Secrets revealed...

It was becoming harder for the old ashik to slow the herders down so that he could relay his whole story before leaving them. He knew that the siblings had become fond of him and his tale, but they were keen to get home with all of their freshly traded goods and so he had to change tack. That night when they settled down he started talking and he fully intended on not stopping until his tale was told.

Balboa shoved open the left hand door, and when nothing immediately leapt out and attacked him he shoved his lit torch into the room and looked about. Like all of the rooms that the group had investigated so far this one was full of debris and little else, but Balboa knew that he had heard a noise from within and so he stepped in carefully and began to search. Scar drew the Sword of Kemalok and followed him into the room leaving Kank on guard by the main door and Arthur heading up to the floor above to give it a thorough search.

Balboa notices that there is a wide crack in the dividing wall between this room and what he expects is a similar room next door, it is then that he spots the cause of the noise. Two Baazrags are sat at the base of the crack staring up at him. As soon as the light of Balboa’s torch hits them they scurry away through the crack into the darkness of the room beyond. Balboa and Scar ignore the Baazrag and carry on with their search of the small room.

While the others are searching Kank stands by the main door keeping a close eye on that and the trap door leading down to the ground floor of the tower. As he watches he realises that the shadows around him are deepening. He tries to shout an alarm but he is unable to make a sound. Knowing that trouble is coming he triggers the power of the earth rune ring and calls silently upon the earth to increase his already formidable strength. The trap door flips up silently and a figure leaps out of the dark ground floor to land by the right hand tower door. As the first figure lands, another starts to emerge from the trap door and locks eyes with Kank.

Kank readies his maul, Bone Crusher, and prepares to flatten the creature emerging from the ground floor. But as the creature locks eyes with Kank, Kank feels his senses being overwhelmed by the creatures mind. Kank staggers backwards and leans against the wall as his meagre mental shields are shattered by the powerful psionic attack. The sound of Kank staggering against the wall alerts Balboa and he spots the creature emerging from the ground floor through the trapdoor and shouts;

We’re attacked!

The second creature leaps towards the left hand door and Balboa, and locks eyes with him. The heat around Balboa’s body is sucked into nothingness and he becomes covered in an icy crust as he starts to freeze. A most unusual experience in the Athasian desert. At that point a third creature climbs out of the ground floor. Scar uses the Sword of Kemalok to cast a spell on itself, making the blade sharper than a whetstone could ever achieve. Balboa leaps at the creature that psionically attacked him and swings with his stone mace, but misses.

Kank, who has not yet recovered from his mental blow, is coated in ice as he is hit once again with a psionic attack. And then a third mind attempts to attack him but it actually slides off of his pathetic shields. Balboa ineffectually swings his mace once again, and Arthur jumps the last few steps from the second floor to launch himself into the skirmish. As Arthur lands, a gout of flame leaps from one of the creatures and strikes him square in his chest. That gets Arthur’s attention and he swings at the creature with his maul, the creature was in mid leap and Arthur catches it a powerful blow against one of its legs. The creature slams into the floor next to Kank, who has finally regained his senses, and he smashes Bone Crusher into the creature and it lays dead on the floor.

Realising that they have lost the element of surprise, the other two creatures make a break for it. One of them leaps from the first floor arrow slit to the south of the tower and the other rushes through the right hand doorway. Kank chases the second of the creatures through the door, as he gets to the threshold of the door he sees the creature perched on the edge of the arrow slit looking straight at him. He then hears a very compelling voice in his head;

Don’t let them hurt me!

Kank feels the overwhelming urge to protect the creature and so he turns to block the doorway and stop his friends from catching the creature. Arthur, who was the closest, shouts;

Get him!

Kank doesn’t even bother to look over his shoulder and just says;

Nah! He’s alright.

Arthur looks confusedly at Kank and says;

What do you mean you stupid fool?

Kank just shrugs and states;

He’s OK I tell you!

Arthur shakes his head, turns away and mutters under his breath;

Bloody weak minded fool!

By the time that Arthur makes it down the steps outside to the ground floor there is no sign of the two creatures that escaped. He heads back in and discovers that Kank has regained his senses and that they have found five silver pieces and twenty five ceramic pieces on the dead creature. Arthur bends down and picks up the creatures hat and places it firmly upon his own head. He also discovers that the creature is carrying a days worth of water and rations made up of small insects and leaves.

The group slowly descend into the ground floor of the tower through the open trapdoor and discover three bedrolls hastily kicked into the middle of the room to try and hide them. They also discover a doorway at the back of the tower, and when Kank searches for tracks around the doorway he discovers that there are many recent tracks from what looks like the creatures that they fought. Feeling exhausted from their battle and in need of rest, Kank squats down on the floor and watches the doorway while Scar jogs back to Miloch and Ka-Reen to bring them into the tower.

When she arrives, Ka-Reen attempts to heal Kank’s wounds but her powers fail her. Shrugging, Kank decides that he is going to sleep and so lays down in front of the unsearched door and closes his eyes. When he finally wakes up he discovers that he is still badly injured and that Ka-Reen is now unconscious. The others tell him that she tried to heal him once more while he slept but that she just passed out. The group agree that they need to remain within the tower until Ka-Reen regains consciousness and they have had a chance to heal up. Arthur, Balboa, and Kank are all badly injured and are resting but Scar and Miloch are bored and so decide to investigate the unexplored doorway.

