Aspirants of the Diamond Throne

Arric Uberon, Kiar Frostspeaker and Qzyid were acting as guards on a trade caravan bringing goods to the mining town of Gahanis on the southern edge of the central plains between the Bitter Peaks and the Elder Mountains. Arric had journeyed south to find knowledge and excitement in more dangerous lands. Thayn had been his beginning, but to the south lay the lands of the Verrik; uncharted districts and, if the rumours were true, bandits and other scavengers plaguing the peoples. Kiar and Qzyid from Mi-Theron had also heard these rumours, and others hinting that some giants had taken it upon themselves to pacify the region for the good of the citizens of Dor-Erthenos (as the giants called it). When Arric arrived in Mi-Theron he signed up for a caravan of the Jaren guild heading south through the central plains where the litorian tribes dwelt. Kiar and Qzyid signed up as well. Izstak, the human caravan master, did not give any details of his cargo, but he seemed a fair enough man, so the three did not have any great concerns as they headed off on foot on the long journey south.

They had passed through a number of small towns and villages, been greeted by Litorian tribes and had one encounter with a goblin by the time they were nearing Gahanis. It was here, about four miles before their destination that an ambush had been laid. Three bandit archers who stood, somewhat hidden by brush and trees, about forty feet away, targeted the verrik, the quickling and the human. Arric was hit by an arrow in the first exchange, but he managed to land a sling bullet on his opponent. Kiar and Qzyid were uninjured in the first volley, but Kiar's arrow flew true and lodged in the shoulder of a bandit. After a couple more volleys, Arric fell to the ground bleeding from another arrow just as one of the bandits fell from his wounds. Another sank to his knees incapacitated. Qzyid distracted the other for a round and then scared him off with the ghost sound of four others coming to join the attack. Kiar went to investigate the downed bandits while Qzyid knelt next to Arric and channelled the Green into him. Arric blinked and started to rise, his wounds much less serious than they had been. Meanwhile the rest of the caravan had not fared so well, other guards had been overcome and lay on the ground, bandits swarmed over the wagons driving them off the road and out of sight. Izstak the caravan master, lay injured on the ground unable to resist this assault.

Arric and Qzyid joined Kiar by the bandits and Arric dispatched them both before they all started helping the fallen as best they could. Qzyid healed Izstak with the power of the Green as best he could and Arric staunched the wounds of a number of others. Once they had Izstak on his feet, he decided that they should head straight for Gahanis and report this loss to the Jaren. It wasn稚 long before the smoke from the chimneys of the town could be seen rising above the treetops.

Travelling along the road to the east of the town, the group first encountered an area of litorian dwellings. Arric spoke to one of these, asking about banditry in the region. The litorian mentioned that bandits were indeed a problem and that rumours had spoken of a mysterious figure known as the Blue Knight who would leave a sapphire-tipped dagger at the site of an attack as a marker. Proceeding on towards the Jaren Guild the party entered an area of warehouses that obviously saw heavy wagon traffic; the road was wide and rutted and the buildings had huge doors to accommodate unloading. When they arrived at the building that Izstak indicated, they encountered two litorian guards. These asked the travellers� business and one disappeared inside to take instruction. When he returned he spoke quietly to Izstak so that none of the others could overhear. Izstak said that he would need to take lodging in the town and speak with the innkeeper to obtain funds with which to pay off the fees of the guards. So the group set off along the road through the warehouse district, past the foundry and a number of traders. They also passed a faen grove on their way to the marketplace. Immediately after this grove the group noted some large wooden buildings with huge doorways that were open, but screened by large leather curtains suspended on single horizontal poles across the top of the openings. The doorways were all at least fifteen feet high. Arric was so curious about these dwellings that he went to the nearest and knocked politely on the doorframe. A male sibeccai answered the knock and came out. Arric asked him directions and while they were being given he noticed that the interior contained furniture and fittings that would not have been suitable for the sibeccai as they were far too large. Arric then thanked the sibeccai and they continued on. When they reached a square with a covered well in the centre, Izstak turned to enter an inn, called the Wedding Present Inn. Here he arranged for ales for the guards while he went to obtain funds. Kiar at this point approached another faen, a loresong, to share his insight into the God who protects flat-footed fighters. The other faen seemed very interested and their discussion ranged on to topics like the spiced beef available on the menu and the drinking habits of female loresongs.

