Gameplay by Kevin J. Anderson Read Free Book Online Page B

shore.
    Enrod moved toward the bank, stopped the raft just before touching, then held it in place with the pole. He turned his neck on sluggish muscles to look at the three passengers, but he made absolutely no sign of recognition. He began to turn the raft around again.
    Delrael jumped to the shore, clearing the hex-line and landing on the dry forest soil. Bryl scrambled off, splashed in the mud, and joined the fighter.
    Vailret turned again to plead with the Sentinel. “I wish you could help us, Enrod.”
    His back turned to Vailret, Enrod hesitated and then pushed the raft away from the bank. Vailret jumped across the widening gap of water and landed beside his two companions.
    Vailret shook his head. “He’s so powerful, and the whole map is in such trouble. I wish his magic wasn’t wasted like this!”
    “Are you forgetting he was going to blast our entire land?” Bryl said. “He wanted to destroy us all. The end result would be the same as Scartaris.”
    As the raft moved away again, the island of mist curled around Enrod and swallowed him up until Vailret could no longer see him or the raft or, after a few moments, the mist itself.
    “We’ll never know.”
    Delrael rubbed his hands together and turned to face the forest terrain stretching away from the river. “Let’s get going. We’ve got plenty of hexes to travel.”
    A strange voice interrupted them from beside the River. “Hold your horses! Play it again, Sam.” The voice was deep and hollow, and did not belong to any of them. A burble of mud from the bank made Vailret look down.
    The thick clay opened a hole like a mouth, with lips protruding and moving to form words. But the quality of the voice changed, becoming loud and abrasive. “Listen to me when I’m talking to ya, boy! Now, pay attention!”
    Bryl stood to the side, but Delrael leaned over the mouth in the mud. Vailret looked around for a stick, wondering if he should poke at it.
    “Where’s the beef?” the mouth continued in a different voice again. “Four out of five dentists surveyed recommend sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum.”
    “This thing isn’t making any sense at all,” Delrael said, glancing at Vailret. “What is it?”
    “What’s up, doc?”
    A bulge pushed up from the surface of the mud, then became a rounded lump straining harder until it grew into a blockish, clumsily formed head made of clay. It drew a great gulp of air through its mouth, then exhaled with a whistle through the caverns of its nose.
    “Ah, how sweet it is!”
    The head struggled, then a neck emerged, forming out of the mud as it rose. The shoulders and torso squeezed up as if forced out of a mold from below.
    “I want to get out of here,” Bryl said.
    The clay man emerged from the bank until it stood as tall and as burly as Delrael. It flexed both arms and blinked empty eye sockets. The clay man bent over the river, splashed some water on its skin and rubbed down a few rough spots with its hands.
    “Well surprise, surprise, surprise!” Then he turned to face the three of them. The clay of his lips formed a wide, misshapen smile, showing soft sculpted teeth. “You deserve a break today!”
    He patted his clay chest so hard that he made an indentation. Perplexed, he smoothed over the mark. Clay eyelids came down over the empty sockets, then blinked up again.
    “G’day, mate! My name is Journeyman, your friendly neighborhood golem. I’m from the government—I’m here to help you. I was sent by the Rulewoman Melanie to join your quest to destroy Scartaris. One for all and all for one!”
    ***

4. Slave of the Serpent
    “All character races were created by the Sorcerers to fight in their wars: humans, Slac, khelebar, werem, ogres, ylvans. Do not forget, however, that the Sorcerers also created individual monsters according to their imaginations. Many of these monsters still wander the map with no other purpose than to cause havoc. Questing characters should beware of such