CROCODILE'S TEAR

The Crocodile's Tear is a sapphire of extraordinary size and clarity. It was discovered by a slave working the granola mines of Antharia, who died bringing it to the surface. After passing through many hands, including those of Thaddium Fzort (who ruled Quendor from 481-545 GUE), the jewel came into the possession of the evil sorceress Y'Syska, whose collection of gems and minerals is still without peer.

Y'Syska protected the Crocodile's Tear from thieves by hiding it in the Miznia Jungle to be guarded by bloodworms and whatever traps the sorceress laid to confound the unwary. Survivors of the jungle came back to report that the Crocodile's Tear rested on the face of a large idol, just below one eye.

This idol, possibly a construction of Y'Syska, but more likely a remnant of a forgotten religion, was a crocodile in the shape and size of a subway train, not counting the limbs and tail. Its maw hung wide open with the lower jaw touching the ground to form an inclined walkway lined with rows of stone teeth. The stone jaw, when stood upon, lurched like one standing on a seesaw. Anyone wishing to steal Y'Syska's jewel would have to climb the idol without sliding into its mouth, and becoming trapped. The Legend of the Crocodile's Tear became the most famous story of the Miznia Jungle.

The same peasant who recovered the Coconut of Quendor in 966 GUE also successfully stole the Crocodile's Tear by luring a mother hungus to stand at one end of the jaw. The weighty hungus was easily able to keep the far end of the seesaw raised high while the light-weight peasant reached up to grab the tear. The jewel popped off the idol's face, slipped from the hero's grasp and rolled down to the mother hungus's feet, where she promptly ate it, turned and lumbered off the jaw. The seesaw titled, pitching the peasant helplessly forward into the idol. The interior long, low chamber of the idol was shaped much like the gizzard of a crocodile, with no non-magical method of escape. Fortunately this adventurer was able to escape, and hunted down the mother hungus. Using a cane of eversion, the hungus found herself being turned inside out, the effect lasting but long enough for the undigested contents of the mother hungus's stomach to fall to the ground. The peasant again had possession of the Crocodile's Tear. That same adventurer sold the recovered jewel to one of three shops staffed by Y'Gael for 1000zm enabling the purchase of the Phee Hourglass. Y'Gael put the Tear up for resale at 2000zm, and its fate after that point is unknown.


SOURCE(S): Beyond Zork