Kira's Journals

Journal,

Well, we found the ruins of the temple after a few more hours of travel. I had to stop writing a while ago because the road was getting too bumpy. It's pretty clear that no one has been up here in a very long time, whether in a cart or on foot.

But here we are, stopped in what used to be the courtyard, I think. The others went into the temple to see if they could find where the treasure might be. Meanwhile, I was happy to volunteer to watch Hiram while they went looking. There is no way I am letting him out of my sight. He would probably just wait until all the treasure was loaded up, then take off with the cart. But not on my watch, he won't. He couldn't wiggle his nose right now without my knowing about it.

So right now, I'm just waiting for a word from... oh, here they come now.

Gir just reported that they found the entrance to a shaft where they think the treasure might be, but that it's sealed with a very strange lock with four keyholes. I really want to try to open it myself, but I don't want to leave Hiram alone. But she said they are going to look in this side building to the temple and see if they can find another way into the shaft, like a secret entrance or... uh oh.

There are the unmistakable noises of battle coming from that side room that they all went into. I know I should go help, but that would leave Hiram unguarded, and I'm pretty sure they can handle themselves with just about anything. And I was right, because here they come. Gir says they fought some weird plant-like thing. I wonder if it was actually guarding the place, or if it just found a home there and was defending it. Anyway, they found four keys that I'll bet fit into that strange seal. See, I knew they could handle it.

Oh, Gir also mentioned that inside the ruins smells like it's been used by some large cat as a litter box, so I should keep my eyes and ears active for anything like that. Right nothing could sneak up on me from a hundred yards away. My sensed are so attuned to everything around me right now, that I could hear a mouse sneaking across a pile of feathers in a crowded market place. No sir, nothing is going to find me before I find it first, absolutely noth...

Sorry about the interruption. It seems my senses were so attuned, that I didn't hear the ork sneak up behind me. It turns out that Steel had followed us after all, and she brought a bunch of orks and elves with her. They grabbed me from behind and took Valor, which was a mistake, then grabbed Hiram, and took us into the ruins where my friends had opened the seal, and were hauling up the treasure at that very moment. Steel made some snide remark that they were doing her work for her in bringing up the treasure, but I think it just fell on deaf ears, because the next thing my companions did was attack. Arrows flew as Thrak and Gir charged in, and I took the opportunity to bite my captor's hand and fly off to get my sword back. Arrows were still flying. Thrak had found his way to Steel and was battling her, but was clearly losing, Charye was shooting arrow after arrow from the back of the room, Rayne had found herself an ork to tangle with, Malorrin was casting spells that I may never understand, and Gir and Pern were mopping up orks and elves all over the place. She even scared one of the elves out of the temple. Everyone was looking worse for wear from travel and battle, and nothing was going our way at the moment.

Just when it looked like it might have been the end of us, a deafening roar came from just outside the temple, followed by a blood-curdling scream. It was at that moment when I remembered Gir's warning about the cat that was lurking around. In the instant we heard the roar, all fighting stopped. Everyone turned toward the door, almost waiting for Death himself to walk through the door. The thing is, Death flew in through an upper window instead. Ok, so it wasn't exactly Death that flew in, but I think it inspired just as much fear. What flew in on leathery bat-like wings had the body and head of a lion. Well, at least that's what one of its heads was. The other two heads were of a panther and a white baboon -- just like those "ice flyers" Gir told me about. Let's just say that this was not the kind of cat that I had in mind.

Thankfully for me and my friends, the first thing the beast attacked was an ork, that is after he had torn the escaping elf to shreds. Gir took that opportunity to dominate the creature and set it to attacking the rest of the orks.

The rest of us went after Steel, while Gir made sure that the rest of the elves were taken care of -- at least the ones that hadn't already run away. Most of our swings at Steel were going wide, and the swings that did hit were just reflected by her armor, but she was landing plenty of hits with her pair of hand axes. Fortunately, Gir had a whole new solution to things. Once she was done with the elves, she come over to help take care of Steel, and after a few test swings, Gir simply ended the fight. It was almost like watching a wild animal bear down on its prey, the way she tore at Steel's throat.

But that wasn't the best part. While Steel was busy holding her neck together, Gir just thrust one taloned fist straight through her chain mail. There is now a gaping hole where Gir's fist went through it, because every chain around where her fist hit was just pulled apart. The hole doesn't really look like a windling made it at all, but more like an ork or human. We probably won't be able to pawn it for much now. But that isn't that big a tragedy. Especially considering the hefty price we'll probably get for Steel's pair of forged hand axes.

Anyway, as soon as Steel fell the rest of her goons bolted for the door, and the path back to Axalalail. Frankly, I don't think they made it very far, because that lion-panther-ape beast was right on their heels. Seeing as how Gir's domination of any creature only lasts for so long, we took the moment of quiet to get the hell out of there. We found Rayne unconscious on one side of the room, and carefully put her at the front of the cart. We also find Hiram hiding in a corner. He sat himself at the front of the cart and waited patiently for us to finish cleaning up. We tossed Steel's body into the cart on top of the treasure that we had pulled up from the shaft.

While every one else was doing that, I was zooming around collecting silver from the fallen bodies and bloody shreds left over from Gir and the cat beast. So, without wasting too much time, we got every thing and everyone loaded up, and got out of the ruins as fast as that poor mule could pull a fully loaded cart. All we could do after that was hope that when Gir's domination wore off, that the creature would just return to the ruins and not follow our trail back to Axalalail. That would be a major disaster, if that thing attacked the town. Although, it would probably draw out those anti-adept factions that Fellidra Jer warned us about.

That's probably the wrong way to find out more about them.

Anyway, we're now on the trail back to Axalalail. We stashed Steel's body in the clearing where we found Hiram and the mud men. We figured that if there were any of them left, she would be a nice meal, which they probably needed, considering that we took their last...

I just can't get a full journal entry in today without any interruptions. I was in the middle of writing, sitting on Thrak's shoulder, and he just collapsed and fell off the horse. I guess the Wood Skin that he had earlier must have worn off. He took a pretty bad beating from Steel. It was probably the only thing keeping him conscious. We had to load him into the cart too, and now Gir is leading his horse back into town. I'll tell you, this cart seat isn't nearly as comfortable as Thrak's shoulder. But I guess he could use the rest.

I can't wait until we get back into town though. Gir and I took an astral look at some of the treasure, and a few of the items look to be thread items. A staff, a troll's helmet, and what looks like an animal's collar. Those could be very useful to us, depending on what they do. We'll have to find someone who can identify them for us, though, that shouldn't be a problem here. Axalalail is a major trade city, and we have plenty of time on our hands. I want to work on enhancing some of my skills, and most of us need time to heal anyway.

We had a pretty rough day, between fighting mud men, orks, elves, plant things, and Steel, the meanest person I've ever met (next to that stupid archer back at the ravine where we lost Rezak).

It doesn't look like we'll make it back to town tonight though. We'll have to camp on the trail. Hopefully Thrak will be awake in the morning. My back side is really sore, for the first time in our adventures together. I can't wait to have Thrak's shoulder back.

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