Chapter 5 : A game well played

#### Showdown

The next day is the day of the Great Tournament – the Gladiator fights in the cities main Arena. Although we were tempted to enlist, we finally settled to betting on the Dwarven merchants that Hendel had met in our inn. They came on pretty soon, and started off by fighting a series (three I think) of two headed snakes. It all went rather smoothly, but by the time they were getting the upper hand, in spite of two of the Dwarven already being in rather bad shape, a gate in the side of the arena opened up to let in another one of these beasts. The Dwarven did not see this, and not able to sit idle in the face of such unjustness – this was beyond what we would accept as a ‘fair fight’! – Hendel and Rufus climbed down into the arena using Hendel's rope of Climbing, and Terrak jumped in right after them while yelling ‘Maestro – Music!’ to Druw. He followed suit, and we engaged the beasts to a merry tune.

A short while after we had finished off the last of the four split-faced snakes, but not before one (or two) of the Dwarves had fallen down – dead as it appeared on hasty inspection. The crowd, meanwhile, was going completely mad. This apparently had never yet happened, and they had been cheering hits from the snakes as well as the blows that we dealt them! No sooner than we had all them down, one of the gates opened again to admit an even bigger creature like an octopus but with several tens of tentacles, many of which were holding weapons. Its body was hidden somewhere in the center of the writhing mass of arms, and it was using several of them to drag itself forward over the arena floor. It was slow enough that we could easily discuss tactics and arrange ourselves to meet this beast.

#### Foul Play

Terrak took position on top of one of the columns, armed with bow and Rufus’ crossbow. The others were arranged so that he could shoot down at short range, allowing him to use his Sneak Attack as well as provide Flanking for the others. As we engaged it, or it us, and we started our attacks, a lightningbolt whizzed past Terrak to strike the Beast. At the same moment, the music stopped, so we must assume it was Druw who, rather cowardly, decided to help us in the attack.(1)

Meanwhile, we had little enough problems with this beast, simply hacking on, Hendel and Rufus chopping off tentacles and Terrak sending bolts from Rufus’ crossbow whizzing in between them to strike at the body in their midst. Hendel finally finished it off by rushing in on it, past the tentacles to strike at the body as well, and at the same time that another of Terraks bolts struck, his Axe cleaved the body and after a final monstrous heave, it collapsed.

#### Big Troube

In the ensuing, deafening silence, Terrak jumped up onto the tentacled beast with a shout of victory, but soon another fence was drawn up rattling, and an unconscious Druw was thrown out. While one of us rushed to get him and bring him to, the crowd started murmuring. We saw that the Royal’s Lodge was occupied by the Head of HssTafi, flanked by the mysterious Ancient One(2). He lifted his staff and yelled a word, or perhaps a name. It took some minutes before there was any visible response – but when it came, it was awesome. From the west, a dot appeared in the sky, swiftly growing in size and finally resolving itself into a Black Dragon – a Big One at that! We feared the end of our luck had arrived...!

Slowly the Dragon swooped down and settled at the far end of the arena and started toying with us. He Commanded us to come to him, then swatting Hendel and Rufus around a bit with his tail. Then, he advanced on Druw. Terrak seized the moment to tumble underneath him and shoot of a Bolt. I don’t remember if it hit, but the Dragon did not like the attack anyway, turned its neck and exhaled sharply after Terrak, who dropped to the floor – dead or unconscious. Right then, he lifted his head as if to listen, and we heard a deep rumbling from afar. He stretched his neck and wings and, leaping up in the air, took wing and flew back from where it came at an unbelievable speed. Meanwhile, ashes and debris were starting to come down from the sky and it was apparent what was happening – the volcano was erupting –we had been saved by the bell!

