There are two towers. After a climb of over 1000 steps you find yourself in the first. It contains a small chamber with a mechanism that might once have worked a clock face. You remember that the clock faces you have seen have no hands. The mechanism is rusted stiff with age.

Sitting there trying to persuade your legs to revert to something other than jelly a sort of low groan emerges as another part of the mechanism, that presumably does function, tries to get the old workings to move. Had this noise been audible in the cathedral it would be very disturbing (it certainly disturbs you all) but sadly it is not. As you go on sitting you hear it regularly and stop worrying about it.

After a considerable time you manage to regain enough leg power to contemplate moving back to the cathedral floor.

There is a similar tower on the other side. It means going down and up.

When you finally crawl back to the floor, abused muscles screaming at you, the place is deserted (you cannot in fact see all the way to the back but the absence of light from there is suggestive of emptiness). You hear faintly but distinctly the sound of a plate falling onto a floor. It is impossible to identify the direction of the sound.

Lurel groans.

"Who built these things? If Avelyssians can fly, what do they need steps for?"

He tries to massage the cramps out of his leg muscles, and grimaces.

"I suppose we might as well sit here and wait, rather than run off into the darkness, and risk getting separated. And we could all use the rest, I think."

At a sudden noise, he looks up sharply. "What was that? Sounded like someone dropping a plate - but we've been told there is no one here! You don't suppose - " he looks at the others - "there could be a portal here, and the sounds we can hear are coming through it? Maybe that's how the alien magic entered Avelyssia..."

A faint 'ching' as of a piece of cutlery hitting the ground can also be heard. It sounds as if it is coming from behind a wall.

OOC> Back Monday, have a good weekend y'all!

Ford almost collapses at the bottom of the stairs once they come out of the first tower.

"Urgh... that was torture."

At the sudden sound of plate and cutlery dropping he jumps out of his skin and starts looking frantically around the room.

"Could there be a secret door here somewhere??"

Lisette picks up Ford's skin, and hands it back to him.

"Where there was food, there should be fire." Lisette says. She attempts to detect whether there's a fire behind the wall.

"Princess, do you know anything about the layout of this place?" Lurel asks. "We haven't seen any rooms off this passage - yet there must be some space on the other side of those walls. How are those spaces accessed?"

He nods to Lisette.

"Good idea, checking for fire - though if that banquet is made up of nuts and fruit then they might not have any need for fire."

He walks over to the wall, and places his hands and forehead against it. If it is made from stone, then perhaps he will be able to detect a hidden opening.

"Dont worry about the sounds" Siffli say, "One of the reason to the name of this building is the strange sounds, but nothing more than sounds, really".

Lurel and Lisette cannot sense anything where they are currently standing. Lurel gets an uneasy feeling that there is something not too far away that should not be there. None of the others can feel it.

"There's something... wrong... here," Lurel says softly. "I can't tell what it is... but it just feels... wrong."

He begins the partial lycanthropic transformation that will heighten his senses, but leaves his shape unchanged. He lets his new, heightened, senses sweep the room, trying to get a better idea where this strange thing is.

If this does not tell him anything, he begins to search the room methodically, stopping every few paces to try and learn something - anything - from the stone walls and even the floor.

//OOC - where abouts in this cathedral is the group?//

Siffli looks at Lurel, "what are you talking about? There is nothing here, no one has ever found something, dont worry".

"Don't worry about it?" Lurel asks, incredulous. "For someone whose own father is being driven insane by alien magic, you're remarkably unconcerned about this!"

He continues his search, but wonders:
'Perhaps this is similar to Levdia.. perhaps something here is conditioning the Avelyssians not to notice anything unusual here.'

OOC> You have just come down a tower, they are not far in from the door so neither are you. If you intend to explore further back you'll need light.

Lurel finds that his heightened senses actually have the opposite effect here. Whatever it is that troubles him is more closely felt as a wizard than a wolf. This pretty much tells him that magic is what is out of place here. He has not sensed magic anywhere else in Avelyssia apart from on Xetcherin. The Avelyssians have no magic other than the inherent skill of telekinesis. And yet it is magic that prevents the keeper escaping and there was magic affecting the path through Levdia.

Lurel reverses the partial transformation, and the sense of something that shouldn't be there increases again.

"Whatever is at work here is some kind of magic," Lurel remarks. "Princess, can you tell us any stories or legends connected with magic in Avelyssia? Even children's rhymes.. anything that might give us a clue. And..." he pauses briefly - "what can you tell us of Anima - the one who helped us get through the maze?"

