Three Kingdoms and Empire

[the Jester]

I would just like to note that I have apparently Forinthianized Barouk's name. In dwarven, it is Baruk, with an umlat (like a colon but horizontal) over the u.

Update later tonight; I'm almost done with it. It's reasonably long, and will cover the second session of this game in its entirety.

A couple of notes:

Snave's player is having a baby soon and may not be able to play very regularly. Kifla's player works for the first couple hours of the game, so he misses the first chunk of the game. Aron's player has to leave early, so he misses the last chunk of the game.

 

[the Jester]

7/30/372 O.L.G., 1 p.m., Porter’s Tenement, Alathion

Aron crawls up to his room to rest and recover from his wounds while Barouk groans his way into a chair in the common room. He grumbles to himself. Rent is due on the morrow, and although he has enough to pay it, it will pretty much deplete his funds- never a good condition for a dwarf to be in. The monk scowls. His many wounds ache.

“What happened to you?”

Barouk glances up. A tough-looking buxom blonde human girl smiles at him from across the table. She looks to be about sixteen years old. She is wearing light armor and has a throwing axe at her hip.

“Several of us went into the caves in the north end of the Night, hoping to find some coin,” he grunts. “We fought vermin and stirges, but found little for our trouble. Still, I’m convinced there’s stuff to be had there... money to be made...”

“Coin?” she inquires, cocking an eyebrow. “I might be interested. My name is Allyendra.”

“An equal share, if you can handle that axe,” the dwarf says at once. “And it will have to wait until I can heal a little.”

She shrugs. “Bah. All right.”

He appraises her thoughtfully. “Well, Ally, there might be a way that we can make some money in the meantime.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why don’t you go walk the streets and, ahem, make us some money?”

She stares at him for a minute, then bursts into emotional tears. Quickly she flees to her room. Barouk shrugs. “Humans,” he mutters.

***

8/1/372 O.L.G., 9 a.m., Aron’s room, Porter’s Tenement

With a groan, Aron finishes chanting, casting a cure light wounds on himself. Instantly the worst of his wounds close, and he sighs, pleased that his goddess so favors him with power. Praise Coila, he thinks, and the image of the red-haired warrior woman that he briefly met flashes briefly before his eyes. Sheva, he thinks. Her name was Sheva.

Then he must turn his attention to more practical things: rent is due. Twice Aron counts his funds, and each time he comes up just so slightly short. Frowning, he contemplates his options for a moment. Then he draws himself to his feet with a wince and descends into the common area. As he suspected, Barouk is down there- and so is Kifla. But, in addition, a big blonde woman is chattering at them. Barouk looks slightly annoyed, but Kifla seems delighted. Snave is nowhere to be seen.

“Ahh, Barouk,” Aron nods as he approaches. Drawing the dwarf slightly aside, he murmurs, “I notice that you are still wounded. The grace of my goddess, Coila, can repair your wounds, if you would like.”

“Why, thank you!” the dwarf nods stoutly. “That would be much appreciated.”

“It will require only the most meager of donations.”

“Ah, donations? Well, rent is due and I-”

“The most meager.”

“...how meager?”

“A mere 4 coppers.”

Barouk cocks an eyebrow and digs out a silver piece. “Keep the change.”

***

Thus it is that everyone pays rent. This leaves Aron with only the 6 copper tip that Barouk had given him, and the rest of the party is low on funds as well. They decide to go the Tavern of Caverns for a meal and some discussion before setting out for the caves at the edge of town again. A small snag arises when Aron refuses to do anything until he has recovered his spells. Kifla flitters off, leaving Barouk and Ally to mull over ways to make some coin while in town. Ally suggests that the two of them go to the caves on their own.

“In a bit,” Barouk grumbles. “It would be very useful to have another ally or two in there. It’s dangerous. It almost killed us all before.”

Instead, for the moment, the dwarf decides to try begging. Plopping down outside of the Tavern of Caverns, he pulls out a wooden bowl and begins trying to solicit a few coppers, only to find Ally roundly mocking him. After a few moments, she demands, “Let’s go to that cave!”

“In a bit,” Barouk repeats.

About twenty seconds later, Ally pokes him again. “How about now?”

“Later!” he barks.

Twenty seconds later: “How about now?”

Twenty more seconds: “How about now?”

Twenty more: “How about now?”

Finally, after several repetitions of this, Barouk snaps, “All right, all right! We’ll go!” Grumbling, he puts his begging bowl away and pulls himself to his feet.

“Hurray!” shouts Ally. The dwarf just sighs and leads the way. Soon enough they reach the cave that Snave, Barouk and Aron had first ventured into, and the two of them head cautiously inside the cliff face. The human gasps at the sight of the massive gouts of blood left by the slain stirges, turning slightly green. Deeper they go, descending the treacherous slope that proved nearly lethal to them before. At the bottom they find a chamber with two passages leading out. The corpse of a giant centipede lies immobile near the pile of rock and debris that it had scrambled out of, and Barouk smiles for an instant.

“Which way?” wonders Ally.

“Haven’t been either way yet,” grunts the dwarf. The two adventurers peer into the darkness down each path (Barouk has, by now, lit a torch and handed it off to Ally). Nothing is obvious down either passage.

With a shrug, they start to the right. The passage winds about 50’ before opening up into another irregular natural cave. Stalactites dangle from the ceiling above; the nubs of stalagmites seem to creep upwards from the floor. Barouk glances around suspiciously, and then the two adventurers start moving gingerly into the chamber-

Swoosh!

A thing detaches from the ceiling and drops down towards them, grabbing at Barouk! Initially disguised as one of the stalactites, the thing seems like some sort of living bag, and it tries to wrap itself around the dwarf. “Hey!” he shouts.

Ally, meanwhile, pulls her axe out, winds up, and chops. The blade slices through the beast, slaying it in a single blow! Black ichor sprays all over both of our heroes, and Barouk sprawls on the ground for a moment as the force of the blow throws him to the side. Scrambling to his feet, he grins fiercely.

“I guess you do know how to use that thing,” he admits.

Ally grins. “Of course. It’s not the first time, you know.” She gestures down one of the three other passages leading out, to the right of the entrance that the two of them came in through. “And look- there’s light down there!”

Barouk squints where she indicates, and indeed, there seems to be a red-orange light coming from the passage she is pointing at. The two of them start down it, and after only 25 or 30 feet, it opens into another chamber. The light is coming from a pair of strange beetles the size of large dogs banded with odd glands that glow. Immediately the hungry bugs scurry towards our heroes, obviously intending them no good.

Ally smiles confidently to herself as her greataxe whistles through one of the beetles, cutting it in half in a single blow- but a moment later, her confidence is undermined when the other beetle almost kills her, tearing a huge chunk of her flesh free and masticating it with its mandibles! With a cry, Barouk tries to pummel it, but its exoskeleton turns his fists. His blows bounce harmlessly from it, and then it bites him back. Blood gushes from his thigh as the beetle rips at his leg!

