A funny thing happened on the road to Altaruk...

The old ashik listens to the sound of fighting outside of the Mekillot wagon and wonders to himself how long it will take the attackers to reach them. They always did dawdle. The old man turned back to the other slaves and continued his story.

Two days after passing through the gates of South Ledopolus, the Company of the Cloaked Inix spot a howder carrying inix heading towards them along the trail. Arthur pulls out his telescope and describes to the others the pennant fluttering from from the howder. It is a red spear on a yellow and white stripped field, Balboa recognizes it as the colours of House Amkech which is the smallest of the merchant houses based in South Ledopolus. The ambassadorial Balboa steps forwards and hails the Half-elf merchant driving the inix howder, the merchant is accompanied by a pair of guards. The Half-elf names himself as Orioko and asks where the Company is heading and Balboa responds;

Grak's Pool.

Orioko shakes his head sadly and says;

I would avoid Grak's Pool, there is disease there.

Balboa thanks him for his advice and wishes him well on their journey. Later that day the Company said farewell to their Dwarven stone mason travelling companions and veered off towards Grak's Poll in spite of Orioko's warning. They stop at a distance and both Arthur and Scar survey the walled oasis with their telescopes. The gates of Grak's Pool are closed, which is unusual during daylight hours, and Scar spots a sheet of parchment nailed to the closed gates. Kank and Scar leave the rest of the Company and approach the gates, when they are within several feet of the gate Scar can make out the writing, but she is unable to read what it says. So she waves forwards Balboa to join them and when he does, Balboa tells them that it says;

KEEP AWAY! DISEASE INSIDE!

Kank calls upon Graneggadon, the spirit of Earthshaker, and asks it if it can sense chaos. Graneggadon replies sluggishly, as if waking from a deep sleep, and tells Kank that there is no taint of chaos in Grak's Pool. Kank thanks the spirit and it slips back into dormancy, Kank looks up at the gates and hails the occupants. A small hatch in the gate opens and Kank can see the face of a man that looks like he is suffering from some ailment, the man coughs and says;

I am sorry traveler, we are closed as there is disease within.

The big Mul says that he understands that but that the Company is seeking a caravan from Merchant House Söttir, he describes the house's pennant and the gate guard nods and says that they left about eight days ago. Kank then says;

And the disease started not long afterwards I would guess?

The gate guard nods, looking confused at the big Mul's statement, and then goes on to say that most are recovering from the disease but that there are several that they fear will not make it. Kank returns to the rest of the Company and asks Arthur how much Gloomvine powder they have left. Arthur says that they do not have lots left but that they could spare four doses, Kank thanks him and heads back to the gate with the doses in hand. He hands them over to the gate guard and says that they are courtesy of the Company of the Cloaked Inix, and the guard says that the people of Grak's Pool are very grateful of the gesture. Kank wishes them well and rejoins the Company, they then set out for Altaruk.

Towards the end of the following day the Company spot a group of Erdlu riders heading south towards them along the desert road. Once again Arthur and Scar pull out their telescopes and scan them, Arthur says that they are soldiers of Balic, the city state of the Sorcerer King Andropinis, south of South Ledopolus. The Company agree to ignore them and start to look for a site to camp for the evening. Two of the soldiers peel off from the other six and ride their Erdlu towards the Company. The pair stop their Erdlu several yards away from the Company and the Sergeant of the riders shouts;

Where are you travelling?

Balboa replies that the Company are travelling from South Ledopolus to Alturak looking for work. The sergeant says that he needs to see the groups papers, as it is illegal to travel within the boarders of Balic without papers. Balboa apologies, but says that the Company have no papers. And so the sergeant replies;

I am fining you for having no travel documents. That will be five gold coins per person!

At his statement, Arthur almost explodes, he splutters and stares in utter disbelief at the ridiculously extortionate fine. The sergeant continues;

Or, you can surrender your weapons and return to Balic with us.

The vein in the side of Arthur's temple starts to visibly pound. He looks at Balboa and tells him through clenched teeth to offer them six gold pieces. Balboa does so, but the sergeant just shakes his head and demands the thirty gold. That is enough for Scar who shouts;

Frak that you bastard son of a Baazrag!

As she does so she draws the Sword of Kemalok. That is all the provocation that the soldiers of Balic required, two of those in the rear group fire their bows while the other four of the rear group lower their lances and start to charge. The sergeant and his companion also lower their lances and charge at the Company. One of the soldiers arrows buries itself deep in the flesh of his leg and he is unseated from the back of his kank. The second of the arrows finds a target in Ferulah, and she is not happy about it. Both of the front two soldiers miss with their lance attacks and are then intercepted by Ferulah and Kank who rush into the melee, closely followed by Miloch.

Miloch swings fast with his iron battleaxe and it slices deep into one of the Erdlu riders legs. Kank also strikes hard with Earthshaker and is greeted with the sound of breaking bone in the soldiers right arm, and his weapon falls from his limp hand. The soldiers riding beast lashes out at Kank but it's attack bounces off of his armour. The furious Ferulah leaps into the air and punches with her tremendous strength, she catches the soldier in the head and all but punches it clean off. The sergeant stabs down with his lance and spears Arthur in his abdomen. Now that the melee has been joined in full the pair of bowmen start to put away their bows and ready their lances.

Balboa dives to Arthur's side and calls upon the Gnomes of the earth to heal his wounds, the Gnomes oblige and the heavily muscled Dwarf leaps to his feet in a rage and swings his metal Troll maul at the sergeant. The powerful blow knocks the sergeant out of his saddle to land dead on the sand. The other four Erdlu riding soldiers of Balic crash into the fight, Miloch swings his iron battleaxe once more and slices another of the soldiers out of the saddle. As the soldiers of Balic start to fall, their Erdlu run free into the deep desert. One of the soldiers charges for Balboa, but is intercepted by Scar and the Sword of Kemalok slices deep across the soldiers arm. The same soldier is then smashed in the back by Arthur's metal Troll maul and he too falls dead from the saddle.

Ferulah leaps up behind another of the riders and smashes her fist into the small of his back breaking his spine and dropping him dead to the floor. Seeing the fight not going their way the two bowmen start to wheel away, Kank pulls Earthshaker above his head and double handed throws the greathammer at one of the bowmen's Erdlu. The massive greathammer slams into the riding creatures head, killing it instantly and pitching it into the sand at speed. The rider, unable to roll away, has his leg broken by the dead riding beast falling across him. Kank sticks out his right hand and catches the returning Earthshaker, but there is nothing that he can do about the one soldier of Balic that is escaping into the desert night.

Ferulah and Miloch finish off the last remaining soldier and once again, silence falls across the desert. Arthur quickly searches the bodies and finds several coins as well as a wax seal on each of the riders. They also discover that one of the soldiers is not dead, they leave him with a gourd of water and abandon him to fate. Balboa finds a good spot to set up camp for the night and the Company tend each others wounds and eat their fill of Erdlu meat.

The following day both Balboa and Scar spot another Erdlu riding patrol in the distance, once again Scar gets out her telescope and scans the group. She finds that the patrol are a long way off of the trail and that they are wearing the colours of Altaruk. Two of the patrol are dismounted and are searching the ground. The Company ignore them and continue towards Altaruk, passing through the gates before the sun sets and heading for The Grave Inn.