Black Hart

Gradsul by Twilight

Chapter 24 - Gateway

Smokelight would have cursed had it not been that he was casting his spell, as Chary leapt through the portal before he could stop her. Instead, he turned his attentions to three of the giant rats who promptly froze in their paths. The other four snapped about his feet briefly, then seemed bewildered and began to run back to the holes they had sprung from.
On the other side of the portal, Smokelight could see Chary and three other figures - they were soldiers, dressed in royal blue and lightly armoured. Chary was pointing back towards him, but no words came through the gate. Smokelight glanced at  the wall of ice and at the soldiers, and knew he was in a dangerous position.
Suddenly the picture from the gate blinked out, and he could see the chamber beyond again. Looking into the receptacle on its side he could see that the pieces of jet were gone, a dusty residue remaining as though the gate consumed them to remain active.
He could hear some sort of noise from the corridor beyond the ice wall, but could discern little more than that.
The mage quickly uttered the words that he hoped would bring down the ice wall, but as he finished his invocation it stood strong - Chary's magic was indeed powerful!
He looked to the gate, but there was no sign of it coming back to life. He grunted in annoyance at the sturdiness of Chary's dweomer. He didn't want to be trapped in this chamber when and if Boccob-knows-what came
through the Magical Gate. He'd seen Chary saying something to others over on that side of the Gate - giving orders? Even now, they were probably preparing to reopen the Gate from their side, to send in numbers of attackers against the mage. And it wasn't unlikely that some foul priest was even now healing Chary's wounds!
Smokelight had seen figures on the other side of the ice wall. Wererats? Cinion and the others? He couldn't be sure. A moment ago, he'd decided to take the chance when he tried to dispel the ice wall - after all, it may have allowed wererats in, and not the other members of his band. The mage decided to risk a moment of prudence, this time, and took the spell scroll from his backpack which would allow him to create a magical Wizard Eye. He unrolled it and read the magic from the scroll, causing the invisible eye to appear on the other side of his ice wall.
Smokelight's real eyes opened wide as the magic allowed him to view outwith the room - there in the corridor stood Cinion, and by the light from his magical shortsword Smokelight could see that he was battling a dozen angry giant rats there, fighting furiously for his life. There was no sign of the others.
Cinion was about ten feet to the left of the ice wall, with his back to the wall. Smokelight quickly cast more magic, a Stinking Cloud placed so that the edge of the vapours ended right next to the embattled halfling. The mage knew this tactic would not get all of the rats, but it would take care of most of them. Also, it would prevent any more enemies from coming down the tunnel.

Akhan slid down the ladder, and he heardf Cinion cry out and then stop, although there were still sounds coming from where he was. He rushed along and could quickly see the halfling, lit up by a magical blade, slashing and stabbing at a dozen giant rats who were all around him.
As Akhan approached, a dark cloud appeared in the corridor, and even though it stopped a few feet away from Cinion and came nowhere near the half-elf's over-sensitive nostrils, he caught a faint whiff of the cloud and knew it was Smokelight's magical vomitous odours.
Some of the rats, caught in the cloud, scarpered quickly, but Akhan took no chances and drew Kagnstir, striking out at the nearest one. Without so much as a squelch the rodent's head seperated from its body.
As Eloi then Helden appeared at the bottom of the ladder they could see Akhan and Cinion, about a hundred yards away down this tunnel, fighting the giant rats. They were bathed in an eerie glow from the two magical swords and there was no sign of Smokelight. As Eloi went to move towards them he almost tripped on something lying on the floor, and a quick glance told him it was Sbetlath's corpse.
Akhan continued to lay about him at the fleeing wererats. He was using short, vicious strokes, loathing of these creatures giving him a desperate desire to finish them off.
"Don't let Sbetlath's body disappear!" he shouted back down the corridor when he had notcied the others arrival. Akhan had decided that he definitely wasn't leaving the stadium without Sbetlath. Sure, he was dead. But that was a minor detail for some people. Especially people with unhealthy pacts with strange gods.
Smokelight was obviously in need of some assistance though. And quickly. "Helden, drag the body down here with you. Zeb, lend us a hand finding our magical dungheap." Akhan tried to move further down the corridor, hoping the noxious vapours would dissipate soon. He was most definitely not going through them!
Helden toyed with the idea of chucking Sbetlath's body back up to the surface, for Veshper's men to retrieve. Then again, Smokelight seemed to require urgent help. And they weren't going to get through to him quickly enough without hewing their way through the ugly rats.
"You must be kidding! Sbetlath?" Helden looked at the dead wererat with some distaste before moving forward from his range to stab efficiently at the rats that were near enough.
Eloi shrugged at Sbetlath's corpse. "Do ratmen regen.. regnr... grow their bits again?" he asked Helden.
"That's it." Helden paused. "This will be Veshper's problem. I'm not lugging this smelly rat with us."
Helden picked up the the dead Sbetlath gingerly, as if proximity alone were enough to infect him with the foul disease that these ratmen carry, and then unceremoniously threw him over his shoulder, headed up the hole. Within a few seconds Akhan, Cinion and Eloi had dispatched three more of the giant rodents, and the fourth ran past them down the corridor in the other direction. Helden saw it as he hauled Sbetlath's heavy corpse up the ladder, and wondered if it were headed towards him, but it ran past him and on into the dark corridor beyond. He then continued up and plopped him out of the sewer onto the surface.
