Tymora's luck

ACT THREE SCENE 3

When Holly and Joel went to look at the Bastion of Hate, Emilo remained behind to keep an eye on Walinda. No one in the party had bothered to explain to the kender why they all seemed to dislike the priestess so, but upon listening to her, the kender had a pretty good idea. Walinda was not nice at all. Furthermore, Emilo hadn't cared for the way she had appropriated their flying carpet.

Walinda stepped into the pavilion and ordered one of the bar-lgura to bring her the carpet. Emilo followed the hulking tanar'ri inside. When the tanar'ri left, the kender settled himself in a dark corner and watched.

He had no fear of being detected. The gift he'd been given, by a mysterious old man at the end of the magical vortex by which he had arrived in this world, seemed to be holding up well. As long as Emilo kept quiet, wasn't introduced by a companion, and didn't attack anyone, he went completely unnoticed. The hardest part was keeping quiet. The gift had served him well in Sigil until he'd run into Jas.

The mysterious old man had warned him that anyone from Krynn would be able to notice him. Jas had surprised him. Emilo had never seen any winged women on his home world of Krynn, but Jas had indeed noticed him, even though she claimed she came from Joel's world. It was possible she was confused about that. Whatever the case, her knowledge of his presence had turned out all right.

Finder was another exception, which Emilo had to think about for a while. In the end, he decided that since Finder was aware of everything that happened around Joel, and since Emilo had talked to Joel, that explained things. When Emilo had left Joel's side to eavesdrop on Finder and Tymora and Winnie, neither the gods nor the halfling had seemed to take notice of him. Selune had been the ultimate test. When Emilo had surprised the elder goddess with his presence, then he was certain the gift was still working. The way Holly had started when he had finally greeted her in the Abyss had been one more confirmation.

Since the bar-lgura had captured Joel and Holly but ignored the kender, Joel and Holly seemed to have figured out Emilo's secret. They had been careful to keep their eyes away from Emilo and had not introduced him to Walinda. So now Emilo was free to spy on the priestess.

The old man had not explained why he'd granted Emilo such an unusual gift, but the kender assumed it was so he could spy on people. In Walinda's case, the thought didn't give the kender much pleasure. The priestess gave him the shivers. Still, someone had to keep an eye on her.

Walinda unrolled the flying carpet, settled herself in the center, and ran her hand over the heavy wool with a look of pleasure. Then, assuming she was alone in the pavilion, she began poking through the party's gear.

First she dumped out the contents of Holly's backpack. With a disdainful look, she pawed through the paladin's brightly colored clothing. A glittering glass sculpture caught her eye, and she picked it up.

The priestess let out a cry and tossed the sculpture aside as if it had burned her. It landed right at Emilo's feet. As the priestess sucked on her fingers, Emilo scooped up the piece of glass and examined it. It was a piece of red glass, shaped like the sun, with a beaming smile on its face. It was every bit as lovely as Jas's star-filled paperweight and Joel's finder's stone. Emilo slipped it into a pocket of his vest, certain that Holly would not want it left behind.

Walinda stuffed Holly's things back into her pack. Next she looked through Joel's pack and the one Winnie had given them, but she found nothing of particular interest. Joel had kept the finder's stone and the scrolls with him,

Emilo remembered. Since the potions were missing, Emilo figured Joel must have taken them as well. The gold had been in the other backpack, the one Jas had filled with rocks to attack the barghest. Jas had scooped the gold into her own pack-the same pack she'd flown off with when the bar-lgura attacked.

Walinda was just stuffing the last of the party's gear back into Winnie's pack when the awaited ally arrived. Walinda left the pavilion to greet her. The priestess escorted a snake-woman with six arms into the pavilion. The snake-woman never spoke aloud, but Walinda kept saying "yes" and "no" as if she were answering questions. After a while the kender realized that the snake-woman must be speaking directly to Walinda's mind.

