Chapter 72 – A Jaunt Across the Planes

There are many ways to access the worlds adjacent to ours in order to draw power from them. But a careless practitioner quickly learns that they, in fair turn, may also be drawn.

-Pluthard’s Introduction to Evocation - required reading at the Seekers Academy

Cold. Unimagineable cold. We landed in hip-deep snow, kicking up a plume of pristine white flakes. I cried out, gasping at the sharp pain in my lungs from the freezing air. It took a moment for me to disentangle myself from Annalisa, and another to realize she was not conscious.

As for what had gone wrong? Well, as I looked up at the dark blue sun and unforgiving black, starless sky swirling with rime, I had a good idea. Tunneling created a dimensional shortcut by boring it through another world. But something had gone wrong. With the portal incomplete, we’d ended up in the other world. And I didn’t have long to get us out of it. I looked around, eyes held against the frozen wind. My fingers already burned and my nose ran freely. Snowflakes crowded my lashes, but I spotted a crystal obelisk not so far away, with a swirling portal forking living lightning to the arcane edifice.

I reached down and flipped Annalisa onto her back, gripping her under the arms and beginning to pull toward the obelisk. Gods, but the woman was heavy.

“Why cc-c-couldn't you be touched by the plane of air?” I asked with chattering teeth. My whole body shivered. I dragged Annalisa through the snow and ice, buffeted by harsh winds that cut me to the bone. The jagged frost tore at my trousers and my arms, stinging me with a dozen tiny cuts. Nothing compared to what my partner had suffered, but still made ten times worse by the cold. The blood froze on my skin.

I continued to drag, shuffling backwards, both Cel’s and Volian’s packs sitting awkward on my back. I angled us toward the portal and adjusting my course with frequent glances over my shoulder.

Dragons above, it was getting smaller. And it wasn’t just the wind howling. Something had caught our scent and was baying in the distance. I renewed my grip on the abnormally heavy woman and shuffled faster. A dozen feet from the portal I spotted a black shadow in the sky, winged, eyeless, and maned in hoarfrost.

Gods, the snow had sapped my strength, but sight of that thing gave me the burst I needed to push through and drag our frozen carcasses through the portal.

Five minutes had felt like a lifetime. I never wanted to see the Plane of Frost again.

We tumbled through the dimensional door and splashed into comparatively-warmer but still frigid, pitch-black water. I splashed and gasped for air, getting my head above the surface, panicking, until I realized it was only about shin deep. I made sure Annalisa’s head was above the surface and cast about.

The invasive glowing lichen had found root even here, in the ancient elven hall. As my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I spotted a raised platform a dozen paces away and brought us both to it. It took all I had to lever Annalisa up onto what I think was the remains of a sodden table to get her out of the water. Whatever this place was, adventurers wouldn’t be tracking us here.

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My cloak was shredded. I suppose that call with big buggy boy had been closer than I’d have liked. I tore what was left into strips. I still had Alondalis’ emergency kit on my belt, and the potions had somehow survived. I took the coagulant and attached a needle, squeezing a measure into the flesh around Annalisa’s worst wounds, though the frost plane had caused most of the blood to freeze in place anyway. I wrapped strips of cloth around them.

I closed my eyes and slept.

When I awoke, I wasn’t sure how much time had passed. My head hurt, my mouth was dry, and I was fucking cold, but I quickly realized that was a result of proximity to Anna, who had caused a layer of frost to spread across the table and on the surface of the water. Annalisa was still out, but she snored softly, so I had faith she would wake soon enough.

I looked up at the expansive hall and scoffed. One day down, one day back up. Right. I crawled to the edge of the table and splashed some of the salty water on my face. At least our impromptu bath had served to wash some of the filth off our clothes. Both our hard-won items still weighed heavy in my pocket, so we had that, and no one was trying to stick a spear in either of us or devour us and shit us back out for some enterprising degenerates to dig through our remains for magic items. All in all, things could be worse.

As a bonus, my stolen guild badge had graduated to the next rank as well, taking on the dull black luster of true iron. Rank four. I guess it had decided I was a match for the elf mage, so I might as well have a matching rank, as well. The enchantment had decided I was now a Blowhard Mage, though whether that was in response to the dragon’s breath, my stunt with the card windmill, or simply it’s general opinion of me, I could not say.

I pulled the packs over to me and started to take inventory. The first thing I found was several days worth of tinned delvers rations, which I promptly cracked open and began to stuff into my mouth as I looked at what else we’d stolen on our mad dash of an egress. I started to feel better almost as soon as I cracked open the tin of whale meat. It’s amazing what a full belly will make bearable. I allowed myself a small smile imagining Celithia doing the same with my bag and finding little more than sailcloth bags of shit, shovels, and sanitizing powder.

The scroll of vertical translocation he mentioned was present—if sodden. I set it aside to dry. I found a hard brick of dry fuel—ironically enough, made from packed and dried ox dung. I chuckled and crumbled some of it, setting it atop a couple of loose stones and sparking a flame with a gentle breath through the two of dragons in order to warm myself.

In the other pack I found a pair of blankets, which I spread to dry by the fire. I also found a pair of water skins, along with something a bit stronger: a bottle of Ivory Red from the vineyards at the heel of the Bastard. Our adventurer friends had a taste for the good stuff. I took a long pull from one of the water skins and dribbled a bit into Annalisa’s mouth, I had a hard time getting her to swallow until I uncorked the bottle of wine and held it beneath Annalisa’s nose. Then she swallowed readily.

Food, water, warmth, and shelter meant our most basic needs were seen to. I wasn’t going to use the translocation scroll until Annalisa woke up. That left me with little to do other than explore the new space we’d found ourselves in. I debated for a time on what to do with Anna. I didn’t want to leave her undefended while I wandered around, but sitting over her didn’t do either of us any good.

I eventually settled for drawing the three of towers and carving a simple protective ward into the table that would warn me if anyone with ill intent came within thirty paces. With that done, I took one of the smokeless lanterns and pushed off into the ankle-deep water. The polish Hawkley had given me kept the Wills surprisingly unharmed throughout the ordeal—neither snow nor salt brine had caused them to swell or warp. It wasn’t even expensive arcanist’s polish. Just Dragon’s Spit brand #2 furniture polish. I made a mental note to thank Hawkley once we made it back top side.

Then I went exploring.