The Hole

But Bernerd is different. He's quiet and well-spoken and my best customer for pies. The man goes through pies like you have never seen and doesn't just insist on Halas Meat Pies like some others. Slumberfish, Tae Ew, even Batwing Pies gain his attention. His love of pies is such that he is known throughout Norrath as "The Piemaster".

So, when he came to me asking a favour, I listened.

"There's a magical fish," he told me. "In the depths of Odus, I'm told. I want you to make me a pie of it."

I was intrigued and set out to the Plane of Knowledge to find out more. In the library, I found an old tome that did, in fact, speak of a magical fish found in Odus. The Island was plagued by wars between the Erudites and the Heretics and a large hole was blasted into the earth by the magic of the Heretics where they built Paineel. The caverns, it is said, go much deeper than they ever intended and in those waters are a fish, called the Hatch Dace, which is imbued with magical properties.

There is no reference to baking with these fish and indeed consuming them would seem rather dangerous. However, their essence can be used to create an idol that will allow a true disciple of Cazic-Thule to return to Odus at will.

This is useless to Bernerd but I thought it would be interesting to try to recreate the recipe, so off to Paineel I went. There is a regular ferry from Qeynos which apparently follows the path that Erud himself followed when he first travelled to Odus. I spent the journey reading about the history of the ancient civilisation and the battles that have plagued it; when I next looked up, we had arrived! From there, it was a quick ride on my mount through Toxxulia to Paineel.

Paineel itself is guarded by undead which I was concerned about. However, the skeletons seemed not to mind my presence and even encouraged me to grab a pick and help them! I passed swiftly into Paineel and rode forward.

To my shock I found myself riding straight towards a sheer drop! I tugged on the reins of my mount who seemed particularly slow to react today and managed to stop right at the edge. I'd found The Hole.

I shivered as I looked down, there is no way I could survive slipping off the ledge without divine intervention. However, I had heard you could enter the caverns safely via a lake in the city and quickly backed up the mount and carried on to the left.

The locals had attempted to close off the cavern but I'd been told there were still gaps large enough for a Halfling to slip through. I nipped behind a tree by the lake and quickly changed out of my armour. When noone was looking, I dived in. Sure enough, there was a wall of large rocks but towards the top there was a small gap where, with a bit of wriggling, I was able to get through and found myself at the start of an underwater cave. I swam on, blessing the time I spent in Rivervale learning to swim and hunting piranhas, and eventually found a spot where I could swim up for air.

To my surprise, there was a stone floor ahead and low torches burning. I clambered out of the water and immediately stepped on a something: a corpse! Two bodies lay there, long cold and forgotten. I said a small prayer for their souls and sat down, hoping I wasn't in too much danger.

It was a cold and dreary spot; I was not looking forward to sitting there alone. Bristlebane must have been with me, because it was not long before I heard a shout.

"Lilipolius, run!"

I immediately recognised the voice of my friend Tarrak! I called out and he quickly came to join me with a High Elf enchanter whom I'd never met. Tarrak knew these caverns well, it turned out. As the place is populated by the minions of Brell he comes here regularly as a retreat to pray to his deity. He'd come this evening to collect some iron oxide but the inhabitants still hold old grudges and attempted to attack Lilipolius despite Tarrak's pleas for them to stop. Luckily, Lili is an enchantress of some ability and was able to hold off the summoned beings, causing them to forget her while she moved out of sight.

However, the spot I was in by the water was safe and both of them were quite happy to sit down and join me for a short while. Tarrak had not heard of the fish here but was kind enough to pass me some of his iron oxide which had been referred to in the old texts that I'd read earlier. As luck would have it, Lilipolius also knew of the magical vials of mana that were a part of the sacred idol and offered to summon some for me when we were back in civilisation.

We sat and fished and chatted for a good hour while the fish bit like there was no tomorrow. Tarrak has become quite a good fisherman now and Lilipolius turned out to be equally adept with a fishing rod; soon I realised I had stacks of the Hatch Dace and was running out of room.

I invited them to join me to travel to Permafrost, where the books said crystals could be collected from the ice to make the glaze for the magical idols; however they decided to continue back to Norrath. I thanked them for keeping me company and we said our farewells. I wrapped up the fish carefully and continued on my quest to collect the odd ingredients I'd read about, wondering why it was always Brell who seemed to imbue his fish with such odd properties.

Once I finish with this, I must remember to make more pies for Bernerd.