Mosholu and Angry Pipe decided that they would take the body to the little caged door at the back of the stronghold alone. They would have a greater chance of not being spotted by the guards.
They took the long route around and made it to the cage door without disturbing any of the guards. The first light of dawn was just revealing the blue of the sky at the edges of the horizon. The cage was a low tunnel through the wall of the stronghold itself. The lock was easily picked and they crawled through. They went through the wall and came out into a low cage inside the stronghold. The cage had a door to another cage, kind of a cage airlock. In the second cage, was a pile of straw. They could see a structure in the middle of the stronghold interior.
Dragging the body after them, they entered the second cage. From the cliff wall to their left (the stronghold is built against the cliff), Mosholu heard the flapping of wings. In the early light, they saw a man-sized figure awkwardly flap down from a nest in the cliff wall. It had the body of a monkey, the face of a hyena and wings and it flapped down onto the ground with a thud.
Mosh and Angry Pipe waited in the cage. The Flying Hyena Monkey Thing backed away from them and waited warily. Angry Pipe got up the guts to push the body out into the courtyard. He immediately scrambled back into the cage. The beast still waited. Finally, Mosholu and Angry Pipe went back to the first cage. The beast tentatively came forward, sniffed at Kelestriel's body and then pulled it away from the cage door. They watched it tear at the flesh and then left the cage, sneaking back to their tent.
They hiked south to the foothills and blew the horn that the Salt Raiders had given them. An hour later, the scout showed up. They told him to come back with the full force of his tribe as the morning broke on day 76, just as the dawn broke.
The next day they woke to a different atmosphere in the camp. The other miners were subdued and avoided the party. Angry Pipe went back to the mines. Mosholu stayed in his tent and slept and wrote. He had discovered a scroll in Kelestriel's tent and was transcribing it into his spellbook.
At night, Mosholu continued to search around Westpit. In the captain's office, he found a small lock box under his desk, hidden in the floor. He was able to open it, but failed to notice the small spring that had been waiting to poke out. It did and stuck some strength-draining poison into Mosholu's veins. Inside, he found the outer key to the stronghold. From his careful searches, Mosholu was able to piece together that there is an outer door and an inner door in the stronghold.
The next day came and Mosholu realized too late that he'd forgotten to return the two keys! And the captain and clerk were going to come at the end of the day to stock up the stronghold with the day's salt production. Angry Pipe, in a desperate gamble, smoked tons of his best stuff so that he reeked of it and then went on a psychotic run into the captain's office. He managed to draw him and a bunch of the other guards out of his office, so that Mosholu could sneak in and return the key. He already had dropped the clerk's off in his bed, on the assumption that the drunkard would not notice it or if he did would be too scared to say anything.
Angry Pipe, fleet of foot, easily outpaced the guards and they left him when he ran into the Miners' Camp. But it was enough time for Mosholu and he put the box back into its hidey-hole.
On the night of Day 75, at 4 in the morning, Angry Pipe, Garfer, Wat and Mosholu snuck up to the front of the stronghold. Mosholu, using a newly-learned spell made himself magically invisible. He climbed up the ladder on the eastern side of the stronghold. At the top of the wall, he saw a guard leaning on his ranseur, a large crossbow at his feet. Mosholu jumped down into the courtyard below, looking to see if he could access the interior door in the stronghold. But there was a wall blocking the interior door, appearing to be some intricate door. His presence alerted the Flying Hyena Monkey and it woke up from it's cage, unfurling its wings.
Mosholu walked right under its nest. Though he was silent, the beast could smell him and this time there was not the accompanying odour of a meal of dead meat. It freaked out and did as it had been trained, screamed and screeched with a shockingly loud cry that froze Mosholu in his tracks. It's alarm echoed off the cliff walls, alerting all the guards and probably most of Westpit.
The beast came down and attacked slashing at Mosholu with it's strong claws. Realizing he could not and did not want to fight this beast, Mosholu ran through the cage, sliding on his back and shutting the door. While he was doing this, Wat, who had recently come closer to his barbarian god, prayed for a protective fog. A thick cloud covered the gate, blocking the guards vision so they couldn't see anyone at the door.
Mosholu ran to the front door and unlocked it. Seeing the gates opened, the guards came out of their huts and tried to swing into the fog. Angry Pipe and Garfer set to them and the battle was on. The battle raged in the darkness of the end of night. The obscuring fog of Wat's spell protected Garfer, Wat and Angry Pipe from the rain of bolts from the guards on the wall. Only a few got through. Mosholu made it into the stronghold, finding shelves lined with salt blocks. At the back of the room was a pedestal, on it a large open book. Mosholu quickly scanned it and found lines and lines of figures. It looked like a record of financial transactions, of a fairly large amount. He took it. Underneath the book, a small lid was nestled in the pedestal. After checking for traps and finding none, Mosholu opened it up and discovered a hefty bag of gold pieces!
Meanwhile, Angry Pipe ran around to the inside and got immediately trapped by the two Screamers. He fought them off as best he could and then escaped back outside. Garfer and Wat were still mixing it up with the two gate guards. They were tough, experienced fighters. Finally, one of the guards fell to his knees and begged for mercy. Wat's spear had almost done him in.
This was the turning point of the battle. Angry Pipe got up on the wall and went handaxe for scimitar with the guard there. Mosholu joined him and blinded the guard across the gate with a spray of magical color from his hands. Crossbow bolts kept coming from up on the cliff. Finally, Wat went around to the west wall of the stronghold, trying to find a way up. He found steel rungs at the foot of the cliff and climbed up them to a trail carved in the rock. Here was a little cubbyhole nestled in the cliff behind the stronghold where another guard was picking off our heroes in safety. Until now!
The raiders leaving the gutted stronghold
Two more guards came running up from Westpit. Mosh and Garfer ran out to engage them. But they heard the hooves of horses and clattering of wagon wheels over the hard ground. The Salt Raiders had arrived with the first rays of the morning sun! The rest of the guards were taken down and the Raiders wasted no time in backing their caravan into the stronghold and start loading up the salt.
Hesma rode up to them, smiling broadly. He jumped off his horse and embraced them all as warmly as a dry desert tribesman can. "You must leave quickly," he said. "Reinforcements are on their way. Take the Old Salt Road to Irawaddy. You will not be disturbed by El Wahafi's men there. Give me your arms." He took out a thick stick of clay and drew a symbol on the inside of each adventurers' forearms. "This will show you to be a friend to our people. Seek out Najif at the Old Salt. But be cautious!"
They turned and headed briskly south in the cool of the early morning, only turning back once to see the Tribe of the Salt Raiders melting back into their desert.
They turned and headed briskly south in the cool of the early morning, only turning back once to see the Tribe of the Salt Raiders melting back into their desert.