Elanee knew animal paths and ancient trails that led the group around danger and as quickly to Highcliff as the High Road would have. Being further from the Mere where she was most at home, she lost her sense of direction a time or two, but the trees would whisper where to go with nobody else in the group the wiser. There were no more encounters with gray dwarves, spiked creatures, or temporarily insane druids trapped in the form of a bear.
SG-1 had a bit of a heated debate about the gods and magic of the world. Daniel was starting to believe that magic did exist here. He thought that at least they should keep an open mind about things. Sam couldn't believe that a fellow scientist could even consider that idea, especially a scientist with Daniel's experience seeing mythology explained by advanced technology. Teal'c took Dr. Carter's side, his aversion to magical explanations as a source of superstition, and through that enslavement, swaying his opinion. Jack just stayed out of it.
As a way of ending the conversation, Daniel simply pointed towards Elanee. "She turned into a wolf." After a last protest by Sam, Daniel concluded, "Look, we don't know of any science so advanced it can cause a transformation that quickly. Not even the Asgard can do something like that. I'm just saying we should keep an open mind about this. Perhaps their magic is a principle which can be understood by science given enough study, but if it still works as advertised, couldn't it still be magic?"
Before Samantha could respond to that, the group found themselves coming out of the wilds to a rocky beach with man-made docks. As they walked up they saw a man ordering his crew to set sail while another man was warning him not to leave. By the time the group reached where the conversation had taken place, the ship had already set off into the harbor. Moments later, they all knew why the harbor master had warned them not to leave—the ship sank rapidly.
Colonel O'Neill looked at the rest of the group. "I hope we've come to this place because they have a regional airport."
To the soldier's dismay, he soon found out that they had been booked on a ship. The captain of the Double Eagle was an old friend of Tamil's foster father. Unfortunately, there was no way they could actually sail out any time soon. The harbor was being sabotaged. Any ship that left port would soon be scuttled by groups of an amphibious race of creatures known as lizardlings.
"How far is it to Neverwinter by foot?" Daniel asked. The answer was that it was too far and through a brutal and lawless bit of land beyond the patrols of the city or any of its outlying military posts. They would be risking meeting up with large bands of outlaws, vicious monsters, and likely whatever group that was after the shard of silver in Tamil's possession.
Tamil took up the issue of getting boats out of the harbor safely with the Highcliff village elder. He was a practical man who explained that the town was a chartered settlement of Neverwinter, but did not have a regular garrison like Fort Locke did. He had no idea why the lizardlings had started attacking boats or where they were striking from. With Tamil volunteering the group to help out, the elder wished them all luck and suggested they ask the local farmers if they had spotted strange movement that could indicate where the lizardlings were.
A short trip from Highcliff brought them to a tidy, well-kept farm with a path leading from the main road to a quaint farmhouse and barn. A somewhat comely woman with short blond hair approached. She wore the sort of plain drab clothes expected of a farmer. She introduced herself as Shandra Jerro and asked what the group was doing on her farm. When the group explained they were hoping to end the lizardling attacks, the woman seemed pleased, but not overly optimistic.
That changed when the group spotted a pair of lizardlings sprinting across the farm with torches in their hands. Without hesitation Sam and Jack pulled out their zats and blasted the bipedal humanoid lizards with the stunning energy of the alien weapons. The creatures crumpled to the ground in pain before losing consciousness, their torches spluttering out. "Are those the lizardlings you were talking about?" asked Jack.
Shandra's regard for the group changed instantly. She invited them all in her house and offered them a meal. "It's nice for once to have someone actually do something to help. I hope you are as successful getting these attacks to stop as you were keeping them from burning down my barn." Tamil befriended Shandra when she explained how she also came from a farming background. While her father was a forester and did not tend farms or domesticated animals, Tamil had plenty of experience with rural life and its difficulties.