In the frenzy that followed, we got out of the arena and took advantage of the situation to take a look around the HssTafi House. Unfortunately, it appeared they were well accustomed to these eruptions, and in spite of the stone debris scattered around the streets, order was already settling back at house HssTafi by the time we got there, and we could do no more than have a quick look around. While we headed back to the ‘Golden Cup’, Druw filled us in on what happened with him in the Crowds, but the only thing he would talk about was the sudden disappearance of Juneeka who had stayed behind with him when the rest of us had jumped down to the aid of the Dwarves. One moment she had still been sitting next to him, the next moment gone. When he asked any of the other spectators around him, all they would say was “You should have watched your woman!”.

#### Deals & Negotiations

Later that day the HssTafi lady visited us again at our rooms in the Inn. She came to collect the statues, as agreed. As our mission here in Tzlaj is to locate the Flute, and we have indications that the Ancient One must know more about that, we had agreed to try to talk her into setting up a meeting with him. Unfortunately, due to some ill chosen words from Hendel, she misunderstood our intentions and thought we were trying to rip her off. Infuriated about this perceived breach of contract, she stood up and left immediately, ignoring Terrak's hasty assurances that she must have misunderstood the Dwarf.(3)

Here, we have just lost a major point of advantage! That evening, the House H ́Sossoth guard returns to ask us of what progress we made. We tell him we managed to obtain the statues – which is quite true – but failed to get near to the HssTafi high priest and his necklace and staff(4) – which is true as well. Then, we proceed to get him interested in going after the Ancient One. This would on one side thwart HssTafi’s intentions of gaining absolute power by teaming up with the Ancient One, and would coincide with H ́Sossoth’s opinions against that. However, he appears not to like the subject, or is unwilling to discuss it with the ‘Scaleless’, and shuts down like an oyster with a severe cold. He gets up and informs us that the price will be paid, as agreed, and that he would like to see the statues now. With the feeling that we are running out of options, and once again have lost the initiative as well as the advantage, we hope that by simply agreeing there might be something to salvage from this whole exchange.

But, in the end, the only thing we have gained are the fourteen thousand gold-pieces. It seems have put ourselves back at Square One, although now we know a bit more about the affairs of the Jiang-ti and the dealings in Tzlaj. At any rate, we will have to go after the Ancient One, which means we first have to find a way to penetrate, somehow, into House HssTafi. That, or find our way into the Temple Complex at the Great Ceremony that will be held tomorrow. Careful inquiries with our inn-keeper learn us that, after our Grand Performance at the Arena, we will most certainly be invited at the Ceremony as guests of honor. Something else he is able to tell us, is quite bad news. Apparently the manner of Juneeka’s disappearance signifies that she is likely to have been chosen as a ritual sacrifice at the Ceremony. We will have to see whether that also means we will be on the Altar for sacrifice, but at least the invitation is our Ticket in, and we have sufficient reasons to go!

#### Bits and Pieces

In the course of the next day, for nothing better to do and not yet having received any invitation to the Party, we intermittently queried the innkeeper for more information, and wandered around the town to glean additional bits and pieces. In the afternoon we withdrew in our big room to discuss what we now actually knew about the Tzlaj society, and specifically about the factions that we are dealing with now. Drawing up a scheme of players and interactions, as far as we know them, we noticed the apparent lack of motivation for house HssTafi for swinging the balance – their proclaimed opponents of house H ́Sossoth appear to be somewhat isolated from power and we cannot see in which way they might have posed any threat to HssTafi. In the meantime, we took the opportunity of visiting the house of the Tzlaj Mage that we met before(5), because we had heard rumours that she might be involved in selection of the next candidate for sacrifice.

It seemed unlikely that we would find Juneeka there, but perhaps some other clues. Entering was a breeze through a shuttered window at the back of the house and out of view of most of the neighbors, and we quickly found that nobody was currently at home. Searching around, however, didn’t provide us with any clue to the sacrifice ceremony or its intended victim. Anyway, we did find her alchemical laboratory and took some newly made potions – now we just have to find out what they do. More interesting was an ancient tome, resting on an isolated pedestal, apparently much older than the rest of the contents of the room and probably never opened by the current occupant.

