In a well-appointed room overlooking three quarters of Iron Mountain Plateau, sat Wotan aide to the Minister of the interior and the King’s spy master. He was seated at a desk channeling his magic power into a crystal in his palm. After a brief moment an image of his majesty appeared, long flowing blonde hair and piercing blue eyes with a bejeweled crown adorning his head.

“Well, has he left yet?” Asked the King.

“No your grace, he and his whole party are still missing.” Replied Wotan.

“You’re telling me we can’t track down four adventurers that fell down a hole? It’s been a month.” Asked the King.

“Three and a mage my lord. Their guilds have been scouring the area. They haven’t found any bodies, so we don’t believe they have been killed. The potential that they were abducted by the Empire seems remote. My contacts have tell me they have pulled back to their side of the border to prepare for the coming war having failed to gain a foothold here in the south. There was one report of an assassin attempting to kill the Chimera’s Champion, but they failed as well.” Wotan replied.

“I cannot give the declaration until we have the Champion secured in the capital. I refuse to give up that wartime bonus even if it is random due to it being from Chimera. It could tip the balance. The empire will have legions of slaves troops that they’ll just pour over us. Get him here now.” Commanded the King before severing the connection.

Wotan sat in the chair wondering if he made the right call by not telling the King what was found in the excavated hole. He asked both guild masters to keep it under wraps and assigned a work crew to erect walls and mages from The Tower to magically enhance the structure he was building around the revealed archway that was still glowing with third tier arcanum. Wotan guessed that is what happened to the Champions party but until he was sure he dare not mention it to the King. Even the Cardinal Unit from the Adventurer’s Guild volunteered to guard the site around the clock. The Tower specialist have no idea what it is and have requested we involve the churches in some way. Even more difficult have been his constant efforts to deflect the Minister of the Interior from prying. Giving him buys work and reminding him of more important kingdom matters to distract him. It has been an entire month of delaying since the guild wiped out that corpungie nest. He hoped this wouldn’t last much longer.

Deacon was pacing back and forth as Alfred was experimenting with the third tier arcanum charged sand. He hoped Tantus would turn up more answers from that log. The stories about the special black powder reminded him of white phosphorus. That is a chemical combination that reacts upon exposure to air. You could make smoke bombs out of it too. He wasn’t sure how people who still use mortar and pestle could create and refine something like without blowing themselves up. Something he’d have to put some thought into later. They have been in this strange Wode prison for a couple hours and they were no closer to escaping. Deacon then turned his mind to the problem at hand. The totems could help them defeat Sumna. Was there a totem on the island they originally showed up on? Where was the totem from this island and how many of them are there? While lost in his thoughts, he didn’t realize that Tantus was trying to get his attention.

“Deacon, can you hear me?” Tantus asked waiving his hands in front of Deacon’s face.

“Yea sorry, trying to figure a way for us to get out of here.” Deacon replied.

“Ok according to the logbook, it says the map in the captains cabin details the islands with totems and what to do with them. It unfortunately doesn’t say how many. I think we need to search the ship.” Tantus said.

“There are a lot of dead sailors between here and the ship. I could use an artifact I have but I was hoping to save it for Sumna herself.” Deacon stated.

“What artifact?” Tantus asked.

“It was a gift from Chimera. I can’t control the outcome, but it has some potentially advantageous affects.” Deacon said.

“Oh. Well we could always use it as a backup I suppose.” Tantus said obviously disappointed he couldn’t look at another artifact.

“Doesn’t matter. You’ve given us the next steps. Take a look at this and see if you can make heads or tails out of it.” Deacon said after he handed the little hula dancer idol to Tantus.

“Well like everything else in this place it is constructed of tier three arcanum energy. It’s function is not hidden though. It seems to negate some kind of rhythm.” Tantus said squinting at the hula girl that began to switch from one hip to the other.

