Secrets revealed...

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 in the direction of the scorpion as its tail sting flashes down and penetrates the armour on Kank’s right arm. It then injects its powerful poison into Kank’s bloodstream.

Kank staggers backwards and falls to one knee as the poison begins to work its way into his system. The rest of the group regain their composure and rush to attack the scorpion, Kollus looses two arrows in quick succession one of which buries itself in the scorpions thorax. Scar then slices downwards with the Sword of Kemalok, but once again the scorpion scuttles out of the way of the strike. Miloch steps into the fray and slices down with his obsidian axe held in two hands, the axe bites deep into the scorpions thorax and the creature collapses to the ground in its death throes.

Scar grabs hold of Kank and drags him away from the dying beast, Kollus then administers first aid but it does not halt the flow of poison through Kank’s bloodstream. Arthur then remembers the Weezer honey that everyone is carrying. They quickly force Kank to swallow some of the thick liquid and it instantly begins to relieve the symptoms. The give him another couple of doses and after a short while it is obvious that Kank is beyond the worst of the effects. Once he is well enough to move the group push on towards ambush site. Once they have arrived Marista takes the reins of her kank and those of Stanley the kank and then turns back in the direction of the Hidden Village. It may just have been the wind, but it looked like a tear rolled down Arthur’s cheek.

As Marista disappears over the dunes the rest of the group begin to scout out the planned ambush site. After a short while they agree where they believe that the caravan will stop for the evening and that they will attack during the second watch with both Kollus and Scar launching the attack with missile fire. And with the plan agreed, they split up and hide themselves behind the rocks and sparse vegetation in the area. And then they wait.

An hour before sunset the creaking sounds of a large wagon drift on the wind to the hidden companions. After a short wait a mekillot drawn wagon rumbles into view along the trackway, the companions watch from their hiding places as the two storey wooden fortress slowly rumbles past the spot that they believed that it would stop and continues along the right hand fork in the road. It does not continue for very long before pulling off to the side of the track one hundred foot beyond where the group had first thought. The wagons stopping point still puts it within range of four of the group, with only Arthur and Balboa being on the wrong side of the fork.

The wagon grinds to a halt and the rear loading ramp lowers, two guards exit and unlimber the mekillot from its harness. The guards then return to the rear of the wagon and reappear carrying a barrel of water which they carry to the mekillot and allow it to drink its fill. The guards then retreat back into the fortress like wagon and raise the rear loading ramp. After what seems like hours the occupants of the wagon settled down into what looks like a standard watch pattern with one guard staying on watch in the driving deck while the second guard patrols around the first floor openings.

After three hours there is what appears to be a changing of the guard, and an hour after that Kank decides that he is going to move into a closer location ready for the ambush. With Scar keeping watch on the patrolling guard, as soon as she sees him leave the rear platform she signals Kank and he slides down the slope and starts to creep into a hiding spot behind the nearest rocky outcropping to the wagon. Scar’s heart leaps when she spots that the guard has come back to the rear of the wagon and is looking out, but she breathes once more when she realises that the darkness is hiding Kank’s movement.

Kank makes it to the rocky plateau behind the wagon and has a quick look at the back of the wagon, he realises that if he can make it to the rear of the wagon then he can hide underneath and not be seen by the patrolling guard. He makes a dash for it and slides in unheard beneath the wagon fortress. In the middle of the second watch, as the patrolling guard steps out onto the rear firing platform, Scar fires. Her shot goes wide and thuds into the raised loading ramp. The guard leans out and looks down, he then starts to back away from the firing deck as Scar looses her second arrow. The second arrow strikes the guard in the arm and he starts to shout in alarm.

As soon as the guard starts shouting the group of freed slaves leap into action. Kank rolls out from underneath the wagon and starts to climb the side heading for the roof. On the far side of the fork, Balboa looks down from his vantage point and spots Arthur staring at the wagon in the distance with a look of concentration on his face. Balboa is shocked when Arthur just disappears. Kank quickly makes it to the roof of the wagon, the sound of his movements covered by the chaos of alarm being raised within the wagon, but he almost fell backwards off of the roof in surprise when Arthur appears out of thin air crouched upon the roof of the wagon.

Quickly regaining his composure, Kank points Arthur to the rear of the wagon while he heads towards the front, triggering the power of his earth ring as he creeps forwards. As per the plan, Balboa, Kollus, and Scar continue to fire with their missile weapons. Balboa’s shot sails over the top of the wagon and Scar’s thunks into the wooden palisade. Kollus, however, finds his target and is greeted with a scream as his arrow sinks into flesh. Balboa decides to move forwards to get a better angle for his sling and as he breaks cover becomes a target for the side mounted crossbow on the wagon. Balboa hears the twang of the crossbow string and a moment later is flying backwards through the air as the bolt embeds itself in his chest.

Arthur drops off of the roof onto the firing platform at the rear of the wagon, landing just behind a human and a dwarf guard who are both manning crossbows. Arthur swings has maul at the human guard. At the front of the wagon the guard spots Miloch moving from cover and fires his crossbow, but he misses. Miloch, knowing that it will take a while to reload, sprints for the wagon. Kank drops into the driving deck at the front of the wagon, hurting his ankle in the process, and swings his maul at the guard who had just shot at Miloch.

Laying below the ridge line Balboa removes the crossbow bolt and calls upon the power of the earth to heal his wounds. Arthur’s strike is parried by the human guard, and his dwarf companion swings a hammer at Arthur but misses. Kank’s swing with Bone Crusher smashes one of his guards legs out from under him, and the sound of breaking bone can be heard throughout the wagon. The human guard reverses his parry and swings with his great axe catching Arthur firmly in the leg, Arthur’s leg collapses beneath him and he drops to the ground. With Arthur out of sight both Kollus and Scar fire their bows, Scar’s arrow just misses but Kollus’ strikes into the human guards arm.

The human and dwarf guards both raise their weapons and swing them down on Arthur, but by the time the blows strike, Arthur is no longer there. Arthur reappears collapsed on the roof of the wagon, and he quickly begins to spoon Weezer honey into his mouth. Kank swings again at the guard at the front of the wagon and sees Bone Crusher slam into the guards head, pulping it like a ripe cactus. Kank is just looking up with a smile splitting his blood spattered face when his mind is overloaded by a powerful mental blow. Kank staggers backwards to the edge of the driving platform and through blurred eyes sees two more guards rushing towards him.

Scar nocks an arrow and runs along the ridge line parallel to the wagon, her lithe form silhouetted by the twin moons. From inside the wagon someone shouts;

One of them is on the ridge!

With all of the guards using the firing step palisade as cover Kollus struggles to find a target, so he makes an educated guess where the guard would be and looses his arrow through a small hole in the palisade. He allows himself a small smile when he hears a scream of pain as his arrow buries itself in the leg of one of the guards.

As Scar runs along the ridge the air around her freezes causing her injury, she looks in the direction of the wagon and locks eyes with the man who has clearly just caused her pain. She raises her bow and fires, but the pain affects her aim and the arrow narrowly misses. The ambush is not exactly going to plan.