"Aye, the eternals be turnin away any others of their kind, or trying to take them prisoner if'n they'ze women" Jonas the bartender said. It had only taken a couple minutes of talking before the man began to open up, and this last bit of information was more than worth it. The small village we stopped in was supposed to be a half days ride from the capital, so a good point to gather whatever information we could. The locals always seemed to have useful data, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"The city guards allow it?"

Jonas shook his head no as an old farmer sitting beside me said "Nah, the bastards be waitin at ta bridge what crosses ta Farguard river, not ta city gates. Ta Cursed Ones don't be botherin regular folk, only other eternals"

"Usually three of em" Jonas said, pausing to refill the farmers mug at my gesture "though I've heard tell they've had four or five at times" he shrugged as he slid the full mug to the old man, then added "have to cross the river if'n you're coming from the west, so good spot to do their foul deeds"

"Couple a em warrior types and a Mage most times" the farmer said, toasting me with his mug.

"Sounds like someone decided to get organized" Maria said from behind me. I hadn't heard her join us, and from the way the farmer jumped and scowled at her, neither had he. I smiled at the old guy and said "My friend Maria has a good heart and does that to tease me. I'm sure she'll be happy to buy us both another drink to help slow our hearts" Maria stuck her tongue out at me, getting a chuckle from Jonas and a grin from the farmer, who said "Twern't fright got me heart beatin so hard, was the elf lasses beauty dontcha know"

"Rightfully so, and well said you handsome human you" Maria said with a giggle and slap to my shoulder "pay attention Jake, this is a very wise man"

The old guy cackled a burst of laughter, but returned to our previous conversation with "Aye, they'ze organizing. Heard tell them eternals in the city be tryin ta meet wit the empress herself, though that be just words"

"Empress?" I asked in confusion, getting a sigh from Maria as she said "Geez Jake, do you even live in this world? The empress is the emperor of the empire" a giggle followed before she said "Equal opportunity empire dontcha know"

"Lass is right" Jonas said "First emperor Romar said his daughter would be emperor after himself and people sort of stuck with that and started using the two titles interchangeable like. Imperial family don't get seen much 'cept for special days, so only a few have met with empress Solain, and I don't think she would meet with a bunch of filthy eternals" he paused and blushed slightly at Maria's grin, then added "Present company excepted"

Maria ended up sitting and chatting with the two men while I went over to talk with Dalmar, Sienna, Ariel, Susan, and Mirabeth. They had a couple of tables and we're having a relaxed conversation over a meal.

"What did you find out?" Susan asked.

"The eternals in the capital have started organizing" I said, frowning as I considered the ramifications "They're waylaying other eternals who try to enter"

Dalmar looked the group over, then gave his own shrug before saying "Not something we need to worry about"

"No, but I'm thinking we need to see what they're really about here" I answered slowly, my mind still running options "It might be better to offer them some bait and let them show where they stand, then see if we can determine who's part of the cursed and who's not. I'm not sure how helpful the empire will be, so having them attack us makes things pretty straightforward"

"Mairisian is a huge place and they have a couple hundred eternals spawning there" Dalmar said, he paused, then added "Most of them won't be in the city. Safer to stay away from other eternals, so usually just the bad ones left hanging around, though I expect we'll find more than a few of the eternals being held captive"

"Not for long" Susan put in, her voice calm, but very serious. Mirabeth nodded as Ariel gave a hard grin and added "Sounds like it needs Telina's gentle touch"

Maria joined us as we were discussing ways and means of invading an eternal held city, and as she flopped into the seat next to me, told us "According to Brin, the Mage at the bridge is a lightning elemental and he uses a chain lightning attack that either kills eternals outright, or stuns them long enough for the Warriors to finish them off"

"Perfect" I said to myself, then added as everyone looked at me "They have a big hitter, so their plans are built around him softening us up. It's like the heavy machine gun in an ambush, you use it to inflict maximum damage in a short time, but if you lose it..." I grinned as I nodded at Ariel. Maria's laugh followed a second later and she said "oh man, can I be part of the bait"

It was kind of scary how quickly Maria grasped what I was thinking. Unfortunately for her the group decided she was to well known and decided this would be a good opportunity for Ariel and Sienna to step up. I had been thinking Ariel and Mirabeth actually, but realized Sienna might actually be better in a small group battle.