After hearing of the vandalizing behavior of the lizardlings, Elanee offered some insights into their motivations. In their culture it was normal territorial behavior to try and force out unwanted neighbors by destroying property. They would avoid causing deaths, which would lead to war, but cause property harm instead.
Teal'c suggested that it may be possible to negotiate with the lizardlings. Khelgar was incredulous at the suggestion. "Negotiate with the lizards? What's next, should we be sending ambassadors to armies of invading orcs?"
"Perhaps not, Khelgar, but I'm sure I can convince these two that we're all good friends," Tamil smirked.
When the lizardlings awoke, they found themselves listening to the bard playing a song with her lute. The music was spellbindingly beautiful, literally captivating them. In their state of fascination, Tamil sang soothing words and carefully crafted a simple suggestion into the song: show us where your camp is so we can help you get home.
SG-1 was just as fascinated, but in their case it was not a magical affect. Samantha was excited about the hypnotic elements of the song. Daniel just said, "I've got to ask her to record this for my iPod." Jack protested, jokingly claiming that he was Tamil's new manager.
The lizardlings, under the influence of Tamil's hypnotic melody, led the group to a ruined castle. When they reached the castle entrance the group was in for a surprise. Outside the doorway was a single lizardling, larger than the two who had been captured, surrounded by zombies trying to drag him to the ground. The lizardling was fairly strong and agile, however, and was fending off their attacks.
Between rotting zombies and lizard-creatures, it was obvious which the group preferred. Khelgar dove in with his axe, Tamil charged in with his sword, and Elanee in the form of a wolf knocked one zombie down. In no time at all the lizardling was free of the undead, but now facing a far more dangerous foe.
"Stay back. Slaan no fight you. Must get help," the lizardling called out in a half rasping, half hissing voice.
After a short discussion, Slaan was convinced to take the group to the lizardling chief in return for help rescuing his warriors from the undead. After some questioning Slaan explained that the lizardling team sabotaging Highcliff boats had been using the castle ruins as a base, but after several weeks without a problem, they suddenly found themselves set upon by large numbers of the walking dead. His warriors had managed to barricade themselves in a room while providing enough of a distraction for Slaan to slip out to go for help.
SG-1 pulled out their alien weapons and marched into what was once a level of a castle, but now was just a rotting series of corridors leading nowhere anyone wanted to go. Not wanting to be caught from behind, the group cleared each room they came to. Neeshka led the way, finding and disarming traps that she noted had been placed just recently.
After clearing a hallway of the creatures, the group came upon a room with an open door. A dark priest, dressed identically to the one they had seen in the graveyard where SG-1 had emerged on this world from the wormhole, stood surrounded by a group of zombies whose physical condition made it apparent that they had only recently died. Behind the priest were an altar and a shadowy portal projecting an image of a bald man wearing ornate black robes.
"Master of the Fifth Tower, you grace me with your presence," the priest bowed to the figure respectfully.
"Yes, I'm certain. The raising of the army and the attacks on Fort Locke... how do they proceed?" The image, similar to a hologram in appearance, was apparently able to hear and see what was going on in the room. He had a voice that brooked no nonsense.
"There have been complications, milord. One of our disciples near Fort Locke has been slain. It shall not affect our plans at the Fort, nor the raising of our troops.
Our power runs strong here... The war our master pursued here so long ago still fuels our magic. Our enemies shall not prevail."
"As long as Neverwinter is occupied, then you have served me... and through me, your master." It was clear that the image was accustomed to authority and considered the priest a subordinate.
The priest seemed to resent that somewhat. "We are all in the service of the King of Shadows, Lord Garius. Sometimes we forget he is all around us, and there are no ranks and hierarchies before him."
"Think what you will, as long as you carry out my orders." Garius, the robed man in the image, did not seem put off by the priest's words. However, as he spoke he noticed the party of adventurers outside the door listening in. His next remarks made it quite plain that he was put off by this intrusion. "Ah, it seems someone else has come to pay their respects, priest. Perhaps the same ones who slaughtered the priest at Fort Locke. I suggest you deal with them before you share the same fate."
