The City State of Tyr...
In most respects, Tyr was just like any pther desert city the party had seen, but in others it was very different. While the streets were busy with merchants and laborers of all types and a variety or races, there was an overall tension in the air. It was as if everyone was watching everyone else. In the distance, Skot noticed one man kill another in cold blood - for a water skin.
Humanoids that looked like small giants wearing frightening uniforms occasionally walked by. Everyone in the city moved to give them clearence when they appeared. The strange, pyramid-like structure dominated the sky, and occasionally a strange, flying creature would circle the top tier.
The small band of travelers from the Calla Maraine did their best to fit in. It wasn't as difficult as they had feared. Strange creatures that looked like animated stone men were seen, as well as a gangly creature that looked vaguely reptilian. Cherry, with her flowing reddish hair didn't attract a moment's glance. Tempest, with her bronze skin, did cause some looks of curiosity, but nothing more. If the Calla Maraine had been discovered, at least the people of Tyr didn't know who or what was on it.
After a while, Bagath was able to find a hotel room in the Warren district of the city. It took a little doing, because the gold he used appeared raw. Before entering the city, Bagath and Skot had melted some of their conventional gold coins into oddly-shaped blobs. Certainly there were other currencies on this world, but bringing in foreign currency would have attracted to much attention. What's more, the party had seen a mining train come out of the mountains. Bagath claimed to have obtained the raw gold from them. The hotel room was very run down. In fact, part of the wall was missing, giving an odd view of the street below. But, it would have to do.
"The first thing we should do is locate a museaum or library," Cherry said. "If the key is anywhere in this city, that would be a good place to start."
"We should also get word back to the ship that people are looking for it," Bagath said.
"I can do that, no problem," Gaye offered. "I'll use astral projection and get a message to Yearth. I'm detecting a lot of psionic activity around here. If I do it quickly, I shouldn't even be noticed."
"Take precautions anyway," Cherry cautioned. "Someone detected the ship even though it was cloaked, and normally that requires special equipment. We have no idea what these people are capeable of."
"I was able to sketch out a vague map of the city," Djan offered, "from when we flew overhead, and from the view we had on the cliffs above the city." At that the half-elf withdrew a paper. The city was shaped vaguely like a number eight, with the smaller portion being dominated by the barrel-shaped palace. The narrow section was taken up entirely by the city arena, and the pyramid-shaped building lay just off the center of the larger, northern section of the city.
They talked and discussed well into the afternoon, until the sun began to set. Their next objective was to obtain some food, and while they were eating they would listen for any clues as to where the key might be hidden. Getting into the city undetected had proved to be fairly easy. Getting out again, with a stolen artifact, would certainly be a different matter.
Elsewhere, in his personal tower, Kelset looked at the two battered humanoids before him. Three days before he had sent them into the mountains to search for the strange, flying craft.
"Well?" he hissed.
"It was as you said sir," one said nervously. "A blue craft that looked like a fish."
Kelset brought up a map of the mountains near the city.
"Where," he said.
One of the humanoids pointed a shaking finger at the area where the Call Maraine had landed.
"That was where we found it..."
"Is there more?" Kelset asked.
The two glanced at each other nervously.
"Where is Trek?" Kelset asked.
"He..." one started. "He was killed."
"How."
"They used... they used a giant crossbow... killed his strider. He fell from the cliff and died."
"They saw you? The beings on the craft saw you?" Kelset asked, visibly becomming angry.
"Yes m'lord," one whispered.
Kelset sighed heavily.
"What happened after that," he asked, turning his back to them and heading for the window.
"The craft began to move... deeper into the mountains... it was very fast. It turned invisible."
"Very well," Kelset grumbled. "At least you proved my suspicion that a... spelljammer... has come to Athas."
The two humanoids suddenly became releived.
"However," Kelset snapped, looking at them with eyes of flint.
The two humanoids were again frightened.
"You were not to be seen," Kelset stated.
"M'lord, we..." one started. Without warning, he felt a throbbing pain his head. It became worse with every second. It was as if his head had been placed in a clay oven.
In moments the two were writhing on the floor in pain and agony as the fire in their minds became worse. Blood began to seap from their eyes and ears. Finally, there were a few small popping sounds, as their eyes burst, allowing steam to escape from their heads.
"Servants!" Kelset called. A few minutes later, two dwarves enter the room and looked in shock at the two dead bodies on the floor.
"Get rid of them, summon my personal guard, and prepare the sky-shrikes. We will leave at dawn," he ordered. "AND," he added, causing the dwarves to turn around fast, "keep the preparations a secret. I don't want the other Templars to know that I will be traveling." The dwarves bowed and started to drag away the bodies.
"Look at them closely," Kelset added. "Because if you fail, you will share their condition."
The dwarves paused for a moment, then carried the bodies out. Kelset continued to look out the window at the city beyond, then turned and headed for his personal quarters. Once there, an elven maid, naked except for a piece of jewlery around her waist, looked over at him with empty, emotionless eyes.
"Cheer up, my desert flower," the Templar said, removing his robe. "I'm about to become the most powerful man on Athas." The elf simply looked at him. Whatever emotion she once had, it had long since been crushed under years of slavery and abuse. Like so many other people on Athas, her only concern was living into the next day.
It was well into the next day when Djan and Cherry located the likely location of the key fragment: the Royal Museaum, in the Noble district of Tyr. The museaum was a well-kept building. Obviously this place was designed to display not artifacts, but the power and grandiur of the sorceror king of Tyr. Getting into the place was fairly easy, but it was well guarded by what appeared to be undead sentinals. After a few hours of searching, Djan called to Cherry...
"Look at this," he said, pointing at a rather plain looking piece in a crystal display case. I was cylandrical, about a foot long, and perhaps two inches at the base. Four groovs, each at a different angle from the others, crossed the cylandar at various locations.
As discretly as possible, Cherry raised a small flask and drank a tiny amount of her magical elixer. It was just sufficient to do what she needed to do. She looked away from the cylandar and pretended to stare at another exhibit, while she looked dilligently at some notes from the ship. Meanwhile, Djan looked around for any suspicious looks. There was no one, except the undead guards, who didn't make a sound.
After a few minutes the spell was finished. Cherry looked at Djan.
"That's it," she whispered. "That's the core to the key of Darran-Koor."
"Now all we have to do is get it out of here and get off this sand-ball," Djan responded.
"It won't be easy," Cherry whispered, as the pair started for the exit. "With all of these guards, we won't be able to do it quietly."
"With luck we can make it look like a simple robbery," Djan offered. "With some more luck, the city won't consider it a big deal. They obviously don't hold it in high regard, so it stands to reason that they don't know what it really is."
"Agreed," Cherry answered. "Let's get back to the others."
