Secrets revealed...

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 with Kollus and the hope of finding a place to settle.

As the sun sets, Arthur sets the course and they set out towards the imposing mountains. By the time the night was its darkest the group believed that they had arrived at the meeting place and started to discuss if they should light a fire to signal their presence, it was then that Scar heard something moving out in the darkness. Hands quickly moved to weapons and the freed slaves formed a protective circle around Ka-Reen, but they soon relaxed when a familiar voice says;

It’s alright! It’s just taken us a bit of time to find you in the dark.

Marista steps out of the darkness and gives a low, long whistle. A few moments later Kollus also steps out of the darkness leading a pair of riding kank. Marista helps Ka-Reen onto the back of one of the riding kank and Kollus leads us off into the dark.

Kollus leads them directly towards the mountains, and as the sun is starting to rise, they can see that he is leading them towards what appears to be an unremarkable sheer rock face. They also spot that they are being followed by a kank rider and quickly realise that it is the third of the group, To-Gahl, making sure that they are not being followed. The group follow Kollus into a narrow fissure in the rock face and discover that after a few twists and turns it opens up once again into a pathway through the mountains. Balboa states that he believes the fissure would be almost invisible from a distance and that even close up it would be difficult to discover.

The group of freed slaves follow Kollus and Marista for several hours along the winding path through the mountains, passing many narrow spurs branching off from the main path, but Kollus never waivers from his course. Eventually the enclosing walls of the cleft start to widen and the heat of the direct sun begins to reach the pathway, as the group of freed slaves walk into the light they can see that the pathway leads into a large crater, and sat in the bottom of that crater is a stone walled village. Kollus turns to the group and says;

Welcome to the Hidden Village. Home of The Free.

Kollus leads the group up the ramp to the main gate, which is guarded by sentries, and between the fifteen foot high stone walls. The walls have patrols moving along them and the place has a feeling of being very well defended. Having passed through the massive gates the group find themselves in a huge space between the walls, the space is roughly four hundred foot wide and two hundred foot in length. To the right as they enter the freed slaves see lots of livestock,which Arthur identifies as kank, carru and kitsu. To the left of the freed slaves are a number of low stone buildings but it is difficult to know what their use is.

Ka-Reen is helped down from the back of the kank by To-Gahl, and then he leads the three kank towards the rest of the animals whilst Kollus and Marista lead the rest of the group towards a fifty foot wide corridor, barred by three massive bone portcullis, directly opposite the main gate. The corridor runs for one hundred and fifty foot and each portcullis is guarded by four sentries, Scar comments that this is a perfect killing ground. The group exit the corridor and can see a group of individuals walking with purpose towards them.

At the front of the group is an imposing human male, beside him strolls a broad dwarf and both of them are flanked by four guards. The dwarf and the human appear to be in a heated discussion, and the dwarf keeps pointing at a book that he is holding in his left hand. The discussion ceases as they get within earshot and they stop a few feet in front of us, the imposing human looks us up and down and says;

I am Bartras, leader of The Free!

The group of friends all look to Balboa, who steps forwards and introduces each of us in turn. Bartras smiles at Balboa’s formality but nods and says;

You are welcome in the Hidden Village, and we shall talk later, but for now, rest and eat. Major Drog will show you where.

Bartras indicates the broad dwarf and turns on his heel and walks away. Major Drog leads them through a tangle of buildings and back out into a large open thoroughfare. He crosses this and leads the group through yet more twisting and turning alleys between buildings, all of which seem to be residential, until eventually he stops outside a low squat building. The group are gestured inside and find a single room that is big enough for six people to live in. There is a cot for everyone and at the foot of each cot is a small chest to hold personal items. In the middle of the room is a table, and on that table is food and water.

Major Drog asks the group to sit and then taking out a writing implement asks them their names and what they can do and where they are originally from. When he has finished with that he tells them that he has heard of their tales at the Silver Spring and the village of Kled but that he wants to know everything about their journey to the Hidden Village. Balboa clears his throat and tells him everything. He tells him about the mysterious building, the water elemental, Banica Lastman and the Black Sand Raiders, and Thrassos. All the while the dwarf writes notes in his book and nods sagely, if he is a scribe he is the most battle hardened scribe that the group have ever laid eyes upon.

After an hour and a half of this gentle interrogation Major Drog closes his book and looks up;

If you stay here you follow our rules. Feel free to walk about and explore, but some locations will be closed to you until you have proved your loyalty. For now, do not go armed, but leave your weapons here.

