While in Anango, the Kistin takes a commission from a sorceror called Juvenal, to convey him to the island of Zongar – a known haunt of demons. Once there they will provide an escort for a journey into the interior, where Juvenal believes there to be a spring whose waters have magical properties. They set sail without Paradoxides who has business once more on the island of Asperiche where lives his mentor, Norgamus.
They have an eventful journey to Zongar, for it lies in dangerous waters. Once there the Kistin drops anchor in a sheltered bay and a party comprising Grettir, Salrod, Hilda, Jason, Girindor and Wilf prepare to accompany Juvenal into the interior on the morrow. Before they set off, Girindor reconnoitres the island in the form of a giant eagle. He reports back that he has found the great volcano at its centre where Juvenal expects to find the spring. He also says that walls of the interior of the caldera are adorned with strange carved faces.
The night before they disembark, Salrod has a disturbing dream. It is full of combats, some from his past, others not. One constant of the dream is the presence of a carved jade face. Grettir too has a dream in which Osiris warns him to keep his feet on the ground, so the party march overland to the great volcano that dominates the middle of the island, rather than have Girindor wind walk them. Juvenal himself has a small magic carpet, that he uses to carry supplies, especially water.
Zongar lives up to its reputation for exotic and dangerous fauna and flora. They have a number of encounters as they cross the island and descend into the giant crater. After one in which a living tree nearly eats Wilf and Juvenal, Salrod finds a small carved jade face in the sand, which he pockets. They find a cave, a fissure in the volcano wall, lit by a baleful red glow, that illumines a great statue of black basalt, some nine foot high. Grettir feels its challenge and in the name of Osiris, he moves to engage this avatar of a dark chaos god. Most of the rest of the party follow Juvenal into the next cavern where he believes the pool he seeks lies. Salrod stays to help Grettir, but finds his sword does not bite upon avatar’s black basalt flesh. He leaves Grettir his magic shield – Grettir’s is broken – and follows the noise of more fighting in the next chamber.
There the rest of the party are struggling with the demon guardians of the pool. Juvenal cleverly dispatches them by trapping them in the rock beneath the pool which he turns to mud and then back to rock. Juvenal fills his flask and they depart. As they start to leave, Grettir is still engaged with the avatar of the chaos god, the second magic shield smashed by its pounding fists. Jason comes to his aid and discovers that his sword, Grey Dirge, does bite upon its stony flesh. At last, Grettir thrusts his elven longsword, White Swan, through its heart. It topples backwards into the chasm, taking the finest sword Grettir ever owned with it, embedded in its chest.
Fire gouts upwards from the fissure where the avatar fell and the whole caldera begins to shake and rumble. Girindor summons the winds – no-one is walking out of here. He senses opposition from some mighty force below. Grettir mounts up behind Juvenal on his carpet. As they depart, the volcano erupts and something huge and black with wings bursts out of it and pursues Girindor. The elf literally drops his passengers – Salrod, Hilda, Jason and Wilf – in the bay near the Kistin and flees the pursuing entity. He flies to Hulneth, a nearby island, and hides in a tree. In the morning he finds the town of Hulneth, home of some 3000 souls, burnt and despoiled during the night by some terror from the skies.
They all meet up in Anango. Salrod continues to have the dreams – especially when he wears that jade amulet.
E-3
OE Date: March – September 690
Characters: Grettir, Salrod, Girindor, Wilf, Jason NPCs: Hilda, Juvenal
Real World: September 1995; Where – Todmorden?
See also Salrod’s Diaries