Izstak returned to the table and gave each guard a small purse with ten gold pieces. He refused Arric痴 offer of a drink, saying that he had much to do and indeed it seemed as if he had instructed for the care of those still on the remaining caravan wagon as a number of inn workers were helping these unfortunates as the three went in search of a faen bar. They went across the square around the well and entered a building which had a giant sized doorway and was made of stone. A text reading 鄭ll worthwhile activities must be followed by rest and contemplation�, in giantish was carved above the doorway. A female giant who introduced herself as Ae-Radona greeted each of the three in turn in a formal giantish manner. Arric responded as best he could while the others smiled and nodded. Realising that they had made an error, Arric asked directions to the Steward. Ae-Radona politely explained the layout of what she called the Civic Centre. The group went onwards, finding the courthouse, barracks, library, jail and finally the town hall. It seemed obvious now, set as it was on a number of tiered stone steps, carved with images of giants in battle with the drajmojh. Two giants stood outside its massive metal doors. One of these informed the group that the steward was not present at that time and being further questioned, stated that perhaps the guard captain, Mynorath the Peacekeeper, would have more information on local banditry and plans to eradicate it. So, they went to try and find whichever giant might be organising the pacifying of the region that they had heard about. Unfortunately, Mynorath was unable to help them in that regard. He asked bluntly if the group wished to sign up with the guard, but when he was rebuffed, he did not seem put out. Somewhat confused, the group retired to their hostelries to eat and sleep.

Although they were in separate places, each of the three received a remarkably similar and clear dream that evening. When they awoke in the morning it was as if each was sure that the Guildmaster of the Jaren had spoken to them while wearing some elaborate costume, including a mask, asking them to come to the guild hall the following night, one hour after dusk to assist them in tracking down two bandit spies who had been involved in the caravan raid and returning to the Jaren some property of theirs. The three assembled in the giant痴 inn for breakfast and immediately started discussing their strange visions.

After their morning repast the group decided to head off around the town while they waited for their evening appointment. First they went to investigate a faen bar that Kiar had been in the night before. At this time of the morning, it was rather quiet and the group quickly moved on to the Verrik enclave. Here they found that the Verrik were the ones who lived in the orderly rows of stone built houses that they had seen the previous day. They found what seemed to be an inn, and although its doors were wide open, it was being aired, rather than being open for business. Its few tables were empty and some of the stools were upturned. Seeking more interesting entertainments, the party removed themselves and headed back towards the market square. There they came upon a crowd who were agitatedly discussing a notice that had been posted on the wall of the well chamber. Pushing forward, they saw that a reward had been posted for the apprehension of two bandit spies who had been identified by one of the caravan guards. Interested parties should contact the Peacekeeper.

The three promptly forgot about their previous interests and headed straight for the barracks. There they met with Mynorath the Peacekeeper. He greeted them and told them that one of the guards that they had brought back from the caravan attack had recovered sufficiently to identify two of his attackers as residents of Gahanis. One was known as being a scribe, Den Rudiger, the other was a snake totem warrior called Merril Yannis. Due to the upcoming Bounty Day festival that was due to begin in two weeks and that bandit activity had increased in the area in general, Mynorath felt that he could not spare the men to search for these two. So, the reward had been posted. It was believed that the bandits might be hiding in the Battlehome – a fortress that the giants built to defend the area during their battles with the dramojh. The group left the Peacekeeper and headed back towards the market. On their way through the square, they were approached by a flamboyantly dressed, very cheerful verrik. Qzyid did not seem to be terribly impressed. The verrik turned out to be called Nefenr and he offered the group the chance to relive one of their memories in the form of a memory sculpture. Arric was fascinated by this and readily agreed. Soon the whole group could see the three bandits that had attacked the party moving and acting as they did by the roadside. Unfortunately the display lasted only a few minutes. They thanked Nefenr and moved on.

