Chmeorl felt his weight returning. WHAT A JOYOUS DAY!!! He was getting his body back!!! He descended from the ceiling of the cave just in time to feel his body shiver.

"Jeremy" the rumbling bass voice came from behind him. Chmeorl had not noticed the ring form. "I have a task for you." Chmeorl jumped as if startled. He used the apparent startlement to perform a backflip to land the other way. There was the Green Man, sitting upon his throne of stone. "I need you to add cohesion to the party." The Green Man said simply. "They are in need of this. They are about to fall apart." Jeremy had wondered what was happening.

"How can you tell, Master?"

"Tell me of recent events."

"Well, Master, After the fight with the Fire Weird, MetaWhalus ran off, we dont know where he went. Then the Champions wondered around, looking for the Source of Heat. They found a maze, with ash rats infesting the hallways. The spirit shaman found two in the maze, and they joined her for the time being. It seems that their current job is to find another, and bring him to the surface. This new group banded to gether navigated the maze. Their exit to the maze led them to an encampment of Salamanders. The noble of the encampment had sent for the two for a retrieval of a druid. They battled a harginn, bested him quite well, and left in search of the Source of Heat. They are still in the area."

The Green Man listed to the wholy factual tale. He noted a change in Chmeorl. His normally embellishment was gone, this tale only told what happened, nothing more. Perhaps the grimalkin had learned a lesson.

"The druid is on loan to me from his God. He wants to learn more of different areas. This is an excellent opportunity.

The two who followed him, well, they are mine as well.

Keep them together as a team. I wonder about Selené, her heart is mournful. She is the soul of this group. She is the one that has resisted change. Tell her she's never alone.

Chmeorl, this is very important. If the champions loose thier heart, then the cause is lost in their hearts. Do you understand the importance of this?"

Chmeorl considered. If the Champions loose their heart, then they will not be successfull. This would be very bad, very bad indeed. Their cause was to keep the seasons as normal as possible. Old Man Winter's spell to keep it winter permanently would succeed, and while fun for a short time, snow shouldnt stay around for more than a few months.

"Yes, Master. I do understand." The grimalkin answered solemnly.

"Good, also tell Selené to get out her leaves, its time."

Watching from his vantage point, Chmeorl saw the fights. This party was fighting alot lately. Though that was probably due to the fact that they were in the midst of hostile territory. The formians enslaved anyone who wandered into their territory in order to get all the work done. Taskmasters were the ones who could do this.

Metawhalus, the wolfen, had been taken by these in the middle of the night. They found him, aimlessly chipping away at the walls, just as his taskmaster wanted him to. The Shamaness relieved the taskmaster of his life, using the Oak Staff that he had given her. Chmeorl smiled a misty smile, just wait until she unlocks THAT...

Julien, now that was an interesting character. He is so full of himself. Much like the grimalkin. His denial of his true nature is becoming very fascinating to watch. He did not realize that the wolfen was a lost member, but he soon accepted him.

The Queen of the hive has finally become aware of the group, and is currently in conversation with the party. Chmeorl watched and waited for the outcome of these events.

After she and Meatwallus had finished clearing that part of the hall, she decided it was time to set camp. If she did not sleep now, she would be running out of spells very soon. It was agreed that she would sleep first and take second watch. She closed her eyes as Meatwallus watched over her protectively.

When she awoke, she was fully rested. It had been a full night's rest. Meatwallus had not woke her for her shift. She sat up, looked around, and he was no where to be found. She was alone. All alone. She started getting scared, nervous. She knew she had to continue on, but doing this alone was a bit more than she could handle. "What you doing?" she heard and looked down to see Jeremy sitting beside her, glancing down the hall. She expressed her loneliness to him and her fears of having to go about this quest all alone. He told her she was never alone. Even when she could not see anyone there, she was never alone. He was right. She was a spirit shaman. The spirits were always there and her guide would give her strength. She had to learn to stop listening to the voices of her brothers in her head echoing from the past. She was not that little girl in a Barbarian tribe that never really fit in. She was a Champion of the Green Man. Obad Hai believed in her. She must believe in herself. She wiped up her tears and asked the cat, "Now what?" He told her of a new Champion that was being held captive just around the next corner and bounded off ahead hollering, "Come on Selene! Let's go get him." She followed to see another of those ant men. He was standing over a human man that was using a pick on the wall. He seemed to be in a daze. Not really thinking for himself. Jeremy began an attack on the ant man. She jumped in to help. If this human man was being held against his will, he must be released. She kept thumping the ant man with her staff. It did very little damage, but at least it did more on these creatures than her fire magics did. Between her strikes, she watched with amusement as Jeremy took on several different forms in battling this foe.