Staggering, barely able to stand, Barouk tumbles back. He grabs the bleeding, unconscious form of Ally by the hair and jerks her body towards him, then tries to hoist her over his shoulders. But he is thrown off-balance and sinks momentarily to one knee. His eyes blur for a moment as the beetle churns towards them- but then it stops.

Barouk lets out a loud breath as the beetle begins feasting on the corpse of its companion. Slowly, the dwarf staggers out with his human friend.

“Damn it,” he rumbles to himself, “we still haven’t found any coin!”

***

Upon emerging from the cave Barouk stops to contemplate his options. A trip to the drunken priest, Brother Simon, seems in order, especially since he had healed the wrong person the day before and had promised to do some more healing in recompense. As Barouk struggles with the limp form of Ally, Kifla skips up.

”Hi!” the gnome calls. “Oh, wow, you went in the cave again, didn’t you? Wow! I would have thought you’d have learned your lesson!”

“Grumble, grumble,” replies Barouk.

Half an hour later, the priest has made his drunken prayers and Ally stirs, still badly wounded but conscious. Still, the three of them- Ally, Barouk and Kifla- agree that this is no time to head back into the cave. “I’m becoming more dubious about whether there is anything of value in there after all,” Barouk mutters.

“Well, it’s all bugs and stuff,” Kifla points out.

“Maybe they like shiny things,” suggests Ally.

“Haven’t found any,” grunts Barouk.

“Good point,” she concedes.

“Well, what now, then?” asks the dwarf.

“Hey, do you guys want to come with me?” Kifla inquires. “I’m actually looking for this gnome illusionist who is supposed to live in the Night. I wonder if we can find him!”

“What do you need him for?” Ally wonders.

“Oh, I want to learn from him,” Kifla replies. “I am a little bit of a magic-user myself.”

Barouk and Ally shrug, and the three of them start asking around about this gnomish wizard. Very quickly they learn that he lives somewhere called the Scintillating Tower, which they approach. The tower is strange and reflective, and it is surrounded by a garden composed of plants made out of glass. Though they appear to be living, growing plants, they certainly are strange. I wonder what kind of soil they need? Kifla thinks idly, and then the party has reached the door.

Knock knock, anybody home?

Our heroes wait for a moment, then a window above them opens for a second before slamming shut again. A few moments later the door opens, and a gnome peers out at them, especially Kifla. “You must be Bolzack,” he says with a nod. “Please, come in, come in!”

The party soon finds itself bustled into a spacious room whose space is mostly taken up by strange knickknacks, odd pieces of art and even a few potted plants of glass. The strange gnome- whose features keep shifting in every so subtle ways that our heroes can’t even be sure that it is happening- chatters away, until finally Kifla (who has been happily playing along with the idea of being ‘Bolzack’) explains that she is, in fact, not Bolzack. The gnome grows instantly wary and suspicious, and a muddled and confusing conversation ensues that seems to clear things up, at least a little; and at the end of it, everybody knows that Kifla is Kifla, and the illusionist has learned Barouk and Allyendra’s names.

The strange gnome then asks, “Well, if you aren’t Bolzack, what is it that you want of me?”

“Oh...” Kifla shrugs, embarrassed. “Well, I am a wizard myself, and I was hoping that we might be able to trade some spells. Perhaps I could study under you for a time...”

“Hmm,” the other gnome muses. “I’ll consider it.” He studies the other two. “And you? Why have you sought me?”

“Uh... no reason, really,” admits Barouk.

“We’re with her,” Ally states, pointing at Kifla.

The gnome regards the party thoughtfully. After considering them for a few seconds, he continues his inquiries. Having deduced that they are adventurers (which is, frankly, not a very difficult deduction) he soon offers them a small job.

“There are bandits,” he declares. The illusionist explains that the bandits dwell somewhere inland to the northeast of Alathion. The Alathion Canal runs for several hundred miles before reaching the city, and an old road parallels the canal. This road is, of course, a major artery of trade, and it is this that the bandits prey on. It seems that at some point the bandits must have interfered with the illusionist’s interests, for he entreats our heroes to capture one of these bandits. “They’ve been a thorn in everyone’s side for quite a while,” he complains. “If I can interrogate one, I can learn where they dwell, and then they could be dealt with.”

“Sure!” says Kifla.

***

8/3/372 O.L.G., 11 a.m., Porter’s Tenement

Kifla, Barouk and Ally shoulder their packs and head out the door. They are going to be on the road, seeking bandits! A couple of days of healing, with a little help from Aron and Brother Simon, have put them in better shape and better spirits. There is a spring in their collective steps.

Soon they have joined a flow of traffic as they leave the city behind them.* There are merchants with covered caravans, farmers with carts of melons, oranges, cheese, eggs, bread or any of a hundred other types of farm food, pilgrims heading inland to gaze with their own eyes upon Bleak’s Maw, the volcano at which Dexter gave his life to save Cydra, even a hunting party of knights with their retinues and retainers. The canal flows strong beside them, and in the afternoon it rains briefly. They are hoping to find a bandit, either by being there when they attack or by finding clues as to their location.

As night falls, our heroes begin looking for a place to camp. The combination of firelight and a delicious aroma of food leads them to a group of halflings- a branch of the Peachtree clan, by name.** There are probably around twenty of them, male and female, of all ages. The party is welcomed and fed, although our heroes do sort of get the feeling that Kifla’s presence really helped with that (as she is a gnome, she is both of similar stature to the halflings and of a race that, traditionally, tends to ally with the halflings). One of the halflings is a young girl dressed all in black, with black hair (dyed) and dark eye shadow over pale face makeup. She and Ally hang out and commiserate about how life sucks. Dinner is great.

***

8/5/372 O.L.G., 8 a.m., on the Alathion Canal Road

Ironically, it isn’t until the night after they hang out with the halflings that our heroes are robbed in their sleep. When they wake up the following morning, both Kifla and Ally notice that their purses are empty. Barouk, strangely, is untouched.

While Ally curses, Kifla says decisively, “From now on, we’re setting watches.”

***

11 a.m., further up the road

To the left our heroes have the canal. The road stretches out ahead and behind, cracked cobblestones and potholes mixed to form a pitted lane. It probably has not been seriously attended to since the time of the Tarrasques. Off to the right is jungle. Somewhere, after miles of the jungle, is the Deadgrass Land- a huge area of dead plants, grasslands strewn with gnarled thorn bushes and withered shrubs. It is an area tainted by Bleak. Each day of their journey has seen the traffic thin out as some of it returned to smaller communities on the way or to little farms or manors off the road.

As our heroes pass by a thicket of brush and bright flowers, an elven trading outpost comes into view. Our heroes have little money, though the illusionist promised them a reward for capturing a bandit. Nonetheless, they stop in and chat. Upon informing the elves that they are looking for the bandits, our heroes are told, “Ah! They seem to lair in the Deadgrass Lands.”

The party perks up and pays attention. “Really?” Barouk asks.

“Yes.” The elf that is speaking- one of the owners?- nods. “The road splits up ahead, and one branch heads inland. They seem to come down from that.”

“How far up ahead is that?” asks Ally.

“Oh, about two hours travel.”

Our heroes exchange very meaningful glances.

