You can never run from chaos...

Old ashik cocked his head to one side, looking like a curious Aarakocra, and listened with intent to the sounds of the night outside the Mekillot slave wagon. He was positive that he had heard a long slow whistle. He gathered all of the captured folk towards the centre of the wagon, away from the exterior walls and told them all not to be worried. To calm them all the old ashik, his voice containing a much stronger timbre than it had shown previously, continued to tell his tale.

Scar asks the Kenku what else has happened since the Company of the Cloaked Inix entered the earth tombs, Reechet tells them that six Giants left Stonegard and waded out into the silt sea towards the South Ledopolus bridge. They attacked the bridge but only destroyed a quarter mile of it, which is less than on previous occasions. The Kenku had also spotted that the 'Fat men' were travelling towards the ruins on the east beach. The Company say farewell to Reechet and the Kenku and, roping themselves together, then head down the narrow cliff pathway towards their rendezvous with the Tattered Gull.

Just before they descend into the silt cloud Arthur pulls out his telescope and sights the deck of the Tattered Gull, a heartbeat later he has disappeared from the narrow cliff pathway and reappeared on the Company's skimmer. Once the Dwarf crew have got over their surprise they begin to make ready to move and within minutes they are also heading for the rendezvous point. The rest of the Company reach the point at which Arthur had hammered in pitons, and then they secure a rope. While they are doing this Kank creeps forwards to the large boulder that blocks sight of the cliff pathway from the ruins on the east beach, when he gets there he can see Humans moving between the ruined buildings instead of Half-giants so he heads back up the pathway to get Scar.

 Scar props her telescope on the top of the large boulder and scans the ruins on the east beach, she can see what look to be mercenary types moving between the ruins, she can also see signs of battle. There is a pile of dead Half-giants near the southern building and as she watches, Scar can see that the mercenaries regularly enter the smaller of the ruins to the north but she can not see what is within. Kank tells Scar to head back up the path and get ready to climb down to the skimmer while he waits and keeps watch, Scar hands him her telescope and tells the big Mul not to break it.

Ferulah and Miloch lower Balboa down to the skimmer, and it takes almost twenty minutes to drop him the two hundred foot to the deck of the Tattered Gull, before they pull the rope back up and start to lower Scar. As Scar is being lowered down the cliff face Kank spots the form of an enormous fat man step out of the small northern ruin, as soon as he locks his eyes on the obviously chaos corrupted individual he has an overwhelming urge to head down the path and slay the evil. He resists the suicidal thought but returns to the others and tells them that he plans to attack the ruins and destroy the chaos taint there.

At the end of the rope, Scar can see the deck of the skimmer just fifty feet below her when suddenly she starts to be hauled back up the cliff face. When she is helped back up onto the narrow pathway she can see Kank standing with his back to the rest of the Company staring off down the pathway towards the ruins, she looks at Miloch and asks;

What in the wastes is going on?

Ferulah explains and Scar asks her how many are down there, without turning Kank says;

I spotted seven mercenaries and one of Nurkel-Malia's chosen. The fat man is mine!

Scar asks if there is anyway of contacting Arthur and Balboa on the skimmer and Ferulah says that she will attempt to mind speech with Balboa. She succeeds and Balboa informs Arthur who tells them to lower the rope again.

While the others are re-scaling the cliff Kank returns to his vigil by the boulder overlooking the ruins, something out in the silt sea catches his eye and he focuses Scar's telescope on the movement. What he can see makes his gorge rise and his anger build. Wading through the silt sea is a Giant, but no normal Giant, this one bears the mark of chaos in it's bestial head. The beast headed Giant's horns catch the wan light of the burning Athas sun and glint like metal, and Kank gauges that the creature is at least one hundred foot tall. The others creep up behind Kank and look at the terrain between them and the ruins, it will be a slow and difficult scramble down to the east beach and in the daylight they would be easily seen. Miloch says that they have to wait for twilight, and so Ferulah finds a hidden plateau for the Company to rest upon, while Balboa and Arthur head back up the pathway to enlist the help of the Kenku in the coming battle.

Reechet and the other Kenku agree to assist by providing a distraction to allow the Company to surprise attack the chaos worshipers. Reechet's daughter also agrees to take the black Troll stone and drop it upon the chaos Giant, the effects of the magical stone are to spit one chaos creature into four parts and it is reasoned that if the chaos Giant is to return to the beach then it will be impossible to defeat without the power of the Troll stone. While they are gone Ferulah, in her mountain lioness form, stealthily creeps closer to the ruins for a better look, when she returns she lets the others know that there are five Half-giant captives, secured with Giant-hair rope, within the ruins.

The ambassadorial Balboa returns to the hidden plateau with Arthur, Reechet, and three other Kenku and they sketch out a plan of attack in the dirt. As day turns to dusk Ferulah creeps down the narrow cliff path towards the rear of the southern ruins, she is closely followed by Kank and Scar and a few minutes behind are Balboa and Miloch. Arthur remains on the hidden plateau with the Kenku and watches Ferulah through his telescope. When they reach the bottom of the path Kank and Scar crouch down in the dark and Kank calls upon the power of the earth, while Scar channels her inner strength to cast spells for the coming melee. Ferulah continues to move through the shadows to the edge of the southern ruins and as soon as she arrives Arthur waves the Kenku forwards.

