After speaking with Palirond - and finding out that the chap would fit in quite well in the Court - Muldran set off with Decardo and Cherry in tow, to raise the Reliquary from the pit of lava it had sunk into.

On the outskirts of Trinsic the group picked up two more; the mysterious Dhran and the rather calm postman Patrick. Dhran had previously visited the library, so was very curious about what the Court were up to. Patrick, on the other hand, had a message to deliver to Muldran, but Mul had already conjured a gate, and jumped into it, taking them to...

...a cold, wet cave somewhere in Britannia. With a second attempt, Muldran successfully took them to the cold, snowy valley of Rhovanion.


Standing in front of the pit of lava, Muldran raised his arms and started chanting, the odd liquid syllables of magic echoing and bouncing off the mountains. Decardo grimaced in distaste, but perhaps he did notice something that was... softened in Muldran's magic recital. As the chant went on, the others watched as Cherry stepped forward and rested her hand on Muldran's shoulder, and started to add her voice to the chant.

The ground started to shake, a few shards of rock falling into the soft snow around the group. With a strange sucking noise, the lava seemed to burst upwards. Patrick staggered back and covered his face, but it was almost is if the lava was constrained, rising up in the air and not dropping out the confines of the space of ground in front of him.

A huge building seemed to erupt outwards and a wave of heat washed across the valley...

Muldran cheered up instantly. Not only had the spell worked, but it had worked incredibly well. And he didn't have that 'out of control' feeling of magic. Rushing forward to enter to the building, Cherry beat him to it - before both were told to stand away from the door by Decardo. Decardo then intoned a short speech, claiming the Reliquary as a place to store dangerous magical artefacts, but this time under the control of the Shadow Order; and that Muldran should not be allowed admittance.

Far from being angry, Muldran was quite calm and cool about the coup; although he did agree a slight change to Decardo's offer, and stated that no one person should enter the Reliquary by themselves - that there should be one member of the Order with anyone who entered the building. With Cherry supporting this amendment, Decardo agreed to it.


Opening the door to the building, Muldran and the others stepped inside. Dhran was excited, Cherry was guarded, Decardo was Decardo and Patrick was almost mute with surprise. Inside, the group found a twisted passage way, and a staircase that seemed to continue for longer than it should. Strange patterns on the floor seemed to draw people's eyes towards them - and at one point Cherry likened it to walking around 'inside Muldran's head' - a comment that further deepened Decardo's scowl.

On the roof of the building, a path lead around lava, and something that seemed like a ruined shrine - until Muldran activated a teleportation pad, and they all found themselves inside another chamber. More rooms lead off from this point. To their surprise, Muldran and Cherry found their magic sealed in this place; some sort of anti-magic field was in place.

Another teleporter lead to a second set of sealed rooms. Muldran pulled Dhran out of a small chamber when she found herself stuck inside it. The group retraced their way back to the entrance hallway, still confused by the layout of the place. Muldran likened it to some place called the Imbalanced Tower, but didn't have a chance to say anything else before another tremor hit the ground. The building seemed undamaged - but outside, beside the Reliquary, stood a new, tall building.

Decardo turned to Muldran, who shrugged and headed towards the new place...