A generous spirit...

The old ashik made sure that the small amount of water that was delivered by the slavers was rationed out and not consumed to quickly. The sibling herders, seeing the old mans calm demeanor, believed more and more that he had been a slave once. And so they listened to his story and followed his lead.

After a quick flurry of blows from the Company the final animated statue collapsed into a pile of rubble. Kank quickly leads the rest of the Company of the Cloaked Inix into the first tomb, when they arrive they find the lid of the sarcophagus still upon the floor. Arthur approaches the open sarcophagus and stares at the corpse dressed from head to toe in metal armour. He reaches forwards into the tomb and his fingers caress the metal, as soon as he touches the armour the suit of armour, the weapon, and the corpse itself just crumbles into dust. Arthur turns to look at the others with a look of loss upon his face, and then quickly leads them through the secret door and down towards the second tomb.

Scar holds her lantern high while the other four members of the Company gently lift the lid off of the sarcophagus and place it gently on the floor. As the lid lifts away, Scar can see the slender body of what she believes must have been an Elf. The Elf was once dressed in find robes but they have now decayed into tattered scraps, but around its neck is a beautiful pendant that looks untouched by time. The corpse's hands are encased in finely crafted metal gauntlets, and the gauntlets are clutching an iron two-handed greathammer to it's chest. Once again, Arthur reaches into the open sarcophagus and as he does so the temperature within the tomb sharply drops, and the lanterns dim. The Company all take a step backwards as a luminescent mist rises from the corpse and coalesces into the rough form of a humanoid above the sarcophagus.

And voice from beyond death utters;

Why do you disturb my resting place?

Balboa, the voice of the Company, looks up and says;

We seek artifacts to assist us in our fight!

Again the voice from beyond the grave, growing stronger with each word as if waking from a deep sleep, asks;

What do you fight?

Balboa responds with a single word;

Chaos! The goddess of plague and disease has been released upon the world and we seek to destroy her high priest.

The spirit quickly responds;

You fight against Nurkel-Malia?

Knowing that the spirit has not attacked and that he must be on the right course, the ambassadorial Balboa continues;

We seek the hammer of Hrothgurtun, Earthshaker, to assist us in our quest. We believe that he lies on the island of Ledo.

The spirits voice sounds thoughtful;

I know that name. I died before Hrothgurtun, and I know nothing of the island of Ledo. Tell me of Athasssss!

Balboa explains to the spirit that Athas is not the green land that the spirit may have known. He tells of the defilers, the Sorcerer Kings, and the Dragon. Of the Gods trapped in orbs and how Nurkel-Malia was released when her orb was shattered. On hearing this the spirit seems almost enraged;

Gnoriath the Earth mother has been imprisoned? You must release her! Will you accept this task?

Both Balboa and Kank very quickly swear that they will attempt to free Gnoriath once they have defeated the high priest of Nurkel-Malia. The spirit is quiet for a moment as if it is weighing the conviction in the words of the two Muls, and then it says;

I gift you my tomb goods, they are of no use to me. I only ask that you leave the pendant, it is a symbol of Gnoriath the Earth mother and has a prayer to her etched into the back. There is a second pendant in my tomb goods and I gift that to you too. Go and do the will of Gnoriath.

With that the spirit dissipates. As it does the temperature in the room rises and the light from the lanterns gets brighter. The Company look around at each other, and then Balboa steps forwards and reaches into the open sarcophagus and gently removes the four clay tablets that lay alongside the body. He then touches the leather bag at the corpses feet, the bag crumples into dust, but within the dust Balboa discovers three diamonds and the second pendant spoken of by the spirit. The reverent Balboa steps back and utters a prayer as he places the pendant around his neck. He then hands the three diamonds to Arthur. Next, Scar steps forwards and gently removes the metal gauntlets from the body. As she steps back from the sarcophagus she gives a warriors salute.

Kank stands almost motionless, staring at Bone Crusher in his hands for a long moment, he then steps forwards and places his beloved maul into the sarcophagus with the body of the Elf. He lifts out the greathammer and fumbles over an impromptu prayer to Gnoriath the Earth mother. The members of the Company of the Cloaked Inix replace the lid of the sarcophagus and retreat back towards the throne room, as they pass through the double doors Balboa reforms the stone locks to leave the tombs resealed. Once in the throne room Balboa inspects the four clay tablets and informs the others that they are all earth magic spells, and one of them is a spell that will allow one person to pass through earth. He tells them that is how they will enter the tomb of Hrothgurtun.

They agree to continue their search for the queen of the hive, they backtrack once again to Ferulah and enter via another one of the above ground domes, Kank discovers two worker Weezer working to plug the hole down into the hive. Kank slings his unnamed greathammer and wades in with his fists in the confined space. Kank punches the first of the workers crushing one of its legs, it stings him back and impales the big Mul in the leg with its stinger. Kank punches it once again and it hangs limp, still impaled in his leg. Kank swings at the second of the workers and knocks it backwards with a powerful blow, he follows it up and lands a second strike killing it. Kank reaches down and pulls the stinger out of his leg, but in doing so he injures himself even more. Scar quickly first aids him and stops the bleeding, but as she is doing that she hears a sound from the bottom of the chute. When she and Kank look down they can see a pair of soldier Weezer below.

Miloch and Scar unsling their bows and both hit the Weezers with shots, driving them backwards into the tunnels and clearing enough space for Kank to climb down, when he gets to the bottom he finds himself facing off against three soldier Weezer. A flurry of blows later and Kank has killed one of the Weezer and created enough space for Scar to drop down the hole and join him. With Scar at his back Kank quickly battles through the final two soldier Weezer. The rest of the Company follow them down, leaving Ferulah to guard their exit, and head deeper into the hive. After some searching, Scar discovers another tube dropping to a lower level and so the Company lower Balboa on a rope to the next level.

Balboa discovers two soldier Weezer guarding the tunnel and the nimble Mul dodges and dances and knocks one of the Weezer to the floor with a sweep of his iron banded mace. He then ducks under the attack of the second soldier and smacks it with a killing blow to its head. Balboa pushes forwards and discovers a large chamber containing at least a dozen Weezer, when they backtrack they find that the other passage leads to the same chamber and so they agree to charge the room from the twin tunnels. Arthur, Kank, and Scar rush into the chamber and are instantly swarmed by the Weezer. Arthur kills one with a swing of his metal Troll maul and Scar is stung in the leg. Kank manages to kill another of the Weezer with a swing of his right fist.

Scar slices one of the Weezer with the Sword of Kemalok before Arthur smashes another of the Weezer out of the air with a brutal swing of his Troll maul. Arthur eschews his ability to dodge, trusting to his armour to protect him, and swings a second time with his mighty weapon breaking another of the Weezer's legs. Scar then stabs her Weezer, killing it, before Arthur kills yet another one with a swing of his metal Troll maul. It is obvious that the heavily muscled Dwarf has got quickly into his killing groove. Kank, seeing the destruction that Arthur is reeking, swings a haymaker and lands it on the head of one of the Weezer that he is fighting, but the blow is weak and it doesn't even stun the creature.

Arthur and Scar both kill another Weezer each before Kank finally manages to land a punch. The Company continue to battle forwards into the chamber, with Arthur smashing one of the Weezer so hard that it sails backwards and smacks into the rear wall of the chamber. The ferocious Dwarf then kills another of the Weezer as Kank is impaled in his guts by one of the worker Weezer. The Weezer sticks and as Kank punches it dead he rips the creature out of himself tearing his wound and causing himself more damage. It is safe to say that Kank does not like Weezer.