It wasn't long until Strifer and the others had gone through the Korrokola Tunnel, the tunnel connecting Bastok and the Zepwell region, and were walking towards the coordinates that Iron Eater had given them.
Nenye was very uneasy about this whole situation. "Iron Eater said that the monster is very powerful, what if we can't beat it?"
Strifer looked at Nenye and smiled. "Don't worry, Nenye, we're together and together we can beat anything!"
Garek was walking alongside Nenye. "Well said Strifer, that sphinx or whatever it may be is going to witness our skill first hand. You should be the least worried out of all of us, your magic spells are hard to compare with."
Zinadae nodded. "I don't think all of our weapons combined could compare with yours and Tracy Lou's magic."
Deaths Blessing stopped rather abruptly and drew his scythe. "These are the coordinates that Iron Eater gave us, the monster should be around here somewhere!"
Tracy Lou looked around on the desert ground, desperately searching. "If the monster is at these coordinates, would the moon pebble be also?"
Tracy Lou was still frantically searching when the ground began to shake. Strifer, noticing the sand moving beneath Tracy Lou, shouted. "Tracy Lou, look out!" He then dived at her and got her out of the way and the monster came up from the sand where Tracy Lou was standing. It appeared to be a Gigantic Manticore of some kind. "Not a moment too soon, Tracy, you could have been Taru-chow!" He yelled as he shot an arrow at the Manticore, who abruptly turned towards him and started charging. "Shadowbind!" The Manticore was now rooted to one spot as Deaths Blessing, Zinadae, and Garek made their advance and started exchanging blows with the terrifying monster. Strifer then took five arrows out of his quiver and aimed all five at the Manticore at once and fired. All five of the arrows stuck and the Manticore screamed out in pain. It seems that the will of the beast was enough to overcome Strifer's Shadowbind and it headed straight for him.
Nenye, now frantically watching Strifer as the Manticore took swipe after swipe at him, quickly started casting one of her most powerful spells, and after a few seconds of chanting, she yelled. "FLARE!" A gigantic fireball went hurling towards the Manticore and sent it flying across the desert sand and into the Canyon wall. The Manticore now took its attention off of Strifer and was locked on Nenye. It started charging, but Tracy Lou cast her bind spell on it and the Manticore was again bound in one place while Deaths Blessing, Garek, and Zinadae fought with it. Strifer's continuous firing of arrows kept the monster from moving as freely as it would want to. Nenye was again chanting a very powerful spell directed at the monster that was taking a very long time to execute. The monster became unbound and began heading for Nenye once again.
Strifer was terrified. "Nenye, move out of the way! It's coming for you!" Nenye still stood there, chanting the spell as the Manticore moved closer. "Nenye, I know you can't move until the spell is cast, otherwise it'll break your concentration and make the spell void, but we'll find another way to beat it, just move out of the way now!" Still, Nenye was casting and would not move.
The Manticore was closer now, close enough to where his breaths reached the nostrils of Nenye's face, and then Nenye opened her eyes and flailed her arms to the side, and yelled. "FREEZE!" A very powerful bluish white light enveloped around the Manticore and hardened, leaving it as nothing more than a frozen mannequin. The other sheathed their weapons and looked at the Manticore, a brilliant statue of ice, and then at Nenye, who just smiled, winked, then took out her mace and hit the frozen Manticore with it. The impact of the Mace caused the Ice sculpture to break into thousands of pieces. Nenye smiled, "I guess you were right, I do have less to worry about that you guys do."
Strifer gasped. "Wow, that was amazing! I had no idea that you had that kind of power! I wonder if the Star Sybil in Windurst has that power. Hmm…" He then looked at the shards of the Manticore and saw what he thought was a piece, but was a lot shinier and stood out a lot more than all the others. He bent down and he picked it up, "This is the moon pebble, right when it touched my finger tips, it suddenly popped into my head."