Once the ant man fell, the human looked around very confused. He seemed very nervous and unsure of her and the large dog beside her. He tried hard to get his point across, but never said a word. He looked down at Jeremy, now in the form of a large house cat, and looked back to her very confused again. Jeremy explained that it had been her that had saved him and that he owed her. He did not seem to believe Jeremy, but offered a handshake to the cat. Jeremy promptly took the shape of a baboon and shook hands with the human. She tried to explain that Jeremy was a shapechanger. The human did not seem very secure with the idea, but accepted it.

Jeremy told her that this new Champion would go with her on the quest, and that it was time for him to rest and fix his fur. It had gotten mussed up in the battle and he, like any cat, didn't feel right with so much as a hair out of place. She collected two wands from the ant man. One she could use for healing, and the other she gave to the human. She continued on, with the human in tow, into the carverns.

The first tunnel she tried had another ant man with an enslaved bull man. The human began attacking with his pick and she began tossing javelins into it. Her aim with things thrown was much better than hand to hand combat. She tossed all four of her javelins into it and then started hitting it with her staff. With the human's help, they managed to kill the creature, but not before it had managed to mentally control the bull man into attacking them. The bull man had injured the human. She healed the human as he grabbed the ant man's back pack. From within he pulled out a bag of coins and a couple gems and gave them to her. He also found a couple arcane scrolls in it, but they were of no use to her. He claimed to be able to use them, and stuck them back into the backpack and stood ready to move on.

Some goblinoid voices echoed from deep within the next tunnel as they made their way down. They backed up and set up for an approach that never happened.

They checked the next tunnel, but it was empty and a dead end.

The next tunnel was very quiet as they began slowly moving down the side wall. Then from somewhere above came a voice. "Foodsis walksis into my home it does." They looked up to see a VERY large spider. About this time, she noticed several humanoid shapes bound and wrapped completely in silk webbing. The human began slowly backing up and before Selene took a step to follow him, the spider told the human he was being rude. She was about to invite them to dinner. Thoughts of being some huge spider's dinner did not sound exciting to her. Not wanting to be dinner, she was trying to think of a way out without insulting the spider. She was startled out of her thoughts by the still moving humanoid shape that the spider placed before them. She had not intended to eat them, she was offering them something to eat. Selene asked the spider how this kind of food was to be eaten, as it was not her normal type of food. The spider went into detail about spitting acid on it and letting it soften, grasping it with mandibles and sucking the husk clean. The entire procedure turned her stomach. She said told the spider she was not able to produce acid and did not have mandibles. The spider accused her of being deformed and make comments about deformed children being required to be eaten at birth. It really seemed to confuse the spider that a mother would let deformed children to live. The human tried to explain that they were not spiders. The spider then demanded an explanation,"Then what ARE you?" He tried to explain to her that he was human. She then demanded the same question of Selene, to which she responded, "well, I used to be human." With this the spider concluded that they were both deformed creatures and wondered off puzzling to herself just what a human was. They quickly took their leave of the tunnel and returned to the large cavern in the center.

During their absence, two new creatures had moved into the open area. They stopped quickly as the creature looked at them both and started charging toward the human. The first one their grabbed at the pick he held and it immediately rusted. He tossed the pick across the cavern hoping it was all they wanted. It charged across the room after the pick like a dog after a bone. When they reached it, they both devoured it as though it was a gourmet delight.

