The Forgotten City X
General Summary
As the battle continued, Alex swung out at the nearest creature but missed. It danced away from him and into the arc of Asbjørn's swinging blade, and was lopped in twain. One lunged at Riven but missed. Theo tapped one on the skull and it died. Kegho shot and missed. One raked Asbjørn's legs with both claws leaving gashes in both of his thews. Two of the creatures came after Riven, she is clawed by one and backed away as the second came after her. It slashed at her with it's sharp claws as Kegho swung his sword at it for having chased past him, killing it. Teleptyon loosed two bolts of the Ar killing two more of the creatures. The serpent-headed commander saw the battle going poorly and threw a large net over the bulk of the party as he turned and fled. Kegho, Theo and Teleptyon. Alex began slicing Kegho free while Riven wriggled loose effortlessly. Asbjørn struck down the final creature and Alex and Riven mounted the rock wall and loosed missiles at his retreating form in the darkness. Theo remained behind breaking the two prisoners free, while the rest of the party gave chase, but they lost him in the gloom as he crossed a wooden bridge into the darkness.
The party returned and Alex finished climbing to the top of the openining where the desert sun beat down on him fiercely. He could tell that they were further along the cliff face, but not to the valley yet. He climbed down as Theo attempted to get sensible responses out of the insensible Alvi and Keb.
The Alvi intoned:
He who will have the government of the great cape
Times good to bad, the sweet for the bitter
To the enemy will a promise be made
Drinking by force the waters poisoned by sulfur
From the three water signs will be born a man
From the sky will come a great King of Terror
Drowsy with peace, war will arise
The brilliance of the translator will come to fail
The Keb began speaking before the Alvi had a chance to finish, his voice urgent but incoherent:
Pestilences extinguished, the world becomes smaller
Their great power will be seen to increase its adversary
After several battles King to be outside,
He will keep far from the enemy
Alex dug through smithing tools while idly chatting with Kegho about how Ahirom the blacksmith in Fort Merula would certainly be proficient with any of the tools at hand. Kegho caught the innuendo but decided to play it straight "He good smith. Has silver daggers."
Alex found what he was looking for, a copper cast for 24 sling bullets and some lead. He recruited to Asbjørn to work the bellows and they produced a batch of bullets. When done he handed Kegho the form. "Am not your camel, little man." he said, but he was already finding space for it in his sack.
They returned to the room with the mats on the floor, where part of the dome had gravity facing the wrong way. They passed a hallway that they had not followed and Kegho worried about what might be down it were they to rest nearby, but the party was bruised and needed time to recombobulate themselves. They entered the room and checked that the enterance was secured. There was no place to use the key that had opened the door with the jade key. Alex and Riven looked for hidden latches or pressure plates but could find none. Teleptyon traced his hands on the stone and said "The key likely has a word of power and that will command the door. I may be able to find the thread of the Ar that carries the word." but before he crushed another gem to dust and drained himself in the search Alex held up the key and said "I wonder if it's what it said on the cartouche, just Paru-Hatpa." and the doors slid shut and the seam disappeared in a pleasingly secure way. Teleptyon gave Alex a look mixed with gratitude that he needn't exhaust himself further and nettled that he had been upstaged, and then slipped the gem back into his sack and slumped down against a wall to sleep deeply. They slept through the rest of the day in peace and woke feeling slightly better.
Rewards Granted
- A 24 unit sling bullet mold made of copper (approximately 6 pounds)
- 24 lead sling bullets
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