Wading across takes no time, helped by the rope, the other end held by a not very surprised Nixa.

"Thought you'd come. They're inside" he whispers.

Going into the cave Kobal can see light coming from the back of the dark space, shining down on stone stairs that go upwards...

It's too dark to see what's in the cave where he is now, though the Ranger can roughly make out what may be a statue to his immediate left.

As he stares around there's a sharp crack of rock breaking coming from up above, where the wide stairs lead to and the light is.

"That'll be Sand Fox and Ohanzee" adds Nixa sighing for effect.

Kobal gives a gap-toothed smile at the Red Thorn brave, and claps him on the shoulder as well, continuing past him.

At the sound of the crack, he hurries (as quietly as he can) up the stairs, shield on one arm, a couple of javelins in the other.  What is that Ohanzee up to now?!

Kobal finds himself in another large chamber, smooth walled, floored and ceiling, in the centre of which is a large hole. Everything looks as if it has been flooded many times and that the water heads up into the hole in the ceiling.

How can Kobal see? In the furthest wall there are two stone slabs, similar to the one across the river in the tunnel where the rest of the Rangers now camped. One on the right and one on the left.

One of the slab's bases had cracked and there before it was Sand Fox, who was in the process of giving Ohanzee a leg up to peer through the newly formed gap at the top, a small fat lamp in his hand....

Kobal walks up Sand Fox, and claps a hand on that brave's shoulder in greeting.

"What's going on?" he hisses.  "Did you two break the stone?  Why not leave that for the morning?  Who knows what is in there?"

He closes his eyes a moment, helm on his head, again try to reach out with his senses through his feet, into the Earth, across in the direction of the slab that Ohanzee is looking into.

To his familiar, he thinks "Haaro, do you sense any spirits in the caves where I am?"  Maybe I should have made sure the cat was awake before I made my way here...
This message was last edited by the player at 10:53, Sun 20 Sept 2015.

Sand Fox, his attention fully on helping Ohanzee, lets out a yell and drops Ohanzee....

A tired sounding cat responds "Too... far.... away...Where are you anyway?"

Ohanzee picks himself upand brushes the dust from himself "Did I break it?!" he responds with indignity whilst brushing himself down "We were just taking a look when one of them gave way at the bottom."

He taps the broken slab <blue>"In this one is the priest by the looks of it, at least his remains." Then somewhat indignantly he adds "No it can't wait till morning. For a start we'll be heading off for the Harpies with no time."

"Secondly it's a good job we came now, fate perhaps. This slab wouldn't last and at least we are the right people to keep up the honour that these did, if the baboons or worse go digging around." He shakes his head with a sigh "Well, they'd not respoect the Serpent."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:46, Mon 21 Sept 2015.

Sand Fox grins at Kobal "It's a temple to the Serpent. There's a statue down below, gotta be him and maybe his wife. Not sure what she is though."

"What do you make of that?" and he points at the hole in the ceiling.

"Wonder where it goes?"

Ohanzee nods to Sand Fox "Yes, wife would be my guess, but like you I don't know what kind of woman she is, erm or perhaps was." With reverence he adds "Very fine but not in a way I've ever seen before"

Looking up at the hope "Don't know, but wherever it goes that's the same way that the water goes looking at the way the walls are worn here."

"Make yourself useful Kobal, give us a boost up and I'll take a look."

Kobal groans inwardly.  The type of excuse you'd expect from a Raven.



"And how are we going to 'keep up the honour' of the temple?  We can't stay here guarding it.  All you've done is make it easier for others to desecrate this place," he hisses in reply.  He has fresh in his mind Emesh-Ga's interpretation of the carvings across the water - the Wandering Rangers as friends of water.  And here they are knocking holes in the temple.



With a sigh, the brave gets down to give his shorter companion a leg up.  "I've sensed that beyond it is a square room, about half the size of this room."



"I'm in the cave across the riverbank, with Blue Arm, Sand Fox and Nixa.  No trouble.  For now."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:08, Mon 21 Sept 2015.

Standing on Kobal's shoulders Ohanzee can just reach the lip of the hole with his fingers. Holding the lamp up he can see that the hole is in fact the start of a very long passage that vanishes upwards into darkness.

