Enslaved...

The old ashik slipped out of the Headsman's hut just as the sun was setting, he wanted to make sure that the caravan was what it claimed to be. One of the sibling herders saw him leave and, nudging his brother, they sneaked after him. They lost sight of him as he circumnavigated the muddy oasis, and so they continued on towards the rear of the merchant caravan. They stopped within sight of the rear of the wagons, hidden in the deep shadows of the oasis edge. In the light of the caravan’s fires they could just make out the inside of one of the wagons, and it looked like…

Slavers!

The old man whispered. He had appeared out of the darkness behind them and he gestured for them to follow him further into the dark away from the oasis, and there he continued to tell his tale.

Kank looked up at the woman holding the bow and could see that she was wearing a mask to hide her features, bandits he thought. Scar said quietly;

I reckon that there are at least another four hidden in the rocks.

The members of the Company of the Cloaked Inix all started to call upon their various magics, be it from their ancient items or the Gnomes of the earth. Scar stands tall and shouts;

You let us leave and we will let you live!

The female bandit leader just laughs in disbelief at the tall warriors temerity and replies;

Throw down your weapons or we will fire on you!

At that moment Arthur disappears from the back of his kank and reappears a heartbeat later standing behind a heavy crossbow wielding bandit who he had spotted in the rocks on the opposite side of the rocky valley. Unfortunately, when he reappears he realises that the bandit manning the heavy crossbow was not alone, but is backed up by a small group of armed bandits.

The bandit leader shouts a command and fires an arrow at Kank. The big Mul sprints in her direction and manages to just avoid the missile, but the shout from the bandit leader causes arrows to fly from the surrounding rocks. One hits Ferulah, another just misses Miloch, a second shot misses Kank, Balboa ducks into cover just in time to avoid an arrow aimed at him, but Scar is unlucky enough to get impaled in the arm by one of the volley of missiles.

As soon as the missile pierces her skin, Scar feels a burning sensation washing outwards from the point of impact. Through gritted teeth she utters;

The bastards are using poison!

As she shouts the warning, Kank feels the bite of an arrow in his guts. Though he feels the burn of the poison start to wash through his system, the big Muls system shrugs it off. Scar is hit once again, in the same arm and it falls limp by her side looking more like a pin cushion than a limb. Kank is still charging up the steep pathway in an attempt to get to the bandit leader but he sees that one of the bandits is moving to block his route so the heavily muscled Mul decides to introduce the bandit to Bone Crusher leavi night the route clear for Scar to continue the charge, closely followed by Ferulah and Balboa.

On the opposite side of the valley, Arthur swings hard at the heavy crossbow armed bandit with his metal Troll maul, the bandit is busy cranking the heavy weapon and has no idea about the heavily muscled Dwarf behind him, until his abdomen is shattered by the powerful blow and he crumples to the floor. Arthur spins to find himself facing three slightly surprised bandits, he swings again with his metal Troll maul and breaks one of the bandits arms.

Scar ducks another bow shot, but the arrow strikes Ferulah directly behind her and the she lion in human form staggers momentarily before continuing to charge after Scar up to the second level of the escarpment. Kank slams Bone Crusher into the left arm of the bandit that was attempting to block their charge and is pleased to hear the sound of breaking bone. Behind him, Balboa tries to rush past and catch up with the two warrior women but a pair of bandits on the plateau above attempt to catch him in a net. The nimble Mul ducks and rolls out of reach and continues to rush after his comrades.

Miloch, who ducked for cover beneath the lip of the escarpment when the arrows started to fly, attempts to sneak up on one of the bandits on the plateau above him, but as he moves stealthily along he is spotted by another heavy crossbow wielding bandit on the opposite side of the valley. The bandit takes aim and lets fly with his lethal missile hitting Miloch in the stomach and dropping the Human warrior wear he stands.

One of the bandits facing Arthur strikes at him with his sword, the majority of the blow is deflected by the mighty Dwarf’s magically enhanced armour, but the blade does draw blood. It is then that Arthur feels the burning sensation of the poison that is now working its way through his body. With a curse on his lips about poisoned blades, Arthur disappears once again.

Scar reaches the upper plateau and spots the bandit leader, but before she is even able to utter a challenge she collapses from the effects of the poison and lays unconscious on the floor. Ferulah is enraged to see her adoptive sister fall before reaching battle and leaps over her and continues to charge headlong for the bandit leader. Balboa follows Ferulah onto the upper plateau and, seeing Scar down, moves towards the fallen warrior woman.