Deaths Blessing was overjoyed. "Ha! I knew that there was something fishy about that Povall kid! Now we can show Iron Eater the moon pebble and that little boy will get what he deserves." Deaths Blessing attitude suddenly changed mid-sentence, "So, I guess that wasn't the Talekeeper, I wonder if we have one, and if so, where is he?"
Garek patted him on the back. "Don't fret, brother, we will find the true Talekeeper as soon as this fake one is revealed!"
Deaths Blessing smiled. "I hope you're right."
Strifer looked at them, then at the moon pebble in his hands. "Come on you guys, the sooner we get to Bastok, the sooner we can revel that fraud!" They all followed him and started on to Bastok, but first had to go through Korrokola Tunnel. "This tunnel is an amazing structure." Said Strifer, as they walked through the darkened tunnel, with their only light being a small torch in Strifer's hand. "I can't believe that this tunnel was built by Galka so long ago!"
Deaths Blessing smirked. "Well Strifer, why do you think we have such huge arms? Genetics!"
Nenye was confused. "Hey, I have a question, if the muscular frames and bulky arms are Genetics, and if more Galka appear everyday, then how do Galka…reproduce?"
Deaths Blessing was lost for words. "You know what, I really don't know the answer to that."
While they were walking in the darkened cave, Strifer suddenly stepped on something and he abruptly stopped and searched the ground where he had stepped. "What's this?" he said, picking up a musty, old, piece of wood from the cave floor. "This wood… that's strange, there isn't any wood in this cave, the closest wood supply would be in the Republic of Bastok. So whatever this is, it must have been brought here by someone." He examined the piece of wood very carefully and then turned it over and discovered that there was writing on the back of it. Though hard to see because of how musty it was, Strifer could read it clearly because of his heightened Ranger senses.
Deaths Blessing looked at the piece of wood that Strifer held in his hand. "What is it, Strifer? I can't seem to make out the words on that piece of wood, but I know one of the words says "Galka." I am fairly sure that you can read it! What does it say? I must know!"
Strifer smiled and then gave a deep sigh. "Yes, I can read it. It's a letter, written by Werei, the Elder of the Galka in Bastok."
This took everyone aback and Deaths Blessing, almost at once, commanded, "Then read it! This is a very important piece of information! Besides, he is technically my elder also!"
Strifer sighed. "Ok ok, here it is: 'To whomever may find this, give to Gumbah and do not read further'." Strifer looked up from the piece of wood, "Should I read further? I personally say we just go and give it to Gumbah, whoever that is."
Deaths Blessing shook his head. "No! You don't know who Gumbah is and I don't know who Gumbah is! Just read it!" he yelled, his tone intensifying.
Strifer, although shocked by Deaths Blessing's behavior, was extremely calm, "Ok, here is the rest: 'Dear Gumbah, although sad it may be, do not mourn my leaving for we will meet again when I am reborn…'"
Deaths Blessing was shocked. "Reborn? What does that mean?"
Strifer looked at Deaths Blessing. "I'm getting there! 'I imagine that you are now confused, Gumbah, allow me to explain. Until just a few days ago, before I left, I did not know anything about a Galka being reborn. The day before I left, it just suddenly popped into my head, the fact that my life cycle was ending. I need to tell you something very important, Gumbah. You are the Talekeeper. I know this may come as a shock, but I had to let you know now. I always knew, I just never wanted to tell you until the time was right, and I believe that time is now. I know that with me gone, all of the Galka in the mines district must be on a mad rampage. I don't know if you know this or not, but many Galka in the mines district do. Our homeland was once Altepa Desert; we created a city called Rabao. Though we lived in peace for many years, our activity caused the Antica race to awaken from their slumber deep underneath us. They invaded our city, and although we were much stronger than they were, we were heavily outnumbered due to the fact that we Galka are born from a sense of reincarnation and the Antica have a fast form of reproduction rate. Due to this, we were forced to flee and dig our way to Bastok. When we got there, we were assisted by the Hume race in fending off the Antica. When everything was said and done, Korrokola Tunnel was sealed off and was never to be used to travel to the Zepwell region. You must tell them what I have done and remind them that Altepa Desert may be their homeland, but it is just that, desert. Nothing more, nothing less, it is just plainly desert. I do not have much more time to write this to you, Gumbah, but just know that we will meet again when I am reborn. Take care, my friend, and may the winds of Vana'diel guide you. Werei'" Strifer stopped reading, looked up, and saw the shocked look on Deaths Blessing's face. "That is it then, the Talekeeper is among the Galka in Bastok and we have to find Gumbah and give him this piece of wood from Werei so he can calm everything down."
