A clue to chaos...

The cloaked figures led the freed slaves out of the mekillot wagon and made them all sit together under the watchful eye of several hooded figures. The freed slaves could still not see the faces of those who had rescued them, assuming that they had been rescued. The only one who seemed unconcerned was the old ashik who just continued to tell his tale.

One of the plague demons swings at Arthur with it's obsidian bastard sword but the doughty Dwarf sidesteps at the last second and avoids the attack. Ferulah is not so lucky as the other plague demon slashes at her legs and the great feline in Human form is forced to drop to one knee. Remembering that the demons are not injured by normal weapons, Miloch unslings the Greathammer of Galaxyl and uses the power of the ancient weapon to cast bludgeon upon it. As the fly clouded plague demons inexorably move forwards into the melee Arthur is struck in the guts, his armour deflects most of the blow but he is forced backwards.

As Ferulah attempts to disengage from the melee the plague demon fighting her slowly follows, but it is intercepted by Miloch as he swings the Greathammer of Galaxyl at it. Languidly the chaos demon dodges the attack and then strikes in retaliation with it's obsidian bastard sword, hitting him in the abdomen. The other creature of chaos cleaves Arthur's left arm in twain and the stoic Dwarf is forced to drop his lead Troll maul and stagger backwards from the fight with his lifeforce gushing from his bloody stump. The aesculapian Balboa calls upon the Gnomes of the earth and heals the unconscious Kank, with his armour and clothes destroyed by the acidic Gorp the naked Mul climbs back to his feet, grabs Earthshaker, and rushes back into the fray.

With Ferulah now free of the main fighting Scar is able to reach her and calls upon her inner strength to cast the spell iron fist on her twin cestus, the feline in Human form then limps back into the fight. As Ferulah slowly limps away from her, Scar hears a horrible squelching sound from behind her and spins on her heel to find a third plague demon clawing it's way out of the final obese chaos worshipers chest. The warrior woman quickly uses the magic of the Sword of Kemalok to enhance the sharpness of it's blade and steps towards the unnatural creature.

With nothing but his sheepskin cloak flaring out from his naked form Kank smashes Earthshaker into the head of one of the plague demons killing it outright and sending it back to the infernal realm that it crawled from. Scar dodges the strike from the demons obsidian bastard sword and slides the blade of the sword of Kemalok deep into it’s thigh, crippling the leg and forcing it to drop to one knee. Miloch swings the Greathammer of Galaxyl and crushes one of the demons arms with a shattering blow, Ferulah follows up with the swiftness of a big cat sensing a weakened prey and punches it hard in the chest with her cestus and as the creature dies it dissolves into a pungent puddle of putrid puss. Scar slashes downwards with the Sword of Kemalok and opens up a fatal wound across the plague demons guts, and quiet descends on the room beneath the city of the dead the only sound being the heavy breathing of the wounded Company.

In the aftermath of the fight, Scar moved from Company member to Company member administering first aid and once she had completed her rounds the whole Company moved towards what they could now she is a plain altar. Now that they had time to pay attention to the room they could see that it was completely unadorned with either carvings or murals, with the exception of a single huge mosaic on the wall behind the altar. As they got closer they could see that the mosaic depicted a large map of the area surrounding Kalidnay, as they scanned the map they could see that there were only two locations noted on the map one was Kalidnay itself and the other was a location within the Ringing Mountains. The location within the Ringing Mountains was marked with a symbol that Kank vaguely recognised but couldn’t place. When Balboa and Scar step around the altar they discover that a small secret compartment had been opened, and emptied. Balboa examined it closer and believed that it had only been opened within the last few months and that the void was big enough to hold something the size of a dagger.

They copy the unknown location onto their own map and then, with Arthur picking up his severed arm, they leave the city of the dead and head back to find their kank. When they arrive Kank dresses in a spare set of clothes while they discuss what they should do next, it is then that Scar spots a group of riders heading in the direction of the Company. She draws her telescope for a better look and can see that there are ten Erdlu riders, all sporting long drooping moustaches, and flying the pennant of the caravanserai on the road from Urik, a white bow with three arrows on a blue field. Kank reminds the other that they were a single tribe that contained a number of air priests.

The Company of the Cloaked Inix step out to greet the riders and the lead rider hails them and asks what they are doing in the vicinity of the city of the dead. Kank steps forwards and shouts;

We are hunting an ancient evil!

