QuestForTheNozarShaDagger part 10

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"Yesterday, This Day's Madness did prepare:

To-morrow's Silence, Triumph, or Despair:

Drink! for you know not whence you cam, nor why:

Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where."

It is the evening of the 21st of summer. We have spent the day in the KurDrun? mountain battling the water fiend and the black lion's sorcery. That dark servant of the dark praj will trouble the lands of Chal no more.

We stand in the chamber where Basho was held captive. Basho bids us walk further into the cavern with the intention of flaying us in his marsupials pouch. We walk for a few hours until we come to a large fissure. Basho then turns gaseous and rises up the fissure. Sjer casts spider climb on the rest of us and we go across the fissure. Afalar temporarily descends to the bottom of the fissure and finds a kurdrun skeleton with a bracelet which he keeps.

We keep going another hour until we reach a point where the crevasse ends and a fumerole goes upwards where the red light of magma is shining.

At this point Basho tells us to climb in. Everyone does so without qualm except Sjer who panics and is bodily put into the pouch by Afalar.

Basho takes flight in a swirl of powerful winds and flapping of wings. After a long night of flight we land as the morning comes.

Basho and Sjer collapse into sleep. Volorn accompanies Ezra and Afalar on the watch.

As Volorn sleeps at the entrance to the cave and Ezra bathes in the waterfall far below, Afalar and Ezra see a shape approaching along the valley wall. They pass without incident as does the rest of the day.

On the second nights journey, about 4 hours into it, we are attacked by a large eagle.

Afalar begins shooting bolts at it from his crossbow, but as we are all crammed into Basho's pouch, there is little we can do. Basho tells us to prepare to jump as he swoops close to the ground.

After picking ourselves up, wiping the blood from our lips and knuckles, and finding our weapons again we turn to face the oncoming eagle.

The thing swoops down upon us, intent upon injuring Basho and perhaps having the rest of us for dinner.

The eagle descends, attempting to rip the head off of Basho, this takes him right past Ezra whom takes off a claw from the Eagle. Suprised and shocked the eagle hovers 10ft off the ground. Just as he prepares to climb again, Ezra, with a mighty leap straight into the air, guts the bird from underneath. It descends down upon the hunter in a foul bloodied state, drenching Ezra in filth and blood.

While cleaning up, Sjer collects the talons from one claw.