tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6641170714101386482024-02-19T08:19:52.734-08:00Cutthroats & CultistsA recounting of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign run by comic book writer Mark Sable. The story herein may become a comic itself.Mark Sablehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13154484354008134026noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664117071410138648.post-84903182644952659562017-04-17T22:33:00.000-07:002017-04-17T22:34:14.533-07:00CHAPTER TWENTY NINE - LOST IN CARCOSA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When last we left our heroes, they were on the world of
Carcosa, which existed on a different plane from their homeworld. They knew they could only journey back and
forth through the use of black lotus opium, which they sought both to return
home and to sell to their patron Clarissa Griever. </div>
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The so-called Bone Sorcerer had told them he
could make it the opium for them, but they’d need to retrieve the black lotus
themselves. It could be found on a
mountain to the southwest near the village of Chus in the Barrens of Carcosa. But it was guarded by Iakgua, spawn of the
elder god Shub-Niggurath. </div>
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Resembling a
giant blue buzzard, he loved feasting on dead humans, but when there were none
he made do with the living villagers of Chus, herding them as if they were
cattle.<o:p></o:p></div>
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With a rough map and a warning to beware the White Citadel,
the party left the Bone Sorcerer’s Fungoid Gardens in search of the Black
Lotus. </div>
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Dukmana, the gnome
illusionist/thief--</div>
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--was accompanied by Bludgeon Stonemace, a dwarven
cleric. </div>
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The Monk Fat Himana was with
them, but he was no adventurer. </div>
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He was
someone they hoped to bring back to his dying uncle, a powerful Archmage on
their homeworld, in exchange for magical artifacts. <o:p></o:p></div>
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They each rode an allosaurus, which they had taken off the
Purple Barbarians they had temporarily allied with against the Bone Sorcerer,
before betraying them and disposing of them into an underground lake of jale
slime. </div>
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A fourth allosaurus carried
corpses of White Lotus Zombies, Yellow Men slaves that The Bone Sorcerer
controlled through the use of white lotus powder. The party had, together with the Purple
Barbarians, killed them before aligning with the Bone Sorcerer. Now, they would be used to feed the
allosaurus and hopefully, as bait for the carrion-eating Iakgua.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The final members of the party were neither human nor
demi-human. There was the giant tiger
worm that Jacques had “liberated” from Tiger Monks back in the Jade City of
Mu-Leng, which Bludgeon temporarily commanded with a ring of animal
control. </div>
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And a Shoggoth, which Dukmana
used a Deep One artifact to keep under his sway.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Heading off into the purple waste known as the Blighted
Lands, they came across a squat circular structure that appeared to be a
temple. </div>
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It was the color of jale, which
did not exist outside Carcosa, but could be described as feverish, voluptuous
and dreamlike. The last time they’d seen
such a color, it had been of the slime which had devoured The Purple
Barbarians, so they steered clear of it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But soon they were set upon by beings that appeared to be
both insect and fungal spore, just somehow…wrong. They were Mi-Go, and there were eight of
them. </div>
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They appeared hostile, and through
the psionic power of clairaudience first tried to “hear” if there were more
adventurers. Then, the telepathically
told the party to leave The Blighted Lands.
Dukmana did not wish to do so, for that meant heading south through the
desert, where they had seen Purple Worms big enough to devour the entire party instantly.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Dukmana unsuccessfully tried to bargain, and the Mi-Go
communicated that they were lucky they received a warning. They left, and before long they were in the
desert, and another giant worm rose out of the sands, just as they feared. </div>
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It was not purple but Dolm, another color
which they had never seen on their homeworld, a mix of the wild and painful
alien color of Ulfire, and the more ordinary blue. As it seemed indifferent to them, they
continued their journey into the desert until they came across a ruined city,
and camped for the night.<o:p></o:p></div>
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While they were not attacked at night, fierce winds blew
sand off many of the ancient megalithic structures. Strangely, the winds came not from the sky
but from a hole in one of the uncovered ruins.
Around the hole, there was writing that Dukmana was able to decipher
with his ring that allowed him to comprehend languages. It read “Here lies the Great Race of
Yith. Whoever awakens them shall be
rewarded.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When day broke, they cleared rubble from the hole using
their allosaurus and descended into it.
While the hole could not have been more than three feet in diameter
(enough for the dwarf and gnome, but too big for their larger companions, save
the Shoggoth who could change its form), what lay beyond it was massive. </div>
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It was a tunnel eighteen feet high, and ten
feet wide. One that descended at least a
mile below ground, beyond even the demi-human’s infravision. What giant creatures would need such a hall? Dukmana felt they should not find out. They could always return here after they
located the opium.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Their spelunking cut short, they were back on their dinosaur
mounts and back into the desert. They
saw a stone citadel to the south, near a line of hills that marked the southern
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While it was grey in
color, Dukmana feared that it might still be the White Citadel they were warned
about and lead the part west.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Soon, they were out of the desert into the barrens. They were relatively lush compared to the
desert; at least there was scrub here.
But like the desert, it was vast and seemed to go on in every direction
with no structures or other geographical features to orient them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Still, they were not alone.
They came across a corpse of a sorcerer, of what race they could not
tell, for head was split apart and his brain was being devoured by an Unquiet
Worm. Although not a truly giant worm –
it was about the size of a dwarf or gnome – it was quickly swelling as it
consumed the sorcerer’s brain.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Unquiet Worm seemed wary of the adventurers, and very
much consumed with the task at hand.
Mainly, consuming brains. But
Bludgeon had ventured too long without adventure, and Dukmana did not want to
leave a potential threat alive. So the
gnome drew his wand of fireballs, and burnt the worm badly.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The worm reared, and took a on a vaguely humanoid form. It had absorbed the spells of the sorcerer,
and cast shocking grasp upon Bludgeon.
Bludgeon swung back with his war hammer, and missed.</div>
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He and Dukmana were only saved by their
allosaurus mounts, which had been trained by their Purple Men owners to attack
creatures of Chaos on command. Dukmana’s
allosaurus ate the worm, but they were able to a gold necklace inset with
precious jewels on what was left of the sorcerer. They believed it could fetch as many as 5,000
gold pieces…if they could find a trader in these parts.</div>
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Continuing west through the barrens, they then came upon a
fissure in the earth. They saw a
structure had been carved into it.
Dukmana read the alien runes at the entrance, and learned it was a
shrine to the dark god Nyarlathotep. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW0Mr82jfTXrLogFm9nAeFQnjsBKyURvc3XpxfUh1Jafmyb7P-Z_V7Qxh1CTnY6YmfzUw7gvvbtiltOzXrX9FnakP5CnLLNUd7l-d40sovpDyiD_N9_lBm4DyfH8nubPZEasfqdasVmVU/s1600/lovecraft+temple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW0Mr82jfTXrLogFm9nAeFQnjsBKyURvc3XpxfUh1Jafmyb7P-Z_V7Qxh1CTnY6YmfzUw7gvvbtiltOzXrX9FnakP5CnLLNUd7l-d40sovpDyiD_N9_lBm4DyfH8nubPZEasfqdasVmVU/s320/lovecraft+temple.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Bludgeon, still thirsting for adventure, wished to explore, but Dukmana
convinced them they faced enough risk retrieving the Black Lotus.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Not far from the fissure, they forded a river that ran
north-south. On the other side, they
came across a metal rod jutting out of the ground, with a crystal attached that
blinked every 10 seconds. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIudraGbTP6XHafHsiO3-FIp-_cN7lLkjnItQRaMKwLLa41yn01uO_fv2WGosYHI89Q6pOOQjhmbv4pDPgSdu8r1psQ_erpxhbcU8h8dFsxdiLIjbq-K_fOP51tlB5wZ5YpcUGyZoATak/s1600/crystal+rod.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIudraGbTP6XHafHsiO3-FIp-_cN7lLkjnItQRaMKwLLa41yn01uO_fv2WGosYHI89Q6pOOQjhmbv4pDPgSdu8r1psQ_erpxhbcU8h8dFsxdiLIjbq-K_fOP51tlB5wZ5YpcUGyZoATak/s1600/crystal+rod.png" /></a></div>
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Dukmana tried
in vain to remove the crystal, which he thought could be valuable. But as his tiny hands covered it, there was a
rumbling in the earth. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Soon, a granite chamber twenty feet across and fifteen feet
high rose from the ground, with a single entrance. Bludgeon would not be deterred this
time. Surely this was a sign from the
gods to explore it. “When you're on a
holy quest and a Flashing Crystal presents a door to you,” he told Dukmana, “you
go through it!" He pushed upon the door with no resistance, but was
baffled and frightened by what he found inside.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny razors were levitating
in the air, animated by an unseen force.
