The Forgotten City XII
General Summary
The pitched battle on the wooden bridge over the gorge continued with a chained lizard raking Asbjørn and biting him near his collarbone, narrowly missing his throat. Asbjørn's blood boiled in rage. One of the feral goblin-like creatures lunged at Kegho, but was unable to land a blow, the other chained lizard. Asbjorn then cleft the lizard that had raked him from skull to reptilian sternum. Alex, already badly injured by the stone-throwing contraption, fled down the bridge. Theo begged his gods to hold the creatures fast who were operating the siege machine. Riven still cloaked in Teleptyon's invisibility spell stood waiting to scoop him up, but as he neared the far end of the bridge he heard the thunk and whistle of another stone being fired at him. He was knocked senseless at Riven's feet and she moved him to safety off the bridge and out of the line of sight. Teleptyon loosed a dart infused with corrosive energies melting the face of the lizard attacking Kegho, Kegho was momentarily revolted as the bones and sinews of the creature dissolved became pliable and sloughed away. The goblin-like creature continued its attack on Asbjørn but was unable to land his blow. Kegho and Theo landed blows upon the remaining lizard and together killed it. Asbjorn struck down another creature, and was struck by another. Soon all that remained were the held creatures manning the war machine. Theo quickly spoke honeyed words at the barbarian who smiled placidly, yawned and stretched. Kegho found the remaining held creatures frozen in a tableu of having just fired the machine and beginning to load it again as Theo's words had echoed through the cavern. He unceremoniously kicked the spotter into the chasm before tossing the other two over and attempting to disable the machine forever.
The party huddled into the redoubt with Kegho guarding the stares up. There Theo tended to the wounded Alex who had since regained conscioiusness. And the blessings of Lamos did set Alex's bones, but he still had bruises over the spots where his ribs had been shattered back and front. Theo cleaned and knit some of the wounds of Asbjørn as well. The disheveled Keb rubbed his hand against the wall and kept muttering "going down, going down." Riven, still invisible followed the trail of blood to through the cavern and found a way out of the cavern and into the valley.
She returned to gather the party and they truged after her, glad to be out of the cave system and finally into the valley.
As they exit they see the blood trail from the snake man continuing to the south east, to the south is a raised platform with enormous columns, a platform backing into the cliff face. The party moved cautiously in the dark of night following the blood trail. As they moved deeper into the structure they realized they were in a coliseum, which based on what they could see, dwarfed the one they had been enslaved in in Eknopolis.
When they had traveled some way toward the center of the arena voice, laced with mirth, grandiosity and an unmistakable sibilance boomed "Praise be to Akhen-At-Im for he has brought more sacrifice to his avatar." The name tickled something in the back of the Asbjørn's mind, but an unnatural darkness fell upon them and he had no time to ponder that mystery.
Theo stepped from the darkness to see the ophidian man with serpentine features wearing leathers and wielding a mace who he recognized from the wounds it had received in their battle in the room of Re-Khepri-Khamat-Neb and a second with scale mail and and a polearm. Alex too stepped from the darkness and caught sight of injured mace-weilder and loosed a bullet at him, but missed. From the shadows a third serpent man charged in the traditional garb of a gladiator and weilding a khopesh. Asbjørn lofted a net over the gladiator warrior and entangled him. Theo exhausted himself holding the warrior with a polearm in place. Asbjørn attacks the snake person with a mace, but missed him. Riven slipped behind the mace-weilder and sliced with her dagger, but wounds him only lightly. Kegho shot but missed.