A second bandit rushes in to attack Kank, this one wielding an obsidian greathammer, Kank swings Bone Crusher at his original target but the bandit dodges out of the way. And only the big Mul’s reflex dodge saves him from being hit by the greathammer.

On the upper plateau Ferulah manages to get within ten feet of the bandit leader, before she too succumbs to the effects of the poison and collapses unconscious to the rocky floor. As Balboa starts to call upon the Gnomes of the earth to heal Scar a Half-giant appears from behind a large boulder. The Half-giant is holding a man-catcher and he attempts to entrap Balboa but misses, allowing Balboa to fully heal Scar. But the warrior woman does not wake.

From his vantage point several hundred yards away, Arthur can see that the battle is not going well for the Company of the Cloaked Inix. Only the two Mul’s are still fighting, and they are heavily outnumbered. And then the darkness of unconsciousness seizes Arthur and the effects of the poison take hold.

The bandit leader charges towards Balboa and shouts;

Throw down your weapon or I will have you killed!

Balboa ignores her and focuses on the Half-giant in front of him. The Half-giant attacks but the fleet footed Mul dodges the attack, but is taken by surprise when he is shot in the leg by a bandit archer who appears from behind a rock on an upper level. The diminutive Mul’s powerful constitution shrugs off the poison that coated the arrow and his magically enhanced armour deflects a strike from the bandit leader.

On the level below Kank still battles with two bandits, he dodges a blow from the obsidian greathammer and then lashes out with Bone Crusher finally knocking down his original target with a lethal blow. Again Kank dodges the attacker wielding the obsidian greathammer, and he counterstrikes with Bone Crusher breaking the bandit’s arm and forcing him to drop his weapon. A smile spreads across the big Mul’s face, but not for long as a heartbeat later he is ensnared in a large net. And even with his magically enhanced strength he is unable to break free of the three bandits holding the net.

Balboa swings for the bandit leader but she easily steps aside and slashes him across the chest with her weapon. The Half-giant lunges for Balboa, but once again he dodges the attack, and then feels an arrow bounce off of his armour as the bandit archer attempts to shoot him in the back. Finally the Half-giant manages to catch Balboa with his man-catcher and there is little that the earth priest can do to escape. The bandits knock both Balboa and Kank unconscious with cosh’s. As he is being beaten into unconsciousness, the big Mul attempts to hide the Earth Ring in his loincloth.

The Company of the Cloaked Inix lay unconscious on the battlefield, shattered, and once again enslaved.

The Earth Priest Balboa is the first to regain consciousness. As his senses slowly return he discovers that his arms are tied behind his back and that he is in a dark space with a rough hewn floor. He finally spies that there is light filtering in from one end of the space, and as his eyes adjust to the darkness he guesses that he is within a small cave, and that there are four other bodies tied up within the room.

As he attempts to move he discovers that he is also secured to the wall of the cave with a rope. He realises that his wounds have been treated and bandaged, and he finally hears snatches of conversation drifting in from the end of the cave where light can be seen;

...dirty Mul stuck that bloody ring in his loincloth!
Yeah! And you fetched it out. I hope that you bloody well washed your hands...
...boss should be back soon. Hopefully she got a good price for them in town. She was going to get the sotear boys to come and collect them, but she won’t be back for hours.
...shame about the lads that died, but a bigger share for all of us.
Would have got a lot more if we had caught that bloody Dwarf. Where the hell did he go?
I better go and check on them, they should be coming around soon!

With that light from a torch floods the cave and Balboa feigns unconsciousness, the bandit wanders around nudging the bodies with the toe of his boot, and finding everyone out cold still, exits back out of the cave plunging it back into darkness. As the bandit leaves Scar whispers;

Is anyone else conscious?

Balboa and Scar try to shuffle around quietly and get back to back. They then try to free each other’s bonds but fail. But in doing so they awake both Miloch and Ferulah, they appraise the pair of what is happening and Ferulah shrinks her size slightly and slips her bonds. She then transforms back into her mountain lioness form and uses her razor sharp claws to cut the bonds of Balboa, Scar, and Miloch.

Balboa calls upon the Gnomes of the earth to form two stone shortswords and a stone club, Scar then casts magic upon the shortswords to sharpen their blades and a bludgeon spell upon the stone club. Balboa then calls again upon the power of the Gnomes to provide himself, Miloch, and Scar some protection and, leaving the still unconscious Kank where he is, the four of them creep towards the cave entrance. As they get close to the entrance they overhear one of the bandits saying;

Did you hear that?