Too Many Baths in Jerusalem
Divination on May 3:
The iron ring, the iron ring that Jaya used to bind the king brought home by cursed dire, town once honored fire ... There beneath river banks, mare named shanks Hells bells there go your spells Many colors of cage, countered by mage It's like the palisades, only fear the shades
Back at the tournament grounds we ask Aziz more about what's been happening in Jerusalem, and what he knows about this 'Harald the Second'. He tells us a fellow named Hermocrates, identical to Harald (in that he is an elf, not actually a Harald clone) but a bit older came to him, along with a friend who hid his face, and promised to help the Caliph de-jelly his bones. Probably Heliodorus. We warn the Caliph not to get too attached to his new bones then head off to Jerusalem to investigate.
Someone has been causing serious trouble in the tunnels - the monsters are all gone and the boulder blocking Zettic's cave has been rotated. We fight a 9 foot tall reptilian demon who calls himself the harold of Zettic while Leila bathes away her Harald killingness then teleport out of there before the demon kills us all.
We come back the next day (May 4) and sneak into the Dome of the Rock to talk to the Dao and warn him about Zettic. He tells us Zettic was defeated by the Jews when they conquered Jerusalem. Solomain the magnificent tried to destroy him, but could not destroy the horn so he sealed it away. Zettichaea made iron horns, one of which was Zettics, for goring the Aramaens. He was defeated and the horn returned to the cave by Neberzeraten, general of Nebechanezar. Some Dao have died guarding the cave, we are encouraged not to let Zettic out. We go back to Zettic's cave, fight past some goo monsters and find indeed the stone is gone. We check on the bath and find it has been filled with goo and is starting to dissolve. Harald purifies it with some Nonacris water. We go in, finish off the harold, but are driven off by Zettic himself and his slimy minions.
Our rabbi friend tells us our wounds are evil and he cannot heal them. Short on options, we go looking for Gregor, who we spoke to before. We find him in front of the Governor's Mansion, awaiting an audience. We explain to the guards that Harald is the new governor, and they kindly let us in. They take us to the new Governor's quarters, a very fancy bath house of some sort. We drain the bath and redecorate it as a not bath house. Gregor tells us that he comes from Armenia and is looking for a quick way home. We offer to help him if he'll help us with our Zettic problem. He heals Saiiq up with his gnarled lichy hand (formerly attached to St Gregory) but normal healing still has no effect. He offers to commune about this:
The ground where dwells Zettic devil concecrated to evil Calvary is good ... Converting bale into booth requires values absolute Gorgontha delphi wailing wall .... mecca naga city of the decca Go before Z gets his prod to where is cursed or blessed by god
We go to Calvary and are able to heal ourselves (the whole area is sacred). He head back to the cave as quickly as we can, check on the bath and fight another goo monster. Completely out of spells now, we decide to rest in the cave and hope Zettic doesn't try to leave too soon. While we rest Dawa sees a robed figure walking around underwater. He makes a magic door into a corridor, Dawa follows then comes running out screaming. Meanwhile, something starts oozing out of Zettic's hole. After a very tough fight in which Saiiq's leg is turned to goo and we are all nearly killed Harald eats some soma and finishes off the oldest god in Jerusalem. We recover Zettics horn and a little metal centipede and return to the palace.
Gregor reveals to us that the reason he wants to hurry home is to prevent anyone from entering Semiremigard when it opens on Ascension. We bring him to Neric in Baspuracan, near Van and promise to come back in a few days to help him guard. He also warns us about evil creatures in the sea around Colchis who send larvae to mind control people and bring them back as slaves.