"This," Walinda said spreading out a map on the table, "is our objective." She pointed to a spot on the map. "These are our forces." The priestess stepped back while the snake-woman examined the map in silence. Emilo could see Walinda nod occasionally, so he knew she and the snake-woman were still having a telepathic conversation. He was mildly annoyed. What good was it to be able to spy on someone this close up and not hear half the conversation?

From outside the tent, Emilo heard what sounded like a brawl. Walinda and the snake-woman were so intent on studying the map that they failed to take note of it. Curious, Emilo slipped outside the pavilion to investigate the noise.

About fifty yards from the pavilion, a crowd of the minotaur-like bulezau stood in a tight circle, shouting and cheering. Emilo had to squeeze between the legs of one of the smelly creatures to see what they were watching.

The bulezau stood around a great circular pit some fifty feet across and twenty feet deep. Torches flared and sputtered near the top of the pit wall. At the bottom of the pit, three hydroloths fought against three bulezau. They fought without weapons, using their claws and teeth. The froglike hydroloths also spat yellow poison, and the bulezau smashed into their opponents with their horns and slashed at them with their spiky tails. When one hydroloth managed to bring down a bulezau, another leapt into the pit to take its fellow's place. Between the poison, the blood, and the ichor, the stench from the pit was unbearable. When one of the hydroloths lost an arm, Emilo turned to squeeze his way through of the crowd. After a few deep breaths of air, the kender was able to continue.

Spotting Joel and Holly making their way back toward the pavilion, Emilo ran to intercept them.

Joel felt a tug at his sleeve. Out of the blue, there was Emilo. The kender motioned for him to follow. Joel took Holly's arm and led her toward the crowd of bulezau around the pit.

As their bar-lgura escort approached the crowd, the giant bulezau parted for the smaller apelike creatures and their human charges. Joel was the first to see into the pit, and he tried to keep Holly back, but the paladin would not be deterred.

At the bottom of the pit, a dozen or so bulezau and two giant frog creatures lay dead or too injured to move. One giant frog, over ten feet tall, and a single bulezau still fought. The gore caused an awful stench.

Holly's eyes narrowed to angry slits.

"Are those frog creatures hydroloths?" Joel asked.

"Yes," the paladin answered coldly.

"Entertaining, isn't it?" Walinda asked from behind them. "Prisoners should always be made useful."

Joel spun about. The priestess and the marilith stood beside one another. The marilith was an exceedingly comely female, with bright blue eyes and shining blonde hair that streamed down to her waist in a mass of curls. A flimsy veil covered her upper torso. About her hips she wore several scabbards. She rose from the coils of her green tail, hovering at least a foot above Joel.

"This is Stentka Taran," Walinda introduced the tanar'ri.

The bard bowed courteously. Since the marilith said nothing, neither did he.

"We have just finished mapping out our plan of attack,' Walinda said.

"I hope it didn't rely on the twelve dead warriors in the pit," Holly growled. "Your foolish entertainment is a shameful waste of lives." "But it was an effective demonstration for the others," Walinda replied. "Magic has been dispelled in the pit, so the hydroloths were partially handicapped. They were quite effective nonetheless. Now the bulezau are aware of the physical strength of the opponents they will face."

"What difference will that make?" Holly argued. "You won't be fighting your battle in a pit."

"But we can, in a manner of speaking," Walinda said. She pointed to an iron pole, some six feet high, which was firmly planted in the center of the pit. Tied to the top of pole was an iron latticework sphere about as large as a man's head. A dark blue light seemed to glow within the sphere. "In the war between the tanar'ri and the baatezu, the sphere you see is called a magic killer. It negates all magic within thirty feet of it. If you were paying closer attention to the combat, you might have noticed that the hydroloths attempted to reach the sphere to destroy it, while the bulezau tried to prevent them from doing so."