Deciding against heading straight off to the Battlehome the three rested and relaxed for the rest of the day before their appointment with the Jaren. When they arrived at the warehouse at the designated time the three spotted another verrik also waiting to go in. This person was about five feet tall with white hair and the normal crimson skin of the verrik. He introduced himself as Zadadir, a traveller from the south. He said that he had also received the dream message from the Jaren. He walked into the warehouse ahead of the other three, with a long staff in his left hand. Once inside the main warehouse door was closed behind them. After a few moments in darkness a door before them opened revealing a room, which was dimly lit. At the rear of the chamber stood, or maybe, hovered, a figure matching the visions they had all shared. The figure behind the mask gestured for them to sit in the chairs that were arrayed before it. It transpired that the Jaren Guildmaster wished for the return of the two bandits just as the Peacekeeper did, but that he also had a more pressing concern; an item was stolen in the raid that the Jaren wanted to have returned to them. Once the group accepted the assignment the Guildmaster gave them details of the item, a book, the Inmagus Libellum. The Jaren were mostly concerned with the secrecy of their enterprise and this was stressed to the four adventurers. Happy enough with the charge that they had been given, the four left the warehouse together, Zadadir deciding to change his lodging to the giant run inn that the others were staying in.

Next morning the group set out early and by a circuitous route began heading south towards the Battlehome. Kiar suddenly realised that they might need a permit to enter an ancient place from the time of the dramojh, but they all decided against obtaining one. After a pleasant walk through some low hills the group could see that they were approaching the Battlehome. Just before they entered a gully that would lead them to the entrance, they spotted a human sitting meditating on a hill before it. It transpired that he was an artist by the name of Howorand Sala who had been commissioned to paint some views of the Battlehome. His patron, Nefenr had given him a memory stone to record his experiences so that he would not have to actually paint there. This small blue stone was hovering over his left palm. He asked whether any of the group would be willing to carry it with them into the fortress so that he could have impressions of the inside of the structure to draw from, as he was much to careful of his own health to try this himself. Zadadir would not consider this without payment, but Howorand pleaded poverty and they parted without agreement on the matter.

Descending the gully, the party arrived at a flat stony area at the foot of Veil Mountain. Before them was a massive cave sealed by a long wall of stone across the lower half of the opening and covered by a latticework of stone spans across the upper half. Massive gates stood precisely in the centre of the stone wall. Two towers flanked this gate rising to the height of the latticework above. On closer inspection, the tower on the left had a smaller door at its base. Heading straight for this, the group saw that this entrance was chained and padlocked. The padlock had a stylised “G” engraved on it and there was a notice mounted on the wall, which warned trespassers that a permit was required for entry. Kiar picked the lock. The door opened into the bottom of the tower, which had a wide stair spirally upwards around the wall, there was no other exit. Carefully, the group started their ascent, when they got up to the next level they could see a walkway extending along over the gate towards the next tower. This had murder holes set into it. This walkway reached beyond both towers to the ends of the wall where it met the wall of the cavern. They could see spiral staircases of iron leading up and down.

They went up to the next level, which was at the top of the solid wall. Here, small winged leathery creatures, that they nicknamed Dark Scamps, attacked them. There were four of these creatures, which flew down from above, swiping at them with their claws as they passed. Qzyid was sorely wounded by two fly bys. Zadadir had to use his Lesser Battle Healing to allow him to stand again. Eventually they were finished off by Arric’s sling and Kiar’s quick sword. They paused a moment after the combat for Qzyid to call upon the power of the green and for the others to survey the cavern below them. The major feature was a central stone pillar which rose high above their present position. It seemed to be floored on the inside as it had regular rectangular openings around and along its surface, the purpose of which the group could not fathom. This vantage was not enough for them, so they proceeded up the iron stairs to the third and fourth landings. Each held little interest apart from a better perspective on the cavern, though now they could discern strange metal poles of varying thicknesses and lengths descending vertically from the ceiling. They did figure out that the levels of the landings corresponded to the levels of the openings in the tower. They had not yet investigated the tower on the other side of the gate, so they entered this at the upper level and descended the ramp. At the bottom they found a dead human who had been partially eaten (probably by the scamps, if the teeth marks were anything to go by). His brigandine armour did not conceal the fact that he had probably been dead for two weeks or more. The group left him lying there.