Wind from outside passes by, fluttering the weak flame so that it goes out, before whooshing upwards.  Once his eyes quickly grow accustomed to his natural element the Raven brave can just make out a tiny circle of sky far above.

"I detect several strong spirits close by" mentions Enapay to Ohanzee.

"They are not what I would call very happy."

"It's a shaft." says Ohanzee "It goes all the way up to the top, or at least all the way to the outside directly above here. Whether that is the top or not I don't know."

"Let me down now, Eyota says there are strong spirits about and they are not best pleased."

As he is lowered he adds "I hope Nathair Sliabh didn't have in mind that we should climb up there, it didn't look an easy climb for some of you, not with the water worn rock."

Sand Fox takes the extinguished lamp from Ohanzee and lights it quickly

"Probably Upset with us messing around here. What did you see in the room?" adds the Red Thorn brave looking around fearfully as if expecting to be attacked at any moment.

"I think it is a burial, a bit like the Mostali one but maybe not. In the middle of the room lays a box, a box that looks to be made of some stone but from here I couldn't tell. The lid looks to have been carved to look like there is a person laying on top of it." He shrugs "Or maybe it is a person laying on top and the box is a solid lump of stone."

"There's some kind of clothing hanging on a cross stood upright in the far corner, definitely a cloak hung over something or somethings else and some kind of head gear."

He scratches at the scar over his hose from the hyena broo "I think it is the priest's resting place. Maybe the priestess."
He fixes Kobal with his dark eyes "It can hardly be my fault if time takes its tole on a place. There has been a lot of time passed by here since it was sealed."
"Anyway, we do not have to honour the temple, we do not have to stay. I have already offered up prayers to the two and I'm sure that something can be done to help without settling here."

"After all, it was Nathair Sliabh who sent us this way after we summoned him, we hunt the things that foul his waters with his blessing..." He peters out as he realizes that he should be saying this to others.

"Spirits, followers of Nathair Sliabh, we are the Wandering Rangers, Earth Knights, Greeners of the land and friends of the Waters. I am Ohanzee Shappa, Blue Arm, Betrothed of Kinope daughter of Zola Fel descended from Seolinthur."

"I called to Nathair Sliabh and he came to us, spoke to us, aided us. We are on a quest to rid these hills from the creatures above that foul his waters and he sent us here to find his path up the hill."

"By his words I carry the mark of the river, I am a Chosen of Seolinthur" Whatever that might be... can't hurt to try it now! "We come here at Nathair Sliabh's bidding and mean no disrespect. If our appearance has caused offence I apologise for all of us Wandering Rangers."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:58, Mon 21 Sept 2015.

"Aye," grunts Kobal in agreement.  Not a good start, disturbing the spirits of the temple.

He listens to Ohanzee's explanation, and nods, but still wonders how much was the stone falling into ruin, and how much was the braves helping the ruin...

As the Sky Watcher addresses the spirits, Kobal bows his head slightly in respect, though still keep an eye out, in case the spirits are malicious, or have brought corporeal aid.  "Lord Emesh-Ga," he says quiety, "if you could add some words on our behalf and allay the spirits' concerns, this might help avoid any conflict between friends."

Emesh-Ga materializes next to the three braves, his ghostly form illuminating the cave far better than the weak fat lamp, and it's then that the Rangers see the two spirits flowing, one from each stone sealed room...

Old...So very old, for their existence on this plane looks very weak and none of the braves have ever seen clothing or regalia quite like it.

The nearest, most certainly a female looks angry as she slips from her resting place, the broken slab creaking ever so slightly as she passes. Her male companion looks only slightly more welcoming...


"They speak truth, and I speak as Emesh-Ga, Earth Knight once in the service of Genert himself and a Captain of the Tadashi. These brave men's ancestors fought with Genert with your people too...Now as the Blue Arm says we are once more the Wandering Rangers here to right the wrongs and return the land to how it once was."

By Raven why does this sort of thing always happen to me! He kneels before the two angered spirits Guardans, servants of Nathair Sliabh please do not punish my fellow Rangers for what has happened here."

"As Nathair Sliabh must keep flowing we Rangers must keep wandering and I am sworn to this cause before all others. But I offer you my service to make amends for any harm done."

At Emesh-Ga's words the two spirits stop their advance, instead moving towards the Earth Knight where they join for what seems like several very long minutes.

