The people of the muddy oasis, you couldn’t call the small collection of mud huts around the water hole a village, stared at the old ashik. He knew that he had grasped their attention with his tale and so he ploughed onwards, the words falling from his mouth as if he was possessed by someone else telling the story through him.

Having defeated the Erdlu patrol the group quickly agreed to push on for the remainder of the night incase others came looking for them, there was no doubt that the rider who escaped was racing to get help. Miloch took the lead to give Kank a chance to regain his focus, and cover everyone's tracks as best as possible. Although his wounds had been treated, he'd suffered a severe blow to his head and he was still recovering! Miloch found a suitable place to wait out the day, far enough from the path to not be noticed by passers by, but close enough to make a hasty escape if needed. They settled in to rest for the day.

During their rest, they heard a patrol passing but the soldiers failed to find their tracks, and passed by without stopping. The following night the group continued their journey towards the iron mines of Tyr, rejoining the main northerly caravan route beyond Tyr and heading for their destination, a path off the caravan route just before reaching the mines. They suspected that more patrols were likely the nearer they approached to Tyr's most valuable asset.

They spotted the path, they had been told to look for a broken column to one side, and with Miloch in the lead they followed the path as it wound it's way between the rocks and upwards to an abandoned settlement. After a preliminary scan they noted five buildings now in low ruins, the walls of which were no higher than two foot throughout. They moved in to search and found one building which had a staircase descending about twenty feet but the ceiling had collapsed and it seemed impassable.

With no obvious sign of the path used by Major Drog, the group spread out to search once again. They discovered a circular well, little more than a few mud bricks above ground level. Scar dropped a pebble down and estimated it to be less than one hundred feet deep, and disappointingly dry. Using their torches to scan the well, the group peered inside but could see nothing in the shadows, so they agreed to lower a somewhat reluctant Balboa down the well attached to a rope. Using a flaming torch to see Balboa discovered an opening in the wall of the well around fifty feet below ground level.

Beyond the shadowy opening Balboa could see a passage. He could go either running left and right, he swung himself into the passage and, having called the rest of the group down, decided to search left first. Having traveled sixty feet along the ten foot wide passage Balboa found that the ceiling had collapsed and large, heavy boulders blocked his route. Balboa picked his way carefully back through the debris in the passage, retracing his steps to the well and his companions. From the passage side of the well he noted that the well was precisely constructed, with a block archway. Clearly the well was intended for use on at least two levels.

Using his torch to inspect the surrounding walls he found that they were of equally fine, if ancient craftsmanship. Dressed stone blocks line the walls, and stone flagstones covered the floor. However, there were several deep fissures running across the passage, and loose debris littered the floor around his companions who had now joined him. With Miloch once again in the lead, and with Scar and Arthur closely following they pushed along the right hand passage.

Whilst passing a pair of doorways, one either side of the passage, Arthur spotted something shiny in the southern of the two doorways. With his boundless curiosity peaked he decided it wise to check the side room. At this point the three members of the lead group found that they were surrounded by a nigh invisible web. Not only that, but it was incredibly sharp. It's razor like strands cutting through their armour the more they struggled to free themselves of it. Arthur feeling more confident with his newly purchased armour pushed on into the chamber. There were fine webs everywhere, however he could also see something glimmering tantalisingly close.

As always, curiosity overcome good sense, and he nearly didn't notice the movement in the web. But his sharp Dwarven eyes picked out that something was clearly moving around but he could not see what it was. Arthur stopped and slowly scanned the room with his torch held high. He froze stock still as the flames from his torch sent glimmering patterns off of a creature high on the web. Arthur began backing away, it looked large, but was almost invisible in the darkness. Suddenly a red glow started, getting brighter it illuminated what looked like a giant crystal spider, the red light emanating from between its eyes sending rainbow hues along its crystalline body.

Whoosh, a searing red beam launched from the spider and struck Arthur in a bright flash. Carnage ensued as Balboa was forced to navigate the webs to assist Miloch and Scar, both of which had taken nasty cuts from the web. Whilst Arthur, temporarily blinded, wielded his dagger in a defensive stance. Scar and Miloch finally managed to rush to his aid, once they were free of the webs, and together they quickly dispatched the creature.

Once free of combat Arthur's vision slowly cleared and he resumed hunting for whatever it was that had lured him into the room with its glinting. He soon finds two small gemstones spun into the web, along with other shiny pieces of glass and stone. He also decided that the web might have some value too, and so he carefully removes five, two yard lengths of the web and wrapped it carefully in a leather sack. The group treat their wounds, and prepare to continue their search for the path into the Under Tyr.