The small tagster slips into the shadows at the edge of the cavern. Dodging out of the way as Mendi again begins to move about. Moving into the center of the room the young tagster barrels into Elric in a playful manner. The danger was gone, it was once again time to play.

The hazy gray of the cavern and the deep black unconsciousness fades before the warlock’s eyes. The constant, playful, growls coming from the tagster offer a moment’s peace. The scrab had almost had him, by the feel of things he still might.

Gaigin leaned heavily on his spear as he limped about the room, ignoring the incessant pain that shot through his body from dozens of scrapes and cuts, none of which were deep or threatening, but which added up to a world of pain. Still, as exhausted as the fighter was, others were worse, and there was still work to be done. It seemed there was always work to be done of late. Gaigin was only thankful that soon they would reach the Pterran village, and some semblance of peace and civilization. Of course, there was still the foul Urikites to deal with, but Gaigin's mind was far too tired to think of such things, and merely flitted past such thoughts as he examined the room.

Koreth's breaths were ragged as he planted his sword into the floor of the chamber and leaned onto it. He was spattered from head to toe in gore, soaked in blood, sweat and ichor. The noble warrior surveyed the chamber as his breathing began to slow; the fire of battle fading from his limbs. He took in the sight of the dimly lit chamber, hoping that he had not escaped one tomb to find a larger one. <Well, you lived through another battle Koreth...> he thought.

Aryus collapsed to the ground, dropping his bow and arrow. He let himself loose and gasped for air, taking a breath of relief that this nightmare was finally over. How he longed for a breath of fresh air or the cool night wind against his face. He could not wait for the surface of the world, where he could gaze upon the night sky. The scene around Aryus was not at all pleasant. Blood, gore, and pieces of insects were littered everywhere, covering the ground of the entire cavern. There was screaming and crying from the elven victims around and the groaning from his wounded companions.

Aryus walks over to the decapitated body of Liron and sighs in disgust. A brave and noble warrior, reduced to this now. "We must give him proper honor." The wndmage says, "As a cleric of wind I will not see his body rot in airless earth, we cannot leave him buried here. We must take him to the surface and let him feel the air so that his spirit will be eternally free across the great skies of Athas."

The elven sorceress split her attention between her friend’s corpse and her friend’s mutilated, unconscious body. The girl was still in shock due to the heavy fighting and the psionicist scrab rape of her senses. She merely nods and weeps and it seems that it is all she is doing. She is not interested in anything else except tending to her friend. She gathers the elfess in her lap and softly caresses her hair.

Mendi looked at the small tagster with wonder in his eyes. <Such is the privilege of the young and simple... he has already forgotten the dangers of the day...> thought the elf. "Alive... at least we are alive," he whispered with a last, somewhat envious glance towards the cub. The elf then slowly walked to Migdalia's side, and, kneeling beside her, tentatively touched her shoulder with his right arm. "He lived and fought like the heroes of the songs," he began in his native elven. "Your tribe will praise his name, and his sacrifice was not vain, for we found your friend. We will escort you back to your tribe... once we are fit and out of this dreaded place." Mendi looked at the crystal plate, wondering whether this was another of those traps.

As the elf stood, he said to no one in particular: "Wait before we enter this room (he made a gesture towards the treasure hall), I'll check for traps first!" The ceiling seems ready to collapse at the slightest motion but is safe unless someone sticks a spear through it or something similar. Rocks and sand are seen through the crystal that are ready to bury anyone inside the treasure room should it be disturbed. Mendi is about to go inside when Gaigin stops him and asks him to have some rest, the warrior would go in by himself and haul the treasure out.

TREASURE ROOM

The noble warrior pulled his sword out of the floor and walked near the entrance to the crystal chambered room. His eyes immediately picked out the shield and the armor, both of which he direly needed. His own armor hung on him like so many tattered rags, and his shield was no doubt collecting dust somewhere. Koreth eyed the chamber wearily, his eyes always falling back to the odd ceiling. "Blood and ashes...." he muttered, his sword still in his hand.

Gaigin eyed the crystal warily, hoping the trader would find anything odd that looked like a trap. After the elf had made his examination, Gaigin turned and spoke, his voice hoarse from shouting war-cries/

"Mendi, get some rest...you're the only one who can get us out of this damn hole and back under the damn sun." Gaigin grinned feebly and patted the elf on the back. Turning to the others, Gaigin shrugged. "I'll go in and start passing stuff out. Mendi's a sharp one, but after what we've been through I wouldn't trust myself to notice a rampaging mekillot until it was on top of me. I'll not put others at risk on the off-chance something is wrong." Gaigin turned and started for the hole, calling back, "If the ceiling collapses on me, at least it'll save you the trouble of burying my corpse."

