Barsoom Tales II: Romance, Revolution and BLOODY REVENGE!!! -- COMPLETE

[shilsen]

"You're going to set off --" Dominic's eyes went to the pile, "A few thousand bombs directly under the Kishak army?"

"Oh, no. Most of the mines have already been flown into the city. The total will be more like twenty thousand."

Reyhan wasn't a PC, was he? That sounds just like the kind of thing you'd expect a player to come up with.

 

[barsoomcore]

No, Reyhan was me.

As a DM, I'm generally FAR harder on my NPCs than I am on my PCs. My players may not see it that way, I guess, but being an NPC in one of my campaigns is never a ticket to the easy life.

Being a Kishak soldier is ESPECIALLY not a ticket to the easy life, by the way.

 

[barsoomcore]

Another Fine Mess: 16

Survey of Ornamental Details Found in the Fountain of Kings

The Impact of Kishak Hegemony on Calégrian Monumental Traditions

The Fountain of Kings: A Mythological Architecture

Nevid rubbed at his eyes and pulled the next book off the stack next to him. Across the table sat Arrafin, looking nearly as exhausted and red-eyed as he, poring through an immense tome bound in iron strips. Around them rose stacks of volumes and scrolls that they had been perusing all day, seeking hints to the mystery of Farouk ibn Zaoud, the legendary Naridic warrior and constant companion to the great king Suelekar Ben Azan.

Any literature that referenced his death mentioned that he was buried beneath the stones of the Fountain of Kings, the great public square in front of the Emir's palace in Al-Tizim.

Nevid pushed his chair back and stretched. He and Arrafin had arrived at the Tallal University Reading Room early in the morning and it was now well past noon. The great high vaults of the library, carved with representations of Naridic scholars and artists, drew his tired eyes upwards. Quiet conversation rumbled in from the courtyard where students, young and intent and serious, gathered to debate the news that the Kishak army was only a day or so away.

Arrafin noted Nevid's lack of attention. She took the opportunity to slip another of Madame Yuek's scrolls into the pages of the huge history volume she was pretending to read. The spell formulas tantalized her with promises of power and domination.

"We should track down those merchants. Their good word will be crucial."

Arrafin blinked.

"What?"

"When the Kishak army takes the city, if we have Kishak friends we might stand a chance. They'll probably execute half the city."

Arrafin's mouth dropped open. She stared past Nevid's shoulder.

"I think we have bigger problems, Nevid."

"Bigger than execution?"

"Turn around."

"No."

As Arrafin's attention seemed fixed on a point just behind him, Nevid sighed, braced himself and turned around.

"I found ye, lad. Ye brought me out o' there and I thank ye. Thank ye, lad. I like ye."

Nevid's mouth dropped open as Kaley, the ghost woman from Castle Dannockshire, drifted forward and pressed up against him.

"Ye'll no leave me again, will ye now?"

"Oh, no."

*****

"A spike. In his head."

"Yes. Apparently it's blue."

"The spike in Nevid's head is blue?"

"So she says."

Arrafin shrugged and Elena shook her head, looking around at the rest of the group.

It was good to have Isaac back, his solid presence somehow reassuring. Especially since Arrafin seemed obsessed with finding a dead man, Etienne had disappeared and Nevid could no longer be separated from his new insane girlfriend.

"She seems nice enough. Crazy, but nice crazy."

Elena frowned at Isaac's comment and leaned forward, lowering voice, even though Kaley never seemed to pay any attention to their conversations.

"Isaac, she's dead. She's, I don't know, a ghost."

"Kani said she was a spirit."

"Speaking of crazy and not so nice."

"Okay, spirit. Anyway, she's not, you know, normal. A lot. She says Nevid has a blue spike in his head. She followed it."

Arrafin, Isaac and Elena all studied their friend carefully. Nevid sat, looking very uncomfortable, on a cot with the Shaeric girl Kaley pressed up against him. She had her eyes closed and rested her head on his shoulder, apparently oblivious to all else.

"Nevid? Any theories?"

The young Saijadani just shook his head at Elena's angry question. Elena scowled and was about to ask another question when Arrafin spoke up.

"Maybe it had something to do with whatever Kani was laughing about. Remember?"

"Yeah, Madame Who-In-The-Heck said something about a soul, right? Complicated souls?"

