Secrets revealed...

That morning the brothers woke up to a worrying sight. To the west the sky was dark, far darker than just the disappearance of the night. They quickly checked their herd and found that the beasts had bellied down into the sand and tucked their heads under their bodies. That was all the evidence that the herders needed to know that a sand storm was coming.

They quickly retreated to the oasis and one of the brothers filled their water carriers while the other roused the old ashik. Then all three of them bellied down on the leeward side of one of the herd beasts with a heavy blanket covering them, and they waited for the storm to hit. The mounting tension was broken when the old ashik decided to continue his tale.

Ka-Reen woke up feeling very thirsty and a little confused. Slowly she remembered why she had been unconscious, she had stretched herself to her limits to heal Scar and had passed out due to overexertion. As she thinks of Scar she realises that she is not alone and she opens her eyes to find the rest of her cell mates seated protectively around her. When they realise that she is awake they offer her a handful of cactus pulp. Ka-Reen eats it hungrily, and then looks up at Kank and says;

That tastes horrible!

The big Mul shrugs his massive shoulders and smiles. It’s then that Miloch says that he is still feeling very thirsty. Balboa points out that he was the last to eat and that the rest of them were still sated. But Miloch insists that he is both hungry and thirsty, I agree with him and point out that the portion that they have just given me does not seem to be having any effect. Other than making me feel sick. Kank furrows his brow, deep in thought, and then suddenly says;

Of course! It needs to be fresh! Both Miloch and Ka-Reen have eaten from cacti that had been left a short while.

Leaving Miloch and I in the shade, the others head out to forage in the twilight of dusk. They return

with fresh pulp and enough food to feed us all for half a day. Kank then climbs up on top of one of the rocky outcrops and tries to get our bearings, after a few minutes he climbs back down and confidently says he knows where we are and taking a small piece of charcoal, marks the map with another ‘X’. We all believe him, given his confidence, and head out in the direction indicated.

We travel for a couple of hours and then Kank and Scar stop us, saying that they have heard something moving ahead. We agree to fan out and sneak forwards, with myself and Miloch hanging back a little and the others moving ahead quietly to see what is making the noise. It doesn’t quite go to plan. Balboa, who is on the left flank, stumbles on some loose scree which doesn’t make too much noise. But, unfortunately, he then loudly apologies to the rock that he slipped on. It goes very quiet ahead.

With Scar and Kank to the fore, and Arthur and Balboa on the flanks we move slowly onwards until we can see in front of us a number of rocky outcrops and a scattering of hardy foliage. It looks nothing less than the perfect site for an ambush. I don’t understand why, but Scar and Kank lead us in between the outcrops and then jink to the left. All of a sudden They rush forwards towards the base of a rocky outcropping that is covered by one of the desert bushes. Scar shouts;

Come on then you cocksuckers!

At that moment two shadows leap up from their hiding place and the moonlight flashes off of

obsidian blades. Scar and Kank wade in with fists flying, and are closely followed by Arthur. Now that they are in the open moonlight I realise that we are beset by our ex-jailers, the slavers guards have the mean look of hunger and thirst blazing in their eyes but they seem unprepared for the roar of ferocity as my three cell mates recognise who they are fighting.

One of the guards swings high with his sword and it sails over Arthur’s head, with him over reached Scar strikes like a cobra and catches him with a solid blow. The guard collapses to the floor, further evidence that they are on the edge of starvation. The other guard swings low at Kank’s tree trunk like legs, and the blade cuts deep into the flesh and Kank’s leg is awash with his own life blood. Remarkably, Kank manages to stay upright but he is severely hampered by the injury.

The remaining guard, realising that his colleague is down and he is facing off against three angry ex-slaves, starts shouting for help. From our position at the rear, Miloch and I spot four more shadows break from largest of the outcroppings and rush towards the fray. Three break to the right and one to the left, flowing around the outcropping. Miloch rushes forwards to intercept the lone reinforcement.

I am frozen to the spot, trying to hide in the lee of the rocks to my back, the fighting is sprawling around me and Kank is limping in my direction looking ashen from blood loss. There is a guttural roar as the other guards join the fight, Balboa steps into the gap left by Kank’s withdrawal and we are currently outnumbered five to four.

One of the guards catches Arthur a glancing blow in the chest, definitely drawing blood, and then Scar evens the odds by knocking out another of our foes with a lightning quick strike of her fist. The fight ebbs and flows with neither side finding an opening, and then Miloch takes a savage cut to his gut. Miloch drops to his knees and clutches his stomach, the blood pours through his fingers painting the sand red. The guard steps past Miloch and heads for the brawl just as our cellmate slumps forwards face down in the sand. I see Miloch fall and the sight steels my resolve. I stop cowering and rush to Miloch’s side in an attempt to save his life.