Selene and the human took off down the last remaining tunnel from the room. In the faint light, she saw a creature that looked something like a hairless dog with no face. She heard a high pitched chirp and her staff began to shake. For some reason it did not want to be around this creature. It turned and screeched out a high pitched howl toward the human and he fainted. She began attacking the screamer with her staff. It again chirped at her and the staff shook. It did not like being around this creature. She used her magics to attack it. It kept chirping or screaming toward her and eventually ran off. She went over to the human to find him badly hurt. She pulled out one of the rune chips and used it to cure him.

They continued down the tunnel ahead and saw a cloud of fluttering little glowing lights. As they approached, she noticed that they looked like little scarabs with odd looking tentacle legs. They seemed to be blocking the entrance to the left tunnel. They walked around the bugs and slipped down the hall to the right.

A troupe of little lizard men, like the one she had seen before in a cage, marched off into a tunnel headed north. They were followed by another ant man. Obviously, they were enslaved too. It has always been the groups practice to not leave anything behind them as they moved on. This was not how this human seemed to do things. He didn't want to get into a fight if it was not in his face. She advised him that it was not safe practice to leave enemies behind you. But when she waited for him to follow them, he instead wandered off further down the hall past the northern entrance.

As they continued down the hall, she noticed a couple more enslaved creatures. These ones were huge. One was very ugly and the other had three arms, and didn't look much prettier. There was an ant man watching over them and another big ant man (the size of a horse) between the group and her. The big ant man wore a brass helm and looked like he was more of a foreman than a soldier. He spotted the human and began walking toward him. Closing the distance between them, the big ant man hurled a javelin at the human. It appeared to go right through his body. The human pulled it out, wincing in pain, and tumbled past the big ant man.
She was left alone facing this huge angry ant man. As she thought of what to do, she was hit with a little ball of fire. She threw a fire ball back and it did not seem to faze it. It seemed more interested at what was behind him. Each time she would strike with her staff, the big ant man would turn back to watch her. Then he would turn back again looking behind and beneath himself. She noticed that the floor was getting wet and that beneath the big ant man stuck out the legs of the human. He appeared to have found a soft spot. She took the time to step back and ask the spirits for help. Large spikes formed at one end of her staff. She struck again and the big ant man turned back to her in pain. That had hurt him. "Good" she thought, "finally something that works." and swung at him again. A few good hits and it fell to the ground. The human was trapped underneath it. She called on her spirit guide for strength and tugged at the humans feet. He popped out from under the fallen foe. The She magically healed herself for the first time since starting the quest. Then checked and healed the human. She searched the big ant man and added 8 gemstones and 1800g to the chest in the wagon. She also found a short sword that was magically sharp and handed it to the human. He had lost his pick, and broke the javelin fighting the big ant man. He needed to have a weapon for defense. She looked up and down the hall towards where the other ant man had been.

Chmeorl floated near the party, above them. His sadness could not even be expressed with tears. He was mist. He had no form. Yet he must do his job.

The party moved down the tunnels. A taskmaster leading his crew of kobolds gave them pause. The party waited patiently as the group moved on.

Going further, another group was working. The taskmaster, evidently higher ranking, had an athach, and a troll. The Queen, probably being alerted by the death of the other taskmaster, had placed a Myrmarch with this group. The Myrmarchs are the elite personal protectors of the queen. This one was rather low ranking, so signified by the plain brass helm. His size however, was larger than any that the party had seen before. He was as big as a horse.

The natural armor of the creature presented a problem to the party. Their blows more often glanced off the armor. The formians have a natural resistance to most magical energies. They enjoy an immunity to cold and acid, as well as an unnaturally high resistance to fire and electricity. The favored attacks of the Shamaness, fire, were ineffective.

The creativity of the newest member shone like a beacon. Not being able to hit very well, as he is young for his age, he placed himself on the ground, UNDER the creature, and attacked up. The poor creature did not know what to do, or whom to attack. The shamaness had come to the realization that putting spikes upon her staff helped. It was then that they turned th tides of the battle. The shamaness slapping her spikes into the head of the Myrmarch, and the new member attacking the softer underside.

