"Now that's an interesting question," the bartender replies to Vogh. "Just the other day I was reminded about that. Of course, he reminds me once a month, but then I don't think he's got anything else to do. And, of course, he never forgets anything."

He glances back at the mirror behind the bar.

"He's in the back room. He says to send you back there. Use the door at the end here. That's the storeroom, but just inside on the right is a secret door to the backroom."

Although the bartender seems genuine and sincere, Tyrol wonders just how 'he' contacted the bartender just now.

"And just who and what is this 'he' we're supposed to go see?"

Not really expecting an answer, he shrugs his shoulders and heads to the indicated door.

"Oh?  I see and how long has 'He' been waiting?"  Vogh asked as well right after Tyrol.

"He's been here longer than I have," the bartender replies to Vogh, "but for how long overall, I couldn't say."

"The previous owner claimed the tavern  was build around him. That's silly, of course, since, if you look at the corner stone, it has the date on it. That means the tavern has been here over 500 years. Sounds like a long time, but there haven't been any invaders in this area for at least twice that long, and barring any accidental fires, no reason for the tavern not to have stood for that long. Sure, some maintenance has been done over the years, but nothing major."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you who was waiting. Better you see for yourself."

The information took Vogh by surprise.  If this man had been simply waiting for the for all these years he had to be old.  She hoped he was elven or some other of the long lived races.  Perhaps even a dragon?  Now this would be cool.  Vogh could wait to go see him.

Looking to Tyrol Vogh said, "Shall we then?"

"So, this guy is old?" Tyrol says as he's just about to go through the door.

"Sure hope that doesn't mean he's an Old One! Well... but, he's a guardian of a Green Star Wonder. Could he be an exception to the rule?"

"I am not quite sure what he is, but we have no choice but to go see him." Vogh said and opened the door to the back and went inside.

Going into the back room, you have to close the door before you can open the secret door. Stepping into the room behind the secret door, you see a large man sitting at a table. He's got kind of curly black hair down to his shoulders, and a matching beard and mustache.

Although he doesn't look particularly old, there does seem to be a touch of wisdom to his golden eyes.

The room seems a bit cluttered, with a lot of relics and bric-a-brac scattered around the room, lit by a single glowing gem in the ceiling.

You can see a single window on the right-hand wall, and you realize that it would be the wall out in the main room behind the bar... where there was a large mirror... about the same size as this window.

When you walk in, the man reaches out with one arm and pulls a black curtain over the window.

Vogh was about to say something when she walked into the room seeing the large man, but the man pulled the curtain on the two-way mirror.  Handy-looking thing as it were.  The man didn't seem old to Vogh but surely he was.  "Greetings, I am Vogh Kath and this is Tyrol.  May I inquire as to your name?"

"He doesn't have any arms," Tyrol commented to Vogh. "I don't think he's human."

It wasn't so much that he was trying to be nosy as he was just wondering what kind of creature he was dealing with, so he slowly started edging to the left around the end of the table.

As if to confirm Tyrol's statement, the 'man' stands up... and you now realize that he's an Androsphinx--he's got the body of a lion! Wings unfold from his back.

"I am Malikarinian. If I wanted to boast, I could say I knew you were coming. I only knew that someone would come one day. But is it you?"

As the Androsphinx stood to his full height and showed his true self, Vogh grinned wide.  She had never met one of his kind and this was certainly a treat.  "It is a pleasure to meet you Malikarinian!  I do certainly believe that we are the ones you have been waiting for.  Shall we sit and talk?  I would love to know all about you and what word you were given about what all this green star stuff is about."

"I knew Esmeralda, though not really as friends," the Androsphinx replies.

"It wasn't that I didn't believe her prophecies, or that they weren't real, but they were always subject to interpretation, especially hers. The bigger they were, the further into the future they were supposed to be, the more distorted the interpretation. At least, I always thought so."

"So, something bad was going to happen at some point far into the future. That much I believed. When Esmeralda asked me to guard one of the Wonders, as she called them, I agreed."

"That is a lot of responsibility she placed on you and others to watch over the items.  Did she happen to tell you what the item does that you are guarding?"  Vogh asked sincerely.

"No, she did not. It wouldn't have mattered. It wasn't something I could ever use, would ever use, or ever needed."

"On the other hand, if I did know, I might be tempted to use it anyway, right?"

"Besides, it would be needed to save the world, right? Why would I want to see the world end?"

"I think she only expected you to watch over the item as long as you lived and stayed here," Tyrol suggested.

"I don't know anything about your species, though clearly you are long-lived."

"Anyway, while I wouldn't mind sitting all day and chatting with you, Malikarinian, we've got a world to save. What do we have to do to get the Medallion?"

"You've already done it," replies Malikarinian. "You've asked for it and gave an old man conversation."

"It's out in the main room, wrapped in a black cloth and tucked into the mouth of the tiger head on the wall. And, no, it's not a trap."
This message was last updated by the player at 02:28, Fri 24 Sept 2021.

In the mouth of the lion?  How ironic!  Vogh thought to herself.  "We thank you for your duty and service to help save the world Malikarinian.  We will get it and return from whence we came.  What will you do now that your mission is completed?"

"I've considered several options, but I've grown accustomed to this place," the Androsphinx replies. "Occasionally, someone interesting stops in and I invite him to this room for conversation, some games, and assistance."

Vogh gave Malikarinian a warm smile and a nod before exiting the room and heading towards the lion.  As she neared she looked to Tyrol and said, "Be my guest!"

Tyrol didn't know if Vogh was making a joke at his expense when she offered to let him reach into the tiger's mouth and fetch the medallion or she was worried that Malikarinian might have lied about there being no trap in the tiger head's mouth.

He didn't believe it for one minute, though, since it didn't really make sense to do that.

So he pulled one of the chairs over to where the tiger head was mounted on the wall, climbed up onto the chair and was just barely able to reach into the head. He had no idea what the inside of a tiger's mouth was supposed to feel like, having never reached into one before, but he felt something that had the feel of cloth, so he grabbed it and pulled.

Tyrol felt something cloth-like, and while he didn't know what a tiger's tongue felt like, he did know how a typical housecat's tongue felt--it was kind of rough and gritty. This definitely wasn't it.

Pulling it out without the tiger head biting his hand off, he found he was holding a folded piece of black velvet.

He couldn't quite feel anything solid inside it because it was rather stiff, though, as he unfolded it, he quickly realized that it had been wrapped around a rectangle of folded up lead. It takes a little more effort to unfold the lead, but he knows how to do that readily enough, and soon reveals the medallion within.

Now that they had the Wonder that they had been looking for, he glanced around to see if the tunnel they'd come through was still there. It was. At least, it looked like it was. He suddenly wondered if other people could see it. If they could, could they enter it and travel back to the monastery?

"Anything else we need to do here, Vogh?" he asked her.

"I was wondering just how long the tunnel would stay open. We could probably close it by saying the magic word again, but don't know if it'd open after that. Like, is it still there but 'closed'?"

As Tyrol opened the wrapping and revealed the medallion, Vogh smiled.  It was a beautiful thing to see a d was another piece of the puzzle they were all trying to solve.

"I have no idea about the portal.  We can ask if anyone sees it but I doubt they can.  Let's head back and see if others were successful."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:23, Sun 31 Oct 2021.

The portal is still there, and it seems as if it was intended to come out in one of the shadowy corners of the Inn.

The only people that might have spotted it when it opened would have had to have been sitting at the nearby booth.

There still aren't many people in the place, so when you head to the portal, it would look like you were heading to the door.

You enter the portal without any problem, walk to the end, and you are back in the monastery.