SoI #13 - The Battle of the Breach

Xephos and Honeydew dashed up the wide stone steps towards Verigan’s Hold. It loomed up before them, crenulated ramparts connected great stone towers with delicate red flags that waved in the morning breeze perched at their tops. At the very back, silhouetted against the rising sun, rose two columns joined by a singular walkway. Attached to the edge of the Hold towered a great wall, stretching off into the distance as far as the eye could see.

The two heroes raced through the front gates and into a courtyard, where they slowed their pace. It wasn’t a particularly large space compared to the rest of the Hold, but it contained a stunning fountain of gold-edged marble depicting a middle-aged man brandishing a sword towards the sky. It might just have been Xephos’ imagination, but he could have sworn he’d seen that blade before. There was a plaque at the edge of the fountain that read:

“Water, blessed water! How it cools my sun-cracked skin! -1^st Templar Verigan Antioch after the Battle of Tulip.”

The rest of the courtyard was lined with various flowers and bushes, but the duo paid them no mind as they continued forward into the castle. Honeydew banged the doors open and wound up startling a man just inside who had, before the two arrived, been straightening one of the many tapestries that lined the walls. He was wearing a faded yellow tabard with a red cross at the back and, by the copious amount of grey in his hair, looked to be rather old. His mouth was obscured by a mask but Xephos could tell that he was smiling.

“Hello strangers. My nephew hoped you would come.” He said. Xephos and Honeydew exchanged glances. The man held out a hand. “My name is Adaephon, Templar of the Crimson Cross.”

“Your nephew?” Honeydew asked, accepting the proffered hand.

“You may know him as Peculier.”

“Where is he now?” Asked Xephos.

“He went off to investigate a crack in The Wall.” Adaephon said calmly. Then, taking in both heroes’ anxious expressions, continued with: “Oh it’s nothing to worry about. The Desert can’t take advantage of a little thing like that. By my predictions I’d say he’ll have it fixed by midday.”

“But we’ve heard word that Peculier’s in great peril!” Honeydew blurted out, reflexively grabbing the handle of his axe.

“Great peril you say? May I ask from whom you heard this?” Adaephon asked.

“From a fortune teller down in the carnival.” Answered Xephos. The old Templar laughed.

“That carnival is nothing but a load of old codswallop. I’m not even sure why I let them stay, to be frank.” He said dismissively, “Now, my nephew wanted you to read up on some of our history. If you will follow me, I’ll show you to the castle archives.”

“B-but - Peculier - great peril! We don’t have time for a history lesson!” Honeydew stuttered, but Adaephon just turned and walked off towards a stairway at the far side of the room and the duo had no choice but to follow. It was clear that the Templar was not going to take anything from that carnival seriously. Deep down Xephos didn’t blame him, but that didn’t stop him from being annoyed.

They exited out onto a large flat area that served as the roof of the main keep. Adaephon led them across and into a small room filled with bookshelves. Each shelf was packed to the brim with dusty old tomes and weathered scrolls. Dim, early-morning sunlight filtered in through a window near the top of the wall, catching large motes of dust in its rays. The air smelt strongly of old parchment. Xephos wrinkled his nose and peered around. He would very much like to explore all these books, but still felt like they ought to be finding Peculier. Perhaps he could come back later…

Adaephon skimmed his fingers across the rows of books before stopping and pulling out an old volume. He scanned its pages quickly before marking a particular page with a strip of red fabric and handing it to Honeydew, who held it as if it were a particularly slimy slug.

“Here. Read pages 242 to 243. I will wait for you outside.” With that, Adaephon traipsed from the room. As soon as he was out of sight, Honeydew thrust the book into Xephos’ arms.

“You read it. Gah, I can’t believe that guy! Peculier’s in danger!” He said incredulously. Xephos looked down at the book in his hands.

"It’s just a page or so… I’ll read quickly, OK?” He said. Honeydew huffed and plopped himself down on the floor, looking up expectantly. Xephos quietly cleared his throat and flipped to the marked page:

“The Tale of the Sands. One hundred years ago there was a summer that never ended. Raw heat parched the farmlands and the wells ran dry. Animals were blinded by blistering sand that blew waist deep across the land. The people of Agraria grew desperate as resources began to dwindle, turning on each other for food and water.