"Right. She said Nevid's soul was not entirely his own. She said... an aspect of what he carried had nostalgic value for her."

"Which means what?"

"I don't know. But maybe next time we see her we can ask."

Elena and Isaac stared at Arrafin. Even Nevid managed a quizzical expression.

"What? Kani gave us this rod, right? So we could call on her if we wanted."

Arrafin's friends continued to stare. The Naridic girl held up the crystal rod Kani had given her.

"What?"

Isaac recovered first.

"Arrafin, if things ever get so bad that we think having the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life show up is a GOOD idea, I hope I'm already dead. I don't ever want to see Madame Yuek again. Ever."

"She was nice to us. She kept her word."

"Arrafin. Vampire. Eats people. Did you see that little girl she had? She is evil. Evil evil evil evil evil. Evil."

"Is everything just black and white for you? Evil this, good that? Look at what's going on right here in this city. We've got an army outside that's slaughtering innocent people but fighting the invaders. You, Isaac, you just spent two days building a trap to slaughter a bunch of Kishak kids who probably just want to go home. How many people are going to die because of you?"

"I thought you wanted to fight the Kishaks?"

"I do. I just. Maybe everything isn't as simple as we sometimes make it out to be. People are complicated."

The door to the inn room opened and Etienne and Zuleika stood there.

"Hey guys. The Kishaks have been sighted on the North road."

Arrafin jumped up.

"Are the Crimson Host attacking?"

Zuleika spat and laughed harshly.

"Those bastards ran for it as soon as they saw the reds coming. They're long gone."

Etienne interfered before Arrafin could get her outrage voiced.

"And Sharina al-Sharina beni Howetait wants to see us."

Elena chuckled sourly.

"Now who's complicated?"

*****

Even Elena smiled at the spectacle of Arrafin and her father exchanging obscure historical references, completely ignoring the fact that the most powerful woman in the Narid was waiting to see them.

The Khadisan had taken up court in the Mullaham and a steady stream of visitors filed in up the front steps and into the great domed hall, tiled in white and blue, where she sat.

The guards, visored and stern, waved them forward and Elena and Isaac just pushed gently on the chattering historians, guiding Arrafin and Reyhan forward without disturbing their conversation. Zuleika, Etienne, Nevid and Kaley followed.

"Out! Abomination! Send it out!"

The Khadisan's sudden shriek startled all of them, even Arrafin and Reyhan looking up at where the woman stood, pointing at their approaching group. Heads turned to see Kaley standing, pale and frightened, shaking under the sudden scrutiny. The Shaeric girl clutched at Nevid's arm, terror on her face.

"What's wrong?"

Arrafin turned to the Khadisan.

"What is it? She's. She's harmless."

The stern woman warrior's glower never softened.

"It may not approach. It defiles this place with its unclean presence."

Nevid nodded to his friends and guided Kaley back the way they'd come, ignoring angry stares and mutters.

The Khadisan settled back on her throne.

"This time tomorrow, the Kishak army will be destroyed. I will take my army into the desert and await the final confrontation with the Tyrant's Shade. I understand that you people intend to travel to Al-Tizim."

"Khadisan, what just happened? Why did you send Kaley away? What is she?"

The older woman regarded Arrafin balefully, but relented enough to answer.

"The Voice of the Wind has spoken to me, Arrafin al-Fasir beni Hassan, and it tells me that I am to deliver the desert from its oppressors. It has shown me the many paths of the future, and in all paths the treachery of the spirits is constant."

"What are spirits, exactly?"

"They are deceivers. No spirit may enter my presence, lest they desecrate my sacred communion with the Voice of the Wind."

Eager to end the conversation, Isaac stepped forward.

"Was there something you wanted us to do while we're in Al-Tizim, ma'am? A message or something you wanted delivered?"

"We have supporters in the great city, of course. We have a list of names you may contact upon your arrival there. Destroy this list before you leave here."

"Okay."

"I will face the Tyrant's Shade, and I will destroy him, and drive his armies from the desert. The thirst of the desert is never satisfied."

Even Arrafin and Reyhan joined with every other Naridic person in the vast chamber in repeating the Khadisan's last sentence. It seemed only Isaac, Elena and Etienne were silent.

"The thirst of the desert is never satisfied."