***

1:30 p.m., the split in the road

Our heroes veer away from the canal. There is no traffic on this route, at least not within sight. The jungle has started to creep in on the edges, and here and there sturdy jungle grasses have pushed cobblestones aside, but on the whole, the road remains intact.

Our heroes travel about an hour before a wagon comes into view ahead of them. They close the distance between them and it rapidly.

Kifla speaks suddenly. “It’s not moving.”

Indeed, now that she says it, it is obvious. The wagon is stopped.

“This may be our bandits,” Barouk declares.

“Shh!” Ally holds up her hand. In a whisper, she adds, “I think I can hear something.” The others fall silent, and she cocks her head.

Crunch... slurp...

“Something,” she whispers, “is eating in there.”

Our heroes move forward as quietly as they can manage, but whatever is making the noises within the wagon stops abruptly.

“Uh-oh,” says Kifla.

Almost catlike, the beast springs forth, leaping at our heroes! There is a flurry of motion, a cry, and then- the beast lies dead! Ally wipes the blade of her axe off and the party begins to search the destroyed wagon.

Next Time: At this point, the question is obvious: Will our heroes find the bandits?? Find out- next time!

*Upon reviewing some of my notes, one thing that I totally neglected when the party left the Night (their neighborhood) was all of the toll bridges you have to cross in Alathion in order to get from place to place. Prolly should have cost each of them a couple of gp to get out of town.

**Astute readers of my halfling story hour may recognize the Peachtree name. Benjy Peachtree was involved in their second adventure (Jam Session, involving the Best Jam contest), and later, Heather Peachtree was the halfling that Jawbreaker tried to beat into submission in order to take her as his wife. They will also be making another major appearance in the halfling story hour before too long.

 

[the Jester]

“That poor man,” sighs Kifla, staring at the half-eaten corpse of the wagon driver that the creature that Allyendra slew had been munching on. “We have to bury him. Hey, will you guys help me dig a hole to bury him?”

Barouk stops looting long enough to give Kifla a look. “What? Bury him?”

“We can’t just leave him out here,” Kifla insists.

“I’m not helping,” snorts Allyendra.

Barouk looks at Kifla. The little gnome’s arms are not exactly bulging with muscles. Heaving a sigh, Barouk digs out a copper piece and flips it.

“Fine,” he says, after taking in the answer to the coin toss. “I’ll help.” Ally snorts again. “Otherwise, this will take forever.”

Even with the two of them working together, the grave digging is slow going. After watching for a few minutes, Ally gets bored and wanders off, returning a few moments later with a small collection of huge leaves gathered from the nearby banana trees. “Why don’t we just cover him up with these?” she suggests.

“That’s a great idea!” Barouk replies enthusiastically, glaring at Kifla. “Good compromise!”

Kifla looks downcast, but does not object. However, when Barouk grabs the body by the hair- below which its face is mostly eaten- the scalp tears free of the body, grossing everyone out. “That’s it, I’m done,” Barouk groans, stomping off.

“Here, why don’t you have a banana?” offers Ally.

Kifla is left to dig the grave by herself while the other two sit and chat and snack, trying to forget the sick sound the scalp made when it peeled off of the skull. Ick. After about an hour, they return to Kifla, who has excavated about 6” of dirt.

“Well, if one of you big strong people would help,” she chides them, “it would probably go faster!”

Barouk, who was earlier digging with his hands, kicks a plank loose from the wagon, and using this as an aide, sets in to help Kifla dig without a word.

“What a waste of time,” Ally scoffs.

Finally, after another hour, the body is buried. Off our heroes go. Ally is so fed up that she walks along quickly, rapidly outdistancing her dwarf and gnome companions. When she realizes it, she slows just enough to keep them within about a mile, muttering to herself the whole time about short-legged, time-wasting fools.

***

8/6/372 O.L.G., 7:30 a.m., on the side of the trail

Barouk greets the day, as he always has, with meditation, following the excellent example of Saint Spadron, one of Dexter’s Twelve Companions*, who it is said spent the first hour of every day in communion with the Light. Barouk might regret that he cannot spend an hour of every morning in meditation; but if so, he does it later. Now, his mind is empty, and he allows the world to flow in and through him, over him and around him without affecting him. The breeze washes over him, but there is no breeze. A drop of water falls from the canopy of the jungle overhead, splashing against his forehead, but there is no water. The song of the birds leaps from branch to branch, passing around him in the trees, but there is no song. There is only Light.

Ally shakes her head, eating a banana. “Stupid,” she mutters to herself. “A good sword and a good pair of boots- that’s what you need. Not all this thinking about stuff and looking within crap.”

Meanwhile, Kifla, hoping to emulate Ally’s ability to find food in the wild, wanders away from the path and into the woods. She quickly spots a banana tree, and easily cuts down a huge bunch of bananas. Cheerfully, she peels off about four and begins walking back towards camp. She is rather startled when, suddenly, the plants begin to twine and grasp at her. She’s entangled! “Help!” she cries.

Something emerges from the foliage. Kifla squeaks in terror. It’s a plant, but it is shaped like- it moves like- some kind of four-legged predator. It has an obvious head (that she thinks looks like that of a cat) with a snapping mouth. It seems to be composed of branches as a ‘skeleton’ and leaves to fill out the spaces- and it moves purposefully forward towards Kifla.

“HELP!!!” she screams again.

***

“Did you hear something?” Ally asks.

“Yeah, I think I did...” Barouk trails off as he tilts his head, listening intently.

“It’s the gnome!” Ally exclaims. The two adventurers dart into the woods- into a most confusing scene. The plants are waving about, wrapping around Kifla, who is conjuring. Worse, some kind of bizarre plant-monster thing is stalking her. Ally grins, pulls out her axe, and rushes forward- but the plant thing is fast. It lashes out and bites her in the throat! Grabbing hold, it shakes her with brutal strength, then drops her limp body to the ground.

Kifla screams again, as her spell goes off. A magical beetle appears from some far plane, and it holds the beast off for a moment. Barouk cries, “Allyendra!” He grits his teeth and springs forward to stand over the body of his companion. Is she dead, or just unconscious? He cannot know- but he will not leave her for this monster to dine on! His training serves him well as he ducks a color spray that Kifla tries, then sprints through the entangle without being grabbed by it. Unfortunately, as he kicks at the thing, he finds himself unable to connect with it!

Then the beetle vanishes, returning to the Outer Plane from whence it came. Barouk braces himself for the oncoming attack- but to his surprise, the plant monster ignores him and instead grabs up Ally’s axe in its wooden mouth. The haft begins to quiver. “It’s trying to break the girl’s axe!” Barouk cries. He unleashes a flurry of blows, but each attack is foiled, either by poor aim or the creature’s surprising dexterity.

“Damn it!” curses the dwarf.

“The fire!” cries Kifla. “We need to get to the fire!” Barouk doesn’t turn, but he can hear the gnome running towards the fire.

Snap! The haft of the axe splinters as the plant monster bites down on it. Then it begins moving through the entangle towards Kifla. Barouk kicks at it again, but he can’t seem to get through its defenses... Still, he decides to look on the bright side: he has a moment to check in on Ally and try to stabilize her. If she is still alive.