As Walinda spoke, the remaining hydroloth slashed completely through the head of the bulezau it was fighting. Another bulezau leapt into the pit, but not before the hydroloth whipped its tongue across the pit and scooped into its mouth the magic killer with the iron pole still attached.

Walinda frowned. The hydroloth bit down on the magic killer. There was a flash of blue-white light, and a blast of energy tore through the pit. Bits and pieces of the hydroloth and the bulezau showered the audience at the rim of the pit,

"So much for your magic killer," Holly said.

"Oh, rest assured, paladin," the priestess replied. "We have more." She looked suddenly at the marilith and nodded. "Stentka Taran wishes to know if you will submit to a test," Walinda said.

Holly's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What sort of test?" she asked.

"Merely a test of your skill in combat," Walinda said.

"I didn't come here to entertain you as a gladiator," the paladin replied.

"Stentka needs to assess your skill to decide where you will best fit in our assault plans." Walinda gave Holly a chill smile. "Unless you wish to rescind your offer to aid in our attack," she said.

Joel could see the paladin was struggling to control her anger at the implication she might go back on her word. Her nostrils flared and her shoulders shook. The marilith watched the paladin, too, and Joel had the sudden impression that Walinda's insult had been a test as well.

Holly took a deep breath. The true extent of her abilities was more knowledge than anyone in her right mind would wish to share with the evil priestess. In the end, however, the paladin's desire to obey Lathander superseded her heartfelt desire to deny Walinda her request. "Whom shall I fight?" Holly asked.

"Stentka will test you herself," Walinda explained. "You will use edgeless weapons."

The marilith slithered toward the paladin. From one of the many scabbards she wore about her hips, the tanar'ri drew out a long sword. Holding it by the unsharpened blade, she offered the hilt to the paladin.

Holly took the sword. The marilith drew out a second sword.

The bulezau and the bar-lgura drew back a respectful distance from the combatants. Walinda stepped back to stand beside Joel as Holly and the marilith began circling each other warily.

The marilith began with a broad, sweeping stroke, which Holly parried easily. The tanar'ri's second strike was quicker and closer to the paladin's heart, but Holly knocked it aside. Although the combat was only a test, the bulezau and Walinda were mesmerized by the dance of weapons. The bulezau cheered and shouted encouragement each time steel struck steel.

Once more Emilo tugged on the bard's sleeve. Joel stepped back away from Walinda. Without taking his eyes from the combatants, he squatted on his heels so the kender could whisper in his ear.

"I was trying to show you one of the hydroloths in the pit," Emilo whispered. "He's the one who came to Sigil to take Jas away."

"How can you tell? He looked just like the other two," the bard insisted, without bothering to look back down into the stinking pit.

"Before the bulezau cut him to pieces, his markings were very distinctive," Emilo said softly. "I know that's him."

"Well, he won't be bothering Jas anymore," Joel noted.

"Suppose he was here looking for Jas. Suppose the others were, too. Suppose," Emilo hissed urgently, "there are more of them out there looking for her."

Joel looked up into the dark sky. Unsurprisingly, he could see no sign of the winged woman. "Keep an eye on Holly," he whispered. Then he stood back up and pushed his way through the crowd of tanar'ri watching the combat. Walinda was too engrossed in the combat to notice the bard's departure. Only the bar-lgura honor guard followed him. He slipped behind a boulder. Facing the rock and using his body as a shield from any curious eyes, he pulled out the finder's stone and thought of Jas.

The beacon of light shot out toward the outer edge of the canyon. Joel waited several anxious moments before Jas came shooting out of the darkness and landed beside him. Her eyes were glowing like an owl's, and there was a tuft of feathers sticking out behind her ears and over her eyebrows.

"What's going on?" the winged woman asked, jerking her head toward the crowd of tanar'ri.

"Holly's fighting a marilith," Joel said. He grabbed Jas's arm before she could race to the paladin's aid. "It's Holly's choice. It's some sort of test. I brought you here in case-" Joel hesitated, not wanting to suggest Jas couldn't look out for herself.

