Secrets revealed...

The following morning, after they had eaten a megre breakfast, the herders set out once more driving their beasts towards market in the nearest town. They had been on the road for several days but their journey had been a surprisingly happy one. That was all down to their unexpected trail companion, the old ashik. His tale was enthralling and his gift of telling it remarkable, almost as if he had been there himself…

From their camp, several hundred metres away from the ravine, the group of freed slaves turned scouting party for the Hidden Village and the tribe of The Free could just make out at the edge of their hearing a low mournful wail coming from the ravines direction. As the sun rises on yet another hot, dry, dusty, and relentless day the group set off towards the ravine and as they draw closer the wailing gets louder. It is obvious why this spot is known as the Howling Tombs. Once they are within sight of the ravine they realise that it is not a ravine at all, but a long, deep cleft in the earth. They drop to their bellies and crawl up to the lip of the cleft and look down into its depths.

From their vantage point the group can see that the cleft is just under two miles long and almost half a mile across at its widest point. But what attracts their eyes is the large dark chasm that yawns at the bottom of the cleft. They can also make out the entrances to five tombs in the east face of the cleft, each one at a different height from the bottom of the cleft. There are three pathways the slope down into the cleft, but even these are strewn with rocks and drop at a dangerous angle meaning that there is no completely safe entrance to the cleft.

Seeing no signs of obvious habitation the group head for the south eastern pathway, when they reach the top of it, Kank scouts around for tracks but all he can find are numerous signs of small desert creatures. Using their ropes the group safely navigate the pathway down to the bottom of the cleft, they leave Stanley, the kank, in the shade of the scraggly trees at the base of the pathway they head off to investigate the cleft and head around the eastern edge of the dark chasm in the middle of the cleft. As they head further in they all agree that it is highly unlikely that this place is likely to be hiding those that attacked the slave caravan, but Balboa and Scar say that they want to continue to search the place. Balboa believes that as this is the first mission that they have undertaken for The Free and it would be good if they could provide as much information as possible about the Howling Tombs.

As they move around the eastern edge of the yawning chasm in the centre of the cleft the group are struck by the eye watering stench that is emanating from the pit. The group are forced away from the edge of the pit by the smell as it begins to catch in their throats and they start to choke. Looking westwards back across the pit, Scar spots some sort of construction built on top of the plateau that runs along the western edge of the dark pit. She also spots another tomb entrance high on the steep sided cleft wall, meaning that there are six tombs in total, the group decide to investigate the construction on top of the plateau looking out over the pit.

Once they get to the base of the plateau Balboa climbs up the first thirty feet, he then braces his feet and calls upon the power of the earth to mould hand holds in the remaining thirty feet of cliff face. Once he has climbed to the top of the plateau he discovers a large plinth of grey stone, fifteen foot in length, that rests against the lip of the plateau overlooking the dark pit in the centre of the cleft. As Balboa gets closer he notices that there are a set of steps leading up to the top of the plinth, and that the plinth itself is carved with ancient runes that have mostly eroded with time. One of the runes that he can make out looks similar to the earth rune, but different somehow. With a thoughtful look on his face, Balboa climbs the age worn steps to the top of the plinth.

On top of the plinth Balboa discovers another block of stone that can only be described as an altar. It is three foot high and seven foot long and has channels that run around its edge and channel something to the lip of the altar that hangs out over the chasm. As Balboa gets closer he spots the dark brown stains that mark the stone surface, by now Balboa is standing next to the altar and realises that it was clearly used to sacrifice humanoids and give the blood as an offering to the pit.

As this thought occurs to Balboa something above him catches his eye. He squints up into the sun and finds himself staring into dark eyes hidden behind a hideous mask. Balboa is frozen in place and unable to move as the masked figure begins to chant in a disturbing voice. The sun glints off of steel and Balboa feels a sharp pain in his chest as the sacrificial dagger sinks deep into his flesh. Balboa’s eyes widen with shock and fear as the masked figure plunges his hand into Balboa’s chest and rips out his still beating heart. The masked figure shows the heart to Balboa and then throws it into the pit.

Balboa’s eyes open and he realises that he is sat on top of the plinth looking at the altar. He is very shaken by his vision and is struggling to understand it, but he makes his way slowly back down to the others where he tells them everything that he has experienced. Balboa believes that while the altar is ancient, it is younger than the tombs themselves. He also now believes that he experienced an after vision of someones dying moments strapped to the sacrificial altar high over the bottomless pit.