"Veshper!" Helden scanned for the Mareschal until he spotted him.
As he got to the top he could hear sounds of fighting and general panic, and quickly pushed the body up and over. As he stuck his head up to see what was happening he saw someone running straight at him, then realised it was Adder. He saw the Mareschal and his men, now beginning to fan out and search the arena, just twenty yards behingd him.
"Veshper!" he yelled. "This is Sbetlath!"
He pointed quickly to the corpse, then began to quickly move back down the ladder, followed by Adder. They then ran up the tunnel to where Cinion, Akhan and Eloi stood amidst four dead giant rats, at the edge of the noxious green cloud that lingered in their path.
"Smokelight went into a chamber on the other side of this cloud," Cinion said. "Its all blocked up with ice now, magical I think. Just after Akhan left me these rats appeared and attacked, then the cloud sprung up and drove most of them off."
Cinion had several small cuts and nicks, but appeared largely uninjured.
"Alright, we're not moving ahead because of this?" Helden said staring at the cloud of gas. He looked incredulously at the rest and without waiting for them to respond began the familiar words of a prayer-spell to dispel the noxious cloud before them. Were somebody to listen more carefully to the words of his prayer, he would have heard the most interesting refrain: "No magic cannot be laughed away, Oh Olidammara."
The cloud dissipated and Cinion turned to Helden, muttering, "Nice moves big man. As Papa Whitewillow would say, 'The less stink, the better.'"
Helden just looked at the halfling, then at the tunnel beyond where the cloud had been, and all around, shaking his head.
"Cinion, I didn't do anything, I never finished my spell!" Helden said bemusedly. They looked, and just as the halfling had said, about ten feet beyond where the cloud had ended there was a passageway in the wall to the right, which was filled with ice.
Eloi walked over and tapped it with his blood soaked dagger.
"Anyone got any ideas about getting through this?" He turned round and winked. "Akhan, perhaps we could light one of your farts. They can burn a hole through anything. What we really need is a mage and unfortunately he is on the other side of this thing."
"We make one attempt on this," Akhan said joining Eloi at he ice. "But the rest of that wererat scum are running around down here and we don't know what else they've got stashed away. We can't let them escape with anything vital." Akhan turned back to the ice-filled passageway. He hefted his sword up towards the roof of the tunnel so as to cast more light on it. "Has anyone got a better light source?" he asked. Not waiting for an answer, he began to feel his way carefully around the entrance to the passage. He was looking for any concealed features which might bypass the ice.
"Eloi, help me out here. Search for any concealed doors." Still concentrating hard on the walls around the passageway, Akhan added, "We'll follow the passages in the direction those rats disappeared if we can't get in here. "Smokelight will just have to cool his heels awhile"
"Does anyone know if this wall can be dispelled magically?" Adder questioned. Surely he knew once upon a time, but such knowledge was probably lost after the unfortunate incident with that beholder and its disintegration ray. Awaiting an answer, Adder tested the ice with his sword. Surely, the wall was too thick and heavy for them to push over.
Akhan followed Adder and also swung his shortsword at the ice - it plunged into the cold, hard wall. As he tried to pull it free, he saw the ice creep and twist over his blade, forming over it - perhaps it was not the best idea to sink a Frost Brand sword into a wall of ice.
As Akhan tugged and pulled at his sword, heaving at it to gain some leverage to drag it free, there was a shimmering in the wall beside him, to the right of the ice. As the wall itself disappeared in a magical shimmer he finally hauled it free and had almost regained his balance when Smokelight walked down a passageway which had opened up in the rock there.
They could see as the mage walked out to greet them that it led back into a dimly lit room.

"Hello boys," Smokelight said to the others. He looked at them, counting heads. "I see halfling, half-orc and half-elf. Where are the others? He of the snakelike name, our annointed friend who is lucky not to have rope-burn on his neck? I'm glad to see you alive, anyways -- I assume you've had your fun with some of the other wererats?"
"Only seeing the half ones are you?" Helden winced at his own droll comment as he stepped into view. There was now no need for him to attempt to dispel the ice - he wasn't quite sure whether it would have worked anyway.
The mage gestured over his shoulder, at the Passwall that led to the chamber beyond. "I met some big rats myself, yonder. A few have been fried, quite well done I assure you, but the biggest rat herself - Chary A'Creel, former magic-using apprentice of the Great Otto - escaped through the Gate. Yes, I found the Gate, and it is in that chamber. It is, at the moment, inactive. I'm not sure where it leads, but my guess is to another location somewhere on Oerth, perhaps a place controlled by the Scarlet Ones. Chary the Ratlady may well activate again from the other side, for all I know, and send reinforcements after us, so be on your guard."
"Can I remind you all we're standing in the middle of a wererat lair," Cinion said, looking about cautiously. "Whatever we decide we better do it fast. I am interested in the gate though, Smokey - could you tell where it led to?"
Without answering Smokelight glanced back over his shoulder at the gate, which still had not flickered back into life. Adder wasn't overly concerned by the halfling's reminder. Many of the lair's inhabitants had already met their fate. He did wait to hear what the mage had to say. Nothing worse than walking through a door to nowhere and looking at the wrong end of a ballista.
