Lena didn’t even bother knocking on doors. Instead she just walked right into each room of Thora, Mathias, and Tobi, waking them up and telling them to get ready to take the fight to her father. She briefly explained the vision she had of her father’s patron, and what they had planned, and then she was off to the next room.

Overall she was happy at how fast Thora and Mathias had gotten ready and were in the hall ready to go. When she went to Tobi's room, she was in for a bit of a surprise.

“Nice pajamas,” she said with a smirk. The dwarf answered the door wearing a full baby blue nightshirt that went all the way down to his ankles.

“Can't a dwarf sleep in a bit of comfort while in a castle?” he asked, looking unphased at her jest. Lena told him the story of her vision, and within a few minutes Tobi was ready, axe in hand. The last one they had to get was Faro and they would be ready to head down to the dungeons and confront Umbra.

Lena walked with the others trailing behind her. When they reached Faro’s room, she shoved the door inward with force. The door clanged against the wall, and instead of barging in and waking him up like she had the other members of the party, she just stood in the hall, shocked.

Faro stood a few feet back from the door, fully dressed, war hammer in hand. Lena wasn’t sure what to make of it. Her hand instinctively went to her swords, but she hesitated. “What’s going on, Faro?”

“You’re going to see Umbra,” he said, taking a step forward.

“Yes, we’re heading there now. How did you know we were going?” Lena asked. He felt Tobi and Thora press in behind her, hands on their weapons. They must have sensed something was off too. Mathias was somewhere behind her, presumably doing the same.

Faro walked forward and they backed up. He wasn’t speaking anymore, a look of menace was in his eyes. Mathias came out of nowhere and stood in front of the other three. More and more Lena was surprised at the healer's courage. “Faro, it's us. We're your friends. We're here for you,” Mathias said, his voice unwavering.

Faro's gaze looked angry, and yet somehow dead. “No one's going down to attack Umbra!” Faro yelled at them, and then he let out a loud lion roar, bringing his war hammer overhead. Mathias raised his sword just in time to block the blunt end of the hammer coming down on him. The force from the mighty lion made him stumble backwards into his companions and they all fell over in a heap.

Faro pressed his advantage and stepped in, bringing his hammer down hard again. Lena threw her hands out and blasted Faro backwards with a jolt of yellow magic. The lion slammed into the wall next to the doorway of his room and crumpled to the ground. This gave the other four a chance to stand up.

Tobi didn't waste any time barreling forwards towards Faro. He got to him before he could stand and took his axe handle and pushed it hard against Faro's throat, pinning him to the wall.

“We're your friends, dammit!” the dwarf yelled in his face. “You're not right in the head! Umbra has some kind of spell on you!”

Faro was struggling to breath with the weight Tobi was putting on his axe handle against his neck. His arms were flailing, trying to get a grip on the handle to pull it away.

“Stop!” Thora yelled from behind Tobi. “You're going to kill him!”

“He's trying to kill us!” Tobi yelled back, keeping the pressure on the handle.

Thora leaned in and tried to pull Tobi back, succeeding just enough to accidently let Faro get a good grip and push the axe and it's owner away. Tobi stumbled back and Faro jumped to his feet in one quick move, bringing his war hammer around, aimed right at an unsuspecting Tobi’s head.

This was met with a parry from Thora and her mace. The force of the blow didn’t even move her. Faro was caught so off guard by her strength that he didn't move in time as she brought the spiked mace around and sunk it into his skull. The spikes embedded deep and Faro dropped to his knees.

Thora let out a wail, dropping her mace, her face the picture of horror. “I didn't mean to! He was going to kill Tobi!” she yelled desperately to the others.

Faro's body fell forward, but as it hit the ground, the image of his body faded in and out. Lena wasn't sure what they were looking at. Then she noticed as the body flickered, the walls and ornate decorations around them did too. The golden hallway quickly turned to dark, eroded stone and and back a few times before settling back on gold. Faro's body, however, flickered and disappeared completely. Thora's mace clattered to the ground.