Scar looks very concerned with having to walk about this unfamiliar place unarmed, and she raises this concern. Major Drog looks back over his shoulder and says as he is leaving;

If you do not like our rules you may leave, but once you have left you will not be welcomed back.

He then leaves. The rest of the group talk to Scar about her concerns and try to allay her fears. They all agree that it is not wise to go unarmed in a new place, but that they have little choice in the matter and that they have trekked for days across the desert to be here and that it would be foolish to throw it all away in the first day. Scar begrudgingly agrees. Having made sure that Ka-Reen is comfortable and resting, Balboa suggests that they head out and investigate the village.

Balboa first takes them to the large amphitheater in the middle of the settlement, they discover that it is being used for weapon training. There are groups of people being lead by instructors, and the groups are all of varying levels of skill and the people training all appear to be from different walks of life, they are not all warriors. Next Balboa wanders through the barter market where lots of goods are on sale and a large amount of people are trading goods for goods, but there are also coins changing hands for goods and services. The group of friends continue onwards and head for the artisan quarter.

The artisan quarter is full of activity, tradesmen making items for sale in the barter market but also people reading out loud and singing. The area is vibrant with activity and people and it brings joy to the freed slaves as it is the most normal that they have felt since being captured by slavers. Feeling tired, the group headed back to their room to get some rest. Scar is very pleased to discover that none of our weapons have been touched, and we settle down to sleep. However, we do not completely let our guard down and agree to maintain a watch.

About an hour before dusk two humans arrive carrying more food and water for them, they are accompanied by a male dwarf dressed in brown robes. He introduces himself as Moran Gore and tells them that he has been sent to tend to their wounds. He first moves to Ka-Reen and inspects her arm, he makes comment that it has been treated well and then places his hands upon her shoulder and starts to chant in a strong, low voice. A look of surprise crosses Balboa’s face as he realises that he can understand what Moran Gore is saying, and more importantly who he is calling upon. Once Moran Gore is finished with Ka-Reen, having completely healed her, he moves towards Kank and repeats the process.

Balboa steps up to Moran Gore and says;

I hear that you call upon the earth for your healing. I also call upon the earth, but did not know that it could heal.

Moran Gore smiles at Balboa and replies;

The earth provides life. So of course it can heal. The priest of the temple will speak to you at some point.

Balboa looks shocked and asks if there is an earth temple here. Moran Gore says that there is as well as a number of smaller shrines. A wide smile split Balboa’s face and he asked if he could visit the temple straight away. Moran Gore, having healed everyone, said that he was happy to take them there and so they all set out for the earth temple. Inside the temple there are a dozen people moving about their duties and praying, as they enter they see an offerings dish and Arthur hands Balboa a silver coin to place in the dish. While the others are shown around, Balboa takes a moment to pray.

He is disturbed from his thoughts when a female dwarf enters from the rooms at the rear of the temple, she walks straight up to Balboa and then looks over his shoulder at the large form of Kank sat four benches back. Balboa looks over his shoulder and realises that Kank is giving thanks for his maul. Balboa looks back at the female dwarf and she asks him his name, he replies in the positive and she nods and asks everyone to follow her. As they are leaving Balboa realise that all of the earth priests give her a reverent nod as she passes. She leads us back towards the amphitheater and to a building to the right of it.

As they are led in they realise that this seems to be some kind of village council chamber. Placed in the centre of the chamber are five chairs, four of which are occupied. In the center sits Bartras, to his right is the dwarf Major Drog and to his left is a human female that we have not seen before. Next to this women is another, and finally the female dwarf that lead the group to the council chamber sits in the last chair. Bartras welcomes them and introduces the others, the woman to his left is General Selenu and the female to her left is Sister Veranitha, guardian of the oasis. Major Drog they already know and the dwarven female that escorted them here is introduced as Brintar, priestess of the earth.

Bartras says that he has heard good things about us and our dealings with the dwarves of Kled and our assistance in rescuing the druid of Silver Spring from the defiler leader of the elves. There is a small ripple of shock that runs through the recently freed slaves as they realise how close they had come to death. But, Bartras continues, he wants to hear the whole tale directly from us. As always in these situations, the group all turn to Balboa. Balboa launches into a full rendition of the groups adventures since they had been freed from the mekillot wagon.

As Balboa is describing Thrassos, and his seemingly permanent grey skin, General Selenu leans forwards and whispers something in Bartras’ ear, Bartras nods and says;

It is likely that he had cast a spell to keep him permanently in shadow to protect himself from the sun.