Eloi nodded solemnly as he listened to the others.
"We need to gain control of this area as soon as possible. I suggest we get Veshper down here with some of his men as soon as possible. Then we have to stop that gate from functioning. Magic is probably the only way. If something is going to come though there soon, then let's try to stop it."
He rubbed his jaw as the cogs in his brain whirred.
"We should probably contact my dad as well. He will no doubt be interested to hear what we have found."
He looked around the party and started to give out instructions.
"Helden could you go and find Vespher and get him down here with some men pronto. Akhan, can you right a note for Dad that we can get to Mrs Byellok telling him what we have found. Cinion, perhaps you could take it to her. Smokelight can you take us to the gate and was there any sign of O'Shad?"
"Okay," Helden responded simply, then thought for a moment. "It all depends when we expect something to come out of the gate. Smokelight, is our wererat problem specifically because they've been coming through this portal? Or has it only been used as an escape route this time around as far as you know? Is it merely a shortcut between Gradsul and who knows where, or it is a route for invasion?"
"In other words, we should anticipate exactly what  might come through. A contigent of wererats and other such nasties? Or some rampaging beast? Having beaten a hasty retreat, is O'Creel likely to return with all the help she can get to defend this gate, or has she slunk away like a dormouse because the plot's been uncovered? That'll determine whether we merely set up an ambush or whether we use the first opportunity this gate is active to get to the other side and clean up."
Adder chuckled at Helden's questions. It was likely the mage knew none on these answers, and his guess was as good as anybody else's present. The mage held up his hands in an attempt to hold off the flurry of questions, speculations and comments.
"First of all," Smokelight said, "I don't think we should split up just yet, at least until we decide what to do with the Gate. It is currently inactive, and not 'open' to the other place it was connected to. No, Cinion, I don't know what the other place is, as I only got a glimpse. The last thing I saw before the Gate shut down was Chary A'Creel, the wererat witch, on the 'far side' of the Gate. She was giving orders to others who looked like guards or soldiers. She may have been ordering them to come through the Gate after us, or merely to guard the Gate on her side, in the chance that we would learn how to activate and go through. There was no sign of O'Shad, or anyone else other than A'Creel and her lackeys.
"My suggestion is that we get in there and dismantle the Gate, if we can. I don't know how to open or activate the Gate from our side, and I don't know that such a thing would be wise to do, even if I could."
The mage held up his hands in an attempt to hold off the flurry of questions, speculations and comments.
"Personally," Akhan butted in, "I say we trash the damn thing. But remember those marines weren't too keen to come down here. Veshper might risk his neck though. And I want to see if Ash is alright. So I could ask Veshper and the priest Bekkar to join us. What do you say?"
Akhan looked speculatively at Smokelight while he recommended destruction of the Gate. Who was this Great Otto? Akhan wracked his brains. Anyone who was referred to as Great Otto either had a big head or was fairly well known. Of course he could just be a fairly well-known mage. Akhan had always harboured a suspicion that the magical fraternity tended to bestow such honorifics rather liberally on themselves.
Eloi smiled at Akhan, why did no one listen to him, after all he was teamleader.
"Okay, you go and get Vespher and the priest, but while your up there get a message to father via Mrs Byellok. It would appear to me that we have nearly uncovered O'Shad's plan. Father really should be brought up to speed will no doubt be interestde in finding out the purpose of this gate. I don't really car if his men are scared of the ratmen. I want a small force down here to deal with any problems that might occur and secure the area."
He nodded at Smokelight.
"Right, show the rest of us the gate. For all you know while we speak the entire forces of the Scarlet Brotherhood could be pouring through."
He motioned for everyone to start moving, then stopped as he recalled something.
"Oh yes, Adar and myself were wounded by the ratmen. We could use some healing from the priest. I don't fancy growing fangs and a tail which spoil my good looks."
Adder cracked a smirk at Eloi's last comment. Lycanthropy might have a cure, but his "good" half-orc looks certainly didn't. Reflecting on more serious matters, he wished there was a way to plug up the gate, or even better a nice pit with stakes right outside the entrance would do nicely. Of course if the gate could be physicaly moved, that would even be better still. Put that fine piece of stonework at the bottom of Gradsul harbor.
Adder smirked again, thinking about the look of shock on all those faces as the Azure Sea relocated itself somewhere on the Tilvanot Penninsula.
Adder's smirk turned to a look of stunned realization as he remembered someone had said that they use to flood this arena to stage mock sea battles. He wondered if that were still possible or feasible. A small lakeful of water could resolve their problem. It would drown any unfriendly's down here and would make the gate useless to an air-breathing army.
"I"m quite sure the ratmen underlings wouldn't know how to operate the gate," Helden stated. "But we could 'persuade' some of them to see if they overheard the words of operation. We should grab one of those I left alive up there, or hunt down those in the tunnels," although at this comment Helden made a face at the prospect of going after scurrying ratmen in the dank and smelly tunnels."
"Alternatively, the other Sbetlath is alive and well in his house over the outskirts of the city. Do we leave Veshper to go after him? An escaped rat might be on its way now to sound the alarm bells. There's another alternative we haven't considered - asking Sbetlath. Perhaps he might know how to operate the gate."
