But they just kept coming...

The slave wagon rumbled onward, with none of the slaves in the shadowed bowels knowing which direction they were heading. According to the old ashik they had been travelling for less than a day, and because he was calm and collected the sibling herders believed him. The old ashik paused in his tale as the slavers brought water and meager rations, and he made sure that he did not make eye contact with their captors. As soon as the door was locked once more the old ashik continued his tale.

As an unconscious Kank drops to the floor, Miloch and Balboa rush forwards. As Miloch steps over the big Mul and into the fight with one of the animated statues, Balboa grabs Kank by his armour straps and drags him backwards along the corridor and out of the battle. At the same time Scar is sliced with a powerful blow of the statues obsidian bastard sword across her leg, the wound is terrible and the warrior women's leg buckles beneath her and she falls to the floor. Miloch swings hard with his battleaxe, but his attack does nothing but produce sparks like a giant flint and steel. Balboa calls upon the Gnomes of the earth and channels their gifted power into healing Kank's wounds. The big Mul leaps back to his feet and rushes back along the corridor, side by side with Arthur, and back into the fight.

Arthur steps into the fight and provides cover for the prone Scar, but in his enthusiasm the muscled Dwarf overreaches himself and one of the armour straps on his arms breaks hindering his attack and forcing him to do nothing but defend. Miloch nimbly sidesteps one of the statues attacks and in doing so allows enough of a gap for Kank to step into the fight while Miloch slides out of the melee, but the Mul's first strike is easily parried by the stone opponent. Balboa reaches the prone Scar, and once again the one Mul triage centre calls upon the Gnomes of the earth and heals the amazonian warrior.

The Company of the Cloaked Inix believed that the winds were turning in their favour, they had their maul swinging pair of Arthur and Kank in the front line and Balboa had revived Scar. However, that all changed when Arthur was hit hard and forced to stagger backwards and then Kank's left leg was once again severed in a single mighty swipe of one of the statues obsidian bastard swords. The big Mul slumped against the wall but managed to remain upright, and then Arthur counter strikes with his metal Troll maul and smashes one of the statues arms. But the statues just kept coming.

The Company begin a battling retreat backwards towards the T-junction, all be it slowly, Scar channeled her power and cast a disruption spell at one of the statues. Sparks leap and play around the animated statues chest but the statues just kept coming. Balboa then called upong the Gnomes of the earth in an attempt to mould one of the opponents swords, but again his magic just ripples off of the statue without effect. The statue hits Kank, but the Mul is relieved to see it glance off of his armour, he then counter strikes with another huge attack and Arthur emulates him by smashing his Troll maul into the other statue. But the statues just kept coming.

As the Company retreat both statues miss their attacks and Arthur and Kank both land strikes, but the statues kept coming. Eventually Arthur and Kank retreated past the T-junction allowing for four of the Company to attack the pair of animated statues, with Miloch and Scar launching speedy attacks at the statues and forcing them to parry it means that Arthur and Kank can strike with their mauls and not have them defended. Both maul wielding members of the Company land strikes and both manage to dodge the attacks aimed at them. But the statues just kept coming.

Finally, Kank lands a powerful attack with Bone Crusher against one of the animated statues legs and the automaton crumbles into chunks of rubble. The other statue lands an attack against Arthur's unarmoured arm, his vambrace straps having snapped earlier in the fight, and injures it so as to make it unusable. The mighty Dwarf is forced to drop his Troll maul as he is unable to use it one handed, Arthur backs out of the fight towards Balboa allowing Kank to draw the final statues attention. Yet again, Miloch and Scar force the statue to waste it's parries against their attacks leaving it wide open for a smash from Bone Crusher. And the big Mul's prized weapon does it's job and the second statue becomes rubble.

Kank slides down the passage wall breathing heavily while Balboa quickly heals Arthur. As the Company regroup they gather around the seated Kank who is rummaging in his kit bag, as he pulls something out the big Mul says;

I knew that it was worth lugging this around with me!

Kank pulls out the false leg that he had made for him in Tyr and starts to strap it onto his bloody stump. While Kank is busy the rest of the Company move forwards to the doors that were guarded by the statues, they find them locked but it takes little time for the skillful Balboa to mould the stone lock away and then an impetuous Scar steps forwards and attempts to kick the doors open. The warrior woman's foot bounces off of the heavy door, and the door does not budge. Arthur tuts loudly and bends forwards shinning his lantern through the hole made by Balboa, beyond he can make out a twenty foot square room dominated by a large stone object in its centre. Arthur and Balboa put their shoulders to the door and force it open slowly.

