The Cloister of Trials

*Guys, I'm not sure if this is all in the correct order, so if you think of something I need to switch or if I forgot something, leave a comment and I'll do some re-writing. Thanks!

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After escaping the Grey Render, Dido and her companions began exploring a hallway that hopefully would provide them with an exit.

They soon came to a large door and while trying to figure out where the mechanism to open it was, Arturus got a handful - literally - of spikes. Dido and Gnaomi checked for traps and discovered that the door had several pockets of spikes which had to be wound. They warned the others before pushing the mechanism that would let the spikes loose. Spikes flew down the tunnel and thankfully no one was hurt. Dido then poked her dagger through a spike hole and found another trap - acid. The disintegrated remains of the dagger were dropped on the floor, to Dido's regret at its loss.

Dido and Gnaomi soon found out how to disable this trap and did not find any others to waste their time. They pushed on the door, with the help of the other, larger members of the party and encountered a room that at first seemed empty, but when Rhys, Thorn, and Arturus decided to investigate, torches lit up and fire demons appeared.

Dido hung back in the doorway and watched the goings-on with much trepidation.

After a while she decided to make an entrance. "Vorosh, help me," she said. Two fire demons smiled down at her evilly and she kept praying to her copper god as she took out her short sword. Time after time, she dealt blows only to see no effect on the fire demons. She prayed again. And again. When she had almost given up hope, she felt Vorosh come to her aid and split the demons in half. Others experienced their gods coming to the rescue and the demons were routed. The whole party breathed a collective sigh of relief and entered the next hallway, still unsure of what was going on and where they were.

Dido was also the last to enter the next room - which was set up like a chess game. "Great," moaned Dido. As far as she knew, she wasn't good at chess. She took the first move and knocked over the castle. Instantly, she was transported to the doorway behind the chess pieces. She watched, helplessly, as the others tried to figure out how to survive the game. There were a few close calls, but eventually the game was finished and the adventurers began walking down another hallway.

This hallway was different. No torches lined the walls, and several times, different members of the party saw shadows flitting here and there. A quiet laugh caused Dido to gulp down her fear and pull her cloak tighter around her. In the dark, her hair had a soft, silver glow, which she quickly hid under her hood. She didn't want the ghouls or whatever they were to notice. When they reached a huge door, an evil laugh erupted from the other side of it. Dido began trembling. No one had heard anything so evil. They entered without running into traps and the laughter increased into a maniacal cackle. Darkness spread like water throughout the room, although when it came near the torches, it cleared a path.

Once the party realized what the torches did, they began an exploration of the first part of the room, to discover several raised daises. Gas began seeping into the chamber and Dido was one of the first to jump on one of the daises, although Thorn had been careless when touching the walls of the dais and had gotten a decaying arm for his pains.

Dido started praying again.

The evil laugh subsided and started whispering their names.

"Little Dido...and how are the fairy folk?" Dido's eyebrows drew together in a puzzled sort of frown. What did the voice mean? The voice crept around to everyone, taunting them, showing them that it was in control.

"Dumbass," muttered Dido. The voice stopped and a disapproving silence reigned.

"I will tell you a tale," said the voice, soft, cunning, loathsomely evil. "of the Mighty Orannis..." Dido sighed and folded her arms. "Great." She said. "A history lesson." Dido always became grumpy when faced with fear. A light appeared and a hideous Lich approached the daises. "No doubt you wonder how the dragon gods came to be here after the disappearance of your own gods...the dragon gods are much, much older and have been forgotten for millenia..."

He spun a tale of 8 dragon gods, of one who rebelled, and was flung into space, while the 7 other gods removed themselves from the earthly planes so that he could not be brought back. "Seven champions drove him away, but we are going to bring him back!" The Lich began his maniacal laughter once more. "And anyway, none of you are a tenth of what the old champions were..." Dido mouthed off at this point and promptly lost her voice. She had to content herself with thinking curses instead of spitting them out.

"Each of you now has a choice," purred the Lich - "you can keep your dragon gods, whom you know nothing about, and die...or you can live and become one of my army. We will bring Orannis back together and his return will be GLORIOUS!" More laughter followed. Dido glowered at the Lich. "What is your choice?" He turned to one, and then the other, and although they all had different reasons for refusing his offer, all of them went up in flames. He came to Dido, one of the last ones. "What will it be, little Dido? Will you join us?" Dido shrugged and pointed to her throat. He motioned with his hand and her voice returned. "Well," she said, appearing to think hard on the offer, "I don't really know Vorosh that well but he's so much more handsome than you that I think I'll choose hi..." Before she could finish, he snapped his fingers and Dido was engulfed in flames.

"That's weird," she muttered. Dido, encased in flames, was not burning. She saw the rest of the adventurers make the same decision as she, and when they were all in flames, an enormous stone dragon erupted from one side of the wall. The Lich, the dragon, and a horde of undead, cackling, went through the wall and disappeared.

After they had all left, the flames stopped. Dido stepped off the dais and glanced around to make sure everyone was alright. A Lich came through the doorway they had not entered and they faced him warily. "Hello," said Arkadies. "I see you've made it through the Cloister of trials. May I make a suggestion that you offer up some thanksgiving to your dragon saviors before we continue?" The dragon statues appeared and each member of the party spent some time offering up thanks. Dido reached up to touch Vorosh's claw and murmured a grateful prayer. Gnaomi took out her tools and began shaping a necklace as an offering for her deity.

After this was done, they all turned back to Arkadies. Dido was full of questions. Maybe he knew about the other Lich's reference to "fairy folk" - what could it mean? They soon learned that Arkadies had gladly given up life to wait millenia for the next champions to arrive so that he could guide them on their quest to stop Orannis. He told Dido when she asked about the fairies, "All will be revealed in time." Although his mind seemed to be a little out of wack, Dido found herself trusting him and actually taking a liking to him. Like her, he was a little out of the ordinary.

Arkadies asked for their weapons and while Rhys and Thorn were quite hesitant, she gladly gave up her sword and offered her crossbow as well when she saw what he was doing. He blessed their weapons with divine capabilities and enabled them with powers so that they would be able to face the undead.

He also told them that to banish Orannis, the would have to find the pieces of dragon scale that had been crafted into a bell that had been used to fling him into space the first time. "We will finish it this time," said Arkadies.

Since Gnaomi's and Dido's gods were the twin dragons, copper and brass, they received the ability to transfer thoughts to each other when holding their weapons. After this was done, they found themselves on the side of a mountain, the evening light playing across the grey stone. Arkadies looked up and as Dido looked in the direction his dead eyes were turned, she noticed a small spot in the sky. Several others also noticed it and were told by Arkadies that now they must hurry. "That is Orannis," he said quietly, "coming to destroy the world." The adventurers, along with Arkadies, began walking. Dido glanced at Gnaomi and smiled encouragingly.

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