When the battle was won, Chmeorl tried to jump for joy, it was a hard won battle, but was reminded that jumping was no longer possible. How he wished for his form back.

Chmeorl was pleased with himself. He had assisted the party when it was in need again. The shamaness needed assistance to overcome the formian taskmaster. HE had provided that assistance. HE had led the shamaness to the next member of the Champion party. It had felt so good to taste battle again. Looking down, Chmeorl flexed his muscles. Yeah, he was good.

"CHMEORL!"

With a jump, Chmeorl jumped and spun completely around in midair. He stared into the angry face of the Green Man. While the grimalkin was musing about his recent life, the meeting circle had appeared around him. The Green Man was sitting upon a GIGANTIC wooden throne. "Yes, Master?"

"CHMEORL! YOU HAVE FAILED ME!" the Green Man said. "You deliberately disobeyed my wishes. You failed the Champions. You "The green man pointed with a huge oaken finger "are the cause of the loss of the Monk to the party."

Chmeorl hung his head. He was confused. How was he the cause of the Monk leaving the party. How could Chmeorl be the one that created that situation. The monk had left of his own choice. "How Master?"

"Grimalkin, " began the angry Green Man. He had none of the normal kindness in his voice. His voice was as hard as ironwood. "I told you to prepare the party for the coming of the next member. You did not. You did not prepare them at all. Because of this, the Monk, whose life has been full of reverence and honor, does not understand that his friend is TRULY gone from this world."

So that was why the Monk left. He thought his friend was still there. The shamaness had moved on, understanding that the dead who choose to move on, do so. The wolfen is a replacement, yet the monk, in his own way, refuses to believe that the Furry truly was gone.

"Chmeorl, you have worked to the negativity of the Champions." the graveness of the tone did not bode well for the grimalkin. "You shall not be allowed to continue without punishment. " Oh NO!!! Last time the Green Man locked him in a form for a week. The shame that brought, not being able to change. It was like being only half a being.

Chmeorls feet began to tingle, he looked down. His feet were fading from view.

"Chmeorl, " the Green Man said gravely, "For a period of unspecified time. You will exhist as insubstantial as mist."

Chmeorl looked at the Green Man with HORROR. He was to have NO shape!!!! How horrible!!!

Even as he looked the Green Man faded from view. Chmeorl watched as his body faded into the mist that he was to become.



For an unspecified time.

She watched as the ghost monk in his new body, that of the female orc, opened the door to the next room. He quickly shut the door, turned and left the room. He began searching through the Orc's camp looking for something. They had already searched the camp and collected anything of value. She wondered what could be left that he could want. She asked him what was on the other side of the door, why he had closed it so quickly and backed into another room. Was it something so horrid that he would run from it? He was acting odd. He told her "Go and check for yourself". He had never left her to advance into possible battle alone before. She realized that the fluffy one's death had struck the ghost monk hard. He had told her that the fluffy one had called out to him in spirit form, recognising his presence at last, just before his spirit moved on. She could no longer sense the fluffy one's spirit near them anywhere. He had died and gone to be with his Gods. She did not understand why the ghost monk was so concerned about the fluffy one's body. It was now just an empty shell. It was no longer of any use to the fluffy one's departed spirit. It was not like the fluffy one would be able to use anything he had in life. The ghost monk chose to stay, his spirit refused to leave his body. Because he was a ghost, he was still connected to his items. But the fluffy one had gone.

She started to fear that in loosing the fluffy one, she had lost the ghost monk too. He had never really liked her anyway. He always blamed her for the changes Obad Hai had granted him. As many times that she tried to enlighten him and the fluffy one about these gifts, they always blamed her. Called her witch, healer, matchstick...not once did they care to know who she was.

She found herself once more charged with this quest alone. The spelltheif, the sorcerous, the fighter, the ranger, and the samauri had all quit and left her. The wizard was asleep more than he was awake, or would run off and come back only to run off again. She was the only one that was charged with the quest in the begining that was still there. The only one who did not quit. The fluffy one died a valiant death, in battle for good and in service of the Gods. He would always hold a special place in her heart. He never quit. He died trying to help her. For that, he would never be forgotten.