Inside the walls of the room are carved in a similar fashion to the throne room that the Company entered through, the bas relief depict humanoids in chainmail armour and Balboa comments that it would appear to date back to the Green Age of Athas. With the doors open it is obvious that the stone object in the centre of the room is a sarcophagus and Arthur quickly steps across the threshold to get a closer look. Amid the carvings he spots a single character that can be nothing other than a Dwarf, and as he looks closer he comes to the belief that it must be Hrothgurtun the wielder of Earthshaker. The rest of the Company follow Arthur into the room and Balboa comments that the room contains a sense of calm.

The four members search the room and discover a hairline crack running vertically up from the floor in the left hand wall. Arthur believes that it is a hidden door and so gives it a not so gentle tap with his Troll maul and the crack widens clearly marking the outline of a doorway. Arthur smashes a couple more times and clears the door enough for him to enter the narrow corridor beyond. He creeps along to where the passage doglegs to the left and can see the corridor descend into the darkness beyond. He is quickly drawn back to the sarcophagus room by the sound of Scar saying;

Shall we open this tomb then?

While Miloch holds the lantern, the other members of the Company struggle to lift the lid off of the sarcophagus and place it gently on the floor, inside they discover what Balboa guesses is likely to be a Half-elf dressed in metal plate armour clutching a metal warhammer to it's chest. Balboa calls upon the Gnomes of the earth and asks them to reveal any magic to him, he casts his gaze around the room and declares that there is no magic within the tomb. While the spell is still active the earth priest climbs through the shattered doorway and looks down the secret passage and tells the others that there is magic in the darkness.

They investigate further and find a set of stairs descending, Arthur and Scar move forwards side by side with Balboa following close on their heels. At the bottom of the stairs they find a second tomb containing a slightly smaller sarcophagus, they also note that the room is not as ornate as the tomb above. Balboa declares that his spell is showing him that there is definitely something magical within the sarcophagus, but that there is also magic on the sarcophagus. Scar steps into the room and discovers runes carved into the lid of the sarcophagus but she is unable to read them, Balboa hands her ink, quill, and parchment and she copies down the runes for later translation.

Arthur convinces Balboa to attempt to dispel the magic on the tomb, but the little Mul is unable to do so and so the Company search the room, finding no other hidden doorways they retreat back to Kank in the throne room. After a short discussion they all agree that they should retreat and rest before attempting to investigate the second tomb, and so they climb back past the dead Weezer up to where they had left Ferulah guarding their escape route. They discover a damp, but very happy mountain lioness surrounded by four dead worker Weezer. As soon as Ferulah sees Kank hobbling on his false leg she rushes to his side and starts pawing at the injured Mul's leg.

As soon as Kank removes his false leg Ferulah licks his injured leg with her rough tongue and Kank feels the familiar tingling sensation as the mysterious she cats magic begins to regenerate his lost limb. The full Company retreat back to the pack kank and rest for the remainder of the day and through the following night until the worker Weezer head out once again. During the night Kank's leg regrows and the somewhat reckless Mul thanks Ferulah and makes sure that she is recovered from healing him. Once the worker Weezer have left the hive the Company descend by the shortest route back to the hidden throne room.

They discover that the throne room doors have been pushed closed and so Balboa and Kank put their shoulders to the throne room doors and open them once again, as soon as they do they hear the rhythmical thump thump thump of two sets of heavy footsteps. Realizing that the statues have somehow reformed and reanimated the pair quickly pull the doors closed, once the doors are shut the footsteps cease. The Company prepare themselves for the oncoming battle in an attempt to make sure that this time they have the upper hand. When they are ready Kank, who's strength is now enhanced by the power of the earth ring, steps forwards and pushes open on the the doors and then retreats back to the fighting line that the Company have set up either side of the throne.

The animated statues march out in lock step and head straight for Arthur and Scar who are stood to the right of the throne. Arthur is hit but his magically enhanced armour deflects a lot of the blow, Kank and Miloch rush around behind the statues and attack them from behind. The Company rain in blows, with Arthur and Kank waiting for Miloch and Scar to force a parry before they strike with their mauls. During the fight Scar is hit hard in the abdomen and she drops to the floor with a scream of pain, Balboa quickly rushes to her side and starts to call upon the Gnomes of the earth. The other statue swings at Kank but it's front foot slips from beneath it and it is forced to one knee, Kank does not miss the advantage and slams Bone Crusher down on the statue.

Arthur is hit is the head, but his magical neck armour deflects the lethal attack and so the the mighty Dwarf counters with a massive blow of his Troll maul to the statues right arm. Kank is parried and all Miloch can do is strike sparks from the back of the statues head. Arthur is hit once again, but the Dwarf continues to fight and the next swing of his mighty Troll maul turns the animated statue into a pile of rubble. Scar leaps back into the battle, having been healed by Balboa, Arthur and Kank smash blows in on the last of the animated statues, but the automaton gets back to it's feet and just kept on coming.