They step through and find a long corridor that seems to run off into the hills behind the tower, they follow the corridor to the foot of a winding staircase and discover that it exits into a small cave that sits almost one hundred feet above the tower and has a perfect view of all of the approaches. It was clearly designed as a look out post when the tower was in use, and so the group decide to set a watch in it while they rest up. Kank takes first watch, mostly so he can be on his own and avoid the embarrassment of his weak mind taking him out of the fight with the mysterious creatures, and Balboa and Scar decide to search the tower once again. Balboa sees something glinting in one of the walls and when he digs it out finds that he has discovered an iron arrowhead. He hands it to Scar and she pockets it quickly.

That evening Ka-Reen comes to, with a thudding headache, and they agree that she should focus on the less injured first before she attempts to heal Kank once again. Ka-Reen heals Miloch’s arm and then moves on to look at Arthur’s wounds, but once again as she attempts to heal him she passes out. The rest of the group look around at each other and finally discuss if they are going to be able to complete their mission and investigate the mines. Eventually they agree that they should return to the village of The Free and they do not believe that they will have enough food and water to spend any time at the mine as they have lost several days resting up at the waystation.

Placing the unconscious Ka-Reen on Stanley the kank, and moving slowly to accommodate for Arthur’s slow pace and that of the injured, the group set out. By day break they make it to the hidden pathway leading to the valley of The Free, they move deep into one of the side paths and set a cold camp to wait out the day. During Balboa’s watch he hears the sound of something passing along the main pathway but even though he creeps forwards to see what it is, he doesn’t catch a glimpse of what has passed. By the middle of the following night the group make it back to the Hidden Village, the gate guards send for Major Drog and Brintar and escort the group towards the earth temple.

Major Drog and Brintar meet the group just after they make it to the temple, the Major asks them if they have completed the objective and he looks particularly disappointed when Balboa informs him that they have not yet managed to scout the mines. Major Drog asks why they have returned and Balboa gives them a quick debrief of what has happened. Brintar is very interested in the activities at the tombs and the Major is very surprised when Balboa describes the creatures that the group encountered at the waystation. He looks at Brintar and says;

It is worrying that there are Gith in the vicinity. I will inform the patrols.

With that, Major Drog’s disappointment seems to diminish and he leaves the group in the care of Brintar and Brother Moran Gore. Brintar asks Balboa to go into more detail about the Howling Tombs, and in particular the dwarven priest and Balboa’s vision. Balboa eagerly gives her a fully detailed account of the groups adventures and ends with a description of the yellow metal ring covered in earth runes. She seems very interested and asks if she can see it, Kank freely hands it over and Brintar inspects the ring. After a short while she looks up at Balboa and says;

This is a potent item. And this was found on the priest?

Balboa tells her the story once again and she hands the ring back. Balboa gives the ring back to Kank and he slips it back onto his finger. Brintar steps up to Kank and places her hand on his chest, calling upon the earth she heals him of all of his wounds. Arthur looks on and turns to Balboa;

How did she do that?

Balboa simply states;

She is an earth priestess.

Arthur looks confused and says;

Why can’t you do that?

Balboa shrugs and says;

Because you would not give me thirty silver coins.

Arthur quickly starts to count out how much coin the group have in its coffers.

Brother Moran Gore heals Arthur while Brintar heals Balboa, as she is doing so they discuss the perfectly round stones that Scar discovered within the remains for the dwarven skeletons. Brintar asks to see them and after a moment of study she believes that they could be used to store magical power, allowing someone to power their spells from the stored power. She asks if the group would leave them with her to investigate and Balboa readily agrees.

During the day the earth priests tend to the group and make sure that they are fully healed. Scar visits the artisan quarter and gets the iron arrowhead hafted and slips it into her quiver, the artisan gives her a curious look but does not say anything. Balboa discusses the mines with Brintar and discovers that they were once obsidian mines belonging to the City State of Urik, but it was discovered that it was a shallow seam that was quickly mined out and so the mines became abandoned.

The following dusk, having restocked on food and water, the group set out. They aim to stop after half a day and camp in the mouth of the hidden pathway where they had camped only a couple of nights beforehand. The following dusk they set out for the waystation hoping to arrive just before dawn. They sneak in but find the tower abandoned once more, Kank is disappointed not to find the Gith once again in residence. They wait out the day and at dusk they start up the ancient road that leads up into the mountains towards the abandoned mine.

They can see the mine ahead of them up the valley and so retreat back to a hiding place where they can tie up Stanley the kank and attempt to sneak in towards the double building at the base of the mine. Scar and Kank take the lead and dash across the open ground to the ruined building. It was obviously once half stone and half timber built, but the timber is long gone and just a low stone wall to mark the buildings footprint still exists. They find that the building is empty, and a quick search for tracks reveals nothing of interest.

They next head southeast up the steep escarpment towards the next smaller building, yet again they find it to be ruined and empty of anything of interest. Next to the small building is a large cave entrance, twelve foot high and twenty foot wide. Scar and Kank back away quietly and head back to the valley floor before heading up towards the higher cave mouth to the northeast. As they move forwards they form a spearhead with Kank at its tip, followed by Scar and Arthur. Behind them come Balboa and Ka-Reen, and bringing up the rear is Miloch. They move slowly forwards hoping that nothing is going to try and kill them, but knowing deep down inside that is wishful thinking.