Something is rotten in the house of Söttir... (part one)

In the darkness of the slave wagon’s hold the anguished cries of men, women, and children ring out. The only one who shows no sign of being unnerved by his current predicament is the old ashik, and he manages to calm those around him by continuing to tell his tale.

Having accompanied the rest of The Company of the Cloaked Inix whilst they looked around the trade town of Altaruk, Kank makes the decision to head back to The Grave and ask about being entered for the fights that evening. He is told that there are two types of bouts, standard unarmoured or armoured and cestus. Kank enters himself for the unarmoured combat, paying the two gold piece entry fee. He heads off to find Balboa to heal his remaining wounds before he fights. When he gets back downstairs Scar tells him that she has read that he is fighting against a Dwarf by the name of Hurden. Scar also says that the odds against Kank winning are three to one against.

The big Mul just smiles and says that he does not care about the odds and that he is just in it for the sport. Ferulah asks what sport is, and why Kank has paid to fight someone. Kank spends time explaining what he is doing, but Ferulah still doesn’t understand why anybody would want to fight. When it is time for his fight, Kank strips down to his breechcloth and flexes his broad shoulders. The other members of the Company of the Cloaked Inix are watching on and Scar decides that she will bet a couple of gold coins on Kank as she is confident that he will win against the odds.

Hurden the Dwarf is a massive example of his race. His arms are thickly corded with iron hard muscle and he appears bigger than the heavily muscled Kank. The bout starts with the clash of a carapace gong and Hurden is swift out of his corner. He swings hard at Kank but the big Mul dodges the blow, Hurden follows up quickly with a swift left hand jab but he misses the surprisingly nimble Mul. Having gauged his opponent, Kank decides that it is time to start punching. He throws a right hand jab that Hurden avoids, and just as he is about to unleash his left, the big Dwarf smashes him in the head with a punch powerful enough to drop an Erdlu. The big Mul pitches over backwards and lands unconscious on the sand floor.

One of the fight organisers throws a small pale of water over Kank and the big Mul splutters too. He climbs to his feet and walks over to congratulate Hurden the Dwarf, he then walks back to the rest of the Company who are mostly trying their best not to laugh out loud. Kank watches the rest of Hurden’s fights, seeing him beat an Elf in the second round, before being beaten by a Human in a spectacular third round fight.

The Company agrees to rest up in Altaruk for a few nights, allowing Scar time to learn new magics from her friends in the local Veiled Alliance. While Scar is away, and the others are training, Miloch decides that he is going to spend a day watching the grand Muscle Festival and so he heads off to the arena. When Miloch returns on the second night he tells the others that he passed the Merchant House Söttir on his way back to The Grave, and that he was surprised to see that there were not many guards.

That evening Kank and Miloch head to a taverna opposite Merchant House Söttir to see what information that they can obtain. The Merchant House appears to be twin buildings connected by a half moon covered walkway, one of the buildings is three storeys in height with the other being two high. There are several doors, one set is a large set of double doors that look very much like warehouse doors, and above what must be the main entrance is the Merchant House banner, a green field with three golden balls in a triangular pattern depicted on it. Kank and Miloch watch for a couple of hours and believe that they can only see six guards moving about within the buildings, they discuss this and guess that there will definitely be a few guards that they have not seen.

They both head back to The Grave, but agree to circle the Merchant House Söttir building first. As they walk around it Kank gets a very uneasy feeling but he can’t put his finger on why. When they arrive back they update the rest of the Company on what they have discovered, and after a short discussion they agree that it is not worth attacking as there is very little chance that their stolen weapons will be there. Kank then mentions to Balboa that he felt a bit odd walking close to the Merchant House and so Balboa heads out to check it out for himself.

When he walks close to the three storey building he gets the same unnerving feeling that he first felt when entering an evil temple previously. He heads back to the Grave and says to the rest of the Company;

There is something evil in House Söttir!

They agree that Scar will mention this to her friends in the Veiled Alliance the following day and see what she can find out about the merchant house. She discovers that the merchant house only appeared in Altaruk a couple of months ago, and when she asks if there is disease in Altaruk Scar is told that a disease called creeping chills arrived in the trade town about the same time. Scar tells her contacts about what the Company have discovered about the return of Nurkel-Malia, mistress of disease. They are fascinated by this new information and send an operative to walk past the Merchant House Söttir buildings, but when they return they say that they could not feel anything untoward.