She stepped up to the door, braced herself, and opened it to face whatever fight there was on the other side. At first glance, she saw white fur, claws, and a wolf-like face. He stood on hind legs, at almost twice her height, in a humanoid stance. He looked down at her and called her by her name. This caused her to pause. "How do you know my name?" she asked of this new beast. He went on to explain that he knew everything about our quest, he knew of Meatwall (which is what he called the fluffy one) and of Dakanon (which is what he called the ghost monk) and about all of the others that had helped her. He told her that God had sent him to help her in succeeding with this quest. He had all of the fluffy one's memories. There was something about this one that was familiar to her, yet at the same time completely different. He did not attack her, and it was not in her nature to attack unprovoked. He was large like the wolf she and the fluffy one had hunted with so many moons ago. In some ways he reminded her of him. But this one was more like a cross between that wise wolven elder and the fluffy one. It was not like her to just take what someone tells her as truth. But for some reason, this time she knew it was the truth. This wolven creature was sent to help her. He called himself Metawallus. He would need supplies. There were several items in the wagon that could be used by him. She thought the fluffy one would want his axes to keep fighting for the quest and it somehow felt fitting that Metawallus receive them. She went to the larger room to enlarge the wagon and retrieve some items for him. The ghost monk, in his orc body, looked up at her. He asked if she had taken care of the beast. She said yes and he is right here. Pointing over her shoulder at Metawallus. The ghost monk seemed angry that she had not killed it. She reached down and grasped the axes. The ghost monk yelled at her about those belonging to the fluffy one and to leave them alone. She could see the ghost monk's anger in the orc's eyes. She tried to explain to him that Metawallus had been sent to help. He was to be the fluffy one's replacement and needed supplies. The ghost monk just continued to get more and more angry. She tried to tell him about Metawallus being our brother in this....that he was the fluffy one's brother too. He just yelled about Metawallus being a liar and a theif. She turned to give the axes to Metawallus and the ghost monk tried to grab her and missed. He tried to trip her and it didn't work. She handed off the axes to Metawallus and turned to see the orc become aware of her surroundings. The ghost monk had left her body and was trying to attack Metawallus. When he could not move into Metawallus, he left the room. The ghost monk returned to hurl the orc's sword at the wagon. Then his body floated out of the wagon and left the room. She shrunk the wagon once again and moved on to the next door.

It turned out to be a gnome's shop. She sorted through and sold off all the items that had been building up in the wagon. All the profits were placed in the chest that had been holding the coins they had found. She made arrangements for Paulus to be taken care of. It was doing him no good staying in the wagon. There was no way for his body to heal and for him to move on with his chosen path doing that. The gnome promised him safe bording and care for a small price, and he would be there when they came back. The gnome had the Heart of Cold, but needed a Stone of Heat in trade before he would hand it over. It seemed like an even trade, and one not too difficult to accomplish. They had taken several detours on this quest thus far. One more to get what they needed wouldn't hurt too much. The gnome tried to convince her that the ghost monk wanted some fancy gloves he called "ghost touch" but she did not believe him. The ghost monk had not wanted anything as far as items, coin or treasure since leaving his body. He spoke of coin as being worthless to him. He didn't want what he couldn't touch. Why would he want some gloves? She told the gnome to have the ghost monk manifest and tell her himself first. Apparently, the ghost monk had not really wanted them, as he would have manifested to tell her himself. When the gnome placed the door to the destination on the floor, she opened it and looked down. It was a 6 foot drop, not too far. She figured it was as good a time as any to get started. She was this close to the second item. She wanted it.

Metawallus followed her down through the door, and it slammed shut above them. They continued down the hall and came to face 4 ant-like creatures. These were unlike any others she had seen before, but didn't seem to be much of a threat to her. She walked forward and they refused to let her pass. She tried to step around them and they blocked her path again. Metawallus tried to get them to move too, again they refused to move and instead attacked him. She was tired, and really not able to use her magics. She struck one over and over with her oak staff while Metawallus took out the others. He then finished the last. They moved on down the hall around the corner. She would have to rest soon. She could not sense the ghost monk anywhere around her. Perhaps he too had quit on her, leaving her once again to go on her own. Hopefully this new Champion would stick with her. She had no guarantee, they all quit or die see.....and she refused to do either.

