he ansion f ister oarke
nd he emple f al

"Glad you could make it Trimus." Said Gieve sipping a cool drink.
Trimus stood gob struck, unable to speak. He was in a large room with marble walls with large windows which gave views out over the jungle and lake. The floor was laid out in a pattern of alternating lozenges of white marble and purple slate on which were lain exotic rugs and animal skins. The rest of the furniture was equally fine, ivory and ebony tables, alabaster vases containing sprays of colourful flowers and exquisite works of art on the walls. The most striking feature however was sat by the door, a griffin! The noble beast nodded when he noticed Trimus' attention. "I am glad to see that you have made it. Mr. Coarke will be arriving shortly. Please help yourselves to refreshments. Suddenly Marrim jumped to his feet as another figure popped out of the ether, the thief.
" Halt!" roared the Griffin "I cannot allow you to fight. Mr Coarke will explain all in a moment."
"What is it I need to explain Festin?" asked an elderly elf who had entered the room unnoticed in the commotion accompanied by a gnome, the latter resplendent in a red jacket and golden breaches.
"Ah yes, I remember. I am so sorry for your ordeal. I had no idea you were out there. I run adventure park for rich adventurers to test their skills. I must say you did rather well for novices. Now who are you and why were you trespassing on my reserve?"
"Marrim stepped forward and after bowing deeply before the elf explained why they had trespassed and the importance of their quest.
"Is this true?" inquired the elf of the other Makai who was clutching the chalice to his chest.
"Of course it isn't true." He replied in a voice dripping with scorn and venom. "I bought this honestly in the market. These are no more than scoundrels and rogues out to rob me."
Trimus grinned as the thief ranted as he could see the elf idly twisting a plain gold ring on his finger.
"You are lying." Stated the elf with a weary sigh. "Now hand the chalice to it's rightful owner or I will have Festin rend you limb from limb. Is that understood?"
The thief went pale and handed the precious item to the cleric who examined it carefully for damage before wrapping it in a large silk cloth and placing it reverently in his pack.
"I will have him returned to the mainland tomorrow, I trust that you would like to go with him.?" Mr Coarke asked Marrim.
"Yes, that would be most satisfactory." The cleric replied.
"Matou. Take this felon away and lock him up, then bring me my chest." Said the elf to the gnome.
"Now I must apologise again for the stress I have put you through. I would also ask a boon from you. A local volcano provides delightful crystals that the people of this island carve into their famous 'Fire Statues', you may have seen them for sale in the markets of Ierendi and a few make their way onto the mainland. Unfortunately stocks of the crystal are running low and they are running low and they are quite dangerous to extract as the area is home to a species of giant crabs. I would be most grateful if you could bring me forty or so these crystals. I will pay you well, 50 gold for each of you. Also when Matou returns You may each take an item from my chest." As he finishes speaking the gnome returns with a chest that he pulls behind him on small rollers.
"Once many years ago I was an adventurer like yourselves and these were some of the tools of my trade as well as some of the treasures I won. I no longer need them so I would be happy for you to take one each as a gift."
Trimus and the others were aghast at the elf's generosity. In the chest were scrolls, rings weapons, armour all carefully wrapped and labelled.
"Thank you for your kind offer" said Trimus bowing, "We are more than willing to help. He reached into the chest and removed a scroll which was labelled 'mirror image'. He sat down and started to copy it into his spell book.
Gieve was next and he selected a crossbow which seemed to have a very good balance. Ako took a mace which fairly hummed with enchantment while the dwarf removed a heavy hand axe.
"I will name it Kagyar after my patron." He said to the elf, who nodded sagely.
Darkhawk took a ring of protection while Marrim took a set of fine chain mail.
"I will return this to my order. They shall decide who is fit to wear it."
"Wise choices all." Smiled the elf shutting the chest. "Now, you must be tired and hungry, let's eat and we shall tell each other tales of our adventures before we sleep, then tomorrow you can fly to the coast and bring me my crystals."

The following morning Marrim said goodbye and flew with the thief back to Ierendi City on one of Mr Coarke's carpets. A few moments later Trimus and the others took off to hunt for the crystals. As on their previous flight they flew over the ancient ziggurat. Ako who was flying with Trimus, explained to the mage that Marrim had said that a few hundred years ago some of the Makai worshipped the god Ral and this was one of his temples.
Within an hour the carpets landed on a gravely beach at the base of a steep cliff, the grey rock pockmarked with caves. With no sign of the giant crabs that Mr Coarke had warned them of they soon managed to collect a sizeable number of crystals though some broke as they were extracting them from the volcanic rocks that housed them. Packing them carefully in their backpacks to prevent further damaged they returned to Popoona Mansion and arrived just in time for a lunch of cheeses, fresh bread all washed down with a light, sparkling wine.
