Lathander looked at the kender with fury, but he glanced back uncertainly at Sirrion.
"He's not even from Krynn," Emilo insisted. "There, I've done what I came to do," the kender said, hopping down from the altar and running to Jas's side.
"This is ridiculous," Lathander snapped. "If he's not Sirrion, who is he?"
"Now, there's an interesting question," Joel replied. "Can you think of another power who would want to impersonate Sirrion?"
"One with an interest in destroying two goddesses and harming Lord Lathander's reputation at the same time," Finder suggested. "One who'd like to grab the power of those two goddesses for himself," Jas guessed.
Holly gasped with a horrible suspicion. "One who's been missing from his realm for days, not even returning when Beshaba destroyed it," she said as she looked up into Sirrion's glowing green eyes and realized why they were familiar. She had seen eyes just like them on a statue in a temple of evil. "My lord," the paladin shouted, "this impostor is none other than Iyachtu Xvim!"
Lathander whirled around to face the accused. The god who called himself Sirrion had released Finder, but as soon as he let go, Finder had grabbed onto him. The other god growled, a low, feral noise full of hatred. In a burst of godly power, he threw Finder from him.
"The farce is ended," the god said, transforming into the figure of a man with black scales and shaggy black hair, wearing nothing but a loincloth. It was indeed Iyachtu Xvim. "I will take what I am owed," he declared as he leapt across the tent to the altar, scattering the luck fetishes and startling the black cat who had sat so calmly through the whole proceedings. Xvim grabbed the pink rose and the old coin suspended magically over the altar.
"That power is not for you!" Lathander shouted, grabbing at Xvim's arm.
The god of hatred slammed Lathander in the face with the heel of his hand. Stunned, the Morninglord dropped the blue crystal sphere and fell backward. Xvim spun about to leave the tent, but he tripped over the black cat, which howled in outrage. Both power keys flew from the evil god's hands. Joel caught the rose and Jas caught the coin.
"Lucky catches?" Jas wondered aloud.
"And an unlucky trip," Joel said, pointing to the portal leading into the fusion chamber where Beshaba and Tymora stood side by side. The goddesses had cast their magic out of the fusion chamber, protecting their power keys even though they themselves could not escape.
Lathander leapt upon Xvim and held him down on the floor of the tent. Holly retrieved the blue crystal sphere.
"Put Tyche's power key back on the altar, Holly Harrowslough," Lathander ordered.
Holly stood up with the power key of the goddess her lord intended to resurrect and walked toward the altar.
"So, knowing this isn't really Sirrion doesn't change your mind?" Emilo asked Lathander with surprise. "Even though he's an evil god who lied to you?"
Lathander glared at the kender, but then his face grew thoughtful. His head snapped around just in time to see Holly toss Tyche's power key into the fusion chamber.
Lathander's eyes widened in surprise. In a shocked voice, he demanded of his paladin, "What have you done?"
"Now Tymora and Beshaba can use Tyche's power key to escape the fusion chamber," Holly explained.
"What compels you to disobey me?" Lathander asked in an amazed tone. "How dare you risk falling from my grace?"
Tears flowed freely from Holly's eyes. "It would be evil to join the goddesses against their will, my lord," she said.
In the fusion chamber, Tymora snatched up the blue sphere. The shimmering portal flashed with a bright light as the two goddesses flew out of the fusion chamber.
Like hawks swooping down upon their prey, Tymora and Beshaba landed before Lathander and Xvim, who still lay locked together. Tymora slammed Tyche's power key to the ground near Xvim's head. The crystal blue sphere splintered into a thousand pieces, spraying both Xvim and Lathander with the shards.
OFFSTAGE
In the Prime Material Plane on the world known as Toril in Realmspace, Amber Wyvernspur cried out with surprise and then delight at the sudden appearance of her great-granduncle, Drone Wyvernspur, who carried a lantern and a picnic basket. He arrived by dimensional doorway some time after the children's torches had burned out, but before panic had set in. Amber and the children had been in the dark long enough to sing fourteen rounds of a silly halfling song Gory had taught them.
"You found us!" Amber cried out in relief. "I knew you would."
"I didn't know I had lost you," the shaggy old wizard retorted. He looked around at the collapsed ceiling disapprovingly. "What a mess you children have made," he muttered. "You'll be cleaning this up until you're old enough to leave home. Of course, you could get out of the work if you want to leave home now," he added with a dark look at Tavan, Toran, and Cory. Uncle Drone had an uncanny understanding of who was responsible for any mishaps that occurred in the family.
"Are you going to take us home now, Uncle Drone?" Olivia asked.
"Do I look like a pack mule?" the old wizard retorted. "I brought you something to eat," he said, handing the basket to Cory.
As her younger kin began to devour the sandwiches and fruit in the basket, Amber sat patiently while Uncle Drone examined her wounds. He spread some healing salve on them and then made her down a potion that tasted like peppermint.
"Are our parents worried?" Tavan asked as he sipped a cup of tea.
"Not really," Drone said. "We've known something like this would happen for days now."
"What do you mean?" Toran asked, looking puzzled.
"Mother Lleddew came to check on you a few days ago," the old wizard explained. "Apparently she had a vision that you were trapped in a cave. Since you were all snug in your beds at the time, we guessed it was some sort of future vision brought on by Tymora's troubles. We've just been waiting for the shoe to drop, so to speak. Should have known you'd pick a day when we were all away, leaving your poor Aunt Dorath to fret about you."
"Aunt Dorath likes to fret," Heather said.
"Yes, well, your Uncle Steele likes to drink, but that doesn't mean we should indulge him. Speaking of Steele, let's have that key."
Heather pulled out the key to the crypt that she had taken from Uncle Steele's sock drawer.
Carrying Heather on his back and Olivia and Pars in his arms, the wizard left by another dimensional door, groaning all the way about how much weight they'd all put on. The other children had to wait until morning for the old wizard to replenish his spells. Amber often wondered if that wasn't just an excuse to make them stay the night to teach them a lesson. She didn't mind, however. She had a good time chatting with the guardian. The next day Uncle Drone, with Aunt Cat's help, managed to bring everyone out from the crypt.
Then the whole family began digging out the collapsed crypt and repairing the stonework. True to his threat, Drone saw that the children all helped to dig out the mess.
Years later the Wyvernspur cousins would always refer to any sort of hard labor, like digging, as the fruits of Tymora's Luck, but it never kept any of them from calling on Lady Luck from time to time in the course of their adventures.
ACT FOUR SCENE 7
In the realm of Morning Glory, the two goddesses faced their tormentors. Lathander released his hold on Xvim, though whether he meant to hand him over to Tyche's daughters, or was simply preparing to defend himself from attack Joel could not be certain.
Iyachtu Xvim cackled fiendishly in the face of the wrath of Beshaba and Tymora. "The paladin's foolish act has come too late to save you," he gloated. "You cannot stop the fusion once it has begun. See how the chaos matter comes to bind you!"
Xvim's words appeared to be true. A wisp of the chaos matter drifted out of the fusion chamber and wrapped itself around both goddesses. As the others watched, transfixed, more chaos matter swirled out into the tent and began to weave a cocoon around Beshaba and Tymora.