Secrets revealed...

The following morning, after the women had seen to the herd and the men and children had prepared breakfast, the whole village sat down to eat and listen to the old ashik’s continuing tale. The old man could not remember a time that he had been so happy, his tale was being told and people were listening. His tale would live on!

The Great Dwarven Trade Route had narrowed down to an ornate archway that led into a fifty foot high plaza that was clearly the meeting point of several main routes. To the left of the archway there was a small room that Kank surmised must have been some kind of old guard post, Arthur and Balboa ducked into the small room and searched it while the others kept watch. They find nothing of any note and Arthur makes the point that the ancient dwarves must have abandoned this structure in an organised manner as they have taken everything with them.

Miloch sneaks down to the edge of the plaza in the dark, using the left hand wall as a guide, and once it is obvious that it is opening up he stops and listens. He can hear a faint and intermittent sound that sounds like something being dragged across rubble. He returns back to the group and lets them know what he has heard, the group all move forwards together to the edge of the plaza with their light sources held aloft. Kank believes that he can see something lying on the upper level of the plaza, up the steps to his left, but he ignores it and hobbles low towards the large single statue on the left hand side of the lower plaza.

When he gets there, his light reveals a statue of a single dwarf bearing a remarkable resemblance to the red spectral dwarf that they encountered within the tomb. Kank can also make out some lettering carved into the statues plinth, but he cannot read what it says. Next he moves to the single doorway in the wall opposite the archway that they entered through. He snatches a quick look into the room and sees a small collapsed room similar to the other guard room that they had investigated. Realising that the floor under foot, or stump, is once again treacherous Kank drops to his hands and knees and crawls to the corner of the passage that they believe they need to follow.

As he is looking into the dark passageway, Kank hears a noise behind and to his left from the higher level of the plaza. It is once again the scraping noise. He looks back at his friends and cups his ear and then points in the direction of the noise, he can just make out Arthur nodding his head and then he sees the others following his steps across the plaza. Once everyone has regrouped at the other side of the plaza, Arthur says;

The letters on the plinth were worn but started HROTH...

He guesses that it must have been the start of the name of the dwarf. Miloch points out that the scraping sound is definitely getting much louder, Scar lifts her lamp and everyone can see the coils of something large moving at the edge of the light. There is a split second where they consider running, but curiosity wins the day and they all stand there gawping. Suddenly a forty foot long creature bursts out of the darkness and charges towards them. It’s snake like belly drags along the floor while it’s ten powerful legs close the distance to the group in no time at all.

The friends back into the passageway and prepare to defend themselves, but when the creature gets to the mouth of the passageway it rears up and breathes a bolt of lightning down the corridor. Scar and Kank both manage to just avoid the bolt, but it strikes Arthur square in the chest, but the powerful dwarf warrior merely staggers a couple of steps backwards and then hefts his maul and leaps into the fray. Scar slices with the Sword of Kemalok but the sinuous beast moves aside and she misses, Kank swings with Bone Crusher but he is hampered by his peg leg and his blow goes wide, but Arthur slams his maul down into the creatures tail and it roars in pain.

The beasts head whips around and it lunges for Arthur snapping its jaws down on thin air as Arthur just manages to evade its bite, but it was close enough for Arthur to be able to smell the rancid meat stuck between its teeth. Arthur counter attacks with his maul and catches it with a powerful blow in one of its forelegs, crippling the leg. Kank then steps in and lands another heavy blow on the creatures other side with Bone Crusher. And true to its name, Kank’s maul breaks one of the beasts legs. Having taken a massive amount of damage from its multiple wounds the creature collapses.

Arthur stands over the dead beast and looks at the rest of the group;

It must have a lair! And where there is a lair there might be glittering things!

The others know better than to try and change Arthur’s mind once he is set upon treasure hunting and so they agree to look for the lair. They don’t have to look far.

Once they climb to the top of the steps they discover that the upper plaza is covered in bones and debris from a hundred kills or more. Leaving Kank to stand guard the others search the remains for a couple of hours, by the end of their search they have found a haul of coins including two gold coins, several pieces of armour, and a leather satchel containing a four inch circle of glass and an iron dagger. Scar grabs a leather hood and Balboa finally gets himself some leg armour. Miloch and Scar argue over who should have the dagger, even though Scar was offering it to Miloch all along, and the atmosphere turns a little sour until Arthur pipes up and says that he is having the satchel. The group all laugh and the tension is broken. Balboa investigates the glass disk and discovers that it magnifies whatever you are looking at through it, as long as it is held close to the object.

