamp, and even told of his bat-themed dagger, a thing of blackened metal that the mage himself made. The mage made a great many things in the smithy, though the smith himself didn't much approve of the mage.

Droog filled Savana in on his thoughts, and the two went to Reed with what information they had. Droog and Savana both had done a short search of Lok Magius, and found little. They hoped that they could help Reed help them to find even more.

Reed identified the young mage with the bat stamp as Toirin, a mage with a bat for a familiar. He described Toirin as a thin human with hair down to his butt, and who always wore black. The administrator felt that if Toirin was the mole, then they were in danger, for Toirin was young, headstrong – and powerful.

Droog used the academy's permanent teleportation circle to visit the Silver Gauntlet in Rilan, and scope out the Blue Tyvern inn. The drow there indicated that Toirin had not been seen there, yet. The dwarven cleric left a message for Toirin along the lines of 'looking for work', and returned to Lok Magius.

From there, Droog and Savana found out that Toirin had been seen in Lok Magius – leaving but hours before. Working with Reed, they received special mounts from the stables, and were permitted to bring the mounts through the teleportation circle, which nearly gave the two old wizards that guarded it an apoplectic fit.

Droog and Savana waited inside the Blue Tyven for Toirin to arrive, and also struck up a conversation with a tough mercenary that was waiting inside. From one of the drow that worked the Blue Tyven, Droog and Savana had learned that the mercenary was under observation, for he was suspected of being a Marksman – and he often had dealings with Toirin.

The Marksmen were mercenaries of high calibre in Rakore, though some sort of tension seemed to exist between them and the drow.

This particular Marksman, Jolve, made rather crude and humerous passes at Savana that at first put her off, but later emboldened her to use her good looks to extract information from the Marksman. All she was able to get, though, was a sort of general idea that Jolve was going to meet with his boss.

Jolve later ensured that neither Droog nor Savana were at his table, when Toirin swept into the room. The mage sat across from the Marksman, and looked road-weary. A small pouch exchanged hands, and they prepared to leave, as another Marksman came into the main tavern of the Blue Tyven.

The man was huge, with chocolate-brown skin in dreadlocks, and icey blue eyes. From the conversation with Jolve, Savana knew that it was the captain of the Marksmen, Vadrus Hague.

Vadrus spoke quickly with Jolve and Toirin, and then ushered the two to continue on, while Vadrus went on in to take a seat in the Blue Tyven.

Droog and Savana, not wanting to let an opportunity pass them by, quickly followed them.

They went to the stables and raced to get their saddles and other gear onto their horses in time, each helping the other until they could mount on the special horses from Lok Magius. The horses' shoes were enchanted in several ways, and they were eager to test them.

Droog and Savana raced northwards through the docks district of Rilan, and out onto the road that would take them to the ferry across the Galanus. Not too far outside of Rilan, they almost caught up to the two they were chasing.

Toirin had whirled his mount around, and was waiting for them.

The bat-loving mage cast a spell at Droog and Savana, and a thousand tiny bats of dark gray color flew at them. Savana leapt free, still dressed to seduce the Marksman, but Droog was caught as the bats formed a thousand strands of sticky glue that instantly formed between the two Lok Magius horses running abreast. Droog rode his horse into the ground as it went end over end, both horses going down hard as their legs and bodies were caught and stuck to one another and the ground. One horse screamed as several of its legs broke at once.

Savana rolled to her feet, just in time to feel her mages shields shudder from an attack by three dark, ephemeral bat-shaped mage bolts. Savana responded by unleashing several green, electrically charged mage bolts of her own that sizzled across the ground between her and Toirin, striking the mage in his torso several times.

Droog struggled free from the dark gray threads glued to everything, and finally managed to break free.

Toirin had had enough, rolled his hands in a gesture that frightened Savana. The bat mage conjured a ball of dark power and hurled it at Savana. The young woman barely had time to throw her hands up as a the ball of power unfurled its wings into a giant, phantasmal bat that engulfed her in a concussive burst of power and heat.

Droog's acid-scarred, bald head was livid. He rushed that bat mage, his rage propelling him to speeds no dwarf should have been able to achieve.

Toirin, seeing the dwarf rushing at him headlong, leapt up and away, lazily drifting out of range of the dwarf's battle-axe. The mage smirked down at the dwarf – until he saw the dwarf release the battle-axe in a massive over-handed throw.

The blade whistled through the air with an evil, repetitive 'whoop' sound before embedding itself into the bat mage's chest. Mage and axe together went tumbling end-over-end, backwards, out over the mighty Galanus River.

Droog turned back to help Savana as a crossbow bolt slammed into him. Jolve tossed his crossbow aside, and raced at the dwarf, pulling his shield out, and then holding the reins with his shield arm, as he drew his sword.

Droog growled and rushed the attack, intent on taking the Marksman down. The Marksman, though, had the advantage of height from his horse, a war-trained mount, and his shield – plus excellent training with his longsword. The battle was decidedly one-sided, and as Droog took more and more glancing blows from the longsword, even as he got in a few good swings against the armored legs of the Marksman, he looked up into the Marksman's eyes with hatred and fury as the strength slowly left his body, blood pouring all over the ground.

* * *

Droog coughed up dried blood, and continued coughing until most of it was up. The massive desert elf known as Sir Bridar – reeve of Rilan – helped the dwarf up to a sitting position. With a powerful voice, the desert elf said, “We got a message from Reed, up at Lok Magius, just in time to see you bolting out of Rilan. You're lucky we got here when we did. What happened?”

The dwarven cleric glanced about, and quickly leapt up to see to Savana. The young woman was still somewhat dazed from the explosive spell the bat mage had cast at her, and her skimpy clothing was almost vaporized. Droog ignored her near nudity, and asked her if she was all right.

When he got a confused nod of 'yes', the dwarf turned back to Sir Bridar, and looked into his oddly orange eyes. “Where's my axe? I've got a mage to kill…”

So ends the early afternoon of the 25th of Davor, 1329.

It started off rather slowly, but after they got a feel for which direction they wanted to take their characters, things got interesting, in a hurry. I don't James or Erin is used to the freedom to truly do whatever they want in a campaign world, but I threw them enough crumbs for a trail, and appealed to their blood-thirsty anti-traitor sides.

It's interesting to note that time-wise, Toirin was up near Takanal on the 18th of Davor, in Campaign VI. That means that he rushed to Lok Magius as quickly as he could, and then rushed right back out. If you read Campaign VI, you'll realize that the current group is picking up almost exactly where the last group left off. It may be time for the two groups to meet, head on.

1,500. (total character XP to date is 10,000)