“What is the world?” said Mathias as Thora walked over to pick up her mace. “Where did he go?”

Lena’s eyes were narrowed as she looked around. “A full-bodied apparition. Here in physical form. And the castle…”

“It was flickering,” said Thora. “Why did it do that? How?”

Lena thought for a moment. “No one in all of Evania has magic strong enough to make an illusion of an entire castle. It seems what we saw from the distance before coming to Mireholm was the real castle. Whatever is causing this illusion can only do so within a closer range. You broke part of the illusion for a moment, so everything flickered in and out as the magic wavered.”

Tobi patted Thora on the back. “Thanks for saving me, dear. Even though you thought it meant putting down our friend.”

Thora shrugged. “It was just a knee jerk reaction. And honestly, it would never be a choice even if he was real. You’re my Andre.”

A tear rolled from Tobi’s eyes, and he quickly wiped it away. “Uh, ahem,” he said, clearing his throat, then turned to Lena, “If no one can do this kind of magic, what are we dealing with here? And where is the real Faro?”

Lena began to walk down the hall towards the stairs and motioned for all of them to follow her. “We need to get to the dungeons. If Faro is still alive that’s likely where my father is keeping him. As for the magic, my father must have obtained an Orb of Olasis.”

Mathias shot her a sideways look of confusion, and she realized no one knew what that was, not even the book-smart healer. “Olasis was a famed oracle and illusionist. Toured many kingdoms with her circus troupe, putting on grand performances for all the kingdoms. Only problem was, there was no circus troupe. Just Olasis, her orbs, and a big distracting circus that performed for the royalty while Olasis cleared out their coffers.”

Tobi chuckled at this, but Lena ignored it. They’d reached the stairs and headed down to the second floor. “Rumor has it that the trickster made a deal with Baladan for the orbs. Others say she just spent years pouring as much of her own magic into the orb as she could, harnessing the combined power of her magic over time. Either way, she was caught and killed in Underoth eventually, but the orbs remained.”

“And you think that's what we're dealing with here? This whole place is an illusion projected by this, this orb?” asked Mathias. He didn't look happy that Lena knew so much that he didn't, but to be fair, magic and enchanted items weren't his specialty.

“Yes,” answered Lena as they reached the curved stairs that led down to the first floor. They were surrounded by gold and the most fancy, ornate decorations in the whole keep, but now Lena knew it was all fake. It wasn’t a gold-plated version of her childhood home. It was a veil of illusions. “The orb was strong enough to project circuses, and now this circus that we're in as well. It holds the massive illusion so he doesn’t have to. No one has that amount of magical stamina.”

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At the bottom of the stairs Lena pointed to a door under the left set of stairs. “Dungeons are this way,” she said, examining and pushing open the broken door. “I used to go down to the library to get away from my brothers and sister when we were younger. Dungeons are down past that.”

The musty smell of an underground castle floor greeted them. They all were secretly happy that they lived in Graeton and not the musty underground dungeon kingdoms, though Tobi still had memories of life in the mountain mines. They quickly made their way through the books to another set of stairs, this one rougher than the last. They bolted quickly down them, in a hurry to reach their destination, but also afraid of what they would find once they got there.

Walking into the small room they were greeted with a friendly sight, though not in the shape they wanted to see him in. Faro was slumped over in one of the cells. He looked dirty, and skinnier than when they’d last seen him. Even though he looked rough, they were just happy that he was alive.

“Faro!” cried Thora, running up to the bars and gripping them as if she wished she could rip them apart and give Faro a hug.

“Eh?” grumbled Faro, wearily raising his head. He squinted his eyes, looking out through the bars and his face cracked into a weak smile at the sight of them all. “Welcome to my new home,” he said, with a weak chuckle.

“How did you get in here?” asked Tobi. As he spoke he walked over to the bars and grabbed them, testing them for durability, trying to decide whether or not they could break them down.

