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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 3682793" data-attributes="member: 11">Session #9 – “Returning to Sluetelot & Leaving Again” (part 3 of 3)Ralem, the 15th of Quark – 566 H.E. (637 M.Y.)The next day they were heading southeastward again, the cliffs of the <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Border+Rift" target="_blank">Border Rift</a>, rising up to their left, and the water of the River Takken slipping away ahead of them to much sharper degree to the east.  It was clear that these lands were still often used by the halflings, but they had now officially passed out of Thrician territory.  The track they followed was wide and well worn, and in a few place, wooden staked fences held back packed earth bursting with grass sprouts.  Once or twice they even heard the ring of a goat’s bell, way up at the top of the bluff, which was not nearly as steep here as it was in the eastern part of the island. To the south, green and yellow fields of tall grass wavered in the wind coming down off the bluff.Here they could spread out some, and ride with some speed for the first time, and it was not until after some miles that they saw anything unusual.  Falco noticed it first, but soon they could all see the corpses of men and horses strewn on the track.   They approached slowly, suspicious of ambush.  Kermit Buckleburr whispered to Duckhunter and he and his mount leapt off the track through the small apple trees and into the fields beyond to flush out anyone that might be in the tall grass.Most of these men were wearing ring mail armor, a sure sign of their <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Rubes" target="_blank">Rube</a> origins (1), though a couple of men wore lighter armor.  There were broken spears and several scimitars scattered about.  Small arrows  had made all their wounds, including those on the horses, though, whoever had massacred these nearly two dozen men, had retrieved the arrows themselves.  They could only find one broken haft with a bit of blue-green fletching.“Halflings did this,” Timotheus said.“Who cares?  They’re Rubes!” Telémahkos pointed to one of the men in ring mail.  “These are probably dervishes come to raid the halflings.”    The men had long dark hair and sun-baked complexions.  All were clean-shaven, and the tattered remains of turbans were strewn everywhere.“This one’s alive,” Bleys said, as he was going from body to body examining the details of the fight.  It was a young man in studded leather armor.  Unconscious, he had been lucky enough to stabilize on his own, but abandoned he would surely die.“This is strange,” Flaco commented.  “Rubes don’t use horses, but these seem to have been…”“They don’t use horses?” Timotheus asked.“It has something to do with interpretation of scripture,” Tymon piped up, happy to contribute.“What are we going to do with this guy?” Markos asked, pointing to the unconscious Rube.Before a debate could begin, however, there was a cry from the field.  Kermit had spotted someone hiding behind a nearby tree, and now they could see the figure bounding in the tall grass, Duckhunter appearing mid leap behind it, Kermit on his back.  Victoria of Anhur was still on her horse, and spurred Ironside on to cut off the fugitive.“Stop!” She cried out. “You will not come to harm if you surrender quietly!”The young figure, a boy of perhaps fifteen or sixteen summers, cried out in a language most of them did not recognize, and cut to the right. Kermit and Duckhunter leapt to cut him off, easily, and soon they were driving the young man towards the trail.  The others drew their weapons and called out for his surrender.The boy eventually fell over, tripping over a rock and looked up to see Victoria’s long spear in his face. ”Get up slowly,” she said to him.  Soon, they had him on his knees over by the track.  He looked around at all the dead with a long face.“Who are you?” Telémahkos asked him.  The boy steeled his freckled face. He had short brown hair, and was wearing a leather jerkin.  He had a long curved dagger at his belt.“No parlosh a’vochstra linguch echfidole,” the boy said. (2)“What?” Laarus frowned.“Uh… He said, he doesn’t speak common,” Tymon offered.“No! No common!” the boy spat on the ground.Using Tymon as a translator, they gained few answers from the reticent and defiant young man.  More than once when refusing to answer questions, he announced his willingness to die.  The signers of the Charter of Schiereiland looked at each other with disgusted wonder. His name was Cosimo Najem and was a scout for the missionaries of the Red God leading bands of dervishes to explore the northern borders of the Disputed Territories.“Raid villages and kill halflings, he means!” Kermit spat.“Ask him where he came from,” Laarus asked Tymon.  “Was it the Kingdom of the Red God of the West? Is there a dervish camp nearby?”“Sheh fo’ch vichdub perchè hech bisogno dich alif guida voi licker degli asini de’jann,” Cosimo spat back.“Uh, he said, there is no camp nearby, that was why he was guiding them,” Tymon said to the priest, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead.  