Not wishing to dwell on the horrors of the plateau, the group decide to head to the nearest tomb which happens to be the lone tomb in the western face of the cleft. The group of freed slaves scramble up a rock strewn pathway to get to the ledge that runs below the tomb entrance, but Scar struggles with her footing and slips. She slides all the way back to the bottom of the pathway taking bumps and scrapes on the way down. She tries again and manages to get a little higher but once again slips and ends up in a heap. Finally, on her third attempt she makes it to the ledge and joins the others where Ka-Reen and Arthur first aid her wounds.

The ledge gets the group to twenty five foot below the base of the tomb entrance so Balboa once again calls upon the power of the earth to create hand holds up to it. He then climbs up and looks back down to see who is following. Kank clambers up after him, but as he places a massive hand on the base of the tomb he slips and is unable to catch himself. Kank hits the ground like a statue and there is a loud cracking sound as his legs don’t bend when they slam into the ledge. He lays unconscious on the ledge as Ka-Reen rushes to his side and places her hands on his legs, she concentrates hard and then she collapses unconscious across Kank’s body.

Leaving Miloch to keep watch over the two unconscious bodies Arthur and Scar climb up to join Balboa and search the tomb. The front of the tomb is massive and very similar in style to the mysterious building in the desert where the group freed the water elemental, it is obvious that the tomb has been broken into a long time ago and so the three scouts of The Free climb in through the broken fascia and find themselves in a single large room. The room is fifteen foot square and both sides house eight mausoleum niches, the back wall of the tomb is taken up with a huge carved relief that has smoothed with time. The scene depicts a battle with the main character holding aloft a sword or staff, it is difficult to tell, in one hand and a ball of some kind in the other. The figure appears to be battling an army of flaming beasts.

Balboa says out loud that he thinks that this could be depicting the pit in the middle of the cleft and both Arthur and Scar agree. Arthur spots that someone, presumably whoever broke into the tomb originally, has been looking for a secret door. He spends a few minutes examining all of the walls as well as the floor but, like the tomb robbers before him, finds nothing. They climb back down to the others, and given that both Kank and Scar have both had falls, Balboa and Scar agree that they should go and retrieve the rope. Leaving Arthur with Miloch defending Ka-Reen and Kank they head off on a long hot walk.

Thirty minutes after they set off the low howling of the cleft is shattered by the sound of a screaming Kank as he wakes up. He is in great pain as his bones slowly knit back together under the power of Ka-Reen, but he recovers his composure and bites down on the pain. Balboa and Scar return with the rope and find that Kank is conscious but still unable to walk, they rest for a short while in the shade and take on some water to make sure that they are hydrated after their long hike. Eventually they decide to leave the injured Kank to guard Ka-Reen and head off to investigate the remaining tombs.

They head for the northernmost pair of tombs and decide to use the ropes to climb down to them from the top of the cleft. Having all made it safely down to the first ledge they realise that they will be able to lower one of them down and then swing them along the cliff face so that they can gain access to the tombs. Balboa is volunteered for this duty and he is tied off to the rope and dropped over the edge. He slips a little on the way down but safely traverses to the lower of the pair of tombs, he unties himself and shouts up for Arthur to join him. Once they are both outside the tomb entrance they head in to investigate.

As with the first tomb, this one has already been broken into, and Arthur steps through the hole in the stone fascia. Inside he discovers another fifteen foot square room lined with niches. The previous grave robbers have again ransacked the tomb many years ago, but interestingly there are signs of a fire big enough for a couple of people that looks only a few weeks old. At the rear of the room is another hole smashed into the stone, this one must have once been a secret door, and behind it a set of stone cut steps lead up to the left. Arthur and Balboa follow the steps up and find themselves in the other tomb of the pair. This tomb is in a similar state to the first and so the pair leave and get Miloch and Scar to haul them back up the cliff face.

Realising that the ledge that they are on is at the same height as the next tomb along, Balboa creates handholds and stone rope hooks to enable them to traverse the thirty foot gap. Which is just as well as he slips halfway across and would have plunged to his death were it not for the secured rope. This fourth tomb is the largest that they have seen so far, its fascia is at least sixty foot high and yet again there is a corner that has been smashed through by grave robbers an age ago. Arthur lights a torch and says to Balboa;

After you!

Balboa begrudgingly steps through the gap and into a huge room that is forty foot wide and so long that its depths are not penetrated by the light of Arthur’s torch. Of what they can see the walls of the tomb are covered in frescoes showing a figure bowing to another figure who is holding a staff. Off of the main room is another smaller room, inside this there are twelve niches cut into the walls and a curious stone tube that rises from the middle of the room. The tube is eight inches in diameter and has been smashed open but is blocked by rubble.

Leaving the smaller room they decide to fully check the main space, and as they head towards the rear of the main room the light from Arthur’s torch reveals a hole smashed through one of the frescoes. Beyond the hole are stairs leading down. Arthur looks around at the others to see if anyone else is going to go first.