Without waiting for Siffli's answer, he turns to Lisette.
"We're going to need some light to see where we are going - do you think you could use your fire magic for that?"

With a grimace, he turns to the others. "Looks like we could have saved ourselves that little detour to the top of the tower.... there's something here, and I'd rather find it before it finds us. Coming?"

"I-I'll come with... I just hope we're not in over our heads here..."

Ford follows Lurel.

"Ok, I follow. I guess it couldn't hurt".

Siffli thinks: magic? what is this... No-one has ever sensed something like this before...

"I don't know more about anima then you do, sorry"

OOC> Excuse me assuming Lisette will join you but just to move it along:-

As the light illuminates more of the inside of the place you become aware of how vast and empty it is. About two thirds of the way along, two shallow transcepts open off to the sides. Both are empty. The one closer to where you are standing is noticeably shallower than the one opposite. From outside every cathedral you have seen has been perfectly symmetrical. If anything is concealed this would be the obvious place and yet the wall looks and feels just like the rest of the building.

Bearing in mind the kind of magic used elsewhere (such as on the way to Avelyssia) it may be that an alternative approach is needed to find out if the wall is really there.

First off, I assume Lisette successfully made a fireglobe-thingy?

Lisette dabs a small portion of her light onto her spear (Think that's the current form). She then (attempts) to tap it against the wall...

"Ford, do you still have your piece of straw?" Lurel asks. "If the wall is an illusion, maybe the noise from that straw can shatter it."

Lisette's magical dagger passes through the wall a short way then stops. When she tries the same exercise on another wall it does not go through at all.

Lurel watches Lisette's spear pass through the wall with interest.

"So this wall is an illusion," he remarks. "The question is - how can we break it?"

He attempts to use his earth magic against the illusion of a wall, but is not hopeful that it will work.

'After all, if it is an illusion it isn't real stone... so it probably won't work... but I won't know until I've tried it.'

The attempt to use Earth magic on the wall does not work as Lurel expected. The illusion vanishes to show a new wall like the outside of a normal house. The door is thrown open and a woman comes running out of it in a fury.

You recognise the woman who called herself Anima.

"You impudent fools. What right do you have to blunder into my private dwelling and destroy the protection of millennia? You had better have a very, very good reason on you'll be turned into insects and fed to the Avelyssians forthwith."

She is quivering with indignation and red enough to be considered to match a boiled lobster in colour!

"We are looking for an escaped sorcerer, and were told you might have information on his whereabouts."

Lisette slowly steps apart from the group, in case she needs swinging room. (I am NOT readying my spear!)

"Who told you? Nobody knows I am here. And you will not be leaving in a hurry."

You are all pulled forwards and the illusory wall snaps back with you inside it. Your weapons have become too heavy to lift. Attempts to reach for magic cause head ache. None of your skills or abilities works. This woman has a frightening amount of magical power. And Anger will not avail you. After all, she does have a point!

Siffli turnes to Anima,

"Your 'fake' Shaura told us, and you better release us right now!"

Anima laughs. "I don't think I'm going to release YOU ever."

Lurel sighs.

"I don't even want to pretend that I understand what's going on," he says to Anima. "My friends and I - we're like pieces on a gameboard - and we're not only not allowed to know the rules, we're not even allowed to see the board. That's how it feels - to me, anyway. I never asked to be involved in all of this - but now that I am, and that my friends are, I'm doing my best to do what I'm supposed to.. even though I'm usually not even sure what that is.
All I know is that Zorlon is in danger, and that somehow, my friends and I here are some of the people who are meant to avert this danger. We had tasks to do on Levdia... but in searching for them we were brought here. You know that - we've met you before. You tested us, and let us pass.
You helped us again in the maze - did you need us to restore Mara's grave? Was it your voice I heard in my dream, that told me to ask about the Keeper?
As I said - I do not know what is going on... I just have a feeling that it is all connected. It's not pleasant, stumbling around in the dark, being guided by intuition alone because we do not know what it is we're meant to do, or where to go. It's even less pleasant when some power or other feeds us clues which land us in danger.
We are here because a dream told me to ask about the Keeper. That's all I know. And I think that this 'Keeper' and perhaps you, too, are connected with the danger Zorlon is in. I don't know whose side you're on - but I think you, at least, can see the gameboard. Perhaps you even know some of the rules. More than we do."

He takes a deep breath.

"I think you know far better than we do why we are here. Will you tell us? Please?"

