'Well done, indeed,' echoed the elder paladin, himself, taking no note of the jest. 'You risked your life to draw the fiends' attention so we could cross the warding line without delay. That took a paladin's courage and wisdom.'
'It would've been worth it,' said Noph while Kern and Aleena massaged the feeling back into his extremities. 'For the quest,' he declared, looking at Aleena. She smiled softly and ruffled his hair. Noph sighed in contentment.
'You were in little danger, actually,' said Trandon. 'Seeing what our reflections went through allowed us to prepare for a lightning strike of our own. Those tanar'ri would've been bad-smelling gas before they could lay a claw on you.'
'That's right,' agreed Kern, and his face grew serious. 'We couldn't lose you.'
Noph stared up at the youthful paladin. 'C-couldn't lose me?' he asked, perplexed. 'But-I've been the fifth wheel, the 'chaos child,' the 'foolish youngling.''
'You accepted the quest, in spite of your weaknesses,' replied Miltiades. 'You are a member of the rescue team.' He patted Noph's head. 'You are one of us.'
The ancient knight looked at the group around him and pointed toward the enchanted arch of mammoth tusks. 'There lies the next stage of our quest. Thanks to our noble reflections, who died for us, we are fresh and ready to continue. If Freeman Kastonoph is ready, let us activate the gate and proceed!'
'Gentlemen, there's a damsel in need of rescuing out there,' cried Kern with a wink at Aleena. 'May Tyr guide us!'
'Tyr!' shouted the other warriors. Noph merely stared at the portal and gulped.
'Open in the name of the past and present lords of Waterdeep!' called Miltiades in his deep, rolling voice. The flowing veins of magic within the tusks dimmed and disappeared while a thin ripple of yellow light spread across the plane of the portal. The wall of the gate chamber no longer appeared beyond the archway; within, all was darkness.
One by one they cautiously stepped through, weapons drawn and readied-first Miltiades, then Kern, Jacob, and Trandon. Noph stood at the threshold, squinting into the void. He turned and looked back at Aleena.
'I don't know if I should go on,' he said in a small voice. 'I'm tired. I'm so, so tired-and I'm scared, Aleena. I don't think I'm cut out to be a hero anymore.'
The wizardess put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed warmly. 'I don't blame you, but they need you.'
'They need me?'
'I'm not going on, Noph.'
Noph stared at the beautiful enchantress, open-mouthed. 'But why?'
'I have several reasons, but I can't explain them here and now. The important thing is you're the only Waterd-havian left in the party. You're Khelben's eyes and ears, now. You're my father's sole remaining champion.' She looked deeply into his eyes. 'Please, Kastonoph. I won't force you to go, but I will beg.'
'No! Don't beg! I can't stand putting you in that position. Til go.'
'Thank you, Noph. Thank you from me, from the Nine Lords of Waterdeep, from all of the Western Heartlands!'
Kastonoph turned back to the portal, pulled his knife from its boot sheath, and took a deep breath. 'I had no idea how quickly the gods give you what you ask for,' he mumbled as he stepped through and disappeared into the Utter East.
'Close in the name of the past and present lords of Waterdeep,' Aleena bade the gate. She moved to the corridor leading out of the chamber. Then, summoning her most potent magic, she hurled a lightning bolt at the gate and the roof of the chamber over it. The ceiling buckled and collapsed, and tons of stone thundered down into the corridor, throwing up a haze of dust and rubble. Aleena looked critically at her work for a moment. Then she murmured, 'Well, that's done,' and turned back the way the party had come.
Somewhere in Undermountain, Halaster laughed.
Epilogue
The Abyss never looked so good.
Shaakat and Rejik reveled in the sound of the death-wind, blowing through the void. Rejik ripped huge chunks of flint from the cavern floor, for sheer joy.
'Paladins,' Shaakat sneered angrily.
'Never again,' returned Rejik.
'Report,' commanded General Raachaak, appearing out of nowhere and ringing their brains with the ferocity of his thoughts. They shrieked in surprise and trembled before the gigantic, winged tanar'ri.
'We discovered a gate within the city of the bloodforge, and learned its other side lay in another part of the world, called Undermountain,' thought Shaakat hastily.
'A slice of the Abyss, it was,' added Rejik. 'A wondrous place!'
'I know of it, and Skullport as well. Continue.'
'We found the gate in Undermountain, but it was defended by paladins of Tyr!'
'Tyr! A greater power of Mount Celestia! Perhaps the upper planars are planning to acquire the bloodforge!' The general gritted his fangs in consternation. 'Did you destroy the paladins?'
'Yes, indeed!' cried Shaakat. 'But they destroyed the gate before they died!'
The balor reared his head and bellowed in rage, filling the vast emptiness with his terrifying cry. 'Miserable failures!' he snarled, gazing upon the vrocks.
'Not failures! Not failures!' insisted Shaakat. 'You ordered us to discover a way into the city of the bloodforge, and we did! We can find another way in!'
'The gate was a bad way in anyhow!' cried Rejik. 'The side in the city of the bloodforge was surrounded by many, many powerful fighters!'
'I will find a way into that city!' declared Raachaak, freeing his whip, 'but you will not!'
The sixty-fifth level of the Abyss is an empty, infinite place, but at that moment it was filled to its borders with the sound of cracking leather and piteous screaming.
