Being the first time that Hamburg had actually been inside the Temple of Usamigaras, he was of course very curious. Wishing to touch and examine the few relics in the austere office, he kept getting stern looks from the staff.

"There are a handful of interred which have been entombed for what we believe to be a very, very long time. They are no threat, but the history is curious. We were wondering if perhaps your order knew of or possessed such history about them?"

"There is also one door which we could not figure out how to open, or if was indeed a door which could be opened for that matter. As it appeared there was no sign of disturbance, undead or otherwise, we assume that whatever lies beyond remains in eternal slumber as well."

"Head down there myself?  By the Three, no!" the man gasps out in startlement at Elboc's invitation.  "We'll send a contingent from each of the three ancient orders, and they will verify this."

The man loses focus again after this more lucid and direct statement, then addresses Hamburg, "One door you couldn't open?  I seem to remember something about a false door, but there might have been a door that was never supposed to be opened..."  He gives a dry chuckle before continuing, under his breath, "No, they should never open that door..."

Lanliss's elven ears picked up on his muttering.

"Pray tell us why? You know what curiosity leads adventurers such as ourselves to attempt!"

Voran cocks his head. "Yes, please do share more."

The man sits, insensate, for a moment, then give a bit of a startled glance around, "Share what?" he demands in a plaintive and somewhat distracted voice.  "You people keep coming here and asking me for money!  Is that the only reason you come here?  Don't you care about your poor, old uncle anymore?"

He turns and lapses into muttering before taking a keen interest in the gilt edge of a small framed portrait of Usamigaras.

Voran clears his throat. "We would like the payment due for our services, sir, if you would please."

Roak rolls his eyes but waits to hear what the man says to this.

"Oh!  Yes!  The undead!  Of course!" he blusters, obviously recalling where he his for a moment.  He then calls out into the hall beyond and instructs another member of his order to fetch the payment.

It takes several long minutes before a group of four masked members of the Magi of Usamigaras shuffle their way back into the room, each holding the corner of a large chest, obviously struggling under its weight.

They set the chest down and open its top, revealing the promised 20,000 pieces of gold.

Elboc scratches his head. "Does anyone know where we can buy some mules?"

"What's a mule?" the exchequer asks, looking as if Elboc just babbled some random bunch of almost-word-sounds.

Roak looks like he's going to faint. "Thank you, sir, pleasure doing business with you!" He nods to Vsaati and moves to help pick up the chest!

"I've spoken to your uncle, he's resting well." Hamburg said to the priest, apparently sharing a parallel experience. "When my research is complete, I shall raise him from his slumber, but for now, know that his slumber is undisturbed." The odd wizard reached up to pat the scraggly stuffed raven wired to his shoulder.

Hearing something of interest from the others in the group, he turned his masked face in their direction. After a moment he seemed to understand. "I think he means some of the pack guar or perhaps a rothé... Their speech is rather odd is it not? Mule is probably some beast of burden, maybe like a giant cave spider..." He shrugged at those holding the chest.

"What do you plan to do with all of that?" Hamburg asked the others. "It's pretty yes, but very heavy and otherwise nearly worthless..."

Elboc gives Roak a hand with the chest. Time to get it out of there before worrying about how to get it to the flesh pots of civilisation, ready to be squandered.

Voran clears his throat. "Yes, good sir, can you tell us: where can we acquire a beast of burden?"

"A what?" the old man seems to be confused.  "Do you want to use some goats to carry this for you?" he asks.  "If so, you can find some farmers, sometimes, to the west, near the chasm."

"You don't have mules or donkeys in this part of the cavern? Even a cargo-lizard or something?"

Roak grunts. "Farmers are fine, thanks, fellow. Everyone, let's go west!"

The trek to the west, just out of the city, is fairly short.  The small herds of goats are easily found, grazing on lichens, eyes and fur bleached white by generations underground.  The farmers are not so easy to find, but when found, they ask for a variety of strange things in return for the goats.

One of them finally, seeming more lucid than the rest, demands two pieces of gold per goat, each of which should be able to carry around 150 pounds of weight.  He doesn't even think to mention fodder.

OOC:
How many goats would you all like?

OOC: I guess we need to figure out how much our total treasure weighs. Then again, we could probably buy all of the goats and use some to carry fodder and water.

Roak surveys the goats and grins. "It's a start. We'll take a dozen goats! If you have that many..."

Voran's eyes go wide and he mutters, "And that's when he became Roak the Goatmaster..."

Negotiation for the goats takes some time.  Several of the local insert themselves in the proceedings, some demanding bizarre things like "more frogs", or "a little wiggle", and those who ask for money have wildly varying amounts they request.  When the dealings are completed, the price is 15 pieces of gold, and the dozen goats are transferred, along with lead-ropes, several pounds of dried lichen each, and several gallons of water per head (in goat-skin bags).

Elboc chuckles at paying 15 GP to get this vast treasure away.

"I guess we now need to take all these goats up to the surface then."

Roak, it must be said, looks rather pleased with himself. "Simple plan: Lanliss, Elboc, Voran and I each take three goats each and lead them up. Hamburg, you go ahead of us and get people out of the way. Time to make our way up and out of this place!"

The trip back up from the underground city, and up through the buried step pyramid pass much more easily than the initial trip down.  Very few people need to be cleared from the path, and those who do move aside without much complaint.

The three cylinders in the upper room, connected by ladders to the floor below and the mechanical works of the three great statues atop the pyramid, do present some difficulty with the goats.  Even so, the party soon haul their treasure up through the vertical openings, then rig slings to haul the goats up after them.

A mere half hour after starting the process of ascending through the cylinders, the party is standing under the open sky, just minutes after dawn.  The sandstorm which initially separated our heroes (minus Hamburg) from their caravan has completely passed.

OOC:
Game continues here.