The trouble with Tembo...
As they passed through the gates of the town the old ashik pulled the hood of his black cloak up over his head, plunging his features into deep shadow. The gate guards paid the sibling herders, and the old man shuffling along between them, no heed as they were used to seeing the brothers on a monthly basis. Once inside the town walls the old ashik disappeared into the crowds. He reappeared a couple of hours later, after the herders had completed their business, and joined them for something to eat. As they sat down he once again continued his tale.
The Company of the Cloaked Inix had travelled three hours out of Tyr and into the dark shrouded desert when Balboa and Scar both spotted movement against the moonlight in the distance. Arthur pulls his telescope from his pack and focuses where they pointed, he sees a dozen Elves moving away from the group. The rest of the Company manage to convince him that they are too far away to chase down and they continue moving towards the Village of The Free.
The Company of the Cloaked Inix rest up for only half a day and by midday they are once again moving, with the hoods of their black silken cloaks pulled up and their bodies cast into magical shadow. By midnight they are settling down again and they agree to move on once more at dawn, and as the sun rises Ferulah strips naked, transforms back into a huge mountain lioness, and runs off into the foothills. She reappears half an hour later with two dead baazrag clamped in her giant jaws. Once everyone has eaten, the Company moves on.
They again travel all day and into the night, trying to get the Gloomvine powder back to the Village as soon as possible to save lives. Just before they are planning to settle down they find themselves passing through a boulder field and Arthur, Kank and Scar all feel the brush of a mental attack bouncing off of their cerebral defences. As soon as he feels the attack Kank shouts;
Balboa uses the power of his iron banded mace to cover himself in magical armour, and not a moment to soon as one of the Tembo from the right side of the road slashes it’s claws across his chest, but the combination of Balboa’s physical and magical armour turns the blow. Then another three Tembo charge the group out of the darkness to attack the Company from behind. Scar lashes out with the Sword of Kemalok and catches one of the Tembo in the head, but the creature continues to fight, Miloch cleaves with his iron battleaxe and catches the Tembo a mighty blow but his attacker also continues to battle on.
A weakened Arthur punches out and even with his diminished strength manages to break one of the Tembo’s forelegs with his strike, Kank swings hard with Bone Crusher and is satisfied to hear the sound of breaking bone as well as the sight of the Tembo attacking him flying backwards three yards from the mighty blow. Balboa is less lucky, the Tembo that he is fighting slashes with it’s claws again, and this time the attack is so powerful that it passes through all of his armour and cripples his left arm. He counter attacks with his iron banded mace and catches the beast, a mighty blow on it’s back.
Miloch is caught a nasty blow to his leg, and his counter attack goes wild due to the sharp pain. Both Arthur and Scar score hits but the rest of the Company struggle to hit, Balboa risks giving the Tembo a free hit by calling on the power of the gnomes to heal himself but luck is on his side and the Tembo misses. The Company of the Cloaked Inix realise that they are in a battle for their lives and that it is not going their way. They are being attacked by eight ravenous Tembo and are yet to kill one of their attackers. Arthur lands another powerful punch but the beast still won’t die, both Kank and Miloch are hit with Kank’s armour protecting him and Miloch still remaining on his feet despite taking numerous small injuries.
Scar strikes again with the Sword of Kemalok, but the damned beast just will not die, then finally Ferulah leaps upon one of the Tembo and sinks her massive fangs into the creature and tears off a chunk of meat and the beast collapses. That seems to swing the momentum in the direction of the Company and Miloch slams his battleaxe into the chest of his attacker and a second beast dies. Kank is clawed in his leg, but his armour absorbs most of the damage, and the mighty Balboa dodges a claw and counters with a powerful strike with his mace. Arthur is also hit in the leg, and the attack is powerful enough to breach his armour.
Scar, in a fury to finally finish off her attacker, swings wild with the Sword of Kemalok and slips. In slipping she overreaches herself and the ancient Dwarven blade strikes Kank mid thigh, the iron weapon passes right through Kank’s leg slicing it clean off. The big Mul looks down at where his leg once was and then collapses to the floor with his lifeblood pumping into the sand.