“Then, led by the legendary hero, Verigan, the people rallied and fought back. They built the Wall to halt the spread of the desert. But not soon after its completion, an evil rose up from the sands and threatened to undo everything.” Xephos paused to cough, took another deep breath, and continued, “Verigan Antioch and his son, Karpath Antioch, struck out on a dangerous quest to seal the evil away. In the final battle Verigan was killed, and Karpath gravely injured. After his recovery, Karpath founded the Crimson Cross and established the Templars in case the threat ever rose again. What happened next is still shrouded in mystery. Less than a month after his return, Karpath vanished without a trace and was never seen again. The Templars await his return.”

Xephos closed the book and raised his eyebrows, “I wonder why Peculier wanted us to know all this…”

Honeydew shrugged, “I dunno. Maybe he thought it was important. Y’know, with our quest…”

Xephos walked over and replaced the book on the shelf. Honeydew got to his feet and they both headed back out onto the roof. A gentle breeze ruffled Xephos’ hair, causing it to tickle the back of his neck. He looked around for Adaephon, a question burning in his mind. He spotted the Templar resting against a tower wall opposite the archives and hurried over, Honeydew lagging behind him.

“Ah, finished I assume?” Adaephon asked. Xephos nodded and fired his question before the Templar had a chance to continue.

“If Karpath founded the Templars to keep watch, where are they?”

What little they could see of Adaephon’s face fell, “They’re all gone, left on excursions into the Desert. I... Waited for them to return but they never did. There may still be some of my order in Icaria, but I cannot know for sure.”

“What happened to them?” Xephos asked.

“I do not know. I fear they are dead.” Adaephon motioned to the Desert before them. For the first time Xephos got a good, solid look at it; his jaw dropped. It was stunning, a wide expanse of rippling dunes that stretched off into the distance, dotted with cacti. Sometimes he could see little flickers of movement among the long shadows cast by the rising sun.

“What you see before you is no ordinary desert. This sand is a disease.”

Honeydew, who had strayed a ways off the stone floor and onto the sand, yelped and leapt back. He scowled at Adaephon.

“I wish you’d bloody told me before I went and stood on it!”

“Short exposure like this is no threat to you.” Adaephon said, now studying the massive wall bordering the edge of the Desert, “Though were it not for this Wall the sand would spread like wild vine, choking the land until it died…” He pointed across the sand towards a point further down the wall.

“See that?” Adaephon asked. Indeed, Xephos did see it - A noticeable crack that ran vertically up from the base of the Wall to the very top, “My nephew went over there. He should still be there, if you head down the wall from out the front you sh-”

Adaephon stopped dead in his tracks, furrowing his brow. Both Xephos and Honeydew followed his gaze. Very near to the crack, a few yards into the desert, glowed a tiny prick of red light that looked very unnatural amongst the plain, yellow landscape. It looked like some kind of magic, but its caster was shrouded in the shadow of a particularly large dune and so was obscured from sight. Adaephon, Xephos and Honeydew looked on as it swelled in size until, all of a sudden, with an almighty bang, it exploded forward in a great red wave. The force at which it hit the Wall caused the ground to shudder beneath their feet. Massive, boulder-sized chunks of stone were blasted outward as the wall crumbled beneath the blow, raining down upon the grassy outskirts of the forest beyond. The flame within one of the beacons that dotted the Wall quivered and went out.

Adaephon wore a look of pure horror. Before Xephos or Honeydew could truly register what had happened, they were being roughly shoved toward the staircase.

“Breach! Breach in the Wall! Go! Go! Find my nephew and fix that breach! Quickly now, quickly!” Adaephon commanded shakily. The heroes obeyed. They raced down the steps and through the interior of the hold, bursting out the front gates and speeding through the courtyard. They took a sharp left upon reaching the bottom of the stars out front, heading along a rough cobbled-stone path that ran parallel with the wall. It ended in a blocked off tunnel. Unable to enter the tunnel, the duo skirted around it and ran through the trees overtop.