They spun around in a controlled manner so that they formed a deadly
sphere. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDEcEsXWMhiYAZuHQxJ1Qoj5qshTDP7XfyhhBj_pMRXW0Ij_QHnrtXFQ5UMucgYdza3ziUwqUnL_WLI9iFO8Qho8qnWUFSLzOy6tsfj0x9Z9t2t0lYA3pca2Bb7sPcbqH7533i-KCS3Zo/s1600/razor+sphere.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDEcEsXWMhiYAZuHQxJ1Qoj5qshTDP7XfyhhBj_pMRXW0Ij_QHnrtXFQ5UMucgYdza3ziUwqUnL_WLI9iFO8Qho8qnWUFSLzOy6tsfj0x9Z9t2t0lYA3pca2Bb7sPcbqH7533i-KCS3Zo/s320/razor+sphere.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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In the corner, meanwhile, a
living brain lay in a basin on a pedestal, floating in some kind of liquid. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOAsmA7cUdYT7eWXZtibIwAGES_ogE9FlPS9dOK1bDswLaxwrabXyyjAm5qyu3ZJYVge8vPKqThGqgnpyfrqx7ExmlkrigzsR7OoRCb1Kwjc62-DwibIoS9wiQ62Y9Xvq_aIUe8b1XQ6I/s1600/brain+in+basin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOAsmA7cUdYT7eWXZtibIwAGES_ogE9FlPS9dOK1bDswLaxwrabXyyjAm5qyu3ZJYVge8vPKqThGqgnpyfrqx7ExmlkrigzsR7OoRCb1Kwjc62-DwibIoS9wiQ62Y9Xvq_aIUe8b1XQ6I/s320/brain+in+basin.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Once again, Dukmana’s caution prevailed over
Bludgeon’s curiosity and they left yet another place unexplored in Carcosa.<o:p></o:p></div>
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They camped for the night without incident, and had to decide
between following the river north to through hilly terrain, or south towards
the jungle. They headed north, where Dukmana (falsely) believed the village of
Chus lay. They indeed saw a village
beside the river, but something lay in their path.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was a metallic sphere, which burrowed out of the ground
before floating above it. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmBfUKp5CdanWXSM7rciOrtYxvr3hExCXGsob-PtMKusYbInkWYtE8HHcaJx6PR32-WbjOp5DOZCrrB1NybMIVXi82_WJTlkXLiREJGjRJX4A8gbxpD8_2WZZ6COfJjzalvl3kpgqs4D8/s1600/Silver_sphere_opend_up.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmBfUKp5CdanWXSM7rciOrtYxvr3hExCXGsob-PtMKusYbInkWYtE8HHcaJx6PR32-WbjOp5DOZCrrB1NybMIVXi82_WJTlkXLiREJGjRJX4A8gbxpD8_2WZZ6COfJjzalvl3kpgqs4D8/s320/Silver_sphere_opend_up.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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It seemed to
scan them, and had a pipe-like protrusion which reminded them of the “pulse
rifle” their missing companion Jacques, had looted from the Purple Barbarian
leader. After the scan, it seemed
indifferent to them, so once again Dukmana encouraged caution and led the party
to the village.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Soon they learned this was not the village of Chus. The men of this village, known as Xiiaopi,
was like the other villages they’d either seen or heard of, composed of men and
women of only one skin color. These men
were of a dark red, not unlike the color the river took as it passed through Xiiaopi. They seemed both furtive and suspicious.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaH5XyEC3yf5-NqYxhi1OiU8zT2imAP0l1OurJewoydUIhsdrvAIDVl0POrgbh7Qek86BiUgjTThp7Vmv6ifVzW-CLKA9DSKKi-Lotnc-uNeR9q5GBBRaUm-Vfay1862w3K3Sf0rQI5ac/s1600/red+men+village.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaH5XyEC3yf5-NqYxhi1OiU8zT2imAP0l1OurJewoydUIhsdrvAIDVl0POrgbh7Qek86BiUgjTThp7Vmv6ifVzW-CLKA9DSKKi-Lotnc-uNeR9q5GBBRaUm-Vfay1862w3K3Sf0rQI5ac/s320/red+men+village.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Soon one Red Man approached them. He was clearly no mere villager, but a mage
of great power. “Who approaches Xioboitaipi,
master of the primal rites of the village of Xiiaopi?”<o:p></o:p></div>
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The party explained their quest for the black lotus, and Xioboitaipi
explained to them rather gruffly that they Chus lay to the southeast. The party realized they had strayed off
course.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now, night was
falling. They’d have to decide whether
to stay in or near this apparently inhospitable village or try to journey
through this strange and unforgiving land at night. They had bypassed many strange sights, filled
with both opportunity and danger. Could
they continue to do so if they wanted to find the black lotus?</span>Mark Sablehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13154484354008134026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664117071410138648.post-55485317195997477222017-04-09T17:49:00.000-07:002017-04-10T12:23:50.681-07:00CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: DEEP PURPLE<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-2MWrMjigWR0dX40B3cd7Iz8pdfmLhe-0PQTBOuU7RAQG1O91-rxYUG4T9oWhHzN_RkrQrHOz64rxf2n_GJrmb3ZJPyYkvg7Geys0oAyDHfeGldh8OKbYJacpmqRreE6AZOTA4Lzc7Fg/s1600/fungoid+gardens.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-2MWrMjigWR0dX40B3cd7Iz8pdfmLhe-0PQTBOuU7RAQG1O91-rxYUG4T9oWhHzN_RkrQrHOz64rxf2n_GJrmb3ZJPyYkvg7Geys0oAyDHfeGldh8OKbYJacpmqRreE6AZOTA4Lzc7Fg/s320/fungoid+gardens.jpeg" width="214" /></a></div>
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When last we left our heroes they were deep in the bowels of
the Fungoid Gardens of the Bone Sorcerer.
They had come into these fungus-ridden caves, where white lotus was
grown by bright yellow-skinned slaves, in the company of purple-skinned,
allosaurus-riding barbarians. The
barbarians, mistakenly believing the party was aligned with The Law, thought
they were hunting the Bone Sorcerer, an agent of Chaos.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In reality, the party sought The Bone Sorcerer for their own
ends. They wished to acquire Black Lotus
opium. That would allow them to travel
home from this strange world of Carcosa and back again. And would fetch a fine price from Clarissa
Griever of Tal Skallar, noblewoman by day, exotic dancer by night.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5JEG_V7wKF9L2MR72X6Z_MVYeUPFYtRsqFoi-tyj1XrJ5B2LXYWb-5pSN0FAJP83ab-cv8ljRVPsUv5ISwkZjolFaW5VbCXyAL1GPKO57ABwPohoxYib3N3cBQXqsreSfcy1oL2Kb17I/s1600/Ishtar_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5JEG_V7wKF9L2MR72X6Z_MVYeUPFYtRsqFoi-tyj1XrJ5B2LXYWb-5pSN0FAJP83ab-cv8ljRVPsUv5ISwkZjolFaW5VbCXyAL1GPKO57ABwPohoxYib3N3cBQXqsreSfcy1oL2Kb17I/s320/Ishtar_001.jpg" width="114" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
She was the patron that had sent them in search of Black Lotus Opium long ago.<o:p></o:p></div>
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They also hoped to return Fat Himana, an obese magic-user
turned monk who was addicted to red lotus opium that brought him here, to his
dying Archmage Uncle. He had promised
them a powerful magical reward.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOLK_3sLSZpwivpg48LYJScEvQfbsFX37pf8yBxidhywiGLmrRxzfrsQEN0-ZWpgJf5w_KrTv-fp3bJv2gJgSLRBNiBjiFKsvGKSv6eA50-o4CkGaklC52NTU7SLDGVAQu-668v-2GTfg/s1600/fat+himana1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOLK_3sLSZpwivpg48LYJScEvQfbsFX37pf8yBxidhywiGLmrRxzfrsQEN0-ZWpgJf5w_KrTv-fp3bJv2gJgSLRBNiBjiFKsvGKSv6eA50-o4CkGaklC52NTU7SLDGVAQu-668v-2GTfg/s320/fat+himana1.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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After a battle with White Lotus Zombies – yellow men
enslaved by the Bone Sorcerer with his addictive white lotus powder – two
Purple Barbarians archers had lost their lives.
Their leader left the caves to gather his lancers to fight the Bone
Sorcerer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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That gave Dukmana, gnome illusionist thief--<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6nj5f4tqqAgLEmfvrTwsHg2ewUg11iPaRaznieINjbgRtZhmpWM38iBwp8fNsvHpMsPl7bMajs9p7wHbsKwpyXwb1241DKk5KuXdtXtlLI7XtSwS3LuQit6xsg9VNIA42nP3G4wJtLU/s1600/dukmana2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6nj5f4tqqAgLEmfvrTwsHg2ewUg11iPaRaznieINjbgRtZhmpWM38iBwp8fNsvHpMsPl7bMajs9p7wHbsKwpyXwb1241DKk5KuXdtXtlLI7XtSwS3LuQit6xsg9VNIA42nP3G4wJtLU/s320/dukmana2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
and Jacques
Roquemare, dandy human fighter--<br />
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<br />
<br />
a brief window of time to locate the Bone Sorcerer
before the Purple Barbarians did. Along
with Fat Himana and the creatures they controlled – a Shoggoth and giant Tiger
Worm respectively – they ventured forth.<o:p></o:p></div>
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They proceeded north through the bioluminescent, fungi lined
caves, careful to avoid contact with the fungi itself. There, they came upon another group of Yellow
Men tending to white lotus flowers. Five
more White Lotus Zombies. They must have
heard the sounds of battle in the southern chamber, as they were ready for
battle. They dropped the implements they
used to harvest the white lotus, and instead wielded knives and clubs.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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Jacques spoke to his tiger worm using the ring of animal
control he wielded. “Time for some fun,
my hairy cylindrical friend! Attack them
straight on!” The tiger worm did Jacques
bidding, biting one of the White Lotus Zombies, but merely wounding it. The zombies still came for Jacques, but he was
able to dispatch it with his rapier.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Dukmana then used an idol he’d helped recover from a Deep
One temple to command his Shoggoth. It
lashed out at the zombies with its tentacles.
