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Date Posted: 20:11:21 12/16/01 Sun
Author: Corum & Yorik....and Erlic
Subject: Seemed like three hours
In reply to: Barry 's message, "Hot time in a cave" on 21:13:53 12/15/01 Sat

“You know!” Jeremy yelled out to no one in particular. “Erlic and Tia have been in there way longer than three minutes, and now this Barry guy has been in there just as long. I don’t think it’s fair to be playing this game if no one cooperates, and anyway, I wanna get a shot at one of the cute chicks.”

Corum almost agreed with him, even though he still had one of the tribal women sitting next to him, holding his arm. For the life of him, Corum couldn’t understand why the other tribal woman picked Barry over Jeremy. It seemed a bit weird, but then again, he didn’t know how the tribal people worked.

Since no one else was doing anything, and no one was venturing forth to get another cave, Corum got up. “I’ll see what’s taking Barry so long,” the youth remarked. “He couldn’t have that much to do, could he?”

With that he walked toward the cave where he had seen Barry enter. Just as he was about to enter, he heard a female voice. "You dead but you talk! Your shaman talk to skull on his staff. Now you make Hama skulls talk! You not like it if Hama get mad."

Corum peeked around the cave as he saw this real big guy grab Barry, and throw him into some sort of cage, one currently occupied by a snake. This was not good, not only that, but it didn’t look good either. The youth wondered who Hama was, and tried to formulate a plan to get Barry free of the woman’s grasp. He remembered how everyone had bowed to him when he had come in, and maybe, just maybe, it would work again.

He snuck up on the big guy, whose back was towards him, and gently tapped him on the shoulder. Just as the big guard turned, he came face to face with that of Yorik, whose eyes were now glowing an eerie blue. Corum suddenly yelled out a “BOOH!” The man turned and fled thinking he had just been cursed.

Corum put on his best angry look toward the woman. He tried to think of some words to utter that would make the woman scared.

De do do do, de da da da, is all I want to say to you.

“I don’t think so Yorik,” the youth answered. Yorik’s eyes started to change colors, one red, and the other blue as Corum took a step forward toward the woman. “Ha ba na ba, cawabanga!” Corum yelled as he shook Yorik up, and down, swirling it in the air. Well this was too much for Nufura, and she didn’t want Corum, who she suspected of being a shaman, to upset the nature of things, especially if he decided to consult with her husband. The woman quickly ran out of the cave.

“Well that went well,” Corum stated as he approached Barry. “Next time watch who you pick, will ya?” He let Barry loose, and the two of them walked out of the cave, and returned to join the others.

********************


The first portion of the tunnel really didn’t upset Erlic too much. It would be a drastic coincidence if, in fact, they did wind up meeting up with the old man that had tossed the tests of enlightenment their way. But what was curious was the second secret door laded with traps that put him on the defensive. What was so necessary to have so many traps on one secret door? The answer was revealed to him as soon as the door was opened, revealing a dungeon of sorts with many cellblocks filled with prisoners. No sooner had they entered, and a young man started rattling off in the Nerombian dialect about being caught as prisoner. Erlic suddenly realized that both he, and Tia were in serious trouble, for in front of them stood the lost son of the Padisha from Medina al’Afyal, Alakbar bin Alad bin Alaq, who had been missing for several years, and thought to have been dead. So the question remained, what was he doing here?

Alakbar described how corsairs had attacked his ship, and he was taken prisoner once everyone on board had been slaughtered. The corsairs then sunk the ship after obtaining any treasure they deemed necessary. Alakbar was then kept as prisoner, and brought here where he had remained for several years.

“Erlic, we gotta get out of here now,” Tia stated. “If they find us, then we’ll, we’ll, well I don’t know what we’ll do, but I know right now that it won’t be good. Let’s go.”

Tia turned to go, and was suddenly stopped by Erlic’s voice. “Why don’t you watch the door, while I try and free our friend.”

“Door? Door? What door?” Tia started asking as her voice suddenly started to rise in pitch.

“That door,” Erlic stated while pointing to another door that probably led to the headquarters of whoever was running this operation. “And keep your voice down, unless you want the godfather of assassins to hear you.”

“The godfather of….Oh god…who’s gonna take care of my plants, and my house, and, and, I mean I can’t trust that old crony to watch it, I mean she’ll simply…..It just won’t do, I mean we have to….”