Deaths Blessing nodded. "You're right. Off to Bastok, then!"
As they were continuing to walk through the tunnel, Garek couldn't stop thinking about the not from Werei. "Why would Werei leave the piece of wood here if he knew that the Galka could never enter Korrokola Tunnel?"
Zinadae thought for a second. "He probably figured that since this 'phony' Talekeeper came to town that Iron Eater would send an expedition to Altepa Desert to try and find the real moon pebble. My guess is that he knew this was going to happen."
Tracy Lou nodded and looked up. "What are the chances, huh? It's so dark in here and there are a lot of passages. I wonder if he actually knew that we were coming. Like he could read the future."
Nenye was walking next to them, laying her head back in her hands. "If you ask me, I think it was all good-kitty luck."
Deaths Blessing was walking with his arms crossed across his well-built chest, thinking to himself. "Well, I think that he knew people were going to come through here on an expedition because he could see the future. I also wouldn't doubt that a little kitty-luck had something to do with it." They all looked at him confused. "Let's just say that I agree with all of your assumptions, although the future telling one seems a little farfetched, he was the Galka elder for a reason, I imagine."
After walking for a while longer, they came to the place that was between Korrokola Tunnel and Bastok, the Zeruhn Mines. A member of the Iron Musketeers greeted them at the gate in Zeruhn mines. "I certainty hope you have found something! The Galka in the mines district have upped their rebellion! It will turn into a full-scale Civil War if something is not done!"
Everyone was shocked and Strifer quickly started running down the narrow hallway of Zeruhn Mines to the Mines District in Bastok while the others followed. "We'll take it from here, thanks for informing us. Quickly everyone, we must calm the Galka in the Mines District down and quickly find Gumbah so he can resolve this!" They exited Zeruhn Mines and were in the Mines District, where many Galka were standing, rioting so they could go through the Korrokola Tunnel and into Altepa Desert.
There were many Galka screaming and shouting from all directions while members of the Iron Musketeers, Ayame, and Naji were blocking the entrance trying to calm the Galka down. One of the Galka spotted Deaths Blessing and the others emerging from Zeruhn Mines. "Hey, how come he got to go into Korrokola Tunnel? I thought that it wasn't allowed! This must be another one of the lies that you Humes tell!"
Ayame unsheathed her Great Katana. "You will watch your tongue unless you want it cut from your mouth! These six are adventurers, they were given permission to enter on top secret business, although I had heard nothing about it until Iron Eater asked me to escort him back as soon as these adventurers had returned! Now, move back, we can't allow civilians to enter!
The Galka backed into the crowd and Ayame sheathed her Great Katana when Strifer walked up to her. "We need to speak to one of the Galka, one named Gumbah. We must address him out of the crowd." Ayame nodded and Strifer turned to the crowd. "I promise I will explain everything as soon as I get what I want! I need to speak to a Galka named Gumbah! Is he among you?"
All of the Galka looked at each other and one of them shouted, "He is not, he believes what we're doing won't help anything!"
