Evening at the Standing Bear Inn in Olokand. Weyliri and Noctis are on stage entertaining the innfolk with harp, voice, and ocarina.
Tenktovie and 2 women enter the Standing Bear, carrying musical instruments. Tenktovie is carrying a rather large harp. As he points to the tables where most of the party are seated, the two women are gesturing toward the stage and chatting with each other. One of the women is a tall Human with auburn hair, a little on the slim side. Her resemblance to Tenktovie is obvious. The other woman is also Human, but shorter, curvier, and darker, with black wavy hair. Tenktovie brings the women over to the table and introduces his sister Misha and her friend Alma to the party. The members of the party, except for Weyliri and Rook who are on the stage, introduce themselves to the two women. They mention that Wynda told them they would have the stage tonight.
About that time, Weyliri winds down the song they were playing. Seeing that these two women at the table are carrying musical instruments, she invites them to come up. When they say they do not want to displace them, Weyliri asks them to join. The women talk animatedly for a few minutes, seeming to get excited and reaching agreement. Weyliri tells Noctis to listen until he gets the mood and then join in. Misha settles in behind her large harp, Weyliri holds her smaller lyre-harp, and Alma begins a slow rhythm on her bodhran. As Misha lays down the lower elements of the music, Weyliri starts playing counterpoint on her harp. She starts singing a verse in Sindarin in her lyrical soprano, and a few beats later Misha sings a similar line in harmony, but in Common tongue. Then, a few beats later, Alma joins in singing the same verse in a counter-melody, but in Azadmuk. They are singing a fugue of the Legend of the Battle of Sorrows in three languages! After a few measures, Noctis picks up the feel and tunes, in minor tone, and joins in with a sad sounding ocarina crying behind the women. When the song ends, there is dead silence for several heartbeats. Then the room erupts in applause, whistling, and shouting. The ladies launch into an upbeat jig as Weyliri puts down her lyre-harp and starts playing a fiddle. Quite a number of patrons get up to dance and the atmosphere becomes quite jovial and energetic. At one point Misha and Alma perform the Ballad of Ona-Setrum, by request from the audience. It is a tale about the sinkhole pit to the south of Olokand that supposedly is haunted by the spirit of the young Prince Brant of Nurelia, who was rumored to have been murdered and thrown into the pit while in possession of the Nurelia Crown Jewels. It is also rumored to house some sort of horrible creature, described variously as a hairless bear-man with wicked teeth and claws, or a turle-man with no shell. By the end of the night the quartet counts out 92sp in their hat on the stage.
Misha and Alma say their goodbyes and leave the Standing Bear. The rest of the party and the White Ravens retire to their rooms.
Noctis cast his Smite into his ring twice and asks Askelon to cast Shield into it.
Larane 4
The party gathers in the Standing Bear for Breakfast. Misha and Alma join them. Bish goes to prepare the animals for the trip south out of Olokand.
The party leads their horses and Bish's cart through Mycepris Square and then south through Olokand.
As they pass the well at the south end of Hemurin Market Square, Noctis notices marks on the well roof indicating that the Lia-Kavair are at the Amber Inn. He notes that for future reference.
As they cross the bridge over the Caliprast Stream the party can hear the moaning sound that was described in the Ballad of Ona-Setrum. Faelon swears he can hear words, although not in a language he understands. When Hjalgrimm agrees, the group discusses it and decides that they should ride over and check it out. They turn west and follow the path to the small hillock that surrounds the pit opening. The hillock rises about twenty feet. As they approach the opening, Bish exclaims that he does hear the words now, and it is not just wind through the caves. He says it is Terran, a language spoken by creatures that live in the ground. He learned it from his steading brothers, Gnomes, who lived under the hills in his home near the Sorkin Mountains. He listens for a moment, then tells the group that it is mostly humming and nonsense, but then he says "It says 'Hello, old friend', or in his tongue 'Halok malth nurn.'" It is a very low, gravelly, sound. Bish explains that he thinks this might be a 'living boulder' that his Gnome friends described. In Terran the name for this is 'Galeb Duhr'. He says they are intelligent and can be friendly if you do not bother or hurt them. They can be incredibly dangerous if you do harm them.