When asked about the horses, the boy explained that the <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Missionary+of+the+Red+God+of+the+West" target="_blank">missionary</a> had led them had brought them along, which only made their presence more mysterious.Anything of value had been taken from the Rube party by the halflings that had killed them, and so the debate arose of what to do with Cosimo and his unconscious companion.Laarus considered the issue for a long time, but finally decided to use an orison to stabilize the dying Rube.  After this the debate shifted to whether or not to give Cosimo, and the still unconscious Amadeo, any rations to help them on their trip back south.“It is a further journey back to where they came from than any provisions we could afford to provide them would cover,” Bleys the Aubergine said. “In addition, we owe them nothing.  They were leading raiders against citizens of our nation.  They are lucky we do not just slay them.”Victoria nodded her agreement.”We cannot just slay people in cold blood,” Timotheus objected.  “And I do not feel right just sending them off into the wilderness to starve.”“If this young man is a scout, he should be able to forage for food,” Laarus reasoned.“But it will be days before this other one is ready to travel,” Timotheus said.  “We need to leave them food at least that long.”“We do?” Bleys cocked and eyebrow.“I do…” Timotheus said.“I don’t care either way,” Markos said, sounding bored.“Tim has a big heart,” Telémahkos smiled.Timotheus shrugged and took two days of rations from the party’s packhorse and two from his own, and left them for Cosimo.“And remember the mercy we have shown you here, and the mercy the priest of Ra showed your companion,” Timotheus said to the young Rube sternly.  “Translate!” He pointed to Tymon, losing his usual happy demeanor for a moment, and the servant did so.“Uh… he said, thank you,” Tymon translated a string of harsh words from the boy. (3)Tholem, the 18th of Quark – 566 H.E. (637 M.Y.)Three days later the young nobles and their hirelings had long ago left the track, blazing across the dry harsh grasses of this area of the Disputed Territories.  Occasionally, there would be a small copse of trees, and some held cool ponds fed by little streams emerging from lonely hills.  The party rose before dawn each day to get as many miles behind them in the cool thinning darkness, allowing them to stay out of the sun in the hours surrounding mid-day. Kermit would lead them to a shady grove or tiny cave to eat and rest out of the relentlessness of <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Ra%27s+Glory" target="_blank">Ra’s Glory</a>. Each night he refused to allow them a fire, and a few times he would disappear for an hour or so, giving Falco directions on how to guide the party in the meantime.  He would return sometimes with some rabbits or pheasants to ease the party’s reliance on their limited rations.  Once Falco managed to take down a sickly doe, which provided food for the big group for nearly two days.They were heading nearly due south now, and the land was becoming increasingly dry.  The foliage here was made up of low scrubby trees, and thick rolling thorny bushes that created a barrier to the east.  To the west fingers of a sparse wood over a range of uneven ground obstructed much progress in that direction.It was late afternoon and the group had spread out quite a bit, the horses slowed to a walk in the heat of the sun, and Kermit was at the lead, ever vigilant.Ironside nickered nervously, and Victoria reached forward and patted the horse’s neck to soothe it.  “What’s the matter, Ironside?”Suddenly there was movement in the thorny bushes and a wild boar, a runt for its kind, came rushing out in their direction.  All the horses shuddered nervously, and Victoria’s reared up.  As suddenly as the boar came rushing out, it began to stop, kicking up dust, seeming to just notice the party and all their horses.   They could see where thick thorns had torn up its hide on either side of its head and body.“Something must be hunting it,” Timotheus called out to his companions, as Kermit and Duckhunter hurried ahead toward a tree in the middle of their path, coming around to face what else emerged.  The boar squealed nervously, and adjusted its path to hopefully avoid all the horses.“Dragon!” Kermit cried, but in the chaos of the moment not everyone heard his cry of alarm.  There emerged from the thorny bushes a bright green draconic beast, nearly six feet long.  Its wings snapped as it gained a bit of height as it emerged.  Its tiny scales gleamed in the afternoon light, and it hissed, showing its long dagger-like teeth set in a powerful jaw.Markos’ horsed reared, and the seaman-wizard was thrown from it.  The boar charged past, and Victoria, still not seeing the dragon cried out, “Are we just going to let it go?  It could be dinner!”  Telémahkos having dismounted on the far side of his horse, did not see the dragon either, nor did he hear Kermit’s cry.  He hustled forward towards the boar, crossbow in hand.  Looking up he saw small wyrm rise up, and he leapt back. “Let it take the boar!” he cried to the others.Falco Fletching leapt off his horse and sent it away from the others with a slap to its rear.  He hustled over to the tree Kermit was near, getting down to one knee beneath it as he drew an arrow to his bow.“Pull together!” Timotheus cried out to the others. “If it tries to take one of us, make it pay!”“Materia maxima! Markos intoned, and Tim’s voice grew deeper as he spoke, enlarged by the spell.  Now he was nearly thirteen feet tall, and his flail was nearly as long as a man was tall.  