Kank watches as Ka-Reen rushes to the side of Miloch, and realises that she has her hands full and will not be able to help him. With a snarl he turns and hobbles back towards the fight. In a single gaze Kank takes in the fight, four guards surround the three ex-slaves and it is obvious that all of the combatants are suffering from fatigue and dehydration. Blows are wild and reactions are slow, and several of the fighters stumble and lose their footing on the loose scree. Then Arthur lands a mighty blow against one of the guards, he catches him in the gut and the guard falls to the floor unconscious.

Balboa gets hit in the arm and drops his mace. His fingers quickly move in an intricate fashion and he mumbles something under his breath. A heartbeat later he shouts;

Dance sword! Dance!

The guard who had just hit him suddenly finds that his sword has a mind of its own and is moving of its own accord in his hand. The guard who gutted Miloch rushes in to hit Scar in the back, but as he swings he stumbles and his sword blow strikes a large rock. As the obsidian blade meets the natural rock there is the sound of glass breaking as the obsidian blade shatters into hundreds of pieces.

With fatigue tightening its grip on those that are fighting, the combat becomes more ragged with neither side able to gain the upper hand. Then the tide turns. It was Arthur who first managed to land a telling blow. His boulder like fist finding its target and knocking his opponent out cold. It is followed by Scar landing a blow on her attacker just as he was drawing a bone dagger from his belt. Scar doesn’t knock him out, but does knock him back into my reach. I bunch my muscles and land a mighty blow to the back of his head. The guard drops like a felled beast.

The last guard standing, who is fighting for his life with Balboa, is surrounded by the freed slaves. We all pile in and it is Scar who lands the telling blow. Her long, sinewy limbs allowing her to smash her fist into the guards jaw.

Silence once again settles over the rocky barrens, only broken by the heavy breathing of the winning side. A small, feminne, groan draws our attention and as we turn to look we are just in time to see Ka-Reen collapse beside Miloch’s prone body. I sat down hard on the floor, the adrenalin draining from my body and the pain of my injured leg rushing to the fore. Scar moves from cellmate to cellmate administering first aid, using strips torn from the guards clothing as makeshift bandages. Once she has finished with me I am able to put weight on my leg once more.

While Scar is healing, Arthur is doing completely the opposite. He finishes off the guards quickly, which is a much kinder fate than the one they had in store for us, and strips them of all their possessions. Between them he gathers sixteen ceramic pieces, clothes, boots, stiff leather armour for six people. Using two of the thawbs, Scar and Balboa rig up an awning and make Ka-Reen and Miloch comfortable under it. Arthur drags the bodies away from our makeshift camp and leaves them for the local wildlife.

We need to keep moving!

Scar looks around at the others to see if any agree with her statement. They all nod, but then Kank nods towards the two unconscious figures laying still under the awning. The small gesture speaks volumes about the fact that it is going to be impossible to move with two people who would need to be carried. Scar sighs and says;

Well I need to do something.

And so we agree that I and Scar will go out on a wide forage, leaving Balboa and Arthur to guard Miloch and Ka-Reen. So we head off into the dark.

When we get back to camp carrying enough scavenged food and water for two of us for half a day I spot that Arthur is carrying a maul. My weapon of choice. And he definitely didn’t have it when we left to forage, so I ask him where he found it. He looks at me and says;

The earth priest!

I approach Balboa and ask if he can make one for me, he smiles and replies;

The earth is always happy to provide, he sometimes just needs the right incentive.

When a confused look spreads across my face he explains that he just needs a large enough rock. I head off to find one, but everyone that I bring back he rejects as not willing. Eventually I select one and Balboa holds it up to his ear and says;

Yes! This one is willing to help.

He then proceeds to tell me all about the rock and it’s life, as he is doing so he takes my battle axe and pauses to whisper to the obsidian axe head. The axe head seems to melt off of the wooden handle and then Balboa does a similar thing with the selected rock, all the while talking about how nice it is that it has agreed to this function, and then molds the stone head of the maul in place. I don’t care how mad Balboa is, I now have a maul. That will do me.

Mid way through the hot day, while we rest in the shade of the makeshift awning, Miloch regains consciousness. He is hungry and thirsty, but otherwise is showing little of the effects of having his stomach torn open by an obsidian blade. Balboa gives him half a days food and we wait out the rest of the day. As the sun starts to set Miloch and Arthur head out to forage, Miloch saying that he needs to stretch his aching muscles, as they pass where Arthur left the bodies, they discover that two of them are missing. A quick search shows that they appear to have been dragged off into the badlands. Something large is eating well today.