Kifla is almost at the fire. She can hear it bounding towards her- and she realizes she won’t quite make it to the fire in time. She is still ten feet short when it lands behind her and snatches at her with its maw. With a shriek, she ducks beneath the mouth, dances two steps left and keeps running. Startled that it missed, the plant monster hesitates just long enough: Kifla reaches the fire and pulls out a brand. Spinning around, she bravely points it at the plant monster. “Go away!” she yells at it.

She’s alive! Barouk thinks, and glances towards the creature. It seems hesitant to approach the fire, which is good in that it aids Kifla, but it is bad in that the frustrated creature is likely to turn its attention back to Barouk and the wounded Ally.

Ever practical, the dwarf hoists his ally over his shoulders and begins bustling towards the fire. Just in time, he arrives; the creature had just decided to turn on the monk. Barouk dumps Ally on the ground, then hurriedly binds her wounds and stops her bleeding. She’ll live, he tells himself, then pulls out a torch and sticks it into the fire. It sputters into life.

The plant thing, though reluctant to approach, is not out of tricks yet. Its eyes flash blue, and suddenly- a squid, of all things, appears!** It flops around on the ground, asphyxiating.

“That’s weird,” comments Kifla.

Barouk grunts and hurls his torch at the thing. He misses, but apparently it has had enough of this. It fades back into the jungle. Though our heroes remain on guard for a few moments, it is soon clear that the plant monster is gone- for now, at least.

“I think,” Kifla says, “we should rest, at least until the big human is conscious again. I mean, I sure can’t carry her.”

Barouk sighs. “Damn it,” he grunts. “All right.”

Next Time: Our heroes make some friends, as well as some progress!

*A quick lesson on the history and theology of Dexter, Galador, et. al.

Galador (also known as the Light, the Lord and the Law; the latter is an archaic term, but one still used by many older dwarven priests) is the god of the Sun, the Light and the Forinthian Empire. Until about the year 100 O.L.G. Galador’s faith was essentially monotheistic, although there is a devil figure, called Bleak. Galador is a Lawful Good god, the main deity of the campaign, whose influence is pervasive and spreads over incredibly vast distances.

About the year 100 O.L.G., Dexter (the son of Galador) was around. He caused a major reformation in the church, and so the Church of the Light now encompasses both Dexter and Galador (think of Dexter as kind of a Jesus figure; he even gave himself up for the people of Cydra, not once but twice).

St. Spadron was high priest of the Church of the Light during Dexter’s lifetime. He was a dwarf whose beard was so long that he could wrap it around himself and wear it as a belt. He was one of Dexter’s stalwart 12 Companions, and his legacy lives on; he is a Saint now.

Somewhat later- such as, hmm, current times- one of Dexter’s descendants, Prayzose, took the Imperial Throne of Forinthia in order to stabilize, strengthen and reorganize the Forinthian Empire. He came to be worshiped as a God-Emperor, and thus there are now three branches of the Church of the Light: the conservatives, who venerate Galador (only) and are often disapproving of the others; the orthodox, who venerate Galador and Dexter; and the Imperial branch (which is an official state institution of the Empire), which venerates Galador, Dexter and Prayzose as divine.

All that is the ‘official’ history, which was written by the church. The truth is vastly more complex; Dexter himself was a pc, and was far from the perfect fellow that the church tries to paint him as. Anyone interested can read about Dexter in Cydra: the Early Years.

As to current events with Prayzose, watch current events in my Great Conflicts story hour, which takes place at very nearly the same time as this update here...

**The plant monster had an int of 4. It had a summoning ability, but it chose the creature it summoned randomly.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

The plant thing, though reluctant to approach, is not out of tricks yet. Its eyes flash blue, and suddenly- a squid, of all things, appears!** It flops around on the ground, asphyxiating.

“That’s weird,” comments Kifla.

**The plant monster had an int of 4. It had a summoning ability, but it chose the creature it summoned randomly.

That is one odd creature, freedom of movement (or something similar to get through the entangle) , summoning , and a really good bite.

 

[Slickenfiber]

More Please!!

Hey Jester!!

Awesome writeup so far!! Very funny! Love to read some more!

Will those fingers to type!!

- slickenfiber (aka. Barouk)

 

[the Jester]

2 p.m.

Barouk and Kifla sit bored over Allyendra’s unconscious form. They have made camp without ever moving, knowing that neither of them can carry the big girl for very long. As always, Barouk is grumbling; as always, Kifla is being annoying, singing gnomish songs.

They snap at each other half in jest, and it rains briefly in the afternoon (as it does on most afternoons in the jungle). Slowly, throughout the day, Barouk removes splinters from Ally’s throat from where the plant monster bit her.

Night falls, and Barouk watches all night. Kifla snores, her large gnomish nose vibrating happily. When morning arrives, the gnome searches out some coconuts and feeds some of the milk to the unconscious barbarian. She revives briefly, but is too wounded to travel and soon lapses back into unconsciousness. The girl is feverish, but starting at about 3 pm it rains heavily, which helps sooth her.

When night falls again, Barouk insists that Kifla share the watch, and the gnome agrees readily enough. But when her watch comes, she is constantly distracted, and as a sentry she is fairly poor.

By morning the heavy rain has turned to a light sprinkle. Ally gets up to go pee, using a stick to lever herself, and spies a group of people on the trail the party is camped near. “Look!” she cries, pointing. Her companions follow her finger and see a covered wagon and a group of traveling pilgrims. The wagon is pulled by a bosoch, a type of giant beetle used as beasts of burden by dwarves and other races.

“I can’t fight right now,” Ally groans. “I’m still too weak.”

“They look like pilgrims. Maybe they can help you. I’ll talk to them,” Barouk says gruffly, and steps out onto the road. Behind him, Kifla whispers, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” –but it is too late.

“Hail, travelers,” Barouk calls.

The wagon’s bosoch keeps plodding forward. The driver nods to the dwarven monk even as he picks up his crossbow. One of the men walking beside the wagon quickens his pace, smiling and nodding at Barouk. “Hello, friend,” the man returns. “We are humble pilgrims. Who are you, fine dwarf?”

“My name is Barouk,” harrumphs the dwarf, “and I and my companions are in these woods seeking to defeat and capture bandits.”

“Well, we are not bandits,” the other replies.

“Of course not!” Barouk chuckles. “But you do appear to be pilgrims.”

“Indeed,” the man nods. At this point, the wagon draws up, about 10’ short of Barouk’s position. “We are followers of Galador.”

“Of course,” Barouk answers. “I myself follow the teachings of Saint Spadron.” He pauses, licks his lips, and plows ahead. “Hey, one of my companions is wounded. Is there any chance that you could, ah, heal her?”

“Perhaps,” the man allows, “if your friend is not evil.”

“Oh, no,” Barouk assures him.

“We shall see.” The man- Finneas- begins casting a spell.

***

A few minutes later, Ally blinks and gasps as many of her wounds close and knit together. She is not in perfect health, but she is in fighting shape.