Isaac and Elena shared a sour look.

"This is not going to end well."

 

[barsoomcore]

I had an entire folder on my Mac that was descriptions of reference books in Barsoom the players might come across. It got a lot of use, at least while Arrafin was with the party.

 

[shilsen]

While Arrafin was with the party? That sounds intriguingly ominous.

 

[barsoomcore]

Well, it was meant to.

 

[barsoomcore]

Another Fine Mess: 17

"I don't want to die."

"Nobody wants to die, Etienne."

"Not everyone has as much to lose, you know. Look at me."

Elena sighed and ignored her smirking half-Kishak friend. From the rooftop where they lay they could see the tail of the Kishak army slowly disappearing into the city gates. Within the city, buildings obscured the army's progress, but occasionally they could make out the high maroon standards as they passed through intersections.

Isaac had told them all to keep well clear of the palace square, though he would not say why. Elena assumed an ambush was being prepared. The Khadisan's army had arrived on those giant flying bugs, and so there was no evidence to tell the Kishaks they were walking into an immense trap.

Considering Isaac's confidence, Elena was sure that the only danger she would face this day would be heatstroke from lying in the sun with the others.

That, and possibly listening to Etienne boast.

"Och, she's a wild lass, isn't she just?"

Kaley's uncharacteristic outburst brought Elena's head around. The Shaeric woman sat next to Nevid, who was studying a text he'd apparently "retrieved" from the Tallal university library. Arrafin sat cross-legged near them, likewise absorbed in studying parchment, occasionally feeding bits of flatbread to her tiny owl. Etienne and Zuleika lay on the roof beside Elena.

Kaley was for once not looking at Nevid. She had turned and stared, wide-eyed, at the bloody, wild-haired mess that fumed and glared straight at Elena.

Kani.

The Lohanese sorceress' hands came up like claws and she lunged at Elena, shrieking.

"What was that thing?"

She plowed right into the just-standing Saijadani woman. They grappled for a second, and then toppled off the roof.

*****

It was really going to work. Isaac sat, his hat pulled down low over his eyes, trying to look as nonchalant as any tired Naridic beggar might, in a narrow alley leading to the Palace Square.

Not fifty feet from him, thousands of Kishak warriors lined up to cheer their general who would soon emerge on the high balcony above. They stood in precise ranks, their leather harnesses and gilded ornaments making a barbaric spectacle to Isaac's Saijadani eyes.

Sandalled feet rested on the multitude of powder-filled ceramic blocks his crews had replaced the cobblestones with. The work had been completed only hours ago, and in some places the stones were thrown together shabbily, with too many gaps, uneven placing and awkward angles. Isaac hoped that Kishaks were just as contemptuous of other nations as every other nation was, and would not consider the shoddy workmanship suspicious.

So far it seemed they had not noticed anything untoward about the plaza's cobblestones. Isaac turned away from the enemy and, shielding their view with his body, set fire to an entire forest of fuzes.

These cables had been designed by Arrafin's father Reyhan and would burn at a precise rate, even underground without air. They led all around underneath the plaza, carefully measured to arrive at their destinations at particular intervals.

"It is critical that the explosions begin at the outside. Only that will ensure total destruction. Only that will avenge my son."

Both Reyhan and Arrafin had that trick of turning from charming and sweet and sort of half-focused to intense and furious and remorseless in a heartbeat. The old man's fierce eyes burned in Isaac's memory.

Isaac remained where he was until the burning ends of the fuzes had disappeared beneath the paving stones. Then he got wearily to his feet and shambled off down the alley.

He did not see the officer of the nearest Kishak file peer curiously at his departure and make his way down the alley after the untidy beggar.

*****

"What was that thing?"

Kani shrieked and tore at Elena as they plunged into the street below. They crashed into an awning and right through, melons suddenly flying up around them as the cart beneath shattered on their impact.

Elena got a hand on the smaller woman's collar and hurled Kani bodily into the wall beside them. She slammed the sorceress again and again into the adobe, shaking loose flakes of dried mud as shoppers shouted around them, stumbling over shattered cart pieces and tumbling melons.

"What are you talking about, you insane bitch? What thing?"

Arrafin and Etienne plunged out of a doorway and hurtled up the street to where the two women struggled.

