AEHU/Plot/Plot Sketch Chapter 21

"Dreamstone Quarry"

Schala & co. and Dalton's crew arrive in the Dreamstone Quarry simultaneously and discover the inexperienced troop Dalton had left to guard the entrance are all dead. Heckrans, beasts, and imps feast on the bodies. Dalton unleashes his Golems and a troop of early Mystics to subdue the incursion. Schala & co. head deeper into the mine to find out what happened to Demeria and Derben, Melchior collecting fine dreamstone samples with a dormant Dreamstone Crusher in a minigame along the way.

Deep inside the mine, Anderu Po'hjol and his men have arrived to collect the remainder of their weapons cache but Demeria and Derben block the way. Po'hjol activates the Dreamstone Crusher by remote control (apparently he helped design the machine) and it goes haywire, pounding through the cavern network and Po'hjol makes use of the distraction to escape. Schala & co. reunite with Demeria and Derben to destroy the crusher.

Outside the mine Schala & co. discover an apparently blind man wandering through the snow and he identifies himself as one Raqh. Asked if he's Earthbound or Enlightened, Raqh asks what they identify themselves as (he's making use of his blindness here) and Dalton says Enlightened. Raqh answers likewise and, asked to prove it, he reveals his magic ability by striking down an Earthbound gunman who had snuck up behind Dalton during the conversation. Schala welcomes Raqh into her party for the time being since he says he's been struck blind in a recent battle, though Demeria wonders at his remarkable accuracy.

Dalton decides it's high time for a major offensive against Algetty, even though an aide tells him that Pengalaan is still being readied for battle. Dalton believes the proto-Mystics assigned to the Lasher corps will more than suffice as an augmentation to the Zealian forces.