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Message: <blockquote data-quote="xnosipjpqmhd" data-source="post: 2688723">Tales of the Bloody HellBook One: Long Live the Tirshata Session 4 (from 4 Oct 2003)After deep rumination over the events of the previous month, Vidian and his comrades began to suspect more devious involvement by the Batrean than had previously been thought. They devised a plan whereby her intentions might be discovered. After securing a room at the Red Desert Inn, Maylek announced that he saw no alternative but to sell the Kharakhan blade to a fellow Yitek who, Maylek claimed, had an eager buyer already lined up. At this, Silva's face lit up, though she quickly attempted to hide her interest. Then taking up the large dagger and wrapping it in a cloth, Maylek and Motar exited the room and hid in an alcove nearby. Vidian bedded down for the night, allowing Silva the opportunity to leave the room unnoticed, or so she believed. But Maylek tracked her through the darkened city to the sky docks. There Maylek lost the trail, and no trace of the Batrean could be found.The following morning, Maylek confirmed with others of his race that the Batrean had not been seen and nothing unusual had occurred during the night. The Yiteks imparted only a rumour that Cymrillians had attacked a Farad merchant near the Kharakhan ruins far to the north, and Maylek did not correct the inaccuracies of the report or hint at his part in it. Instead he thanked the fellow robber and gave him some jewels recently liberated from the tomb of a wealthy Dracartan.Later the heroes came to the docks to inspect the repairs to the Bloody Hell. The work had been done with care and skill, and no defects could be found. The dockmaster was questioned about the Batrean but could provide no clues. Tarriod was bound still to the mast of a nearby ship and remained a prisoner of the dockmaster. The only other news of interest was the departure of another windskiff during the night, the Son of Tarune.Vidian bid the dockmaster farewell, and the Bloody Hell ascended into the air and headed west. In the city state of Danuvia it halted for the night, and news came that the Son of Tarune had gone before them, also heading west. The friends took counsel with each other. Maylek urged Vidian to steer a course to the lands inhabited by the Dhuna, wherein someone could be found to speak the runes on the Kharakhan knife. Vidian countered that they should first go to Boldtooth at the Lyceum Arcanum in Cymril, for the sages of the Seven Kingdoms are unsurpassed. Yet Maylek said that this was a mistake, and those things which came into the possession of the Lyceum would not be returned. To prevent this, he placed a parchment over the blade, and taking a charred coal in his hands, made an impression on the page of the inscription.The heroes returned to Cymril, and after reacquainting themselves briefly with the city's amusements, they entered the Lyceum Arcanum to visit Boldtooth. But his welcome was not as warm as Vidian had expected. He indicated that translations of the Phaedran texts were proceedly slowly and no gleanings from them were available to the heroes. Curiously, he slid some papers into a drawer as he spoke these words. Boldtooth's interest was piqued at the mention of the Kharakhan dagger, and although the drawing of the inscription was freely proferred to him, he insisted that the blade itself must be inspected if its true meaning was to be revealed. On this point Vidian disagreed, and the heroes left the room knowing no more than when they had arrived. Now all of them suspected that the representatives of the Seven Kingdoms, or at least of the Lyceum Arcanum, were not revealing all that they knew, but whether for good or ill intent no one could say.While in Cymril, Vidian chanced to see the gypsy talespinner, Valu, who had told of the Phaedran ruins when last they met. Vidian greeted the gypsy cordially and pressed him for the name of a trusted member of the Dhuna race. The gypsy said that he could lead them to such, if they would travel northwest with him to those lands. Vidian agreed instead to meet Valu and his kin at the little village of Matre in two days' time, since travel by windskiff was more than twice the speed of the gypsy caravan. They parted well, and the heroes immediately left Cymril in the Bloody Hell, deciding to reach Matre and ensure that the windskiff could be left there in safety.When they came within sight of the village, however, the sight was not one of safety. A war column of Za could be seen travelling north from the village, leaving it in smoke and ruin. The Za were perhaps a hundred strong, so the heroes decided to head for Matre to save what they could from the fires. On the outskirts of the village, a