It badly wounded two of the four remaining zombies, but the drug addled
slaves were not stopped. The Shoggoth
swallowed one of them whole, leaving three zombies for Dukmana to contend with.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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Dukmana, still nursing his wounds from the last zombie
battle, then lunged at one of them with the meteorite dagger he'd recovered from a Deep One temple on his homeworld.<br />
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<br />
<br />
As it plunged into the White Lotus Zombie’s
flesh, the poor creature’s flesh caught fire and he was quickly immolated.</div>
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Faced with two more zombies, Fat Himana cast one of the few
spells he had learned before giving up his study of magic for monkhood at
Mandul Xiem (which his Archmage uncle had dismissed as nothing more than a
cult, from which he wished his nephew rescued).
Uttering mystical words, he was soon able to climb the fungi-covered
cavern walls like a spider. Surprisingly
lithe for a fat man, he found himself on the ceiling, safe from the zombies as
long as the spell lasted. He yelled to
his comrades apologetically “I wish to live to see my uncle reward you for my
rescue!” <o:p></o:p><br />
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Luckily for Dukmana and Jack, the zombies attacked Jacques
tiger worm and missed. Yelling “en
garde!” as if he wished to duel them personally, Jacques instead had his tiger
worm retaliate by killing one of the zombies from behind. Dukmana’s Shoggoth then swallowed the last
zombie, and the battle was over.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Jacques searched the corpses, but as they were slaves, they
were not permitted any personal belongings.
They had no need for anything except for the white lotus powder form
which controlled them, and to which they were addicted. Jacques recovered some from around their
noses and stored it for safe keeping.<br />
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<br />
<br />
Perhaps there would be someone they’d need to control…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jacques and Dukmana headed still further north until they
could go north no more. There, they
found a cavern were a lake had once been.
But instead of water, it was filled – still filling, in fact – with
living slime.<br />
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<br />
<br />
The slime was of a color
that neither adventurer had ever seen, for it did not exist on their homeworld. They’d later learn it was called “jale”, and
if forced to describe it they could only use words like feverish, voluptuous
and dreamlike.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Though captivated by the slime’s color, they were wary of
the organism itself. Dukmana through a
stone into it, and it sank as it he’d thrown it into ordinary water. Still, they steered clear of it and made
their way to narrow passage to the northwest.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Fearing that if it were the lair of the Bone Sorcerer, he
might punish them for killing his zombified slaves, Dukmana sent his Shoggoth
through the passage ahead of them. The
shoggoth altered its protoplasmic form and squeezed through. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A deep voice echoed from whatever lay beyond. “Who sends a Shoggoth, servant of the Great
Old ones, into my chambers? Who dares
challenge…The Bone Sorcerer?”<o:p></o:p></div>
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“We challenge you not,” Jacque replied. “Then kindly withdraw your creature, and
enter my abode.” Dukmana complied and
the Shoggoth returned to the cavern with the slime lake. Then, hesitantly, the adventurers sallied
forth to meet this Bone Sorcerer.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He was in many senses human.
He had the skin and organs of a man, but they were all transparent. Thus, all they could see of him were
bones. They knew that he was, like the
Yellow Men or Purple Barbarians, one of the strange races of Carcosa. A scorned and persecuted race at that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Bone Sorcerer had weapons and armor that a human
sorcerer from their homeworld could not wear nor wield: what appeared to be plate mail of alien
origin, with tubes, wires and pulsing lights, a spiked club more appropriate
for a warrior; and a pistol much like the rifle that the leader of the Purple
Barbarians used to nearly disintegrate the Yellow Men that the Bone Sorcerer
had enslaved.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Why do you seek me, and how did you get past my slaves?”
the Bone Sorcerer asked. He seemed calm
and curious, clearly not viewing the adventurers as threats.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Dukmana and Jacques answered relatively honestly. “We were pursued by Purple Men, who
slaughtered your slaves. And we seek
opium from The Black Lotus”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Bone Sorcerer pondered this. “For entering my Fungoid Gardens without
permission, I shall forgive your trespass if you avenge by slaves and finish
off these Purple Barbarians. I’ll even
aid you if need be, though I’d prefer to tend to my experiments.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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“For the black lotus opium, however, I’ll need something
more. I need a captive, and only a
living Yellow man or woman will do. You
can find one at a village to the north of here, where the people worship the
Consumed God under the rule of The Incomparable Crown”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The party had heard that the People of The Consumed God and
The Incomparable Crown were, like The Bone Sorcerer, agents of chaos and
enemies of the Purple Barbarians of Law.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Bone Sorcerer told the party he had a spy there, a
scholar with a genital piercing. The
party was not looking forward to the prospect of examining an entire village
worth of genitals, but decided not to risk pissing off their only source of
Black Lotus Opium.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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He gave them what he called “Infernal Pigments” that, when
applied to their skin, would allow them to pass as Yellow or Purple Men. He healed Dukmana and – when he
spider-climbed down from the ceiling – Fat Himana. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Bone Sorcerer made a final offer. Nothing that Gloam was a man – well, gnome –
of magic, he offered to take him as an apprentice. To teach him rituals that he could never learn
on his home world. With that, the party began to prepare to face The Purple
Barbarians that were surely coming.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Himana asked Dukmana and Jacques for a ranged weapon so he
could avoid getting stabbed, and they handed him a bone pistol they’d taken off
an assassin in the employ of the late Ma Hek in the Jade City of Mu Leng.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
The party had two mysterious vials which the dearly departed
Gloam had recovered from the same Deep One Island that the Shoggoth had come
from. They tried dipping Himana’s bone
bullets in them, and realized the substance had the power to turn objects
invisible. They tried it on the
Shoggoth, and soon it became invisible too.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The positioned the invisible Shoggoth down a side passage
and waited by the lake of Jale Slime for the Purple Men. Soon, five Purple Barbarian Lancers<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
and their rhodium-rifle
wielding leader arrived. The latter greeted
them warmly. “Hail, fellow men of
Law! Have you found that vile Bone
Sorcerer?”<o:p></o:p><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Dukmana said he thought they were getting close, and
believed he might be at the bottom of the Jale Lake. The Purple Barbarian leader ordered one of
his men into the lake. Unlike the rock
that Dukmana had cast it to no effect; the Purple Lancer that strode into the
lake immediately began to dissolve as if dipped in acid.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ir2OP30YLTJ8pm95TMzlJE1RbA7C_Hce47fU8c1JTOvzUeDAWp3rxIJriuel2fBZoDOpUItT0ICyn_fBa3bMzIOMCbItqlYK9ZgrQ4Mz59sR90T7YjN208hIVx3xfIalyfMPKanZzMM/s1600/dissolve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ir2OP30YLTJ8pm95TMzlJE1RbA7C_Hce47fU8c1JTOvzUeDAWp3rxIJriuel2fBZoDOpUItT0ICyn_fBa3bMzIOMCbItqlYK9ZgrQ4Mz59sR90T7YjN208hIVx3xfIalyfMPKanZzMM/s320/dissolve.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What treachery is this?” the Purple Leader asked? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dukmana answered with action, not words. His invisible Shoggoth lashed out with a
tentacle, knocking another Purple Barbarian into the lake. No longer invisible once it engaged in
combat, the Shoggoth’s second tentacle missed one of his comrades. But Dukmana had his Shoggoth swallow the
leader whole.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before the other Purple Men could react, Jacques executed
the next phase of the ambush and had his hidden tiger worm attack them from
behind. “These Purple Men are like the
Tiger Monks of Mu Leng who treated you so badly,” he told the creature. But deep down he knew this was not true, and
felt bad for manipulating his animal companion.
Nevertheless, the worm succeeded.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dukmana then finished off the remaining Purple Barbarians by
using his wand of fireballs to incinerate them.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<br />
Finally, he had his Shoggoth spit out the rhodium rifle that the
Barbarian Leader carried. Jacques claimed
it, and the party headed outside to find a Yellow captive for the Bone Sorcerer.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfHOS1xNKJl_r_qb0lAmYQYKCisMssR8mGVER1GPMcJDTH9saYwpEPGYCD7PZC4pkB3kOE4hyphenhyphenfDxkI_yS02t_AX-Z3r1pWiPEgNGEtLS6ckLZwhmngjqqBHnsJKATheH-Wn16tZrihqbk/s1600/rhodium+rifle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfHOS1xNKJl_r_qb0lAmYQYKCisMssR8mGVER1GPMcJDTH9saYwpEPGYCD7PZC4pkB3kOE4hyphenhyphenfDxkI_yS02t_AX-Z3r1pWiPEgNGEtLS6ckLZwhmngjqqBHnsJKATheH-Wn16tZrihqbk/s1600/rhodium+rifle.jpg" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Outside the caves, they found the Purple Barbarians
dinosaurs tied down, hungry and waiting for their dead masters. After feeding them the corpses of the White
Lotus Zombies (for all the Purple Men had been digested by the Jale Slime or
the Shoggoth) Dukmana was able to tame one, and after failing to tame one that
seemed wary, so was Jacques. Dukmana
then convinced a hesitant Fat Himana to try and tame one as well. He did, and to the party’s surprise Himana
was excited. “This is why I take drugs,”
he exclaimed!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQLN6gvOPABAlwPIYNsCV8R-kioFnCkNlI8dP-sD7394I6t1aSNsFND5X_3UZbNw0l4EP0i3c5XczzrogTrtSZROaKuyQ6DszBF4G4EsfAylGiMOBUr5PTimMnZNHVPUPhsBZUncThgtw/s1600/allosaur+mount.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQLN6gvOPABAlwPIYNsCV8R-kioFnCkNlI8dP-sD7394I6t1aSNsFND5X_3UZbNw0l4EP0i3c5XczzrogTrtSZROaKuyQ6DszBF4G4EsfAylGiMOBUr5PTimMnZNHVPUPhsBZUncThgtw/s320/allosaur+mount.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Each man mounted an allosaurus and, Shoggoth and tiger worm
in tow, they headed east until they saw the village The Bone Sorcerer spoke
of. It appeared to be an ancient prison
in a crescent shape, with the cells that lined its inner walls converted to
living spaces and workshops.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMnQgn2OB-hU_Pxuez4dwP0ZnT2NrcHvfy2k12zrmXNjqqb8CicfdbtxEGVc8kVdlq9rp9mz1T0IpvzYW1tNcVK14H7qf5DSxW7dMnIcGiG5gizIYQOPu71ELrgykpvvFVnlnvtU4szKI/s1600/prison+village.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMnQgn2OB-hU_Pxuez4dwP0ZnT2NrcHvfy2k12zrmXNjqqb8CicfdbtxEGVc8kVdlq9rp9mz1T0IpvzYW1tNcVK14H7qf5DSxW7dMnIcGiG5gizIYQOPu71ELrgykpvvFVnlnvtU4szKI/s320/prison+village.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although they recognized it as a former jail, everything
else about it seemed alien. There were
mirrors everywhere, strange decorations of erotic art and Yellow men and women
who wore nothing but leather cloaks.
