Escape to Altaruk...

The sibling herders respond quickly to the muted shouts from the little village beside the muddy oasis. But oddly enough, not as quickly as the old ashik. As the trio rushed from the quiet of the dark dunes back towards the merchant caravan, they could hear the screams of the women and children, as well as the grunts of the men being knocked unconscious. They charged into the fray, the old ashik fighting like a cornered Tembo and killing two of the slavers before he was captured. When the brothers came too, they found themselves bound in the dark confines of the slavers' wagons, they also found that the old ashik was continuing to tell his tale.

Leaving the unconscious Kank where he lay, Ferulah sneaks quietly along the passageway and can see three bandits sitting around a small fire talking. The bandit facing the passage suddenly says;

There’s something in the passage! Can you guys see that?

They all scramble to their feet and start to draw weapons. That is enough for Ferulah, who leaps forwards to attack. Scar and Miloch rush in after her, closely followed by Balboa. Ferulah pounces on the bandit closest to the cave mouth and with one sweep of her massive clawed paw, rips his arm off. She quickly follows up with a slash from her other paw and this time tears his leg off, the bandit collapses to the floor bleeding out and dropping an iron scimitar stolen from the Company.

One of the bandits lunges for Miloch, but the Human warrior sidesteps the blow and counter attacks with his stone shortsword striking a glancing blow. Ferulah swipes at the next of the bandits but he dodges out of the way, unfortunately for him, his sidestep puts him directly in front of Scar who stabs him with her makeshift shortsword straight through the guts and he starts to crumple to the floor. As he drops he lashes out wildly with his weapon and smashes Scar in the leg forcing her to stagger backwards and allowing Balboa to step into the gap and attack the downed bandit. Unfortunately, the luckless Mul misses.

Miloch attacks again and strikes the bandit that he is fighting, the bandit hits back but Miloch manages to dodge the blow. The Company of the Cloaked Inix appeared to have the upper hand in the fight, that is until two more bandits rushed into the cave from the outside. Miloch hits the bandit again, and this time he injures the bandits leg badly and forces him backwards, Ferulah turns her savage attention onto one of the new comers and rips his arm off with a vicious claw swipe. Miloch presses his attack and this time hits the bandit in the stomach with his stone shortsword, the bandit staggers sideways and the opportunistic Balboa smashes him with his stone club and he collapses to the floor unconscious.

Ferulah finishes off the first of the newcomers by tearing his leg off, but the second of the new arrivals swings hard at Balboa hitting the Mul a crushing blow in the abdomen and dropping him to the floor like a rock. Miloch takes a blow to his arm as he is swinging with his stone shortsword, the attack forces him to lose his balance and he tumbles forwards onto his own blade and in a bizarre twist of fate ends up stabbing himself in the chest. He remains motionless on the cave floor.

Ferulah swipes at the second of the newcomers and rakes her razor sharp claws down his face, the bandit doesn’t even scream as he drops to the floor dead. Scar slashes at the last remaining bandit and cuts him down, as he falls to the floor he drops the Sword of Kemalok that he was using to attack it’s rightful owner.

While Ferulah stands guard at the cave entrance, Balboa calls upon the gnomes of the earth to heal the badly injured Miloch while Scar attempts to perform first aid upon her wounds but she is unsuccessful. Once Miloch is back on his feet, Ferulah comes back into the cave and licks Scar’s wounds. As soon as she does so the injuries start to regenerate and heal themselves. Balboa and Scar discuss what the Company should do next, they agree that given the state of the group that they should get away from the caves in the direction of Altaruk carrying Kank’s unconscious body with them. They are pleased when Miloch discovers the majority of their possessions and armour stashed at the back of the outer cave.

Miloch is less pleased when he realises that his iron battleaxe is missing from their possessions, then Scar discovers that her iron spear is also missing as well as one of the Company’s iron daggers. Scar searches the bodies of the bandits and discovers some coin, water, and four earthenware pots. Two of the pots appear to contain Weezer honey, and the other two contain a tangy smelling substance that they quickly assume to be the blade venom that was used upon them. When they are all geared up and ready to leave, Scar dips her fingers in the blood of one of the dead bandits and uses it to write on the wall;

YOU’RE NEXT!

Ferulah picks up the unconscious Kank and the Company of the Cloaked Inix sneak away in the direction of Altaruk. Once they are out in the daylight Scar checks the angle of the burning sun and informs the others that she believes that they have only been unconscious for just over an hour. Balboa sets a high pace, keen to get away from the site of the ambush, and after an hour he finds a shaded area away from the road for them to rest up.

Almost immediately after they stop, Kank comes to. The big Mul comes to his senses and quickly asks after Ferulah and Arthur who are not with the rest of the Company, when he is told that Ferulah is scouting but the rest of the group have not seen Arthur since the ambush the disgruntled Kank puts on his armour, grabs Bone Crusher and stomps back in the direction of the ambush site.

Arthur the Dwarf awakes on the side of the valley, approximately three hundred yards away from the site of the ambush. He stretches out the kinks in his muscles and looks around, finding everything quiet, he slides quietly down to the road and starts to edge back to the ambush site. He gets as far as an old burnt out wagon and can see the spot where the Company where ambushed, but there is no sign of any bodies or even any evidence of the ambush itself. Not knowing what else to do, the stoic Dwarf begins to creep in the direction of Altaruk.