We rode out early the next morning with Ariel, Sienna and me leading the others by a good thirty minutes. Ariel had a small grin of anticipation, but Sienna looked nervous and kept biting her lower lip, so I finally said "The others aren't far behind us, so the worst that will happen is we find ourselves back home, and that's not a bad thing in my mind. Concentrate on taking out the Mage and let Ariel handle the rest. There's no eternal around that you can't kill with your magic missiles Sienna, no matter how high a level"

"Yeah, I know" she sighed "it's just..." Her hand kind of waved aimlessly for a second before she added "it's hard to believe we're really safe"

"You are" I said "anything ever happens you can send a message to me and I'll come find you, but you won't need it. Like I said, you could probably kill a dragon, so none of the eternals will ever be a serious threat"

Her and Ariel chatted after that and I was happy to have some alone time. I liked everyone in our group, but being around people, even ones I liked, got tiring after a while. We eventually topped a hill and saw the capital, Mairisian for the first time. It looked like it originally started as a large castle on a flat topped hill, then had a city grow in a circle around it. The hill was about five hundred feet high, and the castle was set in the center on a quarter mile wide section on top. A wall ringed the peak and a six story castle with two towers sat in the middle. I could see a road winding around the steep hill up to the castle walls, and decided it would be a serious undertaking for someone to capture that castle. The city itself formed a couple mile diameter circle around the base of the hill, with another, thirty foot wall enclosing the whole thing. The city sat in the middle of a flat plain that had a river running north-south on our side about a mile from the walls, effectively forming another barrier from attacks from the east. The road we were on led to a flat, stone bridge that had a constant flow of traffic going both directions. The road led to a large gate at the city wall, but it also curved around to follow the wall around both directions. We topped the hill a good mile from the bridge, but my improved half-elven vision showed me a group of empire soldiers standing on the west side, and three people standing in a group to the side of the road on the east side of the bridge.

Neither woman had any comments as we rode down the hill, though Sienna was clutching her staff with white knuckles and Ariel had a predatory smile that wouldn't have looked out of place on a tiger.

The three eternals were two warriors and a Mage, just like Jonas had said. The Mage was a male elf wearing a good robe and holding an expensive looking staff, while sporting the name Elrond Everflame. His companions were both wearing heavy chain mail and accoutrements and holding two handed swords. Danny DeathDealer and Warren were the names they were showing, making me realize Dalmar's comment about the people being sent here being less than the brightest bulbs in the box, was truer than I thought. The Warriors stepped in front of us and Danny held up a hand as he said "Loser and the losettes, our lucky day"

I did a face palm, absolutely appalled that I was involved in this farce. Hadn't these guys ever read a story or watched a movie where the overconfident bad guys got their asses kicked after standing around talking to their victims? I mumbled to myself "I think I lost a couple of intelligence points just from hearing that"

Ariels laugh reminded me a little of Maria's, and I was grinning as I looked up at the two dead men. They were both glaring at me as Warren said "You're going to lose more than that in a minute"

Sienna shocked all of us by bursting into a series of uncontrolled giggles as she waved a hand at me and said "Oh my god..." Giggle, gasp, wave "It's like..." Giggle "a...a Monty Python movie!" her "It's only a flesh wound!" came out a little garbled from the laughter.

All three of us were laughing when the Mage hit us with the Lightning. This was my first exposure outside of that one trap, and I thought the special effects were really kind of cool. Jagged bolts of electricity arced from his spread fingers to reach the three of us, rippling and jumping as they hit. Unfortunately for Elrond, Ariel's shield spell, cast earlier, caused the Lightning to stop about an inch from our skin and do absolutely no damage. Doubly unfortunate for him was the fact my defensive aura still worked and Elrond took a good hit of reflected damage that knocked him on his ass.

The goober brothers were staring at us in shock as Ariel slipped off her horse, set her shield, and pulled her hammer before attacking them. Sienna had her right hand up as she said the words to the missile spell, and five glowing bolts streaked out to slam into the Mage, who was just now trying to sit up. The bolts caused him to let out a yell of pain, a yell that got cut off when he crumbled to ash.

Ariel was grinning as she attacked the two warriors, moving like a dancer as she blocked with her shield, or hit them with her hammer. The two were now showing level 17 and 19, so they weren't push overs, and we're doing damage in return. I cast a quick heal spell on Ariel as Sienna did the motions for her vine spell.

