Chapter 1: Astaroth Bares His Teeth

This is a tale of how two brave and mighty adventurers beat the odds to relight the flame of the candle of love! It all began one quiet evening, our two heroines (Lady Winmere of Somewhere, and Lady Ashlynn of the fabulous Spirituality Manorial Estate) were engaged in a friendly conversation when they came upon the topic of the famous candle of love. It emerged that the wretched shadowlord, Asteroth, was plaguing the lands once again and had apparently cursed three of the great shrines of Britannia!
Lady Winmere explained how she had already played her part in trying to thwart his plans, but it required a few more brave souls to follow in her footsteps, and of course, the ever-oblivious-to-danger Ashlynn volunteered her help!

Lady Winmere was of course happy to have yet another errant glory-hunter for the cause of good, or something, and carefully explained that the first task was to head to the shrines of Compassion, Sacrifice and Justice, to meditate upon what must be done to cleanse the lands of evil. However there was a catch; There was a very good chance that the shrines may be corrupted and the minions of Asteroth must first be vanquished before any hippy-like meditating could take place! Well, only a few ogres and such, Ashlynn thought, how hard could it be?

And so the two righteous souls at the centre of our tale began their journey, from the Grand Spirituality Manor, through bandit ridden weald, battling many a ferocious beast, until they arrived at the edge of the desert of compassion. (In actual fact, Lady Winmere, using her superior knowledge of the arcane forces at work in Britannia, simply opened a gate and they both stepped through.)


Ashlynn engages in a duel to the death with a ferocious forest denizen.

Needless to say, the initial expedition did not go terribly well, and Ashlynn was soon a broken and bloody mess on the bank of a nearby river, her lifeforce beaten out of her by a lump of blue rock with moronic smile carved upon it.


Disaster in the form of a Valorite Elemental (amongst other things) thwarts the first expedition.

After being pulled from the jaws of death by the swift actions of Lady Winmere, a tactical withdraw was made back to the Manor, where a plan was put in motion to conquer compassion the next day. It was of course at this point, that the issue of Ashlynns armour (or the lack thereof) came to light. And so that would be seen to as well!

The very next day, the dynamic duo set off from the manor and made their way to Compassion Shrine, once again taking the Winmere Arcane Express. With the gate opening right infront of the shrine, Ashlynn quickly meditated and saw a vision of a colossal glass ball in the dark depths of Despise Dungeon! Ashlynn informed Lady Winmere of this, and she just kind of nodded, as though, through the powers of telepathy, she already knew about the ball. Ashlynn was amazed, and impressed further when Lady Winmere said "...and I just happen to have a rune to that very spot". Well, perhaps those exact words weren't spoken, but that is certainly how it was remembered.

So off they went to annoy the resident Titan population of Despise.

Arriving close enough, Ashlynn began to pace towards the colossal ball, which turned out to be far smaller than it was in the vision, while a Titan by the name of Atropos chased Lady Winmere around the caverns of despise with a pair of scissors. After slaying it with several energy vorticies, she stood guard while Ashlynn approached the ball!

The vision of a young ogre materialised, forced to watch human adventurers slay its family and friends. The ogre grew up with a hardened heart and swore its revenge upon all of humanity.

After describing the vision to the oracle-like Lady Winmere, the two came up with a plan. They'd slay some ogres and their friends! Hopefully, such an act would attract the ogre seen in the vision and they could slay that too! And who said violence solved nothing?

And so the two began to cut a bloody swathe of destruction throughout despise, leaving a trail of mutilated and looted ogre corpses in their wake. Soon enough, a tremendous roar echoed throughout the caverns. The large ogre had arrived!

They tracked it down soon enough, it's angry bellows enough to locate the beast. It didn't take long for the pair to bring it down with a mass of spinning energy and thousands of angry bees. After carefully considering what to do next, Ashlynn decided to cut out its black heart and take it back to the shrine. Which they did. The blackened heart was cleansed of all its... blackness by the magic of the shrine. Ashlynn considered for a moment that perhaps that such a thing would have been more useful while the ogre was still alive, then pushed the thought aside. Anne of Empath Abbey wanted the heart anyway, so it didn't really matter.


The glorious Spirituality Manor of Lady Ashlynn has seen better days...

Returning to the manor, Ashlynn and Winmere considered their next move...