Arthur punches the Tembo once again and finally manages to knock it into unconsciousness. Scar is clawed across her midriff and the wound starts to bleed freely as, with a roar of anguish, Ferulah leaps to attack the Tembo bothering the unconscious Kank. Scar grips the Sword of Kemalok tightly and calls upon the magic bound within the weapon to heal herself, and then stabs downwards into the back of the Tembo attacking her and kills it. Ferulah rips one of the forelegs from the Tembo attempting to eat Kank and the beast dies. With five of their number dead the remaining Tembo back away from the fight and disappear into the darkness.
Balboa rushes over to Kank’s side and calls upon the gnomes of theearth to heal the big Mul, but there is nothing that he can do for Kank’s severed leg. The big Mul looks down at his, yet again, missing leg and starts to laugh. As Balboa moves around the rest of the Company healing their injuries, Kank pulls the wooden leg that he now carries with him out of his pack and straps it on. It is not a perfect fit, but it does allow him to hobble onwards. The Company of the Cloaked Inix travel for another hour to put some distance between themselves and the Kank and then rest for the remainder of the night.
As they are settling down Ferulah mindspeaks to Kank and asks why he has not healed his leg. Kank explains that they do not have to power to do such a thing and Ferulah asks if that means that the Troll’s god is more powerful than Balboa’s? Kank explains that they now know that Balboa’s god is still trapped, but the Troll’s god is free and so the Trolls have the ability to cast powerful spells. Ferulah seems satisfied with his answer and lets Kank fall asleep. While he sleeps, the big feline licks the stump of his severed leg for several long minutes and then falls asleep exhausted.
When the sun rises Kank is shocked to find that his leg has regrown overnight. He then notices that Ferulah is looking very tired and asks her if she had anything to do with his miraculous limb, she says that she did and Kank is once more surprised at how powerful their new ally is. The Company, inspite of being tired from the battle and their forced march, start their journey once again. By midday, the Company encounter a patrol from the Village of The Free led by Kollus. With the Half-elf are Marista, Tor-Ghal, and the mighty Nordin-Far. The friends greet each other with warmth and catch up on what is happening before they go their seperate ways.
When the Company arrive back at The Village they head straight to see Ka-Reen at the village’s infirmary and present her with the five hundred doses of Gloomvine powder. She is staggered by the amount that they have secured and rushes off to start preparing a cure for the disease. As the Company move through the village looking for their military commanding officer, Falcar, they realise that there are more patrols and it very much feels like The Village of The Free is preparing for war. When they find Falcar he tells them that they believe that the battle between Tyr and Urik will take place less than twenty miles from the hidden village and so there is very little chance for The Free to stay out of the fight.
The Company ask to meet with Bartras and Falcar says that he will arrange it. When he leaves them, Balboa and Kank head to the Earth temple while the others head back to their lodgings, all except Ferulah who has headed for the oasis. A couple of hours later one of the guards arrives at the lodgings and tells those there that Bartras will meet with them in thirty minutes. The Company get themselves ready and, after collecting the pair of Muls from the Earth temple, head to the village meeting hall and find Bartras, Charanim, and Major Drog waiting for them.
Balboa gives a detailed briefing of what has occurred since the group left, and leaves nothing out except the meeting with the Trolls which he describes as the making of a new ally. The ambassadorial Mul goes on to explain that the Company have accepted a quest to search for Earthshaker, the artifact once wielded by the Dwarven hero Hrothgurten, and once found to use the artifact to kill the worldly representative of the freed chaos god Nurkel-Malia mistress of disease, pestilence and plague, Velatash. When he is finished, Balboa is met with stunned silence.
Charanim leans in and whispers something in Bartras’ ear, and the leader of The Free waves over a guard and tells him something at which the guard salutes and leaves the hall. Bartras then looks at Major Drog and says;
Bartras asks Balboa to relate his tale, and in particular the bit about the gods, to Brin-Tar. When Balboa mentions Guyah the all mother, the earth goddess, Brin-tar almost staggers with the duel emotions of shock and elation. She launches into a barrage of questions which Balboa happily starts to answer, but Bartras interrupts and suggests that they continue their discussion in the Earth temple. The meeting breaks up and people head off.
