It seems that Rhotan Vor likes us, as he has asked for our assistance once again. This time, it is a somewhat larger task—not finding a missing wagon but instead a missing treasure, lost during the systematic destruction of a great merchant house many years ago. Though he promises us great wealth, something tells me there is more danger to this than he would have us believe—why else would he need to hire us to do this, instead of doing it himself? We have heard whispers that the elders of the extinguished house Madar had sealed themselves in with their treasure in a tomb, and their ghosts guard the treasure for eternity. I do not believe in ghosts or gods, but still I am unsure if I feel comfortable disturbing the rest of the dead.
We spent another day in Altaruk, preparing for our journey, and were approached by an elf named Isiel to deliver a letter during our stop in Silverspring Oasis, home to many elves. Raina seemed somewhat optimistic about our visit with the Silverspring elves; I did not realize why until we got there and she asked them about her mother, whom she was separated from at a young age and wishes to find again. Unfortunately, the Silverspring Oasis elves were not able to provide any help, but she seems stubborn enough to keep trying and ask every elf we ever meet until she finds her mother.
The travel to Silverspring Oasis was normal for Athasian travel—hot and unpleasant. The boredom of trekking down a sandy road under the sun’s heat was broken up by an incident with raiders at the small muddy so-called Crimson Oasis. As we approached the ‘oasis’ ready to sit and rest and eat a midday meal, bandits burst suddenly from the water and attacked us. Once again, Raina burst into action to keep them away from those of us who don’t wear much in the way of armor (Khadar, Brandis and myself) and Marok also took quite a beating so that we would not. I have come to value having companions such as these; I don’t know that I could handle the dangers of travel without a group watching my back. Even Khadar, annoying as he is, has proved useful. Especially when telling boastful stories to impress our elven hosts in Silverspring Oasis—it makes one wonder how much of what he says is true, considering how natural he found it to bluff and lie to the elven chief.
Convincing the elves to help us was hard going all around, and we all tried our best to sweet talk their chief, Toramun. Khadar told extravagant stories of our travels while Raina and I tried to reason and negotiate with him as much as possible. Even quiet Brandis was able to surprise Toramun by discussing with him an in-depth knowledge of the flora and fauna of Silverspring Oasis and the surrounding region. I am finding that Brandis does not speak much but when he does it is often worth listening to. Marok was silent, as usual, but Toramun seemed impressed by his imposing stature and the multitude of weapons he carries and wields. Eventually, we managed to negotiate a price with Toramun--they would tell us all they knew of the canyon of Gothay in exchange for two days worth of supplies. We judged it worth the price, especially considering that Rhotan Vor had agreed to pay our expenses for this journey.
After our audience with Toramun, we wandered around the oasis looking for information on Raina's mother and conversing with people before we retired for the night. In the morning, we set out with a fresh start towards the canyon. It was going fairly well, the usual trekking through sand and heat, until we were ambushed by archers and... a defiler. I hadn't seen a defiler since I left Tyr and its templars behind, and I didn't miss them at all! Raina rashly ran in, as is her nature, and drew fire from the archers and the defiler both. I watched in horror as she was filled with arrows like a pin cushion--I truly feared for her life. She quickly went down, but Brandis was able to patch her back up and get her on her feet again. Though Raina, Marok and Khadar were all at times grievously injured throughout the fight (and one of the archers attacked me and I fear it might actually scar) we did manage to prevail, slaying the defiler and his friends before they could kill us all. Much as I hate to admit it, Khadar managed some impressive sorcery--it was almost amusing to watch him knock the defiler off his mount, the arcanist landing in an undignified heap on the sandy ground, as Khadar browbeat him and his allies with sorcery.
Once the battle was over, we all tended to our wounds and I did my best to tend mine so there would be minimal scarring. The leg wound would not be immediately obvious to your average person, but in my line of work people tend to notice scars no matter how well hidden they might normally be. I grumbled over my wound (much to Raina's chagrin, as she snapped at me to "quit whining", Khadar laughed that I had finally been injured as well, and even Brandis mocked me to some degree, using his favorite mocking nickname of "princess," which I happen to think is quite a compliment really) as I limped the rest of the way to the Canyon of Gothay.
The canyon was an impressive sight, much deeper and taller up close than it appeared from a distance. Though the walls of the canyon rose only one hundred feet or so above our heads. the floor of the canyon was a full 100 feet below us. I dreaded trying to climb down or up or around the canyon to find the cave that we sought. And truly, although we knew it was meant to be a cavern of some kind that held the treasure of House Madar, Rhotan Vor had failed to mention one little detail.
There are hundreds of caves and caverns of all shapes and sizes in the Canyon of Gothay.
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