(Part 2 and 3 coming this weekend when I get a chance to write them )

Would it be okay if I copied this article to paxlair.com news section?

Feel free

Chapter 2: The Crowning Glory of Virtue

Justice was the next target, or injustice as it actually turned out. Ashlynn had already taken one trip to the shrine previously, but found her attempts to meditate stopped by a black inky cloud surrounding the sacred ankh. Lady Winmere came to the manor with news the shrine had been clensed so they both made their way there and Ashlynn now meditated successfully.

A vision of the depths of old prison appeared in her mind, the skeletal remains of a prisoner chained to the walls in a dank, dark cell.

Lady Winmere mentioned that this place was Wrong, an old gaol with row upon row of cells, now mostly overrun by some of Sosaria's less friendly inhabitants, and that it would be the place to head next. Ashlynn wondered for a moment why the place was called wrong, then she managed to make the connection to the word Justice. Still, it worked as something on a comment on ones choices of possible places they might wish to visit if they were touring the lands.

After arriving through the use of that wonderful magical moongate invention, the two stared at the gates of wrong for a moment before proceeding inside.


The only thing wrong about this place is any decision to go there.

Moving swiftly through the corridors towards the eastern cell block, Ashlynn spotted the holding cell seen in the vision. Inside was the skeleton chained to the wall as well as the frightening image of a ghost!
"OooOOOOoooOOOoOo!!" it wailed. Ashlynn simply stared at it, until Lady Winmere gestured to the skeleton chained to the wall. "OooOOooOO" the ghost wailed again, "Oh wait, you can understand me". Obviously this ghost was something of a joker, or perhaps it was just bored and felt like taunting the strangers. Maybe the resident lizardmen couldn't understand him and didn't care much for his presence. The ghost however decided to tell its tale of woe, and mentioned a journal hidden in a chest somewhere in the dungeon. And then asked the pair to fetch it. Understandable of course, it's mighty difficult to pick things up when you're incorporeal.


Wrong Prison is noted for its incredibly luxurious rooms.

It didn't take the two long to find an old officials chest with a book inside. Lady Winmere instinctively knew where to find it, Ashlynn really did wish she had the same kind of precognitive ability, maybe it came with a certain level of skill in magery. Returning to the prisoners cell, the ghost then told a story of how it was wrongly imprisoned by the court and then executed for its crimes. Althought there was nothing the two could do about its current situation (ressurection not being an option), it asked them to take the journal to the court in Yew and have its name cleared.

After agreeing to the ghosts request, Ashlynn and Winmere made their way to the Court of Truth, or maybe the Court of Usually True in this case. Finding an official by the name of Andy, they presented the ghosts journal along with its tale. "I knew he was innocent!" the offcial exclaimed. Really now, Ashlynn thought, that might have been a more useful stance to take at the time. Still, the official agreed to change the records, and while he did so, presented the two heroes with a task. "Could you vanquish the executioner?" he asked.
Now, you would think that retirement from service in the Yewish justice system would be slightly more pleasant, or perhaps that they would put him on trial, but it seems things didn't always work that way. And there was always the chance they'd pass the wrong verdict again anyway, so this was probably for the best.

Well, it didn't take long to find the executioner, Samuel was his name, and he was engaged in a discussion on how best to dispose of a corpse with his best friend, Kuan-Li, Lord of all that Shouldn't Walk. After informing Samuel of his new situation with an energy bolt to the face, Kuan-Li decided to step in and try to calm the situation with a flamestrike. However, Ashlynn and Winmere soon won the debate with a crippling argument in the form of an energy vortex and a swarm of bees. Case Closed!

The pair returned to the court and informed the official that Samuel the Executioner had been retired from service. They decided against mentioning the death of his friend, and the official gave them a rusty old pen used to record the ghosts crime. This they decided to cleanse at the Shrine of Justice, remembering Anne mentioning something about a pen.

After helping work out the kinks in the Sosarian justice system, the pair contemplated their assault upon Sacrfice shrine...

(Will finish the rest a bit later)

Chapter 3: Something About Sacrifice

The Shrine of Sacrfice, noted for its well kept flower beds, serene forest location, and blood SEEPING from the ankh itself! Pretty, Ashlynn thought as she stood infront of the shrine. Fortunately, there were none of Asteroths minions around, and Lady Winmere stood guard while Ashlynn knelt to meditate, trying hard to avoid the huge pool of blood formed from the constantly bleeding ankh.

