When they reached the Inn, Oly was eagerly awaiting them. He sat them by the fire and told them how he ran into Marcus in the middle of the Feluccan oceans. He was fleeing from a group of men from whom he had stolen a treasure map by mistake, thinking it was the map to the Alchemist's location. Fearing for his life, he asked Oly to hide the map and that should he not hear from him within 2 weeks, to send me a message about what happened.

Doing as he was told, Oly hid the treasure map in a cave behind the Ratmen village West of the Valley. Little did he know then that others also used that cave to stash their treasures. Not having heard from Marcus for 2 weeks, he went back to the cave to retrieve the map but was greeted by a skeletal dragon and other creatures that chased him away.

Oly told my champions they would need to retrieve that treasure map in the cave, then go to the Ethereal Fortress where Marcus said something about a sea chart that took him to the Alchemist's last known whereabouts. 

Upon entering the cave, my champions had to fight their way through a swarm of evil creatures. It took them a while to find the map among all the riches that covered the cave's floor. At last, they discovered it locked away in a small plain wooden box covered by piles of gold. Unwilling to further expose themselves to the deadly cold breath of the skeletal dragon, they unlocked the box, snatched the map and quickly made their way out of the cave and to the Ethereal Fortress.

They searched the entire Fortress for a while, looking for that other map Oly had mentionned. Eventually, they found it sitting on one of the shelves in the crypt. As they reached for it, they were startled by the shout of a strange being named Gaea. She looked to be but a young child with silky white skin. But her fiery red eyes and the powerful aura emanating from her made no mystery of her magical nature. She demanded to know why they came in this holy resting place to steal from the dead. They immediately complied and explain to her it was an honest mistake and that they were here on a noble quest to rescue the maiden Clio by following the clues Marcus had left behind.

Appeased at once, the Guardian child told them she knew of Clio and Marcus' plight, but that the map they took was not the clue they sought and must be returned where they found it. She then gave them a note that had visibly been scribbled in haste. Marcus had left this message many weeks ago for his Gargoyle friend, Betra, who never came to retrieve it.

My champions recognized yet again Semidar's interference, then noticed with horror that the message was written in a language foreign to them. The Guardian explained that the language used was Gargish, which Marcus spoke fluently. While she couldn't translate it for them, she told them that she knew of at least 2 Gargish dictionaries in Britannia: one in the library of Lord Blackthorne's castle, and the other, in the library of Nujelm Palace.

Looking through rows of books, they eventually stumbled upon the Gargish Dictionary. Within minutes, they translated the message: "Speak with thief leader then find direction to human with healing potion in cave below". The thief leader... that could only mean one place: Buccaneer's Den. They explored Bucs for a while in Trammel in vain. Then remembering how Oly told them he ran into Marcus in middle of Felucca's ocean, they made their way there and quickly found the ruthless Karisha Ahawn, downing a bottle of whiskey with that old drunkard, Captain Blackheart.

Offended that "law-abiding landlubbers" dared to enter her lair with such boldness, Karisha greeted them by unsheathing her sword. They quickly explained that they were here to return the map Marcus had stolen from her and that they too were looking for him. Overjoyed at the sight of her recovered treasure, Karisha called off her men and told them of her encounter with Marcus. She didn't know where he was, except that he had been looking for an alchemist she had kept prisoner in her caves below and who had escaped.

She had since then had the entrance to the cave condemned. Marcus claimed to have found a sea chart in the cave that he believed would lead him to the alchemist. She tried to recover that map from him but he managed to hid it and her men never found it. As she felt indebted to my champions for returning her map, she told them she would let them walk away with their lives and wouldn't interfere with them exploring the caves if they could find the only known remaining entrance somewhere in the forest north-west of the island.

Carefully avoiding the murderers and thieves that patrolled the woods, they eventually found the opening in the ground granting them access to the caves. As they got deeper into the cave, a smell of sulfur grew steadily. They suddenly ran into countless dragons and white wyrms and nightmares. Fighting their way through the wild beasts, they kept looking for the elusive sea chart.

Eventually, they discovered it lying in a barrel in the westernmost area of the caves. They recalled to shore to find a ship that would take them to their next destination. Once all aboard, they gave the map to the tillerman and asked him to go to the third pin on the map. Cleverly avoiding the pirates that lurked, they reached their destination, where they performed the signal Khaelwen had shown them.

Malekai had barely returned to his hiding place after running away from a group of men dressed in red when he saw his secret signal go off in the horizon. He recalled to his ship and greeted my champions. He took from them the potion Rhiannon had prepared and added his own binding potion to the mixture. He  then returned it to my champions and explained to them it was imperative that, after the angels had revived my niece, they immediately give her this potion to drink.  Should they delay too long, she would perish again and this time, her soul would forever be lost.

He then provided them with the information missing to locate the Architect. As Khaelwen's magic box had revealed, Angramar was in Khaldun.  But where? His restless spirit was bound to a puzzle teleporter within the tomb. To summon him, my champions would have to find the teleporter and solve the puzzle. If successful, Angramar would appear to them for 5 minutes during which they could speak to him.  Should they fail to obtain the information they sought within that time, they would need to solve the puzzle once more to speak to him further.

Malekai warned them again that should they manage to get the coordinates of the fortress from Angramar, they must be prepared for a fierce battle against the murderers that dwell there. He encouraged them to raise camp for the night, as Khaldun was no place to be in at night, if ever.

As he bade them farewell, Malekai noticed the same group of men in red that had been chasing him earlier sailing towards them. Fearing for his life, he warned my champions to flee while he himself recalled away. Little did he know then that this group of men in red were none other than my other team of champions seeking to rescue my niece.

Following Malekai's advice, the blue team headed to the lost lands and raised camp in the little valley right outside Minoc's Caves, only a short distance away from one of Khaldun's two entrances.  Meanwhile, the red team had performed the signal and spoken to the Alchemist and were followed less than an hour later by the green team. 

Another trying day had ended.  An even more challenging one would await them in the morning.