QuestForTheNozarShaDagger part 8

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Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and the best

That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest,

Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,

And one by one crept silently to Rest.

It is the 17th we are heading out of town finally after selling our extra horses.

We have been on the road for about four hours when we run into an old farmer his wife who are currently stuck in the mud. The rain has just begun to fall when he calls out to us for help. He asks in the name of Chal for our assistance and so Sjer moves closer to the old horse and whispers into the old nag's ear. Filled with renewed strength and speed the horse quickly pulls the wagon out of the mud and heads off into the distance with the farmer running after.

We continue on our way picking up the odd pot that had fallen off of the old farmer's wagon.

We reach the town of Allem'ielm. The only tavern looks inviting with one other horse out front. Inside Jaru? is waiting for us.

We rent two rooms and stabling for three horses for 7 drops.

After a good meal and some haggling, we decide to hire the guide that Jaru? has offered to us. We sleep the night and then Afalar heads out in the morning to find a magnifying glass.

He finds the house he was told about back in Pir'elm.

Behind the counter is a middle-aged man with an ocular in one eye polishing up a gem.

He smiles at Afalar and asks after his interests.

Once the man realizes it is the ocular and not the gems that interests Afalar, he quickly spins a tale of ily heirloom and masterwark quality regarding the ocular. After a bit of finagling Afalar manages to get the eyepiece for the clear red garnet we picked up at the lion temple.

Afalar exits the House of Jalla.

Jarru meets up with Calif, the short mountain guide, and begins asking for his services. The man tells of an abandoned Kurdrun crypt which later was turned into a jail in ancient human history.

We hire the guide and head out into the wilderness. After 4 hours we begin having some troubles and the going gets a little harder.

Sjer helps the horses out with a climbing advantage. After that we climb a little faster.

Ezra heads out with Zali to steal a mountain lion's kill. It appears to be an Elk of some kind and will provide some good food for out trip.

While Ezra is busy we see some large fast flying birds off into the distance.

Another couple of hours later, we run into some horse trouble. One of them breaks a leg which is promptly fixed up by Sjer. Ezra takes care of the kill, cooks us a good meal and makes some dried pemmican for the trail.

The next morning we get our packs in order and leave the horses tied up near the cabin.

We head up a much steeper set of cliffs where we have to use ropes to get up some cliff faces.

We stop for lunch at the bottom. We are near the lions jaw now. Apparently we have one more cliff to go. At the top we have reached the toothless lion. There is a small crack that begins at the base and heads around the northern peak.

Ezra and Afalar head off to determine if that is our road along with Zali. Sjer senses from Zali that they are successful and sends our guide on his way with another 20 drops for his trouble.

Afalar and Ezra hav found a brass trapdoor at the base of the crack. It takes a little work to get down the crack, and then a flurry of giant bats comes out from another small cave surprising Ezra.

After another 20 minutes the four of us are above the door. Afalar hammers a few pitons into the rock around the doors. Afalar inserts the key and by sheer intuition twists away out of reach of the arc of electricity whichg suddenly flared out from the lock mechanism.

The door opens showing stairs that go down. The stairs lead to an intersection which leads to two door opposite each other.

There is a fresco of winged lions touching paws. There is also a bunch of burned handprint of large size marring portions of the fresco.

We find we cannot we close the trap door.

The north door appears to have been used before as if someone with a metal gauntlet has been using it. No trpas are detected.

The south door appears the same as the north and is also not trapped.

Afalar goes back to the North door. The room the other side of that door contains a small fountain which is now thick with sludge and mildew.

Ezra distrusts the pool and asks to trow something in. He tosses a lead bullet from Sjer's sling and then things start to happen. The lead starts to smoke and hiss and the pool seems to come alive as a thick gray ooze starts to rise up and move towards us. We all run from the room and close the door. We close the door, but the ooze starts seeping out from under it. We then head to the southern door to escape from the ooze.