Yet another test?

After briefly celebrating our victory and briefly saying a prayer for Livia, we departed the moon. With the Aspect gone, we were able to to get off the Isle of Secrets and shortly thereafter, Obegard was able to teleport us back to the Dwarven Keep. We were allowed to keep the Book of Crafting for the time being. We spent a few days fortifying defenses at the Keep while waiting for a shipment of diamonds so that we could.

The others didn't seem to be too serious about security, and I had only cast a few spells to protect the area around the chapel. It looks like my preparations paid off, though in a way that we didn't expect. One day, close to dinner time, as I was leading the faithful in the sundown prayer, a figure suddenly appeared outside the doors of the chapel. He looked like a twelve foot tall humanoid, both glorious and frightening to behold at the same time. He seemed to have angelic and demonic features, a very strange combination indeed. He asked sternly for the Book, even though it resided in Obegard's tower upstairs. He didn't seem to know that and must have approached me because he sensed the most powerful wards at the chapel. This was fortunate, as he appeared to very easily be able to dispel and remove our magical defenses. However, because he was visible, the guards he had bypassed noticed him and quickly went to get the others.

I stalled the creature for a few moments, and even though he knew that the guards must be fetching help, he didn't care. With the others here, I asked him sternly to leave one last time, but he didn't seem to care, and instead responded with a single word of utter blasphemy. As the others leaped to attack, I was overcome with weakness and dread. Durthen and Borrow were stopped by what appeared to be a wall of force, but Obegard quickly took it down. Fortunately for me, one of my acolytes, Derny knew that I had a scroll that would remove the affliction and he acted quickly, freeing me from my state. I saw that the other two were having trouble hurting the creature, as his skin was as strong as adamantine. Just as I recovered and advanced to help the others, he spoke another word of power. The note resonated with perfect clarity and symmetry, and passed through me without much effect, though both Durthen and Borrow both seemed to be held rigid by a matrix of energy.

The situation looked bad, but just as it seemed like we would have to give in to whatever demands this creature had, Obegard, out of desperation, cast a spell that tried to turn this creature into a harmless animal. I didn't think he could possibly bypass this creature's magical defenses, nor did I think that such a powerful beast could possibly be affected by mortal magic, but he was. A moment later, I was looking at what appeared to be a large cat. An angry cat to be sure, one that appeared ready to tear out the eyes of Durthen and Borrow, so I moved quickly to pick up the animal and summoned a guard to get a cage.

We were discussing why such a creature would assault our stronghold, when suddenly, a wizard teleported into the church. I realized that the protections around the church must have been stripped away earlier in the battle, by a powerful dispel magic spell. However, he seemed to not be hostile. In fact, Obegard had heard of him as one of the most powerful wizards in all of the world. Obegard explained that he was Syneri, a thousand year old elf -- and a level-headed one at that. Apparently, it was he who placed the elves on a geas to be nice for 99 years. Too bad he didn't make it 999 years instead. He said that sending the Concordant Killer was all just a test to see if we were powerful enough to hold onto the Book, and we were, so all was well. I didn't like being tested in such a deadly manner, but there wasn't much we could do, as this wizard was beyond any of us. He did offer up a few words of encouragement, however, saying that we were hurting the Nothrog, and that we needed to keep doing it. With that, he left just as quickly, taking the cat with him.