Faro slowly got to his feet and worked his way over to the bars. “Jarl and I saw Umbra use Veronica in some dark ritual. They took part of the Shadruul and made some other creature that looked strong, but also very agile. He was planning to make an army of them.”

Lena looked very concerned. “So you saw Veronica, and she’s okay?”

Faro nodded. “As of last time I was free. Not sure how long ago that was?” he said as if he were confused on what day it was and this was a question.

“We haven’t seen the real you in four days,” Mathias chimed in.

“Real me? What?” asked Faro? He grabbed Thora's caring hands that were extended through the bars and breathed a sigh of comfort.

“My father sent some kind of clone of you to cover your disappearance. Thora killed it,” said Lena with a half smile.

Faro tilted his head at her and released her hands. “You killed it?” he asked incredulously. “You killed me!”

Thora looked hurt. “It was a clone, and it was trying to hurt Tobi!”

“You didn’t know it was a clone, did you? Maybe I was just possessed,” said Faro.

“Don’t ever hurt my Andre,” said Thora, shrugging. Faro gave a weak chuckle in reply. It was clear where the lines were drawn in their friendship. It was a line he never intended to cross.

Mathias was examining the bars as well, seeing if there was a more practical way to remove the bars than force. “And what happened to our little wolverine friend if he was with you?” asked Mathias, looking around quickly at the other cells.

“He escaped,” said Faro, looking disappointed. “He scurried off and Umbra and his elves took me down. I woke up here and he was gone. Probably found his information and went back to Eli by now.

“Not possible,” said Lena, taking her turn to examine the bars. “My father has us trapped here.”

“That's why we're going to find him and kill him!” said Tobi. He didn't continue as Lena glared at him.

“We’re not going to kill him, Tobi,” she said, looking disgusted at the thought. “We just have to force him to let us go. Anything less than a show of force won't get through to him, or his patron.” At that Lena gestured for everyone to back away from the bars. Once clear, she grabbed two of them with her hands and began muttering in tongues. They all watched in awe as the middle section of the bars all melted away and curled away from the center to give Faro enough of a gap to bend down and get out.

Once he was out, Thora ran over and hugged him. He grunted a little from the force of her hug as he was still weak.

“Thanks for your concern,” said Faro, “but I could really use food if you've got it. They've fed me nothing the whole time I was in here.”

“Oh!” exclaimed Thora. “I've got some dried meat here in my satchel. Just wait a…”

“No time,” said Lena. She stepped forward and placed both of her hands over Faro's heart. Again she was muttering in tongues, and he could feel warmth emanate from her hands and fill his body. He could feel his strength returning quickly. Even his aching stomach stopped panging with hunger.

“I prefer the taste of chicken,” he said, squeezing his paws into fists and feeling his returned strength, “but this works too. What did you do?”

“Energy transfer,” Lena said, panting a little. “All living things are made of energy. I moved some from me to you.”

The look on Faro’s face suggested he was horrified at the thought of this. “Not a good time to be weakening yourself, going to face your father and all.”

Lena shrugged. “I think having a big brute like yourself in full force will come in handy. We’ll get in there and you'll pounce on him and pin him down.” At first he wasn’t sure what to make of the comment, and then Lena’s face broke into a smile.

Faro smiled back. “Cat jokes. Great. Don’t happen to have my hammer, do you?”

“No,” Lena answered while pulling one of her two words out of its sheath. “But you can make due with this for now,” she said, handing him her sword.

The lion nodded, his big fluffy mane bouncing up and down as he did. “I prefer blunt objects, but this will work for now,” he said, examining the weapon. “Alright. Veronica was down in the lower dungeons when we saw her,” he said, pointing at the blasted doorway at the back of the dungeon hallway they were standing in. “My guess is your father will be down there also. With his… patron?” he added, a bit confused.

