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.
CHAPTER TWO
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.
Even so, that didn't stop Hinto from rushing into the chamber before Ghaji could tell his companions that it was safe to enter.
'Look at all this!' Hinto raised the everbright lantern higher to better illuminate the room's contents. The halfling's eyes gleamed in the greenish lantern light as he gazed upon the items. Before becoming trapped in the Mire, Hinto had been a sailor. Life was harsh in the northern waters of the Principalities, and those who plied the Lhazaar Sea did what was necessary to survive. No sailor-even one as prone to panic as Hinto-would be foolish enough to pass up an opportunity for salvage.
The halfling started toward a pile of clothes, but before he could reach it, Diran took hold of his arm and stopped him.
'Be careful,' the priest said. 'Just because these items once belonged to mortal men doesn't make them safe. If this chamber is where the lich keeps her phylactery, then it's likely that she's set traps to protect it. We must proceed with caution.'
Hinto nodded, a chastened look on his face.
'What precisely should we look for?' Tresslar asked. 'I assume the lich wasn't considerate enough to label her phylactery for us.'
'Heh. No. You're right about that. Often an object that was important to a lich in life serves as the phylactery, but it could be anything,' Diran said. 'Something as simple as a locked chest or as ornate as a piece of sculpture. We won't know for certain until we find it, but whatever object is used, it is always cold to the touch.'
'Then let's get to it,' Ghaji said, nose wrinkling as he caught a whiff of the muck clinging to his boots. 'I want to destroy the phylactery and get out of here before my sense of smell is completely gone.'
With that, the four companions began carefully searching through the collection of items in the lich's hidden chamber. There was no treasure, though they did find purses containing various types and amounts of currency.
'I think we should take some of this money, Diran,' Hinto said. 'We're always short on funds since you refuse to charge for your services.'
'Sorry, my friend,' the priest said. 'While I appreciate your Lhazaarite frugality, the money is tainted by the lich's evil, thus we must leave it.'
With a regretful sigh, Hinto nodded.
While they looked for the phylactery, Tresslar also kept an eye out for magic items whose power he could absorb with his dragonwand, but the artificer found none. Either the lich's victims hadn't possessed such items or