At the end of the tale Bartras leans back and looks at each of his council in turn, each one returns his gaze with a slight nod some taking slightly longer to give it than others. Once done he looks back at the new arrivals and informs them that they are welcome to stay and join the The Free, but they will be expected to train and help out with the business of the tribe, including taking part in patrols. The group are told that they are free to trade and barter, but if they are caught stealing or unjustly murdering someone then they will be expelled or worse.

For now you are on probation to make sure that you are not agents of the King. And whilst on probation some areas of the Hidden Village will be restricted to you.

You will be expected to train and help with out patrols. You can trade and barter. If you are caught stealing or unjustly murdering someone, you will be expelled. You will be on probation to make sure that you are not agents, access to some areas will be restricted.

Balboa looks at his friends and they all seem keen to join and so he turns back to Bartras and thanks him for his huge generosity and tells him that we accept his terms. The following morning the group are collected from their lodgings and are taken to their individual postings. Balboa is to work with Brintar the earth priestess, Ka-Reen will be working with Sister Veranitha who it turns out is a water elementalist, and the remainder of the freed slaves are given into the care of Watch Commander Falcar. Falcar is a heavily scarred Mul who in a previous life was a pit gladiator, he now led one of the watch shifts and was going to shape up his new intake.

Arthur, Kank, Miloch, and Scar joined a group of guards and recognised two of them from the mekillot wagon. The thri-kreen and the dwarf that they had last seen walking off into the night seeking a village of freed slaves, it is obvious that they found it. The watch are assigned duties, mostly guard duties on the gates and patrolling the walls, and in the earth temple Balboa spends the day making bricks whilst lectures on the history of Athas are read aloud. Once their shifts have ended the new arrivals are expected to train their skills and then they get time to eat, drink and sleep. And so the group settle into their new routine

Balboa worked hard and within a couple of weeks he was initiated as a Novice of the earth cult. Scar and Miloch spent a long time working on the martial skills, but especially with the bow, and Kank with his usual single minded approach to all things focuses solely on improving his skill with his beloved maul. The group also discovered that as well as being paid with lodging, food and water they also receive a monetary remuneration, the watch paid four ceramic pieces per month and the priestly duties earned Balboa and Ka-Reen one silver piece per month. Three weeks passed and the group had settled into their new lives, the Hidden Village and it’s six hundred residents had become home and family.

At the end of their third week the group were summoned by Major Drog and Bartras, when they arrived at the council chamber they were informed that scouts from the village had discovered the wreckage of a slave merchants caravan east of the Hidden Village. The wagons had been destroyed, but most curiously there were no corpses left at the scene. Bartras leans forwards;

I do not see the hand of the Black Sand Raiders in this. This is something else. And its proximity to us requires that we investigate and discover who did this and deal with them before they attract the eyes of Tyr.

Major Drog tells the group that they have identified several sites of interest that might conceal whoever attacked the caravan, he tells the group that they will be sent to investigate three of these sites. The dwarf tells the group that they will be sent to investigate a mine, the waystation, and a ravine filled with ancient tombs. When Scar asks what we should do if we discover who attacked the caravan Major Drog says;

Find them, and eliminate them if you can. If not, return here to get assistance.

Major Drog asks us what equipment we will need and Arthur asks if he can loan a kank and the dwarf just nods to Kollus who is stood behind us. Kollus takes Arthur to the stables and arranges for a kank and tack, the group also make sure that they have lots of water carriers loaded onto the back of the kank. Kollus also hands Balboa a lodestone and explains its use to him.

At dusk that night the group set out, fully ladened with provisions and water. Arthur climbs up into the saddle of his kank and spurs it onwards. As a group they are now able to move much faster. They wind their way through the narrow fissure back out into the desert, and by dawn they are approaching the site of the merchant caravan attack. They camp a short distance from the site and wait for the sun to come up. By the light of the rising sun the group can see that the caravans have been smashed in using large mauls, probably larger than those of Arthur and Kank. Kank circles out from the wreckage with Balboa following looking for tracks, but the desert wind has erased all trace of anyone, or things passing. But Kank does spot that as Balboa is walking across the sand his footprints are instantly disappearing, as if he is leaving no trace of his passing. Kank asks Balboa about this and he replies that it is because he is now a Novice of the earth cult.

The group set up camp in the lee of the wreckage using canvas sheets to create enough shade to cover Stanley, which seems to be what Arthur is now calling his riding kank. The day is hot but passes uneventfully and at dusk the group set off once more heading for the ravine. They arrive before dawn and once again camp waiting for the sun to come up, not wanting to risk the crevice and unknown tombs in the dark. Afterall, everything in this desert does seem to want to kill them.