Etienne saw Kani produce a knife. He leapt forward and grabbed her wrist before she could stab Elena with it.

Kani screamed.

"What was that thing?"

Elena braced herself as Arrafin joined them.

"Etienne, can you hold her for a second?"

The half-Kishak nodded. Elena let go, leaned back, and with all her strength punched Kani right in the face.

The Lohanese woman reeled, bleeding from a torn lip but still hissing and snarling. She sprayed blood on Etienne. She saw Arrafin and sneered.

"That thing? Did you send it? How did you control it?"

Arrafin shook her head.

"What thing? What are you--"

"The little girl! The little Kishak girl!"

"Oh, God. Not her. We killed her."

Elena stared in horror at Kani.

"Mara? The vampire girl? But. We killed her. With the sword. We killed her. She's gone."

"Ha! That creature just attacked my master's fortress. Dozens are dead. Hundreds! What is that thing?"

Arrafin, despite her terror, frowned.

"What do you mean, your master?"

Kani spat.

"SHE has no more power over me. I am free to choose who I serve. And I choose the greatest sorcerer in all Barsoom. I now serve Matai Shang. He who will destroy you for sending that thing to him."

"Oh, that's just great."

*****

Jaddikathar Yithak Kin considered the strange formation in the alley floor. It appeared that a few paving stones had been removed and dozens of small holes drilled in the rock beneath.

Curious, he pried up a neighboring stone. Underneath the holes continued on like the paths of large earthworms. One was blocked by some sort of cable or thick thread, the end of which appeared burned. He picked it up, but it extended further under the next stone, back towards the plaza. As did all the other, hollow trails.

He frowned.

As things he'd heard about modern weapons began to fall into place in his head, Jaddikathar Yithak Kin dropped the thread and ran back towards the plaza.

He was screaming at the top of his lungs when a gunshot behind him announced a blasting pain in his back, and suddenly he was writhing on the stones, still screaming.

Isaac lowered his pistol and saw the nearest hundred or so Kishak soldiers turn in his direction.

"Crap."

*****

"So you've gone and joined Madame Yuek's biggest enemy. Don't you think she'll be kind of annoyed with you?"

Kani shrieked and again tried to free her knife hand from Etienne's grip. Blood from her cut lip had poured all down her chin, giving her such a frightful appearance that not even the fruit merchant whose cart had just been totalled dared interfere in the struggle.

"Shang will destroy you all! You have brought your own deaths upon you!"

"We didn't send that thing. Tell him we had nothing to do with it."

Kani threw back her head and laughed. She dropped the knife and Etienne kicked it away, then stepped back, still watchful.

Even so, it was Arrafin who first realised what was happening. Her owl flapped in alarm.

"She's casting a--"

The street erupted beneath them all, knocking Elena and Arrafin flying.

Etienne retained his balance, however. He was just preparing to lunge when another explosion sent everyone, even Kani herself, to their knees.

A much, much larger explosion.

*****

The blast was visible from every part of the city. Near the palace, the cloud of dust thrown up was so thick Isaac was nearly mistaken for a Kishak by the inrushing surge of eager Naridic warriors. He stumbled aside and waved his allies into the dust cloud.

Fortunately, the first Kishaks to make their way out of the disaster zone were even more disoriented, and by the time they noticed they were no longer alone, they were subjected to fatal chopping blows from the furious Naridic soldiers. These men and women had seen their families killed, their homes burned. They wanted revenge.

Kishaks screamed and pleaded and bled as the people of Tallal got their revenge.

Within the dust cloud, even more piteous screams rang out. The rest of the city seemed hushed, listening to the slaughter as though it were a sacred ritual.

Isaac watched blood sluicing between the cobblestones of the street and remembered Juan Antonio del Orofin's headless body. Isaac understood revenge.

He hoped his friends had enjoyed their afternoon.

*****

Arrafin had been studying all day. Studying a spell formula from the scrolls Madame Yuek had given her. She got to her feet and without thinking of what she was doing, opened herself up to darkness. Black electricity arced up her spine and a shadowy nimbus erupted around her. The dark tendrils grazed spilled melons and the fruit rotted at the touch, falling apart into thick slime. One middle-aged woman, sprawling on the ground, managed a thin wavering scream as she felt Shadow touch her, and pulled herself away from the cold blackness around Arrafin.

