Bargaining With the Dead
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 14869
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Fred was having trouble keeping up with Astra as she levitated through the
crypt. She was getting agitated, though for the most part it didn't show.
"Astra, is something wrong... Wait, why are you still a djinn? Didn't you
drink the potion?" Astra looked at him again, her expression pained. "No. The necromancer is not dead, master. I gather that he is growing impatient." "So? I smashed the orb with the hammer, just as he asked. If something has gone wrong, how can we be to blame?" They approach what looks to be a dead end. "Secret entrance," explains Astra. She passes through the wall as if it were not there. The wall grinds open, creating a narrow passage. Fred walks out into a mossy tunnel back in the Southern Caves, torches set into the walls. Astra releases a well-hidden panel in the rock "I do not know the answer to your question, master. I do know that Splitgrave was not stopping me from drinking the potion. I could not take it, knowing I could serve you best in this form. However, I can only suggest we return to Splitgrave's lair. It is this way," she gestures down the well lit tunnel. "But can he be trusted?" asked Fred. "It is hard to say, master, but I can think of no other alternative." "I suppose that's true. Fine. Let's go." As it turned out, the vaults were only a half-hour from the lich's abode. Those wards must have been powerful indeed if even being so close he could not dismantle them. They found Splitgrave leaning over an ancient tome. He stood when he noticed them, bones creaking with every motion. "You have returned," rasped the lich, dusting off his patchwork robes and cracking his knuckles. He examined a large gold ring on his thumb. "Welcome," he said. "Splitgrave, I have completed your task," said Fred. "The orb is destroyed. But Astra is still a genie and we found nothing to dispatch the dragon." "Yet I continue to...exist, D'Honaire." "That is not my concern, necromancer. We made a bargain. My part is fulfilled. What of yours?" "Not quite, knight. I required you to end my life. Not a difficult task, and one I had assumed you would relish, being the champion of good and paragon of virtue that you are. And yet," Splitgrave let out a hissing sigh, "you have failed. If you cannot succeed in ridding the world of some dry old carcass, how could you hope to face this dragon, in any case? I will help you, Frederigo D'Honaire, but you must agree to finish what I have begun, and that which you are now a part. So, the destruction of an undead sorcerer of immeasurable evil, the end of the dragon's threat, and you aid a damsel in distress," he chuckled as he examined Astra. "This is a win, win, win situation for you, my mortal comrade. So what do you say? As a token of my good will..." He almost smiled, "...I will even aid the djinn, prior to my demise."
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The Inquisitor
1/1/2001 6:17:08 PM
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