Strifer nodded. "Bring him to me and you will get the answers that you seek!" One of the Galka in the crowd left abruptly and brought back a young looking Galka who looked significantly different than the rest. Gumbah was then let through by Naji and Ayame and led up to Strifer. Strifer held up the moon pebble. "Gumbah, do you know what this is?" he asked.
Gumbah scratched his head and thought for a second. "The moon pebble… but why do you have it, it's supposed to belong to the Talekeeper of the Galka, Povall."
Strifer smiled at the unbeknownst Talekeeper and said. "Gumbah, it belongs to you." Gumbah was wide-eyed and didn't know what to say. "Here." Strifer handed him the piece of wood. "Read it over carefully, but try to be quick, for there is much explaining you must do to this crowd in order to calm them.
Gumbah looked at the piece of wood. "This is Werei's writing." He then looked at Strifer and nodded. "Right, I'll read this as quickly as I can!"
While Gumbah was reading the piece of wood, Iron Eater ran through the crowd. "Strifer, have you got the moon pebble!"
Strifer smiled and pointed to Gumbah. "Gumbah is the new Talekeeper, Iron Eater. I gave it to him. I also found a piece of wood in Korrokola Tunnel that had writing on it. It was a letter from Werei to Gumbah telling him that he was the new Talekeeper."
Iron Eater was shocked. "All this time, and I didn't know." He then woke himself up from his calm and thinking state, and was in a panicked one once again. "No, I mean, it's great that we've found the new Talekeeper, it's just that, we've received a letter addressed to Volker via a captured Iron Musketeer. I've talked with Volker about it and he thinks that we need to send you back to Altepa Desert to the coordinates in which the letter specifies! It leads to an isolated bunch of ruins that were used in old times!"
They were all shocked and Zinadae was not very happy about it at all. "You're saying you want us to go back to where we had just…"
Deaths Blessing looked nastily at Zinadae. "Let him speak, Zinadae, for Altana's sake!" He then turned to Iron Eater. "Who is the letter from?" asked Deaths Blessing. Iron Eater had the letter in his hand and showed the letter to him. Deaths Blessing, in turn, looked at the signature at the bottom that spelt in big, bold letters 'ZEID.' Again, they were all shocked; Deaths Blessing was, surprisingly, the most shocked of them all. "Why us? Can't you or Volker go?"
Iron Eater shook his head. "The letter specifically specifies that he doesn't want the Republic to be aware of this operation. So, like your moon pebble retrieval, this too will be done covertly. If the Musketeers go anywhere, it has to be authorized by Congress, you see. That is why he asks for us to send a group of adventurers to his site to retrieve the information that we need."
Gumbah came up to them and politely said. "I've read the letter and studied it carefully. With this moon pebble in hand, I know a lot more than is meant to be known by any Galka, which is one-thousand years of the past Galka memories. I am ready to tell them what I need to and to hopefully restore peace and order to Bastok."
Iron Eater nodded. "Strifer, I'll stay here with Gumbah, you and the others make your way to Altepa Desert, quickly!
Strifer looked at Gumbah, back at the others who nodded, and then turned to Iron Eater and nodded. "You can count on us, Iron Eater!"
Deaths Blessing walked up to Gumbah and got on his knee so that he and Gumbah were eye level. "They may seem vicious now…" Deaths Blessing looked up to see the rioting Galka who were yelling and shouting rude and profound things. "But don't forget, you are the Talekeeper. When you talk to them, and share with them what you know, hopefully peace will return to Bastok."
Gumbah looked at Deaths Blessing for a moment and then nodded. "You got it! I can already feel the power and wisdom of the Talekeeper running through my veins! I won't lead them astray!"
Strifer put his hand on Deaths Blessing's shoulder. "We should get going." Deaths Blessing turned to him and nodded, then he got up and they all quickly ran off in the direction of Altepa Desert. Deaths Blessing stopped, turned around to face Gumbah, and saluted him. Gumbah nodded and Deaths Blessing nodded back then turned and ran off after the others.