Anima shakes her head. "Yes, I helped you through the maze. I am aware of the impact of the magic of Kellimond in Avelyssia and wanted it stopped as you have done. You will find that the colonies will slowly return to being at peace with each other. But it was not me that told you of the keeper."

She stares at you. "You had better come in."

She leads you into the house. It is very beautiful with vases of fresh flowers much in evidence. She takes you into what seems to be the room she lives in which is less tidy and has a far more comfortable feel.

"I don't know why you think I have more knowledge than you other than perhaps of the effect of the magic locally. I know nothing of Levdia."

Her eyes dwell for some time on Midge. She almost tears her eyes away from him.

"Ask your questions. There may be things I will not tell you but let us see. There may also be something you can do for me."

"What can you tell us of Kellimond and its magic?" Lurel asks. "Can you guess what their intentions are? And what is it we can do for you?"

"Why did you wait to release the Keeper now, as it seems you didn't even need the key? Or were you only able to once Kellimond's influence was banished?"

Ford looks around the house, slightly miffed at being taken captive by something once again. He looks at Anima.

"Do you intend to keep us here against our will? We've already been betrayed by the Avelyssians once..."

"A lot of question!"

She indicates that you should sit.

"I know nothing of Kellimond besides what I am told by one who lives outside of Avelyssia. We speak through mind contact. His name is Anromainyus. You will not know him. I am not sure he knows much but he seems to know a little. He is not a man you would want to know."

There is a strange edge to her voice when she speaks the name - anger, despair, fear, hatred it is hard to tell. Her eyes linger on Midge again as she speaks the name as if she can see someone or something in Midge's place.

"He believes that both Zorlon and Kellimond are being used as pawns in an attempt to annihilate all life on both worlds but this is I am sure only a guess. He does not know the truth nor has he any idea who the motivators might be."

She turns to Lisette. "I have not released the Keeper. He is here unable to escape from Avelyssia any more easily. Why have I taken him? Because of the key that materialised in Mara's tomb. Who put it there? Why? Again I have no knowledge but I have theories. If you wish to hear them I will tell you. And perhaps you should hear them if you are to help me."

To Ford she adds. "I will not keep you here on two conditions. Firstly you must swear not to mention my existence to Avelyssia. I know that you are honourable and will accept your word. The second is that you will at least try to help me. My problem is with Anromainyus."

Lurel pales.

"Anromainyus," he mutters. "Him again."

He looks at Anima. "I've met him. I don't trust him." His gaze lingers briefly on Midge, before he returns his attention to Anima.

"Please tell us your theories - and of Anromainyus' involvement. And the problem you have with him."

"You've MET him! That means you have been to the realm of the undead!" She holds up a vial of liquid as if as a ward. "You say you do not trust him but perhaps he is using you to make sure I still do his bidding. I need time to let my magic check this. I will return tomorrow. In the meantime you may help yourself to whatever food and drink you need. Do not experiment with the potions. Some would kill you."

Anima vanishes.

You see in the room behind her a well-stocked kitchen with food and drink of the kind you are used to. Otherwise you have to wait for Anima to return.

Some of the others may have questions to ask Lurel!

Unsuprisingly, Lisette begins examining the potions...nothing like a warning to spark interest! She then looks for a piece of fruit.

"Lurel..and Midge, I think? What can you tell us about this Anro-whosiwhat?"

"Very little, infact less than that. I have not spoken to him in some time."
He pauses

"When I was young, well, younger, he used to tell me things. I was never really sure who he was, why he did it, or if he was just a figment of my imagination."

"I would rather not think about him," Lurel says. "He is the ruler of the undead, and has spoken to me, too - as a voice in my head - but I was never quite sure what his motives are."

Abruptly, he changes the topic.

"Look at that kitchen... I think we deserve a good meal, don't you? Let's cook a nice meal while we have the chance!"

Given free access to the well-stocked kitchen you can cook and eat whatever you want, within reason. Bloated and a little drunk with wine you fall asleep.

Lisette drops one of the potions, accidentally inhales the noxious fumes and blacks out before she has a chance to eat and is therefore ravenous when she wakes. The others check to ensure she is not dead (isn't she lucky!) but keep away from the spilt liquid.

When they awaken, Anima has returned. She is none to pleased with Lisette.

"That was concentrated and should have served as a basis for 400 sleeping draft potions. FORTUNATELY the ingredients are readily available. If you had dropped this one," Anima waves a vial, "you would have been searching Zorlon's seas for sixty pink pearls!"