Over the meal Ako asked Mr Coarke about the temple they had flown over during their chase of the thief.
"Ah, yes, the ziggurat. Yes that old place. Deserted for years I believe. It was dedicated to the god Ral. That was before the coming of Diulanna and the Peoples Temple. I can imagine adventurous types such as yourselves would find much of interest there." The last was said with a wry smile on the elf's ancient face.

After lunch they flew the short distance from the mansion to the ziggurat. Carefully stowing the carpets out of sight of prying eyes they scanned the ruined temple. Square sided, some thirty paces on each side and some seventy feet high the stone edifice had several broad steps each now colonised by jungle plants which appeared strangely twisted. Near the summit on the eastern face was an opening, a black space, like a missing tooth, in the broken yellow-brown stonework. Worse still at the very top was a altar, stained black with what they could only assume was blood. On the eastern side of the temple an overgrown staircase stairway led up to the altar and the opening. Picking their way over loose blocks of stone and tangled rocks the party made their way to the opening. On reaching it they were surprised to find that instead of an opening what they had been seeing was a door made of a black wood, still intact, with an image of Ral in red paint that still appeared to be very fresh. Gieve for once looked a little tentative and turned to Ako for advice.
"Ral? I don't know much about him." Replied the cleric to Give's unspoken request. "I think he is an immortal of the Sphere Of Energy. This place has an evil aura about it which is in keeping with the little that I know of his followers. Thankfully the Makai turned to Diulanna a far more gentle deity."
"Do you think evil lurks within?" asked the thief.
"Good grief!" spat Grabthroat. "It's a temple. There is a bloodstained altar on top of it. Of course evil lurks within. Humans!" with that the dwarf stepped forward and booted the door open almost breaking it off it's hinges.
"Subtle." Muttered Trimus.
Beyond the door lit now by sunlight for possibly the first time in generations and the light of a flickering torch carried by Trimus they could see a room ten paces square made of the yellow stone. Against the far wall stood a stone statue some twelve foot tall of Ral on a circular plinth. Hanging on wooden pegs on the north wall were three white hooded robes strangely untouched by the passage of time. On a shelf above were several torches.
"Disappointing." Muttered Darkhawk sheathing his sword. "I was expecting more than this. Nice statue though."
"I wouldn't be so hasty, Darkhawk." Replied the dwarf who was on his hands and knees examining the floor beside the statue. Rocking back onto his haunches he scratched his beard and squinted at the plinth.
"What is it friend?" inquired Gieve.
"See those scratches?" the dwarf pointed at some shallow grazes in the stone floor. "I'll wager that if we were to push this statue, just so, it would move revealing a hidden entrance."
"I'll push it." Said Darkhawk, spitting on his hands. The burly fighter and the stout dwarf braced themselves against the statue and pushed and almost fell over as it moved quietly and easily revealing an opening and the top of a spiral stone staircase. Grabthroat bowed theatrically and led the way down with Trimus carrying a lit torch to light the way. After about thirty or so steps they reached the foot of the stairs where to their horror they found a number of human bones.
"Sacrifices?" asked Trimus of Ako.
"Possibly. But why leave the bones here?"
Looking around, more cautiously now, they saw that they were in a narrow corridor with four wooden doorways, two on each side and the possibility of another flight of stairs leading down at the far end of the corridor. Gieve listened at the door in the north wall then opened it carefully. Inside were four simple beds, a table, chairs and the grisly remains of two humans wearing white robes. As Ako examined the dried husks he pointed out some long tears surrounded by bloodstains in the robes. Crossing the corridor they entered another room, similar but smaller and more opulently furnished. A bed, a table, a single chair and a stone washbasin were the only furnishings, but the walls were whitewashed rather than bare stone. A quick search of the room revealed nothing until Trimus scrabbled around under the bed.
"There's something here." Came his muffled voice, "I can't shift it. Darkhawk, can you have a try?"
The fighter found it difficult to get his large frame under the bed so he tipped it aside and revealed what appeared to be a loose flagstone. With difficulty he inserted his fingers in the cracks and lifted it, revealing a space containing two sacks and a potion of yellow liquid. Trimus pouched the potion while Darkhawk ran his fingers through the coins in the sacks. They were old Darakonian gold and silver pieces, at least a thousand of the former and a few hundred of the latter. Splitting the load between them they returned to the corridor, Grabthroat leading the way, checking the floor for traps as he went. Near the end of the corridor there were two more doors, one north one south. Gieve listened at the southern one frowned and then pushed it open.