Soon they came upon the breach and the scene of destruction that came with it. Sand had poured in through the hole and gigantic pieces of rubble lay scattered across the clearing, some reaching as far as to knock over a few trees. A squat little watchtower very reminiscent of the ones at Mistral sat beside a stone buttress that arched high over their heads and came to a stop at the Wall. The tower looked like it had been hit by more than a few chunks of stone; it was a miracle it was still standing.

“Heroes!” Sounded a familiar croak from atop the damaged tower. Xephos and Honeydew looked up to see the stricken face of Peculier peering down at them. He was clutching at the crumbling edge of the tower’s crenulations and made frantic wave-like gestures with one hand, pointing towards the wall.

Curious, Xephos turned his gaze back toward the breach. He had no sooner laid his eyes back down upon the pile of rubble before an arrow whizzed out of nowhere and just barely missed his head. It thunked heavily into a tree a few metres behind him with the power of a crossbow - but it wasn’t a bolt. It was an arrow, and Xephos could clearly see their attacker reload a sleek, black longbow and point another arrow it directly at him. The Spaceman ducked, pulling Honeydew down with him, as the arrow flew over their heads. They took cover behind a small hillock.

Xephos felt anger boiling in his chest. It was the same figure that had attacked them at the Yogcave, kidnapped Daisy Duke, stranded them on an island and destroyed their home - and, Xephos reckoned, burnt down Mistral City. Xephos unsheathed his sword and dodged out from behind cover. The point of an arrow followed him as he ran and ducked behind the unsteady watchtower. Honeydew joined him a few seconds later.

“Honeydew, it’s him!” Xephos hissed.

“What? Who-” Honeydew stopped, peeking out from behind cover. “Oh... Oh.”

“We should get up to Peculier. He might know what to do…” Xephos suggested.

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

The two heroes crept around the back of the watchtower. Soon they came upon a small hole in the side of the tower. At one time it might have contained a door, but now it was nothing more than an empty, vaguely rectangular hole. Inside there was a crumbling spiral staircase that led both up and down. The steps down were shrouded in darkness and Xephos could clearly hear the scuttling of many legs echoing up from below.

Xephos and Honeydew carefully ascended the unstable stone staircase. They were able to make it almost halfway up before the stairs ended abruptly where a large chunk of the Wall must have torn through the tower. Looking up, they could see that perhaps the boulder had only finished the job.

“Well, now what?” Honeydew asked.

“We climb up the old fashioned way…” Xephos said. Finding a suitable handhold, he sheathed his sword and started to climb.

“Old fashioned... I’ll give ‘im some old fashioned…” Honeydew grumbled.

Slowly but surely the duo climbed up. They had a few scares but for the most part they managed to reach the top unscathed. Peculier sat with his back against the wall, clutching his arm. He looked up at them as they approached.

“Heroes, thank goodness!” He said.

“What happened?” Xephos asked.

Peculier got shakily to his feet. “I’m not quite sure. One moment I was fixing the wall, the next moment there was no wall and I was under attack. I decided to take shelter in this abandoned tower.”

“We were just at the hold! We saw that guy blow up the wall!” Honeydew exclaimed. Peculier’s expression darkened. He shuffled over to the edge of the wall and looked around it, down at the destruction below.

“The Wall shouldn’t have been so weak… Or, perhaps he’s stronger than I thought…” Peculier said quietly.

“Who is that?” Xephos asked.

“His name is Israphel, but I won’t speak more of him now. We must drive him away if we are to rebuild the Wall…”

Honeydew drew his axe enthusiastically. “Let’s do this then!”

Peculier nodded thoughtfully, talking his hand off the arrow wound in his arm. “I think I am well enough to fight, but we should be careful…”

The trio made their way slowly back down the tower. Once at the bottom, they took shelter just inside the doorway.

“It wouldn’t be wise to rush straight in, but I fear that without ranged weapons we have no choice…” Peculier said.

“To hell with safety! I’m ready to kick some ass!” Honeydew said. Xephos drew his sword but was more on Peculier’s side; he didn’t like the idea of rushing headlong towards someone who could blow up a 40 meter high wall like that, but like the old knight said, they had little choice.

Suddenly, a loud explosion rocked the ground beneath their feet. Alarmed, the trio peeked out to see that another hole had been blown into the Wall, through which they could see something huge and brown moving.

