The Tale of The Ziggurat
Rix's eyes gleam with satisfaction at capturing the interest of an audience. He signals for another mead and straightens his posture. A brief flash of his sharp white teeth show an almost predatory anticipation like a wolf going in for a successful kill. Here is a man who treats storytelling like the most serious of hunts evidently.
"Once when the world was younger yet, a great evil dragon queen was slain on a particular site and the site was buried to seal the taint of so vile a darkness. Time passed as it will and only the greatest of scholars and bards, such as myself, remembered the histories therein.'
'It came to pass that an altar was constructed to seal the evil into the earth and priests set to guard this altar from evil only they were not prepared when several thousands of years ago, Abylos (a warlike civilization) raided the great ziggurat of Ul-Khaz'kul within the ancient nation of Uru'Nuk, the very site I profess to tell you of, friend. It is said that the Abylos entered the temple, slaughtered the priests and priestesses, and desecrated the altar with their actions.'
'However, it was not a true coup, no, for the High Priest cast powerful magics which sunk the altar, this famed ziggurat, deep into the earth so that the evil wind which howled from the bowels of the slain queen's grave could not release its evil into the lands above. The poor priest in the doing doomed himself, the surviving holy ones, and the men of Abylos to imprisonment within the ziggurat. The warriors were eventually slain by the dragon queen's servants.'
'Tis said their souls cannot escape the altar, either. And the poor priestly personages are corrupted by the vile evil as well. It's said in olden times, that one could hear perversions of the old holy chants once said near the structure..."
Rix pauses to sip some mead, his voice which had fallen hushed with the telling, returned to normal. "It's a wicked tale of an old evil. Some would call it silly as no one finds its credible that Tiamat was slain there but gods have been known to die and come back, so I suppose it's possible, eh? So what do you think?"
Before you have a chance to speak, he adds with a nod to the map, "One of the legends associated with the sunken altar abound about an Inscribed Tablet etched with curious glyphs and a map with a legend written in a language that appears to resemble Infernal. I've never seen the Tablet, only professed rubbings of the etchings...which is what you appear to have in your possession. It's curious that you have it. I'm interested in the historical value but there are adventurers seeking the map for its rumored treasure within the altar."
"The treasure is not such that I would call it but weapons that were instrumental in slaying the dragon queen are said to be within the Ziggurat: a spear, a bow, a knife, and a mace. However, I find it more interesting that there are stirrings amongst the guise of those who worship a black scorpion interested in seeking out that altar and raising the essence of the great evil back to a semblance of controlled power."
Rix settles back in his chair. "But that is all I know, and the last speculation, though activities on the trade route seem support this great Bard's theories. So again, I ask, what do you think, Holy One?"
(OOC: The last question he has directed at Alistair.)