But perhaps the people who should be alarmed were the Champions, most of all. See, as it will turn out this Belboz is none other than the dragon they had been looking for to destroy. It seems that Belboz/Minestus was toying with this world's Fred (as well as Checkers), appearing to be friendly but in reality being anything but that. Indeed, in order to keep up the appearance he had magically muted this world's Astra, saying that he had rescued her from the dragon and was trying to nurse her back to health. Trying to get her over the shock of it all that had struck her mute.

But as thing worked out, Belboz/Minestus had several strikes against him that eventually tripped him up. First, immediately his necromancy magic (the antithesis of life and light) put the Light Elves on edge, making them instantly wary of him despite the fact that they'd gotten used to the "other" Belbozes of Eternity Inc. (even becoming friends). Then there was the fact that Belboz had made the mistake of overlooking the elves while speaking to Jarlath's group, making the them feel slighted (making the situation even more tense). This, of course, made at least the other tense as well. What finally broke things was a verbal slipup that revealed to Jarlath's group (as well as the others) that, at the very least he was somehow involved with the dragon in a manner that was less than benign for the rest of the group.

And that is about the time all Hell broke lose when a Joker got dealt into the deal in the form of one Randall Flagg. Now Flagg was a demon who frequented realities that mirrored Stephen Kings' "The Stand" as well as the "Dark Tower" series. The exact details on who he is have been told earlier so we shan't recap here. He'd popped in earlier back in Belboz's lair in order to pay a "friendly" visit as well as give him the key to the Slipgate system, the Crystallic (or this world's Crystallic). The hope had been was that this well seemingly meant gift would have hastened events that would cause that Slipgate crash the Champions wanted to halt.

Sighing after seeing the clever Belboz's scheme collapse, Flagg teleported Belboz back (as well as one of the Champions, Feral) back into the lair before things got out of hand. Flagg, to cover up the disappearance of Fertal, had also cast an illusion of a ghastly (and explosive) death that had caused all to run for fear of their lives. Problem there was that this illusion didn't work on one of the Champions, Artizza. She knew that her husband hadn't died (in fact wasn't even aware of the illusion), so was confused and angered when the other Champions grabbed her and swept her away from the spot where Fertal had just disappeared from instead of trying to track him down! To add to the confusion, the natives of this world had run the other way and so were seperated.

Now, before we go any further let us tell some background info on the natives here!

Astra here was, of course, an Aquallarian Princess who'd been captured by the Dragon of the Southern Cavers (by Fred's map). Humiliated and imprisoned, the dragon had striped her of her voice and any other means of warning the Champions of the dragon's duplicity. Also, using magic the dragon had increased the size of this Astra's hips and bust, adding insult to injury. She has managed to stay up with Fred in the mad dash of things so they are together.

This Fred had, like so many, been tasked by his king to slay the dragon. He met Belboz while exploring the caverns and thinking that Belboz could be useful, asked for aid. Belboz summoned Checkers, a winged girl warrior (a Glider) far from home, to aid Fred in his quest. Soon after that, she and Fred got into a fight with some cavern creatures called "Wallhuggers" and Fred got injured in the fight. Checkers was able to lend some first aid to the injuries, but Fred still is hobbling about (though can move quickly enough when scared enough in his retreat).

We have Checkers the Glider. She had been tasked by the rulers of her land to go forth and slay the dragon in these caverns. Basically, it was an exile/suicide mission in all but name, because you see she just didn't fit into being a proper Glider. While patriotic enough and proud of her race, she had a decidely bookish bent to her. That and a few other things.

If successful, she could return and enjoy being welcomed back. If not.... She had also met Belboz earlier and sought his aid, and thus was summoned by the dragon mage so she and Fred could (supposedly) go forth together and slay the dragon. Fred has become a close friend to this lonely girl, who'd been too long on her own for her comfort.

She took a wrong turn and also didn't get to see the grisly supposed demise of Fertal. Seperated and confused, she's now looking for where her Fred and Astra have run off to here.

Finally, we have Belboz/Minestus. IN addition to what's been said before here by me, let me add that long ago he had foolishly mixed some coins from the Glider nation into his Hoard, forming a Bond with that Land. This bond is somewhat different than that we've seen with Terra Prime dragons in that instead of being bound inside the borders, the dragon felt compelled to visit this land and try to rule it. That didn't go over well with the Gliders, and they fought and rejected the dragon. Being that land and dragon's life were linked, this had grave effects on both. The land began to suffer (become less healthy and fulsome) and the dragon's human form began to age and wither. If not soon stopped, both would be worn out husks. The dragon had been attempting a way to somehow reverse his fortunes through experiments with the Slipgate (which would eventually destroy a lot of things if not stopped).

After Flagg had froze Fertal in place and given Belboz the Crystallic, the mage got sidetracked with his new toy. Instead of reading all the way through the "tech manual" for the Crystallic, he stopped were it told about how this new "toy" could alter another's form. Deciding against trying it out on Fertal (opting to do something later), he instead tried it out on this world's Fred and Astra. So, after removing the muteness spell for enjoying the next part on Astra. First, both Fred's and Astra's clothing disappeared. Then, after Astra found out she could speak again (a joy short lived) the next part happened. In painful transformation (so much that both screamed), the adventurers turned into Tengu ( Tengu: They are winged creatures with large noses or beaks, known to be part human and part bird. They are known as mischievous rather than evil, and enjoy playing tricks on humans. However, if the tables are turned and tricks are played on them, they become extremely angry.) So, somewhat in a daze but still with their minds intact, they followed the sounds of Checker's calls and came upon her. That is where Checkers became Belboz's second victim.

Astra had still upon her magic that allowed Belboz to see through her eyes and thus when the mage saw Checkers, he cast through the Crystallic a spell that would test the artifact's magic to the fullest (to give the mage an idea of it's power). Checkers became a Changling. The Mythical Changeling, which becomes whatever the first person to see it wants it to be. So, in this case, it happens to be a proto-Dark Elf looking for her husband who sees the Changling!! See, Checkers haad been spotted by Belboz through Astra's eyes, but due to location and such, it was Artizza who "found" her first. Trust me. After that, Belboz was happy enough with his new toy but broke contact with Astra to go off to study the Slipgate, sure he was on the right track.

Needless to say, there were a lot of unhappy folks left behind. Checkers didn't like her new form at all. The Tengu probably wanted to return to being human and all that, but in the rush of things the Champions are finally able to sort out a few things. They finally, thorugh info they get from the others the real situation facing them, including the Quest was more difficult than previously though.

Oh, they could just kill Belboz, but in the process they'd also kill the Glider Nation!