“Looks like he’s got backup…” Xephos commented as the creature stepped through the hole it had created. In some ways it resembled a creeper, with the body and head of one, but it had sandy brown skin and from where the head of a normal creeper should be sprouted a humanoid torso. Its red specks-for-pupils zeroed in on where the trio stood peeking out from behind the watchtower. It looked oddly familiar, somehow…

“I think it’s seen us.” Honeydew said.

“No shit.” Xephos snapped, readying his sword.

With alarming speed the creature sprinted towards them, forcing the trio out into the open. Honeydew and Peculier made for the Wall as fast as they could while Xephos stayed back by the watchtower to face off against the creature. It opened its mouth and, quite alarmingly, hissed:

“Enemissss of the Master! Small thing sssstands againssst usss!”

Xephos leapt to the side, the creature’s claws just barely missing him as it charged again. While its back was to him, the Spaceman took the advantage to land a blow across the creature’s flank with his sword. It hissed in rage and attempted to grab him, but Xephos deftly ducked under its arms and plunged his sword upwards through its heart. The creature gave one last hiss and collapsed heavily to the ground.

A scream from the Wall caught his attention and Xephos looked over to see Honeydew and Peculier under attack by a huge, lumbering zombie. A rusted iron sword was clutched in its rotting hand, which it swung at Honeydew relentlessly. The Dwarf was doing a good job at blocking with his axe, but one of the zombie’s blows still managed to break his defence and graze him across his chest. Thankfully, this minion didn’t seem particularly smart and Honeydew was able to distract it while Peculier came up behind and, with one swipe of his rapier, decapitated it. Xephos rushed over.

“Ey Xeph, is that thing dead?” Honeydew asked, still panting slightly. Xephos nodded.

“Are you alright?” He asked.

“Hmph, yeah. Scared the shit outta me though…” Honeydew dabbed lightly at the cut on his chest.

“Heroes! Take cover!” Peculier yelled. Not a second later an arrow whizzed over both their heads and landed in the bushes beyond. Xephos and Honeydew scrambled for cover and wound up joining Peculier behind a dislodged segment of the Wall. Arrows bounced off the edge of the Breach with a light clink-clink.

“We must drive him away, quickly!” Peculier said quietly.

“Easier said than done.” Xephos muttered.

“I dunno… He just seems like some asshole with a bow. Doesn’t seem all that tough to me.” Honeydew commented.

Suddenly, a deep, menacing voice taunted from beyond the Wall:

“Are the little ants having fun cowering behind their wall? Hahahahaha!”

“Alright, that’s it!” Honeydew said.

“Honeydew wait!” Xephos called, but the Dwarf had already charged from cover. Xephos stumbled out after him, his sword held out defensively.

Israphel stood on a high dune above them. He lowered his bow a fraction of an inch and smirked at them.

“Now isn’t that much better?”

And then, in a puff of black smoke, he was gone. Not for one second did Xephos believe that he had fled, but the Spaceman still yelped as Israphel appeared beside him, swinging a void-black longsword. Xephos just barely managed to dodge out of the way. He brought his own sword around but the Demon was surprisingly light on his feet and countered the Spaceman’s blow easily.

Honeydew raised his axe and charged. However, the shifting ground beneath his feet slowed him just enough to allow Israphel to sidestep and trip him.

“I’m very disappointed…” The Demon said.

Xephos went for another attack, but Israphel’s inattention was false. He blocked it easily and counterattacked with enough force to knock Xephos’ sword clean from his hand. The Spaceman stumbled backwards, not daring a dive for his weapon. Honeydew was just picking himself up from the sand when Peculier’s voice rang out from behind them.

“Go back to where you came from!”

Israphel vanished, reappearing back on the high dune. Peculier brandished his rapier at the Demon, who glared at it and growled.

“Enjoy that, idiots!” He spat, backing off. Then he was gone. Xephos glanced frantically around, but he didn’t appear again. The Spaceman quickly snatched up his sword and held it close.

“The fuck was that all about? He just up and scarpered!” Honeydew said. “Hey KP, what’d you do?”

Peculier shrugged. “I am not sure - but let us not waste time. We must get to the supply tower as soon as possible lest he returns for another attack!”

