The Necromancer's Legacy - part 31

In the mountain grave in Pantoria, Kaeso removes the dead troll from Ignatia, who in turn use her magic to heal the party before they continue. Awhero scouts ahead and find another troll which appears to be asleep. Kaeso charges in and the troll is dead before it can cause much damage.

Meanwhile Geb is exploring a different tunnel within the cave, reasoning that his skill in battle will not add anything positive to an encounter anyway. To his surprise he finds a decidedly less than solid cave wall - he is able to walk straight through it. Behind it he finds a small cave with an apparent exit leading into the jungle. After examination he finds it too is hidden from view, but only from the outside. He goes looking for the others to share the news and finds them as they rest after the battle.

They all decide to return to their camp as night is approaching. Geb wants time to think about their discoveries so offers to take the first Watch. As the others go to sleep he works on his maps and decides not to include the secret entrance they've just found. Instead he marks its existence using some hieroglyphs which should be hard to decipher. A sudden wind which blows through camp gets him on his toes and he runs to wake up Kaeso. Too tired to respond at first, Kaeso finally awakes as Geb hits him with his leather bag. The explaination "there was a mysterious wind" is, according to Kaeso not an acceptable reason for being woke up in the middle of the night and goes back to sleep. Geb return to his post and waits for his watch to end and then goes to wake up the still grumpy Kaeso, who is next. Kaeso's watch is uneventful and he wakes Awhero who has the last watch until dawn. As the sun rises they all get up, but realizes that Ignatia is unusually late. Checking in on her, they find her sweating and tense and are unable to revive her. While Geb and Kaeso ponder the problem, Awhero head out into the jungle to find some herbs for treating her fever. Geb goes through Ignatia's backpack, finding a couple of elixirs which might prove helpful.

As the day progresses they have no luck in reviving her, despite the salve prepared by Awhero and two elixirs used. They decide the increasingly hot jungle is not a good Place for her and move into the caves.

While Kaeso stays behind to watch over Ignatia, Geb and Awhero split up to explore the cave. Geb finds what appear to be a second structure deeper within the tunnels and begins to explore it. Awhero, after reaching the end of the natural Caves, go looking for Geb and finds him inside a man-made hall. The entire structure appears to be very old and not very well preserved. Awhero discovers a room filled with old weapons and armor, but all in such a bad condition it is impossible to determine their origin.

Meanwhile Ignatia has started talking in her sleep and as Kaeso fall into a short slumber he sees strange visions and hear illusive talking. Waking up he realizes everything is not as it should be. Deciding it might be the location which is the source of the trouble he moves deeper into the cave. He too comes upon the man-made structure and finds a room where he places the mage. The sound of crashing metal force him to leave her there as he goes to investigate.

Geb has reached the conclusion that the building is an old fortress of some kind, and as he tries to make his way past the old armors Awhero found Kaeso shows up and tells them about Ignatia's worsened state. They hurry back to the room where Kaeso put her, but Geb is distracted enroute and locates a well built in the deepest part of the complex.

Kaeso and Awhero return to find Ignatia awake, but not acting as her usual self. She asks them to call her "Lord" and to continue with the business they came here for, but is unable or unwilling to offer further instructions when they mention they don't really know what they are looking for. Awhero steps outside and locate Geb to discuss the matter with him. Geb believes the mage to be possessed by a demon, but doesn't know what can be done beside killing it (and Ignatia) unless a templar trained in the art of excorsism can be found. As he cannot see how he could offer much help in either case he leaves it to Awhero and Kaeso to decide how they want to handle the situation.

Trying to get some information from Ignatia as to what is going on, the two at last convince her to return to the camp. As they arrive they both feel confident that Ignatia is no longer in control over herself and that they are dealing with something different. The creature offers to release control to "it's other part" in return for being kept secret and for them to later deliver it to a city where there are mages. Kaeso and Awhero again feel they need Geb's advice and hurry to get him. Geb really doesn't know what to say and, due to frustration, Kaeso decides to force some answers from Ignatia, who defends herself with magic. Awhero is torn by his loyalty and decides to try to put Kaeso to sleep using a poisoned dart, but the battlemage is well protected by his armor. As they continue to battle Ignatia shapechange into a second Kaeso, while expressing a growing irritation over the use of violence. The real Kaeso's powerful strikes is soon weakening the magic shield, forcing Ignatia to act. A critical failure with a teleportation spell and the creature again take the shape of Ignatia before disappearing with a look of utter surprise on its face.

Tracing the magic to the nearby cave they hurry towards the hidden entrance, only to find the revolting sight of their leader having teleported to several places at the same time. She is as dead as one can be and they still don't know what really happened.