Chapter 2 Closing.....

[Zarsynn the Gray]

Drinjin felt the aether swirl around him as the view of the encroaching circle of maddened demons faded from sight. Nearly midway though the planar transfer process a painful force gripped him- mind and body, squeezing him to the point of nearly roaring in pain. When the scene quickly reformed into his destination, the pain disappeared, as if it had never been. Shaking his head to clear his mind, he arched his head around only to discover he was alone within his massive cavern. The drolems that guarded the enterance glanced quickly backward in his direction, but seeing him, nearly as quickly fell back to the stone statues they were. Drinjinn arched his back and flapped his wings to stretch a bit. Where had all of the gods gone? The certainly did not fall off him. He didn’t know where they were, but guessed the transition back to his home plane had filtered out the gods that weren’t supposed to be here on the prime plain. Which was all of them. It also meant they were likely back on Olympus.
Drinjin frowned as best a dragon could as his tongue flickered in and out of his fanged mouth deep in thought. If the gods had been denied access to the Prime Plane, had the adventurer’s succeeded in acquiring the planar anchor from the Ethereal? Drinjin blinked in surprise fully aware that he had not really expected them to succeed. Perhaps he had underestimated them if they had indeed accomplished this task he had set them to. He closed his serpentine eyes and concentrated. Something was still wrong. Things were different than when he had left, for certain, but there was something. Like a lingering aftertaste of old meat, something ill was there. He concentrated again looking within the rivers of power between the planes and felt the planar gaps narrowing. Perhaps they did succeed, for it did feel of a difference. Drinjin smiled. Hopefully whatever force filtered out the gods out of the Prime Plane was also tossing the demons back to their regular habitat in the infinite Abyss as well. Drinjin wasn’t sure. He needed to go to his fortress and check using the scrying room he had built. It was the only way to be certain.
He was there in the scope of few heartbeats, transporting himself there by magical means and changing to his more versatile human form. It was quicker than walking, and though it took up some precious magic energy, it was worth it for such an important task. He entered the sphere and shouted the command word. The lights went out as the hum of the sphere activating drowned out the reverberating echo. The sphere remained focused on the last area Drinjinn had viewed. Luckily, it was the acropolis on Olympus. Massive marble columns lay strewn about as if tossed about by a child playing with blocks, and smoke oozed from the ground. A haze hung low, trying to hide the scene before him, but it was no good. Drinjinn had witnessed the destruction first hand. He could still smell the trees burning and see the demons attacking anything that moved within his mind. He panned the view around in the magical room, noticing that the energy still fought with him to keep the vision up. Apparently not all had been corrected within the force of magic and the planes, and it took him some degree of energy to control the Sphere of Sight. He nodded noticing the apparent lack of rampaging demons. Drinjinn smiled. Indeed, the party appeared to be successful though his smile quickly inverted. What if they hadn’t been successful, and it was mere chance the planes were re-aligning? He snorted and the sound was lost among the spaciousness of the room. There was one way to find out.
Drinjinn readjusted the Sphere to the the Prime Plane and then the Isle of Sith specifically. Concentrating, he focused on the group he was looking for, and the view within the Sphere led him on a chase. The motion was topsy turvy as they navigated directly through the layers of the city. The vision stopped, and anchored itself in a dark room, with only a pixie starring into the well. Drinjin wrinkled his face in confusion. Why here? He was about to adjust the magic in the room when a Copperkin woman’s face suddenly appeared from within it. She hopped out and was soon followed by a tired looking dwarf, another Copperkin. Drinjinn had thought there were others but shrugged, unsure as to the rest of the party’s whereabouts. He tried to project an image to them, but for some reason, the magic would not align. Sighing he knew immediately what to do.
He reset the vision to an overhead view of the island and toured about from above, finally focusing on the building he knew of all too well. It was a tower, non-descriptive to be sure, but a familiar one to him none the less. The sign outside had simply a sword pierced through an eye.
It was the Guild of Hunters.
Drinjinn located the man he was looking for easily enough. He knew the guildmaster’s favorite training dojo. The vision finally came to stop on a Halfling within a courtyard. He was alone as far as Drinjinn could tell and seemed to be practicing. He was dressed in black from head to toe, and wielded dual shortswords dancing through a Kata with startling accuracy and grace. He let the Sphere project an image to the Halfling, and once he had finished the move, bowed.
His voice was nasal for a Halfling but appropriately pitched. “Highlord Pendragon. Of what do I owe this honor?”
Drinjinn spoke quickly. He had no time to dally. “Damius. I need you track down a party of adventurers for me. They were last seen within the Catacombs beneath the House of Mind and Body. The usual fee of course. Please send them to the throne room at once. Drag them, if need be, though I doubt they would put up such an argument to require you to do so.”
The Halfling nodded, sensing the urgency. “As you wish.”
Drinjinn let the vision fade and deactivated the Sphere of Sight. The hum silenced and the torches reignited all on their own accord. Drinjinn headed for his throne room, his black cloak following him, barely able to keep up due to the rush the dragonlord was in.

[Jack]

and fun to play