line of more than a dozen Za bandits were pushing a small group of villagers before them. This appeared to be the rearguard of the Za raiding party, instructed to destroy all that could not be plundered from the village, then force the few surviving prisoners into slavery or a slow death at the hands of the cruel bandits.When the Za saw the ship, they pushed their captives back into the ruined village and took refuge in what remained of the buildings there. Vidian brought the windskiff to a halt above the road, but few bandits could now be attacked at range. Therefore he brought the ship low, and the Bloody Hell kicked up a storm of dust as it landed. Into this storm charged eight Za armed with barbed scimitars. A desperate fight ensued. Motar's knives flashed with deadly accuracy. Maylek stabbed at the enemies as best he could. Vidian unsheathed his black iron longsword. It bit into the subman's flesh, and the power of the arcane sword revealed itself when, in a split-second, a brilliant blue spark traced an invisible pattern of runes along the blade and then was gone. But it was Gann, with his many-spiked thrall garde and mighty greatsword, that was most fearsome in battle, slaying Za with unmatched skill and ferocity.Vidian slammed the windskiff into a nearby hut, but the Za held their footing, and the wind engine coughed and died in the choking air. There would be no escape by air. Yet hope still remained when the heroes managed to defeat those Za who had boarded the Bloody Hell. Yet the fight was not easily won, and both Motar and Maylek showed terrible wounds from the curved sawblades that the bandits wielded as swords. Gann finished the last two bandits, slamming the foot-long spikes of his shoulder garde into the chest of one Za even as he hewed down another with a two-handed chop from his broadsword. But even as these two fell and the dust cleared, hope began to fade. For there standing in a circle round about the ship were nine more Za, undaunted by the defeat of their fellow marauders. The Za glared with hatred at the heroes.Desperate to break the will of the submen and avoid another set-to, Vidian summoned forth a burst of arcane energy, focused it into the form of a jet-black arrow, and sent it shrieking forward at the largest of the Za. The bolt struck the bandit square in the forehead, and his skull exploded, showering the other nearby Za with fragments of bone and brain. But rather than depair, the Za became enraged and charged the ship! It was clear that this would be a battle to the death.While Maylek descended the stairs into the ship's hold to retrieve the mysterious crossbow and its three globe-tipped bolts, Vidian turned to the thrall beside him and uttered words of power. The tatooed body of the thrall came sharply into view for a moment, then disappeared entirely. Though he could not now be seen, Gann grinned with bloodlust and walked forward to do battle.The first two Za that approached were slain before they were aware of their invisible foeman. Then Motar and Vidian began to ward off attacks from the remaining six bandits. Maylek returned to the deck in time to see Gann reappear--seemingly from nowhere--behind the crowd of Za pressing forward against his Cymrillian and Arimite allies. Gann began hacking at the Za from the rear, as Motar and Vidian dodged to and fro.Yet luck remained with the Za. Maylek nocked one of the odd-shaped bolts, cocked the crossbow, and levelled it at the centre bandit, but his aim with the unfamiliar weapon was wild, and the dart landed amid the deck, exploding a great hole in it. In addition, several of the Za turned on the thrall and began wearing him down with their attacks, and Motar screamed with agony as a Za broadsword slashed across his face, darkening his right eye with blood and torn flesh. Maylek fired another bolt. This one struck its target, blowing limbs from the body of one of the Za that had attacked Motar. Desperately the Arimite quaffed a restorative potion to give him the strength to continue the fight.Meanwhile, Vidian and Gann fought on, while the final mystic bolt from the crossbow flew untrue yet again and enlarged the hole in the Bloody Hell's foredeck. Finally, Vidian ran his opponent through and sped to the assistance of Gann, who, although he slew his attackers, now lay bloodied on the planks. A healing elixer was administered, and Gann was saved.Weary of battle, Vidian, Motar, Maylek, and Gann spent the remainder of the day salvaging what they could from the ruined village. Then they bedded down for the night, their bodies discomforted with the pain of poorly bound wounds and their heads filled with dreams of murderous submen fingering cruel swords.TO BE CONTINUED</blockquote>

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