Ferulah's surprise...

The sibling brothers had set out an hour before sunrise, shepherding their beasts towards the distant market. It would be a seven day round trip and would normally be in companionable silence. But not this time. For the old ashik had decided to join them on the trip, and every time they stopped, like now, he would have a mouthful of precious water and continue with his tale.

The group of freed slaves; Arthur the Dwarf fighter, Balboa the Mul priest of the Earth, Kank the Mul who believes himself to be a holy warrior of the Earth cult, Miloch the quiet Human fighter, and Scar White of the Wastes wielder of the Sword of Kemalok, collected a pair of kank from the stables and headed out into the deserts, their destination was the City State of Tyr. The unusual, and monstrous mountain lioness known as Ferulah padded alongside Kank as they marched through the night.

As they journey, Kank attempts to explain to Ferulah how the people who believe themselves to be civilized, and live in the City States might perceive her as a threat and wish to hurt or capture her. Ferulah, while her grasp of the common tongue is improving the more she converses with Kank, struggles to understand what the big Mul is trying to convey. The first nights journey passes uneventfully, and as they are settling down to rest during the harsh daylight hours Ferulah head off on her own to hunt. A little later she returns with a dead baazrag in her mouth that she drops at Kank’s feet, the big Mul thanks her and they cook the offering as part of their meal before settling down.

During the day those on watch spot in the far distance what appears to be a merchant caravan, during Arthur’s watch he uses his prized telescope and confirms that it is indeed a merchant caravan moving towards Tyr. The day is hot under the shade of the tarpaulin, but it passes quietly and just before dusk the group break camp and continue on their journey. As they move through the night Kank believes that he hears something moving in the darkness behind them, he ducks into the deep shadow behind some rocks and lets the rest of his colleagues move forwards, he watches closely but when he sees nothing he catches up with the others.

Once again, just before dawn, Ferulah returns with another dead baazrag that she drops at Kank’s feet. The big Mul is very pleased and he roasts it over the fire as they prepare to settle down for the day. As they are eating, Ferulah tells Kank about the merchant caravan and he relays the information to the others. The day passes without incident or activity and as the sun sets and the twin moons rise the travellers move on, with Ferulah saying that she is going to hunt further afield as there are fewer baazrag in the desert.

As the moons reached their zenith Kank once again heard what he thought was the noise of something following them. He dropped towards the back of the group and continued to listen intently and was sure that he could hear something stalking them. He informed the others and suggested that they set a trap at the next opportunity. So Kank, Miloch and Scar pushed forwards ahead of Arthur, Balboa and the two kank until they came across a group of large boulders that flanked the pathway. Kank and Scar hid on one side of the track and Miloch ducked into the shadow on the opposite side and they waited.

Arthur, riding one of the kank and leading the other, with Balboa walking beside him, passed by the hiding place of their friends and continued slowly along the road hoping to draw whoever, or whatever was following them into the trap. And then the hunters came into sight, Kank could spot a large group of Human sized humanoids moving towards their trap, but they stopped short and Kank lost sight of them in the darkness. The ambushers hold their breath and stare into the dark.

Suddenly arrows pepper the area around Kank and Scar, one of them lodges in Kank’s chest but fortunately for the big Mul, his armour takes a lot of the blow. As Kank and Scar try to spy the bowmen in the dark they fail to spot the three Elves that step out of an impossible doorway of darkness that has opened behind their hiding place. Instinct born of fighting for their lives in recent months causes the pair to turn in time to face their foe, one of the Elves swings at Scar but misses. His tribal brother stabs Kank in the groin and the big Mul doubles over and collapses to the floor.

Hearing Kank’s yell of pain, Miloch leaps from his hiding place and rushes towards the fight. Arthur drops the reins of the pack kank and rides his mount back towards trouble with Balboa not far behind. Scar dodges yet another swipe of an Elven blade and counter attacks with the Sword of Kemalok, the ancient Dwarven blade slices clean through her attacker's leg and he drops to the floor trying to staunch the flow of blood. It is then Scar spots another three Elves stepping out of the impossible doorway of dark in the darkness.

Scar moves like a deadly dancer dodging blows and slashing about her with the Sword of Kemalok and slicing deep into the thigh of another one of the Elves. But the first Elf that she floored strikes out in desperation and catches Scar in the leg. One of the newly arrived attackers steps over the prone Kank to get to Scar, but the Mul is still conscious and with the power of the Earth ring flowing through him he punches upwards and the Elf regrets his actions as he doubles over and lays on the ground mewling like a stabbed baazrag.

