The rest of the night went on with an uneasy silence. The rain died down toward dawn and in the first damp moments of daylight, we got up from our restless camp and prepared to explore the mine. Stiff joints and sore muscles, our eyes like sand and our lungs still tiredly wanting for breath, the worry had afforded us only minimal sleep.
Heddro led on to the site and we all stopped at the edge of the forest. Cherry moved out ahead to get a closer look and noticed two dog-sized lizards sit up on their back legs and sniff the air. They hopped up on pedestals to either side of the mine entrance and looked out across the clearing. They began to sound a horrible alarm upon seeing Cherry. Having already been spotted, we moved in. They seemed like dragons, but had no wings, so I assumed they were drakes. Whatever they were, the noise they made was awful. Great guard lizards! If my studies were correct, they would understand language, but these two seemed disinclined to communicate as we were clearly intruders. Regrettably, we would have to finish them before we could get into the mine.
They were vicious fighters, but hardly a challenge for five of us. We cut through them with no trouble. Once their calls had been silenced, Cherry was able to hear voices from inside the mine. A girl, it sounded like Esmerelda, and the voice that we had heard last night. We walked in slowly and noticed that while the entrance of the mine was man-made, it opened into a natural cave. Just as we got to the body of the cave, a dark figure fled behind a rocky crag and disappeared. In the center of this room, a ghostly figure waited and addressed us.
It gave the name Kalarel, and this place had once been a nest. The dragon bones sticking out of the ground confirmed that nothing had lived here for a long time. Kalarel was in search of an egg and would stop at nothing to find one, but there are none left at this place. He bargained with our lives that we should bring him one. I never mentioned the egg that I was carrying, and Iceborn never mentioned the eggs we had sent with Herrick as he continued to search for this spirit’s motive.
“If you cannot bring me an egg, then his nest will also be your tomb as well,” Kalarel said as skeletal arms began to reach up out of the ground. Dragonborn skeletons rose up and surrounded us. The spirit faded and we were left to fight off his minions. Cherry tried to keep an eye out in the direction the other figure had fled, hoping we would not be blindsided. The minions lashed out at us, slicing into a few of us. They left some nasty gashes, but nothing as bad as what the orcs had done. We were able to take them down, but lost the girl. When things were quiet again, we looked around the cave. Nothing more than bones filled the room, but someone noticed a hand protruding from a shallow grave. It was cold and stiff but still had flesh.
“It looks like it may have been there a bit too long to be the boy’s father,” I said as we started to dig. I wish I had been right. It was, in fact, the father. He was badly mutilated, but there was still enough of him to attempt to resurrect at the temple. Though I would have preferred to leave the body, I told the boy I would find his father and we needed to try to bring him back.
We rigged some branches together to carry the body back to town and did our best to cover him up with the tarp. The guards met us on the way into town and asked what our business was. We explained that we had located the father of the boy we had just brought in the night before and needed badly to get him to the temple. The guards escorted us as townspeople looked on curiously. Once we arrived at the Temple of Pelor, the priests took us in, but the guards suspiciously would not enter.
“I think I can see why your efforts make no headway,” I said to the priest. “It seems the cult has their hands in the local law enforcement.”
The priest nodded an unfortunate confirmation. He and some others took the body into a private chamber and closed the door. We waited for a while and finally he emerged with a troubled expression. They had been unable to resurrect the father. His soul refused to come back.
“What could have been so horrible that he wouldn’t come back for his son?” Iceborn pondered aloud. “This cult must have some terrible rituals.”
“We have an idea of who is leading them. There was an apparition that called itself Kala…something…” I said.
“Kalarel, yes, he was a scholar, obsessed with the ruins of the old temple. My advice to you is to pack up and be on your way,” the priest told us, “Don’t get yourself involved in this any further.”
We explained that we were already involved, because the cult worshipped the same god as the people we were trying to stop. Possibly the reason this boy and his father had been attacked was their business with us. I held out my coin pouch to the priest and told him to take the money I had left to help with the boy. I felt awful for being unable to help, but the priest assured me the temple could afford to care for him. After explaining our situation, the priest allowed us to rest at the temple for the night. Heddro still refused to enter, so we left him to find a comfortable tree to sleep in as the rain had let up.