"What the hell?" Danny yelled as he saw Ariel glow from my spell and sixty points of damage get healed. Warren had just taken a shield to the face, so didn't offer an opinion as Sienna finished her spell. The vines burst upward to clamp onto both men, and Sienna and I just sat and watched as Ariel focused on Danny, beating him mercilessly with the Claw, flames flaring up at each point of impact. Danny disappeared as the spell faded, and Warren tried to run as soon as he was released. Ariel just nodded at Sienna and I, so Sienna sent a pack of missiles that knocked Warren down, and then killed him with a follow up missile spell. I thought the missile spell was pretty cool, the bright white spikes of light kind of swooping and twisting like a flock of birds as they followed their target, impacting with little flashes of light.

"What a bunch of morons" Sienna said disgustedly

Ariel hung her shield and hammer before climbing back on her horse, then said "Stupid to try that when the odds were even and they didn't know anything about us"

"It must have been working for them or they would have been doing something else" I said as we rode past the large group of locals standing on the bridge, staring at us "Definitely dumb, but even idiots change tactics after being killed a couple of times"

An imperial squad of six soldiers were manning the far side of the bridge, and the squad leader signaled for us to stop as we reached them. I slid off my horse, not wanting to tower over the man, and said "Good morning. My friends and I are here at Telina's will to bring some order to the chaos of the Cursed Ones"

"Loser Dragonsbane" the squad leader said, giving me a nod of greeting "you are known to us, both through the minstrels tale and by imperial messages. The Imperial governor has requested that you meet with him at your pleasure"

"Of course. There are a considerable number of things Telina has tasked me with, so it is a gracious offer on the governor's part. I have friends arriving soon, so thought to wait with you and your men if that was not inconvenient?"

He looked Ariel and Sienna over for a moment, then signaled for his men to relax as he took his helmet off and said "I would like that. It would be good to hear the tale of the dragon's fall from those involved"

I delayed the tale until Dalmar's group arrived, then cajoled Maria into telling it. She started with "Any successful adventure requires the presence of an elf maiden of great beauty and intelligence, so this one was blessed from the start..." And got more interesting from there. Squad leader Armond and his men were laughing by the time she actually told them about the fight, and how the priest acquired the name 'Dragon chew toy', and they gave her a cheer when she ended with "And that's the tale of Maria Dragonsbane and her homies"

Dalmar was chuckling as he stood beside me and said "You should have known that was coming" I shrugged and laughed at the guards clustered around Maria, then told Dalmar "Nah, this was good. This world needs someone to make it a little brighter and no one is better at that than her"

Armond left his men with Maria and came over to say "A pleasant telling and one that few will have the opportunity to hear, as hearing the tale told by the Laughing Ranger is something that will surely be a rare thing. Governor Elistar does not reside in the imperial castle, so you will need to go to the Governor's mansion on the north side of the city"

We exchanged a couple of polite words, then I got my gaggle in saddles and headed to the city. The odd way people knew things here showed when the gate guards just gave me a respectful nod and waved us through the gates.

"You sure you weren't a politician in the other world?" Dalmar asked as we passed through the gates "Imperial city guards being nice to eternals is a very unusual thing"

"Let's not be throwing insults around" I said "Telina's rule makes it work. I treat them the way I want them to treat me. This world is different than the other one in that the people are naturally nice unless you are rude to them, so if it weren't for the stupid asshole eternals, this would be paradise" I sounded a little angry by the end of that, so I gave everyone a shrug and added "or at least that's my opinion"

"I like that you guys don't stink after riding all day" Maria said with a laugh "could you imagine how bad a wet dwarf would smell in the other reality"

I cracked up when Dalmar realized what she had said and snorted a "Seem to remember smelling burnt elf a month or so ago myself"

The city was huge and the streets were wide enough for horses, or at least the ones on the outer section were. It was a good mile of riding before we came to what a guard assured us was the Governors mansion. It looked mansioney , as Maria said, so we slid off our horses and presented ourselves at the gate in the iron fence surrounding the building. A couple level 10 guards waved another guard over and told him "Telina's priest and his companions. The governor is expecting them"

I guess being inside the capital city they decided this regional governor didn't need a Keep, because the mansion was fairly large, but still just a home with an iron fence around it. There was a lot of artwork scattered around, and I paused to look at a painting, and again at a sculpture. The painting showed humans in imperial gear fighting a horde of Draugrs with a guy wearing a crown and wielding a flaming sword in the front. The sculpture was of a dragon, and whoever carved it had seen a real one.