Kank and Arthur meet on the road, each sneaking in opposite directions, they are both equally pleased to see each other, and Kank quickly leads Arthur back to the rest of the Company. When they arrive, they discover that Ferulah has also returned from her scouting. Ferulah transforms back into her Human form and dresses, and the Company of the Cloaked Inix push quickly towards Altaruk along the road. After a few hours they are greeted by the sight of rooftops set in a narrow pass between the mountain peaks.

As they approach the gates of Altaruk they are challenged by the guards. The eloquent Balboa steps forwards and tells the guards that we are travelling south towards South Ledopolus, the guard asks if they are stopping for the Muscle Festival and Balboa inquires as to what that is. The guard looks surprised but informs him that it is a festival of gladiatorial games in the main arena, with lots of side games held in the inns and taverns of Altaruk. Balboa responds;

Talking of inns my good man, can you recommend a good one for us?

The guard quickly responds;

Head towards the mead house called The Grave, it is reasonably priced and has accommodation.

As the company enters The Grave they find it to be very busy, with lots of attention focused on a fighting pit in the centre of the inn where two heavily muscled individuals are attempting to punch each other unconscious. Balboa grabs hold of a serving boy and asks for a room for six, the boy says that they can provide two three people rooms with breakfast included. He adds that if the group wishes for dinner and drinks he will do it all for fifteen silver pieces. Balboa agrees and looks at Arthur to pay, the big Dwarf grumbles but fishes out the coins and hands them over.

While Balboa and Arthur are dealing with securing lodgings, Scar spots a weasley looking man watching her from the crowd. As she makes eye contact with him, he beckons her over to him. Scar looks back at the others and says;

If I am not back in a couple of hours I have probably been sold into slavery!

With that she heads over to the mysterious man. As Scar walks away, Kank watches her like an Elf watches others purses. Scar sits down opposite the weasel, who introduces himself as Riffen Hock a resident of Altaruk. He asks Scar what brings her to the town and the warrior woman says that she is just passing through. Riffen asks if her and her friends are signed on with any mercenary companies, and Scar admits that they are not. The weasel says;

You will find it almost impossible to secure caravan guard work without being signed to a mercenary company.

Scar thanks him for the information. Next Riffen asks where Scar has come from, she says that she has come from the north, and Riffen replies;

Well clearly, you came in through the North Gate.

With that comment, Scar realises that this is not just some random encounter, but that she has been watched. She tells Riffen that they had some trouble on the way to Altaruk, that they were attacked by slavers. Riffen says that there are still several Merchant Houses that trade in slaves, even if it is a grey area in Altaruk, the likes of House Resherek, House Blisten, and House Sotia. As soon as he mentions the last house it registers with Scar as similar to what Balboa overheard the bandits saying.

Up until this point the weasel has looked uninterested and aloof, but when no one else is paying them any attention he says quietly to Scar;

We must talk urgently outside. Follow me.

Riffen gets up and leaves, Scar follows. Kank who has been watching proceedings closely spots two more men getting up from elsewhere in the inn and follow Scar, that is enough to convince the big Mul to do likewise and he follows them both to the door. Kank finds that the two men have stopped just outside the doorway and are watching Scar and the weasel who are standing slightly further into the street talking in hushed tones.

As Scar follows Riffen out of The Grave he utters an obscure phrase, Scar recognises it as a Veiled Alliance question and response, she quickly gives the correct answer phrase and noticeably sees Riffen’s shoulders relax. When they are out of earshot of anyone else, Riffen asks;

What are you really doing here?

Scar lets him know that she was telling the truth, and that she is just passing through. Riffen smiles and tells her how she can contact the local Veiled Alliance cell if she needs to trade anything. With that he wishes her a goodnight and leaves. The two others follow him, one of them smiling over his shoulder at Kank as they leave. Scar and Kank return to the inn and after a short while, everyone heads up to their rooms for the night.

The following morning over breakfast the Company discussed what they wish to do. Arthur wanted to visit the armourers and replace some of his acid damaged armour, while Scar and Miloch wished to visit the weaponsmith to replace their lost weapons, though they expected that they would not be able to find iron replacements. Scar also said that she had some business that she wanted to deal with and Arthur said that the Company should acquire some more Weezer honey if at all possible. Kank said that they needed to also replace their kank and trappings for their onward journey.

Arthur looked at Kank and asked if he planned to enter himself into The Grave’s fighting contest, with a smile, Kank said that if they were staying for a couple of nights then he would. The Company all agreed that they would like to stay for a few days and so set out to secure their purchases. Arthur finds a stall that is able to sell him twenty doses of Weezer honey, and because he is buying in such quantity he is able to secure the deal for just five gold coins. But obviously the frugal Dwarf still winces as he hands over the money.

Scar slips away from the rest of the group and heads towards one of the towers set in the side of the mountain pass. As she approaches the base of the tower she spots three men sat lazily outside smoking a hookah, as she passes they nod to her but do not rise. She enters the base of the tower and finds that inside it is a herbalist’s shop. When the shopkeeper appears, Scar utters the secret phrase that Riffen had given her the night before. The shopkeeper responds correctly and asks if she is staying long, and if she would like to trade.

Scar says that she has some spell pages that she wishes to trade and the shopkeeper pops his head out of the door and calls in one of the hookah smokers. The man takes Scar into a private room and inspects the pages of Toramund’s spellbook, Scar says that she cannot use some of the spells and would like to trade for training at a later date. The man nods and says that he can provide her with a credit note that will allow her to do so. The warrior woman smiles and agrees to the deal. She then heads back down into the town to find her friends.