"The last option is... well, distasteful. I could try to speak with the Sbetlath we killed. No guarantee though that he will reveal anything."
Adder interrupted Helden to reply to Eloi. " Well, a crazy thought just occured to me. If I recall rightly, somebody said that they used to flood this arena to stage mock sea battles. I was thinking that flooding these warrens might be a very effective strategy in solving at least a few of our current dilemmas. It would drown most anything living down here, and would make the gate useless, for all intents and purposes."
Cinion beamed at Adder's suggestion.
"It has a sort of finality to it, dear friend. I had been hoping that perhaps the gate would lead me closer to home, but if you saw nothing to indicate that, Smoklight, then I'd best not get my hopes up yet."
He peered through Smokelight's magical tunnel at the green gate.
"Nothing seems to be happening there," he said, turning back to Smokelight. "Shame you never saw how it was operated. What should we do then, Zeb?"
"I did see Chary A'Creel operate it," Smokelight said to the halfling. "She threw something at it - dust maybe - and went through. I do not know if she spoke a command word or no... also, there is a receptacle on the gate, presumably that held jade or jet, which was consumed upon its use."
"Do you think powdered jade or jet activates that thing?" Helden asked Smokelight, who was interrupted by the frustrated Eloi before he could answer.
"Adder, you plan has merits, but isn't this the drainage network we are standing in? If we fill this area with water won't it just drain away?"He pounded his fist. "We are wasting time. Akhan, go and get Vespher and Bekkar and whilst you are up there get a message to father via Mrs Byellok. Smokelight take the rest of us to the gate. This is the third time I have told you what I want to do and don't expect to repeat myself again!"
Akhan gave Eloi a look of disgust and left. "Drain away indeed..." he muttered as he strode off back towards the ladder. Maybe he'd get some sense out of Veshper too. And at least the Mareschal ought to have an aide who'd have some decent paper to scribble a message on.
He was more concerned with Ash's condition however. He'd only had the briefest of glimpses when he popped his head up earlier and he still wasn't convinced Ash was out of danger. Eloi motioned towards Akhan as he left.
"What's his problem? Doesn't like the Baron talking sense?"he commented. "Helden - I don't care how distasteful you find it, if you can communicate with Sbetlath's corpse then do so. Once we have done all we can to secure the gate let's get going to Sbetlath's house."
"I can't guarantee the rat formerly known as Sbetlath will answer our questions." Helden considered Eloi's direction. "Besides, I can't do it here and now - I need incense to burn. Do I look like that kind of priest who carries these things? Although Olidammara might be satisfied with liberally dousing the body with fine brandy....." Helden mused and scratched the ugly beard of his and began to make his way towards the exit of the sewers.
"How long after death can you speak to Sbetlath?" Eloi asked. "Perhaps we should leave him and go after his son? If we are not successful we can come back and interrogate the corpse. We can leave Vespher and his men to set up a cordon around the gate. Make sure nothing gets in and nothing gets out."
"Plenty of time to come back to the dead body." Helden acknowledged. "Let's go after the other Sbetlath."Then, more thoughtfully he added,"Perhaps we can't close the gate, but could we magically close off all entrances too and from these passageways? Let them come through the gate if they want, but stop their passage once their through."
Eloi nodded at Helden's suggestion. "Okay, we'll get Vespher to secure Sbetlath's body. Get some horses and ride out to his house and get the other one. However, as I said before the flooding plan is a no-goer. If these tunnels are for drainage as we think then the water would just disappear."
He looked quizically at Smokelight. "Can we seal these tunnels using magic?"
The mage shook his head at the half-orc's question.
"Nah, I can't seal these tunnels up with with a wave of my hand. I wish it were so easy! I think our best bet is to try to disassemble - or destroy - the Gate."
Eloi shook his head at Smokelight's comments.
"I wasn't asking if you could do it, just whether it would be possible? If so, then I am sure there may be a mage in Gradsul that could perform the task."
"I am reluctant to destroy the gate until we hear from father. If the enemy can come throught it then our forces could go through to the other side. Couldn't we get a blacksmith or weaponsmith to create a lid to keep the enemy from coming through?"
Adder shrugged at Eloi's conclusion, but he was most likely right. "Could we destroy the gate physically or perhaps dismantle it?" Adder smirked thinking about his previous idea of relocating the gate to the bottom of the Azure Sea.
"Sure, I suppose it is possible," Smokelight said. "A wizard could cast a Wall of Stone or Wall of Iron before the Gate. Any such permanent obstruction would do. A non-magical wall or 'lid' would work also. But those would take time to set up. In the meantime, anything might come through - I was thinking in terms of that. I can see your reticence to destroying the Gate, but that might be the most prudent course. As team leader, the final decision of what to do with the Gate is up to you. I only offer my advice."
"Of course," the mage continued. "I haven't forgotten our ultimate goal, which is to flush out the spy, or spies. And I realize, disassembling one Gate doesn't mean there aren't others in the city. We have to ultimately uncover the conspiracy, and destroy the head. I don't know how far that will take us. So Baron -- what do you want to do?"
Adder shook his head slightly at the mage's suggestion of more than one gate. "I don't know about that. This thing seems to be a pretty expensive investment. I'm not sure how many of these anybody could afford to make."
