|
With the threat from Wolfram & Hart apparently over, Jalen heads overseas to let his brother know
it is safe to return to California. Ethan, Dana, and Lauren meanwhile return to the house to find
Lorne waiting for them with a strange, muscular man. Lorne introduces the stranger as The Groosalugg,
the champion of Lorne's home dimension of Pylea. The Groosalugg, or Groo for short, has come to Los
Angeles to find help to combat a powerful magical force that is threatening Pylea.
After some discussion the group decides to go to Pylea to see if they can help. They
grab weapons from their armory, and Ethan decides to bring some of his chemicals in case he needs to
mix up some explosives or other compounds. When they are ready, Ethan locates a magical "hot
spot" in Los Angeles where they cast the spell to open a portal to Pylea. Lorne refuses to go
along, saying he doesn't want to go back home, but tells the others he will let Jalen know where they've
gone to.
After locating a suitable place to open the mystic portal, Dana utters the magic words
and the group are transported to Pylea. Upon arrival, Groo leads them towards the castle where the world is
governed from. En route they spy a village that has been destroyed by the mysterious threat Groo described.
Investigating the village, the group finds only carnage. Buildings have been completely levelled and what
bodies remain are barely recognizable. The destruction also seems to have claimed humans and demons in
equal number. When Ethan uses his powers he sees that the spirits of the slain have been not been permitted
to move on, they linger at the scene in some kind of torment that is slowly destroying them. Lauren
attempts to use post-cognition to see what happened only to find her senses overloaded by confusion images
of destruction, something she has come to learn happens when she tries to "read" an event where
powerful mystic entities are involved. Both Ethan and Lauren remain shaken by what they have seen.
As the group travels to the castle they pass another village, similarly destroyed.
When at last they reach the castle they see the remaining armies of the world gathered, in addition to
columns of refugees seeking safety. The people gathered are happy to see the Groosalugg has returned
and immediately bombard him with questions and demands. Ethan, meanwhile, sees the appalling conditions
and proceeds to set up a field hospital and get triage started on the numerous wounded. When he goes
into the castle, he finds the generals of the assembled armies trying to decide who is in charge (the
previous leader was killed leading a battle against the enemy). A frustrated Ethan delivers a scathing
lecture to the leaders about cooperation and promptly "elects" a human and a demon as
co-presidents. He then requests help gathering linen, water and anything else he can use as medical supplies.
The leaders; along with Groo, Dana and Lauren; examine several maps and conclude that the
mysterious enemy is attacking from two directions and the advancing fronts will converge on the castle
within a couple of days. Seeking mystical information, Lauren and Dana go to the castle's library. The demon
priest/librarian shows them the most powerful books in the land, but explains that they are useless as there
used to be three books that needed to be used in tandem but one of the books was recently destroyed under
mysterious circumstances. When Dana examines the remaining books she sees they are branded with a Wolf and
a Ram. When Dana asks, the priest confirms that the third book was of the Hart and that the time at which
it was destroyed corresponds roughly to the time that Patrick killed the Senior Partner. Dana wonders
if the destruction in Pylea is happening because the Hart is dead, which would make it in some way their
fault.
Finally the group decides that if they are going to help they need to get a better look at
the mysterious enemy. Mounting horses the group, led by Groo, heads to where they can see the advancing force.
As they approach Ethan begins to feel apprehensive, as if an oppressive force were bearing down on them;
and without conscious effort Lauren begins receiving flashes of visions showing dead people and trees. In the
distance the group can see a great dark cloud. Using her powers to step into the spirit plane Lauren still
cannot see into the cloud, which appears here only as a great dark mass consuming all life in its path.
The others want to leave, but Dana still wants to get a better look at the enemy. In the end
she decides to change to werewolf form to get a closer look. When Dana starts to change, however, things
go wrong as, because of the different rules of magic on Pylea, her other form is that of this world's
version of a werewolf, a vicious creature which combines wolf-like features with reptilian ones. Ethan tries
to calm Dana down but she is out of control and delivers and seemingly fatal slash to his chest before
fleeing into the forest.
|