“Tia!” Erlic whispered loudly. The elf looked at him somewhat stupefied. “Keep your voice down, and keep your eyes on the door, or none of us will make it out of here alive.”

Erlic asked Alakbar when the guards were next schedule to check on the prisoners. The young man explained that it was sometime in the morning so that the prisoners could be fed. Erlic quickly set about pulling various tools out of one of his pouches. He surveyed the cell door, just to be safe, and found no traps. He then set about unpicking the lock. It took a few moments, but he was finally able to open the door. He gestured Alakbar to follow him. The assassin was about to leave, but suddenly stopped. He quickly looked around, and found a few empty cells. He quickly gathered the pillow from the cells, placed them in Alakbar’s, and covered them with the blanket. He then locked the cell. Hopefully the guards would believe the young man asleep when they checked on him in the morning.

“All right Tia,” Erlic stated. “Now we go!”

Tia actually overtook Erlic, and was through the secret door before any of them. Once Alakbar was through, Erlic took one more look around before stepping through himself, and then closing the secret door behind him. He placed the traps on the door once again, and quickly followed the others.

**********************************


“Barry was trying to put the moves on one of the women, but she locked him up in a cage,” Corum was stating after he had returned to the campsite. Marz nearly doubled up in laughter just thinking of the skull with another woman. “Hey,” Corum suddenly stated. “I thought the rules of the game was for two people to go into the cave, not three.”

“What are you talking about you moron?” Marz stated when he looked in the direction Corum was pointing. Sure enough, here came Tia, some weird guy with little clothing, and Erlic. Once the trio arrived at the camp, Erlic took Alakbar directly to Valhorek, motioning the healer to follow them. Erlic informed the healer to check up on the youth, for he had been held prisoner. He then stated to Valhorek that this was the missing son of the Padishar of Medina al’Afyal. Val spoke to Alakbar in his native tongue as he led the youth away. What in the world were they doing with someone that supposedly died several years ago?

When Erlic returned, he made sure he had the attention of everyone at the camp. “For those of you who weren’t with us the last time we were in Medina al’Afyal, let me give you a brief rundown,” the assassin began. “Padishah Alad bin Alaq bin Alonka of Alon, is the sheik of that city. When we last visited, Corum was mistaken for his long lost son. Anyway, the person I just brought forth from the cave is Alakbar bin Alad bin Alaq, the son that’s been missing from the sheik’s palace for several years. Anwar al’Makruk, the vizier to the sheik, has thought that possibly the empress, Alia Jamal, was somehow behind the missing Alakbar, but could never prove it. She wanted her son to take over the throne, since it was believed that madness ran in the sheik’s family. That’s basically it in a nutshell. All we have to do is make it back to Queen Kazabet, alive, and hope she can teleport us, and the sheik’s son back to Medina al’Afyal. I was informed by Alakbar that the guards won’t be checking on their prisoners until morning, so at first light, we make sure we leave.”

“What kind of people are we dealing with?” Ravin asked.

“From what Alakbar has told me, he was kidnapped by assassins,” Erlic answered

“How good do you think these assassins are?” Ravin inquired, “And are we still going after the branches first before we return to the queen?”

Erlic didn’t want to reveal too much about how he knew such information. Turan Deathstalker, the leader of the assassin’s guild in Bizmar had heard of the Nerombian association of assassins, and tried his best to get a foothold within that organization, all to no avail. Those he did send out, never returned, and it was after that, that Turan decided perhaps it was for the best not to get involved. “From the sources that I’ve heard, there are many fractions of assassins throughout Neromba. These so called fractions are religious zealots who care nothing about dying, as long as their mission is completed. Most of these fractions are as good as normal fighters. Many of them are quite clumsy. So fighting them isn’t really too much of a problem unless....”

Ravin continued to stare at his friend wondering what the unless meant. “I have heard from sources that the main assassin group is ruled by one called the grandfather of assassins, and his men are the most elite of the group. I believe that it was they who had the youth kidnapped, and then gave him over to one of their fractions to keep watch over. No one really knows who, or what, the godfather is, or if he truly exists. Many say that he’s a myth, but there are others who claim that he is the power. That’s about all I know. And yes, Alakbar will come with us to retrieve the branches.”

Erlic poured himself a cup of the java, and looked around. “When we leave in the morning, Ravin, I want you up front with Rowan. Between the two, you should be able to check things out quite satisfactorily. I’ll watch our backs.”

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