The two heroes followed the old Knight to a small room built into the supporting buttress. The door was old and rusted from disuse, but with one good shove it flew open. The trio entered to find a large, wooden chest and a rack full of spare iron pickaxes. Xephos stared at the tiny chest - there was no possible way it contained enough stone to rebuild even a small portion of the wall, let alone a breach of this size. From his expression it was clear that Honeydew was thinking the same thing.

“Uuuh, Peculier? That chest is tiny.” Xephos pointed out. The Knight looked at him and smiled.

“Ah, I assume you thought we would be fixing the breach with cobblestone?” He said.

“Well, yeah. The thing’s made of the stuff, isn’t it?” Honeydew said, crossing his arms.

In response, Peculier bent down and opened the chest’s lid. Instead of stone, it was filled to the brim with a grey, power-like substance. The Knight scooped up a handful and presented it to the two heroes. Honeydew squinted at it.

“Uuuum, no offense but how will that help?” He asked.

“The ancient dwarves of Stoneholm imbued the Wall with a special power that enables it to rebuild itself upon contact with this powder here. We will only need a little, but unfortunately the process is slow and we will have to defend ourselves as it works.”

Xephos raised his eyebrows, impressed. If it worked like Peculier said it would then there must be some serious magic involved.

The three adventurers grabbed one handful each and trekked back over to the Wall. Upon Peculier’s command, they sprinkled the power on a patch of sand approximately where the base of the Wall should be. Xephos and Honeydew watched in wonder as it ate through the sand like acid, burrowing down until it exposed the shattered stone remains. Then, before their eyes, the stone began to grow. Cracks sealed themselves and the stone crawled slowly upwards.

“It would not be wise to get in its way.” Peculier warned. The two heroes scrambled backwards and were surprised to find that not only had the powder destroyed the sand right below it, but had also completely eaten away the overflow to expose the slightly smothered grass beneath.

“Whoa, that’s amazing!” Honeydew exclaimed. “I’ll go grab some more for that other hole!”

With that the Dwarf was off, sprinting back towards the storehouse. Xephos and Peculier patrolled back and forth beside the breach, their swords drawn and eyes alert for any returning dangers.

The Breach had repaired roughly two metres from its bottom when a fork of lightning arched towards the sky from deeper into the desert. All at once the daylight vanished. The once clear blue sky had been replaced with thick covering of swirling black clouds and thunder echoed from above.

For better visibility, Xephos had extended a rope down from the top of the wall and was hanging in the middle. This proved to be a mistake as it rendered him unable to dodge the arrow flying towards him. It struck his left shoulder, causing him to lose his grip on the rope and plummet towards the ground. Thankfully, he had not been lingering too close to the top so the fall was not as bad as it could have been. Nevertheless the impact left him wheezing for breath.

“Xephos!” Honeydew cried, having watched the entire thing from where he was overseeing the second breach. The Dwarf rushed over alongside Peculier.

“Hero, are you alright?” The old Knight asked.

Xephos could only manage a gasp. His hand flew to where the arrow was still imbedded into his shoulder. He was fairly certain it shouldn’t be causing him this much pain, but then again he had never been shot before. The Spaceman gritted his teeth and yanked it out, tossing it to the side.

Honeydew grabbed Xephos’ arm and helped him to his feet. “There ya go buddy.”

“Jesus Christ that hurts!” Xephos exclaimed. “What kind of bow does that guy have?!”

“Incoming!” Peculier exclaimed, pointing towards a short cliff by the storeroom. Both heroes’ heads snapped around to stare at the dark masses spilling up over the ridge. The creatures swarmed towards the trio, their beady red eyes glinting with hunger. Xephos felt Honeydew grab his arm in a crushing grip.

“Spiders! Aaaargh, there’s so many of them! Run!” The Dwarf yelled, dragging Xephos after him as he took off towards the storehouse. They reached it and rushed inside. Honeydew ushered Peculier in before slamming the door shut and blocking it with the chest of powder. Several dull thuds sounded as the spiders threw themselves at the door, but were unable to get inside. Honeydew let out a sigh of relief and leaned back against the wall.

“Heroes, it would be too risky to go back out anytime soon. While we wait for those beasts to retreat, you should tell me what you found in the crumbling ruin.” Peculier suggested.