The governor wasn't doing anything important when we were led into a large sitting room, just standing and looking out a window. He turned when we walked in and waved us to a large group of chairs and said "Please, take a seat"

Someone was well organized since there was just the right amount of chairs with two of them set up in the alpha male spots. I sat in the one to the right of the alpha spot, and was interested to note that the others deferred to Susan for the lead spot. Governor Elistar seemed confused for a moment, then looked at me and said "Priest of Telina, Governor Brennan of Riverbend sent word of what had been done to ease the problems caused by the eternals, but the solution required that a priest or paladin of Telina state that an eternal has been rejected by Telina and would suffer the Curse of Telina" he paused and surveyed the group again, then said "Her Imperial Highness, Solain Romar, Empress of the Romarian Empire, has said the empire will support the goddess's will in this. The supreme gods acceptance of the eternals into our world has been a bitter thing to us, and the Empress has long beseeched the goddesses for a sign that she might begin to restore order. Empress Solain will not relinquish any measure of the control she presently holds, but will aid you if your intentions are truly honorable"

I nodded, mostly to myself, as I considered his words. After a moment I said "My intentions, Governor, are to enforce Telina's will, and avoid any appearance of being part of your government. The empire is a powerful force for good in this world, and I and the goddess's goal in this is to leave it up to the citizens of the empire to decide if they will fail or not. The eternals are a threat to peace because they think no one their master, but they are wrong. Telina has decreed that eternals shall live by the following law. Do onto others as you would have them do onto you. As eternals we stand outside the laws of the various lands, but that does not mean we stand outside the laws of reason. Eternals fighting eternals will be dealt with by Telina's Paladin's and their friends. Eternals disrupting the laws of the empire will be dealt with by the empire. Governor Brennen has shown the way in which Telina's champions and the empires guards can work to limit the damage of the Cursed Ones. I and Telina's Paladin's will support the Empress in this, will she support us?"

"Yes" he said, surprising me a little, making me realize I was still stuck in earth think. I smiled at him and replied "Good. Telina abhors the enslavement and abuse of any intelligent person, and the eternals appear to take great pleasure in pursuing this activity. The eternals who pursue this path are those best used as examples of Telina's justice. Telina's Paladin's are here to free those held captive, and punish the eternals who enslave them. To do this, we will need to agree on means of controlling the eternals rebirth points"

The governor took his time considering my words, then threw my own back at me. "Yes. Good. The empress has approved using my position as governor to control the eternals rebirth points, but it must be at the request of Telina's champions"

"If I might" Susan said, giving me a questioning look. At my wave, she looked to the governor and said "Our priest has stated Telina's will, it only needs us to work out how we will accomplish it. I and my sister paladin are going to free those held by the eternals and would ask only that the empire assign a captain and a squad to support our efforts by arranging the efforts to control the rebirth points. This demonstration of the will of Telina and the Empress will draw forth a response from the Cursed Ones. We must be united in our efforts to rebuff their attack, or face a drawn out effort to suppress them" she leaned forward and gave the governor an intent look as she said "Make no mistake, we will prevail, this is not in doubt. I have suffered at their hands and have stated my love for one from this world, so Telina's will is my will"

I was tempted to offer an opinion, but waited to see where Susan would take this. She was speaking with passion, and I could see it resonated with the governor, but neither of them were discussing anything real.

Susan gave me another uncertain look and said "After the first rebirth point is controlled, the Cursed Ones will try to determine what changed to cause that. The empire will say that Telina's champions passed sentence and it is their will that brought it about. This will focus the cursed ones efforts against me and Ariel where it belongs. The question is whether the empress wishes to stand outside this battle"

The governor had a small grin that slowly grew until he let out a bark of laughter and said "The empress predicted this very discussion, though she said the priest would speak the words of the paladin. She has told me that the empire will not involve itself in the affairs of the eternals and risk angering the gods, but it will aid those who represent the goddesses"

"We need the regional governors to approve the changes at the eternals rebirth places" Susan said "and to aid in keeping the confrontations small while in the cities. The presence of imperial guards will prevent the cursed from escalating the encounters into open warfare"

"If you have recommendations on how the empire would like a situation handled, please tell us" I said "and any information you have about eternals abusing women would be useful"

Governor Elistar wasn't surprised by any of that, just nodding and saying "Captain Pagailis will be the cities liaison for Telina's champions. He can tell you anything known regarding the eternals and their conduct, and will lead a ten man squad. The empress has said the empire will pay for the changes to the cursed ones rebirth places as it is to our benefit to rein in the chaos being caused by them"

I was thinking this empress was a pretty smart woman and would have liked talking to her. Pushing the thought aside, I rose when the governor did and exchanged a couple parting pleasantries before leading my group outside. Looking to Dalmar and Maria, I asked "How do I buy a house?"

