Continued from yesterday...

The rest of us agreed to take the test. Some because they truly wanted to be part of this group and believed in its cause, most because they wanted the power that could be garnered as a member of this group, and a the rest because there was nothing better to do. So we passed through the portal and into the first trial.

Each of us received this message: "If you could have any one in this group killed, without anyone ever finding out, who would it be?" Not being the kind of villain who stabbed people in the back, Elsie declined to name anyone. This was the correct answer, although for the wrong reasons, as Elsie would gleefully have killed anyone in the room if she could. Those who did pick someone to kill (and with a Lich around, few could resist) lost half of their hit points permanently. Already we could tell that to miss two trials would result in our death.

The second trial was insidiously evil, as we were each asked to drop our most powerful item into a pit of lava. Some of us struggled mightily with the decision, although in the end Karlan destroyed his axe and Elsie destroyed her Book of Evil. Some of us couldn't decide what was the most powerful, with Calcli destroying all his possessions and Khormack destroying his Vorpal Sword, which apparently was not as powerful as his father's normal sword. And the rest either gave up and exited the trial, or had an easy decision to make.

The third test was the most insipid. We were shown three images of alternate worlds. In one, orcs were torturing little kids, the next had a group of peaceful villagers relaxing after a long day, the last image was a city of paladins, where a band of orcs was being led away to a prison. Each of the images were of real worlds, and we were given the choice of killing all of the dominant side of whatever world we wanted.

It is no surprise that Tolma and Calcli chose to help the little kids, although both had already failed a test and both knew that this was the wrong answer. Still, they and Kormack decided to throw their lives away for the little kids. What a waste. Karlan, our old Dryad-turned-wolverine companion, and Rusty chose correctly and continued. Elsie decided to end the test, as deep in her heart, she couldn't kill a bunch of people from a distance. If there was any killing to be done, she wanted to do it herself, face to face. It was only right.

So it was only those three that reached the fourth test, with only Karlan having missed a previous question (that infernal "who do you want dead?" that was to haunt us all). A Ring of Six Wishes lay in this room, which could be claimed by anyone. Rusty couldn't resist and took the ring (which he was later allowed to keep). The wolverine passed it by, for who can tell what a wolverine really wants? Karlan tried to take the ring, but since it would have killed him, he used his Fates card to rewrite it so that he didn't take the ring.

Test five was similar. A gigantic gem, easily worth more than all the wealth in Faerun. Rusty, wisely deciding that he couldn't trust his luck any longer, decided to exit the test with his ring of wishes. Both Karlan and the wolverine ignored the gem and continued.

Test six was to be the last test. A question was asked: "Would you be willing to never have existed?". Selfishly, the wolverine said it was not willing, and so passed. Karlan though, could see that there might have been a situation wherein that sacrifice would be appropriate, and so he said yes. Too late, for that was the end of Karlan, leaving only the wolverine to join the secret ranks.

And so ends the saga of the second Accursed, otherwise known as Filbert's Fighting Fools. We had made it to the end, only to see four of our number die irrevocably. Filbert and his girl friend had suffered terribly, but were still alive at least. Elsie and Randolph still had each other, and Heather had both of her sisters. So perhaps it would not be so bad, were it not for the heavy price to be paid. The survivors, who were cured of their curses, all decided to go their separate ways, to never seek power, for they had just seen the horrible consequences of that naked pursuit. To live their lives in happiness, as their fallen comrades would want them to.