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Message: <blockquote data-quote="random user" data-source="post: 1603016" data-attributes="member: 16581">Chapter II - Jacob's Caravan, cont'dAfter debating whether to peek inside the cave or not, they decided to be safe and not go in."I don't know about the rest of you but I want to get some sleep!" exclaimed Errol.Before heading back to Gront, though, the party explored some of the surrounding area and discovered another cave about 500 to 1000 yards away.As the party headed to Gront, they had a heated debate about what to do with the troll figurines. In the end it was decided that the figurines would be sold.Blink thought to himself, "They serve as a neat metaphor for our little group: random acquisition, acrimonious argument, ideological differences, dangerous ideas, and reasonable compromises. Thank the gods we managed to avoid using them; I'm sure we'd all be dead."At Gront, Vernon went to worship and seek guidence at the local temple, Errol bought a nice bedroll, a cloak, some soap, and other supplies. At the caravan (which had arrived in Gront by this time), Jacob was talking to four dwarves, Brevrin, Trevrin, Sevrin, and Mevrin. Kestrel greeted the dwarves in a heavily accented dwarven. Amused that a human could speak dwarvish, Brevin gave Kestrel a small chiseling hammer as a token of friendship.The party sold the troll figurines to Jacob for 400 platinum, took possession of the sculpture (which had been hidden in one of the wagons) and decided to delay sleep and head back to Pavalar immediately.Errol complained loudly, but he was outvoted five to one, and they guided their horses back towards Pavalar.February 28After a couple days of pressing their horses when they could, they were about five hours out of Pavalar. In the distance, they spotted a huge figure which could only be a belar rushing towards them. Every few minutes, the belar's horse would wink out of existance only to reappear several miles closer.It soon became clear that the belar would catch up to them shortly, so the party reined in and waited to see if the belar was simply on the road or was specifically looking for them.Soon the belar drew his horse near them. He was a full 10 feet tall, with spiky white hair and pale skin, wearing a black traveling cloak which flowed down to his boots. In one hand was a 6 foot rod, in the other were the horse's reins. Also he wore a silver necklace with a mounted star rose quartz gem."WHO HAS THE STATUE?" he roared, looking at each of the party members in turn. "Give it to me, it is mine!"Kestrel bravely stated that the statue was Tera's. At the same time, Malif smartly crushed the special opal that Tera had given them and quietly spoke the command phrase "Tera save me!"The belar's face grew a horrific grimace, and he spat out, "It is mine by right, give it to me!"Kestrel started to say something else when a thin red beam shot out of the necklace and hit Kestrel squarely on the chest. Amazingly Kestrel was still alive!Vernon drew his horse up and started to speak, but the belar had lost all his patience. Drawing Vernon in with his eyes, the necklace shot forth another beam which drilled into Vernon, but Vernon too did not fall.As the party looked on in fear, suddenly Tera materialized. "What is the meaning of this Klaus?" she asked in disbelief.Turning to Tera, a look of recognition crossed his eyes."The statue is MINE!" Klaus roared.Another beam shot forth and hit Tera. Feeling shocked, Tera acted on instinct. Quickly she created a wall of force in between the party and Klaus. "Gather together!" she shouted, as tried to decide how to extract the party from Klaus' wrath.Another beam shot forth and again Tera was hit. Sparked into sudden anger, without thinking she cast the first spell she thought of to retaliate -- a cone of cold burst forth and hit Klaus. Klaus looked a little frostbit but not too damaged, and returned fire yet again with another beam which unerringly found its mark. The horse looked much worse than Klaus, but also remained alive."What's going on?" Tera wondered, "Klaus is more powerful than I am and what is this beam he is shooting at me?"She decided maybe she could win this fight after all, and cast another cone of cold. As the cone again hit its mark, Klaus let forth a primal yell -- a blood-curling un-belarlike scream. With a final flicker of his hand, he tossed forth a delayed blast fireball at Tera and dimension doored out.Tera rushed forward to try and throw the bead of fire out of the way, but as she touched the bead it exploded in her hand. Though a little hurt, Tera was still steady on her feet. She probed out to see if Klaus was still nearby but found no sign of him.Then she turned to the party and asked if they were hurt. The party was mostly still in shock, but managed to tell Tera that they were mostly all right (Tera healed them) and that they were able to recover the sculpture. Then they offered Tera the sculpture.She replied, "What a rare company indeed, it is refreshing to find a non-excess of ambition. Still, it would be better off for you if you were to return with the statue."Seeing the fear in their eyes, she put out her arm and murmured a few words. With a shimmer, a giant eagle appeared perched on her bracer. "My familiar Freedom will fly overhead and guard the final leg of your journey. If you run into more trouble, I will see it and be able to come," she reassured them.Kestrel still had many questions unanswered. "If he wanted it, why not just take it himself and teleport out? It's not like anyone was watching it. Or why not get it from his caravan helper instead of waiting for it to get to the next town? He's a *belar*!" he thought as they rode.</blockquote>

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