The Company of the Cloaked Inix...

As the burning sun slowly sank below the dunes the herders and the old ashik could just make out the lights of the town in the distance. Knowing that the gates would be closed long before they could reach them, the brothers decided to make camp and wait until dawn. As they settled down with a small meal the old man continued his tale.

Looking pleased with the group’s decision to accept the quest that she had laid out for them, the High Priestess gestures to one of the massive male Trolls standing behind her throne. The massive humanoid moves towards a niche behind the thrones and picks up a large chest which he places on the floor in front of Scar. Haelia steps forwards and removes items one by one from the chest and hands them to Scar, who in turn, passes them to members of the group.

First there is a box of processed Gloomvine powder, enough for one thousand five hundred doses of Midnight’s Kiss. Haelia next hands Scar three dark grey stones and tells her that if thrown at a target they will have the effect of cancelling out any magic spell on them. The Troll priestess then passes Scar four green stones saying that they have the power to heal, then comes two blue stones that will drain power from a target, next two yellow stones that will cause damage to a target, and finally a single black stone;

This stone has the power to separate a single chaos creature into several pieces!

Haelia reaches into the chest once again and pulls out six silk black cloaks, one for each of the quest takers. The cloaks are followed by two purple potions each, that will make the imbiber immune to disease for forty eight hours, and finally Haelia reaches into the chest and passes Scar a two handed maul made of the same metal that the male Troll’s weapons are manufactured from.

High Priestess Chalazak tells Scar that no one must know of the existence of the Trolls, less Manu tries to complete his mission to destroy them. She then wishes Scar and Ferulah well and cuts off the mindspeach. The group bow deeply to the High Priestess and are led from the audience chamber. The male members of the group are led back to a small room where they can rest, while Ferulah and Scar are shown into a heavily guarded room on the other side of the large mushroom cavern. Inside they find that they are within the Troll’s nursery, there are eight cots, six of which have small, stunted runts laying in them. Haelia points at the tiny creatures and says;

This is the curse of chaos, this is how we knew that you were coming!

The group rested in a side chamber for a few hours. While most of them instantly drift off into a deep and restful slumber, Arthur spends time inspecting the iron shod Troll maul. He spots that it has some kind of elaborate engraving placed on one side of the maul’s head and as he slowly turns it over and over in his hands he becomes more aware of a power within it. The heavily muscled Dwarf relaxes his mind and pushes out with his senses, he discovers that the maul has a spirit encased within it and even more, that spirit can be used to cast a powerful bludgeon spell upon the Troll maul. A broad smile spreads across Arthur’s face as he slowly drifts off to sleep.

When they woke one of the guards summoned Haelia. The priestess handed Scar two metal cubes, each an inch in width, and asked Scar to hand them to any Trolls that the group encountered on their quest. Preferably to the highest ranking female, like Scar. And then Haelia escorted the group out of the hidden realm of Trollhaven.

The group of former slaves made their way back to the Plaza of Bones, where Kank took his time to examine the statue of the Dwarven hero Hrothgurten, paying particular attention to the massive war maul that he carried. Despite the ages having their effect on the stonework Kank could make out that the head of the maul was covered in writhing knotwork and that there was either a stone or button set in its handle, Kank made a mental note of the war maul and moved on into the Great Dwarven Trade Route. While he is waiting for the others to catch up to him he spots what he thinks is movement behind his friends. He rushes to the rear and he and Arthur search but find nothing, but it is nagging him and so he stays at the rear while Scar leads the group towards Tyr.

As Scar is mounting the stairs leading up to the basement exit from the Under Tyr she says aloud to Balboa;

I hope that I am wrong, but this would be a great place for the Elves to ambush us!

A moment later a voice, that Scar recognises as one of the Elves, shouts down from above;

Well that saves me a lot of trouble!

Scar halts the group instantly and shouts back;

I hope that there isn’t going to be any trouble?

The voice from above replies;

No trouble! You’re just going to give us everything that you have found and we shall let you pass!

Scar and Balboa back down the stairs and join the others near the t-junction, Balboa then heads up another one of the narrow corridors and the subsequent stairs to find that the exit to the surface had been bricked up. He called up Ferulah and used his power to create hand holds for her to grip, he then called upon the power again and melted away the stone to remove a large chunk of wall that Ferulah, with her prodigious strength, lifted clear and placed quietly on the floor. Leaving Ferulah and Kank to guard their rear, Balboa led the others into an empty basement and towards the wooden ladder that he could see within.

The mighty Balboa climbed the ladder and slowly pushed against the trapdoor at the top, there was some little resistance and Balboa correctly assumed that it was covered by a heavy rug. He pushed harder and the trapdoor flopped open and the action was met with a loud scream. Balboa pushed his head and shoulders above the rim of the trapdoor and stated aloud;

Do not be concerned! I mean you know harm!

But still the occupants screamed! Balboa could also see a couple of male Elves moving quickly towards the main door of the single roomed dwelling and shouting for assistance. Balboa heaves himself out into the room and fishes in his pouch for a few coins, as Scar pulls herself clear of the trapdoor.

Down below, two arrows strike against the wall to Ferulah’s left, in the blink of an eye she is leaping with catlike grace into the Great Dwarven Trade Route ready to attack her attackers. Slightly taken by surprise, Kank charges after her and as he rounds the corner he finds himself faced by two Elves with bows and a Mul holding a wicked looking bone dagger. Kank takes this all in and his eyes locked with those of the Elven female, who is staring at him down the length of a nocked arrow. The Elf releases the arrow and it strikes the big Mul in his midriff, penetrating his armour.

