Day 22 - Splitters Reunite!
The next morning Norton and I go back to the Inn - we get there to find Damir and Rumbles breakfasting. Norton joins them and I grab a towel and head straight for the bath. Yuna's there... "Good... you're not dead!" I remark as I enter... she ignores me - it's to be expected... she obviously doesn't have a clue who I am... We soak silently for a while - get out and she predictably "blinks" back to her room (I presume) I go back to the common room.
"What's happening with Yuna?" asks Norton.
"She has absolutely no fucking idea who we are!" I reply.
"Bertrand....Is there anything you can do to get Yuna's memory back?"
Bertrand reckons not... I challenged him but he insists he can't do anything; that normally a Resurrection looses you levels - his don't, but you loose your memory instead!
I suggest we could break into her room, drug her, cast the Restore spell and see what happens but Damir - ever the diplomat - came up with a splendidly non-violent alternative.
"Why don't we invite her to High Morning Tea - you can offer all her favourite teas."
What a good idea!
Rumbles announces apropos of nothing - that he is going to build a boat and off he goes... My, they never cease to surprise me.
I sit down with Damir to work out the wording of the invitation. We get one of the staff to deliver the invitation... Yuna tips him and says she'll send down her reply.
Banipal wakes - meditates and heads off into the forest... He seems much happier without us. It's a beautiful morning the sun is shining, there's dew on the grass... He strolls happily onward to the desolate western edge of the Dagger Hills...from there he follows a goat-trail and after a while, looking back, he spies a graveyard.
There are two stately Mausoleums leading up to worn crypts carved into the hillside - the doors of one Mausoleum hang open - recalling that this is the area he was told people have been vanishing from and being in such a fine cheery mood, he heads down to investigate.
The doors or lintel to the first Mausoleum may once have borne an inscription or crest but time and elements have worn it away. The stone doors, though heavy, pivot easily to his touch, he steps into the tombs - its dusty and there are signs that people have used this as a campsite over the years.
Four closed doors lead from this room. He opens one, dust lies thick on the floor, and in the centre of the room is a large stone sarcophagus - it looks untouched - to Banipal that translates as unlooted.
'Desecrate the dead!'
He sings gleefully to himself springing into the room and flipping the lid off the sarcophagus - Bones...
He's disappointed and searches further. It looks like it's been looted already so he flounces out in disgust to try the next door. Again it's very dusty and deathly still - along the rear wall are two stone caved coffins with figurines - one male and one female.
Banipal flips the lids off the womans coffin first... (NOTE TO SELF - "Are we sure he REALLY is a Monk.") The lid slides off and a swirling smoke comes out - Banipal immediately turns to flee but two figures materialise in smoke blocking the doorway...They face each other across the room then step aside to let another figure materialise between them.
"Hi!" says Banipal, "You'd be the boss?"
"Here to rob the dead are you?" the tall one in the middle asks.
"That will be the last mistake you ever make."
As he finishes speaking the other two figures having fully materialised attack Banipal - that could be a mistake.
He flys at them with a flurry of blows, the figure seems to dissapate into the air. The other casts a Charm spell but it doesn't take. The third one waves his hand and the darkness becomes impenetrable. Banipal swigs a potion of gaseous form and exits via the nearest crack.
Meanwhile back at the Inn, Yuna decides to come to Tea... She joins us - suspiciously.
"You don't remember who we are do you." It's a statement and I don't give her time to answer.
"You've got huge gaps in your memory and I know how they got there!"
She looks sceptical but at least she's listening. Damir keeps our cups topped up and the Danishes warm while I pull out my journal and fill Yuna in on her life.
For a while she seems dubious but decides to join us in an "Ahh well..sort of way."
Fortunately Rumbles and Norton (the truly disreputable looking members of our party) remain out of sight.
The Monk floats across to the other Mausoleum and enters through a crack - it seems to be a similar configuration to the one he was just in. There's a single room running the full width of the Mausoleum broken by a wall with one door - the next chamber has two sarcophagi.
This Mausoleum shows more signs of wear and tear... He wafts out and heads off to investigate the crypt set into the hill-side.
The gates are flanked by a pair of columns carved to resemble Skeletal warriors in full plate mail bearing Great Swords. The doors themselves are unadorned except for two handles - gouge marks indicate some heavy damage in the past.
He wafts under the gate. From the other side he can see a corridor leading into the darkness - about 80' down there's a door - outside it are five dead Drow; two female and male.
They're stripped of armour but still wear a black tabard emblazoned with a silver spider web (Lolth).
The Gates behind him are padlocked - from the inside. He wafts down to the corpses - just looking at them he can tell that three died from small crossbow quarrels - he can tell cause the quarrels are still in the bodies. The other two were killed by blows from blunt weapons.
Running out of time for his Gaseous Form, Banipal takes a quick look under the closed door, it's dark but he can see a corridor that stretches roughly 100 feet ahead with two alcoves off to either side. Having done a reconnaissance he heads back through Lord Randal Moores village and from there back to the Inn.
Back to The Inn of the Far Shore.
