With Karek's eyes averted, the Ereki leader took the opportunity to level the first strike.  He brought down his arm down toward Karek's head, but Karek dodged his blow at the last minute by dropping to the ground.  There he grabbed the staff.  The crowd then attacked.  Forcellus cleared a path by swinging his monstrous blade, but there were too many upon him to repeat the swing until Veltek levelled the odds with an Energy Storm.  I stabbed and madly dodged whatever came at me.  When Karek stood it looked as if he was going to stow the staff again.  I screamed "no!" and stuck out my arm as if to say "wield it!  Damn it, hold it out and wield it!"  Something then finally  connected within him.  I glimpsed it on his face before a leering Ereki nearly decapitated me.  He shouted and thrust the staff into the air, daring anyone to defy his authority.  It was as if a torch had been lit.  Energy shot out from the staff and the Ereki Leader was fried instantly.  Several others were singed and fell back.  The staff now glowed with a reddish light.  The remaining Ereki that were still able to move bolted from the room squealing and clacking in fear.

I suddenly felt a wave of damp air.  A faint smell of brine.  No one else could feel it so I cast my Empathic Tracking.  Amplified by the emergent staff I believed that I could determine the direction to the source of that dampness, and that it was nearby.  We lost no more time but proceeded further into the depths.  I sensed Ereki in many of the burrows we passed in this complex labyrinth, but none approached us.  Eventually the source of the damp was revealed to us in another cavernous hall which held an underground lake stretching into the darkness beyond Veltek's Light spell.  We really needed to go beyond this, but how?  Swim?  Doubts began to creep back in.  From now on, thinking should come secondary.  "Wield it" I said motioning with my arm.  "Let's give it the strength of our will."  Karek needed no more needling.  I don't know if he understood what I meant.  He probably assumed that we were confronting another enemy, which was as well because we were.  We were confronting our own ignorance.  We needed to rely on something greater than we could muster on our own.  We needed the knowledge of those who made this staff possible.  He once again raised the staff into the air and shouted.  Nothing happened, at first.  Then we noticed a ripple in the water.  Visions of water monsters invaded my brain, but I was not prepared for what I did see.  Unmistakably, the outline of a longboat appeared in the darkness.  There was a figure in the boat.  How and where he came from was unfathomable.  Had we entered another world?  Was there indeed a lost civilization down here buried in the desert?

The boat and it's Sahag pilot came within the glow of Veltek's Light.  Were the Sahag the fabled Antarans?   He seemed not to be afraid, and seemed to know that we needed passage.  He motioned for us to get into the boat.  After what we had been through, we dared not show fear.  Karek alone momentarily balked at the concept, it was apparent that he had never before been on a boat.  But he crawled on and we slowly departed from the shore.  We moved in silence, propelled by I know not what, for no one was rowing.  I fell into a Shamanic state, and everything thereafter seemed a dream.  The Sahag began speaking to us in Domish, but to my surprise Karek seemed to understand us as well.  The Sahag told us that his master knew of our quest.  He told us not to be alarmed, that all would be well.  We believed him even as the boat sank beneath the dark water.

Next: The Avatar of Hadulon

Instinctively we put our backs to each other and faced our antagonists.  Too many of the Ereki had covered the entrance to allow a backward retreat.  Forcellus held out his long sword and Karek was slowly swirling his zinga blades in anticipation of the dicing he was to dish out.  Veltek was geared up for an Energy Bolt.  My short bow was useless in these quarters even if I had time to string it, so I pulled out my dagger.

The Ereki eyed us greedily, but did not immediately attack.  "Let's see if they will let us out" said Forcellus and we inched toward the door.  They surged toward us and we stopped.  I had entertained the notion that they feared us, but they were merely waiting.  Another Ereki entered the hall the others giving way to him.  Apparently their leader, he began clacking orders.  It seemed that he was already doling out pieces of us to the deserving.  Why wait until our moisture was scattered before knowing whom could devour whom?