"Do we want to clean up on the wererats?" Helden looked at Eloi, "And trash their place in the search for more evidence? Or shall we leave this to Veshper?"
Eloi shrugged at Helden's suggestion. "I'd be inclined to leave the cleaning up to Vespher and his men. They
should perhaps enlist the help of the city militia."
He motioned for them to return to the surface.
"We are not going to destroy the gate just yet. We can enlist Vespher's help in temporarily shutting off its entrance. He may know of a mage that could magically shut of the entrance. Or as a last resort could we not physically move the gate so that its entrance is up against a wall. Could it be moved Smokelight?"
"I don't see why not," the wizard replied. "although I did not examine it that closely. It may be built right into the floor, maybe not. If not, I guess we could move it. Being made of stone, it will be awful heavy. Come on, let's go take a look at it."
"Moving the gate, right." Helden shuffled along, privately unsure if the possibility would work at all, but ignorant enough not to open his mouth. Adder wasn't too keen on moving that much stone either. He might have to see the priests about his back as well as his wounds.
"We can leave the finer details to Vespher," Eloi said as they moved back towards the Gate chamber. "Our task is to find O'Shad and capture Sbetlath junior. We should commandeer a small force from Vespher's men and swiftly make our way to Sbetlath's house."
"There's already a force of marines on the road to Hochel Manor I thought," Cinion pointed out. "As for Sbetlath junior, it was my understanding that msot of the people working here were Sbetlath's relatives - it is possible we've already killed him."
"Very well, we'll stay here and try to figure out what to do with the gate." He turned to Smokelight. "Are you sure you didn't see how they used the gate or what was on the other side? Lead the way. I wouldn't mind seeing this gate for myself."

They cautiously walked down Smoeklight's magical tunnel into the chamber.
"Have we long before that thing finishes?" Cinon asked, pointing to the tunnel.

Eloi was already over at the Gate examining it for visible traps.
"I don't see it being trapped," Cinion said. "If they were using it often it'd be too dangerous, especially if dumb ratmen were involved. Still, I wouldn't bet my life on it."
Eloi kept looking, but found nothing obvious, and he noticed Smokelight gazing at the gate through his monacle lens. The gate was made of blocks of Jade, enscribed with runes and sigils that Eloi could not read and inlaid with smaller pieces of Jet  - from what he saw it seemed pieced together, like bricks slotted into one another. It was about ten feet tall, and wide enough for tw opeople to pass through comfortably at one time. At the top, in the centre of the arch was a keystone as usual for this type of construct, but crafted into in its middle was an all-seeing eye that gave him the creeps.
On either side, at waist level, were two projections, tray-like receptacles which contained nothing. As Eloi looked about he noticed lumps of Jet, coin-sized pieces, lying about the floor there. There were also three naked dead men lying there, and four swords lying there, beside a chest-high crate that lay about five feet from the entrance to the gate.
Eloi began looking about the room, where he saw Cinion give a kick to one of three perfectly motionless but apparently unharmed giant rats.
"I take it..." Cinion began, then paused as though listening for something. "Do you hear that? Listen to my voice."
Smokelight nodded and continued to examine the arch. Eloi could hear something funny, a sort of dullness to the sounds in the room that he hadn't noticed until Cinion pointed it out.
Eloi laughed.
"They're hardly going to come charging through in huge numbers are they? They can only come throught two at a time and are surely going to be disorientated? They'd be easy meat to pick off in pairs."
He picked up a few of the lumps of jade and spoke to Smokelight.
"Do you think that the operation of the gate has something to do with these lumps of Jade and the projections built into the gate? Perhaps if we were to place enough Jade and Jet on top the projections the gate would work? Can you decipher the runes?"
"I don't know much about gates either, but I'm quite sure these pieces of jet," Helden said, stooping to pick up the few pieces lying on the floor, "must activate the gate in some way when placed in these receptacles. The only problem now is whether a command needs to be spoken. I wonder about the strangeness of the sounds - do you think it is a muffling as a result of being, say, underwater, or deep underground? That might give us a clue as to what is on the other side."
Eloi listened attentively to the sound of their voices in the room.
"What is the significance of the of the way our voices sound? Could the room be magically protected or treated? Would sound have anything to do with the way the gate operates?
"Given time, I think I could decipher these runes or symbols on the Gate. And yes, I believe those receptacles use pieces of jet or jade as components in the magic. I do not know the particulars, such as whether a command word is needed, or not. The dampened sound of the chamber may be from the acoustics due to the chamber's shape, magical influence, or both - the
magic, as you recall, is somewhat sonic in nature - a field of study that might be called 'Ottonian.' I assume the Gate is 'attuned' to a certain place. Another option open to us, if I can decipher a way to activate it, is to go through it and pursue the evil ones."
Eloi looked up at the eye built into the keystone.
"That thing worries me. Perhaps it is giving a view to the other side? Do we have something we could use to cover it up? I left my cloak covering Merit's corpse. Does anyone else have one?"
The wizard looked up at the keystone, with its enigmatic eye.
"Interesting suggestion, that the eye might be a scrying node. They may be watching us even now..." Smokelight took off his own moth-eaten, partially shredded cloak, and draped it over the keystone and the top of the Gate. "As much as I hate parting with my fine cloak... Ah, well, better to be safe."