Chmeorl watched in astonishment as an arguent began between the monk and the shamaness. What was going on? They were fighting over the axes of the fluffy one. Evidently, the monk felt a certain amount of loyalty to the dead companion, and the shamaness was intent upon letting the newest member of the party use them.

The new member. Now there was a striking individual. He was similar in temperment to the fluffy one. In fact, he was as fluffy as the one he replaced. He hails from a nomadic tribe of humanoid wolf people. As feral as the wolves, but intelligent as the humans. This was a very dangerous individual. His white fur and large teeth were indeed scary. He was a wolf, and wolfs are dogs. Chmeorl did not care for this individual.

Apparently, the Green Man had been feeding dreams to this wolfen to prepare him for this quest. Not all in the party was ready to accept this replacement.

Chmeorl watched with interest as the monk (in the guise of a female orc) fought to keep the axes from the waiting hands of the wolfen, and the shamaness was intent upon allowing the usage of the axes. Finally, the monk gave up.

Apparently, this still angered the monk, as he levitated his body (heretofore stored in the wagon) to the room to the south. The monk was definately angry.

Strangely enough, what was beyond the door was a shop. The proprietor, being a gnome of no small power, had almost anything the group could want. He even offered to cast a "True Resurrection" spell for the monk. The monk could have a body again!!! Yet the monk turned it down.

Chmeorl, upon hearing this, grew very concerned. Why would the monk not wish to be alive again? Surely being a ghost had its disadvantages. Why not become whole, so that he could be a great boon to the party? Concerned, Chmeorl watched with great trepidation.

The party agreed to go on a small quest in order to obtain the heart of cold. They were even shown the item. The gnome had no more use for it, however, he wanted an item of equal or greater value in trade. He wanted the source of heat. He even provided a way to get to the area.

After a short interval of haggling and selling/buying, the party left on their way.

Shortly after departing, the party ran into some formians. The ant people would not allow the party to pass. Their stoic stances guarding the passageway silently.

True to the nature of the replaced, the wolfen struck first. Not being as experienced as MeatWhal, Meta Whalus (a taken name in honor of the fallen Champion), did not dispatch the enemies as quickly. The shamaness took her normal invisible attacking, yet the ghost hung back. He neither interfered nor assisted in the combat.

As the battle ended, Chmeorl felt the summons. He was not sure how to report this to the master. The only thing he was sure of, was that the Green Man would be concerned about the monk ghost.

As the grimalkin began to leave, he glanced back at the party. He saw the ghost's face clearly. There was a war there, all within his mind and heart. Chmeorl did not understand the source of the turmoil, but he did understand that the biggest battle thus far on this quest, was being fought right now, inside the soul of the ghost.

The grimalkin moved quietly in the guise of a common housecat. The small form and low light vision of the cat form was the best for the job. He needed to find the party, though the tell tale signs of battle were not coming to him. Either the party were not in battle as often, or they were beyond the range of his hearing.

Chmeorl came to an open doorway. He walked quietly to the door, and stole a glance in. Inside was a very angry ogre mage. He was packing all his various items, while complaining about "stoopid ghosts" and "wicked things". Once last quick glance around his room, a quick mutter, and he disappeared with a soft pop.

Apparently, the party had been here, and the Ogre Mage was harrassed by the ghost, in what form, Jeremy had no clue. This party could annoy any creature, should they choose. They had endless possibilities to do harm/good, and they generally chose to annoy/harrass. Jeremy smiled, this was his kind of party.

A quick spell, one given to Jeremy by The Green Man for use in his job, revealed that the party was moving generally south. Jeremy bound south, further south than the party, in an effort to head off the party. He would meet with them nearer their goal.

Quietly and quickly, the grimalkin shifted to a rat, to get past the orc barbarian to get into the entry hall that the party had to pass. There he would again watch the party, for this, was the entry hall to the gnomish inventor that had the Heart of Cold.