“You think it has anything to do with those drums? I can still barely hear them in here.” Deacon said as he moved over to the screen to check outside. It looked like most of the undead have moved on, leaving only a few stragglers that impaled themselves on the fortifications outside the hut.

“No, no. The artifact definitely refers to rhythm and not beat or sound. I think it’s a feel vs hear clause. That gives me an idea. Alfred, can you create a drum?” Tantus asked.

“Certainly, Master Tantus.” Said Alfred before a non-descript snare drum grew up from the floor.

“Now Deacon I’m going to create a new spell but all I’ll need you to do is beat that drum.” Tantus said drawing on his power and focusing on the drum. Deacon began to smack the drum making an awful racket that drew both Ralph and Amanda from their rooms. Tantus finished his and the sound from the drum vanished. Deacon looked up and started to speak but no sound came out. Then Ralph and Amanda tried talking and they were silent as well. Alfred stepped forward to speak.

“Master Tantus. I believe you underestimated the area of affect on your spell. I do not require air to speak so that is why I can be heard. You may want to cancel this spell before you all begin to suffocate from the still air spell you just created.” Alfred cautioned as Tantus’s eyes went wide. He frantically began to unravel the spell he just created releasing the air around them to move normally.

“What was the purpose of that?” Deacon asked between gasps.

“I wanted to see if I could keep sound from traveling through the air. Maybe when we encounter whatever those drums are I can remove their effects.” Tantus answered looking slightly ashamed.

“That’s actually a good idea. Although the spell needs work it could make life hell for battlefield commanders and enemy mages. Good work Tantus.” Ralph said giving him a pat on the back.

“Also, I’ve noticed that Deacon and myself have been most effective against the enemies here. It might be because your weapons aren’t enchanted. Your damage may be reduced. If you let me have them, I can put a minor enchantment on them that should last a couple hours. Nothing major, just enough to get through the enchantment requirements. Also you’ll be able to hurt Deacon with them.” Tantus added.

“Sign me up.” Said Amanda.

“Hey!” Deacon whined.

“Every advantage could help.” Ralph said.

“I do not like what having an enchanter with the party is doing to you too.” Replied Deacon. While Tantus left to work with Alfred on enchanting their blades, Deacon relayed what they learned to everyone else.

“So we need to climb into the mushroom covered hull of a derelict ship hoping to avoid being swarmed by what seems like far too many undead sailors. Seems about right for a day with you.” Amanda quipped.

“Ha, ha. I don’t like this anymore than you, but we need to get a look at that map, or we’ll be searching these islands for days. Now I’d like to get back to the boat at speed. I assume everyone’s stamina has returned?” Deacon asked.

“We’ll be fine, but Tantus has a hard time keeping up.” Ralph said with a look of pity on his face.

“He wasn’t meant to be out here in the field. I can almost guarantee if he survives, he’ll level.” Amanda said. Just then Tantus returned with their blades. He explained that with Alfred’s help he was able to add a minor enchantment to Ralph’s sword. It will do additional damage now that it has a fine layer of sand along the edge that keeps sharpening the blade. Amanda’s knives now have a slight electric charge to them allowing elemental air damage. He added they should be doubly effective against earth elementals.

“Sorry its not much but it should help.” Tantus said not reading the room at all.

“That’s amazing! Are you saying my sword will constantly sharpen itself maximizing its damage output with every hit?” Ralph asked examining the blade.

“Lighting knives? Very nice work Tantus.” She patted him on the head.

“Well I wouldn’t call them lighting knives. More like shock daggers.” Tantus said blushing.

“Enough hand shaking. We need to put your new gear to good use. According to the monitor the path is clear to the tree line. I say we sprint to it and make our way to the boat. Any objections?” Deacon asked as he stepped toward the door.