"If we want to dismantle the gate," Eloi continued, "all we should need to do is remove the keystone at the top. The gate would fall like a pack of cards. However, given its size we would be able to deal with anything that came through fairly easily, unless it was something of supernatural origin. Remember, we already know that the Scarlet Brotherhood is capable of summoning demons.We'll take a vote. I want to keep the gate operational, who agrees with me? Now, who wants to dismantle the gate?"
Smokelight chuckled at Eloi's suggestion for them to take a vote whether to leave the Gate functional or not. How unlike a nobleman, to take a vote with the common ruck!
"I vote to dismantle the Gate. Otherwise, we would have to guard it at all hours of the day and night. And, Baron, as you pointed out, although few things can come through at once, those things may be quite formidable. They may send devils or other beasts through. But I also have to tell you, if dismantled, I believe that will destroy the magic. If we destroy it, I may not be able to re-assemble it."
"The only other way," Helden said, " would be to try this is to use the jet!" Helden looked at Eloi and the rest.
Eloi walked over to the crate and examined it for traps. Once satisfied he started to prise open the lid with the blade of his dagger.
"I wonder what we've got in here? It doesn't look like one of the crates from the Shelliak."
"Smokelight, are these men dead from your doing?" Helden asked. "Or did some other incident occur which might have something to do with the gate?"
Smokelight looked at Helden and Cinion, and gestured at the dead men on the floor.
"Yes, I did slay these wererats, who reverted to their natural forms at death. The biggest rat, as I said, got away - and Cinion, the magically created Passwall will last for about two and half hours total. How long have we been talking?"
"Five or ten minutes," Cinion said. "Too long for hanging about here, I wonder how things are going on up above."
Cinion looked at the paralysed rats and mishievously toppled them over.
"So how do we dismantle this thing," he continued, nodding to the gate. He then looked at Eloi, adding, "If that is indeed what we want to do. Smokelight has a point, why have gate like this unless you're planning to bring something, or someone, through - and I don't even want to think about that!"
Eloi continued to work on the lid of the crate.
"We're not doing anything until I find out what's in here"
Adder laughed to himself at the half-orc's nature betraying itself. If Veshper would only get here with a couple dozen of the King's goons, then the lot of them wouldn't have to worry about this gate. As it was, Adder twiddled his thumbs waiting to see whether they were going to leave this gate up or take it down. Maybe they could compromise and only take half of it down? That's a thought that Adder's old barbarian friend would appreciate. Adder was glad that he wasn't around. That clown wouldn't have the patience for this kind of work.
With a speed and skill that betrayed the fact that he had done it many times, Eloi gabve up with his dagger and removed a crowbar from his backpack, quickly popping off the top of the crate. He delved in, pulling out some straw packing, then stepped back with a look of disappointment on his face. Then, as the cogs and wheels of his mind spun into action his jaw dropped.
Cinion peered in, muttering, "Oh my!"
As the others followed suit and looked in, they saw a block of jade, about four feet long and three feet deep and high. As Eloi and Cinion burst the rest of the crate open they could see that it was similar to the blocks used to make up the gate beside them, but much bigger. It was grooved on three sides as though made to slot into other similar blocks, and on the fourth side were a number of inscriptions and runes inlaid in Jet.
Cinion peered at the gate, then looked back at the Jade block.
"Well its not part of this one," Cinion said, sizing it up and trying to work out with his hands how large the gate which this block belonged to would be. He stared up at the ceiling.
"Oh my!" he repeated, lost for words.
At that, they heard a noise behind them, from the tunnel, and everyone's hands went to their weapons. They relaxed as Akhan led the Mareschal and the priest Bekkar, along with about a dozen more marines, into the chamber. Eloi looked at the block of Jade then turned to the party.
"Well," Eloi surmised, "I guess the Scarlet Brotherhood realised that their little gate couldn't be used for bringing mass forces through. Perhaps it requires too many resources to operate. Anyways, it looks like they were in the process of constructing its big brother and it would appear that we have managed to stop them in the nick of time."
He walked up to the gate and gave it a kick with his boot.
"Right, I've decided, we keep this gate open. I am sure our paymasters will wish to study it and may even wish to use it. In the meantime we can provide all-day hour security, staking this place out with enough of a force to take out anything that they might send through. Although, its my opinion that they're going to give up on this gate and reconsider their options."
Eloi turned away from the gate and walked over to Vespher and Akhan.
"Vespher, you now see the purpose of our endeavours in Gradsul? We need to arrange security to keep guard on the gate. We know that the Scarlet Brotherhood have the ability to summon demnons, so we need people capable of taking something like that out. We also need some mages to try and figure out how in the hell this thing works. Can you arrange these things? I would remind you that this is now a matter of national security."
"I can get a message to Lord Thoggin to arrange troops to cover this gate," Veshper said, "I'll send it by heliograph immediately. Until then I think it might be best if you guarded the gate, I will arrange it as quickly as possible."
Eloi grimaced at the mention of Thoggin's name.
"I am sure Thoggin will be interested to hear our news. Thank you for your help in this matter." Eloi returned his attention to Akhan."Akhan, has my message been sent? It would appear that the Scarlet Brotherhood intended to construct a larger gate. We found building materials within the crate. Also, the gate has an eye built into the top. I thought this might be providing a view to the other side so felt it wise to cover it."