That night in The Grave Arthur and Scar try to convince the Company to investigate the evil in Merchant House Söttir, and eventually the others agree. They set out just after midnight and after a quick reconnoiter agreed to try and gain entrance via a first floor veranda. Balboa calls upon the power of the Gnomes of the earth to mold handholds in the walls, as soon as they are done he scampers up to the veranda. Once he is up, Arthur dashes across the open ground and starts to climb. Balboa steps up to the doorway leading into the central tower and once again calls upon the Gnomes of the earth to mould the stone away from the lock of the door. He gently pushes the door and it swings open.

Arthur gains the veranda and Scar sets out, running from the darkness of an alley to climb up. Arthur opens the door and slides inside, closely followed by Balboa. Next to dash across the short distance is Miloch, while Ferulah and Kank remain in the shadows keeping watch. As they step into the dark room, the clumsy Balboa treads on a creaking floorboard, moments later a door further into the building is opened and light floods in, catching the interlopers unawares.

Framed in the light of the doorway, Balboa can make out the outline of a Mul. And in the light of the room beyond he can see a Human guard seated at a small table. The Mul shouts an alarm and the quick thinking Balboa launches an attack. The Human guard shouts;

BURGLARS!

And quickly grabs up his shield and iron short spear. The Mul parries Balboa’s attack with his obsidian greatsword and the pair of guards slowly fall backwards towards the staircase leading up to the second floor. Arthur and Balboa press their attack but their attacks are either dodged or black by the guards shield, in return the Human guard stabs Balboa in the leg with his iron short spear. As the guards slowly start to back up the stairs the Human guard stabs Balboa once again in the leg and the Mul’s limb collapses underneath him, the other guard manages to hit Arthur in the arm with his obsidian greatsword and Arthur is forced to drop his metal troll maul as his arm falls limp by his side.

With four of the Company already within Merchant House Söttir’s building and no sound of an alarm, Ferulah and Kank decide that it is time to join them. The she cat in Human form leaps in a single bound up onto the veranda, while her doughty Mul partner slowly climbs the wall using Balboa’s handholds. Balboa calls upon the Gnomes of the earth to heal his leg and Arthur’s arm, and while he is doing that the rest of the Company call upon their various magics to enchant weapons and enhance their armour. But the guards have escaped upstairs and also had time to prepare.

Arthur, closely followed by Miloch, slowly edges up the stairs. Ahead of him he can see the Human guard with his shield and iron short spear blocking the top of the staircase, and stood on the landing to one side is the obsidian greatsword wielding Mul ready to attack downwards at whomever is on the stairs. As soon as Arthur can see the space behind the shield bearing guard he disappears. He reappears a heartbeat later standing directly behind the guard at the top of the stairs and hammers him in the back with his metal troll maul. The Mul slashes at Miloch with his greatsword and Miloch in turn hacks with his obsidian battleaxe under the lip of the guards shield and catches him a mighty blow in the guts. The guard collapses to the floor.

As the short spear wielding guard collapses in front of him, Arthur realises that there are two more individuals just stepping out of their rooms onto the landing. They are both very tall, but not quite as tall as a Half-giant, and are incredibly fat with rolls of blubber hanging from their large frames. Each of them is marked by horrid open sores and are surrounded by a thick cloud of buzzing, black flys. Arthur swings hard at the first of the fat men, but the creature quickly sidesteps with a nimbleness that belies its massive size.

The Mul with the greatsword attacks Arthur but he manages to sidestep the blow, Arthur’s sidestep leaves the path clear for Miloch to counter attack with an overhead swing of his battleaxe. The Human catches the Mul clean in the head and the guard drops to the floor like a stone. The second fat man swings at Miloch with a very familiar iron battleaxe, but the Human sidesteps the attack. The first of the fat men had been mumbling under his breath and when he finished the spear wielding guard climbed back to his feet. Seeing the guard stand back up, but being unable to get to him, Scar casts her newly learnt disruption spell at him, causing a minor shock to his system.