The group asks Bish to talk into the hole. He says his voice might be too shrill, but he can try. He calls into the hole "Halok Nurn." No change. Bish convinces Hjalgrimm to try, and the Khuzdul does his best to imitate the language of the Galeb Duhr. The sound stops. Then, clearly, a response. "Halek Nurn!" Bish translates. The group tells Hjalgrimm to ask it to come out. "Nurn kjom." The response is quick and terse. "Atur." No, translates Bish. Then from the hole, "Jyn nurn kjom." New friend come. The group members look at each other and discuss. They decide that only fools would go down into the hole, so they decide to go down into the hole.
They gather three fifty foot lengths of rope along with twine and spikes. Denneth expertly splices the ropes into one length, and he and Rhyna ties foothold knots every three feet to aid in the descent. Denneth fashions a harness of two loops of rope and tosses the end into the hole.
Hjalgrimm takes the lead in descending into Ona-Setrum, followed by Faelon, then Noctis, then Tenktovie, and finally a slightly reluctant Askelon. The hole is 120' deep, opening above a cave chamber with a 16' tall ceiling. There is practically no light as the sun is still quite low in the east. Hjalgrimm suggests that someone could break out that magic candle, and Faelon feigned ignorance. When Tenktovie asked, Faelon chuckled and produced the candle with Continual Flame. Debris litters the uneven floor of the cave. Rotted clothing and leather, a couple of barely useable daggers, a rusted shortsword. The cave is about 40 feet wide and more than 100 feet long. There is a pointed alcove to the north and another to the west-northwest, each of which contains a pile of bones. Askelon investigates and declares that these are human bones, some of which are young, like teenage. These were placed or thrown here. There is an opening to the west that appears to turn north, and there is water at the farthest 30 feet or so to the south. There are stalagmites and stalactites all over, and the floors are very uneven and rocky. It is damp, dank, and musty, and they can hear water dripping in multiple places. They notice that there is a huge boulder standing about 10 feet south of where they have descended. The temperature is quite cold, nearly freezing.
Askelon begins to walk toward the water and is startled when the boulder unfolds and stands. "Halok jyn nurn!" By this time, Hjalgrimm is able to translate. "Hello new friend." Hjalgrimm returns the greeting. Noctis steps forward, picks up a small stone, and holds it out to the living boulder. The boulder seems to shift to turn toward Noctis and pauses. The rocks in the surrounding area seem to vibrate for a moment, then the living boulder leans to the left. One of its "arm" appendages grasps a rock of similar size to the one Noctis presented and the living boulder holds it out toward Noctis. It says, in its deep, slow, gravelly voice, "Mjuva Hodlik." From the top of the hole the party hears Bish ask "Did it just give you a rock, or did it ask you to give one?"
Tenktovie steps forward and says he has a solution for this. "This should allow us to talk freely, he will understand us and we will understand him." He casts Tongues on the boulder.
"Hello! My name is Murath. Welcome to my home."
The party engages in a conversation with Murath. He has been here a very long time, and considers this his home. He has seen many sky dwellers come down here, some alive, some alive but dead shortly after landing, and some dead before entering. Most who come down alive die shortly after arrival. None of them have talked with Murath like this group is.
They learn that Murath's "old friend" is the ghostly figure of a human that died when he arrive here hundreds of cycles ago. His spirit was angry and remained after his body died, and he roams about down here. He sometimes leaves, and sometimes he hurts the alive sky dwellers who come down here.
The party asks if the water nearby is dangerous. Murath says No. Is the water deep? Not as deep as Murath is tall. Is there treasure in the water? No. Is there anything dangerous in the water? Nothing dangerous to Murath. Will Murath be upset if we help put the prince's soul to rest? No. Will Murath be upset if we have to hurt the prince's soul? Why would you hurt him? Sometimes the spirit does not want to let go and might fight. Well, then, if it is defense.
Noctis walks down to the edge of the water and can see that it is calm and clear, and about four feet deep. He can see that there is a thin ledge along the north side of the water and that the cavern opens into another area beyond.