“And just who do you think you are, Ru-lah Norkvak Halenstol Sareenotch of the Iron Ward Monastery? I am the Witch od Deals and Fulfillment. None deny me! And not only have you refused me, but you have been blatantly rude and dismissive! Kings have kneeled before me!”

“I am exactly who you said I am,” Ru-lah said coldly, turning in the semi-darkness to face the witch. Her violet eyes pierced the gloom. “And I know that when someone has to demand reverence and respect, they do not deserve it.”

The witch howled.

Trickster came up to her and asked, “Can I see something?”

Rulah covered her smile as she handed Trickster her large sword. The witch’s violet eyes narrowed, as she saw the exchange.

“And what little scheme have you two concocted?”

“I never trust a witch until she has proven herself,” Ru-lah said. “SO we took some precautions.”

“In vain,” Velnir screeched.

“It’s a shame. She was really cute, too,” Trickster sighed.

Ru-lah hit him again.

“I won’t be able to use my arm anymore if you keep doing that,” he protested.

“Then stop being an idiot,” Ru-lah snapped.

“You were both fools to think you can defeat me! Under my hand, armies and cities have fallen!” The witch started undulating and grew in size. Her shape changed and her voice became lower. “And by my own hand, many stronger and worthier than you have died!”

Ru-lah shouted, “Trick, now!”

Trickster used his cloak and became one with the wind. Carrying Ru-lah’s magical sword, he passed right into Velnir. The witch screeched and backhanded the paladin, sending her flying into the mushroom wall. It was a lot more solid than she would have guessed. And it hurt!

Violet light wreathed Velnir, illuminating a creature with four long arms and dangerous claws. She had lost her beautiful looks and had become monster more akin to a serpent with many horns crowning her head than anything else.

Fire appeared in Velnir’s four clawed hands and she threw the flaming balls right at Ru-lah. Sensing that she would not survive getting hit by those projectiles. Ru-lah cast herself to the side with a mighty push. Her hair was singed as the wall caught fire with four big explosions. The room was illuminated for a moment by the explosions, and the paladin saw a giant tail whipping right for her.

There was no way to dodge. She took the hit and was bowled right back into the wall.

Tables, chairs, experiments, and glass all shattered as Velnir moved. A great claw thrust forward to take Ru-lah. A voice in the back of her mind told her that is she was caught now, she would die. He own hand plunged into a pocket for the dice. Her fingers closed around one and she threw it right at the claw.

Velnir’s fingers stopped mere inches from Ru-lah’s face. She could feel that something was prompting her to make a decision of how she would escape this attack. Right as she was formulating a way to jump and roll along the witch’s arm to deliver a punch to the face, a voice reverberated around the room.

“Clever, but I have some dice as well,” Velnir hissed.

There was the sound of die clattering to the floor. The silence.

“Wonderful. I rolled higher than you. You die now!”

This was accompanied by a grizzly crunching sound. Ru-lah instinctively clutched herself. But she was unharmed. Velnir suddenly cried out in pain. The witch pulled back, writhing and jerking about.

The paladin whooped with joy and relief as she not only survived narrowly, but saw her friend cleave his way out of Velnir’s body with her own sword.

“Sorry about that,” Trickster coughed, as Velnir crashed to the side. “I couldn;t use the sword while I was transitioning. Really weird. And when I was inside of her, it was hard to move around. Wow… That sounded very sexual…”

“Get your mind out of the gutter and toss me my sword,” Ru-lah snapped.

Trickster flung the sword in her direction spraying blood and gore all across the floor. It splashed up her arm as well when she caught it.

“What… What made you do that to me, Patrick? I thought… I thought we had a connection,” Velnir wheezed, shrinking back to her former form, a large hole in her stomach.

“Ru-lah was right,” the thief responded sadly. “She was worried we wouldn’t be able to trust you, and that this part of the quest would require us to do something bad. She decided that if it came to that, I would use both the cloak and sword to deliver a quick killing blow so that we wouldn't be caught in a long, drawn out fight with a powerful opponent.”

“Very… clever,” Velnir agreed. “But this… is not enough to kill me…”

She held out her hand and a small object flew right into her palm. Ru-lah shouted for Trickster to stop her. He reacted immediately and took hold of Velnir. They both vanished with a flash of bright light.

Ru’ah stood where she was in shock. The finally the scream came out. She started searching frantically for something, anything to help her. The room smelled of blood and fire. Luckily, the mushroom walls were wet enough to not entirely catch fire, and were only scorched. After shifting through the debris of the ruined house, Ru-lah took out another die.

If ever there was a time to use another, it was now.

“I need to find Trickster,” she said, as she tossed it.

A natural 20.

Ru-lah went tp pick up the die, but it faded away into dust. So that was what happened to them. And now she down one powerful tool. She only had one left. But she felt this would be worth it.

She remembered the trajectory of the mystery item that had flown into Velnir’s hand. She went back in that direction and searched through the stuff she found there. There was another cell phone there, a Nokia to be exact. She pocketed it. She found more detailed D&D character sheets. Loads of gold and gems. A special poison dagger that could kill even high ranking beings with a resistance to poisons. Finally she came across what she wanted.

It was a portfolio about objects that would allow someone to teleport to specific locations. She found the others that had been in a small box. They would all take Ru-lah to different hideouts and labs. But the one that was missing was the only one that could have taken her to where the witch and Trickster disappeared to, a mountain fortress hundreds of miles away.

Ru-lah slumped down and shed a few tears. She hated herself for telling her friend and try to stop the witch. If only she had known it was not a buffing item that Velnir had used, but this stupid teleporting device! She was about to go and out of spite start wrecking the witch’s other hideouts, but decided she still needed everything she could get her hand on to help her out.

She raided the rest of the mushroom house. She found three other massive bags of holding and filled them with items. Bombs, potions, spell books, cursed weapons and items, papers on specific spells and plots, letters to various dignitaries and other people of note, and she found even more riches to steal. She would use everything Velnir had left behind to ruin her!

Right as she was done and about ready to decide which hideout to strike first, there was a flash of light. Trickster reappeared. Ru-lah gasped and ran right for him, pulling him into a crushing hug.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch! Pleas let go of me,” he protested weakly.

“Sorry! I just thought- I wasn’t sure,” she said began saying, pulling back from him. Ru-lah then stopped short and gave her friend a close look.

Trickster’s low lip was bleeding. He had been bitten. There were scratches on his face and neck. He was very disheveled.

Ru-lah was about to speak when Trickster cut her off, “I had to get back. And we needed a way out of this. She healed herself, and I… paid the price.”

He held up a small glass talisman and continued, “With this we will be able to make it out of the woods and get to this congregation of beasts. Come on, let’s go.”

They walked out into the night. Ru-lah was stunned into silence. Trickster seemed to know where to go, or maybe he was getting pulled along by the item. In any case, she followed him. The forest parted for him and a new path opened up.

After a while, Trickster finally spoke up, “I thought I was the thief here, but you cleared that place out.”

Grateful that they were talking again, Ru-lah said eagerly, “Yeah, I wanted to get revenge on her. I was going to be prepared.”

“Good thinking.”

“Trick, if you need to talk about what happened-”

Trickster gave her a hug and started sobbing. She herself started crying again, and returned the hug. Together, they held one another and cried. What a dark turn this game had taken.