Unfortunately, although Terrak did notice something present there, he couldn’t prevent the Firetrap from going off when the book was opened. The noise of the Firetrap obviously drew attention to the house, and, after glancing quickly through at the first few pages(6), we retreated out of the house the same way that we had come in. By the end of the afternoon came finally the invitation to the Party – actually it sounded suspiciously like a summons: ‘The Bard will perform at the Party and will bring his companions.’

Anyway, we have our own reasons for attending. Our plan is, for lack of detailed reconnaissance, rather elementary but hopefully in that may lay its real strength. Anyway, Druw obviously will be performing, but meanwhile the rest of us will feel out the crowd and if possible try to get access to other parts of the building. Then we can only hope to find relevant clues. After about fifteen minutes of mingling, we decide to try for a door at the back end of the smaller, less crowded room. To Rufus’ and Terrak’s amazement, Hendel is the first to brave his way through. It seems impossible for a Dwarf with his outstanding appearance amongst all those Tzlaj people, but at a few steps distance from the door he suddenly seemed to disappear! With some interval, first Rufus and then Terrak followed him, and it appeared that they also were equally successful in feigning attention to the artwork, or other things, in the room, and then suddenly simply stepping through the doorway.

Then we were faced by a slightly unforeseen problem of rediscovering each other, but with mostly luck we quickly stumbled upon each other and with an additional generous dose of luck could make our way out of the corridor just before another door opened. We found a rather large temple room, where we looked around a bit. It contained the assorted Evil artifacts and other standard items associated with temples, but most intriguing was a hole in the floor at the center of the room through which we could see a river of lava flowing. Beside the hole lay a skeleton but it appeared too old to belong to Juneeka. When Rufus tried to get nearer, he quickly discovered that the head radiating from the Lava was so intense that he couldn’t get within twenty feet of it. Meanwhile Terrak scouted out the corridor outside, leading to the not so exciting discovery that it went around the corner and ended in a door leading out to a somewhat secluded part of the gardens, surrounded on two sides by the public rooms where the Party was still going on.

It seemed to Terrak there was something peculiar about the arrangement of this corridor and the outer wall of the garden that connected this palace building to the great Ziggurat, so he searched for a secret door in the right wall – facing the Ziggurat – at the end of the corridor but could not find anything there. At the other side of the temple a door led to a general meeting room and then a room with a coffin in the middle. Probably we should have known better, but for the pure possibility of finding Juneeka in it, we decided to open it. To our dismay the occupant was much less ap- pealing, in looks as well as in manner. The coffin exploded with a bang that must have been heard all through the town, and a vampire-like undead Tzlaj came flying out. We didn’t hesitate a moment before running back out of this room again, because the noise would most certainly attract much attention. We retreated back to the temple room and there quickly hid in one of the side-chambers hoping to sit out the first stage of the search. Again we were lucky, and we heard them rush straight past us to the other room, after which we mad off quickly but as silently as possible, and went for the other end of the corridor, where it went around the corner.

We quickly slipped outside, still unnoticed in the somewhat chaotic situation caused by the sudden explosion that had just happened, and we made our way to the side of the garden, planning to wait out the first phase of the search that was now going on before we would slip back in with the other party-goers to pretend that nothing untoward had happened at all – not a big chance that we would pull that off, but we might always try to escape after all when things really started turning against us. There we were surprised by Drew suddenly appearing. He had been sent off the stage only a quarter of an hour ago and had mingled a bit with the other guests. Before he could decide how to rejoin us, however, had spoken to the she-snake Mage about the explosion at her house that afternoon. It is not so clear to us if Drew gave away too much during that conversation, but a few minutes later she suddenly reappeared at his side and hissed to him ‘We need to talk – I know you have been in my house today.’ At that moment, they heard the explosion and Drew immediately and rightfully concluded that we must have been the source of that. In the commotion he had slipped outside and found us. Drew’s encounter with the Mage made slipping back in with the Party even much less attractive than before, and we feared the only remaining option was to sneak out of the palace altogether. How- ever, it seemed that all our adventures and encounters of the last days now started to connect and finally point in one common direction: the imminent sacrifice. Since that would almost certainly involve Juneeka, the High Priest, and the Ancient One, three of the most important players, to us at least, at this moment, we could not simply leave here empty-handed. At that moment, Hendel suddenly noticed something strange with the garden wall – more or less what Terrak had already seen before – but Hendel concluded that there must be a secret door at the end of the corridor, not at the side. So we decided to slip back in through the garden door where we had come out only minutes before. This time we could benefit from Drew’s musical Invisibility, which made it very easy. And in the meantime we saw that the other guests were being confined in one of the rooms and it looked like they were going to start searching and questioning them any minute now. Inside, we quickly discovered that indeed there was a secret door at the end, only feet away from where Terrak had been looking before(7). It took us some more minutes to locate the concealed mechanism that opened it, and there we entered a corridor that sloped down gently to go, apparently, directly to the underground levels of the Zigurat.