Many had mutations – extra limbs, plant fibers in place of hair and
more.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCTTD0gYqFD1-aWUJEqqYdyPl93EPckMG4j-DSGKEFJ4u20oqkCikNUJbfrGLtcR4g4498NB0T0J4b4uo7NPvNqAYaasGR9ReiRQ9Fqg9qFO7hYcoy6fk3PjTpy6g2G3daA8ywn8g503s/s1600/incomparable+crown+and+yellow+mutants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCTTD0gYqFD1-aWUJEqqYdyPl93EPckMG4j-DSGKEFJ4u20oqkCikNUJbfrGLtcR4g4498NB0T0J4b4uo7NPvNqAYaasGR9ReiRQ9Fqg9qFO7hYcoy6fk3PjTpy6g2G3daA8ywn8g503s/s320/incomparable+crown+and+yellow+mutants.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before they reached the village gates, they were stopped by
The Incomparable Crown, a Yellow warrior.
He wore chainmail, and was accompanied by two fighters in leather armor
and sorcerer. “Who approaches the
Incomparable Crown,” he demanded.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The party asked Himana to speak for them, as he was much
more charismatic than either Jacques or Dukmana. Himana told The Crown that they’d vanquished
his Purple Barbarian enemies, and they round their mounts and carried their
weapons as trophies and proof.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Incomparable Crown was not convinced. They could just as easily be aligned with
Purple Barbarians, having earned the mounts and weapons through an
alliance. Jacques response was to offer
them some of the white lotus powder he collected, in hopes that one of them
would snort or otherwise consume it and fall under his spell.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFuNvv9Q9rtiRnH9yCVevVP7pIIJCUQrCeFpbmWvu8wxBkhmA08DNys2qP_oZWKhEYAXggRTkKCGr5uXRJrWlUULe0gRqxaB9OAd6FCs0ZG03Q0-GTR775jdxbYclxNSbJAA4V-mI4Flo/s1600/cocaine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFuNvv9Q9rtiRnH9yCVevVP7pIIJCUQrCeFpbmWvu8wxBkhmA08DNys2qP_oZWKhEYAXggRTkKCGr5uXRJrWlUULe0gRqxaB9OAd6FCs0ZG03Q0-GTR775jdxbYclxNSbJAA4V-mI4Flo/s320/cocaine.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While none did, The Incomparable Crown laughed. “No Purple Man would turn another man into a
slave. You must be true men of
chaos. You may sojourn here, provided
you leave your beasts outside”. The
party did so, and entered the village.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilY2V0zLIsqWUQj7T-95HLBKv6nvc17c7DSdIDt6KMCU858aH6RZtyXRvjFoIN-NuJQ3EbMp7MynIwXZd3J0qy0C7k0io04-2EYSN4KL2Zk00336bT6MX36d2wyq0vODbWAzirOhiCFrw/s1600/tavern.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilY2V0zLIsqWUQj7T-95HLBKv6nvc17c7DSdIDt6KMCU858aH6RZtyXRvjFoIN-NuJQ3EbMp7MynIwXZd3J0qy0C7k0io04-2EYSN4KL2Zk00336bT6MX36d2wyq0vODbWAzirOhiCFrw/s320/tavern.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They located what passed for a tavern and ordered some
drinks, hoping to find a drunk that wouldn’t resist them if they took him
captive. The bartender seemed eager –
perhaps too eager - to give the “thirsty” party free drinks. He poured them both different drinks than he
poured himself.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jacques nevertheless accepted. When nothing happened to Jacques, the
bartender seemed surprised and offered him another. Dukmana, however, threw his drink over his
shoulder without anyone noticing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Jacques ordered what the bartender was having. While the
bartender protested it was too expensive, Jacques met his steep price. The bartender said it was the secretions of
the consumed god, which sustained the village.
When Jacques downed it, he no longer felt hunger or thirst.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They rented a room upstairs, and Jacques asked if they had
anything to warm them for the night. The bartender pulled out one of the
leather cloaks the Yellow Men wore with nothing else, but Jacques told him he
misunderstood. Jacques wanted a
companion.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bartender, suddenly understanding, beckoned for a meek
Yellow girl with a pierced tongue, wearing chains and nothing else. She came forward, and they noticed there
seemed something vacant about her.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixzVfIHIO-Z7fWFx8Y0m0BQMiT0ysE-o0z9AzDdfdI7HFZSvru7FU9EaYyVHbbqpbxKx3Wl-mCWui141dyqaZryG3E7pKw4AFSg8ZPxZHa2u6MYrsSo2n9s0ExV4gh9BtTsQdGKHT8stc/s1600/yellow+slave+girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixzVfIHIO-Z7fWFx8Y0m0BQMiT0ysE-o0z9AzDdfdI7HFZSvru7FU9EaYyVHbbqpbxKx3Wl-mCWui141dyqaZryG3E7pKw4AFSg8ZPxZHa2u6MYrsSo2n9s0ExV4gh9BtTsQdGKHT8stc/s320/yellow+slave+girl.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“We can lose the chains, unless of course you wish to
consummate your lovemaking in front of my patrons,” offered the bartender. Neither he nor the other patrons seemed
troubled by this. The bartender asked if
Dukmana wanted his own companion for the night, and offered a male or female
slave, but Jacques insisted that they shared everything.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They took the Yellow slave girl up to their room – the
honeymoon suite - where they drew a curtain over what used to be the cell door
for privacy. There was cryptic writing
on the curtain, which Dukmana was able to decipher using his ring of comprehend
languages. “One last night of pleasure
for the sacrifices of the Consumed God” it read. As dusk fell, and they saw villagers in the
courtyard going to bed, they knew they’d have to act fast if they wanted to
avoid being those sacrifices.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dukmana hypnotized the slave girl, but in truth he didn’t
have to, for she had no psionic defenses.
Then he cast invisibility, and the three left the room. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As they headed for a stairwell and the opposite side of the
former prison, they saw the Incomparable Crown and his cronies enter their
room. Hearing shouting from within their
former chambers, they made for the beasts as a klaxon sounded, and quickly
clambered onto their allosaurus mounts.
The Incomparable Crown and his men pursued, but they had no steed that
could match the speed of the dinosaurs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At last, the party returned to the Bone Sorcerer. He first congratulated them for eliminating
his Purple Barbarian enemies, telling them how much he enjoyed hearing their
leader’s cries as he was digested by their Shoggoth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then he laid eyes on the yellow slave girl. “Is she for me?” he asked, almost squealing
with delight. When they answered in the
affirmative, he said he could not wait to perform “the ritual” on her. And truly, he could not, as he slit her
throat before them.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHYSJjfHhlvtFBm3N00PW3NTdwHxdxdtFvUEbitlUDraEUef7SExQNtsZNtDu98-1u7fph23yGzNof-T3S5u1DCDx7Rizv6kE2lxkGmZ7adb7foqyk_CPYJnjjKhPGJH7K-xb74vLGVEI/s1600/slit+throat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHYSJjfHhlvtFBm3N00PW3NTdwHxdxdtFvUEbitlUDraEUef7SExQNtsZNtDu98-1u7fph23yGzNof-T3S5u1DCDx7Rizv6kE2lxkGmZ7adb7foqyk_CPYJnjjKhPGJH7K-xb74vLGVEI/s320/slit+throat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ignoring her arterial spray, he prepared to carry her to
another party of the cavern. The party
recovered from their shock enough to ask about the Black Lotus Opium he
promised them. The Bone Sorcerer said
that he could indeed create the opium.
But he would need the actual Black Lotus flower, which he did not have.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He told them it could be found in The Barrens of Carcosa to
the south. There it grew on a mountain
that also served as a lair for a Spawn of Shub-Niggurath. When the party inquired what that was, The
Bone Sorcerer described it as the offspring of an Elder God. “While some may call it deformed, I see its
beauty,” he said.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But he warned them that it was dangerous. It appeared to be a giant blue buzzard, and
from its perch on the 200 foot craggy rock where the Black Lotus grew, it swept
down and feasted upon the villagers of Chus.