"In case what?" Jas asked.

"Emilo spotted the hydroloth who was sent to bring you back to Xvim. The hydroloth's dead now, but there could be others around. I want you to stay in camp until the attack. You won't have to see or speak to Walinda. You can stay right here. If Xvim's minions know you're here, it won't be safe for you to be alone out there."

"Joel, what difference does it make?" Jas growled. "Look at me. The dark stalker is taking over again. I don't know if it's because I'm close to Xvim's realm or because I can't stop thinking about Walinda, but it doesn't matter.

It's going to get me in the end."

Joel put his hands on Jas's shoulders. "It does matter," he insisted. "Gods, if Holly can bring herself to ally with Walinda and a marilith to bring about a greater good, you can at least try. You can fight this thing."

"I'm tired of fighting it," Jas said with a sigh. "Since the fetch weakened me, it's harder to resist. I'm turning into a creature of darkness. You shouldn't trust me anymore."

"I won't accept that," the bard said. "You have to fight this. Too much depends on us, on you. If Xvim has found a way to steal Tymora's luck and Beshaba's misfortune, think what he can do with it. Think what Realmspace will be like when his priests have all the luck and his enemies are beset with misfortune."

"I can't stop that either," Jas snarled. "I can't stop anything. I'm useless."

"No, you aren't," Joel argued. He wracked his brains for something he could say that would convince Jas to at least make the attempt to hang on to her humanity. Finder would know what to say, the bard thought. Finder would give her a reason even if he had to make it up. Then an idea struck him. "We need you to make our plan work. There's no one else who can get us into the Bastion of Hate."

"What are you talking about?" Jas demanded.

"If they think you're a dark stalker, they'll let you into the bastion. I need Walinda to get us some more information from the hydroloth that was after you in Sigil."

"I thought you said he was dead," Jas argued.

"That shouldn't be a problem for Walinda," Joel said. "Will you wait here? Please?" the bard pleaded.

Jas shrugged, and her wings stiffened. Joel was afraid she was going to launch into flight. Then she nodded.

Joel turned around. The bar-lgura Walinda had assigned to escort him were standing behind him, watching curiously. Joel wondered just how much they understood, and how much they would report back to Walinda. The bard pointed to two of the apelike creatures and ordered, "Make sure no one bothers her." Then he headed back toward Walinda. The bar-lgura he'd appointed as Jas's guardians remained behind. Joel felt a secret twinge of amusement that he'd actually ordered a tanar'ri to do his bidding. He wondered what Finder would say about that. He'd probably tell his priest not to let it go to his head.

With the help of his remaining bar-lgura escort, the bard squeezed his way through the bulezau and returned to Walinda's side. Emilo stood beside the priestess, hopping from foot to foot, silently cheering for Holly.

Holly was still battling the marilith, but even Joel could see she wasn't doing well. She was slowed by having to constantly watch her footing as the marilith tried to coil her snake tail about her feet. The marilith used only one weapon, but she switched it from hand to hand to hand, keeping the paladin off-balance. Holly did manage to strike one solid blow to the tanar'ri female's tail, and she successfully warded off all the thrusts aimed at her, but in the heat and the stench of the plane, she soon tired.

The marilith ended the combat suddenly by sheathing her weapon. She must have spoken to Holly with telepathy, for the paladin replied, "Yes, I did," as she handed back the unsharpened blade the marilith had given her for the test.

The marilith bowed to the paladin and slithered off to Walinda's pavilion. The bulezau and bar-lgura cleared a wide path for her and the two toadlike hezrou warriors who followed in her wake.

Holly returned to Joel's side.

"What did she say to you?" the bard asked.

"She said I fought well for someone so young, and that I must have had an excellent teacher," the paladin replied, wiping the sweat from her brow with a handkerchief.

"Your father trained you, didn't he?" the bard asked.