The first fat man slams Arthur in the guts with his heavy mace and the redoubtable Dwarf collapses under the bone crushing force of the strike. Before the fat man can follow up his attack, Arthur disappears. That leaves Miloch facing up the stairs at the spear wielding Human and both obese creatures. Miloch hacks his obsidian battleaxe into the guards leg, and behind him, Scar once again shocks the guard with her disruption spell. With rage in his eyes, the Human guard stabs down with his iron short spear and the weapon lodges deep in Miloch’s chest. Miloch attempts to swing at the guard, but the spear lodged in his chest hinders his aim and he misses. The guard wrenches hard on the spear and pulls it out of Miloch’s chest, doing more damage. It is then that Miloch succumbs to another spell cast by one of the fat men, he is overcome by a feeling of demoralization and rapidly rushes down the stairs and away from the fight.

Arthur reappears laying on the veranda, and quickly consumes some Weezer honey to heal his wounds. By this time Kank and Ferulah have made it to the bottom of the stairs and, being surprised to see Miloch rush past them, they charge into the fight just in time to see Scar retreat as well, suddenly seized by a sneezing fit. Kank, always believing in the most straight forward approach, charges up the stairs hoping to bash his way past the Human guard holding the stairs with his shield and spear. Ferulah behind him leaps again and lands on the landing behind the second of the fat men. The second fat man in turn slashes Kank in the back with his stolen iron battleaxe, the attack is so savage that it almost rips Kank in half. The headstrong Mul collapses and falls backwards down the staircase.

Enraged by the attack on her love, Ferulah savages the second fat man tearing at his leg, but the big creature remains standing. Arthur leaps over the tumbling Kank and charges towards the spear wielding guard, but the guard is ready for the Dwarf’s charge and stabs low with his iron short spear catching Arthur in the leg. The Dwarf’s leg crumples beneath him and he too tumbles back down the stairs. Ferulah continues to attack the second of the fat men, but he dodges and counters with a vicious slash of his iron battleaxe and the mountain lioness in human form finds her left arm hanging limp at her side. She lashes back with her right arm and is satisfied when the fat man's leg gives out under her attack.

At the bottom of the staircase Balboa realises that the Gnomes of the earth will not be powerful enough to heal Kank’s serious injuries and so he focuses on healing Arthur instead. As soon as he is healed the powerful Dwarf rushes back up the stairs again, determined to kill the spear wielding Human guard. He follows Kank’s example, but is far more successful and sees the guard finally collapse when he slams his metal troll maul into his chest. Arthur then steps into fight the first of the fat men.

Scar, who’s sneezing fit stopped as soon as Balboa was able to cast a dispel on her, stabs at the first of the fat men with the Sword of Kemalok. But the enchanted blade is unable to penetrate the thick layer of blubber on the creature. Arthur steps in and smacks it hard with his troll maul and is pleased to see it’s left arm hang limp at it’s side. On the other side of the landing Ferulah slips as she is attacking and the second fat man hits her hard in the leg and she falls over the edge of the landing and down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, the one Mul triage station that is Balboa, casts another dispel magic at Miloch and gets the Human warrior back into the fight. Miloch shouts;

That fat bastard has my bloody battleaxe!

He then rushes back up the stairs just as Ferulah falls to the floor behind him. Balboa quickly heals the mountain lioness in Human form, and in turn Ferulah leaps to Kank’s side and is able to stop his life ebbing away by casting a regeneration spell on his injuries. The Mul looks at Ferulah kneeling in his blood and tells her to get back into the fight.

Arthur smashes the first of the fat men in his fat gut with his metal troll maul and the massively obese creature topples finally to the floor. Arthur, Miloch and Scar move in to attack the final standing fat man with his dense cloud of flies making it hard to get close to him. The Company all swing and miss and the fat man counters with a swing of Miloch’s iron battleaxe and hits Scar in the groin and she drops to the floor with both of her legs useless below her. Miloch manages to slash the fat man in the leg with his obsidian battleaxe, enraged by the fact that the creature is wielding his own iron battleaxe against him.

Ferulah leaps from the stairs and lands behind the remaining fat man, giving him something else to think about. Miloch swings and the fat man dodges, Ferulah then hits it hard in the head but the creature remains standing. Arthur finally steps in and smashes it in the fat gut with his troll maul and it collapses to the floor dead. There is a moment of silence which is broken by the sound of gases escaping at an alarming rate from the first of the fat men killed. Arthur looks at the corpse and is alarmed to see a realm of corruption and horror visible through its now translucent skin. Within the miasma Arthur can see something rising to the surface, and as he watches the creature steps from the realm of horror inside the fat man’s corpse into the real world.