The Spawn, known as Iakgua, preferred corpses like the carrion eating
bird it resembled, but would make do with the living.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The rock where the lotus grew could be found near Chus and
less-imperiled village, Dlaja. There,
the villagers had lost a Purple Worm Crown to Iakgua, and would pay dearly for
its return. The Bone Sorcerer did not
know if said crown possessed magical powers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Bone Sorcerer tried once again to leave with his throat-slit
human sacrifice, but Dukmana stopped him.
The Bone Sorcerer had promised to teach him a ritual. The Bone Sorcerer reluctantly put his dead or
dying captive down, and true to his word, taught the gnome illusionist The
Taste of Vengeance. It would him to
track someone he had encountered using smell and taste, particularly someone
who had wronged him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Bone Sorcerer then gave Jacques a gift. Another infernal
pigment, this time one that would allow him to pass as a Bone Man. But the Bone Sorcerer warned him that his
kind were hated and feared on Carcosa.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It been a long journey from Tal Skallar to the Eastern
realms of Mu Leng and Cam Shak in their world, and then to otherworldly
Carcosa. But they were the closest
they’d ever been to finding this elusive Black Lotus opium, which they’d sought
for so long. Should they return it to
Clarissa Griever, establishing an opium smuggling route back home…great wealth
awaited them. But first, they’d have to
face the spawn of an elder god, and gods knew what other unimaginable horrors
awaited them in the wastelands of Carcosa.<o:p></o:p></div>
Mark Sablehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13154484354008134026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664117071410138648.post-20410330951471852482017-04-05T01:13:00.000-07:002017-04-05T01:24:08.339-07:00<b>CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN – IN SEARCH OF THE BONE SORCERER</b><br />
<br />
<img alt="Image result for cambodia monastery" src="https://www.gapyear.com/images/content/11.07.19-mjs_ft_cambodia-5_1977563.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When last we left our heroes, Dukmana the Gnome Illusionist/Thief--</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<img alt="Image result for gnome illusionist thief" src="http://www.lomion.de/cmm/img/leprecha.gif" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
--and Ruthless, the human barbarian--</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<img alt="Image result for barbarian d&d" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtjH7T7evacu7lpvaiivNKoOowdoh8DYWtKg9XyTcJ7VYGRDCT0TCw4kcKgUCOyxdGHRDpTWkznv4BG_n9eBwWNaaUC1dFFBLcl2OrPjeUznmhwSZYM7mJWNm0wntpF8vN4-jFOMcQ0Bs/s1600/Sidharth+Chaturvedi+-+Barbarian.png" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
--they had consumed red lotus
petals at the monastery of Mandul Xiem in the land Cam Shak. Doing so had transported them to another
plane of existence, to a planet known as “Carcosa”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<img alt="Image result for red lotus" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/fc/fb/e5/fcfbe5f0de8917e907631ae8cfcaf317.jpg" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They journeyed to Carcosa for two reasons. The first was that long ago, they had been
hired by the noblewoman by day, exotic dancer at night in the city of Tal
Skallar. She tasked them with opening an
opium trading route to the East. In
particular, they were to bring her back opium made exotic black lotus. Upon arriving at Mandul Xiem, they learned
that it only grew on Carcosa. Unlike the
red lotus, which was a one way trip to Carcosa, black lotus opium could allow
someone to travel back and forth. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They also were in Carcosa because on their way to the
monastery of Mandul Xiem, they had met a dying Archmage. He asked them to rescue his nephew Himana,
who the mage believed had been brainwashed by the monks. He promised magical artifacts in return.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When they found Himana, they saw that he’d become a monk
himself, was morbidly obese, and stoned out of his mind on red lotus. While they were able to rouse him from his
catatonic state, he refused to leave the monastery before achieving his goal –
bringing back black lotus opium himself so that he too could travel back and
forth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><img alt="Image result for fat buddhist monk" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03595/Large_Thai_monk_BG_3595332b.jpg" /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And so, the party had made their journey to Carcosa, hoping
to find Black Lotus opium and keep Fat Himana alive long enough to safely
return him to his Archmage uncle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Their only clue as to how to find the black lotus opium was
to seek a being known only as the Bone Sorcerer. He could transform the usually poisonous
black lotus petals and powder into the opium they sought.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><img alt="Image result for purple desert" src="http://img10.deviantart.net/1b46/i/2012/077/4/f/lost_in_a_purple_desert_by_pyrrhicv-d4t6vj2.jpg" /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When they arrived in Carcosa, they were in a blasted purple
landscape under twin suns. They made
their way through a desert of swirling black sands, where they were quickly met
by a tribe of purple skinned barbarians.
Except for their skin, they were apparently human, although they rode
great dinosaurs and their leader carried a mysterious device that looked like a
cross between a crossbow and a lance.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<img alt="Image result for dinosaur riders" src="http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Legionnaire-Dinosaur-Rider.jpg" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Through the illusions of Dukmana the gnome
illusionist/thief, they convinced the Purple Barbarian Leader that they too
served “The Law”, and were opposed to the forces of Chaos. He did so by making it seem as if the statue
they prayed to, a giant glass warrior of a color that didn’t exist on their
plane called “Ulfire”, had bowed to them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although this prevented a battle, it created a dilemma. In addition to the Incomparable Crown and The
Consumed God, the barbarian tribe’s most deadly enemy was The Bone Sorcerer
himself.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dukmana, Ruthless, the human barbarian and Fat Himana now
found themselves camped outside a fissure of the earth which led to the
so-called Fungoid Gardens of the Bone Sorcerer.
Ruthless had not made the initial journey to Carcosa with Dukmana. In Cam Shak, he’d been tempted into a night
of debauchery with lizard people. He
didn’t quite feel like himself, but did manage to pilfer a Potion of Giant’s
strength from them before following Dukmana and the dwarven cleric Bludgeon
Stonemace to Carcosa. Bludgeon had
disappeared during the night when the party made camp with the purple
barbarians.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ruthless, Dukmana and Himana had been escorted their by
their new purple-skinned, dino-riding barbarian allies, who now insisted that
they accompany the party into the Bone Sorcerer’s lair so they could help them
annihilate him. They had no intention of
doing so, and tried to talk the barbarian leader out of delving into the cave
with them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“We must go alone,” Dukamana insisted. He tried to explain that they were on a
mission from a higher plane of existence.
The Barbarian Leader did not understand the concept of planes. “I thought we were allies?” he said,
seemingly insulted, although not yet distrustful of the party’s motives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ruthless asked his fellow barbarian whether the purple
warriors would kill the Bone Sorcerer.
He emphatically answered yes, and added they would torture him for good
measure. Ruthless would be allowed to
question him, which set his mind somewhat at ease that they might learn how to
return home before they were forced to kill him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dukmana kept pressing, however. He explained that they needed something from
the Bone Sorcerer to return home. The
Barbarian Leader said that Carcosa would be their new home, if they helped
cleanse it of Chaos. Deterring the
barbarians from accompanying them into the caves below seemed impossible.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ruthless inquired about the strange device the Barbarian
Leader held. He told Ruthless that it
was alien in nature, and by pressing the trigger he could strike enemies at
range with a beam of immense power. It
was particularly effective on Yellow Men, who often (though not exclusively)
worshipped the Gods of Chaos. It
reminded Ruthless of a sonic mining tool he’d long ago wielded in a Dwarven
obsidian mine, but the Barbarian Leader boasted that his was one of a kind.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<img alt="Image result for laser rifle" src="http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images/4/40/Fallout_4_Laser_Rifle.png/revision/20170119054847" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ruthless, resigned to the fact they would be entering the
Fungoid Gardens en masse, then asked about the Bone Sorcerer himself. The Purple Barbarian Leader had never seen
the Bone Sorcerer himself. But he was
rumored to have transparent skin, wear strange armor, and wield a device
similar to the “one-of-a-kind” weapon that he carried. And of most troubling at all, that he made
human sacrifices to dark elder gods in order to control creatures from beyond.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ruthless was satisfied that was all the knowledge they could
glean. Dukmana had managed to talk the
Purple Barbarians into sending a small retinue with them, only their leader and
some bowmen, leaving their lancers to guard their Allosaurus mounts. The dinosaurs were too big for the narrow
passages of the caves. Not so the
Shoggoth that Dukmana commanded, which could alter its protoplasmic mass to
squeeze through almost any opening, nor the Tiger Worm which Ruthless rode in
place of its usual master, the dandy warrior named Jacques.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, along with Fat Himana and the Purple Barbarians, they
descended into the ground.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<img alt="Image result for bioluminescent cave" src="http://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2015/08/joseph-michael-glowworm-cave-photos-1.jpg.650x0_q70_crop-smart.jpg" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Soon, they learned why it had been called The Fungoid
Gardens. The walls were lined with
bioluminescent fungi of many colors, including many that didn’t exist on their
plane. They carefully avoided making
contact with any – thankfully whatever fungi had grown on the floor had been
stamped into fine powder by what appeared to be barefoot humanoids.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<img alt="Image result for white lotus" src="http://www.whitelotushealthcenter.com/uploads/1/8/8/6/18865026/679458.jpg" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before long, they came upon a large caved filled with
lotus. Unfortunately, the lotus was not
black, but white. And cultivating the
white lotus were Yellow Men. Although
not undead, The Barbarian referred to them as zombies. They had been kidnapped, dosed with the white
lotus power and made slaves by the Bone Sorcerer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<img src="http://68.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvr9izUEU01r2s3h9o1_1280.jpg" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There were twelve of these White Lotus Zombies, and they were
clearly disturbed by the uninvited visitors.
