Tales Under a Burning Sun

Yet again the two brothers seem entranced by the old ashik’s tale, and hang on his every word as they trek together across the sand dunes driving their herd of beasts ahead of them. So much so that they almost missed the small oasis that they were aiming for, but fortunately for them their beasts were not so wrapped up in the story and naturally headed directly for the water. The herders, with the tale’s spell broken, went about their chores quickly. Once the beasts were dealt with and settled then the siblings turned back to the old ashik and awaited him to continue. Arthur steps back from Kank and looks at his handiwork. The large Mul had had his head wound cleaned and bandaged by the massive dwarf and now looked like he was wearing an eye patch angling across his face. The friends had agreed that they should wait out the heat of the day, and give both Ka-Reen and Kank time to recover from the fight with the Tembo, and then attempt to get back on course towards the rendezvous w...

The younger of the brothers returned to the dying embers of the fire and looked down at the sleeping forms of his elder brother and the old ashik. A slight smile caressed his face as he thought of the old man falling asleep mid-story once again. Having the old ashik join them had been a great turn of fortune, his tale made the drudgery of the day disappear and his presence stopped the old sibling bickering that usually accompanied these trips. As these thoughts cross his mind he drifted back to what the old man was saying before he fell asleep, something about the freed slaves searching the bodies of the Black Sand Raiders... With the injured and unconscious resting within the mysterious water elemental building, the others begin to make sure that they are not caught unawares. Kank slogs his way up to the top of the massive dune that is overhanging the ancient building and settles in under his robe to keep a watch on the surrounding desert. Balboa and Miloch search the dead and remov...

The old ashik looks up from the fire, whose depths he had been staring into, and briefly watched the two brothers sat opposite him. They had the rugged look of people who spent their days under the burning sun and their nights huddled in the cold under the twin moons. They shared the similarity of appearance that siblings do, but they also shared the burning light of intelligence in their deep set eyes and the clear will to hear his story through to its end. The old man coughed to clear the dust from his throat and continued his tale. As the group of freed slaves moved, what they hoped was, Northwest across the desert the air became still and the night itself became silent. It was as if all of the insects and small creatures of the desert had decided to seek shelter, and that is exactly what had happened, for not long after the group of friends had noticed this that they spotted a darkness that stretched across the horizon as far as the eye could see. They had seen this once before, ...

It had been a long, hard trek between the two watering holes. Herding their beasts before them they had passed the time listening to the old man's story, he had joined them on their route but neither of the brothers could remember inviting him. But his story was absorbing and his company gave the brothers something other than their herd to focus on. The group of freed slaves and the Thri-Kreen Druid exit the stairwell into a large central room of the tower. There are three other exits from the room two doorways, each of which is being held against a horde of Elves by two Dwarven warriors, and a ladder leading up through the ceiling to the roof level. The blood soaked Dwarf turns to the group and says; My name is Raglar Kruzt. Follow me and stick close. He then scurries up the ladder through the hole in the ceiling. A heartbeat later and the group are following him up leaving the Dwarven warriors still holding off the elves. On the roof of the tower Raglar points over the edge ...

PART THREE When the dust finally settles after the fight the elf girl, Jengi Silverhand, steps out of the shadows and sarcastically applauds the freed slaves. Well done all! You have survived the Tembo. And your strength will return, eventually. The rest of the night passes uneventfully, but the group of freed slaves stay in camp until mid morning to give Miloch time to recover his full strength before they walk into what might be a very dangerous situation. The group walk all day, being led by the elf girl, and by the time that dusk is starting to darken the sky they are able to make out a large structure on the horizon. It is about four hours distant and so they settle down to camp and light a large camp fire so that they are obvious to any Elf scouts that are looking in their direction. The night passes uneventfully and the following morning sees the group walking slowly into the Elven stronghold with their weapons slung. The stronghold is an ancient castle, one of the many...

PART TWO The Dwarven children scatter in a panic when one of their number disappears below the mud at the edge of the oasis. As they scatter the freed slaves rush towards them to investigate what is happening. Just as Arthur is wading into the mud another of the children is pulled under in front of his eyes but there is no sign of what took her. While Miloch and Ka-Reen herd the panic stricken youths onto firm ground the rest of the group spread out and start to search the thigh deep mud. After what seems like an age, but in reality is only a matter of seconds a creature bursts out of the sludge directly in front of Kank. It rears up over him and strikes with its feather crowned snake like head, but misses. Kank swings hard with his maul but his unsteady footing means that he misses. The beast strikes and second time and again just misses Kank, by which time Scar is in range but also misses with her spear. The beast then dives back under the mud and is gone from sight. Kank looks...