---

A suffocating heat fills the wooden cart as you wake up. Your weapons and your belongings are gone, your bodies barely covered in a few rags. The details of your capture are still unclear as the sands of the desert filter through the sides of the cart. Gutural voices can be heard outside the cart, you don't even have the strength to check if the door is indeed closed, shadows pass and block the light from the outside, but not the suffocating heat of Tyla. The pain in your heads becomes stronger as you try to recall the events of the last few days... one recurrent memory haunts every thought... scales and claws..... always scales and claws.....

---

Slowly waking from her dreary sleep, Telemme looks arond confused...rubbing her head trying to cease the pain. "Oh,well isin't this just peachy.." She turns to wake the others shaking them slowly.

Valern is on the other end of the cart. He woke up a few minutes ago and has mildly recovered. He leans against the side of the cart, barely visible even when he's not trying to hide. He looks up when Telemee awakes. "Good morning I suppose. When the other's wake up I think we should go outside and take a look. I fear whatever's out there may overwhelm one or two of us..."


Zhen scoffed down at the rags she was wearing and hoisted her bag on her shouldr. She'd managed to slip out without the other noticing her, with help of her small cat friend, who'd given her the distraction she'd needed to get her stuff and get away. " Too bad for the others.." she muttered, once she was safely away from her captors.

Valern sits motionless as he watches Zhen walk right past him. He didn't bother to get up for it was not worth the struggle. He leans his head out the door to see whatever is moving around out there. "That fool Zhen...She will only end up victom to whatever is out there."

Maura lay motionless on the ground for a while before sitting up massaging her head. Looking quickly around, she noticed that most of her belongings were gone. "Which smiley crook stole my food?!" she jumped up and began to search everything around her.

Telemee looks around at her companions, trying to listen for any clues as to what ememies lay outside. To her dismay, Maura is frantically searching through the remains of her things looking for her beloved rations. "Curse you Maura, you could at least have the decency to cover yourself before standing up and flailing around" Telemee says as she throws a spare rag Maura's way. "Now what do you guys expect we do about this dilemma?"

Maura caught the rag that Telemee threw to her. She carefully wrapped herself in the spare rag and turned to face Telemee. "I say we find the monster and ......"

Telemee "Now now...we must remain calm...being irrational is the last thing we need right now..we have no weapons...no food, and no armor..we are in quite a rut. We must concoct a plan..either to fight or escape..what are our chances of survival?

Maura crossed her arms. "I say let's escape and prepare ourselves to attack them. What every they did was a dirty trick and I'm not about to forgive and forget." Maura spat disdainfully on the ground. "I say they deserve what ever they get." she raised her hand as she made the statment but quickly put it back down when her rags started to slip off.

Zhen looked back at the wagon, and her ears twiched lightly. Turning she smiled as her companion returned from leading her captors on a wild chase from the wagon. Bending down she wrapped her arms around her furry friend, smiling. " Thank you my friend." she said to it, before straighting and walking on, ears and eyes alert.

A large creature appears behind Zhen, as two more walk just in front of her. Too late she notice's herself and the wagon are in the middle of a Lizardman encampment. One of the lizards sniffs the air and yells "Which one of you retardzz left the wagon unlocked?!" He then flashed a large scythe in front of Zhen, "Back to the cart.... erm... whatever you are!". 5 more Lizardfolk approached, two of them lead Dooners and tied them to the front of the Wagon. "Letzz rezzume the journey! It'zz ztill a long way to the temple!" the large Lizardman yelled as he pushed Zhen towards the cart.

Valern peers out of the cart again, noticing several lizardmen carrying Zhen back to the cart. "Shoot, lizardmen...Ok, it looks like there are about 7 of them right now. I don't think we can take them on without weapons...is there anything in this cart that we can use? A loose board with a nail on it maybe?"

Zhen scowled at the lizard man, and Ternne, her feline companion stalked after, growling low in his throat at the lizard man. Zhen gripped her bag and flexed her fingers on her claws, hidden beneath one of her rags.

The Lizard man grinned, showing dozens of razor sharp teeth. "You better do as I zzay   ! Rezzizzting would not only be uzzelezz, it would be zztupid." He pointed all around as dozens of Lizardmen and Dooner-pulled carts (probably filled with slaves) moved onwards towards the desert. "Unlezz you want uzz to leave you here for the vulturezz."