The Company of the Cloaked Inix enjoy a couple of days of rest and recuperation, during which time Kank visits Ferulah at the oasis and discusses the potential of the gods returning with the water priestess, and Scar discusses joining the ranks of the Veiled Alliance with Selenu. Selenu admits that she was once a member in the city state of Urik and explains that the various cells of the Veiled Alliance do not necessarily cooperate with each other, they are not enemies but should always be treated with caution.
TEMBO!At the same time as the large Mul shouts, Scar raises her arm and points off to the left of the road at two Tembo moving in to attack. She draws the Sword of Kemalok and follows Kank as he charges headlong into combat with the Tembo. They are closely followed by Ferulah as her huge feline form leaps into the fray. Arthur staggers under a second mental assault and this time his shields crumble and he feels a portion of his immense strength drain from him. The attack weakens him so much that he is unable to lift his mighty troll maul and so he is forced to drop it. It is at that point that the other three Tembo attack from the right hand side of the road.
A weakened Arthur punches out and even with his diminished strength manages to break one of the Tembo’s forelegs with his strike, Kank swings hard with Bone Crusher and is satisfied to hear the sound of breaking bone as well as the sight of the Tembo attacking him flying backwards three yards from the mighty blow. Balboa is less lucky, the Tembo that he is fighting slashes with it’s claws again, and this time the attack is so powerful that it passes through all of his armour and cripples his left arm. He counter attacks with his iron banded mace and catches the beast, a mighty blow on it’s back.
Miloch is caught a nasty blow to his leg, and his counter attack goes wild due to the sharp pain. Both Arthur and Scar score hits but the rest of the Company struggle to hit, Balboa risks giving the Tembo a free hit by calling on the power of the gnomes to heal himself but luck is on his side and the Tembo misses. The Company of the Cloaked Inix realise that they are in a battle for their lives and that it is not going their way. They are being attacked by eight ravenous Tembo and are yet to kill one of their attackers. Arthur lands another powerful punch but the beast still won’t die, both Kank and Miloch are hit with Kank’s armour protecting him and Miloch still remaining on his feet despite taking numerous small injuries.
Scar strikes again with the Sword of Kemalok, but the damned beast just will not die, then finally Ferulah leaps upon one of the Tembo and sinks her massive fangs into the creature and tears off a chunk of meat and the beast collapses. That seems to swing the momentum in the direction of the Company and Miloch slams his battleaxe into the chest of his attacker and a second beast dies. Kank is clawed in his leg, but his armour absorbs most of the damage, and the mighty Balboa dodges a claw and counters with a powerful strike with his mace. Arthur is also hit in the leg, and the attack is powerful enough to breach his armour.
Scar, in a fury to finally finish off her attacker, swings wild with the Sword of Kemalok and slips. In slipping she overreaches herself and the ancient Dwarven blade strikes Kank mid thigh, the iron weapon passes right through Kank’s leg slicing it clean off. The big Mul looks down at where his leg once was and then collapses to the floor with his lifeblood pumping into the sand.
Arthur punches the Tembo once again and finally manages to knock it into unconsciousness. Scar is clawed across her midriff and the wound starts to bleed freely as, with a roar of anguish, Ferulah leaps to attack the Tembo bothering the unconscious Kank. Scar grips the Sword of Kemalok tightly and calls upon the magic bound within the weapon to heal herself, and then stabs downwards into the back of the Tembo attacking her and kills it. Ferulah rips one of the forelegs from the Tembo attempting to eat Kank and the beast dies. With five of their number dead the remaining Tembo back away from the fight and disappear into the darkness.
Balboa rushes over to Kank’s side and calls upon the gnomes of theearth to heal the big Mul, but there is nothing that he can do for Kank’s severed leg. The big Mul looks down at his, yet again, missing leg and starts to laugh. As Balboa moves around the rest of the Company healing their injuries, Kank pulls the wooden leg that he now carries with him out of his pack and straps it on. It is not a perfect fit, but it does allow him to hobble onwards. The Company of the Cloaked Inix travel for another hour to put some distance between themselves and the Kank and then rest for the remainder of the night.