“Oh... Uuuh, we have some bad news.” Xephos said, talking a seat atop the chest of powder.

“Yeah, Granny’s dead…” Honeydew finished.

“Oh dear, that is very grave news… Anything else?” Peculier asked.

Xephos and Honeydew took turns recounting everything that happened inside the ruin.

“Oh, and I found this!” Honeydew added, pulling the small piece of parchment he had found earlier from his bag and offering it to Peculier, who took it and examined it closely.

“My word, this is a map fragment!” The Knight exclaimed. “However, I cannot tell where it leads. We should show this to my uncle Adaephon.”

“After we finish with the Wall. Er, do you think it’s safe to go back out yet?” Xephos asked. Honeydew pushed himself away from the wall and walked over to the door. Hefting the heavy chest out of the way, he cracked it open and peered through.

“Seems clear…? I mean, there’re still clouds up there but the spiders are gone.” He said, sounding unsure. “Oh, uuuh the Wall seems to have stopped building itself.”

“Really? Let me see.” Xephos said. He shuffled over and awkwardly peered over Honeydew’s head. Indeed, the wall had stopped building and there was another large chunk missing from the bottom. The trio grabbed more powder and cautiously made their way outside. The swarm of spiders was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn’t saying much given the speed at which they appeared in the first place.

Xephos’ rope was still in place. It was a good way up to the top of the completed section, but the Spaceman didn’t fancy being shot off again. His shoulder was sore, but if they wanted this wall reformed he saw no other choice.

Xephos ascended quickly. He crouched atop the rugged cobblestone and peered out over the desert. He scanned the vast dunes, but saw no sign of their attackers. Quickly, he sprinkled some of the powder over the stones and retreated to his rope as the Wall began to rebuild once again. That was when he became aware of the sounds of fighting below.

Looking down he could see that mutant creeper from before facing off against Honeydew and Peculier. Xephos didn’t think that the creature was that tough, but perhaps that was due to his skill with quick strikes - something Honeydew severely lacked. The Dwarf had already sustained a few injuries by the time Xephos had made it to the bottom. The Spaceman took a second to shake out his burning hands before drawing his sword to attack.

Together all three heroes managed to overpower the creature and defeat it. Unlike last time, its body vanished into smoke as it hit the ground. However, the trio barely had time to recover before they were set upon by the hulking zombie they had defeated earlier. It shuffled toward them, hands outstretched. Peculier gestured frantically to Xephos as he and Honeydew engaged the creature.

“Go! Re-light the signal tower, it should drive them back!” Xephos heard the old Knight call. The Spaceman broke away from the battle, albeit unwillingly, and sprinted toward the rope. He wasn’t sure how he was going to light this signal tower, or exactly what it would do, but he trusted that Peculier knew what he was doing.

Xephos reached the top and dragged himself up onto the smooth, stone rampart. He let out an involuntary yelp as an arrow whizzed past his ear. Ducking low he made his way over to the small hut that housed the signal itself and dashed inside. The area was small and held nothing but a large, stone basin containing some simmering coals and a stack of wood. Xephos poked the coals with his sword. They seemed hot enough to start a new fire should they be supplied with adequate fuel. The Spaceman grabbed some chunks of wood from the pile in the corner and wedged them inside the basin. With a little encouragement, flames rose once again.

Xephos was not prepared for the sudden burst of blue flame as the signal tower flared back into life. He stumbled backwards out of the hut, blinking in surprise. The roof seemed to have caught fire, but surely that would only make the tower’s influence stronger. At least, that would be the logic he’d use should Peculier decide to question him.

The smoke from the signal fire had an ethereal air about it. Before Xephos’ eyes the thick cover of black clouds began to break up and fade. In no time the bright afternoon sun was beating down anew. The Spaceman looked down off the Wall. He just barely caught a glimpse of something black darting off deeper into the desert. Deciding his job was done, Xephos descended to where Honeydew and Peculier were recovering after their battle.

The old Knight shielded his eyes with his hand and squinted upward. “The signal tower doesn’t have to be that bright!”

“Look, I don’t consider myself to be an expert in starting fires. In fact, because-” Xephos was halfway though his sentence before he realised that Peculier was laughing. He gave both heroes a good-natured thump on the back.

