The Necromancer's Legacy - part 60

As night approaches in the cells, Charon attempts to persuade the guards to let him speak to lord Jorian but to no avail. Horacio decides a good nights sleep is the best while Thriatos and Charon works through the night, attempting to conjure up a plan to escape. In the morning an official from the Temple attempts to convince the mages to sign a confession but Horacio refuses out of pride and loyalty towards Acidus who would otherwise be branded as a traitor.

Realizing they do not have much time they hastily make an attempt to escape. Planning to summon demons to take their places and hide behind an illusion they make it out of their cells but gets detected by the guards. A large escort soon being moving the prisoners towards the public execution square outside the prison. While hope seems to be fading the three frantically set their minds to finding new ways to escape but none dare act before they find themselves standing in the bright light of day, before a large crowd gathered to witness the event.

Soldiers form a corridor for the convicts through the crowd to a raised platform where they are likely to be tortured and then burned alive. Refusing to accept such a fate Horacio finally has the will to act and manage to bypass the magical wards set up to unleashes a gust of wind and get free from his guards. Charon reacts fast to the confusion and tries to seek cover in the crowd while Thriatos finds himself lodged under a pile of stunned guards. As on queue a strange portal opens before them and they lunge themselves through, barely escaping a blast of magic and oncoming guards.

The men soon realize they are in the Realm of Unlife with no apparent means of escape. With no immediate danger Charon is thrilled by the opportunity to study the place in person and Thriatos is simply quite happy to be safe. Only Horacio expresses the opinion that he'd prefer to leave this place sooner rather than later. But as that doesn't seem to be a choice they can make they are stuck with exploring the Realm to the best of their abilities. Wandering among the misty shapes of long dead they notice their magical powers are considerably weakened and appart from the dark, polished ground there appears to be no features or objects with which to interact. It is impossible to know how much time has passed since they got here and they feel no hunger nor fatigue. A dim light in the distance eventually catches their attention and it proves to be a portal, placing them somewhere in the jungles of the island. Meeting them is Acidus together with a large gathering of natives who apparently performed some sort of ritual to allow their escape from Usdar. Acidus introduces them to sir Elmer, a seneschal to consul Callissios, who helped save their life by locating them in the Realm of Unlife, and also to the shaman of the local tribe who greets them to the tribe by assigning each a totem. Catching up on past events the mages learned they have been gone for three weeks during which the governor has moved his forces to lay siege to Neddam. Acidus has left the city to attempt to gather the natives into an army to lift the siege.

Given some time to recouperate the mages meet again after they've rested. Discussing how they can best contribute to bring down the governor Acidus believes they would be most suited to defend the walls of Neddam and to provoke the governor into wasting troops against its defenses.