Bandit Mage's Citadel.
As Shadya contemplated forcing the door in the Wizard's Lab, Fiamma hastened over to check it out. Locked - and no key in sight. Fiamma opted to ransack the lab (having some familiarity with what 'ransacked' looks like from some experience in the tavern of her childhood). All she found was a birdcage key which she put on a cord and hid in her bodice, and some graffiti under the worktable: Altaric (the star) and [rude comment].
Shadya tried to force the door without success. But her efforts brought a muffled call from the other side. By listening very carefully, Fiamma determined that someone was calling for help - using a variety of languages. The captive, she determined via her native tongue, had been held for eight "years".
Upon the door finally being opened, the adventurers found a considerable number of birdcages - one of which contained a tiny man about 6 inches tall, dressed elegantly and naming himself Orlando. The other cages held a variety of indescribable melanges ranging from bipedals to quadrapeds. Questioning resolved that these seem to be stages in the wizard's attempts to create a ?basilisk?, the first step of which being miniaturization. Orlando appears to be the only one who is merely miniaturized and still retains human speech. A majority of the others seem to at least respond to Shadya's tongue.
Using the tiny key Fiamma found, the creatures are released and fed. Orlando is about at the same stage with Fiamma's language as Shadya is, so, with some confusion, he tells them that he was a lone traveler who stopped for refuge here and was given something to drink ... then woke up to find himself a tiny captive. He's actually been held for a matter of months rather than years.
He stops Fiamma from opening some of the books found in this room. This appears to be where the wizard stored his real magic books. Fiamma finds a couple of books in her own language, particularly a treatise on diminution. When Fiamma asks where the wizard kept his lab notes, Orlando retrieves his (tiny) sword and attempts to pry open a secret cupboard door. Shadya finds the (distanced) release and the notebook is revealed. Orlando "grounds" the book and Fiamma is able to examine it to confirm the basilisk experiments. Basilisk parts are, apparently, valued as components in spell-casting.
They determine to take the books partly to pay for a good wizard's service in restoring the poor victims of the experiments and partly to recompense the families of the guards lost to the bandits. The caravan master, Sahm al Shaddahd, claps an even tighter guard around the villainous wizard, but it is observed that the caravan isn't really equipped to hold a mage even though several of the injured guards are not yet to a point where the caravan can more on.
The books are buried in the tuns of ballast for safe-keeping. Fiamma and Shadya devise various means for transporting Orlando and the not-quite-basilisks. Fiamma's pouch and Shadya's turban are both considered as potential retreats for Orlando, and a leather rigging is attached to Shadya's horse's headstall so that the small warrior may have the joy of riding (and, perhaps, affecting the horse, if necessary, by having access to its ear).
Several nights later, the adventurers are wakened by the sounds of confict: Orlando is fighting a cat-sized rat. He gallantly accepts assistance and Shadya dispatches the rat with her faithful saif. Simultaneously, a scream of pain wakens the rest of the caravan and all converge on the wizard's cell. He is nursing a sword wound and Shadya realizes that she has killed a wizard's familiar.
The caravan patches up the wizard, more determined than ever to quit this place as soon as possible and take this evil one unto the wise men of the City of Aljanaah.
Shadya celebrates her new sword brother with the hospitality of coffee - which appears to be a bit of a surprise to both Orlando and Fiamma.
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