Holly nodded. Her father, Joel recalled, had been a warrior from Zhakara who had settled in Daggerdale, far from his native land, after having fallen in love with Holly's mother. He'd died only a year ago, murdered by orc raiders along with his wife and in-laws. Holly still used the curved blade he'd brought with him from Zhakara.

"I must confer with Stentka," Walinda said.

"Just a minute. I have some conferring I need to do myself," the bard said. "I think Jas and I could manage to get into the fortress before your attack and perhaps sabotage a few of their defenses."

"Oh?" Walinda prompted the bard, obviously interested.

"It depends on whether or not you can speak with the dead," Joel explained.

"What dead?" Walinda asked.

Joel strode back to the edge of the pit. "Which one?" he whispered to the kender.

"The one on the right, with his right arm missing," the kender whispered back.

Joel turned back to face Walinda and motioned for her to join him. "That hydroloth," he said, pointing into the pit. "The one on the right, with the missing right arm. How did he come to be a prisoner?"

"As I mentioned before, Xvim will not allow anything to fly, teleport, or magically gate directly into his realm," the priestess explained. "His agents must teleport outside the walls of the Bastion of Hate and announce themselves at the gate to gain entry. The hydroloths teleport to the lava flows, where they delight in swimming before returning to their hired lord. The bulezau fished all three of these creatures out of the lava several hours before you arrived."

"The hydroloth I mentioned was stalking Jas in Sigil to bring her to Iyachtu Xvim. He was helped by a priest of Xvim who we defeated in combat. If I can find out more about his mission, I might get away with impersonating a mercenary hired by the priest and the hydroloth to bring Jas back," Joel explained.

Walinda nodded thoughtfully. She pointed out the hydroloth in question to the nearest bar-lgura. "Fetch that corpse from the pit," she ordered. "You… bring me a torch," she ordered a second bar-lgura.

Within a few minutes, a team of bar-lgura had hauled the dead hydroloth from the pit and laid it at Walinda's feet. The bar-lgura who'd been sent for a torch returned with a piece of tar-drenched fabric wrapped about a pike. Great clouds of smoke came from the torch, but it burned brightly enough to cast shadows in the dark canyon.

"What question shall I start with?" the priestess asked.

"Ask him what the purpose of his mission in Sigil four nights ago was," Joel suggested.

Walinda nodded. From a small pouch hanging from her armor, she drew out a stick of incense and lit it from the torch flame. She knelt beside the head of the stinking froglike corpse. Holding the incense in her left hand, she held it under the hydroloth's nose. With the fingers of her right hand, she stroked the emblem of Beshaba tattooed into her cheeks. Then she began chanting dark words that had no meaning to the bard, for which fact Joel was most grateful.

Walinda shoved the burning incense into the hydroloth's mouth. Smoke billowed from the corpse's mouth and nose.

"I command thee to answer my questions," the priestess cried out. Her voice echoed throughout the canyon. Then, in a whisper, she asked, "What was the purpose of your mission in Sigil four nights ago?"

There was no sound from the hydroloth, but Walinda seemed to be listening intently. Her eyes were closed and she nodded twice.

That's when the bard realized that the hydroloth, like the tanar'ri, was communicating by telepathy. Joel would have to rely on Walinda to give him an accurate report.

Walinda looked up from the hydroloth. "He was to oversee the capture of Jasmine by Hatemaster Perr and some hired thugs. Then he was to return with Jasmine and Hatemaster Perr to the Bastion of Hate."

Joel nodded. Besides assuring Joel that Emilo had correctly identified the hydroloth, the answer revealed the name of the priest who had deliberately killed himself struggling in the razor-vine.

"What identity did he use in Sigil?" Joel asked.

Walinda asked the question, listened, then told Joel, "He shapeshifted to a tall human form, but used no name. The hirelings and the priest called him Boss."

"Ask him to whom he was to deliver Jasmine."

Walinda repeated the question Joel had asked, then listened.

