Day 31 - Are we still here!!!?

Midnight comes and goes, Norton has his spells back and I succumb and remove the trap from the sepulchre... Norton and Rumbles step up and begin to strike off the copper bands – I leave the room... I notice that Oglala and Damir follow me out. Hhhhmmmmmm this was Oglala's idea after all. Four of the five bands are off now, Oglala heads back into the room as the fifth band is broken. A hissing sound comes from the sepulchre... poison gas is my guess.

"You two should get out of the room!" Oglala says, shoving the lid right off. Rumbles grabs Norton and they stumble out of the room.

Inside the sepulchre, in a coffin-sized very plush, velvet lined space she finds, surprisingly there's no body... but there are two small wooden coffers, a scroll case (Inflict Critical wounds) and two wands (Searing Light – 12 charges). She searches the lining as well as she can and finds a map case in the lining of the lid. She brings what she finds (or so she says) back to the main room while I check the rest of the plinth for secret compartments - No luck. I check the coffers for traps, they're clean. Damir checks the outside of the map and scroll cases for script but they're bare. One of the coffers contained 375 gold pieces and 440 silver pieces the other 490 platinum pieces. We unroll the map and have a look. It seems to be a map of Sith Morcain which also shows the way to the city of Maerimydra.

After going over the map fairly carefully we decide that we'll return to the Inn and report to Bertrand. The news of the invasion would probably interest him. On the way back we decide to pop into Solom Ned'razaka and see if we can get some sort of reward. When we get there the place has been trashed and there's no one home. We have a quick reconnoitre, find nothing and leave. Sith Morcain is eerily still and quite and nothing bothers us as we go.

It doesn't take long to get back to the clearing and Oglala is desolate – well... not really - to find she can no longer see the path back to Sibyl's Inn. Looks like she's stuck with us! Rumbles and I can still see the path to the Inn of the Far Side Inn though.

The guards that manned the entrance to the path to the Inn of the Far Shore last time we came past, are no longer there. The Inn of the Far Shore is very, very quite when we get back. There are fewer patrons and not as many staff. Even the markets upstairs are noticeably smaller than they were. We immediately find Bertrand. I'm guessing Yuna's in the bath-house and have no idea where Banipal is – probably fighting someone... somewhere.

Things are looking bad, Bertrand explains Sybil has shut down her Inn – battened down the hatches - and he's preparing to do the same. Many teams haven't returned and he can't contact Sybil - this has happened before but it still worries him.

We settle down with a drink and a hot meal, show Bertrand the maps and letters and play "twenty questions." We get "twenty useless answers." In short, Bertrand believes we need to disrupt a spell being cast in the city of Maerimydra... he thinks it may be something to do with udead. Further pressing reveals that there has been a coup in the city – parts are being held by the three main factions - the Old Order, the Invaders and the Cultists. He hopes we can sneak into the city, find out where the spell is being cast and disrupt it. Sounds like a lark when you put it like that. Bertrand is sure the spell – whatever it may be – is big and BAD! (Doh!)

The Cultists and the Old Order are mainly Drow – The Invaders are made up of Goblins, Ogres, Giants and Demons, led by a fearsome Half-fiend Fire-Giant – say that three times quickly. They sacked the city and slaughtered most of the population. The worshippers of Kiaransalee took advantage of the chaos to seize control of the ruling house – their leader is an albino Drow Priestess (an elf???).

All this is not too helpful, is it??!

Back to The Inn of the Far Shore.