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Readye'en 28, CY 593
9: Wherein cruelties are witnessed, and Elijah becomes a Thing That Goes Bump In the Night.
Elijah and Dimethius begin scouting the mine complex. They see that the main structure is a fortified keep with an artificial moat, set against a butte mesa. Atop the mesa, several wooden guard towers have been constructed, and are most likely the highest point for several miles.
To either side of the keep, gigantic statues nestle in alcoves, each icon reaching fifty feet in height. The statues depict human figures, although their features are indistinct. They clasp their hands across their chest in a funeral-pose, and wear some sort of headdress.
In front of the keep, a sprawling, filthy tent-city slowly decomposes. The tents are occupied however, and drunken Stonefisters, bugbears, goblins, giants, ettins and giant-sized Stonefisters are observed milling about. At several points during the day, the drawbridge lowers, and a cowering Tenha emerges pushing a wagon-cart filled with foodstuffs. The Men of the Fist eat first, followed by the giants, then the humanoids.
Over the course of several days, Elijah watches the Stonefisters engage in a cruel ritual: they release one of the food-bearing slaves, and chase her on foot. They catch her close to the edge of camp, and lame her. Gloating over her struggles, the Stonefisters watch her die. Elijah stoically awaits her opening.
The next evening, she gets it. The Fisters release another slave, but this time they let the young boy run well clear of the camp, chasing him, and apparently intending to run him to death. Elijah slips in behind the four barbarians, following them by their torchlight. She uses her hat of disguise to take the appearance of a fellow Stonefister, and begins the hunt.
She surprises her first victim handily, and dispatches the cruel fellow before he even has a chance to free his greatsword from its scabbard. She assumes his form and begins trailing her next target. The second falls as easily as the first with none of the Fisters the wiser.
Although she does not speak Frosttounge, the third barbarians' reaction tells her that he was expecting just such a betrayal from his companion. If he is confused by his associate's use of two swords it doesn't slow him one iota as his pupils dilate and his skin flushes. He shouts for help in his cropped language, while avoiding the worst of her first assault. The grimy brute bulls his way inside Elijah's guard and uses his superior height to knock her off balance and force her to absorb the full impact of his greatsword blow. Elijah gives him a hug with her swords, cutting him once, twice and again, slicing him deeply along his back and severely hampering the use of his right arm. The Fister is dead on his feet, but his iron will and adrenaline fueled rage keep him fighting, even if he seems to have trouble focusing on Elijah.
The last Fister sees two things in short order: the dead body of Elijah's second victim, and the second victim, seemingly alive and well, cutting his fellow hunter into ribbons. The barbarian shouts a word over and over, then runs for the safety of camp.
Elijah, who had hoped to leave one of the Fisters alive, looks over the badly mangled corpse of her victim, and reflects on how difficult it can be not to kill people with a pair of razor-sharp masterwork weapons in your hands.
She quickly finds the hunted boy, and using a mixture of pidgin Tenha and common, convinces him that she is taking him to a great "Tenha Lord". Imagine the lad's surprise when he is not taken to Eyeh, but a small encampment of grizzled looking Furyondians and a tall Flan named Heydricus.
The boy introduces himself as Looish. It quickly becomes apparent that he has some strange assumptions about life, and has lived the majority of his life in the mines at Cur'ruth, under the leadership of a Tenha named Aiman. Aiman is the Lord who keeps the Tenha in the mines safe from Iuzian deprivation. In exchange, the Tenha slaves produce ore and food for the followers of the Old One, and suffer only the occasional murder out-of-hand.
But before the exhausted slave can make his thanks to the gods for his deliverance, and sleep, he tells Heydricus that recently things have not been going well. The Iuzians seem unusually agitated, and have been killing slaves at a prodigious rate. The boy is too young to be let into the council of elders, but he knows that something is disturbing the Tenha miners as well. Perhaps the gods have sent Heydricus to Cur'ruth just in the nick of time.
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Next: A strange visitor brings unwholesome tidings!