A dark cavern underneath the ruins of some kind of throne room appeared in her mind, in the cavern sat the unhappy form of a mighty dragon.

Ashlynn related this to Lady Winmere and was informed that this was the dreaded Covetous Dungeon. Lady Winmere could whisk them both away to the stairs beside the throne room, but not into the caverns, and the stairway may well be guarded by a number of fearsome liches.

Well it turned out they weren't, the liches in question were either off terrifying a local village, or busy arguing over whos turn it was to sit on the throne. The pair quickly made their way down the stairs into the cavern Ashlynn had seen in her vision. Before them was indeed the huge form of a dragon, and as Ashlynn cautiously approached, it was soon discovered that the dragons name was Sadiva.

The dragon slowly began to recite its tale of how it came to be in the situation it was now in. Now usually, Ashlynn was a good listener, always paying attention to what people had to say, but this time, she could not help herself. Sadiva was utterly boring, and a real chore to pay attention to. Just before Ashlynn could fall asleep, she caught the end of the dragons tale, and its concluding question, "...so will you make the sacrifice?" Ashlynn nodded sleepily, not even thinking and was shocked as she felt herself drained of strength! A moment later, Sadiva threw a frozen tear to Ashlynn and she walked slowly away.

Ashlynn wondered for a moment what she should do with the tear before Lady Winmere mentioned something about heading back to the shrine, so the pair rushed up the stairs where Lady Winmere opened a gate to Sacrifice. They both jumped through praying the forces of Asteroth hadn't returned!

After the tear had been blessed upon the shrine of sacrifice, it was time to take all three items to Anne in Empath Abbey. Along with a candle. Yes, lets not forget the candle. A plain, ordinary, candle, neither blessed by the virtues, nor blighted by the curse of a thousand daemons, a regular, white, waxy, candle.

The two mighty adventurers arrived at Empath Abbey, a great feeling of victory inside them, and presented the assembled goods to Anne, knowing that she would be pleased and would reward them greatly for their work in helping thwart the evil Astaroths plans.

Anne was indeed pleased with the pair and Ashlynn waited with a great deal of anticipation for Anne to congratulate them and present them with the fruits of their labour. Then came those horrid words, "...now if you could just do one more thing..."

Chapter 4: Trial by Fire, Literally

All she had to do was enter the caverns below the winery, negotiate the maze and light the candle. Seemed easy enough, Ashlynn thought. And mazes can be quite fun, it's not as though Anne said it was a huge labyrinth, and it couldn't possibly be very big, afterall, it was just below the abbey right on the coast!

After arriving at the winery, Lady Winmere mentioned that she wouldn't be able to accompany her companion, and Ashlynn was really upset! The pair had been inseperable on the quest so far, how would she be able to stay alive without the soothing sound of In Vas Mani? Lady Winmere told her there was nothing to worry about, there were no monsters or daemons down below, the only thing that could possibly hurt her was the lava.

Oh yes, wait, did I mention the lava?

Climbing down through the floorboards into the caverns, Ashlynn scurried along the rocky passageways, passing a lavafall. That's right, instead of water, this thing was spewing molten lava. Ashlynn looked worried as she hurried past and there was more to come.


Ashlynn looks in horror at the fun ahead of her.

The maze. Definately not the fun hedge maze she had imagined. No, this maze consisted of a lake of molten hot lava across which rock hardened and melted away seemingly randomly. However, there was something of a pattern to be made out, but any wrong step would result in being immersed in horrible, fiery doom.


There are worse places to be than suspended above a lake of fire in order to save
the lands from a Shadowlord. Ashlynn just can't think of any right now.

Navigating the lava maze took a lot of time, energy and burns. Many many many burns. Words of encouragement echoed through her mind from Lady Winmere, the result of more telepathy Ashlynn thought, but it didn't make things any easier or quicker. It felt like an eternity before Ashlynn finally made it before the candle and lit it. As she did so, her own candle turned a brilliant white, her name appearing in magical runic lettering along its length.


This would be a happy scene if not for the severe 80% burns Ashlynn has just endured.

Successful at last, Ashlynn made her way back up to the winery to cheers of applause from Winmere! It was all done!

*applauds!*
Well done and well told!