Miloch jumps into the fray and is greeted by an Elven sword striking him in the head, he is fortunate that it glances off of his chitten helm and in his rage he cleaves the Elf’s chest with a mighty blow of his iron battleaxe. Miloch roars to the night sky as he rips out the battleaxe but is shot in the leg with an arrow from behind and drops to the floor clutching his injured limb. Scar stabs at one of the downed Elves and kills him with a headshot, but it is only a heartbeat before the three Elves who had just stepped from the dimension door attacked.

Arthur leaps from the back of his kank and rushes towards the fight, but he is struck by a couple of arrows fired by the archers in the darkness. The shafts bounce off of the mighty Dwarf’s armour, which has been enhanced by the power of his iron gorget. He swings his iron maul at one of the Elves attacking Scar and the lithe humanoid is sent flying like a rag doll several metres away where he lands dead in the sand. One of the Elves attacks the prone Kank but he steps on a loose rock and badly twists his ankle and misses his attack. Balboa arrives at the melee and is greeted by a flurry of arrows, but again the shafts bounce off of his magically enhanced armour.

Scar and one of the Elves are pirouetting around each other in a deadly dance with blades flashing in the darkness, but neither one can catch the other. A less elegant Arthur batters another one of the Elves with his iron maul and there is the sound of breaking bone as the Elf’s leg snaps under the crushing blow. Balboa steps out from behind Arthur and strikes the fallen Elf with his iron banded mace and kills the Elf. A shrill whistle pierces the night and the Elves try to break off and retreat, that moment of distraction is all that Scar needs and the Sword of Kemalok is buried hilt deep in the chest of her dance partner.

The Elves scatter and disappear quickly into the dark, and given that two of their number are on the floor, the rest of the group do not give chase. Scar looks down at Miloch and realises the Human is not moving and shouts;

HEALER!

Balboa rushes over and calls upon the gnomes of the earth to heal Miloch, and within moments the warrior is back on his feet. Arthur and Scar search the six dead Elves and as well as their bone weapons they find each of them is carrying four gourds of water and several coins. Balboa moves to Kank’s side and again calls upon the gnomes, and again the gnomes hear and Kank stands fully healed. They strip the Elves of anything that could be useful and strap it to the back of the pack kank before setting off towards their destination again.

About an hour later Feulah reappears and pads over with her usual gift clamped in her jaws. When she drops the dead baazrag at Kank’s feet she sniffs and her cat's nose detects the blood drying on Kank’s clothes. Moments later Kank hears a concerned voice inside his head;

You have been injured! What happened?

Kank explains that they were attacked by Elves and the mountain lioness asks why they would attack. Kank struggles to explain the fact that some will always prey on others and that because the Elves outnumbered them they looked like easy targets. Ferulah says;

But you defeated them. So you were not easy targets?

Kank shrugs his massive shoulders and responds;

I guess that it is all about appearance. It is the same reason why people will always fear or try to harm you. You look ferocious, and so people will be scared of you. We looked weak because there were fewer of us.

As if a torch had been lit, Ferulah finally understood what Kank had been trying to explain all journey. And with that understanding her feline form started to ripple and change before Kank’s eyes. The big Mul was speechless as in a matter of moments instead of a huge mountain lioness, there was a stunningly beautiful and impossibly tall female Mul stood in front of him. The naked Ferulah smiled at the shocked Kank and said out loud;

I can make words now!

Kank looked around at the others and found that all of them were just as shocked, which he was pleased about as he had thought that he might be hallucinating. Kank turned back to the naked Ferulah;

So you are not a mountain lion?

Ferulah does a very humanoid shrug;

It is much easier to move around and hunt as a lion, but I can become almost any living thing.

Arthur looks down from the back of his kank and asks;

What is your original form? The one that you had when you were with your own people?

Ferulah shakes her head;

I am sorry to say that I can not show you. I have sworn an oath!

Scar grabs some clothing from the back of the pack kank and hands it to Ferulah who puts it on. The group push on in silence, stunned by Ferulah’s revelation, and just before dawn they make camp. During their watch, Kank explains to Ferulah about the different races of Athas, and the fact that she will still draw attention as she is an impossibly tall Mul, Ferulah’s form ripples again and she stands in front of Kank looking like she could be Scar’s sister. Ferulah also explains to Kank that she has left her people to try and understand this world.