#### Traps, Corridors and More Traps

Bolstered by discovering the secret door under his directions, Hendel insisted on taking the lead and almost immediately was rewarded for that by falling headlong through a trapdoor into a pit with sharpened stakes. Luckily it takes more than just that to overcome our sturdy Dwarf, but crossing it and also finding our way through the next trap – walls sliding together – and another pit at the far end of the corridor, took us quite some time and much of our combined ingenuity. The corridor beyond led us down, clearly into the depths below the Great Ziggurath. Following it down, we entered a colonnaded walkway, which reeked of unpleasant surprises waiting to spring themselves at us. And, indeed, the columns that at first sight might have been taken for something very innocent, came to life as we passed them. I think I remember them turning into some beasts, or perhaps they actually already were statues on pedestals. In any case, some melee combat ensued from which we emerged as ever victoriously. A bit of corridor further we encountered a door behind which to Terraks trained ear, clearly several watchmen were posted. Hesitating only for the briefest of moments, we charged in, Terrak jumping the table to the far side of the room and the rest swarming the watchmen head-on. Swift as we may have been, still one of the three managed to duck behind the leather curtain covering the other entrance to this room, but the other two were thoroughly done for.

Going through the curtain took us into a corridor, where we quickly found a similar thick leather curtain. Scouting back and forth through the rest of the corridor brought nothing interesting, and since we did hear some faint rustling behind the curtain, we decided to repeat our time-honored tactic of the blunt and sudden charge. We found the watchmen had taken position behind an overturned table at the far end of the room. Charging over, around and straight into, or rather through it, for Terrak, Rufus and Tinder respectively, proved handsomely effective and in no time all our immediate problems had once again been resolved to full unilateral satisfaction. Scouting further ahead, while feeling the rising pressure of time ticking away on the sacrificial ceremonies, brought us to a winding staircase going up. Still, we were continuously expecting a frontal assault from a superior force that would outnumber us at least five to one, and feared the increasing delay could only signify increased preparations from their side. In stead, also at the top of this spiral stairway, we found nothing but empty corridor – or so we thought. While we were emerging from the top of the stairs, noises from around the corner alerted us to an approaching foe. We took positions to intercept it as it would come within reach. It appeared to be a somewhat golem kind of monster, huge and by the appearance of its armor – or metallic scales – largely resistant to our attacks. Indeed, it proved quite hard to actually harm him, as much as two out of three of our sure hits went largely unnoticed by it. It took us embarrassingly long to find out that it could withstand the damage of any type of weapon that was the same as the previous hit – or was it different. So, after we all switched to different types – or the same, oh, bugger! – we quickly had him done for. After the demise of the strange creature we quickly moved on. Although it’s horrifying ability to adapt it’s skin to our attacks fascinates us all, we have no time to investigate it any further. The life of Juneeka, our friend, lies in the balance. Cells, Priests and Favors As the dark corridor (presumably) stretches out in front of us, Terak volunteers to scout ahead to see what horrors lie in wait in the deeper shadows. The musky smells of this serpent nest don’t bode well. He quickly returns to report that our search may soon be at an end. A little further ahead is a large room with many fortified cell doors lining its wall room with several prisoners chained to the walls. This must be the place! We quickly check the doors to see what lies behind them, and after opening several empty cubicles, we finally open Juneeka’s prison room and find Juneeka amongst the prisoners.