Gaigin hardly paused to take a close examination of the stuff in the room, but simply began grabbing things. Small things and treasure he placed in his empty pouch that Mendi had sold him during the Pack's last rest. All else was merely grabbed and hauled. Only the obsidian axe was taken firmly and slipped with great satisfaction into his leather belt. Gaigin had felt as empty without his favored weapon as Aryus would without the winds he held so dear. The armor and shield were taken last, after a brief final search for any hidden chambers or treasure boxes. Carrying his load from the treasure room, Gaigin put down the new collection on the floor and grunted, examining the treasures in the full light of worm and sword.

The treasure collected is the following: a gold armband, a silver necklace with a precious stone, two gems, a suit of aprig studded leather with matching grieves, a beautifully decorated shield, two skin-bound tomes and three fruits. Tak slowly concentrated on seeing magic on the items and determined that the shield, the two tomes and the three fruits (apple, cacti and three cherries) put forth magical energy. (DM note: I want a good description of the items taken by whomever takes them).Aryus looks around the treasure room and seeks anything that might invoke his interest. Migdalia scampers through the pile and makes off with one of the skin-bound tomes which she quickly puts away in her many layered, black dress.

SCRABLINGS

Gaigin looked dully at the cluster of immature scrablings, then shrugged. For someone who'd seen such situations with children of his own race, no pity filled his heart for these foul abominations. Pity tended to be an unaffordable commodity in his line of work anyway. Spitting into the pit, Gaigin turned to the others. "Kill them and have done." Wasting no more words on the screeching beasts, Gaigin returned to other work.

Aryus looked at the small scrabs in disgust. Those nasty creatures ate elven flesh to enrich their own bodies. Even so, Aryus did not believe senseless killing was an appealing idea. "I know not what to deal with these. As a half- elf, I gaze upon them with hatred. But they seem harmless enough at this moment. Perhaps we should leave them be." No one was up to killing any more scrabs and they seemed harmless enough inside their pit. The young would probably starve soon without anyone to tend them so the group let the scrablings be and concentrated on getting out.

OTHER

After resting for a brief while, sipping water and binding some of the deeper gashes, Gaigin turned his attention to the grisly remains of the Scrab queen, eyeing the corpse dubiously before setting about his chosen task. Selecting the finer, thicker, and more intact plates, Gaigin began the grisly, stinking job of stripping chitin from the bloated beast. Liron had spoken boastingly of wearing armor made from Scrab Royalty, and now Gaigin would see to it that such a suit was truly made. The pterrans could aid in its fashioning, alongside the suit Gaigin planned for himself, though Liron would no longer need such a thing. Such a suit, and the story behind it, would likely do great honor to Liron's memory when presented to the Elder of his tribe, not to mention being a fine gift to open negotiations between the Pterrans, the elves, and the representatives of Tyr. Still, Gaigin could wish he had never had the idea, as foul ichor splattered and the smell threatened to overwhelm even his deadened senses.

Gaigin goes through his grizly work and comes up with enough chitin to make two suits of armor. He takes his old cloak and wraps the plates in them, strangely enough the sturdy plates were very light and only seemed to ecumbrance as far as the size. The warrior sought, <The young elf was right, these light, strong plates will make excellent armor.>

"I have some healing spells, but not enough for our heavy wounds. I suggest we return to the surface soon so that we may rest. I would rather die than rest in this tomb."

The group finally lines up and Mendi goes through the intricate design that allows him to make yet another portal out of the cave. They later wonder to the entrance which was still open, the group slowly makes its way out of the tunnel and everyone sighs as they feel the cool night wind on their faces.

Migdalia and the other elvess had spoken little, the mutilated girl had finally come to her senses. She hid her wrist stump with a piece of red cloth that the sorceress provided her. Migdalia broke the silence, "Our tribe is somewhere North of here, we will travel with you up to the edge of the scrublands but then our feet will take us both northward. I understand that the pterran village is in the other direction." She looks down and slowly adds, "I tahnk you for all you have done and if you ever venture north, do not forget that you may share a campfire with our tribe or run along side it whenever you wish to. My elders will hear about this and you are all considered elf-friends of the Bird Runner tribe from this moment on."

Both girls slowly turn around and get ready to strike north while the party says good byes...

Your actions…

OUT OF CHARACTER

HEALTH STATUS

Remember the scale:

Healthy (H) 100% hitpoints remaining

Slightly Wounded (SiW) 75% to 100% hitpoints remaining

Wounded (W) 50% to 75% hitpoints remaining

Seriously Wounded (SeW) 25% to 50% hitpoints remaining

Mortally Wounded (MW) 0% to 25% hitpoints remaining

Gaigin (SeW), (W)

Koreth (W), (W)

Ayrus (MW), (U)

Tak (W), (U)

Rayne (W), (U)

Migdalia (H)

Mendi (MW), (MW)

Elric (MW), (W)

GENERAL

Give me some actions for:

1. saying good bye
2. anything to do during the night

I will pick up next turn tomorrow morning while you continue traveling south towards Lost Scale.

Questions, comments, and suggestions please.

L8r,

Fabian