The zombies soon set upon the party and their purple barbarian
allies. They wielded clubs and knives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first struck at the Barbarian Leader, missing. The next zombie’s knife found purchase into
one of the purple bowmen. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dukmana whispered to Ruthless that they should turn on the
Purple Barbarians. He did not wish to
anger the Bone Sorcerer, whose help they needed, by destroying his
zombies. The barbarians might eventually
discover that they served neither “Law” nor “Chaos”, just themselves. The Leader was already wary of magic and the
unearthly Shoggoth he controlled. And wouldn’t
Ruthless like to have the leader’s strange weapon?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ruthless disagreed as strongly as he could without being
overheard. They were outnumbered by the
White Lotus Zombies even with their purple allies. They’d likely need their help to
survive. There were more Purple
Barbarians outside. If just one purple
warrior escaped, they’d find themselves facing two enemies. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But there was more to it than that. Ruthless was certainly no man of “Law”. But he felt a kinship with these wild folk
that so-called civilized beings like Dukmana called Barbarians. They were not of his skin tone, let alone
tribe, but they possessed a code of honor not dissimilar than his own. One he could not bring himself to break by
betraying them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Their argument was settled when a third zombie stabbed
Dukmana. A fourth and fifth zombie
struck at Himana, with the latter puncturing the fat monk’s skin. A sixth successfully bashed Ruthless with his
club, although his plate mail and hardy constitution meant he was not as badly injured
as Dukmana or the monk.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other half of their zombie assailants continued the
attack. One clubbed the wounded Purple
Barbarian Bowman to death. That left
just one more bowman and the Barbarian Leader remained of their purple allies. They struck at the leader and Fat Himana but
missed. One struck Dukmana’s Shoggoth,
but was unable to damage the eldritch monstrosity.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ruthless struck back at the White Lotus Zombies first,
killing one with his two-handed sword.
Dukmana had hoped that this would weaken their morale, but while they
seemed shaken, they would not retreat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dukmana decided to encourage the surviving purple warriors
to fight, hoping the two sides would wipe each other out. “For Law!” he cried, and the leader struck
and killed another zombie, reducing their number to ten. The surviving purple bowman not only missed
the next zombie, however, he dropped his bow, and had to drop to the ground to
retrieve it, leaving him vulnerable to attack.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<img alt="Image result for shoggoth" src="http://orig10.deviantart.net/1d92/f/2011/319/9/d/9db916d447a4524d7a0286029aa3adf9-d4gc7bv.jpg" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dukmana then unleashed his Shoggoth. The Shoggoth’s tentacles struck and wounded
two more zombies, but it was unable to consume a third. Dukmana followed up his attack by firing his
wand of fireballs. He did so
reluctantly, unaware of how many charges remained in it. It successfully immolated more zombies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Despite his girth and wounds, Himana proved himself to be
proficient in the martial arts the monks had trained him in, wounding a White
Lotus Zombie with his bare hands. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The surviving zombies, although wounded and reduced to half
their number, were not deterred, and resumed their assault. Two tried to club Himana but missed. Another successfully stabbed the
Shoggoth. A fourth missed the giant
tiger worm that Ruthless had slithered into the caves on. Another missed the Shoggoth, and the final
zombie stabbed Fat Himana. Bleeding like
a stuck pick, the monk so intent on his black lotus opium starting crying that
he wanted to go home to his uncle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ruthless led the counterattack by hacking the most-powerful
looking zombie to death. His giant tiger
worm tore another to shreds. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<img alt="Image result for giant worm" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/86/47/49/864749bed43fed80380d341d7fb6ccf8.jpg" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dukmana pulled out a meteorite dagger that he’d retrieved
from a Deep One City days before. He’d
seen it set foes ablaze, and unlike his wand it had unlimited charges. But the gnome was better at magic than fighting,
and was unable to stab his zombie attacker.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><img alt="Image result for meteorite dagger" src="http://perfscience.com/sites/default/files/styles/nodeimg/public/field/image/Dagger-Tutankhamun.jpg?itok=Y-Rzyhno" /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His Shoggoth did not seem any more agile at first. It lashed out with one of its tentacles, but
the appendage missed and wrapped around a stalactite, its suction grip holding
it in place. Its other tentacle managed
to wound, but not kill a zombie. And it
was finally able to get it’s orifice around another, swallowing the enslaved
Yellow Man whole.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Purple Barbarian leader fired his mysterious
weapon. As the beam struck the White
Lotus Zombie, its yellow flesh dissolved.
He seemed distressed that the weapon only had two charges remaining.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His last surviving purple warrior missed another zombie with
his bow. Fat Himana, despite his
whining, was able to hit it with his fist, crushing its skull with a single
blow.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was a single zombie left. It bashed the purple archer to death. Dukmana was unable to avenge him, but
Ruthless finished him off.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
The White Lotus Zombie was dead, but the party was wounded, Himana badly
so. The Purple Leader had lost two of
his men. He bent over them, and shouted
that the Great Ulfire Warrior would carry their souls to heaven to continue its
war on Chaos. As the party had not
ventured too far into the Fungoid Gardens of the Bone Sorcerer, The Purple
Barbarian Leader announced he would get the rest of his men and marched outside
to gather them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now that the party was
finally – if temporarily - alone, what would they do? Wait for the rest of the Purple Barbarians
and continue a fight that was not truly theirs?
Apologize to the Bone Sorcerer for killing his zombie slaves and
defiling his lotus garden in hopes of finally recovering the long sought after
black lotus opium? They heard the sound
of shuffling from the next cave, and knew that however difficult the decision,
they’d have to make it soon.</span>Mark Sablehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13154484354008134026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664117071410138648.post-18033513096559132302016-04-28T01:07:00.001-07:002016-04-28T01:07:40.869-07:00THE BOOK OF SCOUNDRELS CHAPTER SIX: COURT OF THE KHAN <div class="MsoNormal">
“Are you with the
Brass Horde or the Bastard Horde”? With
these words, Karakhim warrior Old Boggy and Karakhim thief Zubatai knew that
God-Khan Gurag’s Golden Horde had been split asunder by his death. And that, if they did not answer the steppe
horsemen’s question correctly, Gurag’s death would be followed by their own.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Bastard,” Zubatai
answered. He surmised that “bastard”
referred to Gurag-Sukh, the God Khan’s bastard son, whose forces occupied the
war encamped of Kuzla Ka in front of them.
The looks on the faces of the Bastard Horde Karakhim told him he was correct,
but that did not make answering the question any less painful. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zubatai and Old
Boggy had sworn their allegiance to the Bataan clan, now ruled over by
Gurag-Bataan, the late God Khan’s daughter.
If only temporarily, if only to save the life of his comrades…Zubatai
had nevertheless already betrayed his family.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The centaur-like
leader of the horsemen introduced himself as Muke, and said he was glad not to
have to spill the blood of fellow Karakhim.
He was only referring to Zubatai and Old Boggy – he only acknowledged
the Westerners when he asked Zubatai why the outlanders were trespassing on
Karakhim land. Zubatai lied, and told
them they were his henchman. But he told
the truth when he said that they had come from Tal Skallar, where he had
scouted the defenses for the God Khan and hoped to further undermine by
establishing a drug trade between Tal Skallar and The Jade City in Mu Leng.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This seemed to
please Muke, so Zubatai asked him about the whereabouts of his uncle Temujin, a
shaman who was last seen at Kuzla Ka and who the party hoped could relieve
Ketil Gravelborn of his cursed shield, and the mysterious “hand centaur” of its
apparent curse. Muke frowned.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Your uncle is
indeed a guest of Khan Gurag-Sukh, here at Kuzla Ka. But he will not be for long. He has refused to initiate the ritual to
transform Gurag-Sukh into a God Khan, and for that the Khan will execute him.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zubatai told Muke
that perhaps he could persuade his uncle to perform the ceremony. Muke saw the opportunity in this, and he and
his horsemen escorted Zubatai and his band to an audience with the Khan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The party went up
on a steep incline towards a wooden stockade surrounded by many hundreds of
yurts. Karakhim warriors were attended
by men with the heads of horses. These
“reverse-centaurs” were said to be the byproduct of the ritual of bonding elite
Karakhim warriors like Muke to their horse.
Though able to perform manual labor with the dexterity of a human, they
had the intelligence of their equine ancestors, and had to be led along as
slaves.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The non-Karakhim in
the party – Ketil the Dwarf, Jacques Roqumare the dandy fighter and Quofalcon
Serpenthelm the thief – looked at these horse-headed slaves with
bewilderment. But the Karakhim looked at
them with equal bewilderment. For save a
glowing, aging horse that carried the party’s remaining children, they all rode
Rus War Ostriches. Muke in particular
seemed to think Zubatai and Old Boggy, their fellow Karakhim, were blasphemous
for using birds as mounts instead of the holy horse of their people. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally the group
dismounted and entered the largest yurt in the compound. There, beyond a fire pit sat the centaur-like
Gurag-Sukh, Khan of the Bastard Horde.