After the initial shock, she cries out in relieve and throws herself into Druw’s arms. Women! She quickly explains what has happened to her after her capture. It appears she snakes take random prisoners for sacrifice in their dark rituals planned on their holy days. As we inspect the other cells to see what is inside, it dawns on us that the kidnapping of potential sacrifices might not be as random as we expected. In one of the cells is a Yang Ti prisoner. Almost human, it stays cool at the first tense moments. It explains it was the former High Priest of house H ́Sossoth. Even before we have a chance to ask more questions, it asks in an urgent voice to help him prevent a civil war among the Yang Ti. It promises us help in whatever way it can in our quest. The only thing it needs are the priestly regalia that are hidden somewhere in the current High Priests quarters. After a short discussion we, with some reluctance, decide to help this “snake”.

We quickly retrace our steps to the surface, Terrak leading the way with barely audible mutters. Luckily, the former High Priest quickly leads us through the building without much fuss, straight to the High Priest’s quarters. After Terrak assures us that the room beyond is not occupied, we quickly open the door and move into the room. The room appears to be large, but our sight is obscured by human skin like curtains hanging from the high ceilings. Only the glow of burning braziers in the back of the room give an idea of the rooms size. No sounds penetrate the shadows. Only the warm, musky smell of the incense from the braziers tell us the room may be occupied. We carefully move into the room, when our first steps are answered by a salvo of arrows from deeper within. They seem to be originating from the far corner to the left, but as we move in that direction, cutting down the curtains as we go, another salvo hits home from the other direction. We split up to pursue both sources of attack, knowing the enemy force cannot be very large inside this room.

Druw, Tinder and the former High Priest move to the left, while Terrak and Rufus move to the east. After Terrak and Rufus cut down several more curtains, the enemy is suddenly upon them. Before they know it, they are in hand-to-hand melee with a small force of Yang-Ti. They quickly and mercilessly dispatch of the slithering abominations, and come upon the focus of the room in the north. A large four-poster bed covered in rich silks and expensive animal skins of all kinds covers most of the northern wall. Several of the skins are not from animals of this region, and must have been imported from outside this jungle. Expensive indeed!

Next to the bed, underneath the windows looking out over the courtyard of the temple complex is a writing desk covered with all kinds of reports. In front of it is the last of the snakes’ defenses of the room. A huge, almost complete snakelike Yang Ti, with a huge two-handed sword. Not that that helped it much, because Terrak and Rufus quickly dispatched of it. As the battle ends, both halves of the party are rejoined again. Each confirm to the other that the rest of the room is empty, and we start a thorough search. After several minutes of searching, we find several potions and a large cash of jewelry in the drawers of the writing desk. But we find no priestly regalia. It takes another lengthy search and Terraks trained eyes to spot the secret compartment in the back of the desk, its entrance hidden at the far back of the opening of the front drawer. As he removes the traps with nimble fingers, the compartment pops open en reveal the long sought regalia.

1. He had made the fatal misjudgement of ignoring the reactions of the Crowd.In the time-honoured motto “you’re either in or out” they would not allow him to meddle from outside, and he was grabbed and dragged away, as he later told us.
2. in his explanation of the ‘Book of Dark Facts’, Almira also mentions the name ‘Ancient one’, as the phrase used by the old humans to describe a god.
3. oh, how loathsome those that jump to conclusions from a situation taken at face value – and worse still those that obstinately refuse even to reconsider afterwards against all reason...
4. which by now we assume must be, at least, a Staff of Black Dragon Control.
5. I don’t remember if she was the she-snake that hired us to extract the Se- hafara Ancectors Statues.
6. I don’t remember exactly what it was about, but it was definitely Dark and Evil.
7. Hardly ever have I felt more stupid than now – but my choice had seemed so obvious looking at our map...