She glances at Lurel. "You and the child are infected but only physically. Your minds are free of the man. Firstly you should know this. I must do whatever Anromainyus asks of me. His plans I do not know but they are assuredly evil. It is my belief that he can be defeated and whilst I dare not turn against him I can sometimes interfere to some small extent."

She looks away. "There is so much to say about him. Where can I start?"

She sits at the table beside you. "He was once like all of us, simply a very powerful mage. He and his brothers dabbled in the black arts. Now Anromainyus is ruler of the undead and all but immortal. But he is not undead and remains immortal only as long as his physical being remains in the timeless citadel where he exists. He communicates telepathically as you doubtless know."

She hits the table. "If I could but... I do not know this for a fact but I believe he achieved his position by cheating his brothers and that they could be the cause of his undoing. The brothers were Shaura, Darendor and Daro. The first two were as evil as Anromainyus. Of the last I do not know. He was very much younger - well, it is all a theory."

She pauses. "I began to feel uneasy. I do not know why but I felt that Anromainyus had suborned another Avelyssian to his cause and one at a very senior level, a member of the council of judges. The intention, I am sure was to take Shaura out of the safe area and send him insane. If I am right this would go a long way to rendering Anromainyus invulnerable. I could not permit that. As a short term expedient I swapped Shaura for a double and influenced the mind of the King so he seems to be mad. Without the King, the council is largely inoperative. Someone must be very unhappy at the situation. The question is who? Finding that who is what you can do for me."

This time there is a long wait but you know there is more to come. Finally with a sigh she concludes: "I have given most of my years to saving Avelyssia from many disasters although they know nothing of me. You see I was the one who brought Shaura to the people of Uxenitza in the first place."

She sits back waiting for the response.

Lurel is silent for a long while before he speaks.

"Why?" he asks simply. "Why did you bring Shaura to Uxenitza? Who are you, Anima? Why must you do what Anromainyus tells you - you don't look like one of his undead."

He sighs.

"I have even more questions now, but I suppose what matters is finding out who that person on the council is. Whoever it is must have been the one to place the key in Mara's grave... so they would have needed access to the key, and the tomb. But what does Kellimond have to do with it - were Anromainyus and his helper simply taking advantage of the situation created by the presence of the alien magic?"

Anima stares at Midge long and hard.

"I am a Mind wizard. I lived in El Rhun many years ago before women were banned. I married a prominent and immensely powerful member of the school of Water. Then women were made to leave. We knew of four dimensions. We guessed there might be others but I was heavily pregnant and did not want to spend time travelling. My husband and I went to Jourtres. I gave birth to Lazulo. Almost at once my husband complained that the climate was not good for a baby. I disagreed. But - Water wizards are devious and slippery. One night he abducted Lazulo and I have never seen them since."

She is a long way away from the room you are in. Lost in the past.

"I was frantic with grief. Anromainyus, ever smiling, the perfect friend, offered to help me. He had the financial resources and the ability to mobilise investigations in several counties at once. I could only ever trail from town to town asking questions. Since I couldn’t hide, Lazulo would never have been where I was. He asked if I could do him a favour in exchange. He wanted to know if there was any large city in Jourtres near enough isolated from the rest of the country. His brother, he said, wished to study a society that had developed in isolation within a populous country. Jourtres, with its impenetrable jungles, had to be the ideal place to start looking. He was happy to give me funds to so. What else could I do? I needed his help. While he sought my baby, I made my way to the heart of the country and discovered Uxenitza. I needed him to be able to contact me with news at any time. I taught him how to mind link and gave him several of my spells. Although I was not completely sure about him, I could not see what advantage he could gain from tricking me. Any mother would have acted in the same way. And it had all the marks of being an even-handed bargain. He was spending money but I was facing the humidity, the diseases and the dangers of the jungle."

She stops to gather her thoughts.

"Shaura, the brother Anromainyus had referred to, arrived in Uxenitza and the city’s fate was sealed. I had no reason to suspect his real intentions at first. By the time I saw what he was doing it was too late. But I stayed on, trying to find a way to help the suffering people. That was when Anromainyus revealed his true face. Foolishly I could not believe he either knew about or supported what his brother was doing. I sought his aid to have the whole thing stopped."

She is suddenly fiercely angry.

"That family! They are all as bad. Anromainyus showed me visions of my boy. He was about your age." She nodded at Midge. "They could have been illusions but my husband was in them and the boy did look like both of us. I was sure they were real. He told me my son now had a new life in the name of Riff. He was safe and happy and would stay that way as long as I did what I was asked to do."