They all took off through the dungeon and out the door in the back. It was a rather quick jogging pace, though it slowed to a walk when they hit the pitch black stairs, which Faro assured them led to the dungeon kingdom below. Lena explained her vision to Faro in a hushed whisper on the way down the dark stairway. He listened intently, the darkness pressing in around them making the revelation seem all the more dark and foreboding.

The group made it through quicker than Faro and Jarl had the first time since Faro knew there was actually something ahead besides a drop into an endless pit. At the bottom of the stairs they saw the subfluore light brackets on the walls, and Faro pointed down the hall.

“Up that way is a dining hall,” said Faro as they made their way down the new hallway. “Not sure what’s beyond that. We just saw the mess hall with the Shadruul in it. That and the…”

“The bog troll,” grumbled a voice from up ahead.

Lena put up a hand for them all to stop, but Faro waved them all forward. “It’s okay. He’s locked up. He can't hurt us.”

They all moved forward up to the bog troll’s cage. It was standing, gripping the bars, and casually looking down and watching them approach. “Could still spit on you,” the bog troll said casually.

Faro just smiled at the creature. “Rork, is it?” The bog troll nodded. “Do you know where Umbra is?” he asked, wondering if the troll would even give him an answer. Surprisingly, Rork pointed down the hall.

“End. Down there. That’s where he talks to his demon,” said Rork.

“Thank you, Rork!” said Faro and they all turned to leave, but before they could, Rork yelled after them.

“Wait! Free Rork,” he said, almost pleading them.

Faro looked at Lena, who shook her head no. Thora looked sad and gazed in at the captive creature. Tobi raised his axe as if ready to fight Rork again. Mathias was stroking his chin, thinking.

“I don’t think we can, Rork,” said Faro. “We have to go face Umbra and… well… honestly you’re kind of a wild card here. After what we did to you in the arena.”

Rork slammed his fist loudly against the bar. “You regret,” he said in a low, somber tone.

“I’m sorry,” Faro answered him. “We’ll see what happens after we talk with Umbra.”

Faro turned to leave down the hall, and the rest of the party followed him. Thora gave one look back at the poor beast before following the others. Rork connected with her gaze, and he ran a hand slowly and desperately down the bar, watching his chance at freedom run away.

A few steps down the hall and they were at the old mess hall. Faro peered inside and did not find what he expected. He expected the Shadruul to be tied up there, but the room was empty, the chains left unattended on the floor. He heaved a sigh of relief, and motioned for them to all follow him to the large archway at the end of the hall.

Before they could get there, though, the ground began to rumble. They all looked at each other in a panic, pulling their weapons to the ready. In the next second the doorway filled with rock, and then a growl pierced the air. They all flinched from the sound, and then the stone archway exploded.

They all ducked for cover as rock and debris flew their way. A big piece of stone caught Faro in the foot and he roared in pain as the Shadruul pushed through the dust, only it wasn’t the same Vorath Shadruul they knew before. This one was three times the size of the other. Its hulking frame filled most of the giant hallway as it advanced forward to attack them.

Before the party could think how to confront it, the air filled with dozens of high-pitched shrieks. Lanky, spindly creatures poured out of the gaps around the Vorath’s legs. Faro raised his sword and called to the others. “These are the new Shadruul they had Veronica create! Band together and we'll take them!”

Before the others could even reach Faro, the Vorath lunged forward and gave Faro a hard backhand. He went flying back down the hallway. Thora and Lena led the charge against the new Shadruul.

“We have to free the bog troll!” Thora yelled as her mace connected with a spindly creature, turning its head to rock dust.

“You cannot be serious!” Lena called back as one of them jumped on her, swung around, and gripped her neck in a chokehold. Lena gasped and struggled for air, trying to reach up to rip the creature from her back.

Thora brought her mace hard into it's back, freeing Lena. “Do it! Go! I'll cover for you!”

Lena caught her breath and gave Thora a stare that told her this was a really bad idea, and then bolted back down the hall towards the caged beast.