"No I couldn't get a message to Father, Eloi," Akhan replied. "That'll have to wait unless you want a couple of us to run over there. Besides, if the Mareschal's sending word to Thoggin then Father will know of this soon enough."
Eloi motioned to Bekkar to come over.
"Adder and myself were wounded by the ratmen. I would appreciate it if you could make use of your healing talents as I don't fancy growing pointy teeth, a tail and having an urge to eat cheese and root about in garbage. "

As he waited to be healed he looked around the group, there was much to discuss and future plans had to be made. What was to be their next step? They still had to find O'Shad.
"Okay, everyone. I don't want to hear any arguments over keeping the gate in one piece. Its my neck on the line here if anything happens, so I'll take full reponsibility. However, I would remind you that O'Shad is still at large and that we stil have to discover why the Scarlet Brotherhood has created the gate. Any suggestion for our next course of action. I suggest that our next objective is Red Hannays house. We go in mob handed and rip the place apart. O'Shad disappeared in that house, so there must be a secret passage or tunnel. We also know that he is a ratman, so the possibility is that the secret passage probably leads back to here."
"With any luck," Helden thought, "the next instruction we receive would be to bloody find out what's on the other side of the gate." Helden still fingered the coin-sized pieces of jet he picked up from the floor next to the supine ratmen and looked at the magical doorway.
"We don't have to search Red Hannay's for a secret passage of any sort. O'Shad's a rat and obviously scuttled off via a rathole. If you want to sack the place for evidence that's fine by me."
Helden turned to Veshper, "Mareschal, has the Sbetlath manor been raided yet? What is the outcome?"
Then, glancing at Smokelight's cloak covering the top of the gate, Helden remembered, "Back in the Great Kingdom, nearer the southern border where the Scarlet Brotherhood kept themeselves busy, that symbol was often spotted. I don't think it's a scrying device. I believe it is the symbol of some unnamable god. I may be wrong."
"No, Helden my friend," Veshper answered, "the manor has not been raided yet - remember we were waiting until you were finished here, but the road is blocked to Hochel Manor and I have the warrant. If you wish I could send some men in to see what they uncover."
He turned to Eloi with a severe look on his face. "Tread carefully so far as raiding other places goes, Baron. Remember that we searched this place under the power of the law and had proof of nefarious dealings here before we did so. I have told you before, we cannot ignore wrongdoings no matter what the cause, so if you are up to anything devious it would be better if you did not let me know, or even better if you came to me with definite proof as you did here."
The Mareschal cautiously tapped the large jade block cautiously.
"Now where is the rest of this one, and how close were they to completing it, that's what I'd like to know!"
"Of course." Helden's eyes met Veshper's. "We'll want to find out where else they were intending to construct this other gate. These tunnels seem to be too small to accommodate what according to Cinion must be a gate of significant size compared to this. This one looks man-sized, not this other one. Maybe we need to search Gelder's holdings after all. Unless we think Hochel Manor is a possible location for this gate."
Eloi nodded.
"Vespher, we already know that the whore is involved in all of this. O'Shad was tracked by Cinion to Red Hannays house where he promptly vanished. Surely under the present circumstances we have grounds for raiding the place?"
"You are not following me, Baron," Veshper said, shaking his head. "Where is your proof that she is involved? Have you seen her handling any counterfeit coinage? Heard her talk of a plot against the King? What exactly do you have other than she met with your Gelders and O'Shad? How many other men does a whore of her renown meet with, are they all involved too? No, bring me proof and we can act, otherwise its up to you to find what you need."
The Mareschal scratched an imaginary chin-beard. "Why don't you watch her and see what she does, if she is involved then surely you will find something more. Perhaps she will lead you to O'Shad! And whilst I remember, we still haven't found the bulk of the fake coinage - I shudder to think that would happen if it is all circulated in Keoland's major port, our coins just wouldn't be accepted any more by traders."
Vehsper turned and ordered the marines' Captain to stand guard, then excused himself to relay the message to Thoggin. Eloi glanced across the room to Smokelight.
"Smokelight, can you remember what the ratmen were doing with the crate. Were they taking it to the gate or from the gate. Remember, the war in Dreadwood continues and Thoggin already know of the Sea Princes and Scarlet Brotherhood's involvement. Perhaps the new gate was to be used to transport new troops into the war?"
"The ratmen were pushing the crate away from the Gate, towards the tunnel, if I recall correctly," the wizard said in reply to Eloi's questions. "By Boccob's beard, I had really wanted to capture that Chary to question her... Damnation! Ah well, nothing to be done about it now..."
Eloi looked round the group and motioned to the stone.
"Okay, if no-one objects, for the moment we stay here and guard the gate until Thoggin's men arrive. Perhaps our next objective is to find out the purpose of the other gate. Does anyone have any ideas on how to achieve this?"
He lowered his voice in the hope that Vespher would not hear.
"Perhaps a visit to Gelder's? It wouldn't take much to loosen his tongue."
Smokelight looked at the Gate, and the chamber.
"It might be nice if we could get some cots, and a few stools down here. If we are going to be on constant guard duty, we will need to rest here, eat here and so on. And I will need to study my spells here as well. We should not split up, or leave for any reason, until others of power comparable to ourselves show up to relieve are watch."
