Tales Under a Burning Sun

The old ashik knew that he was running out of time, and that his story was a long one and could not be told in the days of travel that the herders had left until they reached their small village. But he knew that his story must be told and so the following morning over breakfast he continued his tale. The attack on the trade caravan of Merchant House Ianto was well underway and Scar decided that it was time to get involved in more up close and personal action. She leaps off of the ridge line and slides down the embankment towards the base of the mekillot wagon seeking cover below the thrust of the balcony, on the far side of the mekillot wagon Miloch starts to climb towards the opposite balcony and he is closely followed by Balboa. Scar pulls out her gourd and swallows a couple of mouthfuls of the healing Weezer honey. On the driving deck Kank is still reeling from the mental attack that crashed through his feeble mental shields, unable to do anything but defend himself he fends ...

The old ashik knew that the brothers were tired and close to sleep, but he did not want to miss any opportunity to continue telling his tale. So coughing loudly he disturbed their peace and continued with his tale as if nothing had happened. The siblings were agitated by the old ashiks inability to shut up, but tradition dictated that they listen in good grace. So they stretched and focused on what he was saying. The giant scorpion rises up out of it’s ambush hole to its full height, it stands five foot at the shoulder and its tail rises another four foot above that. In the blink of an eye one of the scorpions large pincers lashes out and strikes Kank in the chest but fortunately for the big Mul the blow glances off of his armour. Kank swings his maul, Bone Crusher, but in his surprise misses. The scorpion once again snaps at Kank with its claws, but again it misses and then it scuttles out of the way of Kank’s overhead smash with his maul. At that point the advantage swings firmly ...

The younger of the herders was drifting off to sleep, the voice of the old ashik was soft and soothing. His elder brother elbowed him in the ribs to startle him back to full wakefulness. The old ashik allowed himself yet another wry smile, gave a little cough to clear his throat, and then continued with his tale. As the body of the final cyclops hit the floor it seemed that silence fell with it. The only noise was the panting of the former slaves and the dying groans of the cyclops. Kank drew his bone knife and moved around the bodies of the cyclops making sure that they were all dead. Meanwhile, Scar, Miloch and Balboa moved out and made sure that the rest of the complex was empty. All they found was evidence of half eaten corpses and cracked human thigh bones with their marrow sucked out. Arthur, his arm still hanging limply by his side, returned to Ka-Reen and she bandaged and set it in a sling but was unable to use her inner power to heal him. The group reunite in the largest...

The brothers were clearing away after their meal and wondering what to do next, it always felt strange to them when they did not have a herd to watch over, and the old ashik was still telling his tale. In fact, the old man had barely paused while he ate his meal, it seemed that he really wanted to finish his story. The group approach the small, derelict building at the top of the steep sided valley. Like the other buildings that they had searched in the vicinity they find that it is empty except for smashed furniture and rotted roof timbers. Kank searches the area around the building for tracks but finds none, and so the group move as quietly as possible towards the last of the buildings which is next to the higher of the cave mouths. This cave mouth is ten foot high and twelve foot wide, and once they discover that the building is empty Kank checks the front of the cave mouth for tracks. He discovers the footprints of a large bipedal creature, smaller than a half giant but larger...