"It would be a bit easier to be sure of what's behind these doors if you could stand quietly." He said with a glare towards Grabthroat and Darkhawk who had been fidgeting with their weapons. The door led into a large chamber. Bare stone walls and a flagged floor with no decoration or furniture to lift the sterile atmosphere. The only feature of note became visible only once the party had entered the room, a large pit some five paces square at the far western end of the room. Darkhawk strode up to it and looked over the edge.
"Bones." He said. "Lots of bones. Some are human I think but there are a lot of snake skeletons in here as well."
The final room on this floor of the ziggurat was just as depressing. A narrow corridor linking six tiny cells each with a wall of narrow bars facing the corridor. The three nearest the entrance were empty but the final three contained the bones of their last occupants, skeletal hands outstretched beyond the confines of their cells. Ako kneels and recites a brief liturgy for the dead before rising to his feet and leaving the room without a backward glance.
"I have to say I don't like this place Trimus. It seems soaked in evil." Whispered the cleric.
"I agree. But we should stay to find its source and perhaps destroy it for ever."
"Evil cannot be destroyed Trimus, only slowed or dispelled for a time." replied Ako sadly.
Trimus and Ako stopped talking as they noticed that Grabthroat and Gieve had halted at the head of a flight of stairs.
"Two more bodies, robed ones. Looks like they were hit from behind with a blunt instrument." Said Gieve.
They carefully stepped over the skeletons and continued down the stair which after twenty or so steps opened out into the centre of a north-south corridor. The only obvious exit, a double door, ornately carved with a heavy wooden bar holding it shut stood opposite the stair. The walls of the passage were not bare either. Instead they were decorated with savage paintings of a ravening beast, all teeth and claws, rending humans apart and swallowing them whole. Beside the door on wooden pegs hung several robes similar to those warn by the unfortunates on the level above.
"I think we should put these on. It may appease whatever lies beyond the door." Give suggested fingering the coarse white fabric.
"I don't like it." Replied Ako "But it might be our only hope."
A muffled voice from within a crumpled heap of fabric muttered "Futtocks!"
Rescuing the frustrated dwarf from the tangle of cloth, Darkhawk chuckled "I don't think they have one in your size!"
"Humph! I think I will have to go without a disguise then." The dwarf replied more than a little disgruntled.
When all had adjusted their robes to allow easy access to weapons and other equipment Give nodded and Grabthroat removed the bar from the doors and swung them open. The flickering light of their torches revealed a huge temple like chamber easily fifteen paces square and dominated by a huge head on a plinth. Raw, elemental power seemed to ooze from the carving. It seemed to represent the same creature depicted on the walls outside. Its massive dagger toothed mouth was open and caked with layers of dried blood. The outstretched lower jaw appeared to have been repeatedly used as an altar and the remains of a red robed body lay draped across it. Embedded in the shrivelled corpse was bejewelled dagger with a curved blade that seemed to emanate evil. As Trimus went to take it, Ako put a restraining hand on the mages shoulder and shook his head. The others were gazing around trying to take in all the horrendous details of the room. Four other statues, two on each side seemed to be smaller versions or possibly acolytes of the same beast. The each were posed in such a way to cause maximum fear. Their eyes appeared to be formed of glowing gems, their light seeming to make the shadows around the feet of the statues even darker and more sinister. As Gieve stepped forward to examine the altar further eight humanoids with skin, wrinkled and dark like an old plum emerged from behind the statues. Their slow purposeful approach and glowing eyes, combined with their inch long claws mage even Darkhawk quail slightly and for a moment nobody moved.
"Kagyar!" shouted Grabthroat, shattering the silence and swinging his axe through the air he cleaved one of the figures from neck to groin with a single blow. Trimus drew and threw a dagger with a single flowing movement, the blade hummed through the air and embedded itself in the nearest creature's throat. Gieve spun round but could not bring his rapier to bear before one of the evil warriors raked its claws across the thieves face drawing blood from four parallel furrows. Darkhawk changed form by clasping his amulet and severed the head from the shoulders of the shadowy figure that had just attacked Gieve. Ako crushed the skull of the one closest to him and smashed his shield into the face of another stunning it just long enough for Grabthroat to cut it down. Gieve struggled to get to grips with the final attacker, his normally rapid, fluid movements seeming sluggish but an opening presented itself and he ran his opponent through.
Ako sensing his distress lay hands upon Gieve's cheeks and murmured a brief invocation. On removing his hands the wounds had healed, not even leaving a scar behind.