It turned out to be surprisingly easy, and an hour later I was standing outside a three story stone building near the east gate. Maria and Sienna were the only ones with me as the rest had gone to get us an inn for a couple of day, and they did a tour of the house with me. It had four rooms downstairs, two long rooms on the second floor, and six smaller rooms on the third. The entry room encompassed the whole front area and Maria said it was normally turned into a shop space. A back entrance led into an alley that would have at least one eternal spawn point, but otherwise was as clean and neat as most places were.

I decided to place the portal in the doorway in the downstairs front room that led to the back. In response to Sienna's question I said "Easy access in an emergency. If someone is trying to get away from attackers, or if we need to send assistance, this would be better as it has two routes out of, or into the house"

"You don't care if people see us arriving?" Maria asked as she seemed to be measuring the front room space in her head. "No. It's not like just anyone can use them, and everyone will assume I have a couple hidden away, so I don't see a lot of risk in it"

"You know" she said, her tone telling me she probably hadn't paid attention to my words "you could set this up as a store for the Mudtown locals to sell stuff in. There's a lot of things that grow or are made in the Abandoned Lands that are really expensive here"

I nodded agreement, already planning something like that but just said "Like a co-op?"

She wrinkled her nose cutely as she considered it, but Sienna said "You'll need someone to live here and guards for the building, unless the shopkeeper went back home every night" she blinked as something occurred to her and she added "Oh hell, now you'll need to start being aware of time zones"

I laughed as I realized she was right, and while it was late afternoon here, it was probably early evening at home. I finally shrugged and said "I'll arrange for a couple of guards now and let the Mudtowners decide how they want to do it"

We ended up at a place with the unlikely name of 'Inn'. Maria got a chuckle out of it, saying "Hey, truth in advertising right?" Rooms had been reserved and everyone was downstairs eating when we walked in, so I slid in next to Susan and ordered an ale and today's meal from the pretty girl working there. As I settled into a really good roast something, I asked Susan "How do you want to do this?"

"Two teams" she said immediately "Me and Mirabeth, Ariel and Sienna. You, Maria, and Dalmar join in wherever you like. We have the gems and potions, so we should be good for any small groups. I'd like for you three to back us up here in the capital since I'm expecting some organized resistance starting late tomorrow or the next day as the morons respawn" She paused to look over the group and sip her drink, then said "This is all about getting our reputation started right. We get our asses handed to us and the empire will wonder if they picked the right team. Any women we free we'll have to evaluate whether they need to move to Mudtown, but I want to see about leaving some here since Jake is setting up a quick way of getting here. We also need to think about what we do for them after we free them"

"I have an idea about that" Maria said, taking me by surprise "Like you said, the portals will make moving around a lot easier, so I've been thinking about something Jake and I talked about" she grinned at me, but I had no idea what she was talking about so just gave her a confused look. "My castle in the Forbidden Lands" she announced with a laugh "you put a portal there and it becomes our own exclusive leveling farm. We can do escorted excursions just like our trip down there, to give the new people an opportunity to build experience"

Oh man, another portal. There was no doubt I would end up doing this for her, so I just sighed and said "Ok, whatever" getting a giggle from her at my tone.

"What about Bob?" Dalmar asked

"He needs a Mage on his team" Susan said "but the sooner he can start helping, the better"

"Do you really need a Mage?" I asked doubtfully. Everyone except Dalmar nodded, getting a chuckle from me as Susan said "Need the stand off damage threat. Us Paladin's can hold our own against any fighter, regardless of level, but someone doing damage from a distance would be a problem. Maybe one of the people we free, though that might be a stretch considering the social dynamics"

I shrugged, the last sentence dulling my interest, then said "Well, worst case I'll work with him"

"Whoa" Maria said in false shock "the all powerful, supreme Loser taking the field? The cursed will surrender as soon as they hear that!" I flipped her off and said "He can go south with us to get your castle. That is if the Lich didn't respawn"

"Pish-posh. if he did, we just give him another spanking" Maria said with regal disdain "no Lich is going to keep me from being queen of the forbidden lands"

Dalmar chuckled, exchanging eye rolls with me, before draining his mug and saying "We meet down here at seven bells" and heading up to his room.