As they are settling down Ferulah mindspeaks to Kank and asks why he has not healed his leg. Kank explains that they do not have to power to do such a thing and Ferulah asks if that means that the Troll’s god is more powerful than Balboa’s? Kank explains that they now know that Balboa’s god is still trapped, but the Troll’s god is free and so the Trolls have the ability to cast powerful spells. Ferulah seems satisfied with his answer and lets Kank fall asleep. While he sleeps, the big feline licks the stump of his severed leg for several long minutes and then falls asleep exhausted.
When the sun rises Kank is shocked to find that his leg has regrown overnight. He then notices that Ferulah is looking very tired and asks her if she had anything to do with his miraculous limb, she says that she did and Kank is once more surprised at how powerful their new ally is. The Company, inspite of being tired from the battle and their forced march, start their journey once again. By midday, the Company encounter a patrol from the Village of The Free led by Kollus. With the Half-elf are Marista, Tor-Ghal, and the mighty Nordin-Far. The friends greet each other with warmth and catch up on what is happening before they go their seperate ways.
When the Company arrive back at The Village they head straight to see Ka-Reen at the village’s infirmary and present her with the five hundred doses of Gloomvine powder. She is staggered by the amount that they have secured and rushes off to start preparing a cure for the disease. As the Company move through the village looking for their military commanding officer, Falcar, they realise that there are more patrols and it very much feels like The Village of The Free is preparing for war. When they find Falcar he tells them that they believe that the battle between Tyr and Urik will take place less than twenty miles from the hidden village and so there is very little chance for The Free to stay out of the fight.
The Company ask to meet with Bartras and Falcar says that he will arrange it. When he leaves them, Balboa and Kank head to the Earth temple while the others head back to their lodgings, all except Ferulah who has headed for the oasis. A couple of hours later one of the guards arrives at the lodgings and tells those there that Bartras will meet with them in thirty minutes. The Company get themselves ready and, after collecting the pair of Muls from the Earth temple, head to the village meeting hall and find Bartras, Charanim, and Major Drog waiting for them.
Balboa gives a detailed briefing of what has occurred since the group left, and leaves nothing out except the meeting with the Trolls which he describes as the making of a new ally. The ambassadorial Mul goes on to explain that the Company have accepted a quest to search for Earthshaker, the artifact once wielded by the Dwarven hero Hrothgurten, and once found to use the artifact to kill the worldly representative of the freed chaos god Nurkel-Malia mistress of disease, pestilence and plague, Velatash. When he is finished, Balboa is met with stunned silence.
Charanim leans in and whispers something in Bartras’ ear, and the leader of The Free waves over a guard and tells him something at which the guard salutes and leaves the hall. Bartras then looks at Major Drog and says;
You’re the historian Drog. What do you know?But the stoic Dwarf just shrugs and says that he hasn’t heard of Hrothgurten, as he is speaking Kank remembers seeing the image of a Dwarf hero wielding a mighty hammer in the Howling Tombs as well as the Dwarven temple in the Under Tyr. The big Mul mentions this and Drog suggests that it would be worth the Company seeking more information from the fire priest Barunus in Kled. As he says this there is a noise from the other end of the hall as Brin-Tar enters the hall.
Bartras asks Balboa to relate his tale, and in particular the bit about the gods, to Brin-Tar. When Balboa mentions Guyah the all mother, the earth goddess, Brin-tar almost staggers with the duel emotions of shock and elation. She launches into a barrage of questions which Balboa happily starts to answer, but Bartras interrupts and suggests that they continue their discussion in the Earth temple. The meeting breaks up and people head off.
The Company of the Cloaked Inix enjoy a couple of days of rest and recuperation, during which time Kank visits Ferulah at the oasis and discusses the potential of the gods returning with the water priestess, and Scar discusses joining the ranks of the Veiled Alliance with Selenu. Selenu admits that she was once a member in the city state of Urik and explains that the various cells of the Veiled Alliance do not necessarily cooperate with each other, they are not enemies but should always be treated with caution.
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