When they reached the floor of the cavern for the first time they looked for tracks on the floor, but the ventilation of the chamber must have been too vigorous for dust to gather. They headed for a room set into the left hand wall of the cavern that they had seen from above. The door was padlocked and also inscribed with the G symbol they had seen before. Kiar picked this lock too. The ten foot square room beyond had a rune engraved in the centre of the floor. Arric thought that it was a rune affecting movement. Qzyid thought that he would test this by dropping the dead human that they discovered onto the rune, but the bodies of the scamps that had fallen to the floor of the cavern were a handier tool. Once dropped onto the rune, the body of the scamp disappeared. That was enough information for the group, so they turned and headed for the other side of the cavern where a flat roofed area covered the space between the tower and the right hand wall of the cavern. Here they found a building that must have been the stables for the radonts, the mounts of the giants. They also found what might have been a smithy and a well. Coiled up in the hearth of the smithy they found a long knotted rope attached to a grappling hook. They reasoned that this was probably used for going down the well, so they lowered a lantern on the rope down the well to see where it led. Qzyid was able to tell them that the well was dry when he leant over the edge and examined it. The lantern light revealed a natural cavern extending beyond the foot of the well some eighty feet below.

The central tower was their next goal. They went to the double doors at its base, which faced the massive doors in the front wall. They opened these and found that the room beyond was semi-circular with another set of double doors immediately opposite. A large bar of metal was propped against a nearby wall; apart from this the room was empty. They opened the central double doors. These led into another semi-circular room with double doors on the outside wall opposite as well as a stone spiral staircase immediately to the right of the group. Again, the rest of this room was featureless. The party decided to go up the stairs, at the top of which, forty feet further up they found themselves in a circular room. The centre of this room had a larger spiral staircase, again of stone, leading upwards. Ten feet above the floor in the northern wall a six-foot square window looked out over the main gates. Just to the right of this window a five foot high stone pedestal had a lever emerging from the top. The lever was in a vertical position. To the south wide openings led out onto catwalks over the walls of a courtyard behind the tower. The group went up the stairs to the next level where they found a number of pedestals around the outer rim of room. Each of the eight bore a rune, which Arric identified as being some form of safe falling magic. No exits existed here apart from the staircase winding up, which the group took. The next level had openings at the cardinal compass points; here they could see some of the thickest poles that they had seen earlier, descending to this level. They could see that they were at the same level as one of the ramparts opposite. The stairway continued upwards, so they took that route. The room above was like the one below except that the openings were on the diagonal, and that there were animal and human bones scattered over the floor. A number of square metal plates lay scattered across the floor, each of which had a rune etched into its surface. Arric said that this also had to do with safe fall magic. On the next floor, the top floor, they discovered the lair of the dark scamps. It was full of the debris and detritus of their kills. A thorough search of the area turned up some coin for each of the group as well as a shield for Kiar. This level also had openings at the cardinal points.

Returning to the bottom of the tower the party opened the double doors to the south, entering the courtyard beyond. Here they saw that another set of double doors was set into the very rear of the cavern, opening into the base of the mountain itself. They opened the doors and the troop could see a hallway before them leading to a door. To the left and right corridors led off with openings immediately to the south in each. After briefly examining the relief of a giant fighting a dramojh on the doors before them they turned left and entered the enclosure to the east of the hallway. This and the one on the other side turned out to be empty of interest, but full of cobwebs, lumber and other rubbish. Following the corridor around to the east they found that it lead to another door before opening out to the west where a door was slightly ajar. The first door was made of iron and had two latches, both carved with the “G” of Gahanis. Only one of these latches held a padlock. On the opposite side another iron door possessed the same latches, but had no locks. The group went back to the double doors with the relief and opened them. A modest stone throne sat in one corner of this sadly neglected room and they could see the door they had earlier noticed, slightly ajar to the southeast. Rubbish of many kinds was piled up beside the throne. Before them a stress fracture in the stone floor spread jaggedly across the room. A slight mouldy smell drifted up from this opening. As they started to search this room, the companions were attacked by three dire rats. Thankfully these creatures were dispatched quickly and the search continued yielding some coin and a spryte sized silver slipper.

The group left the throne room and looked around the corners of the nearest corridors. They mapped out the doors and passageways that they could see before turning back to enter the first door on the western corridor. As they turned they heard a low moaning noise, which caught their attention. It was coming from the corridor to the south. They followed the noise until they came upon another door in the western wall and they listened to see if the moaning was coming from inside. It wasn稚. They continued south and listened at a door further down on the opposite side of the corridor. Here they heard a different noise, a growling bestial sound that could not have been the moan. Just after this they found the body of a woman eviscerated on the floor. Qzyid was curious about the woman and searched her, finding a leather pouch at her side, which contained letters. He headed back north with the rest as the moaning had ceased. A cursory examination of the letters revealed that they were love letters written by a resident of Mi-Theron to a woman whom he both pined after and admired. He was especially proud of her courage in deciding to join him and leave Mi-Theron.

