White Plume Mountain

and flexed his fingers in frustrated indecision. After a moment, he pointed to the water-covered ground ahead.

“The floor drops away here. It is only a ten-foot of gap, butthat’s quite enough to drown in.”

The Justicar lifted his magic light and squinted at the water. Escalla popped into visibility and tried to see whether anything lurked down below.

“How did you cross last time?” she asked.

“We swam. I removed my armor and drew it across the hole witha rope.”

It seemed a simple enough plan. Jus took one pace backward, sheathed his sword, and said, “Good. You go first.”

With a sharp glance of distaste at the ranger, Sir Olthwaite unbuckled his pauldrons and let his arm pieces slide off. Chunk by chunk he divested himself of his armor, letting the metal plates collect at his feet. Dressed in a soiled blue undersuit, the man bundled up his equipment and wrapped it with a few turns of his thin rope. He tied off the scorched rope end and without a backward glance, slipped into the water and began to swim across the gap.

Jus watched carefully then jerked his chin at the water trap.

“Polk, you’re next.”

Polk swallowed, eyeing the oily, filthy pool.

“Now, son, this seems a grand place to hide a monster! Youhave to realize that evil lurks-it lurks-meanin’ it likes to hide.”

Jus kept careful eyes and ears on the passageway.

“We already dangled some bait. Nothing’s there.” The Justicarhelped Polk from his backpack. “Can you swim?”

“Well, son, now that’s another point of contention in yerplan.”

Jus leaned the trident against one wall. He helpfully stuffed Polk’s chronicles inside one of his waterproof scroll tubes and handed the manone end of his own rope.

“You don’t swim?”

“Nope, not a stroke. That’s what I’m saying!”

“Time to learn.”

Jus threw the other end of the rope to a dripping, fuming Sir Olthwaite and unceremoniously pushed Polk into the pool. The teamster squawked and thrashed like a drowning rat until the paladin hauled the rope and landed him on the far side of the pit.

Escalla hovered behind and above Sir Olthwaite, her new wand tucked under one arm and pointing at the paladin. Jus gave a nod to the faerie, then patted Cinders on the head. Sword, boots, armor, and all, he jumped into the water, swam across, and emerged dripping at the far side. The big man shook himself dry like a wolf, sending water flying out to spatter the paladin.

Sir Olthwaite grimaced angrily then turned to point down the corridor.

“We were attacked just around the corner.” Hanging his swordfrom his belt, the man shouldered his armor bundle. “There’s no pointre-armoring. I shall show you why.”

The group trudged down the corridor, their skin filthy with muck from the water. Marginally cleaner than the other adventurers, Escalla whistled a little tune between her teeth. The ranger threw a clod of algae at her invisible rear end in an effort to silence her. The faerie went into a huff, zipped around a corner, and then suddenly unveiled her magic light.

“Hey! There’s dead guys here!”

The party rounded the corner. Escalla hovered in midair above a human body that lay floating face-up in the water. Dressed in a slashed robe and hat, the corpse was clearly that of the baron’s sorcerer.

Two other corpses floated nearby. They were wights, gray skinned and leathery, and had obviously been slashed with swords. The Justicar strode forward and checked the monsters for signs of life in the simplest possible way: he hacked their heads off one by one. With that job done, he prodded at the dead sorcerer from a distance with his sword.

“Life drain. See the burns?”

Escalla hovered at her friend’s side and asked, “What doesthat?”

“Negative energy creatures, wights, vampires.” The Justicarknelt and relieved the body of a healing potion jammed into its belt. “But thatisn’t what killed him. This man was stabbed from behind.”

Sir Olthwaite managed to appear sanctimonious as he spoke. “Acreature slain by a wight becomes a wight. I therefore performed the final office of a friend.”

The Justicar said nothing.

Escalla flew a few paces farther out of reach and said, “Allright! Let’s just remain acquaintances then, shall we?”

Jus uncorked the healing potion, sniffed at it in suspicion, and seemed satisfied enough to clip it to his own belt.

“The potion seems all right.” Jus checked the smooth slide ofhis sword inside its sheath. “Paladin, you left a perfectly good potion behind?Why?”

Sir Olthwaite seared the Justicar with a disdainful glance and replied, “Some of us have a distaste for robbing the dead.”

“The worms don’t need it. We do.” Jus rose and took a closelook at the corridor ahead. “Tell us about this passageway.”

“The tunnel up ahead is lined with copper slabs,” the paladinexplained. “A hum of power seems to ripple through the metal, making the dankair shimmer with force.” Sir Olthwaite touched the bare copper with his hand.“It’s a trap designed to strip away your weapons and armor. Metal heats as youwalk down the tunnel.”

“Getting hotter over distance or hotter over time?” asked theJusticar.

“Time.” The paladin seemed evasive. “So it seemed.”

The Justicar watched Sir Olthwaite for a moment then said, “Where’s the Geshtai priestess?”

“I sent her through the tunnel. She did not return.”

Sent her? That was interesting. The Justicar noddedslowly, then looked down the corridor.

Hovering up near the ceiling, Escalla stuck a hand into the passage and twiddled her fingertips.

“Feels all right. I can go take a look.” The girl frowned.“Cinders, what do you smell?”

Undead. Evil!

“Now that’s not good.” Lifting her magic light, Escalla gavea swirl. “Shall I go?”

“Do it.” The Justicar kept his eyes on the corridor.“Paladin, guard the rear.”

Once Sir Olthwaite’s attention was partially divided, Escallastealthily slipped off her anti-charm ring and dropped it in Jus’ palm. TheJusticar traded it for his own bone ring, shielding the faerie from view until the ring slipped it in place upon her finger. With a happy salute, Escalla flipped her wings wide and turned invisible, the magic light bobbing softly as she flew into the corridor.

She flew a mere ten feet and then screeched in pain. An instant later, a hot gold piece came flying at the Justicar.

“My lucky gold piece!” Visible again, the girl rubbed angrilyat her cleavage. “Damned thing almost branded me!”

“You’ll get it back.” Jus caught the rapidly cooling coin andtucked it into his scabbard. “Tell me you didn’t swallow any coins.”

The girl raised one brow, put her fingers against her stomach, and looked a little blank. “Are pearls metallic?”

“Not that I’ve heard.”

“Oh, good.” The girl turned invisible again. “Well, undead,here I come!”

She flew off into the unknown, her light glittering from the great copper slabs lining the passage walls. Far down the tunnel, the light seemed to flare as it caught the walls of a larger room. Escalla’s cheery littlevoice could be heard echoing out into the halls.

“Helloooo!” The light swirled and bobbed. “Yoo-hoooo!Undead? The vampire crusher is here!”

There was a sudden sound of a door crashing open, followed by a chorus of bestial snarls. Escalla’s war cry