Into the Canyons
Warily moving through the bone lined canyon, the group pressed forward toward the heavy thumping sound. The canyon opened into a crossroad of sorts with three distinct paths available. Once again, at the top of the canyon walls, giant skeleton sentinels sat astride lizard mounts apparently paying no mind to the group’s presence.
To their left, a large tree sat within a small box canyon; the only vegetation to be seen since entering the canyons. Directly ahead and some distance away, what appeared to be some sort of gigantic cage awaited. To their right, an adobe ziggurat rising 50 feet high with a giant crow statue at its zenith lie in sight. Its three lower tiers covered in skeletal guards with spears.
The thumping stopped as the party entered the crossroads and a brief discussion led to the inspection of the tree. Raynard cautiously approached and while the tree appeared relatively normal, he could not identify what kind of tree it was. Placing his hand on the tree, Raynard was caught by surprise as six vicious looking creatures erupted from the earth and attacked.
The creatures resembled goblins but wore only loin cloths, were more muscular and had mouths full of wicked fangs that looked like they went almost entirely around their head. They swarmed Raynard and as one started chewing it’s way through Raynard’s stomach, others caught hold of the wolf pups.
The fight was brief but nasty with Raynard badly wounded and three of the wolf pups dead. Raynard was healed and the group moved on to the center canyon. As they approached the cage more details could be seen. The cage was made of the giant ribs of some unknown beast and there was a large group of what looked like human prisoners inside. The prisoners were all malnourished, scrawny and looked diseased. None would walk through the ribs, even though there was enough space to do so, and all were moaning and pleading for release.
Sigismund and Molish moved forward to get a better look and were promptly hit with a net that had been launched from atop the cage. Both were pinned prone and the net was anchored to the ground. As they struggled to free themselves, Thaminor moved up to help. He was promptly pinned by a second net, again launched from atop the cage. Once half the party was restrained, a pack of the goblin like creatures could be seen rappelling down from the cage.
The party managed to dispatch these foes with far less difficulty and no significant damage was suffered during the battle. By the end of the fight everyone was free of entanglement and ready to move on. The cage and its occupants were deemed some sort of trap best left alone. The party proceeded to the ziggurat. As they approached, the crow statue moved and tracked the group with its jeweled eyes…