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The following morning you talk with Samu in his private chamber. You enquire after the fates of the old Kundi man, Urik the Wise, and Hugi the Thief, who also accompanied you on your quest for the Shadow Gate. You learn that Urik returned south to rejoin his people in the forests of the Azanam. Hugi, much to your surprise, returned to fight alongside Sado of the Long Knife with the Army of the Freedom Guild. Samu journeyed north from Desolation Valley to revisit his old country, the Lissan Plain. By chance he stumbled upon the surviving members of his people, who lived within the small belt of land around Lake Dolani and Lake Iss. It seems that the demons of the Lissan Plain are reluctant to cross water and so the lands beyond the rivers of the plain remained unstained by their presence. Only one pass leads out of the plain to the country that surrounds it beyond the mountains and the Masbaté held this pass against the demons. Under Samu’s newfound kingship, the last survivors of the Masbaté were reunited and formed a new, though smaller, realm around the southern lakes of Lissan. They created for themselves a home within the mountains, using it as a place to hide from the malevolent eye of Shasarak. They have fought unceasingly with the demons of the Lissan Plain, which Shasarak left to roam at will after the last of the Masbaté were thought to be slain, for the Masbaté still hope to regain the whole of the plain.
‘Their numbers are much reduced, compared to the great host that defeated us of old, though many hundreds still remain, especially the more powerful and cunning of their kind,’ explains Samu. ‘And there is a power that eludes us yet, the power that allows them to remain in the world. There is a magical gate within the hills near Lake Tilos, the gate that allowed them into the world. It was Shasarak who opened this portal for them and they are able to travel through it to their demon plane as they wish. Whenever they are attacked by a Masbaté force likely to defeat them, they can transport themselves to this portal instantly. While such an escape route remains open to them, we can never hope to defeat them entirely.’
While Samu speaks, a plan begins to form in your mind, a plan that would rid the Masbaté of the demon plague forever and provide an answer to the problem of delaying the Shadakine Army long enough for you to warn the Freedom Guild of the overwhelming force that marches against them. You remember how the Moonstone opened a corridor from the Daziarn plane to the real world. Surely it must be able to reverse the process and close the portal in the hills east of Lake Tilos.
‘If it were not for the demon plague,’ Samu continues, ‘and the threat it offers, we of the Masbaté would have joined forces with the Freedom Guild long ago but our wives and children must be protected. We could not leave them to the mercies of the demon plague. It is our belief that when the demons cross water they lose their ability to transport themselves to their portal. But if we warriors were not here to withstand them, they would have no need to use that power.’
‘Worry no longer King Samu,’ you say, as a plan crystallizes in your mind. ‘I will close the demon portal and, with the help of your brave warriors, I will lure the evil demon host to the Shadakine themselves.’ You explain the plan. You will journey to the Hills of Tilos and, using the Moonstone, attempt to close the portal. Such an action is sure to attract every demon of Lissan against you. Then you will flee to the pass in the Kashima Mountains with the demon horde in pursuit. You will time this action so that you are able to lead the demons into the rear of the Shadakine column as it approaches the bridge that crosses the River Dosar at Lanzi.
‘But how can you be sure that the Shadakine Army will not have crossed the bridge at Lanzi before you reach them?’ Samu asks.
‘The Masbaté must hold the bridge against the Shadakine until I can lure the demons against them,’ you reply.
Samu nods in understanding. ‘And who will go with you to the portal?’
‘I will go alone. All of the Masbaté will be needed to hold the bridge. My Magical Powers and the Moonstone will protect me. They must.’
Suddenly the door of the king’s chamber is thrown open. Tanith stands there, white-faced and trembling. ‘She has found me, Grey Star,’ she says in a quavering voice. ‘She has searched and she has found me!’ Tanith looks weak; she can barely stand. Her eyes have a terrible haunted look.
‘Who … who has found you?’ you ask, fearing the answer.
‘Mother Magri, my old mistress, the Shadakine Wytch of Suhn. She has searched for me with the Kazim Stone and she has found me. Long I resisted her as she tried to probe my mind. She beckons, Grey Star, she calls, I cannot resist her much longer.’
While Tanith remains, she is of great danger to you, for in seeking Tanith Mother Magri will discover that you have returned to the world. As a servant of the Wytch-king, Shasarak, Mother Magri and her power over Tanith imperils your life and your entire quest. Tanith, it seems, has realized this already.