Arrafin's mind knew nothing but precise calculation. Matrices of wild energy blossomed in her awareness as she sent her will down pathways of perfect geometry, bending the foul power of sorcery to her desire.

Kani managed a shocked gasp as Arrafin's eyes snapped open and a blast of thick blackness thunderbolted across the street, slamming the Lohanese woman backward into the wall Elena had been pounding her against only moments before. Arrafin smiled.

More sorcery erupted in the chaotic street. Elena fell back, groaning, her eyes streaming blood, and Etienne was sent flying with another explosion of cobblestones. Cobblestones exploded at Arrafin's feet. Zuleika charged and caught a flying knife in her stomach.

Arrafin tried to summoun up more Shadow, but she was exhausted. Gral huddled close to her, only able to supply the blind love that consumed his little form. Kani laughed and made her way across the torn stones and terrified bodies towards the Naridic girl. She held a knife in her hand and chuckled as she gestured violently.

Her grin disappeared as Arrafin fumbled in her bag and pulled out a slender crystal rod.

Arrafin managed a sneer.

"Remember this?"

Kani reached out a hand.

"Don't. Don't break that. Don't call her. She'll."

"She'll what? Hurt you?"

Arrafin glared.

"Maybe you better save your breath and focus on running for your life."

She snapped the crystal rod. Shadowy darkness spilled forth.

Kani shrieked in utter terror and ran off down the street. Arrafin fell backwards and watched, numb, as the Shadow coiling and writhing in the street surged upwards and suddenly there stood Madame Yuek.

Six feet tall. White as any alabaster. Eyes like liquid onyx. Hair and golden ornaments towering high above her. A crimson and gold gown that shimmered and rippled like a living thing.

The beautiful vampire smiled down at Arrafin.

"Hello, Arrafin. What a pleasure to see you."

Arrafin tried to speak, and failed. She tried to stand, and failed. She managed to point off down the street where Kani was rapidly disappearing.

"Oh. Her."

The long rippling tendrils of Madame Yuek's gown suddenly took on purposeful energy, and shot down the street like the grasping tentacles of a hungry squid. Kani screamed as they remorselessly dragged her down the street back towards Madame Yuek.

Madame Yuek appeared to pay no attention. She continued to smile fixedly at Arrafin. The Naridic girl got her pointing hand to move again. She waved.

"Hi."

"Are you well, my dear? Has something happened?"

Madame Yuek's features took on a sudden darkness and she turned to watch Kani's slow, desperately contested, approach.

"Kani didn't hurt you, did she? Oh, my."

She shook her head.

"I'm so disappointed in that girl."

Kani saw Arrafin and her shrieking turned anguished, pleading.

"Arrafin! Please don't let her take me. Please kill me. Please, please kill me. Kill me, Arrafin, please, oh god don't let her take me please please please please please..."

Arrafin could only stare in horror. Madame Yuek smiled fondly.

"You really are a dear girl. Thank you so much. One day I promise I'll repay you."

The two Lohanese women disappeared in a puff of blackness.

Arrafin collapsed. Etienne got to his feet and staggered over to where Zuleika lay curled up around the knife in her stomach, groaning and swearing.

Elena sat up.

"Did she call you dear?"

*****

Isaac made his way through the disordered cobblestones and confused folks, wondering if somehow one of their explosives had been mistakenly placed here. He saw Arrafin shaking her head, Elena looking like she'd been crying tears of blood, and Etienne and Zuleika huddled next to a destroyed fruit cart.

Nevid and that Kaley girl looked down from a rooftop above.

"I go away for an afternoon and you people fall apart. Honestly."

 

[barsoomcore]

And that, folks, is the end of Part One: "Another Fine Mess". Part Two, "Frying Pan, Fire" will kick off in a couple of weeks. Next week we'll be dropping in on a few old friends here and there, just to see how everyone's getting along...

 

[Desdichado]

Next week we'll be dropping in on a few old friends here and there, just to see how everyone's getting along...

Summary version: They're either 1) dead. 2) Dying. Or 3) Plotting to kill you.

 

[barsoomcore]

Summary version: They're either 1) dead. 2) Dying. Or 3) Plotting to kill you.

Actually, in this context, "either" is incorrect. On Barsoom, none of those states are mutually exclusive.