With the element of surprise gone, the group charged in. The priest quickly cast a spell and then another that surrounded him with protective shields. That didn't didn't help much against Khelgar's axe, though, and the priest was quickly knocked to the ground for the dwarf to continue pounding on. Once again, SG-1 destroyed the slow moving zombies with triple shots from their alien zat'nik'tel weapons and Teal'c's powerful staff weapon, which destroyed each one it hit with a single shot.
Unfortunately, the battle ended in a way the group would not have preferred. The priest managed to get to his feet and cast a spell that filled the area with a dark energy, similar looking to a flash of ultraviolet light. Khelgar staggered back from the discharge of negative energy, only to be replaced by the lizardling warrior, Slaan. Slaan killed the already injured priest with swift stabs of his twin short swords.
Jack O'Neill, just done blasting the last of the zombies in the room, looked over at the robed priest lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood and sighed. "Well now, that's going to make it hard to question him about the big evil plan we were just hearing about."
Despite not being able to get any answers from the priest, the chamber they entered did have some secrets to reveal. For one, the priest conveniently kept a journal that mentioned experiments in raising the dead. There were also a few valuable items that the group gathered up to be examined later. Most significant for SG-1, however, was the shadow portal that remained intact after the fight.
Samantha examined the portal and the altar. She took some measurements using equipment in her pack, but the readings did not seem promising. Tamil spent some time examining the portal as well. After comparing notes with Dr. Carter, a few things became clear. First off, it was clear that they had little idea about how the portal actually worked. Second, this was definitely not a Stargate. Third, there seemed to be no way to use this to send SG-1 back to Earth. It seemed to be designed only for sending and receiving messages, and no more.
With the priest dispatched, it was only a matter of destroying the undead in the corridors and rooms. That went fairly well until the group came upon a hallway with a great mass of undead facing a closed door, apparently trying to break it down. SG-1 fired into the mass of undead with their zats, followed by a charge from Khelgar, Tamil, Slaan, and Elanee. But they were surprised when a door behind SG-1 burst open and a swarm of undead creatures rushed out with surprising speed.
At such range it was nearly impossible to fire a weapon. Teal'c used his Ma'tok staff as a blunt weapon, smashing the creatures with practiced strength. Jack was able to draw a combat knife and fend them off. Samantha and Daniel, though having some training in hand to hand combat, were overwhelmed. They were scraped, clawed, and even bitten. What was worse, Daniel felt a coldness paralyzing him from where the creatures grabbed him. He would later learn he had been affected by the touch of a ghoul.
That was when Tamil pulled a golden cup out of her pack and spoke a word of command. Instantly, a great white light flashed out. The light covered the whole group. Daniel immediately felt his wounds heal, though he was still unable to move his muscles. The undead creatures also felt the power of the light, many of them falling to the ground as plain corpses once more.
This freed Elanee to step back from the fight and begin chanting. She looked up to where the roof of the building had broken in, where the sky was clearly visible. Then, as she finished her evocation, the sky instantly darkened and a thick cloud appeared just above where Elanee stood with her hands raised. In an instant, the room was filled with bursts of lightning streaming through the opening in the ceiling. The blasts of electricity blew the remaining zombies, ghasts, and ghouls to pieces.
As soon as the group recovered, Daniel regaining feeling in his limbs, Jack walked over to the druidess. "I love trees," he said. "I just wanted you to know that. And I have made donations to Green Peace before." She looked at him, not knowing how to take that. In the end, she decided he was saying thank you in an odd way.
Elanee cast healing magic on those suffering wounds from the chaotic encounter and then the group prepared to enter the last room in the hallway. It was locked, Neeshka just smirked at it when she pulled out her tools. The old door's locking mechanism was trivial for her.
The door swung open and there were the lizardling warriors. They appeared prepared to fight to the last man. That was not to be, though, for Slaan walked in and explained the bargain he had made for "warm bloods" help. Upon hearing that the lizardlings made no protest in bringing them to see their chieftain.
