Japheth turned to look at Anusha, whose identifying flames were already nearly absent. He said, suddenly clumsy with his words, "I'm glad to see you."

"Japheth! I'm so sorry I left you! It was too far-"

"We ain't safe," Thoster's throaty rasp cut her off. "Where's the beast?"

Japheth guiltily jerked his gaze from where Anusha's image faded, and scanned the great space. He looked for hints of sinuous arms moving in the shadows. Glints of gold-green light flitted over the domes, obelisks of shaped coral, and tide-pools of seawater that dotted the great subterranean vault. Nothing else.

The stranger spoke up then. "We have not seen the great kraken since we arrived, though we faced down a few of Gethshemeth's servitors." He pointed behind him at a pile of rubble. Japheth recognized a few of the glyphs on the broken rock-it was the eidolon Gethshemeth had commandeered to hold him in stone!

"You destroyed the walking statue?" asked Thoster.

The man nodded and grimaced, looking at the sword punched into the stone before him. "I did, with Angul's aid." He looked up then and said, "I am Raidon Kane, a monk initiate of Xiang Temple. I am here to destroy Gethshemeth and its aberrant relic."

"Your aid is sorely needed!" enthused Captain Thoster. "We ain't got the tools, I think we proved."

Seren frowned. Japheth did too, but not because he was upset Thoster demeaned their abilities. It was because of Raidon's stated desire to destroy the Dreamheart. That second goal wouldn't serve the warlock.

Japheth ventured, "If we destroy Gethshemeth, its relic will be powerless, surely." Maybe the monk wouldn't know any better. Thoster winked at Japheth, his eyes twinkling. The captain didn't want the Dreamheart destroyed any more than Japheth did.

The monk's brow creased ever so slightly as if in surprise; then he gave a curt shake of his head. He said, "The relic is the source of the problem. Its destruction is required, lest some other creature claim it for malicious ends, or worse, call up from the earth those to whom it truly belongs."

The sword emitted a sudden cerulean flare as if to highlight the monk's words.

Japheth nodded as if in agreement but inwardly wondered what he would do.

Thoster said, his tone light as if he were relating a joke, "Well, let's not count our coins before we open the chest, eh? The beast is still around, and the beast is what we must deal with first. After that, we can talk about who's going to destroy what, aye?"

Japheth nodded again. Perhaps then he could convince the half-elf Shou to give up his desire to destroy the relic. Raidon met the captain's gaze steadily, saying nothing. "Are all of you cracked?" demanded Seren. "We were roundly and easily defeated by Gethshemeth. I am not going to fight it again! We need to get out of here! I'm leaving." She shot a desperate glance Japheth's way, as if pleading for his support.

The warlock said, "Seren, we can't escape without facing Gethshemeth. If we divide our strength, it'll merely kill us one by one, alone. Together, with Raidon's aid this time, and Anusha's, perhaps we can overcome the kraken." "Who's Anusha?" Seren demanded. "Let me guess-the ghost,' right? Anyhow, you must know you're lying to yourself." The woman's voice rose, echoing through the chamber. "We came in here five strong, remember? I doubt Nogah and the first mate would agree with your assessment about how well we operate as a team. I'd ask them, but, oh yes, I recall how, they're already dead!" Seren's last word was a piercing screech. "Seren, shush," came Anusha's urgent suggestion from somewhere to the woman's left.

The wizard whirled, her eyes searching for the speaker.

"And you!" Seren accused. "I should have dealt with you permanently the first time around, ghost girl. I'm sure your ability to hide will prove ever so useful against a kraken!"

Thoster chuckled.

"Seren, she saved your life," Japheth protested despite his desire not to get drawn into the wizard's childish rant. Angry blood pounded in his temples.

"No time for squabbles," Raidon Kane interjected. "Some-thing approaches."

A distant gurgle grew louder. Japheth had been aware of the noise for a while but had discounted it as just one more strange background noise. He did so no longer. It was the sound of water flowing. A lot of water.

A bolus of liquid blasted the top off a coral dome not ten paces from Japheth. The coral cap was propelled so swiftly upward by the water jet that it crashed into the vault's ceiling, exploding into rubble. The geyser of water remained, a column of flowing sea connecting floor and ceiling, cold and dire, threatening to fill the entire vault if its flow was not dammed.

Rock detritus and water rained down, pelting everyone.

A piece of shrapnel drew a bloody line down Thoster's left cheek. He swore an oath in a language Japheth didn't know.

Seren uttered an arcane word, and a mundane-looking wooden shield materialized. It began to whirl around its mistress, too late to shield her from a stone that had clipped her head.

Fed from the inrushing water, the pools dotting the vault's floor began to reach toward each other. The darting witchlights were blurred with the haze of water vapor in the air. The farthest domes and obelisks became difficult to pick out. But moving shapes on the periphery snatched Japheth's attention.

A phalanx of perhaps twenty shuffling, spear-carrying kuo-toa emerged from the mist, no more than thirty or forty feet away. Their skin glistened with moisture from the roaring water jet. They didn't seem hindered by the rising water, which lapped at the creatures' calves.

Seren hurled a narrow stream of fire, crisping the lead combatant instantly. Japheth matched her with a sizzling eldritch blast of his own, disemboweling a kuo-toa. It stopped and pitched over face first in the water. Their fellows didn't flinch-they trampled their former compatriots' bodies without shifting their vicious, predatory gaze.

"Your sword!" yelled Seren, pointing at the burning blade.

"Angul is not yet required," the monk replied.

The kuo-toa's forward progress paused a moment as they launched a flight of spears. Japheth's cloak wrapped about one that tried to enter his skull through his eye, diverting it elsewhere. Another spear struck Seren's whirling shield, splintering it.

"If your weapon is as powerful as it looks, we need it now!" the wizard returned, her voice cracking.

Raidon retrieved the spear that had shattered Seren's shield. He hurtled it back into the advancing mob, skewering a kuo-toa in the throat. He replied, "The sword's ego is overwhelming. I prefer not to subject myself to him until absolutely necessary."

The pirate captain's eyes narrowed, his eyes suddenly avaricious. "Him?" asked Thoster. Raidon didn't respond or seem to notice the pirate's expression. Instead, he charged the phalanx, his feet slapping small craters in the water with each step. The monk's sword blazed brighter as if petulant at being ignored. For all its light, it burned impotently, point first in coral.

Captain Thoster glanced once at Angul, then lit out after Raidon, unsheathing his golemwork blade. Water beaded up and ran off Thoster's sword as if the weapon were forged of mallard feathers instead of iron.

The kuo-toa phalanx, down three from the dozen or more that first appeared, tensed against the monk's charge, drawing new spears from those strapped, to their backs. They extended them, intent on skewering the man.

Raidon leaped, and his trajectory became an arc. He rose neatly over the highest spear tip. He landed in the midst of the phalanx. Their formation broke apart, as all instantly attempted to turn inward. The monk's hands were like water wheel pistons, a blur of motion Japheth could barely discern. The cerulean tattoo on his chest seemed to gleam brighter.;¦ with each creature he slew.