Finneas heals Barouk as well, but in return he demands that both Ally and Barouk donate 50 gp each to the church of Galador. They agree gamely, and soon the considerable wounds that he has taken on this trip close up as well.

“Say, do you think you could use your magic to make our broken weapon whole?” suggests Kifla.

“No,” Finneas replies. “We are pacifists. We will not help you do harm to others.”

Disappointed, Ally picks up the head of her axe to store in the hopes of affixing it to a new haft later. Then the party debates resting a little longer.

“Yes, let’s,” Ally insists. “I can stand and fight now, but I won’t be able to take any hits. I need some time to recoup my resources.” The others agree, and in the evening, the pilgrims move on, bidding our heroes farewell. The party goes hunting; in the end, a couple of birds, a possum, some mushrooms and some bananas make for a fine dinner.

The night holds three watches tonight, as Ally feels up to the task. A cool light rain allows the party to fill their skins with fresh water. They are still fairly wounded, so they elect to rest another night. That night proves uneventful, and when the next morning comes and, though antsy, the party heads further along the trail.

It takes only about half an hour for the group to reach the edge of the jungle and to emerge abruptly into the Dead Grass Lands. And, when they emerge from the canopy, they are awed.

Far away in the distance, thousands of miles away at least, thunderous booms so loud that they are reaching our heroes are booming. Flashes of light so bright that, even this far away, our heroes can see them are flashing.

Jaws dropped, our heroes can only stare. The low growl of the distant conflict is a constant background.*

All around, the Dead Grass Lands spread as far as the eye can see. Tall clumps of foul grey grass grow all around. The long grey blades are nastily sharp. Here and there, a clump of brambles interrupts the dominant grey grass. It is a dusty area, far different from the jungle immediately behind our heroes.

“What is that?” wonders Barouk, staring at the flashes. The rumble of the distant, desperate battle are audible as a low growl through the air.

“Who cares?” Ally retorts. “Let’s go find this bandit, so we can get paid.”

“She has a point,” Barouk nods to Kifla.

The gnome shrugs. “I don’t care so much about the money as I do about pleasing my master.”

“That gnome in the Night?” Ally snorts. “Did you even catch his name?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Kifla mumbles.

“Suuuure,” Ally laughs. “Come on.” She starts walking, annoyed with her companions, and given her long stride, she is soon significantly ahead of both of them. Barouk puffs and sputters, but Kifla only smiles wanly.

The party continues forward for about a mile before Ally reins herself in and lets the others catch up. When they do, she gestures. “Look,” she says, “it’s the pilgrims’ wagon.”

Indeed, up ahead, the group can see the top of the wagon. Slowly, they approach it, and find the driver full of arrows, but no other corpses.

”They were pacifists,” Barouk states. “They wouldn’t have fought.”

“There are lots of tracks,” Kifla opines.

“What happened?” Ally wonders. “Could it have been the bandits? Maybe they came and took the wagon, and are holding the pilgrims hostage or something.”

“Maybe,” Barouk answers doubtfully.

“Well, we have to look for them,” Kifla says. “Especially because they’re pacifists.”

“Help!” gasps a voice from behind the party.

Next Time: Bandits at last! But our heroes are getting into more trouble than they know!

*Readers of the epic story hour (Great Conflicts, link in sig) will see the cause of this rather directly when the current battle culminates in a few updates.

 

[the Jester]

The sky flashes and rumbles with incredible power from whatever battle of the gods is happening far away. Beneath it, the Dead Grass Lands spread out for miles and miles, a carpet of high sharp grey grass and stunted malformed shrubs. The land itself seems brittle. Near the jungle, a broken and shattered wagon sits disconsolately on the side of the path. Allyendra, Barouk and Kifla turn their backs to it, seeking the voice they heard. Even as they do so, the voice croaks out again: “Help!”

A ragged-looking man, dirty and hungry looking, staggers from the tall grass. Kifla immediately notes, “He’s one of those pilgrims!”

“Yes... please... bandits,” the man gasps.

Our heroes take a moment to ensure that there are no enemies immediately nearby, and then they question the pilgrim, whose name is Herb. He is, indeed, one of the pacifist hermits that the group encountered two days ago. He tells the party that the pilgrims had continued along their journey to this point, but that they had been assaulted by bandits.

“They shot our driver,” Herb groans sadly, “but they didn’t try to hurt the rest of us. They captured my friends, and took them up to a hillock nearby.”

“How many of them were there?” Ally asks.

Herb pauses to consider. “Perhaps half a dozen, no more. But they had dogs and garen, too.”*

“Which hillock?” Barouk inquires, and Herb points the correct one out. “All right,” the dwarf announces, “I’ll go scout.” He proceeds forward, vanishing into the tall grass.

“I don’t know about this,” Kifla mutters. “Half a dozen of them, plus mounts!”

Ally snorts confidently. “No problem.”

The two of them wait a while, but Ally grows more and more impatient. Finally, she says, “All right, I’m going after him. I’m sick of sitting around. We’ve been sitting around for days.” She grabs up her pack and starts to walk off.

“Wait for me!” Kifla squeals, and follows.

Behind her, the pilgrim Herb hesitates for a second, and then hurries after. Better to be with friendly people, even though they might do violence, than to face the chance of meeting the bandits or some grassland monster alone.

***

Barouk steals forward, veering left to avoid a direct approach on the hillock. He moves 60 yards out and stops for a moment to peer at the hillock. It is still a good 40 yards away, and he sees nothing. He moves a little closer, and peers again. His eyes widen. For a moment, he thinks he catches a glimpse of Ally! Did she get impatient and just forge ahead of me? he wonders.** Damn it, girl! I’d best get up there so she doesn’t get herself in trouble...

The dwarf hurries forward, but he does notice a wisp of smoke coming from the hillock. A small fire, he realizes, his pulse quickening. This may be them. He continues moving, slowly and carefully. He cocks his head and listens intently, and he hears a distant voice speaking.

Got to move closer, he thinks, and he starts moving-

“No further,” calls a voice.

Two bandits step into view, their crossbows trained on Barouk with arrows already nocked. He halts and, sensing that it is the prudent thing to do, raises his hands.

***

Ally and Kifla move forward sneakily. The tall, brittle grass of this region really helps their attempts at concealment; it is almost always taller than Kifla, and often it is higher than Allyendra’s head. Herb moves behind them, emulating their stealth as best he can. Suddenly Kifla catches a glimpse of movement. She grabs Ally’s elbow and points.

Two figures. One of them is wearing leather armor, the other a chain shirt. They have the look of guards about them.

Kifla casts sleep, and both of them collapse without ever knowing that our heroes are there. Ally hurries forward to slay them. “Wait!” Kifla hisses. “We can-”

Ally slits a throat.

“-tie them up,” the gnome finishes uselessly.

Ally slits the other’s throat. “They’re bandits,” she reminds Kifla. “They would do it to us.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Kifla objects. “That wasn’t very nice. We didn’t have to kill them, they were asleep!”

Ally rolls her eyes as she begins stripping the chain shirt off of the guard who had worn it. “For how long?”

