AnAdventurousIntroductionToLeilm part 13
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Sjer enters the temple and takes up a position among the benches. Afalar takes up position in the street pretending to be a drunkard. As Sjer sits bent over his prayer paper a hand falls upon his shoulders and a voice behind Sjer says "Chal will bless you and take your prayer." It is the same priest that was present the last time when Sjer and Zali came. He is a lower level priest wearing brown, but he has a red hem on his cloak implying he is training to move up to the red cloak. Obviously a keener who doesn't mind the night shift.
Meanwhile Zali sees Torazi leave the stables and follows him into the night.
Torazi is drifting his way through the alleys with Zali in pursuit. At one point Zali loses sight of Torazi, but he continues along following the sound of footsteps. Zali goes down narrower and narrower lanes just following the sound of the steps. Zali finds himself in a dead-end alley hearing only the sound of windchimes. As he stops and looks around he sees a black shadow move towards him to envelop him. He feels an unsettling iciness when it touches him. Zali does manages to push past the shadow out of the alley, but the shadow seems to chase and envelops him again. Fighting the claustrophobic feelings and nausea Zali finally manages to break free and evade the shadows that cling. He did not escape unscathed, however, as a certain weakness still stays with him.
Back in the temple the jockey shows up and moves into the prayer area. Torazi goes to the bowl and drops a paper in. Afalar beats the priest there and manages to put his paper into the bowl. As he does so he reads what Torazi has put into the bowl. He is discovered by the priest checking the contents of the bowl, but succeeds in his mission. We then all head back to the Sru'haro compound. Afalar reports that Torazi has capitulated and agreed to do it for "their sake".
We get four vials of healing water from L'talas and equip ourselves. The next afternoon we leave the city and meet Ezec at the Silver Bowl Inn. Azaran, the groom, is with him and we head out toward the Shadowed Shell.
Once we get there, we stop and begin discussing the ways of attack. As we do so the earth starts to shake and the trees sway and crack. Our horses are quite unnerved by this and we even hear a horse scream down in the castle area, but for some strange reason the humans in the party are completely immune to the fear that should be gripping us. Sjer chalks it up to the knowledge that the Shadow Mages destroyed this place, and that we must all have thought it was just an afterimage of the damage done. Perhaps the shifting sands do this once a year on the anniversary of the attack.
Once the shaking stops we continue talking. As we plan, a horse goes galloping by. Zali'haro takes off in a streak after her. The rest of us head out as well, but we cannot hope to keep up with such a rider, so we follow at a much slower pace. Zali attempts some bowshots from horseback but misses on all counts. Zali, bent intently over the neck of his trusty steed, sees that Mazidi, the rider ahead of him, will make it to the safety of the spit of yellow sand that juts out through the treacherous black shifting sands. Through a heroic riding effort he catches up with Mazidi, with only 12 seconds left Zali draws even with the woman. She draws a sword, preparing to hold him off until she can reach the sand spit, but Zali'haro, master of horses and blades, launches himself into the gulf between the two horses. With no time for thought and less time for action the woman can do naught but hold on tight in the hopes that her assailant will crash down ignomiously leaving her to reach safety in peace. Her hopes are in vain. Zali'haro, the swift and sure, sweeps the woman off her mount and into close combat.
Both riders, experienced and sure, come up swiftly with blades bared and clash against each other in the oldest of all sports, survival.
We then engage her. Afalar calls out, "Put her to sleep, Sjer!". But Ezec defeats her quickly, due to the punishment she had already received from Zali. Just then two more of Mazidi's compatriots arrive from the castle. Sjer, realizing that if these two are anywhere as good as Mazidi he and his friends would be in trouble, tries to put them to sleep magically, tragically neither warrior is affected and Afalar slips down into golden slumber. The two fighters rapidly dispatch Ezec and Sjer. As the lights go out, Sjer has time to regret his lack of giving Zali protection before his wild ride.
Afalar wakes up as he is being moved. He sees that we are all trussed up and put into an oubliette in the castle. Down in the dark are the jockey's family. Afalar begins worrying his bonds, but they appear to be well tied and he gives it up.
Afalar then says into the darkness, "Are you the family of Torazi?"
"Mommy, that's daddy."
"Shhh, who asks."
"We were coming to rescue you , but we were unsuccessful."
We are in a 30' diameter pit that narrows up to 4' as it nears the top.
the woman tells us that they bring food every morning. The woman's name is Azalea.
Sjer finally awakens at dawn. Afalar has untied and loosely retied everyone.
After the bucket has been lowered, Afalar's voice rings out in the darkness saying, "Can you cast your light spell now?" Sjer fights his moment of fear and hating Afalar to cast the light spell on the ropes holding him. Sjer begins worrying about too many of these people knowing his secret. Afalar searches the room but finds no hidden doors. The ceiling looks buttressed for support, but it doesn't look particularly like a cell or oubliette. It seems we are in a storeroom of sorts.
As we look around Sjer finds a stone slab in the floor that opens and leads to a room below which is in a state of shambles. It is ten feet below where we are. Sjer asks Afalar to remove his boots, and then enables him to climb down from the cell and carry a light with him. He goes to explore and finds a passage way that seems to lead out. Afalar goes down the passage and finds that it extends quite a ways and then he comes across a hole in the floor of the passage that leads down to even more rooms. While Afalar is exploring he finds a chest with old clothing and papers that have worn away. He also finds a shelf with some objects on it. He decides it is time to head back, but the light goes out halfway and he is left in the dark. After awhile Sjer casts another light spell on one of Afalar's boot and tosses it down the hole. With light ahead to guide him, Afalar returns to the room and we manage to get him up in short order. We then discuss our options. It is just before noon on the 62nd.
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