The Forgotten City XXXIX
General Summary
Riven, Khufu, Teleptyon and Kegho made their way up the wall to the north of the forge room and to the edge of the yawning chasm where frayed rope and two posts anchored in stone were all that remained of the bridge. Even with the blaze of Riven's brooch, blessed Theophilus to cast light in the darkness, the three could not see the far side or the bridge that lay hanging there. With quick mental calculations, Riven hooked lengths of rope to a grapple and shot it into the darkness hearing it clatter against stone, drop and catch on wood. They called for Alex and Theo to retrieve the rest of the party from the meditation room.
Riven, Kegho and Khufu began to pull the bridge up when an arrow sailed out of the darkness and caught Riven in the torso causing her great injury and narrowly avoiding being fatal. She covered her scarab so as not to be an obvious target. Teleptyon intoned words as pale red St. Elmo's fire danced across his finger tips. He reached into Kegho's quiver and the nascent tongues of flame danced and mingled among the arrows in his quiver.
Using memory and instinct, Kegho drew his bow and imagined where on the far side the arrow would have come from and loosed one of his own. He heard a pained grunt almost carried off by the whipping winds of the chasm and then saw a great, hairy form burst into flames on the other side casting light and shadow around him. An arrow the guard had fired moments before clattered uselessly on the floor by Riven's feet. "You look like a Barry," Riven whispered as she put the arrow in her quiver.
A second guard partially illuminated by the flickering light of a burning guard was badly wounded as Teleptyon sent bolts of focused Ar careening across the chasm at him.
After gathering the new members of the party, Alex closed the door once more behind him tittering "this never gets old."
Another volley of arrows crossed the chasm, Kegho being injured, the partially hidden guard bursting into flames and the already burning one stuck by an arrow from Riven. He dropped to the ground and began to roll and a second arrow from Riven caught him in the leg as he lie prone. The already burning one collapsed to the ground dead.
After putting himself out the guard began to run down the corridor toward the arena. Riven and Khufu tied off the bridge, Khufu admiring Riven's skill with rope, but suggesting the whole thing would be more stable with more anchor points and began to cross just as Theo, Alex, Elissa, Herk, The Jiam and Mitra reached the forge room. The Jiam glared at the manacles under the table before scooping Mitra up and with Alvi nimbleness ascending the vines. They crossed and Alex seached the dead guard finding more Shayrid coinand a long bow and quiver as well as a hand axe. He handed the longbow to Antonious and pocketed the coin.
They made their way to the exit of the cave, once more preparing to enter the decrepit remains of the once-great Rusati Arena where they had lost their great companion Asbjørn Þórsteinnsson to vicious half-Djeti mongrelmen. Kegho again took the lead and stepped out into the arena, now silent but for a lone, wounded guard fleeing toward the gates on the other side.
Alex took several quick steps before loosing a sling bullet at the back of the guard, it struck him at the base of the skull and spattered his brains across the arena sand as he fell forward lifeless. They began to fan out searching for further threats. Alex knelt down to search this second guard for clues or loot but noticed a whisper-thin veil of fine dust rising from the arena floor as he felt the rumble of something large and yet unseen headed their way.
"Incoming" he hissed as loudly as he dared.
Rewards Granted
A quiver with 16 arrows
A hand axe
19 silver and 15 electrum coins of Shayrid design
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