"Thank you Ako. Those were evil creatures, their claws seemed to contain some form of venom, it was like fighting underwater." He turned to see Grabthroat climbing the nearest statue and attempting to remove one of its eyes. "What are you doing?" asked the thief.
"I hate to see good gem work go to waste." Grabthroat replied. "These are sapphires, finely cut as well. Not only that but they are enchanted, their light will be more constant then those smelly torches we brought with us."
"Good thinking, dwarf." He smiled and with the others extracted the gems from the other statues. Within a few minutes they stood holding a small ransom in gems. Only one, a garnet, had shattered as Trimus made a clumsy attempt to remove it. Grabthroat examined each one before placing them inside a belt pouch "For safe keeping." He said with a smile.

A closer examination of the rest of the hall revealed two narrow doors behind the bestial altar. Gieve listened at the southern of the two doors then opened it. This bare three paces by five was empty aside from three old, wooden chests. Gieve examined each in turn, checking the locks and hinges before he cautiously opened them. Each contained piles of golden coins, Old Ierendian Galeva, about a thousand in each chest. They quickly poured the coins into four sacks and carried them out into the main chamber. Gieve then listened at the northern of the pair of doors before opening it. A heavy musty smell filled the air of the room which held eight plain stone tombs. On closer inspection Grabthroat pointed at a layer of wax between the lids of each of the sarcophagi and its base. Trimus could also make out by the light of his glowing gem that a faint decorative pattern ran around the sides of the sarcophagi, too faint to discern any detail, but something was there. He started to trace the design with his finger.
"No!" shouted Ako, but it was too late. No sooner had the mage begun to run his finger along the complex pattern then the wax began to melt. Not just on the one he had touched but all of them. The door slammed shut and they spun around to face it. Darkhawk pulled on the handle but it was jammed shut. Stepping forward Grabthroat struck it repeatedly with his axe, sending chips of ancient wood flying through the air. All attention was focused on the door so no body noticed at first the thick acrid smoke that oozed out of the tombs which slowly took the form of eight red robed, hooded figures. Grabthroat started coughing as the gas attacked his lungs but still he kept attacking the door. The others, now aware of the danger behind spun to face it, the figures slowly but purposely striding towards them. One final strike from Kagyar and the door gave way. Running into the main chamber they paused to grab the sacks of gold then ran for the exit skidding to a halt as they saw their way blocked by one of the large statues.
Trimus and Ako at the rear were fighting a losing battle with the wights. Trimus had thrown a vial of holy water at the nearest but his aim was off the precious liquid sailing over the creatures head to splatter on the wall behind. Ako's mace was breaking bones but still they came on. Darkhawk was protecting himself with all his skill as two of the statues attacked him. Their heavy arms swinging wildly but he knew sooner or later he knew that one of them would connect. Gieve seeing the mage and cleric's plight loosed a card at the nearest wight. The card became a glowing bolt of energy that caused the undead creature to collapse, twitch wildly on the floor before becoming still. The dwarf meantime had reached the double doors to find them locked so again he swung his mighty axe hoping that Darkhawk and Gieve could hold off the statues for long enough.
Trimus cast a mirror image spell on himself and continued to attack the wights with his staff, hoping the blurring effect of the spell would be enough to confuse the creatures as Ako and he retreated backwards towards the exit. Gieve's valiant efforts against two of the statues ended as a crushing blow knocked him to his knees while almost simultaneously the statue attacking Darkhawk hit the brave fighter into a wall winding him.
"Trimus! Ako! Help us we are almost through but one more strike and we are done for!" shouted the dwarf between strikes.
Trimus spun around suddenly feeling a burning, itching sensation in his right palm. The pentagram etched onto it by the glowing orb was flickering as if there were flames inside his hand escaping through the lines drawn upon it. Instinctively he pointed his palm towards the statue that was about to bring its arms down upon the dwarf's unprotected back. A roaring, coruscating beam of green fire shot from the mages hand shattering the statue and through the wall beyond it. Grabthroat seeing the opening stumbled through the hole with a limping Gieve close behind. Trimus and Ako both ran for the gap with Darkhawk bringing up the rear. Up the stairs they ran and they didn't stop until they reached the carpets hidden in the undergrowth outside of the temple.
"The gold!" wailed Gieve.
"You want to go back and get it?" asked Ako as he tended the thief's injuries.
"No. I suppose not." He sighed, a wry grin on his face.
With that the companions flew back to Vlaad and left the carpets with the proprietor of Coarke's Carpets before booking passage back to Ierendi City.

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