The Captives of the Lost City of Alhassar

"Excuse me. You said vampires, right?" I asked.

"Yes, they captured us and are going to use us as food. But when we combine our forces we should be able to defeat them handedly," the orc replied with confidence.

"You must have a good group of soldiers to have made it this far," the orc continued. "How large is your party?"

"Ah, I guess you could say two at best."

"What, only two of you. You must have had to battle your way down here and taken many casualties."

"Well, not exactly I came by myself."

"I thought you said there were two of you."

"I said two at best. It is a little hard to explain my companion."

"By Thor's blood how do..."

"I thought you believed in Uranus," I interrupted.

"To orcs -- Uranus is Thor," the orc started to explain.

"Whoa! What was that?" the voice of Mobius exclaimed behind me.

The orc jumped back from the cell's bars with a shriek.

"It's not what you think," I said to both Mobius and the orc at the same time.

I turned to Mobius. "She was explaining her gods to me."

"Oh good!" the skull sighed, "I thought for a minute she said..."

"I know," I replied as I turned back to the orc. "This is Mobius my companion."

"I am Mogutz leader of this doomed party," the orc replied tentatively returning to the bars.

"I am Gwendolyn rescuer of your doomed party," I began when I suddenly turned towards Mobius.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. I heard someone walking this way."

"Great!" I cried as I ran down the hall of cells with the skull tucked under my arm. I found a wooden door and quickly picked the lock and secreted myself inside.

It was not too soon; as I heard footsteps enter the room. I peered through the crack I left open in the doorway. I watched a tall-emaciated man walk into the room. His skin was sunken and cadaver gray. I did not have to be a High Elven lore master to know I was looking at a vampire.

"Pardon me," Mobius whispered.

"Shh," I hissed.

"Sorry I was just talking to..."

"If you don't clam up I'll use you as a bowling ball," I whispered harshly.

The vampire addressed the prisoners, "Tomorrow you will be taken into the old city. When the full moon reaches its zenith your blood will be spilled to summon the great lich-mage Zormandus. Then we shall feast upon your life's blood.

"Prepare yourself. You may want to send prayers to your gods."

The vampire then motioned for the servants who were waiting out of my sight to enter the room. They brought in bowls and mugs and dispersed them amongst the prisoners.

After the servants finished their tasks, the vampire ushered his minions out of the dungeon. He turned back towards the prisoners and said, "Enjoy this meal for it shall be your last. The gathering of dark mages, necromancers and the undead has begun."

With that, the vampire left the room. I waited a few minutes before I exited the sanctuary of my closet. I returned to the cell containing Mogutz with Mobius hovering just behind me.

"Looks like you guys stumbled upon something big," I stated.

Mogutz just nodded her head before sniffing at the bowl full of some type of stew.

"Rat stew again," she said.

"There is more here than just merely a conference of every evil baddie," a voice in the cell behind me said.

I walked over and looked at its occupant. He was a High Elf, with the telltale pale skin and the arrogant expression on his face.

"A Wood Elf, eh. Did you get lost?" the elf sneered.

"If I did it is a good thing for you because I'm your only hope of getting out of here," I replied hotly.

"Then we are as good as dead," the High Elf continued.

"Now that is not cricket, old chap," Mobius interrupted. "She's already freed me and she did make her way into this cell."

"Oh, that's rich I'm supposed to take the advice of a symbol off a bottle of poison," the elf shot back.

"Gandelf!!!" Mogutz hollered. "This is not the time for your uppity attitude. If you want we can leave you here."

That seemed to take the wind out Gandelf's sails. He muttered an apology and sat back down on his bunk.

"You mentioned that there is something more going on," I stated.

"Rather!" the elf ejaculated.

"Would you care to share it with us," I prodded. It was obvious Gandelf did not like being in the presence of such common folk as us.

"I am Gandelf. I am an archaeologist, and I have been researching the lost cities of the old elven empire. It was rumored that one of those lost cities lies underneath Imperial City. In fact, we can conclude that it is true. These vampires have excavated it and are now going to use it for their evil purposes.

"The elven ruins that Imperial City is built upon are believed to be Alhassar, the ancient city of lore. When the war between the united elven armies and the combined dwarven clans raged over the millennia, many cities were lost on both sides. So many towns and cities were razed that even we forgot where they were once located. We just had rumors and folktales to recall our ancient glory.

"I may add that if it weren't for the desertion of the lesser elves we very well may have won the war that raged for thousands of years instead of having it end in a stalemate. Even the dwarven High king Efdee Ore was quoted as saying ‘We have nothing to fear but fearless elves.'"

"If I remember right it was the arrogance of the High Elves that forced the Wood Elves to return to the Great Forest, the Dark Elves to their mines, and the Sea Elves to the ocean," I rebutted.

Gandelf just snorted, "In any event, as the two sides retreated to their remaining dwellings the humans over the years built their own cities upon the charred ruins of our old glory. The gods compensated the humans for their short lives by letting them propagate as if they were rabbits.

"So now after all these centuries I believe I have found the lost city of Alhassar only to find that its ancient libraries are about to be used for the dark purpose of opening a gate between our world and that of the Nine Hells."

"But that would utterly destroy our world!" I exclaimed.