As they return to the camp with a megre gathering of provisions, Ka-Reen regains consciousness. She seems pleased to see Miloch up and moving, and hungrily consumes the food that Scar places in front of her. I clamber up to the top of an outcropping and once again take my bearings. Sure of where we are heading we set out with the light of the twin moons guiding our way. Travelling all night we make it to the edge of the rocky badlands, where the stoney ground gives way to the undulating waves of sand dunes as far as the eye can see.

We forage and set camp. But we find no food and so settle in for a hungry and thirsty day under our makeshift awning. As I watch my friends settle down I realise how thankful I am for the small things, and how far we have come. We now all have clothes, four of us have boots, and the three of us are in armour. Only Scar and Ka-Reen remain without footwear. Ka-Reen because we have yet to find anyone as large as her, she stands almost seven feet tall. So tall in fact that I would swear that there is some elf in her blood. Ka-Reen has the opposite problem and is only five feet.

As we are breaking camp, just before dusk, we hear a loud buzzing noise on the wind. When we

listen closer we can also hear the sound of something flapping in the breeze. Grabbing our possessions we climb to the crest of the nearest sand dune to see what is making the noise. As we crest the ridge of the dune a curious sight greets our eyes. A giant insect is being attacked by, or is attacking it is hard to tell, two winged humanoids. We all reach for rocks and load our slings, unsure what side we should be on.

I recognise the winged humanoids as Aarakocra, the vulture-folk of the rocky badlands, one of which is carrying a spear clutched between the talons of its feet. The insect I believe to be a Weezer, similar to a wasp. As we are watching the Aarakocra with the spear manages to impale the Weezer through one of its legs with a thrust of its spear. Arthur looks meaningfully at Balboa;

Your the best with words. You can be our ambassador. Come on!

Arthur and Balboa stand up and start to walk, slide, down the face of the sand dune towards the fight. The rest of us lay still at the lip of the dune watching, ready with our slings if things turn against us. As they get closer the Aarakocra without the spear dives with its claws extended straight at the Weezer, at the last minute the Weezer dodges to one side and the Aarakocra thumps heavily and awkwardly into the face of the dune.

Suddenly Scar stands up and starts to swing her sling, a second later her sling stone is sailing wide of the fight. I guess that we still haven’t picked a side. As the fight swirls below us, I notice that the Weezer appears to be carrying some kind of ceramic ball in its mouth. At that moment the Aarakocra impales the Weezer once again, this time transfixing its wing to its side with the spear tip. The Weezer drops out of the sky dead. As it falls the ceramic ball strikes the ground and breaks. By this time Arthur and Balboa are close enough that they can see some kind of liquid spilling from the broken sphere and soaking into the sand.

The Aarakocra with the spear looks up at Arthur and Balboa, hanging in the air shaking its spear at them, it makes a raspy drawn out hissing noise and shouts;

TO BLAME YOU ARE GROUNDWALKERS! GO WAY!

It then flaps up into the sky, out of sling range, and starts to circle us. The other Aarakocra still appears to be stunned, and is flapping about trying to right itself. Balboa steps forwards and asks;

Are you ok?

The Aarakocra suddenly realising that it is not alone takes an unsteady step backwards and shouts;

WHO YOU?

Balboa calmly responds;

Travellers in the desert. Do you know this area?

The Aarakocra’s avian eyes narrow and it starts to size up the two beings in front of it, the massive form of Arthur the Dwarf giving it pause for thought.

WHAT FOR ME?

Remaining calm and even spoken, Balboa responds;

We could help each other. We are looking for water. Can you help?

The Aarakocra seems to finally have gathered its senses and looks to the sky where its colleague is still circling. It then looks down at the dead Weezer and the broken ceramic ball. It gestures to the southwest and shouts;

WATER THERE!

With a powerful flap of its wings it takes to the sky and joins the other Aarakocra, they circle for a little while and then fly off north. The rest of us join Arthur and Balboa and arrive as they are investigating the ceramic ball. The first thing that they find is that it is not ceramic but is more like a mixture of hardened sand and wax. Balboa tests the liquid and says that it tastes like sweet water. We quickly build a fire and cook the dead Weezer, it is a scant meal, but we are not in a position to turn down any food.

We agree that the Aarakocra gestured in the same direction that we believe the oasis lays, and so we strike out into the sand dunes. After two hours of travel, Scar spots another Weezer in the distance. It is flying in the direction that we are travelling and Scar manages to keep it in her sights as we follow it for almost an hour. She eventually loses sight of it and as we crest the dune where she last saw it we find ourselves looking down at a number of small mounds surrounding one large mound in the centre. As we are watching, a Weezer flies to the large mound and climbs into it through a hole in the top of the mound.

We quietly slide down the dune to the nearest small mound on the perimeter of the structure. It is completely sealed and appears to be made from compacted sand. There is a very good chance that there is food and water within the complex of mounds, unfortunately it is also likely to be filled with Weezers. I’m not sure that our life expectancy is improving!