Turning back to the door, Kiar examined it closely, noting that both padlocks had been removed from the latches. He could not discern any potential trap so they opened the door and stepped through. Two goblins were immediately visible in the room beyond. One ran west towards a corridor leading off into darkness. The other raised his javelin hesitantly. The group sprang to attack killing the goblin before them quickly. Arric moved towards where he thought the other goblin had gone, but stopped when his light did not reveal any sign of the creature down the corridor that he now saw leading to the west. Once they had discovered the roughly padlocked double doors opposite the door by which they entered, the others joined Arric, Zadadir moving forward to the edge of Arric痴 lantern glow. There he was skewered with a goblin javelin which flew out of the darkness. The others quickly came up in support. Arric and Qzyid running on beyond Zadadir to discover two goblins further to the west. Arric was injured as he engaged these goblins and he had to drop his lantern. But he and Qzyid managed to finish them off. It seemed that the goblin threat was not over, as more javelins continued to be flung. So the group moved north discovering two more goblins. Once the group knew where they were, they managed to finish off the goblins fairly quickly. Taking the meagre coins from the bodies of the slain, the party mapped out the extent of these large rooms. They discovered that a third chamber was connected to the first to the west, through an archway. This room had stairs leading down to the south and a well shaft similar to the one they had encountered before, except that this time the grappling hook and the knotted rope were in place on the well痴 lip.

Not wanting to contemplate a descent into the darkness below the group retraced their path, going back into the complex series of passageways where they had discovered the body. They entered the room where they had heard the growling and encountered a rabid goblin who attacked them with some ferocity. It seemed to have made itself a home in one of the seven stalls which divided up this long room. There was no other creature here so the group returned to the corridor and realised that there was a faint trail of blood leading off to a door to the southwest, inside they found another mutilated body, this time a male. Searching his pack, the group discovered torches, ropes, oil and other adventuring gear. The group divided this equipment amongst them. The most interesting item was a permit to explore the fortress made out to a Master Jedrith Heros of Mi-Theron. Going back into the corridors the party discovered a number of doors and Zadadir suggested choosing the most southerly. So they passed a number of corridors and openings and tried a door on the south wall of the furthest corridor that they had yet seen. This door was also padlocked, but Kiar made quick work of removing it. The room beyond was carved from the rock of the mountain and a straight corridor led south from it. Thirty feet further on the corridor opened into the corner of a larger chamber which had a covering of bones, broken weapons and other detritus over the floor. The chamber was also regular in the northern and eastern walls, but to the southwest two gagged gaps led off to irregular passages, another regular corridor led off to the east and when they shone their light down this corridor they thought they could see a hunched figure disappearing off a side passage leading back north from a crossroads. The group quickly followed this movement, giving the other passages off to the east and south a cursory glance before looking north. They saw a door blocking the passageway twenty feet away and no creature. Approaching the barrier, they could see that it was black and scorched and the whole group suddenly felt very uneasy. Nevertheless, they saw no other option and opened the door after Kiar had pronounced it safe. As soon as they did so, a nauseating stench billowed out from the corridor beyond, and just ahead of them the shadowy figure disappeared around the corner as the corridor turned sharply to the east.