At one side of his throne was Gurag-Sukh’s blind bride Galdai. At the other was Negay, his right hand man,
also an elite centaur-like creature. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Below the throne
was Kipchi, who bore the marks of a necromancer, whose arts were forbidden in
Karakhim. And next to him was a cage,
with withered old man inside. He had
clearly been beaten, and had a look of terrible despair. Zabutai immediately recognized the man as his
uncle, the shaman Temujin. Temujin’s
eyes lit up upon seeing his nephew.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before there could
be a reunion, The Khan was eager to hear of Tal Skallar. Zubatai was truthful, telling him of the War
Bears that protected the city. The
Necromancer interjected, wishing to hear about Tal Skallar’s legendary ghoul
market. Jacques tried to curry favor with
The Necromancer by showing him the sigil that could gain entry. The Necromancer started copying it unto a
papyrus scroll before Jacques withdrew it.
This did not please the Necromancer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Khan explained
what had divided the Karakhim Golden Horde.
His sister Gurag-Bataan wished to have peace between the Karakhim, Tal
Skallar and Mu-Leng. The steppe could be
a natural trade route that the Karakhim could benefit from, as it was a more
direct route than The Silk Road that caravans traveled to avoid falling prey to
the horsemen.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But Gurag-Sukh
believed that without warfare and expansion the Karakhim would turn on one
another and destroy themselves. Already,
peace had split the Golden Horde into two.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zabutai sought a
middle ground. He told them of their
plan to smuggle narcotics from Mu-Leng to Tal Skallar. This, he said, would allow both trade and
war…as the citizens of Tal Skallar would grow weakened from their substance
abuse.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Khan thought
this a good plan, and offered Zabutai a chance to save his uncle if he could
indeed convince him to perform the ritual needed to elevate him to God-Khan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Temujin shouted “Never!”
and was whipped by The Necromancer. Temujin
stood firm. Gurag-Sukh was not The God
Khan’s rightful heir. The new God Khan
must have the pure-blood of the previous God-Khan running through his
veins. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Khan suggested
that if he were not born with this blood, than it could be obtained by from his
half-sister – if the party slew her.
Temujin begged his nephew and his friends not to do this. This was too far for even Zabutai.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Necromancer
suggested that blood could be obtained in another way. It could be drained from the body of the late
God-Khan, if they party could infiltrate his tomb. If this would spare the life of Gurag-Bataan,
Temujin reluctantly agreed. Still, the
party would need another element for the ritual – the feather of a Khiimori, a
dangerous black Pegasus.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zabutai and his
fellow outlaws agreed to embark on these quests, which greatly pleased the
Khan. As a token of good faith, he
allowed Temujin to lift the curse on Ketil’s kite shield. Temujin laid his hands on it and spoke the
words of his ancestors. As he did, an
unholy black smoke rose from the shield.
With that, the curse was gone.
Ketil could remove it, and swing his axe without being weighed down by
the ghouls’ dark magic.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Necromancer was
intrigued by the sight of undead magic.
He then asked the party whether they had seen any unusual sights, claiming
they could help him deliver prophecy The Khan.
The party described the giant sea turtles they had found many hundreds
of miles inland, which The Necromancer said meant that the Karakhim would
triumph against a naval power which would likewise flounder on dry land. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then the party
showed The Khan and Necromancer the evidence of the strangest sight on the
steppe – the cursed hand centaur. At
this sight, the warrior Negay and The Necromancer both grew agitated. The Necromancer ordered the hand centaur
taken out of The Khan’s tent.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jacques had grown
fond of the hand centaur, and pleaded with The Necromancer for its return. He was only able to convince the Necromancer
by giving him the sigil that allowed a man to enter the Ghoul Market unmolested
by the undead. The Necromancer took it,
but refused to allow the hand centaur back inside the tent. The Khan intervened, demanding that The
Necromancer honor the bargain that he struck lest he bring dishonor on them
all. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The hand centaur
returned, and Jacques guided him to Temujin.
The Shaman grasped the hand centaur’s hand, which jutted from its neck
like arm where a horse’s head might be. As
he spoke holy words, he began to shake.
The hand centaur reared back on his hind legs, but the seemingly weak
Temujin held firm with his grasp. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Moreover, with
supernatural strength Temujin pulled on the hand and arm until another arm
began to emerge from the hand centaur. A
head followed, covered in what resembled amniotic fluid. Finally the hand centaur’s full torso
emerged, and soon he emerged as another elite Karakhim centaur warrior. The Khan recognized him, and asked,
“Tabo! Where have you been these many months?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before Tabo could
answer, The Necromancer struck him with a dagger. Jacques Roqumare, who had developed an
affinity for the hand centaur, tried to strike at The Necromancer with his
rapier. He missed, as did his comrades
as they too tried to strike the elusive magic-user. Even when their blades made contact, The
Necromancer was able to deflect them with enchanted bracers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Negay, The Khan’s
right-hand man (or centaur, as the case may be), joined The Necromancer in
combat, wishing to keep Tabo, the former hand centaur, silent as well. His sword bounced off Old Boggy’s plate
mail. Negay cursed Old Boggy for
breaking the traditions of the Karakhim with his heavy, Western armor.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Necromancer
reached for his wand. Fire began to
emerge from its tip as he prepared to cast a fireball spell. But he risked damaging his ally Negay, and
setting the yurt on fire. Instead, he
cast a hold person spell on Ketil, freezing the dwarf in place.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Quofalcon retreated
to the rear of the tent. In part to keep
himself from being fried by a fireball, and in part so he could have room to
use his crossbow. He hit The Necromancer
with a bolt. Enraged, but out of
offensive spells, the Necromancer stabbed Quofalcon. Old Boggy, once again shrugging off Negay’s
sword with his plate mail, was able to hit the Necromancer with his two handed
sword.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zabutai called to
Brutal Master, his War Ostrich, which joined the fray. But The Necromancer slipped on a ring and
magically vanished from sight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Khan started
taking on Negay in combat, and asked the party to find the traitorous
Necromancer. Zabutai’s uncle, the shaman
Temujin freed Ketil from the hold person spell.
Ketil and the others followed a blood trail outside, only to find it led
to a number of horses. The Necromancer
could be long gone by now.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But when they saw
a horse without a rider gallop away, they guessed the invisible Necromancer was
riding it. Zabutai, Quofalcon and Ketil
took the horse down. It fell on the
invisible Necromancer, crushing him. As the life drained out of him he reappeared. The party took his magic ring, wand and the
bracers that deflected their blows.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the party
returned to The Khan’s tent, they saw that Negay had been restrained by The
Khan’s men. The Khan asked Tabo, the
former hand centaur, to explain what had happened. Tabo said he’d been cursed by The
Necromancer, who he’s seen with Negay plotting with a Mu-Leng wizard named
Palla Ba. Furthermore, The Necromancer
had cursed The Khan’s wife with blindness to prevent her from discovering his
treachery. Enraged, the Khan beheaded
Negay.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Khan then
thanked the party, inviting them to drink the blood of Negay, as is Karakhim
tradition. They did so, but Old Boggy
shit himself, while Jacques vomited all over The Khan’s wife. Scabs quickly covered her. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It wasn’t the blood
drinking ritual that had caused this upheaval.
As the crowd gathered to watch the ceremony, The Scarlet Curse started
speaking to the party. It told them to
spread the disease they were infected with to the Karakhim in the tent, and
they could not feel relief until they did so.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Khan’s anger
returned, and he wanted to know if the party carried a plague. Zabutai lied and said they didn’t, blaming
Old Boggy and Jacques’ reactions on the drink.
Temujin backed him up and declared the party plague-free, but he knew
the truth. Later, the party would ask
him to cure them of The Scarlet Curse, but Temujin said it was beyond his
powers as a shaman. Perhaps the
physicians of The Jade City could cure them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Muke took the party
to a tent where they could rest and heal, and the next morning they set out to
retrieve the feathers of a Khiimori for The God Khan ceremony. As they journeyed through the steppes, they
came upon an abandoned a giant rock with the face of a man. They asked one of their remaining freed child
slaves, Braha, to sit on it, so they could test if it was a rock giant. It wasn’t, and the boy played on the rock
face with glee. But they spotted a giant
shoe in the distance, and decided not to take their chances.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then they found an
abandoned witch’s yurt. It was in a
plateau of dried lava covered with a thick layer of dirt. Nearby were crimson dying death worms, which
the party avoided for fear of its electric bit or the acidic explosion that
were known to occur when the worms died.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They searched the
yurt, finding some unidentified potions and pelts, which they took. They also found the acid-eaten remains of
what appeared to be the witch. They took
that as a sign to move on as well.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, they
reached a one hundred foot tall conical rock formation with a nest on top. It was further north than the Khiimori nest
was reputed to be, but Quofalcon and Zabutai climbed it anyway. There, they found a giant vulture. Quofalcon spied a wand nearly identical to
The Necromancer’s. He took it, and in
doing so woke the giant vulture.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zabutai and
Quofalcon decided they could take the vulture alone, so they began descending
down their ropes. Zabutai dodged the
vulture’s attack as he dangled fifty feet from the ground. Quofalcon held the wand between his teeth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The vulture then
dove and attacked the others on the ground.
Jacques and Old Boggy successfully hit the Vulture with their
blades. The Vulture tried to fly up to
its nest, but not before grabbing Quofalcon with his beak. Whatever damage the bite didn’t do, the fall
did as the vulture dropped Quofalcon to his death. Quofalcon still held the wand in his teeth,
spitting it out just long enough to say “avenge me!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the giant
vulture swooped down to feast on the Quofalcon, Old Boggy delivered the
vengeance the thief had asked for. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was the third
death the party had faced in as many days.