"Tyrannar Neri," she replied.

Tyrannar, Joel knew, was the highest rank of clerics in the church of Iyachtu Xvim.

"Does the tyrannar know he's failed in his mission?" Joel asked.

Walinda shook her head. "He has no way of knowing that for sure," the priestess told Joel. "He will be forced to answer that he does not know. I will rephrase your question… Have you or has anyone you know informed the tyrannar that your mission has failed?" she asked the corpse, then waited for the answer. "The answer is no," she told Joel.

"I want to try something more complicated," Joel said. "What does he think would happen to someone else who brought Jasmine to the tyrannar to collect a bounty and also brought him news of the death of the hydroloth and Hatemaster Perr?"

Walinda put the question to the dead hydroloth, then waited. Joel could see her smile slightly. Smoke ceased streaming from the corpse's mouth and nose. The spell had ended. Walinda could ask no more questions.

The priestess stood up. "The hydroloth said that if the tyrannar is sufficiently impressed by the bounty seeker, he will accept Jas as an offering to Xvim so that the bounty seeker can join Iyachtu Xvim's faithful. He will not pay a bounty for his lord's own property. If he isn't impressed by the bounty seeker, he'll simply have him enslaved."

"Is there a big difference?" Joel asked.

"Probably not much," Walinda replied. "So will you impersonate a bounty seeker? Do you think you can impress a tyrannar?" she asked.

"I impress everyone," Joel replied matter-of-factly, winking at Holly and Emilo.

"You have always impressed me," Walinda said, running one of her sharpened fingernails none too gently down the side of the bard's throat.

"Must be my bad luck," Joel retorted as he drew away from the evil priestess's touch.

Walinda gave the bard a predatory smile.

"So, if I go to the bastion now, how long can you postpone your attack?" the bard asked.

"No more than half a day," Walinda replied. "The bulezau grow agitated if they are not killing something, and I am loath to keep Beshaba waiting. No one knows when Iyachtu Xvim might return."

"I can't say for certain what we can accomplish," the bard said, "but if possible, we will attempt to learn the strength of the guard around Beshaba and weaken it. If we discover a way to destroy any cache of weapons, we will do that as well. After you begin your attack, we'll try to open the gate. If I find Beshaba, I'll try to use the finder's stone to summon you. If you or Stentka Taran have any other suggestions, I'll take them under advisement."

Walinda said, "I will speak with her."

"Fine. I'm going to speak with my associates. I'll join you shortly," the bard replied.

Walinda nodded and walked off to her pavilion. Joel led Holly and Emilo to where Jas was waiting. The winged woman crouched behind the boulder.

Holly gasped at the winged woman's appearance. "Jas! Are you all right?" she asked

Jas shrugged. Joel knew she'd never tell Holly how hopeless she felt. As far as Jas was concerned, Holly was still an innocent to be protected. "It's just that we're so close to Xvim's realm," she told the paladin. "When we leave, I'll get better. So what's the plan for getting into Xvim's fortress?" she asked Joel.

Hastily Joel explained his plan to his three companions. His original plan called for Emilo to stay with Holly, but Holly insisted the kender would be more useful, possibly even safer, with Joel and Jas. The paladin had also noted the kender's gift for remaining unnoticed. If it worked in the Bastion of Hate as well as it worked in Walinda's camp of tanar'ri, it would make Emilo the perfect saboteur.

Jas, who hadn't realized there was something unusual about the kender, was suddenly more curious. "I've never had any problem seeing you," she said.

"I think it's because you're different from everyone else," the kender replied.

Jas accepted that explanation without asking which difference Emilo meant.

"How'd you get this gift?" Jas wanted to know.

"I got it in the magical vortex that brought me to Sigil," the kender said. "I don't know why exactly. The last century of my life has been pretty confusing. I suppose it's a destiny thing."

Holly was more concerned about Joel's plan than the origin of the kender's gift. She asked the bard, "How are you going to disguise yourself?"