With that knowledge they continue along the Great Dwarven Trade Route. It is difficult going, the debris in the tunnel causes the group to fall several times and when they do, more debris falls from the fragile ceiling onto them. Eventually they manage to make it to the point where the Great Dwarven Trade Route has collapsed, once again they recall Major Drog’s words;

Take the left hand path near the collapse, then the next right. This should bring you to a secret door in the basement of a former warehouse in the district known as the Warrens.

They follow Drog’s instructions and find themselves at the bottom of a steep set of steps, the steps rise about eighty foot and end at a stone door with a lever to one side of it. Balboa inspects the door and says that it is very well made, but while he is taking his time checking the door Scar gets bored and leans over and just pulls the lever. The door swings silently open a crack and Balboa frowns at Scar.

Scar pushes the door open and can see a twenty foot square room with sunlight filtering into it through the cracks around a hatch in the middle of the ceiling fifteen foot up. Balboa follows Scar into the room and assesses the stone beams near the hatchway, after a moment of concentration the stone beam flows and seconds later there is a stone hook right next to the hatchway. Scar stands on Arthur and Kank’s shoulders and loops a rope over the hook, they then tie one end of the rope around Balboa and hauled him up to the hatchway. Balboa lifts the hatch and climbs up into the room above, he discovers a derelict room with two doors and a window. There is the sound of people talking drifting in through the window and so Balboa tells everyone to be quiet as they all climb up into the small space.

The group have made it into Tyr!

Miloch whispers that they should all change into the disguises that they have brought with them, and the others look guilty that they had all forgotten the plan because they were so pleased to have just made it into Tyr. They know that they have to make it to the Caravan Way, the road that runs into the heart of the city from the Caravan Gate in the east, and they can see from the sun that it is dawn and so they agree to head into the sunrise.

Balboa slides forwards and can see out of the window numerous dilapidated buildings crowded around narrow streets, he also spots small groups of people loitering in doorways and disheveled families going about their morning chores. It is obvious that The Warrens is not a high class area of Tyr. With Balboa dressed as a merchant and the others as guards they stride confidently from the derelict warehouse and turn east, zig zagging their way through the tight alleys. It slowly dawns on them that everyone they see is an elf, and that they are definitely in the slums of Tyr. The alleys wind back and forth but the group can find nothing but dead ends and so they turn around and head back in the opposite direction.

Eventually, the alleyway opens up into a larger road and they start to see fewer elves and more of the other races moving through the streets, including the occasional gith and halfling. They also see the occasional patrol of soldiers in black tabards, the soldiers of Tyr. They follow the road in an easterly direction and find that it leads to an even larger road, again the group turn east and have to push through a crowd of people getting water from a well in the centre of the road. The well is guarded by two half giants and what looks like a Templar of Tyr, the group keep their hoods up and their faces turned towards the road.

The road winds downhill and in front of them they can see a massive rainbow coloured ziggurat, not wishing to get any closer to the ziggurat the group turn from the road and head through more alleys. The alleys lead them to a bridge over a dry river bed and from this vantage point they are able to see what must be the merchant district and so they head in that direction. They find themselves in front of a store for Merchant House Ianto, the Merchant House that they hijacked the caravan from. Then Scar spots that opposite Merchant House Ianto is Berman’s Fine Clothing, the store that they have to visit to make contact with the spy. They note it’s location and move on.

Walking against a large amount of incoming caravan traffic, the group realise that they have found the Caravan Road by chance and start to look for the Golden Inix. As they search they see a city patrol beating an elf in the middle of the street, once again the group pull their hoods up high and keep their eyes on the road. Eventually Arthur spots a narrow alley with a long brick building running the full length of one side. At the mouth of the alley is a sign showing a Golden Inix opposite a bottle. They enter the alley and soon notice a massive half giant standing beside the door into the inn, leaning against the wall next to the half giant is a huge spike studded iron war maul.

Balboa leads the group past the half giant and into the inn, he walks straight up to the main counter and books two large rooms for seven days. Arthur almost collapses when he hears that it will cost two ceramic pieces per room, per night. Balboa also comments on the doorman and Mila, the owner of the Golden Inix, says;

That’s Jarix, he keeps the peace!

Scar smiles, turns on her heel and heads back outside to say hello to the half giant doorman. Jarix looks down at Scar, something that the amazonian Scar finds thrilling, and says;

HELLO PRETTY LADY!

Inside, the giggles of Scar’s travelling companions can just be heard.