Zhen continued to clench and unclanched her hand aound her weapon, but kept along docily, wlaking towards the wagon. Motioning to Ternne, she stood beside the wagon. Ternne jumped in, and Zhen soon followed.

Seconds later the large Lizard man closed the door of the wagon. Then, after looking carefully around, he slipped a small envelope under the wagon door. He walked to the front of the cart and signaled the driver, the Dooners slowly began to drag the wagon forward as they resumed the journey to this mysterious "Temple".

Maura spun around as Zhen entered the wagon. "Where've you been? I didn't even see you leave." Maura's eyes widened. "So you've seen what's beyond this stupid cart, have you not?" Maura's face was eager.

telemee nods her head to maura wanting to know what's beyond the cart. "Well.. we can try and get a few boards..but I don't think that'll do much against their weapons...might sharpen them a bit.." Looks to Valern for a thought or two.

"Hmm...I dunno, Maybe we should just wait for a more opportuen moment." Says Valernm. With this he crawls over to where the envelope landed and opens it up, spilling out any contents that it may have...

Inside the envelope there were 6 small and rusty iron keys and a small folded piece of yellowish paper, on one side the paper has a red Spiral, the Symbol of the Spire King.

Tis all this?! says Telemee

Maura eyed them with interest but did not dare pick them up just yet.

Moving to a corner of the wagon farthest away form the rest of the group, Zhen eyed her companions wearily, Ternne curling up infront of her, his ears and eyes keen for any signs of danger.

Narvish'tan comes to and looks at the floor where her face was laying. Her head suddenly turned to a voice from her left. She felta warm breeze on her half    body and tried to cover herself up. "Where am I and who are you???" She said softly and calmly.

Rumaging around in her bag, which she had filled with things probally collected from her fellow captives, Zhen pulled out her sleevless vest and shirt, slipping them on over the rags covering her. Rumaging around somemore, she pulled out a blanket and tossed it on the floor.

Valern picks up his own bag and pulls out a jerkin and a pair of pants. "There! much better..." then he scopes up the keys, fingering through them for a moment and unfolds the letter, reading it aloud...

The letter has the symbol of the Spire King on the back, which any spire priestess of Dah'kin recognizes inmediately. Inside, there are a few lines written in a rough handwriting, this cannot be Dah'kin, since Skarradian scripture is both organized and elegant. This handwriting looks as that of a Catfolk or Lizardkin. The letter reads... "Once we get to de temple, use de keys to (undistinguishable) yourselves, den search for me, you will find me in de Duner stables... Don' try 'nything stoopid"

"Strange...It sounds like one of the lizardmen is on our side. Why?" says Valern.

"Maybe it's a trap." Maura retorted. "I still don't trust any of them."

I agree with Maura! None of tem are to be trusted! retorts Telemee

Zhen stayed silent, nestling agianst Ternne. Ternne, on hand curled around Zhen, resting his head on his large paws, which he had yet to grow into it seemed. Zhen slipped on her leather pants by wiggling into them, then ran a hand over her tattooed shoulder.

"Can someone plz tell me what is going on..." Navish'tan asked softly her voice not all there yet.

Giggling at the fact she is still half   , Telemee  also grabs her bag pulling out a foresty green skirt and corset top. Hiding behind the blanket she puts her clothes on thankful to berid of those wretched rags. "Well I feel alot better!" Wish I had my scimitar though..."

"Well, we are being led away in this wagon by Lizardfok....our things are gone and we have no food or weapons...great eh?" Anwers Telemee

After grabbing her pack Narvish'tan pulls out a dark black silky dress and pulls it over her head. Letting the fabric slip over her rags. She digs around in her bag and finds a red sash and ties it tightly around her waist. She pulls it tightly then reaches inside her cloths and rips away the rags from underneath. "Great, my idea of a great time!" She rolls her eyes and sits back. "Those jerks have my whip!!"

"They took our weapons too." said Valern. "I suppose we have no choice but to wait here and see what happens. By the way, My name is Valern."

Zhen watched the other group members silently, gently storking Ternne's back. Ternne, purring lightly, continued to watch through one eye.

"Yes i `spose it's best to just sit here aNd WAIT TO DIE!!" Telemee yells, "oh..by the way, i'm Telemee."

