After being suddenly transported when Gasco touched the Sphere of Destiny, the group began to examine the place to which they had been brought. It was a strange, old-looking castle, with a single corridor which seemed to connect to only two rooms. Going into the second room, Eldon found an odd-looking tome labeled "The Book of Ages," and Kenzi discovered a strange bag of what appeared to be sand. Meanwhile, Gasco and Marcus had discovered what they believed to be a hidden door in the wall, but could not get it open.

Some creative spellcasting later, Gasco had displaced the stone from the wall in the area of the hidden door, to create a doorway which the group could crawl through. Before anyone could react, a trap struck Marcus, injecting him with a poison liquid, but as he was a Soulmech, poison had no effect on him. Marcus and Gasco did notice, though, that the door appeared to have been completely sealed and the hinges they found on the wall could not have moved such a large block of stone.

After going through the doorway, the group discovered two corridors: a light one and a dark one. Deciding to go down the dark corridor first, they found that when they entered the darkened area, they could not see anything at all (with the exception of Kelextra and Gasco, whose darkvision seemed to be working fine). Nothing the group tried would provide them with more than a miniscule amount of light, and try as he might, Eldon could not see even with the help of his night-vision goggles or infrared. Eventually, Kelextra and Gasco had to lead the rest of the group down the corridor to the door.

There, Kelextra opened the door thoughtlessly, only to set off a devastating fireball trap. After everyone had dusted themselves off, they found that the room they had opened was a library. The crew spent over an hour poring through the various books in the library, and several of them kept some for themselves, though Gaspar tried to discourage any stealing. On the desk in the room, Kenzi discovered a strange scale which caused some very interesting effects when he touched it, but Eldon and Gasco managed to keep him from upsetting the balance of good and evil in the universe.

Loaded down with books, the group returned down the dark corridor and decided to explore the lighted corridor. It had a glowing, empty doorway at the end, and the group entered it hesitantly. Inside, they found a second dark corridor, which eminated evil, and the foxes which Gasco summoned to explore it refused to go down it. Avoiding the dark corridor, they turned their attention to an empty doorway so bright that they could not see through it. After some hesitation, the group stepped through.

They found themselves in a brightly-lit corridor which stretched on farther than any of them could see (even Gaspar, using his long-range targeting system) lined all along with doors on either side. Confused, Kenzi, Gasco and Ashimar tried going through one of the doors while Gaspar waited in the corridor, holding a rope which they had tied around themselves in case something went wrong with what was obviously a very magically-influenced place.

The three discovered, once they had gone through the door, that they were outside, in a place that seemed to stretch on forever, filled with strange-looking springs. After jumping into a few of them, they discovered the mystical power of the springs: jumping into them allowed you to turn into some sort of animal or creature. Unfortunately, the springs didn't seem to like the way the group treated them, and they soon managed to "break" the magical power of the springs. After returning through the door, though, the group reverted to normal and swore never to speak of the incident again.

Further examination revealed that each door led to a different world, dimension or plane, each more bizarre than the next. Finally, the group discovered a door which led to a small room, much like a monk's cell. Inside, an elderly-looking man with a long, white beard was sitting at a writing desk, scratching away with a quill. He did not seem surprised when the group appeared in his cell, which did not seem to have any other exit, but instead explained that he had been waiting for them.

The man named himself to be the Scribe, and told the group that he was an odd mystical being who kept track of all that was happening on all the various worlds and dimensions of the universe. He explained that it was he who had transported them from the dreadnought, since the Sphere of Destiny had belonged to him in the first place. The Scribe told the group that the Sphere was meant to enter the mortal world, but not yet, and that he had brought them to his plane so that they could return it to him until it was time for it to enter the mortal plane once again. Thanking them for their help, he instructed them to destroy the dreadnought when they returned, and gave them a number of gifts in return for their service. He also told them they could keep some of the books they had taken from his library.

After thanking them again, the Scribe sent the group back to the mortal plane, and they appeared on Chrysalis, still wondering about what they had seen...

TO BE CONTINUED...