The beast is human sized, with a single eye in the centre of its face and a single horn protruding from its forehead. The creature of nightmare is holding a bastard sword dripping with filth and is surrounded by a thick cloud of big black flies. The Company are shocked by this turn of events, but the spell is shattered when Ferulah launches an attack at the nightmare beast. But she misses, and the creature dodges Arthur’s powerful swing, but Miloch lands a powerful blow against the creature's head but the attack appears to have no effect.

Arthur hits the creature with his metal troll maul and clearly injures it, the beast lashes out with it’s filthy bastard sword and Arthur only just manages to dodge it at the last second. Miloch sees his iron battleaxe laying on the floor and dives for it. He rolls and comes up with weapon in hand and backhand slashes at the nightmare beast. But again his attack doesn’t inflict any damage to the creature. Miloch turns to Scar laying on the floor and shouts;

Enchant my weapon!

As he does so, a second demon steps out of the body of the second fat man.

Arthur hits the first demon and the creature lashes back at him, catching him in the head but the resilient Dwarf remains standing. Balboa steps off of the stairs and into the fight. Scar enchants Miloch’s blade and he smiles down at the beautiful warrior woman. Ferulah hits the second demon but her attack has no effect, causing her to become enraged with frustration. The first demon strikes Arhur in the chest and the Dwarf staggers backwards. Miloch slashes at the demon with his now enchanted blade and is satisfied to see that it nicks the nightmare creature.

Arthur and Miloch both hit the first of the demons, and manage to avoid it’s attack, the second demon just ignores Ferulah and turns it’s attention to Miloch, driving the mountain lioness in Human form into a greater rage. Arthur smashes his metal troll maul into the demon again and the nightmare just dissipates in a cloud of sulphurous gas. The second demon attacks Miloch and the Human warrior dodges the blow and strikes back with his enchanted battleaxe, again nicking it. From the floor, Scar casts a disruption spell at the second demon and causes it a small shock.

The demon hits Miloch in the leg, but the Human warrior remains standing. Arthur wades into the battle with the second creature and slams his troll maul into its arm hard, crippling it. Miloch then hits the demon again, but the beast's riposte slams into Miloch’s chest and he drops to the floor unconscious. The demon hits Arthur in the head but it glances off of the Dwarf’s enchanted head armour. The bludgeoning Balboa steps over Miloch’s body and slams his iron banded mace into the demon, but the creature remains standing. Scar casts one last disruption spell from her prone position and when she hits the nightmare creature dissipates in a cloud of noxious gas.

The bodies of the fat men are nothing but gooey puddles on the floor, and the demons are nothing but a bad egg smell in the air. While Scar administers first aid to the Company, Kank finally regains the use of his legs. The big Mul keeps watch on the downstairs door while the others search the upper floor. They find a wooden chest, and inside find a leather pouch containing gold and silver coins, they discover a second hidden cache under a loose floorboard, this one consisting of two clay tablets, a golden neck torque and two gemstones.

The rest of the Company rejoin Kank and the big Mul comments that the uneasy feeling has gone. Balboa agrees and says that it must have been connected to the fat men and the demons within them. They agree to slip away one by one, and leave Arthur until last. The Dwarf soaks the floorboards of the upper storey with oil and once everyone is out he sets light to the building and then disappears into thin air. Reappearing moments later in his room at The Grave.

As soon as the fire catches hold of the top of the building, Miloch and Kank start to shout;

FIRE!

From the street and make sure that no innocents are caught in the blaze, and once they are sure that everyone is aware that head off back to The Grave. The following day Balboa casts a detect magic spell and finds that the two clay tablets are magical, and when he checks them he discovers that they are engraved with chaos priest spells. The Company head back to the Merchant House and find that the top floor has completely collapsed, hiding all evidence of the horrors of the night before. Scar visits the Veiled Alliance and tells them what she knows, they question her thoroughly about the demon creatures, and she hands over the clay tablets asking for them to be destroyed if they cannot be of use.

On the eighth morning of being in Altaruk the Company of the Cloaked Inix headed for South Ledopolous.