“Well, only a few minutes...” Kifla sighs. “Do you remember what our mission is? We need to capture one and return him to my master!” But Ally ignores her, and Kifla sighs and gives up the argument. She tries to stabilize and save the bleeding guards, but to no avail.

“Hey, a new great axe!” Ally enthuses.

After upgrading her equipment- although the new chain shirt is a little bloodstained from the throat slitting- Ally nods to Kifla and the two of them continue along towards the hillock.

Behind them, Herb stares in horror at the two bodies. They will do anything to save their friend, he thinks slowly. It is horrible. But I must save my friends as well...

His stomach twists. He hurries after the two killers that are helping him. At least the gnome advocated keeping them alive, the pacifist broods.

***

Barouk, his hands bound, is led into a natural amphitheater. The pilgrims are there, unbound, in one area; a bandit and three dogs are watching over them. A tall, handsome half-elven man is speaking to them in an earnest and persuasive voice, but he stops as Barouk is led forward.

“Well, well,” the half-elf says. “And who are you?” He smiles, showing perfect teeth.

***

Kifla pulls Ally up short again. “Hold on a second,” the gnome says. Then she crouches down next to a small hole in the ground and chitters down it.

A groundhog pokes its head out.

The gnome and the groundhog chitter back and forth for a few brief moments, and then Kifla stands up and says, “This way. We’re looking for a big hole in the ground.”

“Kifla, did you just get directions from a groundhog?” Ally snickers.

The two of them walk along, moving up the side of the hillock until they find a large natural depression; they creep forward to observe it. Along the far side of it, a set of natural steps curves down to the bottom of it. The pilgrims are in there, as are three bandits- and Barouk! A crossbow is trained on him, and his hands are tied behind his back.

Suddenly the dogs begin to bark, and everything gets crazy.

Ally runs for the far side of the natural amphitheater, where the steps will allow her entry. One of the bandits, near the top of the stairs, strikes at her with a spear, but she dodges out of the way, pulling out her new great axe as she does so. One of the dogs springs up the steps and bites Ally in the leg. “Aargh!” she calls out, and gets really angry. Rage bursts through her, and in a single great swipe of her axe she decapitates the bandit guard! The blow continues on through, cleaving towards the dog, but the wily animal dances away from it.

Kifla, meanwhile, casts dancing lights on the opposite side of the amphitheater, and cries out, “Give up, you’re surrounded!” Then she draws out her short bow and fires an arrow at the half-elf, actually hitting him!

The half-elf glares up at Kifla. “The South will rise again!” he bellows, and his bandits cheer when he does; and then he reaches into a pouch and pulls out a bit of sand. Murmuring secret magical words, he gestures- and puts Kifla to sleep!

The bandit with his crossbow trained on Barouk is rather distracted, so the dwarf decides that he probably has the best opportunity he is going to get. He leaps forward and kicks the man hard in the solar plexus. The bandit flies back, limp and unmoving, and Barouk lands on his feet.

My hands are bound, he thinks, but I am a monk. I do not need them.

Then the other two dogs tear into him. He spins, leaps, tries to guard with his legs alone- but one of them manages to bloody his ankle. He kicks back, and dances with the dogs. He can’t seem to land a blow, but the dogs are tearing at him. Pain jolts him as the dogs tear at his legs.

The half-elf tumbles past Ally, gaining the high ground, and jabs at her with his rapier. Ally roars in anger and cuts the dog attacking her in half, then cleaves at the half-elf- to no avail! The slippery bastard dodges her blow!

Up above, shaking with shame, Herb throws a rock, hitting one of the dogs in the head. It yelps and growls. The pacifist pilgrim weeps at what he has done.

The half-elf stabs at Ally again, but her newfound chain shirt saves her. The half-elf, scowling, tries to tumble away, but a rock slips out from under his foot and he stumbles. Ally grins and swings, but misses her attack of opportunity. Then she rushes after the half-elf- who is clearly trying to flee, as things have done awry- and buries her axe several inches deep in his back. The bard dies in an instant, and Ally howls in triumph, then whirls to leap into the pit, accepting a minor ankle twist in order to get to Barouk’s aid.

Barouk manages to stomp one of the dogs on the neck, killing it, and suddenly that new great axe of Ally’s is slicing in. The last dog dies as the axe decapitates it.

Herb hurries to check on Kifla, fearing the worst, but she wakes easily. The two of them head down into the amphitheater. Kifla hurries over to her friends and slits Barouk’s bonds with her dagger.

“Now, if one of these guys is still alive,” grumbles Barouk, “we may be almost done with our first mission!”

Kifla opens her mouth to reply, but stops as she hears Finneas, the leader of the pilgrims, speaking behind them.

“I am sorry, Herb. I know your intentions were good, but you cast a stone to harm another being. You may not travel with us any longer. You may not go back to the mission house. You are cast out.”

Next Time: What will Herb do? Will our heroes find a still-living bandit? And who were these bandits, anyway?


*In this era of the Cydra campaign, there are essentially no horses. Garen are equine beasts similar to a zebra, but are two colors out of green, brown and yellow. They are roughly equal to a light horse, and are used as mounts by the folk of Cydra. Cydra folk also extensively use big riding birds called kocho, although kocho are much harder to control and are notoriously foul-tempered.

**No, Barouk just fumbled his Spot check.

 

[the Jester]

“Ahh, good,” chortles Barouk, “this fellow is still alive! Now we just need to bind him and take him back to your master, and- Kifla?”

The gnome is walking away from Barouk, hurrying towards the small cluster of pacifist pilgrims that the party has just rescued. Finneas, their leader, stands with his hands clasped solemnly before him. Herb, the pilgrim who aided our heroes in their fight with the bandits and dogs, looks crestfallen.

Finneas has just cast Herb out.

“Hey, he was just trying to help,” Kifla protests. “In fact, if he hadn’t helped us, we might all have been killed- and you might have been too!”

“They weren’t going to kill us,” Finneas replies.

“How do you know?” Ally demands, glowering. She is still catching her breath from her rage. “They were bandits. What, were they going to take your money and then just let you go?”

Finneas says calmly. “They were trying to sway us to their cause.”

“Like they converted your driver?” Ally sneers.

“He insisted on fighting,” the pacifist answers with equanimity.

”What’s going on?” Barouk asks, walking over.

“Aw, come on,” Kifla wheedles, “he was just trying to help...”

“He has broken our vows. It is not up to me.” Finneas sighs. “It is the rule of our order: none may do violence against another living being.”

“But-” Kifla begins.

“He is right,” Herb sighs. “I have broken my vows.” His voice cracks. “I must find another path.”

There is a pregnant pause. Then, Barouk slowly says, “Well, we’re going back to Alathion with our prisoner. If you’d like, you can come with us.”

Herb seems close to tears. “Thank you. I suppose it is... safer than traveling alone.”

Finneas is willing to heal Barouk and Ally as best he can in thanks for our heroes intervention with the bandits, but- although Kifla tries once more- he is unrelenting in his rejection of Herb as one of his pilgrims. “I am sorry,” he says, not for the first time. “I wish you well, Herb, but your path does not follow ours.”