It took some talking, but Tamil convinced the chieftain to stop the raids on Highcliff's farms and cease sabotaging their boats. She had first appealed to justice and neighborliness, but those had failed. Then she pointed out that sooner or later the lizardling camp would be discovered, that Neverwinter would send troops, and that both humans and lizardlings would suffer. That argument worked, and the chieftain agreed to work things out with Highcliff and promised no more attacks so long as Highcliff left them alone.
The village elder was somewhat dubious about trusting the lizardlings, but he agreed to try and coexist with them, so long as they did not raid any more farms or cause more harm to shipping. Ships began to set sail again and it was time for the group to finally head over to Neverwinter to get their answers about the shard of silver, the necromantic priests, and the location of the Stargate on Toril.
The town elder surprised the group with a gift. While Captain Flynn of the Double Eagle wouldn't ask Tamil for any coin for her passage thanks to his relationship with Daeghun, he did want something for taking on the rest of the group. The town of Highcliff pitched in together to donate an amount enough to pay for the whole group's passage. He also personally donated a set of magical armor that had been in his family for generations; armor that fit Elanee's frame perfectly.
The short trip across the ocean was uneventful. The Double Eagle arrived in Neverwinter port and began offloading the cargo. Captain Flynn bid Tamil farewell and pointed her in the direction of the Sunken Flagon Inn where she was to meet with the proprietor, her foster father's half brother.
When Tamil addressed the half-elf working the tables and asked if her uncle was around, the man took a quick look at the heavily armed group behind her and made a very practiced story up about Duncan not being worth a penny and not having been around for some time. Tamil saw right through the roguish man's prevarication, though, and grinned. This was her uncle. She decided liked him. "Daeghun sent me," she said.
Upon hearing that, Duncan relaxed and welcomed the group wholeheartedly. He immediately offered to put Tamil and all her friends up in the inn as long as they were in Neverwinter. When requested to see the second silver shard in his possession, Duncan just gave it to Tamil. There was instant trust between them and Tamil explained how West Harbor had been attacked and Daeghun's belief that it was about the shards of silver.
Duncan explained that he had them examined before, but there had only been traces of an enchantment on the item. Just as he was speaking of this, the wizard who had examined it in the first time came in. The two exchanged several rounds of halfway good natured jabs at each other in a challenge of wit, with Duncan taking by far the worst of it. After another sarcastic insult, the elven wizard continued, "I heard my name mentioned, and oddly enough, almost in a tone that suggested I could help."
Duncan said he'd like Sand to attempt to learn more about the shards of silver as he had before. Sand, took them and cast a simple divination on them. To SG-1's astonishment, everyone in the room felt an immense power swell up. The power knocked Tamil, Sand, and anyone near them to the floor.
Getting up, Sand shook his head. His tone was one of mild disbelief and pain, "Well... it seems to have some... resentment to being scryed." He took another look at the shard. "That is quite different than last time. Are you sure these are the same shards? The power in them... Why, it's definitely stronger than last time, much stronger."
After a good amount of ribbing from Duncan, Sand explained that neither he nor any other wizard would be able to learn more without finding out more about the history of the items and its composition. Fortunately, there was someone in the city who was an expert on these matters. They could visit Aldanon the sage.
Colonel Jack O'Neill took the opportunity to ask about the Stargate. Sand took a look at him and sniffed disdainfully, but gave a frank answer. He had never heard of anything like what Jack described. After a bit of prodding from Tamil, and Samantha asking with a good measure of flattery thrown in, Sand gave them a lead. "I suppose if there is a record of this ring you are talking about, a copy of it could likely be found in the city archives."
They thanked Sand, but he deflated their hopes as quickly as he pumped them up. He informed them that both the archives and the sage were in a district of the city they could not get to now. Blacklake district was on lockdown due to a series of high profile murders.
The knowledge they were seeking was probably there, but good luck getting it.