Amidst the screaming in the small room, Balboa and Scar both call upon their individual powers to cast spells as Miloch and Arthur climb into the room. They then rush out into the street and find themselves in the middle of a shouting crowd, with the two Elves that had escaped the dwelling, at the fore pointing at them and shouting;

THIEVES!

Balboa ignores them and looks through the crowd towards the building where the exit from the Under Tyr opens, he spots several armed Elves hovering by the doorway but when they spot him they quickly disappear into the growing crowd.

Beneath the feet of the shouting crowd Ferulah leaps upon one of the Elves and strikes out with her cestus, the blow is so powerful that it almost tears the Elf’s leg off. The female Elf whips out a bone dagger and strikes at Kank but misses, the powerful Mul counters with a mighty swing of Bone Crusher and is pleased to hear the sound of shattering bones. The Mul mugger stabs Ferulah in the stomach with his wicked looking dagger and the statuesque female growls a low growl of pain. The mugger strikes again and his dagger buries itself deep into Ferulah’s left arm, it lodges against the bone and sticks in the wound.

The female Elf lunges at Kank again but her blow is deflected by his armour and the next thing she knows is Bone Crusher slamming into her chest and she slumps to the floor dead. In a feral rage Ferulah attacks the now weaponless Mul and tears him limb from limb. Kank finishes off the final attacker with a sweep of Bone Crusher and turns in time to see Ferulah pull the dagger out of her arm. He rushes to her side and attempts to first aid her, but by the time that he is ready to wrap a bandage around it he can see that the wound is already healing.

The pair rush to the normal exit from the Under Tyr and Ferulah leaps in a single bound into the room above, she then leans back down and hauls Kank up into the small room. They rush out into the street and can see their friends trying to placate the crowd, Kank steps forwards and shouts;

YOU FOUR! COME WITH ME NOW!

In shock, the crowd part and the freed slaves regroup and head out of the Warrens, closely followed by the Elven housewife screaming ‘Thief’ at them. As they move through the crowds they see a patrol of City Guards moving to intercept them. The sergeant of the guard asks what the commotion is about and Balboa says in an imperious voice;

I am Balboa and we are on a mission from Rikus. We are to be escorted to him immediately!

The sergeant is somewhat taken aback, but slowly nods and leads them out of the Warrens, his patrol taking up defensive positions around the group as they move. A short while later the group are being shown into Rikus’ presence, while the still shouting Elven housewife is told to remain outside with the patrol. Rikus looks at the group and asks them for an explanation, Balboa is only too pleased to relay to him what has happened, and more importantly that they have been successful. Rikus says that it will cost six or seven silver pieces to repair the damage, Balboa nods while Arthur goes a little pale.

Rikus summons in the Elven housewife and Balboa hands her a single gold piece, when she looks like she is going to continue to argue the case, Rikus steps in and says that the matter is closed. The Elf leaves and Rikus asks about the mission into the Under Tyr, Balboa nods to Ferulah who places the larger of the two bundles onto the table. Balboa says;

That is one thousand doses of Gloomvine powder.

Rikus looks a little shocked, he cocks his head to one side and utters;

Dare I ask?

Balboa smiles and says;

We can not tell you how we came by this, only that it was freely given by a potential ally.

Rikus gauges Balboa and the others with a long stare and then finally nods. He calls in one of the guards and tells him to have two hundred gold pieces drawn from the city's coffers. Before the guard leaves he asks if the group would like it in gold or silver, before anyone else can answer Arthur shouts;

GOLD!

Rikus issues the group with warrants that confer the privileges of Special Investigators, and allow them free access to the Under Tyr. He makes sure that they are aware that in certain areas, if they are caught with the warrants, they could be considered to be spies. Rikus asks if there is anything more that he should be made aware of and Kank tells him that they met and killed a Templar and his retinue, he also tells that the Templar was saying that he worshipped a god of disease, Rikus says that there are no gods, and Balboa interjects that things are changing and that may not be the case anymore. The group leave Rikus thinking on that statement with Scar heading for the Drunken Giant Tavern alone and the others for their favoured haunt of the Golden Inix.

When Scar arrives at the Drunken Giant she buys a drink and makes herself known to her contact in the Veiled Alliance by sliding her clay token across the bar as she is paying for her drink. In a short moment she is joined by Sirius the Elf and he asks;

Have you succeeded?

Scar just nods and the Elf gestures that they should head upstairs. Scar is shown into the same room as before, and as before there are two hooded figures sat at a table. Scar notices that one of them looks different than her previous visit, but before she can think about it the figure that she recognises speaks and introduces the other hooded individual as Grinnish, a senior member of the Veiled Alliance. Ramila asks Scar if she has been successful, and the tall warrior woman places nine Gloomvine bulbs on the table in front of her. Ramila asks Scar where she discovered them and Scar relays the story of following the Elves to the dry river bed.

Ramila tells Scar that the Veiled Alliance is willing to admit her into their number, and she hands her a book and asks her to prove that she has been working on her reading. Scar picks up the book and perfectly reads the first page, the hooded figure of Grinnish can be seen to nod briefly and Ramila says;

You have clearly worked hard.

Ramila then reaches up and pulls back her head revealing her identity to Scar, she tells Scar that she and Sirius will take the responsibility for training her and that they will be the only two members that she will know so as to protect the Alliance. Scar thanks them and heads back to the Golden Inix where she joins up with her friends.

The friends discuss what their next step is to be, and when Balboa reminds them all of the disease that is affecting the Village of The Free they all agree to leave that evening to deliver the Gloomvine powder. Kank says;

Now we are on a quest, we need a name to unite us.

They all laugh at him for a while and then Balboa says;

I have it!

As the sun is starting to set The Company of the Cloaked Inix pass through the city gates and out into the desert.