“Excellent work you two!”

***

The sun was setting by the time the wall finished rebuilding. Xephos and Honeydew were sitting in the shade of the signal tower, carving many games of tic-tac-toe into a spare log. Peculier stood examining the new section of the Wall. After a few minutes he caught the two heroes’ attention.

“We are safe, for now. Come, we should return to Adaephon.” He called. Xephos and Honeydew quickly finished their last game, which the latter triumphantly won, and tossed the log aside. They rushed to catch up with Peculier, who had already started off towards Verigan’s Hold. The Desert to their right gave off an eerie glow in the dying light, and Xephos was suddenly glad that they had been as successful as they were in fixing the Wall.

“Hey Peculier, how far does this wall go?” He asked.

“It goes as far as the horizon and many miles more.” The Knight answered thoughtfully.

Soon the group reached where the Wall sloped harshly downward to meet with the Hold. They half walked, half slid down it and jogged onto the gritty stone rooftop. They took the steps down and soon emerged into the main foyer of the Hold. Templar Adaephon sat in a plush green armchair, a book in his hands. He hadn’t noticed the trio enter and jumped slightly when Peculier addressed him.

“Welcome back! I’m glad you still live. Is that awful breach mended?” Adaephon asked.

“Yep! Any reward you might have would be nice.” Honeydew said.

“Honeydew!” Xephos smacked his friend on the arm. Adaephon chuckled, but it sounded slightly clipped as he turned back to Peculier.

“Bold Knight Peculier, do you feel it?” He asked.

“I do. The presence under the Desert…” Peculier responded, His expression growing thoughtful. Xephos and Honeydew shared a look. “Presence?” the Dwarf mouthed incredulously. Xephos bit his lip. He could hope, but there was a very low chance of it being anything but an evil presence, especially under a desert like that…

While they were distracted, Peculier and Adaephon were engaged in conversation. The two heroes re-joined in time to hear Adaephon finish with:

“-But without the map, we are lost…”

Peculier lit up. Digging around in his pocket he extracted the map fragment and handed it to the Templar.

“Fortunately we have two heroes with us, who seem to hold on to a lot of stuff.” He said. Adaephon’s eyes widened as he scanned the fragment.

“T-this is it! This is the map - but this is barely a quarter. Where is the rest? And may I ask where in the world you found this?” He asked.

“I found it in the ruin by Mistral.” Honeydew stated proudly.

“Interesting, but we will need to find the rest if we are to even stand a chance…” Adaephon said, handing the fragment back to Peculier. Both Xephos and Honeydew groaned; great, a fetch quest.

“Where do you suggest we look?” Peculier asked.

“I do not know, I thought that it was lost forever! Though, perhaps someone much older and wiser than I will have the answers you seek…” Adaephon said.

“Who is that old and, uuh, wise?”

Adaephon shook his head. “I would suggest the great Grand Magus Jellop Hanes or Arch Warlock Bimple, but I’m not sure if they still live…”

“What about Fumblemore?” Honeydew piped up suddenly.

“Fumblemore?!” Adaephon spluttered a laugh. “That mad idiot would be absolutely no help. His brain’s gone softer than jelly!”

“Hey! That ‘mad idiot’ saved Peculier’s life!” Honeydew shot back, seething. Even Xephos, who never took a great liking to Fumblemore, found himself rubbed the wrong way. Adaephon held up his hands in surrender.

“Alright, perhaps he’s regained some of his sense then.”

“That’s right…” Honeydew muttered, crossing his arms.

“As much as I would like to return to our quest as soon as possible, I think it’s best if we rest here for the night.” Peculier said, adding. “If that’s alright with you, uncle…?”

“Verigan’s Hold is open to all who need it. The guest quarters are just up those steps there.” Adaephon said, pointing towards a staircase opposite to the one which they had descended earlier. “And while you’re here, feel free to fix yourselves up a little.”

Xephos was suddenly very aware of how he and Honeydew must look, standing there all scratched and dirty from their travels. The Spaceman smiled and nodded thankfully. Grabbing Honeydew’s arm, he dragged them both toward the guest quarters. Peculier stayed behind to exchange a few words with his uncle before following them up.