Zombres' Insatiable Desire to Speak with Rocks Leads Diogenes to Adopt a Necklace

I'm confused about the time and date here, so I'm going to leave them out. There have been some developments too important to let time degrade my memory.

To set the stage: we're all in Hirappa sharing a hero's feast with Harald and his friends. Arben is being remarkably restrained. We're going to hang out at Taxalia--an ancient library. While there we're going to pull a lever at exactly the same time as some other people pull levels in three other places. This seems like a logistical nightmare, but I'll leave it to our logisticians to work out. My divine pal has clued us in to the presence of some Lich(es?) at the library so Zombres, as is his wont, asks the black diamond necklace that the unjustly destroyed she-lich dropped a few questions.

First: who are the liches in the circle.

• Arvalan--who might not have a body but does ride two yolked dragons
• Vettle--king of the ghosts; friend of the golden pig; and lover of shoes. If I'm not mistaken, we have a friend in India who wants something of his--so we should probably let that guy know about Vettles desire for shoes.
• Larenite--the lovely maiden who once wore the necklace
• Matsiendenmath

At this point the necklace gets a little surly. Why are we asking questions and why should it answer. Zombres is especially gruff so I insert myself into the conversation and try to get to know these rocks. See, the thing is, these rocks don't care about who wears them. They suggested we cast leather-tell on our shoes to see if our shoes could really give us some information about ourselves. They wouldn't be able to. They have a purpose to serve--to protect feet from harm--and they do it, regardless of the feet. I had NO IDEA that all of the inanimate objects in our lives had such an single-minded dedication to their purpose in this world. At this point I'm sold. The necklace wants people to see how beautiful it is, and I'm going to help it do just that. I put it on and tell it that I'm going to take it around the world--that it'll be appreciated for its beauty like no other. I may not be as ugly as its previous wearer, but I'm no spring chicken and I still provide ample contrast to highlight the craftsmanship that went into fashioning each of its 5 jewels. Also, it mentioned that it would rather be in a special hat than a necklace. I have to remember to look for a great hat for these guys.

Now, I didn't make that decision right away. After I got to know the rocks a little better they were a bit more forthcoming and Zombres kept talking. I decided to do them this favor after stone tell wore off. I Should probably mention here that it also told us that 1) the liches in the circle aren't there of their own volition, but rather at the behest of "one who seeks to turn the page." I guess he is reading a gigantic tome if he needs four liches to turn a page. I'm excited to see this book. 2) each of the liches wears a black crown.

After this we went to Taxalia. About fifty yards off was some dude in robes. I was suspicious at first, but when I couldn't disbelieve my eyes I started to show him my beautiful necklace. Meanwhile Zombres chattes with him (two charges off the talking stick). He claimed to be Vindu, wandering scholar in search of secrets and lore. It was all malarkey though, he was a Rakshasa. I hit him a few times, which was really difficult because he was so fast ... or maybe this necklace threw my swinging style ... but he hit me a lot more and I felt pretty near death at one point. We killed him, but Gwyn stole some paper from him and also sawed his hand off first. We beat up a friend of his but don't kill him and are told another story, but I also think it's a lie. They said that a man flying a pig stole their spell books and they were looking for new ones in this library. I call 'em out, and they said that they followed us from India. We're going to have to keep an eye out now, if these guys can follow us. I think they're in league with vettle, but no one believes me. Instead they offer to trade spells to them for information (and some quick healing, which I enjoy). We are going to regret this--but I've accepted my place as the Casandra of the group, so it's fine that they don't believe me.

The Rakshasa are going to meet us afterward at Hirappa. Gwyn sneaks up the tower and spies an ugly half lion half wolf looking thing peeking over the top of the tower. It could do a great job showing off this necklace as it's so ugly--but I think that since it tries to hide so much I shouldn't offer to give it to him. Zombres throws some magic scorpions up top the tower and he jumps down and tries to run away. We stop him and are told that his name is Belrglah, and that he likes to jump from the top of towers and eat people. We let him go fulfil his karmic destiny too, and climb atop this sand-filled tower.

While looking around I find a depression in the sand that, once excavated, displays a mosaic with a single oddly colored tile. Arben presses it and a staircase emerges. We wait around for a bit and then someone writes graffiti on the moon, so we go in. There are a lot of skittling sounds below us.

The first room has 6 doors and 12 shields, each with a jewel. One of the jewels is missing. There's some mechanism that needs a key where the jewel should be. I try to put one of my black diamonds in, but nothing happens. SO, I take a jewel from another shield and place it into the keyhole. This way if some other explorer shows up at just this second (it's plausible, as it's the only second you can enter for 100 years--which means this might be the last chance ever) they don't get to use the key without us--or even know about it.

So then we go into a room to the north where a memory moss steals Zombres' memory. Arben knows what it is and Can cuts it with a knife. Zombres is saved.