CaseOfTheMissingMap part 2

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It is Summer 72. We three stand in the hall outside L'talus's office in the early afternoon. We have just finished giving him an accounting of our adventures. He is very interested in getting the map. He has given us the official go-ahead to search for Afalar.

Zali'haro asks about the map and we elaborate. We tell Ezra tells him of our adventures up North. How we confiscated it from that madman TavalLazilar.

We then head back to Afalar's room to conduct a further search. The search yields the documents collected on previous outings, but no clues as to his current whereabouts. Zali finds some of Afalar's money stashed in a hollowed out bedpost.

We decide to gather some supplies and assault the fountain where Afalar's boots were found. We wait until the light has failed and the SruharoEstate has grown quiet.

Just after dinner the three of us are hanging around the fountain. At 8 o'clock Ezra, aided by spells from Sjer, heads down into the pool. He quickly finds a tunnel that leads off from our fountain to the South. At the end of the 100ft passag, Ezra finds another pool identical to the Sru'haro pool minus the obelisk. The pool leads to an underground swim room with another larger rectangular pool. The rest of us follow leaving the estate a quiet place once more.

We cautiously explore the new room. Who knows it is here? The place looks well tended. We find two somewhat hidden doors.

After a little futzing we open the one nearest to the fountain. It leads up to the Sru'haro wine cellar. This means that the place is known to L'talus. He also must have known we would find it by searching the fountain on the estate. Hmm. Sjer remembers being given the assignment to find out how outsiders managed to break into the wine cellar and steal some of our wines. (see TroubleAtTheTrack).

The other door leads out to the main sewers. We had to cut our way through a giant beetle and its 4 swarms of scarab beetle. Ezra was magnificent, skewering the giant vermin with very determined thrusts. Zali'haro meanwhile was killing the smaller vermin at an amazing pace. Sometimes his feet and sword were a blur as he stomped and cut them to a pulp. Sjer waited in the shadows, ready to give aid if it was required, occasionally smiting a small beetle with a stone from his sling.

At the end of the tunnel just at the main sewer entrance we found Afalar's shirt, folded and placed at the waters edge to obviously guide him back to the correct tunnel. We took heart that we were going the right way. Sjer went back and brought Volorn while the other two waited. Then the four of us set off once more on the trail of our missing compatriot.