A search of the bandit leader turns up a mix of gear, including a rapier, dagger and light crossbow, a disguise kit, a substantial purse (holding over 200 gp worth of coin!), a sealed fancy bottle of wine, a meerschaum pipe carved with a dragon symbol (as well as a pouch of pipe weed) and two potions.

“Let me check those out!” Kifla squeals effervescently. She mutters a series of arcane words while waving her hands around; then she nods. “Aha! They’re magic potions!”

Our heroes examine the two potions. One of them is a light pink color; Kifla says, “I think that’s a healing potion. At least, it’s conjuration magic.”

Ally looks at her doubtfully. “What about the other one?”

“I can’t tell about that one,” Kifla sighs. The party looks at it; it is brown in color, with little nasty clumps of hair floating in it. “Eww,” Kifla says.

“Let me see it,” Barouk grunts. The others warily give over the vial, and he uncorks it and sniffs it.

“I can smell that from here,” Ally announces, wrinkling her nose. She waves her hand in front of her face, attempting to drive away the unpleasant odor. “It smells like B.O.,” she adds.

“Yeah, close that up for now!” Kifla exclaims. Barouk shrugs and sticks the cork back into the vial’s mouth. “Say, I just thought of something,” the gnome goes on. “How are we carrying the bandit? I certainly can’t lift him- he’s big, and I’m really small.” She looks, big-eyed, at Ally and Barouk. “Can one of you do it?”

“We should just drag ‘im,” Ally suggests.

“That’s not very nice,” Kifla complains.

“Well, neither was trying to kill us, and kidnapping pilgrims, and killing their driver,” Ally sniffs back.

“Have you forgotten our mission?” Barouk asks. “We need to capture one of them and bring him back to Kifla’s master.”

“Oh, hells,” Ally snaps, “I can see where this is going!”

“Well, I’m too small to carry him,” Kifla points out again.

“I don’t think I’m strong enough,” Barouk admits grudgingly.

“Fine!” Ally grumbles. “I”ll do it- for now.”

Muttering to herself, the young barbarian hoists the unconscious bandit over her shoulders, and then the party begins heading back towards Alathion. Out of the Dead Grass Lands and back into the jungle the party goes. Behind them, they are keenly aware of the flashes of light and the distant thunder, an incredible distance away. It is not quite drizzling, but the leaves are beaded with moisture and fat drops of water hang like pendulums from jungle flowers.

Unfortunately for our heroes, a dire snake’s coloration blends very well with the jungle; and suddenly it drops down, nearly on top of Ally. She cries out in pain as it bites her in the shoulder, the wound burning with poison, and then tries to loop itself around her! She manages to throw the beastie off of her arm with a great grunt of strength; then she pulls out her axe, dropping the bandit.

Whisssk!

She misses.

Kifla tries a color spray, but the snake is unaffected by the illusion. However, as the unconscious form of the bandit hits the ground, the serpent changes to an easier target: it sinks its teeth into the unconscious bandit, then loops its long, strong coils around the limp man.

“It’s just an animal, don’t harm it!” Herb yells.

Barouk aims a kick at the snake, but his foot bounces off of its thick scales. He curses, but then grins as Ally brings her axe around again, chopping into the reptile and wounding it badly. Kifla, meanwhile, fires her crossbow; however, the bolt snaps off of the beast’s tough hide. The snake itself unhinges its jaws and then begins trying to swallow the bandit!

“RAAAHG!!” Barouk grabs it, attempting to pull it off his prisoner. He tries to force its jaws to stay open so that it cannot work its victim further into its body. Herb rushes in to help, trying to aid Barouk in freeing the bandit, and the three of them struggle for a moment.

Kifla hesitates over the sites of her crossbow. If I fire, she realizes, I might hit my friends! She gulps, then pulls a crossbow bolt out and rushes up to stab the snake, thrusting the sharpened head into the monstrous reptile’s side. It hisses, squirming in the grip of Barouk and Herb.

Ally screams a war cry and swings her axe again. There is a scarlet splash of blood, and the snake’s body is severed, cut in two!

“That got it!” she smirks.

Panting, the party takes a moment to catch their breath. Barouk hauls the bandit from the serpent’s mouth and checks for vital signs, then begins cursing, long and loud.

“Uh-oh,” Kifla sighs.

“Crap!” Ally exclaims.

“He’s dead,” Barouk grunts. “We’re back to square one.”

Our heroes give out a collective groan. Glancing up at the jungle canopy, Ally points out, “It’s getting dark. We’d better make camp anyhow.” The others reluctantly agree, and the party starts working on building a small fire. As they are doing so, Barouk catches glimpse of a small, monkey-like humanoid off in the trees. He scowls, but the thing leaves the party unmolested. Rain is starting to trickle down, only a light drizzle, but enough that neither the dwarf nor the gnome can find enough dry wood to get the fire started. Ally snorts and shakes her head, and, using her axe, she cuts into a fallen log, taking the dry wood from the heart of the log. Soon a crackling fire is giving our heroes both light and warmth, and, after dinner- which Barouk declines, fasting- they bed down. Barouk takes the first watch.

Meanwhile, in the trees, the tasloi gather for the attack...

Next Time: Tasloi attack!!

 

[Brain]

“He’s dead,” Barouk grunts. “We’re back to square one.”

Classic Jungle Jamesing.

 

[the Jester]

The sudden sound of branches rustling in the dark is Barouk’s only warning, but his paranoia is running high. After the snake, the bandits, being stolen from in the night, all the terrible trials that our heroes have had to overcome, he is in no mood to take chances. “Wake up, all!” he bellows. “There is something in the trees!!”

Then spears fly, invisible to Ally’s human eyes but clear to Barouk; Kifla can’t quite make out enough with her low-light vision to see the source, but she has a good idea of the direction, for a spear stabs out, slicing the gnome’s side. Kifla screams in pain. Herb, meanwhile, scrambles back, seeking cover in the bushes.

“I can’t see anything!” Ally cries out. “Kifla! Are you all right?”

“I’m okay,” the gnome’s voice comes from the darkness. Barouk, with his dwarven ability to see in even complete darkness, watches as she casts a spell at the treetops. An instant later, two figures plummet out of the trees and to the ground, landing with sickening thuds!

“Damn, Kifla,” Barouk says admiringly.

“OW!!” Ally curses as another spear sails out of the trees and hits her. “There are still more of them!”

“Stop your attacks!” Barouk cries. “We are friends of the jungle!”

Meanwhile, Kifla has fallen back to the embers of the fire that the party had cooked their dinner on. She grabs a fresh brand and stirs it up, blowing, hoping to start a fire and give a little bit better light to the situation. Crackling flames blaze up, and the little illusionist is gratified to see the silhouettes of more foes moving in the trees. Ally, now able to glimpse at least roughly the location of her enemy, shouts, “Come down!” and moves over towards one of the trees that the creatures are in.

Her foe leaps from branch to branch, swinging over and under limbs, until he brachiates down to a low enough position to drop to the ground without taking damage. The other one, meanwhile, leaps down, catches a vine, swings across and attacks Ally! At the last instant, the barbarian ducks aside, and the monkey-like humanoid misses. Ally whirls to face it, but even as she does so, she hears some noise in the woods. “I think there are more of them coming!” she cries.