Anima smashes her hand down hard on the table, setting the crockery rattling and knocking a fork to the floor.

"What could I do? At first, before his true nature became apparent, he told me to write notes for Lazulo. He smuggled them to him. He got replies too. Perhaps he wrote them himself! Is my son still alive? If he is, and I must hope so, his life hangs by the thread of my co-operation to Anromainyus. Now can you see why I do what I am told?"

She pauses again, this time you sense she is making a decision.

"Listen. I will let Avelyssia know that the real Shaura is missing. This will unite the colonies more closely. They will blame you and so I will not do it until after you leave. If there are things you would do before that please make haste. You may speak to the real Shaura if you have the stomach for it and help with the council if you think you can. I am afraid I will not lift the King's madness until the traitor is unmasked. I will mix some potions that will give you extra magical power, Lurel, while you are doing this. I do not think I can tell you more that will be of use to you but before you leave remind me to tell you about Anromainyus's other advisors. There are three of us."

She looks at Midge again. "Do you need more from me?"

OOC> I was going to PM this but it seems better to add here. All of you except Siffli have heard of Riff although none of you has met him. He has been interreacting with a different group of your colleagues. For the purposes of this RPG confine the knowledge to the fact that he is alive, in the dimension of Bashkher, and he appears to be your enemy (he has kidnapped two of your colleagues for reasons you don't fully understand). Riff has no part to play in the RPG unless you can use this info with Anima. She is on your side at the moment so don't alienate her.

Ford looks to Lurel and blinks.

"You know the leader of the undead? How did that happen?"

After everyone has rested and Anima is finished explaining things to him he looks pondersome.

"Well... thanks for the information. That certainly makes things clearer..."

He waits for Lurel or someone else to speak before he says anything more.

"Anromainyus," Lurel mutters, "uses people. I don't know what he wants from us. But I'd like to help stop him... for what he did or tried to do to us, and to you, Anima. It can't be that hard to identify the traitor on the council - Siffli, can you think of anything about any of the council members that doesn't feel quite right? Something you can't quite put your finger on, but that makes you uneasy?"

He looks at Anima. "We will help you, if we can. But first - you mentioned advisors. What can you tell us about them?"

"That was ages ago, surely your husband and son are no longer living? Even if you still receive visions, is there any way to tell *when* they are? It seems that it would be wise to distrust anything he tells you."

Lisette picks up the fork, and replaces it on the table.

Ford gives Lisette a light jab in the ribs with his elbow and mutters.

"Lisette, be nice."

This is obviously over her complete lack of tact.

"Well, there are seven counsil-members, but I don't know so much about them. I have never heard anything suspicius... so I don't know if I can help there"...

"Wizards can live for a very long time, Lisette." Lurel says softly. For a moment he hesitates, as if to say more, but then he shrugs, and turns to Siffli.

"You're the Princess - there must be something you know! Perhaps if you started by telling us what you know of the council members?"

"Well, I've met Eghlette, Cro-Chuff, and Archivist, but I have never talked to the other four". Siffli says, "But I can't think of anyone suspicius... They all seems to be 'good'"...

Lurel sighs.

"Let's go and talk to the councillors, then. Maybe I can use my empathy skill on them, and perhaps that will tell us a bit more. Princess, who among the councillors had access to the parts of the key, and to the necropolis, to plant the key in Mara's grave?"

Siffli:

"In theory not one of them can get access alone but if they have new magic from this Anromainyus - who knows? "

"Eghlette, Cro-Chuff and Archivist are key holders, that's why I know them a bit"

"To visit them we will need approval from Archivist who is leader of the committee of Judges"

"Can you get us an audience with the Archivist then?" Lurel asks. "I presume it shouldn't be too difficult?"

He turns to Anima.

"You said you've caused the king's madness, to keep the council inoperative. Was this before or after the war between the colonies started? I'm wondering if perhaps the traitor seeks to gain something for his or her colony by this?"

He shrugs. "Just something else to be considered, I suppose."

Anima believes the events occurred at around the same time. She removes the wall that holds you in and you head for Archivist. She is a Raphidian but the only one of that kind still alive. She has a room at the back of the archives. She is short and squat and plain in dull brown colours.

She shows no interest in why you want to see the other council members and gives you the necessary passes.

Lurel's attempt at empathy gives only a vague sense that she is achingly lonely.

She says. "If you want any sense you'll stick to me or Steno. She keeps the records of the meetings. Can I tell you anything?"