It is on the edge of night as well, so you probably should set up camp unless you plan to travel in the dark.
After a long digging and a short ceremony, you complete your tasks and get some rest. Early in the morning, you strike out again.
Following your northwesterly heading, you reach the Zho Mountains near where the river Shat-al-Qadr flows through the Qadiran hinterlands all the way to Katheer itself. The Silken Way is known to pass through the Zho Mountains somewhere near the river, and Hokama recognizes a nearby peak that he knows to mark a secondary pass that connects to the Silken Way on the opposite side of the mountains.
If you follow this pass, you think you should be able to catch up with the caravan—if it has not yet fallen to a murderer’s betrayal.
Narnel and Taidus are fatigued, but everyone else handles the heat better.
The canyon you follow through the mountains opens onto a wider vale, and should connect to the main route of the Silken Way not many miles ahead. However, your attention is arrested by a breathtaking sight: one wall of the mountain valley is occupied by a massive monument. A natural prominence in the red- and brown-veined strata of the rock walls ahead has been sculpted on a grand scale into a gargantuan idol depicting a man seated in the lotus position with a tall, pointed crown on his head. Though the years have worn the features of this sculpture into a nearly smooth finish with cave openings where mouth and eyes should be, there are enough details of face and clothing remaining to recognize the distinctive Eastern features and garb that the statue once bore. An eerie, forlorn song floats on the breeze that brings to mind a sense of bone-gnawing loneliness.
The song is truly captivating.
You are subject to a sonic mind-affecting charm effect - you desire to climb up the side of the monument, to the cave that resembles its mouth. Make climb checks each round, DC 10, to ascend or fall if you fail. Speed is 1/4 your normal movement.
Narnel and Grog start climbing. All of Hokama’s crew are captivated and walk toward the monument in a daze.
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Depending on what has captivated them, we might not want to see what happens. Let me try something
The cleric grasps his holy symbol and begins to pray to Shelyn Goddess, hear my prayer. Something has entranced these souls and we know not their intent, perhaps with your blessing the half-orc will become my friend and over come this enchantment?
he prays as he casts charm person on the half-orc. Will save DC 13
Ok, after 3 rounds, a winged woman flies out of the mouth of the structure, swooping down on Atmar. She seems to be the source of the singing.
Meran's countersong works wonders, giving everyone entranced another save against the effects, which succeeds.
It also succeeds in making the harpy angry, and she screams in protest. Then a magic missile slams into her, and she howls in pain. In response, another harpy flies out from the mouth.
The first harpy tries to lift the slave-boy off the ground, but fails to hold him long enough to take off.
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The cleric will seek the blessings of Shelyn for luck and give a bit of that to the monk.
Bit of Luck (Sp): You can touch a willing creature as a standard action, giving it a bit of luck. For the next round, any time the target rolls a d20, he may roll twice and take the more favorable result. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.