Then separating Emesh-Ga speaks

"They have agreed not to start hostilities..."

The female spirit approaches Ohanzee, swirling through the air to examine his arm

"Tell me why you are here, intruding in our final resting place....."

She turns to her companion who also approaches

"He bears the mark."

"I urm.." he looks at Emesh-Ga, at Kobal and at Sand Fox then back to the two swirling apparitions. Perhaps just the truth is the best option this time! His shoulders sag ever so slightly "My curiosity tends to get the better of me."

"That is to say duty to the Earth brought us, brought me to theses hills, Nathair Sliabh brought me here to the arch and curiosity brought me into this place."

He smiles slightly weakly "I didn't actually know what this was, that you rested here." He shrugs "I thought that there might be something to help our cause, the path onwards or information. Curiosity."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 16:16, Mon 21 Sept 2015.

Kobal remains still as the Earth Captain speaks, but he bows his head as the spirits approach, though not low enough that he can't keep watch on them, in case the spirits show any attacking intent.

The spirits are attired in strange clothes, which seems to fit them loosely and flow about them, or perhaps that is because they seem only to have a tenuous manifestation in this mundane plane, sometimes appearing to shift back into the spirit world.

The female spirit seems to wear a dress of some nature, with long sleeves and a hem that reaches to her ankles, but composed of strips rather than one piece, some wide, some as thin as twigs and slim branches, some seem to flow about her body as she moves, others appear fixed in place.  About her throat is a necklace of some stones Kobal has not seen the like before. Some whitish, some a glossy grey, the stones are roughly round, yet have very thick ridges evenly around them.

The male spirit is similarly dressed, yet arrayed behind his neck and head is a display of what look like spines, like those at the back of some lizards of the wastes.  Instead of a necklace, on his head rests a strange helmet - if it is a helmet; Kobal can't tell what it's made of - with a peaked corner at the front, but which then curves up and down as it rises over the back of the man's head.

Seeing that Emesh-Ga's words appear to have pacified the spirits, he quietly gives his thanks, knowing that the Captain will hear even such whispered words.  "Lord, thank you for your intervention for our sake."

As the spirits address Ohanzee, apparently no longer so angry, Kobal bows his head lower, more respectfully, and raises his fist, still clutching his javelins, over his heart.

Why does Ohanzee always cause this kind of trouble?!  Instead of voicing his thoughts, he says during a pause in the talk, "Wise Ones, forgive our trespass.  We meant no harm.  As the Lord Emesh-Ga has said, we are friends of the waters.  The spirit of the serpent told us of a path that lead us to this place."  He keeps his words brief as the spirits seem more interested in the Rhino brave.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:21, Mon 21 Sept 2015.

The two oddly clothed spirits swarm around Ohanzee, their ghostly forms hiding the brave momentarily from view, causing Sand Fox to rattle his spear in concern.

Thankfully they pull back to answer both Kobal and Ohanzee.

"You were sent by the river, he son of our long dead god."

"Why did he send you here?"

"For what reason are you here, where the Serpent mates with the Earth?"

Ohanzee's mind is working overtime trying to keep up with events as he listens to their response, filling in gaps The son of their long dead god. So they were servants of Seolinthur the father. By Raven they are so very, very old!

So much must have happened, so much and they have been away from it for so long, away from life. No wonder this place was abandoned if it was here for the worship of a great spirit that died.

The takes a breath and chooses his words for those who perhaps were gone before this place as it is now. "Chaos abounds in the land. We come to these hills to do the Earth's bidding."

"In the hills above this place there is a nest of Chaos tainted Harpies that plague the land about and spread their filth all about."

"These same creatures pollute the the waters of Nathair Sliabh and so we help the Earth and we help Water in our quest."

"I asked Nathair Sliabh if there was a path that we could follw through the hills to take us to the top out of view of the Harpies rather than climb outside in their view and he said what we seek could be found along his length where the archway crosses the waters."

"A path?"

"There is but one path here and that is where Water mates with Earth...."

Here both spirits rise up to the wide opening in the roof of the cave.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:12, Tue 22 Sept 2015.

Kobal watches as the spirits float up to the ceiling.

"Wise Ones, is there some way for we men to take this path?  To follow the way of the Water?"