Tim Waggoner: Forge of the Mindslayers

"Skarm!" she cried out. "Attack!"

Ghaji felt the lich's fear-spell begin to dissipate just as the barghest leaped off the rock to do its mistress's bidding. Eyes glowing orange in excitement, the lupine creature bounded across the chamber floor toward them, splashing through horrid muck and scattering skeletal fragments as it came. Ghaji knew the barghest would attack Diran first, for if the creature could knock the metallic arrowhead from the priest's grip-or better yet slay him-then the silver light would be extinguished, and the lich would be free to kill the rest of them.

Diran still held a dagger in his left hand. Ordinarily he'd be able to defend himself with it, but the lich's fear-spell, while weakening, still affected them. Channeling the power of the Silver Flame through the arrowhead, there was no way he'd also be able to fight off the remnants of the fear-spell fast enough to employ his dagger. However, Ghaji wasn't as preoccupied as his friend.

As the barghest leaped for Diran's throat, Ghaji broke free of the lich's power and swung his flaming axe at the lupine creature. The blade struck the barghest in the neck and sank into its flesh. Black blood burst from the wound, and the barghest's blue-tinged fur caught fire. The creature howled with pain as the momentum of Ghaji's strike sent it slamming to the floor. The mystic flames spread rapidly across the surface of the barghest's body, and the creature rolled about in the muck that covered the chamber floor in an attempt to extinguish the fire and save itself. The elemental flames, however, were stronger than ordinary fire, and the barghest was only partially successful in putting them out. Its agonized howls rose an octave as it rolled to its feet and rushed past the four companions into the passageway, trailing flames behind it as it fled.

Ghaji looked to Diran, and the priest gave the half-orc a grateful nod before turning his attention back to the lich. The light pouring forth from the silver arrowhead doubled its intensity, and the lich screamed, the sound so loud and high-pitched that it felt as if red-hot spikes had been shoved into Ghaji's ears. Just as Ghaji thought he might go deaf from the noise, the lich burst apart into shadow-fragments that resolved into dozens of small black mice that scurried toward the chamber walls and swiftly squeezed into thin cracks in the stone and disappeared.

The light blazing from the arrowhead winked out, and Diran lowered a hand that trembled from the effort he'd expended. The four companions then stood in silence, waiting to see if the lich was truly gone. After several moments passed without hint of another attack, Diran tucked the holy symbol into his tunic pocket and turned to Ghaji.

"It's over."

The half-orc warrior looked down at Hinto. Though the danger had passed, the halfling remained curled into a ball on the chamber floor, pale and shivering.

Not for all of us, Ghaji thought.

The lich was only banished, not destroyed. To finish the job, they had to find her phylactery, Diran said.

"Her what?' Hinto was still pale, but at least he was able to move and speak once more, though his eyes kept darting about, as if he were expecting the shadows to come to life any second and try to slay him. Ghaji had deactivated his fire-axe after the lich fled, and now Hinto held an everbright lantern to illuminate the chamber for them. The soft green glow made the chamber seem even more eerie than it had when they'd first entered-a detail, Ghaji was certain, that wasn't lost on the halfling.

"Phylactery." Diran was slowly walking around the chamber, slogging through the muck that covered the floor as he ran his hands over the walls. "Part of the process of transforming oneself into a lich requires that one's life force be preserved in a mystic container of some sort. That container is called a phylactery."

Ghaji stepped through the foul-smelling ooze to the nearest wall and joined Diran in examining the stone surface.

"The only way to completely destroy a lich is to destroy its phylactery," said Diran, "but liches don't keep their phylacteries in plain sight-though they do keep them nearby. She must have a hidden chamber behind these walls or perhaps beneath the floor."

Hinto looked down at the layer of muck. "You mean we're going to have to search under that?"

"If we must," Diran said. "We cannot allow the lich to continue preying on travelers."

The halfling grimaced. "I don't suppose any of you thought to bring a shovel?"

"No," Tresslar said, "but I do have this." He held up his dragonwand. "And I believe I have a spell or two that might suit our needs."

Tresslar had been traveling with them for several months now, but even after all that time, Ghaji still didn't understand how the artificer's magic device worked. He knew that Tresslar was able to absorb magical energy and store it inside the rod for later use, but how Tresslar released that power-or by what method he was able to choose which specific spell came forth-the half-orc had no idea.

Tresslar held the rod out at arm's length, closed his eyes, and concentrated. At first nothing happened, but then wisps of smoke curled out of the golden dragonhead's nostrils. The tendrils of smoke lengthened and extended from the dragonhead and began undulating through the air like serpents, going first this way then that, searching, searching…

Finally the smokewisps stopped at a section of wall that neither Diran nor Ghaji had examined yet. The ends of the tendrils brushed against the stone, seeming almost to caress it before finally dissipating in the air.

Tresslar lowered the dragonwand. "Search there."

Diran and Ghaji made their way to the section of wall that the smoke-wisps had indicated, and before long they found a section of stone the size of a man's palm that gave slightly when pushed. Ghaji pressed hard on the spot, and the wall swung slowly inward with a sound of grinding stone. They'd found the lich's hidden chamber.

Diran turned to Tresslar. "Well done. Can you use another such spell to locate the phylactery?"

"I could, but I'd rather we search by more mundane means first. I'd hate to waste a spell."

Ghaji shook his head. "You have to be the stingiest artificer I've ever meant. Most of them are only too happy to show off what their toys can do."

Tresslar snorted. "Such artificers are idiots. Magic is a tool that should be employed wisely and sparingly."

"I'm only too happy to look in there," Hinto said, eyeing the open doorway suspiciously. "As long as the floor isn't covered with bat droppings."

"Shall we find out?" Diran asked.

Hinto nodded and slogged through the muck, holding his breath the entire way. When he reached the doorway, he held the lantern forth and shone its greenish light into the chamber beyond. Hinto's hand trembled, causing the light to waver, but the halfling held his ground and did his job.

Ghaji and Diran had no problem looking over Hinto to peer into the hidden chamber. The room was smaller than the outer chamber-about half the size, Ghaji guessed-though the ceiling was just as high. No bats or other creatures were hanging from the ceiling, but that didn't mean other dangers weren't waiting for them.

Ghaji turned to Diran, and the priest shook his head. "I sense no evil within."

Ghaji knew his friend spoke of supernatural evil, not mundane, but he saw no reason to mention this with Hinto close by.

"I'll go first," said Ghaji.

The half-orc gripped his elemental axe as he stepped through the doorway and into the hidden chamber. The floor was blessedly free of muck, save what Ghaji tracked in on his boots, so if he had to fight, at least he'd have decent footing. Not that he'd have a lot of room to maneuver, for the chamber was filled with clothing, armor, and weapons, all cast about the room in haphazard piles-the possessions the lich had taken from her victims. The barghest had spoken of treasure, though from what Ghaji could see there was little of value in the piles.