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[Morrow]

From the journal of K. Garnham, Seeker as translated from the Valossan

We set out from Farshore aboard the Hellfish. Joining us was Sabine whom I had persuaded to work for me and Elyosha's new animal companion Bolsha, a well armored dinosaur.

It took us less than a day to make the journey to the village of Tanaroa. We made the final approach overland and came into the village while they were in the midst of some sort of ritual directed at a large bat totem. The locals danced around a large bonfire, chanting.

As we drew closer something strange occured. The effigy of the bat-god (Zotzilla) came to life, rose from the flames and called out "return what has been stolen or burn!" The only thing was it was speaking Olman. I understood what it said though. There was a strong tremor and several smaller fire-bat creatures rose up and began to attack the villagers.

The Beetles intervened and Elyosha had quickly doused the beasties in magical waters.

The leader of the tribe, an elder woman named J'Kal, welcomed us and invited us to her tent to parlay.

We were naturally curious about what had just happened. She and a local arcane caster named M'Vembi (probably undead, but not certain) told us that an idol of Zotzilla had been stolen some months ago angering the god.

The description of the idol and my ability to understand Zotzilla made me think that the idol we discovered on Urol's quest might be one and the same.

M'Vembi confirmed my suspicions.

J'Kal offered Farshore military assistance against the Crimson Fleet if we returned the idol. We readily agreed.

We returned to the Hellfish and travelled to the cliffs leading to the tar pits that lay between us and the Fangs of Zotzilla, a pair of (now) active volcanoes where we were to return the idol.

Elyosha's magic got us over the cliffs and we made our way overland to the tar pits.

We arrived at the pits after a short hike. All seemed quiet at first and then we heard sounds of a combat in the distance. We rushed to see what it was and came across another thunder lizard. This one was slightly larger than the first one we fought and was engaged in combat with a party of phanathons.

We fought the beast. It swallowed Dexter and myself. Fortunately we were able to kill it without taking any casualties of our own. Although I think Dexter is developing a fear of being swallowed.

The phanatons were very thankful for our assistance. Through Maggie's translation we were able to talk two of them to travel with us to the Fangs and then show us the way to their village.

Captain Venkalie secured the tar pits and harvested the T-Rex skeleton for future animation.

The trip to the Fangs went smoothly. We needed to have protective magics cast upon ourselves against the high tempuratures we would encounter once inside the temple.

We wound our way through the caverns and eventually came upon a central chamber. There was a niche on the wall that looked to be the right size for the idol. I walked it there under the untrusting eyes of the bat-god.

Once it was in place the bat-god seemed to relax. He opened a secret panel and showed us a deep treasure horde. We were each offered to take something from here.

While we were examing the loot to make our decision the avatar seemed confused about a certain item. He didn't recognize a certain item, a large fang. He told us to get it out of there.

We made our choices and departed.

An impossible treasure map led us to an idol that had recently been stolen and moved hundreds of miles away. Once we return the idol we find something also out of place and are remove it.

Someone is going to an awful lot of trouble to get us this fang. Is it the end of the link or does this lead us to something else?

My head was swimming with theories that I could neither prove nor disprove. The trip to the phanathon village passed in a whirl. I barely noted the rising tension between Dexter and Maggie.

The phanatons were overjoyed to see us. We were welcomed as friends of the tribe and a great party was held in our honor. The chief was more than happy to offer assistance to Farshore. He also gave us a lead as to the location of the Rakasta weapons cache.

We enjoyed the hospitality of the phanathons that evening (Maggie a bit more so than the rest of us) and departed early the next morning for the Rakasta temple.

We found our way to the temple. A gigantic snake was pacified by Elyosha and we found our way inside. The area seemed desserted, but a passage was discovered under a cleverly placed illusion.

We travelled until we came into a central area. A feathered serpent appeared and identified itself as Tanatea a coatyl. He asked us our business. We told him and he seemed more than pleased to hand the cache over to us. He even gave us three of his feathers to summon him in case of future need.

From there we teleported to the Dragon. A kopru druid had taken up occupation there, but he and his dinosaur animal companion were quickly put down.

Maggie teleported Sabine and myself back to Farshore the next day.

Things went very smoothly, on the whole.