Ardeth Vay

We made our way into the expansive chamber beyond the crypt room, and saw that a large section of the floor was missing. It opened onto the astral sea; a fall so great that not even the mightiest of men could survive it. Luckily for us, there were a few platforms held magically afloat above the gap.

Clare and Allister made it across, and prepared to toss us a safety rope so that we may cross with minimal risk. Before we could begin, however, Ardeth materialized on the far side of the room, in front of a fountain and two summoning circles. He spoke words of challenge to us, but I interrupted him and managed to talk him into giving us a fair fight.

With a simple wave of his hand, he restored our vital energy and allowed us free passage across the chasm. We stood in a line, drew our weapons, and faced him on even ground. But I intended to make it less even.

I began to talk to Ardeth more and more, and ended up confusing his sense of right and wrong. I pointed out the logical fallacies of his honor and justice, and finally got him to admit that he himself knew that there was little separation between Good and Evil. Apparently Bahamut heard these words from his Archangel’s mouth, and without hesitation, severed Ardeth’s power link. The abomination fell to his knees and screamed at the separation, but apparently his power hadn’t been completely drained; he stood to his full height and spoke a curse to me, which caused a marking to appear on my head.

The fight began, with Clare and Allister dealing the bulk of the damage. Apparently the curse allowed Ardeth to materialize next to me at any moment he pleased. A good strategy, but I had something up my sleeve as well.

Meanwhile, Tokegaro fled the fight scene, and Winfrey went chasing after him. She didn’t get far before he found a latch, and locked himself in what looked like the treasure room. We decided to deal with him later.

Ardeth fought hard, but in the end, we were the victors. Unsurprisingly, he refused to die with honor, instead choosing to take his own life with one of his longswords. The room went silent.

When we had caught our breath, we decided to try to open the treasure room. It didn’t take us long to figure out the locking mechanism, but when we opened the door, a wave of smoke flew out to greet us. Allister felt Tokegaro run past him, and managed to land a wound on his abdomen, but Tokegaro kept moving.

We followed him into the great chamber, only to see him standing next to the open chasm. He bid us farewell, and laughed as he jumped into the open astral sea. The bastard was as good as dead.

We proceeded into the treasure chamber, and found the riches of our wildest dreams. There was treasure piled up in several places, along with four suspiciously convenient chests to carry it out in. The last thing in the room was a stone sarcophagus. We opened it out of hunger for more treasure.

—Wilward Jones

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