[h3]Duchy of Pelgaid, secluded pond[/h3]
“We do possess greater mobility than he, thanks to your efforts,” Crone confirmed Jillian’s presumption than their little group would be faster than Hazzergash, while also deciding to elaborate on why that was, probably in an effort to appease the witch. “It was the destruction you wrought during the battle that prompted Kevalorn to unleash the sinister power within him, and our escape with the prison that enraged him so that he spent even more of his strength incinerating the forest. While Hazzergash’s might is practically inexhaustible, Kevalorn’s body and life is not; by now, Kevalorn is likely much too weakened for Hazzergash to invoke his power anymore, or he would simply have teleported them to Cave Bear’s Keep. Thanks to you he is slow, weak and vulnerable... unless he discovers a new suitable host, the likelihood of which is quite low.”
“We do know where they are going,” Renold agreed, “but we can’t be sure which way they’ll go. The only way to be sure that they would happen upon a trap would be to set it at the doorstep of their keep itself... which would put us in range of even more crusaders.”
“The alternative,” Crone sighed, “would be to use the prison as bait. Without the ambient magic of Anaxim to dull his senses and conceal its presence, Hazzergash is likely capable of locating the prison with pinpoint accuracy from miles away. If he recognizes the presence of that, I have no doubt that he will seek it out without fail.”
“That’d be extremely dangerous, though,” Gerald pointed out grimly. “Actually it will be stupidly dangerous no matter what, since we [I]need[/I] to get the prison to him in order to seal him. But at the same time, if Hazzergash gets his hands on it, he will revive fully and become pretty much unstoppable.” He scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Logically, then, I will need to be the bait. Presuming that Hazzergash doesn’t outright kill me on sight, you three would need to be ready to activate a binding circle as soon as he gets close to me... and then maintain it long enough for me to return him to the prison.”
“It’s much too dangerous,” Renold shook his grand reptilian head. “Even if Hazzergash doesn’t kill you, he could easily leave Kevalorn’s body and possess you or one of us instead; he could not only get a fresh host, however unsuitable we might be, but also gain access to our strength in addition to his own. And if he possesses Gerald -”
“Let him try,” the necromancer chuckled darkly. “That would make stuffing him back into the crystal all the easier.”