Barouk rushes forward and invokes his fiery ki fist, but he misses. Still, his foe is startled and disconcerted by the blazing ki flame that surrounds his hand for a moment. Then it tries to claw him back, but Barouk wards off both of its blows with practiced blocks. The other one is slashing with its dirty nails at Allyendra. She is too quick, dodging the first blow, and then the monster throws itself off-balance with its second blow- so badly, in fact, that it falls prone.

Four more of the humanoids arrive, high in the trees, each throwing a spear. Half are aimed at Barouk, half at Ally. None of the hail of spears hit our heroes, but Barouk cries out, “Ally, this sucks! Pull back!” He drops back to Kifla’s location (where the gnome has been using her crossbow without much effect).

Ally bares her teeth as she aims a blow of her massive axe at the foe that has fallen prone before her. The axe hacks into its back, nearly cutting the thing in two!

The other little humanoids scream in rage. The one on the ground charges Ally, but she parries its claw with her axe. Three of the newcomers also ground themselves, rushing to join the attack on her. The last newcomer remains in the trees, and hurls another spear at Kifla (almost hitting Barouk on the way). The spear narrowly misses.

The party is falling together now, with the enemies pressing Ally back towards Barouk and Kifla. The dwarf springs forward and pummels one of the creatures into unconsciousness with a flurry of blows. Then he kicks another of the enemy in the solar plexus.

Herb, meanwhile, quakes in terror and prays.

Ally and Kifla both spot more creatures moving in, including something coming from behind them. We might be surrounded, Kifla realizes. As quickly as her little gnome-legs will carry her, she moves around to the side and casts a color spray, knocking all four of the current humanoid combatants out! Ally has no compunctions about attacking them when they are down, and in but an instant she slays one and lops the leg off of another.

One more hurls a spear from the trees, and it lances into Ally- but fortunately, her chain shirt deflects it! Simultaneously, the figures moving in from behind them move into view: a mixed group, but mostly humans! There are at least half a dozen of them.

“Friend or foe?” calls Barouk harshly. His rock-like fist smashes the last of the standing monkey-like humanoids, and it drops. He notices that, in the face of a larger group, the incoming humanoids have begun, instead, to pull back.

“We are friends,” one of the men calls, jabbing a spear through one of the still-living tasloi on the ground. He looks up at Barouk and smiles. “I am called Bors.”

There is a round of introductions, during which it becomes clear that Bors is the speaker, if not the leader, of the band that had come to the rescue of our heroes. “We couldn’t just let you be taken by the tasloi,” Bors states seriously. “But tell me, what are you doing here? You’re pretty far from anything right.”

“We’re hunting bandits for my master,” Kifla replies.

“Really,” muses Bors. “And how is that going?”

“Not so well,” admits the gnome.

“It was going all right, until the snake bit our guy,” Ally complains. “We had a prisoner, but this giant snake fell out of a tree on us and tried to eat him. We managed to kill it, but it managed to kill him too. Now we’re back to square one.”

“And,” Bors addresses Kifla again, “who is your master?”

“Um,” Kifla hedges, “er, Bignose! Yeah, that’s it! And Bignose wants to question a bandit.”

“Who is Bignose?”

“He’s this powerful gnomish wizard in the Night, in Alathion,” Kifla enthusiastically tells Bors. “He’s going to teach me all kinds of spells and things!”

“Interesting,” Bors nods.

The group chats for a while, coming to an arrangement. Our heroes already have a fire; the other group has several rabbits to stew, ready for the pot. The conversation drifts to politics, and Bors gives the party a small history lesson. “In the old days, before Forinthia was a single kingdom, there were three kingdoms of Forinthia- three separate, independent kingdoms. There was the North Kingdom, the South Kingdom and the West Kingdom.”

“What happened?” asks Kifla.

“A combination of alliance and conquest. In fact, year 1 of our calendar measures the formal union of the three kingdoms and the formal union of church and state. But you know what is interesting about all of this? The alliances were predicated upon the ruler of Forinthia being of the royal blood of all three kingdoms. But God-Emperor Prayzose doesn’t have the royal blood! The blood of Dexter flows in his veins, yes, but the blood of our ancient kings does not!”

“But how could that be?” wonders Ally.

“Well, a couple of hundred years ago, of course, we had the rampage of the tarrasques- five terrible monsters so powerful that they pretty much drove everything else off of Forinthia. It took over a century for them to be defeated; nobody even really knows exactly what happened to all of them. Anyway, when the tarrasques first came, they slew the king in their initial rampage. The royal family was displaced from Forinthia proper, and over the years while they were waiting for the tarrasques to finally all be defeated, the lines grew weaker and weaker. It is harder and harder to find someone who is a true descendant of all three lines.

“Well, when the line finally broke and Prayzose was elected emperor, it was a complete breaking of the deal. Prayzose doesn’t have any of the royal blood of any of the three kingdoms! Not only that, but the deal was sealed with an object, which was stolen... but I don’t know much about that part of it.”

“You sound like you’re... passionate about this,” Ally observes.

Bors smiles. “My men and I are. By law- and law is what Forinthia is founded upon, it is the bedrock principle under which we all exist!- by law, Prayzose may be Emperor, but he is no king of Forinthia!”

“Well, then,” Barouk inquires, “who is? You?”

“Oh, not I!” Bors is abashed. “Oh, no! I have no royal blood myself. But I have heard tell of a man named Arthur, the last descendant of the last South King...” He smiles for a moment, a big, friendly grin, but then he turns serious again. “I think your friend’s master” –he gestures at Kifla, who is sniffing obliviously at the stew- “is looking for signs of insurrectionists.”

“Really,” Barouk says slowly. “And you wouldn’t happen to know of any, would you?” Barouk asks rhetorically.

“I know of some simple bandits that should serve your needs,” Bors replies. “Road scum, raiding caravans and lone travelers alike.”

“With no political ambitions,” Barouk says slowly.

“Exactly.”

“Thus allowing us to complete our mission and fulfill our duty,” Barouk considers, “while still leaving more, uh, political... hypothetical... bandits or insurrectionists out in the wilds.”

“You might also help- in whatever way you can- to place the rightful kings on their thrones.”

Barouk mumbles noncommittally. He and Bors continue their discussion for a time, but it is late, and soon everyone is bedding down. The two parties agree that the watches will be served by a mix of our heroes and Bors’ men, but the night is uneventful and no one tries anything treacherous. In the morning, Bors and his men scramble some eggs, cook up some bacon and reheat the rabbit stew. Everyone chows down, and the breakfast is filling and tasty.

Bors assigns one of his men, Kain, to the party. “He will help you catch a bandit,” Bors explains.

“Oh, thanks!” Kifla bubbles effervescently.

Kain sneers at her. “Come on,” he says curtly. “We have to back towards the Alathion Canal.”

The party sets off, once again traversing the jungle.

Let’s hope we get our damn bandit this time, Ally grumps to herself.

Next Time: More jungle trouble for our heroes!