"I have a scroll," Joel explained. "I thought I'd disguise myself as a tiefling. That should strengthen my story that I'm a native of Sigil, and not some clueless prime."

"Are you going to make yourself shorter?" Emilo asked with surprise.

"Tieflings aren't just another kind of halfling or kender," Holly explained. "Tiefling are what Planers and Cagers call a person who has an ancestor from the Lower Planes. Not all tieflings are short."

Joel pulled out the appropriate scroll from the bundle he'd attached to his belt. As he read the scroll, he added a description to the spell words that served to reshape his form. He made himself a uttle taller, covered his skin with black scales, and grew-long fangs. When he'd finished casting the spell, Holly drew back from him in shock.

"You look awful," the paladin said.

"Yeah, you really do," Jas agreed. "Perfect, actually. No one would ever suspect you're really a nice young man who's gotten in over his head in the affairs of the gods."

"You should put your hair up like mine," Emilo suggested. "It will make you look even taller."

Joel bound his hair into a topknot.

"It makes you look fierce," Holly said, "It looks like the horse-tail crests on the helmets of the Tuigan warriors.

Jas and Holly agreed it made him look quite fiendish.

"Now what?" the winged woman asked.

"I'm going to go get our backpack and take my leave of Walinda. Ill be back soon," Joel said.

Joel found Walinda in the pavilion with the marilith, poring over a map.

"Your tiefling features are most becoming, Poppin," the priestess commended him.

Without replying, Joel bent over and retrieved his backpack and Winnie's. Then he turned to face Walinda. "I will do everything in my power to help free your goddess, but I don't want you using Holly as if she were some tanar'ri meant to die in the Blood War," he warned the priestess. "Don't put her in a dangerous position."

"We agree completely," Walinda assured him. "Someday, when she is much more powerful, I hope to sacrifice Holly Harrowslough. Stentka Taran, on the other hand, is already plotting ways to corrupt her. So you can rest assured we will keep her safe… for now."

The bard glared at the priestess. "Any other suggestions about the sabotage?" he asked coolly.

"As I mentioned before," Walinda said, "Iyachtu Xvim's realm is guarded by mercenary yugoloths. They are exceedingly greedy creatures. Stentka knows of a case in which a great deal of chaos was sown by leaving unclaimed money lying about." The priestess handed the bard a small sack.

Joel looked inside it. It was filled with small but rare gems. "Illusions?" he asked, slipping the sack into his shirt beside the finder's stone.

"You learn quickly, Poppin," the priestess said, stroking the bard's scaly cheek with a look of fascination.

"I'll be leaving now," Joel said, stepping backward.

"Give my regards to the pigeon girl," Walinda said.

"I don't think so," Joel said. "Good luck with your attack," he wished the priestess and the marilith.

"Misfortune take our enemies," Walinda responded.

Joel turned and hurried back to his companions. He embraced Holly. "Be careful," he warned the paladin. Remembering the incident with the barghests, he reminded her, "Make sure you keep the little harp Finder gave each of us handy."

"You make sure you do, too," Holly replied. Leaving the paladin behind in the camp of tanar'ri, Jas, Joel, and Emilo made their way up the canyon's slope. Just before they reached the crest, they turned and waved good-bye one last time.

Holly waved back.

The bar-lgura who'd accompanied them up the slope suddenly disappeared. They'd become invisible, no doubt planning on following the bard and the winged woman as long as they could.

The three adventurers made their way up to a high point on the ridge to skirt around the lava flow between the canyon ridge and the Bastion of Hate. It was the first time they'd traveled by foot in Gehenna, and it was far more difficult than Joel had imagined. It took them nearly an hour to get down to the ledge where Xvim's fortress was located.