Everyone fell in step behind him as the dungeon cube shrunk down around them. Deacon tossed it back into his bag with Polterheist and pressed his back against the wall of the hut closest to the entryway. The coast was clear, and they all ran. Surprisingly Tantus had no trouble keeping up this time as the wind around his feet carried him faster and farther than before. Deacon made a mental note to follow up about that. Once they were all within the cover of foliage, Deacon pointed toward the large wooden structure in the distance. There was about fifty feet of sand from when the brush ends to a section of the boat containing an old rope ladder. It was either that or go out into the water and enter from the less stable smashed hull.

“Look, we are headed for that rope ladder. I’ll will go up last to cover our flank. I want Amanda at the top helping Tantus up. Once Ralph is at the top and I’m on the rope ladder, all three of you just start pulling it up. Got it?” Deacon said in hushed tones receiving nods from everyone. They all turned and started sprinting. Tantus’s feet didn’t even sink into the sand as he was carried forward at an alarming pace. As soon as Deacon stepped into the sand, he heard the pounding of drums and could see Sharkskin Tribesman breaching the waters to his right as well as sailors clawing themselves out of the sand. They made record time even in the sand fueled by fear and adrenaline. Amanda was halfway up the rope ladder followed by Tantus. Ralph hesitated at the base of the ladder after the first spear sunk into the boat with the standard comical thump followed by vibrations as the energy of the throw was expelled through the rest of the spear. Deacon on the other hand wanted to try out his fourth source of power, The Perpetual Plane. He tried to remember how he felt sitting in that chair across from Mr. Clean gazing into those yellow eyes. It felt oppressive. He finally put words to the feeling.

“The work continues.”

His aura immediately shifted colors from pale green to drab yellow. Deacon felt slight pain within him but decided to ignore it. He heard a gasp from behind him.

“What happened Deacon? Where did that crown come from?” Ralph asked as he was on the third rung.

Deacon didn’t know what he was talking about and decided to focus on the two groups that were encroaching. He began to spin up some Ice Sickles to get a taste of what this hell has to offer. Nothing happened. He tried again and again nothing. Deacon quickly went with Nether Beam. That should be interesting. Once again there was no response from his aura and no effect on the now too close enemy.

“Should I come back!” yelled Ralph from halfway point.

Deacon didn’t reply as he scrambled back under a hail of thrown spears. He tried to Spectral Dash and ended up falling face first into the wood of the ship. What was going on? He was soon dog piled by the zombies. Deacon gave up and triggered Dragon Claw Barrage targeting straight up parallel to the ships hull. That ability worked scattering the zombies in a geyser of gore and leaving Deacon in midair. Before gravity decided to assert itself again, he slammed his claws into the wood.

“What the hell was that?” Amanda screamed over the side of the deck. Apparently, he dug in a few feet away from Ralph who looked at him wide eyed.

“Just pull him up. I’ll explain when I reach the deck.” Deacon ordered and she stood up ramrod straight grasping the rope ladder in both hands and pulling it up in a very mechanical manor. When Tantus tried to help she didn’t even break her motions pushing him out of the way and continuing to do what Deacon said until Ralph reached the deck. Then she kept trying to lift Ralph after he got there. He protested trying to get her to stop. Tantus ran to the side to throw the rope ladder down to Deacon but found him grabbing the railing and pulling himself over edge.

“Something is wrong with Amanda. She won’t stop and wont’ listen.” Tantus said with a look of alarm.

Deacon looked over to where Amanda kept trying to lift Ralph up and noticed his soul energy bar kept dropping despite not triggering any of those abilities below. She looked like she was under some kind of mind control. That would not sit well with Amanda. Given her recent history being a puppet of Elder Ruby, if this was Deacons fault, he was definitely getting stabbed.

“Amanda Stop!” Deacon screamed and she immediately did so grabbing the sides of her head. Amanda sunk down to her knees and started sobbing. Ralph immediately threw his arms around her for comfort. After all that Deacon’s soul energy bar only had one hundred out of three hundred left.

“What is happening?” Tantus asked.

“I tried a different source of power out. I didn’t know it would do that.” Deacon said feeling just awful.