Maura sat down and buried her head in her hands.

Finally coming to Celena notices a group sitting in front of her. As she moves to join them she then notices the she has only a few rags on. Celena hastily grabs a spare shirt and pants from her bag then struggles against the moving wagon to join the group and found out who they are and where she is.
"Where are we and where are we going? Celena timidly asks in voice so quite no one but those close to her can hear it. "Who are you? Why am I hear?"

Maura flicked her ears in Celena's direction before turning to face her. "Apparently we're stuck in a desert." Maura made a face. "And it seems like we're heading towards some weird temple." She was about to turn back to Telemee, but stopped in mid turn and faced Celena again. Maura gave her a sweet smile. "s'cuse me," Maura says apologetically. "I'm Maura." She fixed Celena with a curious amber-eyed star. "what's your name?"

"Jeez Maura! Must there be an introduction to everything?!" Turning to Celena, Telemee lightens up a bit. "Well glad to see that you finally roused...any opinion of this dilemma would be helpful." she says spitefully.

Navish'tan Looks at Maura, then to Telemee. "I just want to get out of her if you don't mind." She looks into a small    in the wagon. " You think we can get out of here. I   closed spaces." She yawned.

The Wagon suddenly comes to a stop. Hundreds of raspy voices are heard outside, mixed with the sound of dooners and wagon doors being opened and closed. The atmosphere greatly reminds you of that of a busy bazaar in a big city. The door opens all of the sudden and you can see dozens of heavily armored lizard men rushing prisioners and slaves out of several dooner wagons. Several tents and some wooden structures are everywhere and in the back of all you can notice an enormous canyon surrounded by ramps. You catch a quick glimpse of several dooners being taken to a wooden structure separate from the others. The sun is coming down already and the desert is bathed by    red light. 3 lizardmen in heavy armor approach the wagon. "Get off maggotz!" they yell as they ready several shackles.

Navish'tan half laughs. "And if we don't?? what will you do?"

The lizardmen exchange glares, obviously amused by Narvish'tan's answer. The larger one, coated with a chainmail, a larger iron shield and a spearm grins as he look at Narvish'tan and replies. "Here you're either zlavezz or dinner   ! choose!" he then takes a look at the occupants of the wagon. "Lookz like we've got a wagon-load of delicaciez Vadoz!" he yells to a nearby lizardman.

Telemee rolls her eyes and eyes his weapon curiously. Looking to the others trying to get them to think of a plan quickly!

Maura eyes the lizard men with intent curiousity.

"Let's just go along with it for now..." Valern whispers, stepping out of the cart.

The large lizardman shackles Valern and turns towards the others, waiting for them to get out of the Cart.

With her amber eyes fixed on the lizard men Maura cautiously stepped out of the cart.

The lizard shackled Maura as well, without any consideration for her being a woman, he pushed her towards Valern, then ducked and picked up the next set of shackles, waiting for the next prisioner to get off the wagon.

Valern was caught somewhat off gaurd when Maura was shoved into him. Luckily he recovered and dusted himself off. He gazed around at his surroundings.

Maura glared at the lizardman angrily, her amber eyes blazing and her ears were back.

Zhen stayed were she was for a moment, before getting up and swiftly getting down out of the wagon. Ternne follwed, gorwling menacingly at the gaurd, baring sharp gleaming fangs.

Navish'tan slightly laughed, stuffing the key and letter into a hidden pocket in her dress. "I guess I'll let you put those things on me. I have no other escape ideas at the moment." She held out her creamy white hands toward the Lizardman.

Telemee stands there for a moment before stubbornly sitting down in the cart. "You want me? Then come get me foreign tongues!", mumbles telemee looking quite bored with the lizardfolk.

The lizardmen quickly shackled Zhen and Narvish'tan, the larger one then swinged his tail at Telemee, grabbing her by her ankle and suspending her head down, he grinned and tried to put the shackles on her wrists. "Will you cooperate   ? Or perhaphs your meat in softer than your character?"

Telemee looks menacingly at the lizardman saying nothing.

Navish'tan Laughs, thinking Kid has spunk!