9: Wherein cruelties are witnessed, and Elijah becomes a Thing That Goes Bump In the Night.
Elijah and Dimethius begin scouting the mine complex. They see that the main structure is a fortified keep with an artificial moat, set against a butte mesa. Atop the mesa, several wooden guard towers have been constructed, and are most likely the highest point for several miles.
To either side of the keep, gigantic statues nestle in alcoves, each icon reaching fifty feet in height. The statues depict human figures, although their features are indistinct. They clasp their hands across their chest in a funeral-pose, and wear some sort of headdress.
In front of the keep, a sprawling, filthy tent-city slowly decomposes. The tents are occupied however, and drunken Stonefisters, bugbears, goblins, giants, ettins and giant-sized Stonefisters are observed milling about. At several points during the day, the drawbridge lowers, and a cowering Tenha emerges pushing a wagon-cart filled with foodstuffs. The Men of the Fist eat first, followed by the giants, then the humanoids.
Over the course of several days, Elijah watches the Stonefisters engage in a cruel ritual: they release one of the food-bearing slaves, and chase her on foot. They catch her close to the edge of camp, and lame her. Gloating over her struggles, the Stonefisters watch her die. Elijah stoically awaits her opening.
The next evening, she gets it. The Fisters release another slave, but this time they let the young boy run well clear of the camp, chasing him, and apparently intending to run him to death. Elijah slips in behind the four barbarians, following them by their torchlight. She uses her hat of disguise to take the appearance of a fellow Stonefister, and begins the hunt.
She surprises her first victim handily, and dispatches the cruel fellow before he even has a chance to free his greatsword from its scabbard. She assumes his form and begins trailing her next target. The second falls as easily as the first with none of the Fisters the wiser.
Although she does not speak Frosttounge, the third barbarians' reaction tells her that he was expecting just such a betrayal from his companion. If he is confused by his associate's use of two swords it doesn't slow him one iota as his pupils dilate and his skin flushes. He shouts for help in his cropped language, while avoiding the worst of her first assault. The grimy brute bulls his way inside Elijah's guard and uses his superior height to knock her off balance and force her to absorb the full impact of his greatsword blow. Elijah gives him a hug with her swords, cutting him once, twice and again, slicing him deeply along his back and severely hampering the use of his right arm. The Fister is dead on his feet, but his iron will and adrenaline fueled rage keep him fighting, even if he seems to have trouble focusing on Elijah.
The last Fister sees two things in short order: the dead body of Elijah's second victim, and the second victim, seemingly alive and well, cutting his fellow hunter into ribbons. The barbarian shouts a word over and over, then runs for the safety of camp.
Elijah, who had hoped to leave one of the Fisters alive, looks over the badly mangled corpse of her victim, and reflects on how difficult it can be not to kill people with a pair of razor-sharp masterwork weapons in your hands.
She quickly finds the hunted boy, and using a mixture of pidgin Tenha and common, convinces him that she is taking him to a great "Tenha Lord". Imagine the lad's surprise when he is not taken to Eyeh, but a small encampment of grizzled looking Furyondians and a tall Flan named Heydricus.
The boy introduces himself as Looish. It quickly becomes apparent that he has some strange assumptions about life, and has lived the majority of his life in the mines at Cur'ruth, under the leadership of a Tenha named Aiman. Aiman is the Lord who keeps the Tenha in the mines safe from Iuzian deprivation. In exchange, the Tenha slaves produce ore and food for the followers of the Old One, and suffer only the occasional murder out-of-hand.
But before the exhausted slave can make his thanks to the gods for his deliverance, and sleep, he tells Heydricus that recently things have not been going well. The Iuzians seem unusually agitated, and have been killing slaves at a prodigious rate. The boy is too young to be let into the council of elders, but he knows that something is disturbing the Tenha miners as well. Perhaps the gods have sent Heydricus to Cur'ruth just in the nick of time.
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Next: A strange visitor brings unwholesome tidings!