They regrouped behind a boulder that shielded them from view. Joel handed Emilo the fake gems and explained Walinda's suggestion to leave them lying about where they might cause discord among the yugoloths. After a moment's thought, he also gave the kender the finder's stone. If the tyrannar had him searched, the high priest might demand the stone to give to Iyachtu Xvim. In addition, the kender could use it to find Joel and Jas should they become separated. Jas gave the kender the lucky sword Winnie had given her. Since Joel was supposedly bringing her in as a prisoner, she had to be disarmed. With a short length of rope from Winnie's backpack, Joel bound Jas's hands in front of her so she looked like prisoner. Then he tied a lead rope to the bindings.

Before the three adventurers could continue, Emilo said, "I don't get it. If Iyachtu Xvim is like the other gods, he can sense what's going on with nearby followers, right? Then he must sense us. He must sense Walinda. You don't suppose this is all a trap, do you?"

"I've thought about that," Joel admitted. "I have another theory. If Xvim is stealing Tymora's luck and Beshaba's misfortune, he has more than enough power to seize some other realm, perhaps in some less unpleasant place. He could have already abandoned his fortress here and is only leaving it operating as a distraction for us." "I don't know which would be worse," Jas muttered. They marched in near silence to the gate of Iyachtu Xvim's fortress. The Bastion of Hate towered over them. Its walls were encased in plates of iron as thick as Joel's thumb. The air shimmered with heat around the iron plates, and the rivets joining the plates together glowed like coal. Horn-shaped iron spikes decorated the parapets. The closed gate was an iron grid, bristling with spikes meant to keep visitors away.

Joel could see no signs of life. He shouted out, "Hello the gate!"

A voice from the wall called down, "Who goes there?"

"My name is Marin the Red," Joel shouted. "I've come to collect the bounty on Jasmine the Dark Stalker-that is, if Tyrannar Neri still wants her. Otherwise I have another buyer."

They waited several minutes, but there was no reply. Joel glanced over at Jas. Black feathers had regrown about her neck. The dark stalker's presence was growing more and more prominent. It helped their story, but it was unsettling nonetheless.

Joel moved close to Jas and whispered, "We can still flee."

Jas shook her head sharply, but Joel could see she was trembling. As long as she could keep it under control for a few more hours, the bard thought, everything would be fine.

From somewhere overhead came the squeak of wheels, and the portcullis gate raised up just enough for them to enter the fortress. For show, he tugged on the rope that bound Jas until she drew up beside him. Emilo slipped in alongside Joel.

They stood in a dark gatehouse, illuminated by a single smoky torch. A second spiked portcullis blocked their way. The portcullis behind them slammed back down to the ground. They were trapped inside the Bastion of Hate.

Jas whirled about and hissed. Joel breathed in sharply, trying to hide his shock and fear.

Feathers now completely covered Jas's face and hands. Her hands had transformed into talons. She yanked the lead rope from Joel's hands and flew at the closed gate with the frenzy of a wild bird. An inhuman screech came from her throat. It sounded to Joel like the cry of a snared hawk.

From two side doors streamed twelve yugoloth guards armed with pikes. The guards were several inches taller than Joel and resembled horned crickets, their chitinous armor the color of dirty ivory. Without Holly to explain, the bard had no idea what breed of yugoloths they were.

The guards separated Joel from his "bounty" and surrounded Jas. The inner portcullis opened. A human priest of Iyachtu Xvim stood on the other side. He was a small man, with a shaved head and an iron ring in his pierced lip. He looked younger than Joel.

"I am Hatemaster Morr. If you will follow me, Marin the Red, I will arrange for you to meet with Tyrannar Neri."

Joel looked back at Jas. Her owl-like eyes were devoid of expression, but Joel sensed that Jas felt betrayed. The winged woman screeched once more as the yugoloths led her away through a side door. She spoke no words; the sounds she made were those of an enraged animal. A sinking feeling took hold of Joel. Perhaps he'd been wrong to bring Jas here. Perhaps here, in the Bastion of Hate, the dark stalker had finally destroyed her humanity.