The lizardman stops similing and draws Telemee closer, obviously imprssed by her cool. "Lizten kid" he said "You are both young and beautiful, it would be a real pity if you ended up dying here. We'll juzt have you dig for a few dayz and when we have what we want you will all go. Promize" he then tried to put the shackles on Telemee again. "My men are not half az zivilized az me so don't make me look bad   "

A sudden look of change spreads across Telemee's face and she grins at the lizardman, bowing slightly. "Whatever you say.."

Celena watches everything happening with intense curiosity. When she notices she is the inly one who has not complied, she calmly climbs out of the wagon to get a better view, watching, waiting. She falls back into the shaddows and observes the exchange.

Zhen mumbled something under her breath, and Ternne, pressed up agaisnt her legs growled at the lizardmen around them. Zhen looked up and scanned the area around her, her keen eyesight checking every little detail. Hissing out a breath softly, she turned her head down just as her pupils turned feral, causing her eyes to seem like one of a large cat's.

Another lizarman approaches Celena, ready to shackle her as well

Celena willingy complies with the lizardman.

The lizardman swiftly shackles Celena as the other prisioners are moved out of the are. The area darkens as the night approaches. "Move them out!" the head lizardman yells as he points towards a wooden structure a few hundred feet away, probably. He then turned towards the driver of the cart, "Take the cart and the doonerz to the ztablez", he said as he closed the wooden door.

"Where are you taking us? asks Telemee boldly.

As they lead you around like cattle, one of the lizardmen answered "You're going to the zlavez quarterz, too late to dig". In the darkness you can identify a large wooden building, to which you're being led. A few hundred feet to the right you can notice another wooden building, where all the dooners are being taken, probably the stables. To the left you can see a large amount of tents and clay buildings, probably the guards quarters.

Maura grumbles at the feeling of being led around like cattle.

"Oh, i don't like this at all....must do something". mummbles Telemee.

"If the gaurds leave the stable door unlocked, maybe we can sneak in there if we get a chance and take a dooner. That's all I can think of right now unless another opportunity presents itself." whispered Valern

Maura nods in agreement.

Navish'tan Checked her shackles checking to see if they might give under her pull.

The shackles prove quite sturdy. You are guided into the large wooden building that is the slaves quarters. The building is made out of several dozens of small wooden rooms on 3 levels. You are taken to the far left room in the first level. The security in the building is actually pretty loose. The doors are wood and only kept closed by a single iron lock which could be broken. One might escape quite easily, however the thought wondering into the desert shackled, weaponless and without any food and water seems to be the only security measure the lizardmen need. You are locked inside and he lamps outside are unlit. Every now and then you can hear steps and a tail being dragged around. Probably a guard patrolling.

"Why do we have six keys? For the shackles, right? But if we have to have different keys for pair of shackles then how do we know that these keys will open ours?" questions Celena

"We don't know, that's why we've got to try." says Maura

Celena looks around at the group, "Well then what are we waiting for? Let's start to work. We don't have that much time to lose."

Valern nods, pulling out the keys and going around the group fumbling through the keys to find the right ones.

After a couple of minutes, Valern manages to find the correct key for each set of shackles. Suddenly a soft knock is heard on the door, "The guard will be out cold for a few hourz... meet me in the ztablez, quick!" says a raspy voice with a scaurean accent.

"Yes!! Freedom!!, Telemee taunts doing her little victory dance, running over and happily kissing Valern. She runs out excitedly to the stables.

"Boy, I really hope that this isn't a trap because if it is she just walked right into it." Celena shakes her head and moves to stand in the doorway to keep an eye on Telemee while waiting till the others are ready.

"hehe oops got a little to excited there, thank you Celena, Telemee says bashfully. "hurry up guys" ther are places to explore and minions to dispose of!"

Valern puts his finger over his lips, "Shhh! If this is not a trap and we really might get out of here, then we don't wanna be acting loud right now, someone might walk by." with that valern quietly slinks out the door and creeps over to the stable, glancing around be slipping inside.

Muara Steps cautiously out of the door, her ears pricked forward for any hint of movements other than her companions. She finally reaches the stables.

Telemee becomes very serious and slinks out the door watching for anyone who may come by, slowly pacing towards the stables.

Celena looks around for anything she could use as a weapon before quietly stepping out and moving on to the stables.

Sighing to herself Navish'tan follows out the door. "What is the pan now???"

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