The Heart of Gnoriath...

The residents of the small village beside the muddy waterhole stood on the upper decks of the Mekillot wagon, some of the healthier ones had stripped the dead guards and now stood armed and armoured. They were still confused, but felt better now that they were no longer in manacles. The sibling herders moved to the fore and asked the old ashik what was happening. The old man stood a little straighter and appeared less ancient and replied that his tale was almost at an end, and by the end of it all would be clear. He then continued to tell his tale.

Three of the trees branches animate and lash towards the surprised Kank, two of them miss him but the third slams into his left arm making it go numb with pain. The branch attempts to grab hold of the big Mul but Kank is able to stagger backwards out of it's grasp and towards the rest of the Company, who all seem to be stiffling laughs. Scar has a look at the wound but is unable to do anything about it and while she is doing that Balboa looks at the lay of the land and realises that there is a narrow animal track that will take them higher up the valley wall avoiding the animated trees and bring them back down near the cave mouth.

Kank stalks towards the cave mouth and drops to one knee at the entrance and checks for tracks, he finds signs of several Beastmen moving in and out of the cave system but as he looks into the passageway that disappears into the darkness all is quiet. The Company of the Cloaked Inix move into the cave and hold there while Arthur and Scar scan the opposite side of the valley with their telescopes. Arthur spots a cave that had been previously hidden by a rocky outcropping and Scar picks out a couple of Beastmen deep within the shadows of the larger of the caves. Kank thinks allowed that he wants to check out the ruined tower under the cover of darkness but Scar says that she believes that they should clear out the caves at that back first and make sure that they are secure, Kank is more than happy to follow her lead and so he heads into the darkness of the tunnel.

When he arrives at a t-junction he realises that he is getting a twisted feeling in his gut about the left hand pathway, a feeling that he has very much come to associate with the presence of chaos. He heads right, followed by the rest of the Company, after one hundred feet he discovers a cave to his right with the overpowering smell of rotten meat emanating from it. Kank moves onwards while the others check the cave and find it empty, when Kank reaches the next junction his guts starts to twist once again. Kank asks Ferulah to scout forwards to the right and the source of the chaos, after several minutes the feline in Human form returns and says that there are five Beastmen in the cave ahead, and that there is a single entrance leading from it.

They head left with Ferulah now taking the lead and find a small cave devoid of life, the Company quickly take up defensive positions and then Ferulah and Kank creep forwards hoping to get the drop on the three Beastmen by coming at them from the rear. As soon as they reach the cave Kank hurls Earthshaker and the weapon of Gnoriath flies true and smashes into the chest of one of the Beatmen dropping it to the floor. As it dies a massive cloud of fear gas escapes it's dying bowls and fills the small cave with a fug. The other Beastmen run out of the other exit and sprint straight into Arthur and Scar who are hiding in ambush at the mouth of the other passageway. Arthur greets the first of the Beastmen with the head of his lead Troll maul, there is the sound of breaking bone and the massively muscled creature drops to one knee with a broken leg. Scar slashes with the Sword of Kemalok and scars the second of the Beastmen across the face.

At that point Ferulah and Kank crash into the rear of the the Beastmen, Ferulah catches on of them a glancing blow but with her power it still cripples the creatures right arm. The other Beastman at the rear reverses it's spear and stabs it deep into Kank's guts and the big Mul drops to the floor. Ferulah's opponent smashes it's head into her chest and she is forced to take a step backwards. But all that does is give her enough room to swing viciously with her cestus covered left fist, the power behind her punch is so great that her clenched hand appears out of it's back and as she wrenches her arm back the Beatman drops lifeless to the floor.

Arthur is caught with a quick headbutt by his opponent and the doughty Dwarf retaliates with a swing of his Troll maul, he lands a solid blow but his hugely muscled opponent remains unbowed. Scar dances within range and thrusts the Sword of Kemalok deep into the guts of the Beatman facing her, but she is shocked with it's legs buckle and large wings unfurl from it's back and it remains aloft and fighting. Both Beastmen land headbutts but both glance off of the armour of Arthur and Scar.

Miloch, who was following on behind Ferulah and Kank, drags the big Mul out of the fight and administers first aid to him. Meanwhile, Ferulah in a rage smashes both of her fists into the chest of the spear wielding Beastman. The creatures ribs crack under her tremendous power and the beast drops dead to the floor. With the red mist upon her, Ferulah leaps towards the pair of Beastmen fighting Arthur and Scar.

Scar swings the Sword of Kemalok in a wide arc and decapitates the flying Beastman and the creature drops to the floor finally. Arthur swings at the largest of the Beastmen, and the only one still standing, but it dodges backwards out of reach of his Troll maul. The unfortunate Beastman only manages to dodge straight into the path of the furious Ferulah and the wild feline in Human form smashes one of her fists into the back of it's head and it eventually dies. Silence falls across the caves and Scar moves through the Company administering first aid to those that have sustained injuries. But Kank is too badly injured for her ministrations and so Balboa calls upon the Gnomes of the earth and heals the big Mul's wounds.

When all are back on their feet the Company backtrack and cross the t-junction heading along the other corridor. The passageway visibly descends and Ferulah scouts out in front returning to say that the tunnel ends in a large cave with an old fire pit in the middle of it. The large cave has two further exits and Kank and Ferulah move quickly to the left hand of them and find that a short corridor leads to a small cave containing a pair of surprised Beastmen. The couple from the Company fall upon the Beastmen with Kank slamming Earthshaker into one of them breaking it's arm, the creature starts to bleat loudly in alarm. Both Ferulah and Kank are caught with headbutts as the beasts recover their wits and start to fight back.