The wizard turned to Eloi. "There's got to be a way to locate O'Shad. Surely there is someone acquainted with him who could scry him. Some local wizard or priest, perhaps?"
Akhan was looking curiously at the Gate. He stared hard at the surface, letting his eyes roam over the arcane symbols and drinking in the strangenesof it all. By now he'd wandered over and his nose was barely an inch from one of the pillars. He listened to the discussion with half his attention while he focussed the rest of his mind on the Gate. Maybe there was more than one way of activating this thing? Such an object was so ostentatiously important that he couldn't tear his eyes away. Surely there had to be something worth filching from all this lot.
"Before we all get settled down for a nap we might want to consider searching the rest of this warren gents, hmm? Unless Smokelight found anything else this is as far as we got and there's no telling what other ratholes there are leading into this place. O'Shad might just decide to pay us a visit!" Akhan shivered. "You know I've got this sudden aversion to these tunnels."
Eloi nodded at Smokelight's comments then turned to Akhan.
"Smokelight's right, we shouldn't split up under the current circumstances. There will be plenty of time for OTHERS to search the warren when Thoggin's men arrive."
He walked over to one of the walls and sat down taking his backpack from his shoulders. He settled himself back for a long wait and drew the bottle of Keoish Brandy he kept for such occasions. If they were in for a long wait he may as well have a warm glow in belly and head. He took a slug from the bottle then passed it to Smokelight.
"Akhan, I still think we should send a message to Father too. Remember, the chain of command. Thoggin may be our overall commander, but Father is or control here in Gradsul. It wouldn't be right to leave him out of the equ.. equat... sum."
"Right, before we do anything else. We need to figure out our next move. What is our priority? The destination of these new blocks? O'Shad? Gelders? 'Red' Hannay? Thoughts anyone? My own thoughts would be that if we find the location of the other gate then we probably will find O'Shad too. Another thing is now that we have possession of that block they will need to find a source for more building materials. Perhaps a visit to the Jeweller and that artist he mentioned may be in order? Also we can't rule out the fact that there may be other gates like this throughout Gradsul."
He sat up and looked over at Helden.
"Now that we have a bit of time you should perhaps make arrangements to question the corpse of Sbetlath. Feck'd if I know how you're going to do it. He may have information on some of the topics I mentioned."
"Ok, I could go question's Sbetlath's corpse. Bear in mind though, that just because I can speak to him doesn't necessarily compel him to give me truthful replies. Right, I probably have 3 questions - what do we want to ask? Phrase them carefully." Helden looked at the rest expectantly for responses.
"After this I'll go back up and see what Veshper's men have done with the body. Bekkar my good man," Helden said, becoming a little more effusively friendly to the priest, throwing an arm around his shoulder, "would you happen to have some incense with you? Otherwise I'll have to go up to a temple or shop somewhere to purchase some."
Bekkar smiled at Helden's request and began delving into his belt pouches.
"Never leave the temple without it," he said, producing a few small lumps of incense. Bekkar and Helden left the
room to get Sbetlath's corpse.
"Oh and one other thing," Eloi announced. "We still shouldn't discount 'Whisper'. remember we still don't know his involvement in all of this.
"Incabulos set a pox on you, Eloi!" Akhan swore at the Baron. "I'm certainly not sitting here waiting for the rest of this ratty crew to creep back in the middle of the night and carve us some new orifices. And what makes you think the larger Gate isn't in another chamber down here! This place is not secure and I'm not about to sit on my arse until we're done a thorough search."
Akhan's eyes narrowed. "And since when did you start to worry about the 'chain of command'? This is our turn Eloi, and O'Shad is our mark. We weren't sent here for Father to hold our hands. It seems to me we're reaching the crisis point here and we need to move fast. We've got to assume one of those ratmen escaped and got back to O'Shad or Gelders so our time's limited. We still don't know what these Gates were really for."
Akhan glanced at the marine Captain Veshper had left behind, having momentarily forgotten his presence. He was wary of saying anything  too obviously illegal in case it got back to Veshper. "Once the rest of Veshper's men get here I say we ransack this place. Although it may be that we should get Helden to do his stuff with Sbetlath first in case he can add anything."
Eloi barely acknowledged Akhan's outburst then casually opened his mouth.
"Akhan, if you want to go trapsing about these warrens the carry on. I'm going to sit here with the others, and wait for Thoggin's men to arrive. If the other gate was anywhere near here I don't think the ratmen and Chary would have left in such a hurry. Akhan, they left because we had found the only reason for the to be here. They ain't coming back. Any ratman with half a brain is going to be scurrying away from here double quick with their tale between their legs."
Eloi raised his voice slightly for effect.
"As to the chain of command, you're in the service of the King and that chain of command applies, and as I'm leader of this team you will do as I say! Now sit down and wait until Helden has finished his interogation of Sbetlath's corpse!"
Sometimes Adder found it hard to believe that one of them hadn't stabbed the other yet. Adder wished he had his crossbow right now, and stifled a yawn as he sharpened his swords, being prepared to sit on his duff for a while. Akhan did have a good point with regards to priorities, but Adder wasn't about to get in on this argument.
Eloi looked across at Akhan with a sardonic look on his face and slowly tapped his foot.

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