Cave Twenty-Six

We finally arrived at cave twenty-six. It was light out, and I was bored and impatient. I just wanted to go in, but Merosh made it a point to try to sniff out who's been in or out. I count on him and Fy and Thallan for that, I suppose. I guess you can never be careful enough here in Kitchwa. It turns out the cave was clearly inhabited, but the bugbears we encountered posed little challenge. Fy's bear antics were in full force again. This time she fell on her face trying to leap of of Merosh's back. I'll never forget the hilarious thud.
 
Our journey to the rear of the cave provided what we seek: a chest covered in bones. To no one's surprise, there were magical elements to it. A daring look inside produced some stones that seemed tied to the elements Air, Earth, Water, Fire, and Ice. That's what something said anyway. More interesting was a note from Aman al'Rakhib to Eliminster, that he'd unraveled the mystery of Martek, and that there was a prophecy that four heroes would present themselves.
 
As we scrutinized the contents of the bone chest, some trolls (or some big things, anyway) came back to what could only be their hideout cave. We quickly arranged the stones in a certain way, making some sort of portal. Fy had a great idea to lure the trolls into the portal, but the prophecy that we'd just read seemed to pull us through instead. Where we found ourselves was truly bizarre.
 
In front of us was a man who described himself as Aman al'Rhakib. It's crazy that the paper and the stones took us right to him, right? Interestingly enough, Aman seemed to be a person of magical influence. He inquired our intentions, and, after feeding us a large story about the Star of Aga-Pelar, sent us on our way fetch it from the lost Garden City of Pazar. Why we accepted so readily remains a mystery, but you could call it fate. I will note that Thallan received a magical letter-opener, of which I don't know is safe or not.
 
We left Aman's and shopped for provisions for the desert journey. Some camels, tents, and other provisions were paid for by the group, at least. It'll have to do for now. Hopefully we can find more gold on the journey since I won't be able to collect payment on the bone chest. I can only assume that we're really, really far from where I need to report my findings. My reputation will take a hit for this one. At least Qatrun was nice enough. His camels were fine and his manner even better. I'll remember him.
 
I wonder what makes us do things that we shouldn't, like jump through a portal when our livelihood resides in the delivery of a bone box. I also wonder why we are still going to Pazar when one in my group clearly spotted some form of deception from Aman. Maybe it's because we need to do something different for a change.