The Kenku take to the sky and swoop down upon the larger of the northern ruins, as they do so three of them cast disruption spells at the mercenaries within. Their leader, Reechet, shoots a bolt of pure sunlight at one of the mercenaries and the soldier of fortune dies with his chest burnt to a cinder. The other mercenaries shout cries of alarm and the quiet ruins burst into life. At the first sounds of alarm Kank starts to sprint for the smaller northern building and the chosen of Nurkel-Malia within. The mercenaries rush from their ruins and spot Kank rushing across the open space between buildings and shout challenges at him, but the big Mul only has eyes for the fat man as the chaos worshiper steps out of his ruined building and starts to cast a spell.

Locking eyes on the chosen of Nurkel-Malia, Kank pulls Earthshaker back above his head with both hands, the fat man completes his spell and a swarm of flies engulfs his form, but it does not stop Kank from launching Earthshaker in a two-handed throw. The greathammer of Gnoriath's champion flies straight and true and smashes into the fat man's chest, as it does so there is a surge of electricity and the fat man drops to the floor like a stunned Erdlu.

Ferulah leaps the ruined wall into the southern building and attacks the remaining mercenary, with a swipe of both her fore paws she tears the man's legs off and leaves him bleeding into the sand while she moves to free the Half-giants. Four of the mercenaries close on the now unarmed Kank, but the big Mul seems unconcerned and reaches his hand out to one side and catches the returning Earthshaker. The mercenaries are surprised by the fact that Kank is now once again holding a greathammer, and all four of them miss their attacks against him. Kank swings wildly with Earthshaker and misses the mercenary in front of him. Scar rushes from her hidden position and attacks the back of one of the mercenaries, she thrusts the Sword of Kemalok through his back and the mercenary falls dead to the floor.

Arthur disappears from his position on the hidden plateau and reappears within the larger of the northern ruins, his sudden appearance surprises the remaining guard and a quick swing of his metal Troll maul knocks the mercenary unconscious. Arthur moves towards the Half-giants and starts to free them while telling them that they should join the fight against the chaos worshipers. Two of the mercenaries recover their wits and land blows on Kank, but the Mul's magically enhanced armour turns the attacks harmlessly away. Miloch and Balboa reach the base of the path and the Human warrior rushes straight into the battle, while the more cautious Balboa readies himself to rush in to aid anyone who is injured.

Scar slashes the Sword of Kemalok across the arm of one of the mercenaries, the limb drops useless to his side and he is forced to abandon his two handed greathammer. Kank is chopped in the guts with a greataxe and it breaches his defenses, just. Miloch, who is wielding the Greathammer of Galaxyl, is cut across his arm so badly that he is unable to use the two handed weapon. Kank sweeps with Earthshaker and there is the sound of breaking bones as he hits one of the mercenaries in the arm. Seeing Miloch injured the brave Balboa rushes into the battle and prepares to heal him.

Scar sidesteps a clumsy attack from the mercenary that she is facing and thrusts the Sword of Kemalok to the hilt in his chest. The mercenary drops dead to the floor and the lithe warrior woman steps over his corpse and dodges another attack from one of the remaining mercenaries. Kank is struck again, and again it passes through his significant armour. Balboa's call to the Gnomes of the earth falls upon deaf ears and Miloch remains injured. Scar cuts low this time with the iron Sword of Kemalok and cuts deep into the flesh of the mercenary's leg, it proves to be the final straw for the mercenary and he collapses under his wounds.

Balboa beseeches the Gnomes of the earth once again, and this time they hear his call and Miloch is restored to full health. The two remaining mercenaries find themselves facing off against three of the Company of the Cloaked Inix but like fanatics they continue to battle. Both attack Kank but their strikes deflect off of his armour, it is then that Ferulah appears behind one of the mercenaries, and her fury at seeing Kank attacked boils over and she rips one of the mercenaries physically in half. Scar gracefully spins past Kank and stabs the last mercenary in the leg dropping him to the floor, before Ferulah leaps on him and tears his head off.

Kank rushes forwards to where the fat man fell and finds that he is still clinging to life. That does not last long as the Mul crushes his head with Earthshaker. As he does so the body of the fat man starts to collapse in upon itself and a swirling void of chaos can be seen within. Climbing from that void is a chaos demon. Kank swings Earthshaker overhead and slams it down into the head of the demon killing it instantly. The big Mul mutters the prayer to Gnoriath the Earth mother that Balboa had taught him, the only prayer he knows.

Arthur searches the dead bodies and the ruins, he find a small wooden chest containing a pouch of coins. The Company leave the Half-giants and head back to the cliff path, there they once again wish the Kenku well and descend to the Tattered Gull. As soon as they are all on deck the crew get the skimmer moving as fast as possible back to South Ledopolus. After five hours one of the sailors shouts a warning and the Company all rush to the deck and look north, there is the dark and the silt cloud can be seen a ginormous shadowy form closing in on the Tattered Gull. Scar looks at the others and asks;

Who's got the black Troll stone?

The others look around before Balboa answers;

Reechet's daughter! Oh shi...