He took a swing as the dragon was suddenly upon him, but it swooped out of the way and locked its teeth on his shoulder, his breastplate protesting.  Timotheus was barely able to push himself free.  Dunlevey ran over to support Tim, shield raised and long sword in his other hand, as Laarus dismounted and called out to Ra. “Ra! Please send us the holy light of your glory to burn this beast that dares attack your servants under your ever-watchful eye!” And a beam of golden light seemed to flash out of the sun itself.  The dragon shrieked as its scales began to smolder.  (4)Kermit let loose an arrow from his position south of the melee, and the small dragon shrieked again.  The boar disappeared into the sparse wood.    The dragon flicked its head back and forth now, seeming to realize it predicament as Victoria came around from its other side, still astride Ironside, and thrust her spear into its haunch.  Green steam blood splattered on the dry ground.There was a crunch of it scales as Timotheus’ flail slammed into it.  It nearly lost its footing. “Take that, lizard breath!”The small dragon had had enough.  It spun around and began to flee along the ground, using its wings to maneuver and get longer strides.  Timotheus tried to smash it again as it pulled away, but it was lower down to the ground as it crawled away, and he failed to compensate for his new height.  Victoria tried to stab it as it fled as well, but it sidestepped and avoided the bow. (5) There was something odd about the way it scurried away; something that seemed awkward for its sinuous body.Another of Kermit’s arrows struck it, but Flaco who had been firing at it steadily, wary of hitting any of his allies accidentally, could not find the target.Victoria spun Ironside around and charged again, as the dragon was making its way back into the thorny brush.  It rolled on one side at the last minute, avoiding the blow and then hopping up to gain a little bit of air, its head lolling a bit as it panted. Telémahkos rode up from its left, and lowered his lance even with it, but it hopped again, avoiding the blow.“If you are not fighting, gather the horses, we need to move!” Timotheus called out to the others as he hurried on foot to join the fight.  “If this thing has a momma, we need to be long gone!”Bleys, who had just dismounted and drawn his sword, put it back away and climbed back up to do the chore, realizing the fight would be over one way or another before he got a chance to contribute anything to it.“Sagitta aquom! Markos cast, and two arrows of watery translucent blue light struck the dragon as it hurtled itself into the brush, barely avoiding the blow of Tim’s flail as he arrived at the edge.  They saw it bound once more, and then disappear.“That… that was a dragon!” Kermit said, sounding nervous. “That is the first I heard of dragons around here…”“I take it that was why you never mentioned them?” Victoria asked.  “Still, it seemed rather small for what I have heard of dragons.”“It was a young one,” Timotheus said.  “Or at least, so I would bet… We need to put some distance between us and this place…”The others agreed.Teflem, the 20th of Quark – 566 H.E. (637 M.Y.)Two days later they skirted a dry lakebed just beyond a row of low hills, approaching the village of the <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Ray-Ree" target="_blank">Ray-Ree tribe</a>.  The day before, as they made their final camp for the day, Kermit Buckleburr had made map in the dust with the end of a stick, showing the relative positions of the King Stones, the Mounds of the Ray-Ree, the tribe’s village, and the marsh held in by the hills they had passed.  The group had agreed to go directly to the so-called <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Barbarians" target="_blank">barbarians</a>.When Kermit informed them that the village would be just beyond he horizon, the signers of the charter of <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Schiereiland" target="_blank">Schiereiland</a> dismounted, and left Dunlevey, Falco, and Kermit to bring the animals along a bit behind them.  They did not want the tribesmen to think that they came as raiders, and Kermit explained that his presence might sour the meeting, as these barbarians did not tend to like non-humans.Bleys, Laarus, Markos, Telémahkos, Timotheus walked forward and only a couple of hundred yards away they could see shacks made of thatch that looked as if they were made to be moved.  Three figures were jogging in their direction.  They were clearly two tall men, and an equally as tall woman.  They thrust spears over their heads and called out, “We are the warriors of the Ray-Ree!  We do not fear you!”End of Session #9---------------------------------------------------------Notes:(1) The people of the Kingdom of the Red God of the West are not known for their skill at metallurgy and armor-smithing, having notoriously inefficient armor.(2) Direct Translation: “I do not speak your filthy infidel tongue!(3) Throughout the exchange, Tymon was softening the boy’s responses, just giving the gist of them without the invective and insults.(4) This spell is <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Spell+-+Holy+Light+of+Ra%27s+Glory" target="_blank">Holy Light of Ra’s Glory</a>.(5) This was an attack of opportunity for moving through her threatened area.</blockquote>

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