They did not hesitate, but once around the corner they could not see any creature. The corridor led to a room which had a scimitar, a pendant, a necklace and a small bone statue scattered over the floor. The group were sure that there must be a secret door leading off somewhere, so they started searching each area of the walls meticulously. As this search progressed a creature crept into the room along the corridor. It痴 claws dug into the walls of the corridor as it climbed along, using its barbed tail for balance. It leapt from the wall to attack those searching at the entrance to the room, using its claws and toothed maw to strike at them. The barbed hide and curved horns of the aberration intimidated Qzyid and Arric, but they kept their ground. After a few blows landed on each side, the scimitar that they had left on the floor of the chamber animated and began attacking the other two. Arric was the first to fall to the blows of the creature though he did manage to injure it. Kiar tried to handle the scimitar while Zadadir stepped up to support Qzyid. Kiar was injured by the weapon just before it fell back to the floor, but Qzyid did not last and fell bleeding to the floor. Kiar managed to land a killing blow against the creature and the two breathed a quick sigh of relief before a familiar shape appeared around the corner. The skin of this creature was stretched tightly over its avian frame. Leathery wings stuck out jaggedly from its frame behind a long sinuous neck which ended in a beaked head, much like a vulture. It痴 feet were more humanoid and its arms ended in sharp claws. Zadadir fell to this creature quickly, leaving Kiar to protect the bleeding forms of his three companions. The beak and claws of this creature were sharp and soon caught Kiar, but he did not fall, but he found it hard to land a blow. Eventually he wore the creature down and he sent it to the floor with a slash from his short sword which landed at the creature痴 neck, almost severing it. Kiar looked around and went to care for his companions. He staunched the flow of blood from Zadadir and realised that Qzyid was stable. Then he managed to help Arric痴 bleeding just before he would have died. The quickling looked at the devastation around him and wondered how he would get out of this place alive, let alone with his companions in a similar state.

Deciding that discretion would be in order, Kair used Qzyid’s greatclub to wedge the door to the chamber shut, then he tended the wounds of his comrades in the hope that they would recover more quickly. Luckily, over the next few hours, no other creature disturbed the group as, one by one, they came to their senses. Soon, Qzyid was channelling the power of the green and restoring the whole group to full health. They spent a full day in the chamber, ensuring that they were ready to face any enemy beyond.

When Qzyid recovered his club, the group decided that they would go back to a safer area. They returned to the crossroads and went back west, from where they had come. When they reached the room beyond they turned right and continued through the door. They went straight on to the double doors opposite and Kair opened them. Beyond they could see double doors down a long corridor as well as a door on the right and a passage off to the left. Arric suggested going left and off that corridor to the north and south, they found similar rooms, which must have served as barracks at some distant time in the past. Finding nothing else of interest, they returned through the double doors and tried the western entry, however this L-shaped room contained little but dust.

Frustrated at their lack of progress, the four went back to the entrance into this area, next to the throne room where they fought the rats. A door that they had previously examined still had a padlock marked with the symbol of Gahanis closing one of the two clasps. Kair made short work of this and the group passed through. A corridor led off to the east into darkness. Carefully, the party followed the passage until two doorways appeared, opposite each other across the corridor which extended beyond them. Listening at the northern door, Kair could hear nothing, so he went in. Three doors stood before them in a short corridor. Each was stout and well built, with heavy bolt locks. The two to the east had observation hatches that were shut. The one to the west was the largest of the three, with runes inscribed within the wood. Its bolts were rust free. Arric thought that the runes were those of containment. Looking through the hatch of the easterly door, Zadadir saw a skeleton in armour propped against the back wall of what appeared to be a cell. The group decided to go in and search the skeleton for clues. When they had passed through the heavy door, it clanged shut behind them with a heavy metallic clank. Kair took the opportunity to search the skeleton, finding some gold, a ring with a gemstone and a wedge of amber. They had some difficulty opening the door again until Kair pulled it open with an unusual burst of heroic strength while the others weren’t looking.

Zadadir was intrigued by the rune covered door, so they went up to examine it again. They cast around for something to help keep the door wedged open when they had passed it, settling on a rusted sword that the skeleton had. Zadadir was opening the door with a view to wedging this underneath it when he was attacked by the claws of the large creature that had been imprisoned within. Zadadir fell bleeding immediately, not only damaged by the claws but also by the intense heat that the creature exuded. Kair stepped forward to engage the creature as Arric used the power of his tattoo in the hope of distracting the enemy. Qzyid animated his club and sent it in to the attack. Kair managed to land a blow on the creature without it responding. Arric’s rune appeared not to be effective. Next Arric placed a small rune of affliction on the ground, calling for Kair to withdraw. He did so, and this rune did damage the on-rushing creature. However, the blows that it then laid on Kair left him bleeding on the ground, with the creature turning around and searching for his next victim. Arric engaged it, while Qzyid went in to heal the fallen quickling. Arric fell next to the creature’s claws while the re-invigorated Kair held the beast at bay for a moment. Qzyid went to retrieve his club and Kair followed to protect him, but got within the reach of those claws in the process and so fell for the last time. Qzyid did not last long alone….