From the mouth of the other exit from the large cave more Beastmen charge, but they run straight into Arthur and Scar who were waiting for them. Arthur smashes his lead Troll maul in an overhead slam straight into the creatures head, crushing it like a ripe cactus and killing the beast instantly. Scar slashes hard with the Sword of Kemalok and slices through the flesh of the Beastman's right arm, and the arm drops to the floor severed at the elbow.

Ferulah punches her opponent in the chest and it drops to the floor dead with it's own ribs puncturing it's lungs. But the creature fighting Kank smashes it's club into the Mul's arm and the injured limb drops limp by his side. But the Beastman had not expected Ferulah to be in a position to attack so soon, and the ball of fury that is the feline in Human form launches herself at the final beastman in the small cave and batters it to death with her cestus covered fists.

Scar follows up on her opponent and is shocked to see it's severed arm grow back before her eyes. The moment of shock slows her strike and the Beastman is able to sidestep her attack, but it only steps into the arc of Arthur's lead Troll maul. The big Dwarf's heavy weapon shatters the creatures right leg and it drops to one knee. But no soon is it down then it is thrusting upwards with it's horned head smashing a head butt into Arthur's jaw and knocking him out cold. Miloch joins Scar in chasing the Beastman along the passageway as it's leg straightens beneath it healing as they move. The warriors of the Company fall upon the healing Beastman and begin hacking at it with shortsword and battleaxe.

Balboa rushes to Arthur's side and summons the power of the Gnomes of the earth to heal him, while Ferulah and Kank rejoin the rest of the Company. Seeing Kank's arm hanging limp at his side Scar steps to him and administers battle healing, bandaging it up and getting it working again. Arthur searches the last of the caves and finds a narrow fissure at the back of it and quickly calls forwards Balboa to scramble through and find out what lays beyond. He discovers that it opens up into a large natural cave, but as he shines his lantern around the light falls upon what looks like the back of an ancient dressed stone wall. Balboa calls upon the power of the Gnomes of the earth to see if there is any magic, but finds that nothing is emanating magical energy.

The adventurous Mul returns to the others and tells them what he has found, Arthur and Kank suggest that the whole Company should move as far as the cave to investigate, but Scar points out that neither she of Ferulah would be able to fit through the fissure. Ferulah shrugs and starts to remove her clothes, once she is naked she transforms into a large feathered snake and slithers easily through the fissure. Scar looks on, but the resourceful Balboa says that he will sort it and he moves into the fissure and uses the power of the Gnomes to mold the narrower sections allowing a striped down Scar to squeeze through.

While the others are busy moving through the fissure Kank triggers the power of his ring and passes through the back of the dressed stone wall. When he is on the other side he stops and listens, hearing nothing he lights a torch and finds that he is stood in a long dressed stone corridor. To his right the corridor is blocked by a cave in, and to his left it turns ninety degrees and runs off into the darkness. Kank stares along the corridor and focuses on his gut, but he can sense no chaos within the halls and so he returns to the others before his power wanes.

When he gets back to the others he finds that Miloch is brewing some healing tea and Balboa is applying his mason knowledge to a plan to get through the wall. The earth attuned Mul uses his powers to mold a solid lintel across a section of wall and then stands back while Arthur and Kank set too with their Troll maul and greathammer smashing a hole through the wall below the lintel. As they work, the others move the rubble and use it to block the fissure behind them. Once they have cleared a hole big enough for Scar to get through they leave the cave system and step into the manmade passages.

They follow the wide corridor until they reach a narrow passage that runs off to their left, Kank walks down the narrow passage and as he gets towards the end he can see that it once ended in a door, but that the passage of eons had turned it into nothing but a pile of dust. Kank steps from the narrow passage into a small, perfectly square room. Ferulah attempts to follow but as she tries to cross the threshold she is thrown backwards by an invisible force and crashes into Scar behind her. Not wanting to take any other risks, Balboa steps forwards and is able to join Kank inside the room clearly proving that it must be dedicated to the earth mother.

The walls of the room are beautifully carved with images of humanoids worshiping a central figure that it easily recognisable to Balboa and Kank as Gnoriath the Earth Mother. The other figures stood around Gnoriath look familiar to Kank, and as if from an unknown knowledge their names rise to his mind. One is Brazzendin the Smith, another is Guyah, the All Mother sister of Gnoriath. And stood next to Guyah is a tall human with wide deer antlers, this can only be Mellarith the hunter, husband of Guyah. Ferulah is stood on the threshold of the room, unable to enter, with tears in her eyes as she stares at the carving of Mellarith Kank asks if she is ok and Ferulah says that Mellarith is her master and she has not seen his image for a long time.

The pair of earth worshipers stare about themselves their eyes drawn to a simple white stone pedestal opposite the entrance, resting atop the pedestal is a perfect cube of granite. Balboa and Kank step forward and inspect the one foot cube and discover that there is a very fine hairline crack running around the top of the cube marking out what could be a lid. Balboa performs the earth ritual and utters a prayer to Gnoriath as he and Kank lift the lid from the granite cube. Within the cube lays a fist sized clear gem, Kank instinctively steps backwards and leaves Balboa to lift the gem out of the cube. As the gem leave the box the voice of Graneggadon echoes loudly in Kank's head;

BEHOLD THE HEART OF GNORIATH! THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR BOTH ARTIFACTS SHOULD NEVER REST WITH ONE SOUL. AND THE HEART WILL CHOOSE IT'S BEARER!

Balboa removes the carved stone that he has carried since the mausoleum in the heart of the desert and as their tradition demands he places it within the granite cube, replacing a gift with a gift. He then seals the lid and utters the prayer to Gnoriath once more.