"Don't you dare die on me Terri, just hold on, I'm on my way!" Aggy had only made it halfway towards the mage in black before Terri's light went out and the warehouse was plunged into darkness. She was now inching her way back to where Terri had fallen, hands held out in front of her like a blind woman.

"Aggy, I've found her, she's over here." Flem's voice cut through the night like a knife and Aggy changed direction to head towards it. Her eyes were finally starting to adjust to the darkness and she could vaguely make out what looked to be Flem kneeling over something on the floor.

"Is she...........is she?" Aggy couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.

"I can't find a pulse Aggy," Flem sounded close to tears, "I don't know what to do!"

The sound of Flem's distress helped Aggy to push down her own panic and take charge of the situation. "We have to get her to Gravenhall, they have high level clerics there that can do damn near anything. Help me to get her over my shoulder, it'll be easier than-"

Aggy never finished her sentence. When she reached down to grab Terri by the shoulders her hands closed on nothing but thin air. In an instant the young cleric had completely disappeared.

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Terri awoke with a deep, gasping breath followed by an anguished yell. She rolled to her right, frantically trying to avoid the silvery death that was speeding towards her............and immediately fell a short distance to the floor. Lying spreadeagled on the hard stone, the young cleric desperately tried to reconcile her current location with what had been happening moments before. Getting to her feet Terri looked around wildly. The warehouse was gone, replaced by a brightly lit room she had no memory of entering. The space around her was small, made entirely of grey stone and completely empty, apart from the single bed she had just been lying on. In one of the walls there was an iron bound wooden door.

Terri sat down on the bed and struggled to collect her thoughts. Somehow she'd been transported here just after they'd begun their confrontation with the black robed assassin. She thought the enemy mage had been casting magic missile at her but maybe it had been a teleportation spell instead. Either way, her friends were still in trouble and that meant she needed to find a way back to the warehouse as soon as possible.

Climbing off the bed Terri took the two steps necessary to reach the wooden door and flung it open. She was confronted by a long stone hallway punctuated by many doors on either side and another one at the far end. After stepping into the hallway Terri quickly opened the door to her left and revealed a room that was identical to the one she had just come out of. A quick search down the corridor confirmed that all the side doors led to similar, compact destinations.

When she reached the final door at the end of the hallway the young cleric reached reflexively for the hammer at her waist but found that it wasn't there. Taking hold of her Gravenhall amulet instead, Terri flung open the final door and stepped inside. The room Terri had just entered was much larger than any of the others and contained a second door in the wall directly across from the young cleric. That wasn't the major difference however. The major difference was that this room was occupied. Sitting at a table in the centre of the room was Professor Emeritus Nomenclature.

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"What in the seven hells is going on?" Aggy was scrabbling desperately around on the floor of the warehouse, as if it might reveal some sign of the missing cleric. "She was right here, I had my hands on her and she just....disappeared."

"Aggy, we need to get out of here," Flem said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "We don't know if that mage is still here or if he's gone off to get help, but we're in danger as long as we stay here."

"But we need to find her Flem, there must be some clue...." Aggy looked plaintively up at the elf by her side. "I can't just leave her."

Flem's dark eyes betrayed a sympathy that didn't come out in his voice. "I'm worried about Terri too, Aggy, but we can't help her if we're dead. Wherever she's disappeared to, she's no longer in the warehouse and it’s time for us to leave."

Aggy reluctantly got to her feet, picking up Terri's discarded hammer as she did so. "All right lad, lead the way and I'll follow."

Flem led Aggy out of the warehouse and back through the darkened streets to Gravenhall. He insisted that their first priority was to report what they'd seen to the rogues' guild, and that they could ask about Terri's disappearance at the same time. "The rogues know everything that happens in Providence Aggy, if something like this has happened before they'll know about it. The only question is whether they'll see fit to share the information with us or not."

Aggy was grim faced as she followed the young rogue through the grey stone corridors of Gravenhall. She'd never been in the rogues' quadrant of the giant building before and was soon bewildered by its labyrinth of twisting passages. Eventually Flem took a sharp turn to the left and stopped in front of a nondescript wooden door. After knocking three times he turned the handle and went in, beckoning Aggy to follow.

The room they entered was surprisingly large and well furnished. Detailed tapestries adorned the walls and an enormous woollen rug covered the floor. Sitting on one of the many couches that were scattered around the room was a small, rat faced man with a long pointed nose. He looked up from the sheaf of papers he was reading when they entered.

"Hello Flemming, this is an unexpected visit. Am I correct in assuming that something interesting happened on your stakeout tonight?"

Flem bowed low in response. "Please forgive the intrusion Master Brocade but you said I should come to you first if I ever encountered anything mysterious when I was in the process of discharging my duties."

"Of course, of course. Please make yourselves comfortable," the little man said while indicating a couch next to his.

Flem and Aggy sat, both on the edge of their seats, while the young elf told the tale of everything that had happened during the night. When he got to the part about Terri's disappearance Aggy couldn't help but burst in.

"Do you know what might have happened to her, Master? I know she was hit in the chest, and I know there was no pulse, but maybe, maybe if we can find her we could....." Aggy broke off as tears began to cascade silently down her ruddy cheeks.

Master Brocade sat silently for a moment, shocked by the dwarf's sudden show of emotion, then he leaned forward and patted Aggy gently on the knee. "You can wipe away those tears, mistress dwarf," he said in a kindly tone, "I can absolutely guarantee you that your friend isn't dead."

Aggy looked up suddenly in response and wiped her eyes. "Well then, if you don't mind me asking, where is she?"

Master Brocade looked chagrined. "That, unfortunately, I'm not allowed to tell you. Gravenhall guards its secrets closely and there are heavy penalties for the crime of 'over-sharing'. For the moment just be glad that your friend is currently alive and she's extremely likely to stay that way. If all goes well you'll see her again before the week is up."

"And if all doesn't go well?" Aggy queried.

"Best not to dwell on that too much," the master replied. "After all, there are risks associated with all of the tasks one has to perform for Gravenhall. That was something you all agreed to when you signed your initiation contract."

He stood up and walked to the door, indicating that their meeting was at an end. When his hand reached the doorknob he turned back into the room. "You did well to bring me this information tonight Flemming. Rest assured that I'll handle everything from here. I'll see to it that your tokens are credited to your accounts by morning. Oh, and don't worry about your friend, you'll be seeing her again soon enough I'm sure."

With that the little master exited the room, leaving Aggy and Flem sitting on the couch in stunned silence.

"Sorry Aggy," Flem said after a while, "I thought he was going to be more help than that."

"No need to apologise lad," Aggy replied kindly, "he told us everything he could and it was enough. Based on what he said I think we can be confident that Terri is currently somewhere within the walls of Gravenhall and that it was one of more of the guilds that were responsible for her disappearance. Unfortunately I don't think there's anyone here who's going to be prepared to tell us anything more about her whereabouts, not tonight at any rate. I think we'd best go home and come back in the morning. Then, starting with the mage's guild, we're going to get some answers whether they like it or not. Regardless of which guild was responsible for Terri's disappearance, it was magic that brought her back here and that means my guild owes me an explanation. And if they think they're going to be able to put me off with talk of 'secrets' and 'standard protocols' then they've never encountered a dwarf with her mind set on something before."

With that Aggy and Flem left the room and slowly retraced their steps through the twisting, maze-like corridors of Gravenhall.