As the sun sets the group break camp and continue on their journey, Ferulah puts her new clothes on the pack kank and resumes her feline form to go hunting. The night passes without event and by the time that the sun is rising over the horizon the friends can see the gates of Tyr in the distance. Ferluah rejoins them, again with her standard offering, and this time she changes shape and becomes a stunningly beautiful female Elf. She looks at Kank and says;

After our talk I have decided upon this form!

She gets dressed and the group agrees to press on and make it to the city. As they get closer they notice lots of fresh earth works and Arthur says that he believes them to be mass graves after the rebellion. There are people working in the fields, but fewer than before, and there are guards stationed at the city gates. There are no Templars, but there is an Administrator in a white tabard. Balboa approaches the guards and is told that there is an outbreak of disease within the city and that we enter at our own risk. Balboa tells them that we have an urgent message to deliver to Rikus and is told that we will need to make an appointment at the Observation Tower.

They stable their kank just inside the city walls and cross the city to the Observation Tower, when they arrive they discover a queue of several hundred people. Leaving the others to join the back of the queue, Scar escorts Balboa to the front of the line but they are turned away by white tabard wearing Administrators. After a long wait they finally make it to the front of the queue and approach an Administrator seated behind a trestle table, Balboa steps forwards;

My name is Balboa and I am an associate of Rikus and I have an urgent letter here that requires personal delivery. It details an imminent attack on the city of Tyr.

The Administrator distractedly says;

The earliest that I can fit you in is in two and a half days!

Arthur steps forwards and puts five silver coins down on the table, the Administrator pauses midway between turning the page backwards, and Arthur places another five silver pieces on the table. The Administrator looks up and says;

Ah! It looks like we have an opening suddenly come up at ten bells tomorrow morning.

Arthur smiles and the group head for the Golden Inix. The city is busy but there are fewer caravans moving along the Caravan Way and there is a slightly nervous energy flowing through the streets. Mila is pleased to see the group again and apologises that her prices have had to increase, the group were worried that Arthur would have a fit, but when Mila explained that it was due to having to pay staff wages as there were no more slaves he happily pays for two rooms.

As the others get settled, Kank takes Ferulah to the Artisan Quarter where he buys her some travelling clothes and a pair of stone fighting cestus that she is taken with. They then head back to the Golden Inix and find that the others have retired to bed. Kank and Ferulah discover that they are sharing a room with Scar and head up for a nap. Ferulah climbs onto the bed next to Kank, and when the big Mul looks at her somewhat confused she says;

I always curl up next to you!

Kank shrugs his massive shoulders and lays down his head. The following morning over breakfast Mila tells the group to avoid the Warrens and parts of the Templars Quarter, all locations where there are known entrances to the Under Tyr, as that is where the outbreaks of disease were first reported. She also advises them to avoid social contact and to keep their distance from others. They thank her for the advice and head for the Observation Tower.

They walk past the long queue and speak to the Administrators at the front of the line where they are shown into the Tower. They are led to a room on the first floor and shown in. Inside they find a stressed looking Rikus sitting behind a large table strewn with papers. Rikus looks up in recognition and a smile crosses his face. He welcomes the group like old friends and tells them that he was not quite prepared for the administrative role that he has found himself in. Balboa says;

Perhaps the bravest moment of your life was accepting this job!

Balboa then hands Rikus the letter from Bartras. Rikus reads it and looks up at the group;

Are you aware of this letter's contents?

They all nod and Rikus calls for a guard. He hands the guard the letter and orders him to take it straight to Tithian and make sure that he is aware that it is vital that he read it. Rikus turns back to the group and thanks them for delivering the warning. Arthur asks;

Can you defend against this attack?

The stressful look returns to Rikus’ face;

We have lost three thousand souls, there is disease within the city walls, and the Templars have lost their power.

He leaves the rest unsaid. He then says;

The Council of Advisors have issued a reward of two silver pieces for every head of Gloomvine, the bud can be used to make Midnight’s Kiss a potion to cure the disease. If you hear of any please inform us. Are you staying long within the city?

Balboa replies;

We were actually going to look for some Gloomvine, but we do not know where to start. Are you aware of any locations that we might try?

Rikus considers for a moment before replying;

All I know is that it used to be cultivated by an intelligent subterranean race. Now apologies, must I must be about my business.