The leader glared at Karek.  It was hard to decipher expression on these creatures, but it looked as if the leader recognized Karek.  Or at least recognized the zinga blades of the Poonabesh and gave them respect.  I then noticed that the Ereki were carrying weapons.  Odd pieces of exoskeleton from their own kind.  I had though them part of their bodies at first.  The leader slashed the air in front of him and did an odd dance.  The others all backed away hugging the walls.  So, our deaths would provide amusement before nutrition.  Karek recognized the challenge offered by the leader, and swirled his zinga blades in a dazzling show of skill, the weapons a blur as they diced the air before them.  I considered the next possibilities, all of which seemed dire.  If he lost, we would be set upon and eaten.  If he won, we would be then set upon and eaten.  They could not run away in defeat, we were in their home, and Karek's blades could not mince everyone.  Veltek could probably astound them with an Energy Bolt, but enough to make them leave us alone, or would it only spur them to action?  If they feared the staff, they might give the wielder passage.  "Can they hold it?" Veltek added in Ezmeri.  Karek then acted incorrectly on what he thought Veltek had intended.  He abruptly halted his "zingen", sheathing his blades.  A cackling of what must have been laughter rippled through the room, declaring him a coward.  Using slow movements, Karek then drew out the unimposing staff.  In his mind, Karek was insulting the leader by demoting himself to an inferior weapon.  If he then bested him, he would be seen as even more powerful by the leader's minions.  Veltek had intended only a holding contest, wanting the crowd  to think that only their leader had the power to command the sacred and magical relic.  I thought that Karek needed to use this hard fought-for weapon and prove it's strength as more than a ward against demons.  But as he stood there with it, for that brief second, I worried that it was not yet complete, and might only delay our deaths for a few entertaining seconds. 

The leader of the Ereki dropped his weapon in a grand show of parity.  The crowd clicked it's approval.  If they had had money, you would have heard it being wagered.  Then Karek suddenly dropped the staff, playing his own mad game.  The staff had dropped near an over-eager spectator, who in reaction quickly reached out to grab it.  The staff crackled and suddenly the poor Ereki was jolted, screaming, half into the air as a forked bolt of energy cracked across his length frying him.  No one was more shocked than Karek who turned to look.  For the briefest second no sound was heard, then the real melee began.

Next: Strange Waters

At noon the next day we arrived at a pile of stones that Karek said was the city.  I was vastly disappointed, expecting a shimmering city in a hidden valley of sand.  Arriving at some key location, Karek dismounted and approached a collection of stones.  He pointed and I could then see a small dark hole leading down between two rock outcroppings.  It was partially filled with sand.  I could see the tracks of many bipedal creatures all around.  "Ereki?" I said pointing to the tracks.  Karek explained as best he could that the Ereki were nocturnal. 

We tied our mounts loosely to a rock in the shade and down we went, Veltek casting a Light.  If there is one thing that I do not particularly line, it is crawling into dark holes like a Grimdon.  But I would not show it.  We indeed had to crawl at times, and at times slide down the sand to uncertain landings.  We had a near encounter with a few skefen (large scorpions) which did not help my disposition.  Karek took up the lead, followed by Veltek, then I.  Forcellus was in the rear watching our backs and providing an anchor for the rope that we attached each other.

It soon became apparent that we were travelling through remains of a subterranean city.  We would leave the narrow cavern and enter an actual room.  We would then cross it and exit a doorway that led back into the narrow cave.  The Ereki had apparently burrowed the passages.  Finally after about half an hour of walking we found ourselves in another small tunnel, but this time it grew larger as we went.  We were suddenly presented with the end of the tunnel and a heavy but worn wooden door which looked mightily out of place.  We stopped.  Karek motioned toward it and said "Ereki." His face looked serious, as if we should be concerned.  Forcellus drew his sword and I tried to pull the staff.  When I did so, I received a rather nasty shock from Veltek, or rather from the Fire orb which I had him stow in his pack.  I dropped the staff.  Not knowing what had happened, and not assuming that this stick of wood had anything to do with it, Karek bent down and retrieved the staff, handing to me.  I could feel energy as I reached toward it. Veltek stopped me.  We all looked at Karek.  It was already powerful enough here to determine who would wield it.  Forcellus looked a bit perturbed, and reached out also to take it, but received the same shock.  I tried to explain; "Karek's people were worshippers of a Fire-Water goddess as were the ancestors of Turmond.  Karek is probably the only one of us who will be able to hold it here."  We explained this as best we could to Karek, who looked somewhat disappointed that we seemed to be encouraging him to wield a wooden staff against the Ereki rather than his dual zinga blades.  I showed him that he could stow it, and use his blades if he wished, which he did.

Karek opened the door, which required a bit of strength.  Veltek illuminated the dark interior revealing a large room like a great hall.  There were wall carvings visible depicting fire and wolves.  There were four other entrances into this large hall, and they were likewise dark.  We looked to Karek for direction.  His blank look back made me realize that he was looking at us for the same.  After all, he had brought us to the lost city.  Now what?

I decided that another Shamanic Journey was needed. What particularly was I looking for?  Was there anything here?  I went inside, with Veltek and his light.  The others followed.  We all moved as quietly as possible.  We had barely all entered when suddenly movement was everywhere.  Large insect-like bipedal creatures poured into the hall from the four dark side entrances.  We were ambushed.

Next: The Stand Off