The sergeant replies that Kalidnay is full of evil and Kank agrees but says that they are hunting Merchant House Söttir as they have been poisoning waterholes and spreading disease, he goes on to say that they have also been consorting with Beastmen. The sergeant says that his patrol fought some of the Beastmen, and Scar shouts;

They are evil chaotic bastards that are accompanied by fat diseased bastards!

It is then that Scar spots that one of the Erdlu riders is injured and looking green at the gills. She asks if she can inspect his wounds and the sergeant says that he would be grateful, Scar has a closer look at the man and declares that he is in the early stages of a wasting disease. The warrior woman pulls a potion of Midnights Kiss out of her own pack and hands it to the rider and tells him to take it with his next meal. He thanks her and seems smitten with the tall and attractive warrior. The sergeant of the riders asks where the Company are headed and they say that they need to get to South Ledopolus to re-provision, the sergeant says that they will escort them there and show them the path through the mountains.

A couple of days into their journey, once the Company have had time to rest and regain some of their inner power, Ferulah licks Arthur’s stump and it starts to regrow. However, the Erdlu riders seem not to like this and there are whispers of the word sorcerer and also that of defiler. The riders shun Ferulah but do not attack, and Scar overhears the sergeant say that Ferulah did not destroy the flora around her when she cast the spell and so she may be a preserver. Regardless of their opinions the rest of the journey is completed under a heavy atmosphere, and the Erdlu riders leave the members of the Company when the walls of South Ledopolus can be seen on the horizon.

The Company of the Cloaked Inix pass through the gates of South Ledopolus and head for the Bearded Dwarf Inn looking to book rooms for the night. They meet Sabertine in the bar and she asks Kank what happened to his crown. He explains their encounter with the Beastmen and the Gorp and Sabertine insists that Kank allow her to get the crown remade. Kank looks unsure but Sabertine insists that the Champion of Gnoriath must have a crown. Kank acquiesces and asks how much money it will cost to replace but Sabertine insists on paying for it herself. Kank thanks her but seems very uncomfortable with Sabertine treating him as someone special.

After two days both Arthur and Kank have been able to replace their damaged armour, and Kank has purchased replacement clothing. That night Sabertine enters the bar looking a little tired and reverently hands Kank an iron crown set with the stone from the original crown of Gnoriath’s Champion. Kank accepts the crown and looks at it, inside the band he spots a rune etched into the metal and when he asks Sabertine about it she replies;

I have imbued it with the ability to cast a repair spell so that it will not be damaged by acid again.

Kank places the crown slowly upon his head, as he does so his shoulders seem to drop under the weight of being the Champion of Gnoriath. He removes his silver Inix brooch and hands it to Sabertine as a sign of thanks.

Twelve days later the Company of the Cloaked Inix are approaching the Ringing Mountains and Scar has led them to a hidden cleft that is partially obscured from view by a rocky outcropping. They draw close to the entrance to the wide cleft and Ferulah points out that there are tracks in the sand, Kank takes a look and confirms that they are wagon tracks heading into the cleft. The cleft is sixty foot wide and at least four hundred foot long, and it ends in a massive set of doors, each of which is thirty foot wide and seventy five foot high. One of these gigantic doors is ajar. The Company find a hidden spot to tether the kank and then sneak into the cleft using the shadows of the valley walls to cover their advance.

When they reach the doors they can see that they are covered in a sprawling carving that Balboa believes may form some sort of spell matrix when the doors are closed. Beyond the doors Kank can see a very wide and high corridor disappearing into the darkness. Kank steps across the threshold of the doors and as soon as he does his stomach is tied in knots with a sick feeling, reaffirming that they are in the right place.

The Company enter the fifty foot wide passageway and hugging the north wall head into the unknown. They follow the wall for one hundred and forty foot and follow it as it curves westwards and gently drops downwards. After another four hundred feet they find that the space is opening up into a huge natural chamber, with nothing but the sound of dripping water to be heard in the darkness. They continue to follow the wall and giant stalactites appear out of the darkness, they push on a further three hundred feet until Kank stops dead and tells the others that he can sense something evil across the huge cave to the south. Kank convinces the others to double back to investigate his gut feeling and once they get within a hundred feet he asks Ferulah to creep forwards and see what is there.

When Ferulah returns she says that there are strange creatures beyond a large pool of water, the creatures appear to have giant swirling shells but appear to be unmoving. The rest of the Company look to Kank to see what they should do, and the big Mul looks around as if the crown is sitting heavy upon his brow, and then suggest that they should circumvent the huge cave to discover all of the offshoot tunnels and see if Kank can feel any further chaos. And so they once again creep off into the dark.