Khiimori were known to be dangerous creatures. Could they retrieve a feather from one so
depleted? What about the God Khan’s
tomb, reportedly occupied by bandits?
They might need to find aid if they wished to complete the quest to make
Gurag-Sukh God Kahn, thereby saving Temujin from the executioner’s blade.<o:p></o:p></div>
Mark Sablehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13154484354008134026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664117071410138648.post-1838085829209789102016-04-21T03:33:00.002-07:002016-04-21T03:33:49.174-07:00THE BOOK OF SCOUNDRELS CHAPTER FIVE: DEATH BE NOT PRANY<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zubatai, The Karakhim thief, and Ketil Gravelborn, his
Dwarven muscle, were along with the foppish fighter Jacques Roqumare the only
survivors of a band of scoundrels that had left Tal Skallar to set up a trade
route with drug smugglers in the Far Eastern City of Jade. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They had taken with them Sir Unvelt, a female knight and
wife of their patron Clarissa Griever, for whom they’d blackmailed noblewomen,
disposed of bodies and assorted deeds that made staying in Tal Skallar
unwise. They also had with them three
children who they had redeemed from Ghoul Slavery, including the savage
halfling Prany, who Ketil had taken under his wing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The party had reached a village below a monastery in the
mountains that divided The Rus Empire from the Karakhim horde, which stood
between them and the Jade City in far off Mu-Leng. They had promised Clarissa they would hide
Sir Unvelt the monastery, as he’d been accused of murder in Tal Skallar and she
could not afford a scandal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When they arrived at the village, it did not seem to be the
safe haven they sought. The villagers
had sealed themselves in their home, and the howls of wolves could be heard,
along with the neighing of horses and the screams of Karakhim horsemen and
women.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ketil and Jacques dismounted their war ostriches and headed
up steep stone steps carved into the mountain, escorting Sir Unvelt to the
monastery, where she hoped to be protected by Brother Gregor. Together they had fought against Koschei the
Undying in the Battle of 1,000 nights.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zubatai stayed on ground level, telling the children to stay
with the mounts as he stealthily scouted ahead to see what the howls and cries
were all about. He found himself looking
at three of his fellow Karakhim horsemen, led by Monkhbat, who had the body of
a horse but the legs of a woman. Aided
by a shaman, becoming one with one’s horse though a sacred right was the
highest honor a Karakhim horse lord could earn save becoming a God-khan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gut neither Monkhbat nor her men, one of who had just been
eaten, were concerned with honor. They
were too busy battling two werewolves in the narrow mountain pass behind the
village.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zubatai knew he had to help his kinsmen and let an arrow
fly. From up above, on the steps midway
to the monastery, Ketil and Jacques could see the battle. Ketil knew he’d be useless with his cursed
shield, so he led Jacques and Sir Unvelt in trying to hurl rocks down at the
lycanthropes, all unsuccessfully.
Jacques and Sir Unvelt started running down the mountain to enter the
melee. Ketil followed, encouraging young
Prany to join the fight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the werewolves grievously wounded another Karakhim
warrior. Our crew then noticed the Karakhim
held two prisoners. Quofalcon
Serpenthelm, a footpad, and Old Boggy, a Karakhim veteran. Both had been former accomplices of the gang.
Having lost their comrades to Mardak Hawklight and Jotis the Knife to ghouls,
Zubatai, Ketil and Jacques were glad to see them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With the Karakhim distracted by the werewolves, Quofalcon
was able to slip his bonds, while Old Boggy was able to break the ropes holding
him. Quofalcon grabbed his crossbow and
started firing at the werewolves, while Old Boggy drew his two-handed sword and
joined the melee on behalf of his former captors.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of Zubatai’s arrows found its mark, and Old Boggy was
able to behead one of the werewolves.
Freed from its curse, it transformed into a bald, naked dwarf.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sir Unvelt was till rusty from being a kept woman, unable to
land a blow on the other werewolf.
Neither was Ketil’s young halfling, Prany, try as he might to stab it
with the little dagger his new master gave him.
Quofalcon was able to land another hit, and together with the Karakhim
they were able to badly wound remaining werewolf. But as he did against the ghouls earlier,
Ketil saved the day by summoning his war ostrich Brutal Master to bit the
werewolf, finishing the job.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was no cause for celebration. Monkhbat has lost one of her men, with yet
another badly wounded. And when the
second werewolf transformed upon death, Sir Unvelt recognized it has her old
friend, Gregor the Monk. If they needed
further confirmation that the monastery was occupied by werewolves, two more
were headed down the mountain for the party and the Karakhim.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monkhbat, the half-horse Karakhim agreed to let Quofalcon
and Old Boggy go. They had trespassed in
Karakhim lands without a Khan’s passport.
Zubatai showed his, and but Monkhbat warned him it was outdated. Gurag, the God-Khan that commissioned Zubatai
to scout Tal Skallar had died, and a civil war had broken out among the
Karakhim.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Still, Zubatai and his friends were intent on heading
there. Monkhbat pleaded with Zubatai to
help the Karakhim here defend against the approaching werewolves, but instead
he gathered his crew and the children, and they went off on their war ostriches
through the mountain pass towards the land of the horse lords. Only Sir Unvelt stayed behind, determined to
find out what had befallen Brother Gregor, and perhaps make up for her poor
showing in combat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our party left the horsemen and werewolves behind to head
through a narrow pass to the steppes of Karakhim, which they reached at
dawn. There they found some marmots
trapped as game, and a crater filled with acid, a remnant of a magical war. They rode towards Kuzla Ka, a war camp about
three days journey.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The further into Karakhim they plunged, the stranger the
sights that greeted them. A Siberian
ibex that had somehow wandered far from the tundra. Stranger still – seals, sea turtles and other
creatures of the sea. They were hundreds
of miles inland, and yet here these aquatic animals were, wallowing in the
hilly grasslands of Karakhim. No one
could determine what had caused this occurrence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After party camped for the night, a giant hedgehog
approached the party, watching them but not daring to get close to the light
cast by their fire or their magically glowing horse. Ketil thought fighting this cute little
creature would be a good way to toughen up Prany, the halfling slave child he’d
redeemed, and sent the boy forth to fight him with his dagger. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Quofalcon tried to bet Old Boggy on the combat, but Boggy
would not take him up on the offer. “Let
nature take its course,” the veteran said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Prany stabbed at the hedgehog with no effect. But the startled hedgehog swiped in
retaliation with his little claws, gravely wounding little Prany. “Did I die bravely?” he asked Ketil. Ketil said nothing as the life passed out of
the child’s eyes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Old Boggy was injured trying to avenge the boy, and Ketil
and Quofalcon had to step in to prevent the hedgehog from killing them. When the wounded giant hedgehog finally
curled up into a ball, Old Boggy poured oil on it and lit it on fire.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By the light of the smoldering hedgehog corpse, Ketil built
a cairn for Prany. “Not a word,” he warned
his companions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At daybreak, more strange sights on the steppes. A pile of hundreds of severed right
hands. And soon after creature with the
body of a horse, but instead of a neck, a human arm that ended in a hand. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jacques tried to speak to the hand centaur, but it had no
ears. Finally he touched his hand to the
creature’s. The hand centaur reared back
and first, frightened. Then, it wrote
the words “curse” and “help” in the dirty.
Jacques pet and reassured the hand centaur before putting the remaining
freed slave children on its back, which seemed pleasing to all parties. They lead it with their mounts towards Kuzla
Ka, hopeful that Zubatai’s shaman uncle could lift the curse on the hand
centaur, as well as the one keeping Ketil from parting with his kite shield.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They reached Kuzla Ka the next day, finding a giant wooden
stockade containing and surrounded by many hundreds of yurts. As they approached, Karakhim horsemen
surrounded them. “Are you with the Brass
Horde or the Bastard Horde”, they asked.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Zubatai did not know how to
answer. With the death of God Khan
Gurag, the Golden Horde had been split asunder.
Gurag-Sukh, bastard child of God Khan Gurag, commanded one, likely the
one headquartered at Kuzla Ka.
Gurag-Bataan commanded the other, possibly larger one, to which Zubatai’s
clan owed his allegiance. Ignorance of
what had transpired in his homeland while he was out scouting Tal Skallar for
invasion would not be an excuse that would save Zubatai or his companions from
committing treason to one or the other tribe.
They would have to answer the Karakhim war party wisely – and quickly –
if they ever hoped to reach The Jade City of Mu-Leng.</span>Mark Sablehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13154484354008134026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664117071410138648.post-4918127496082510442016-04-19T04:56:00.000-07:002016-04-19T04:56:04.540-07:00THE BOOK OF SCOUNDRELS PART FOUR: INTO THE WILD<div class="MsoNormal">
Mardak Hawklight joined Jotis the Knife, Zabutai and Ketil
Gravelborn as Lady Clarissa Griever once again presented her plan. She wanted them to smuggle her wife, Sir
Unvelt, out of the city of Tal Skallar.
Sir Unvelt had been publicly accused as Ariska the Executioner’s
accomplice in Lady Sasha Volenveen’s murder.
Our crew had been present at the accusation, and disguised as plague
doctors, they took Ariska away, murdering him in the plague house they’d
acquired before disposing of his body in the ghoul market at Clarissa’s
behest. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Clarissa reminded them they were likely to be just as unsafe
in the city as her wife. She used their
fear at being imprisoned as a stick, but she dangled a carrot for them as
well. Lady Clarissa wanted to
re-establish a drug trade with The Jade City far in The Far Eastern realm of
Mu-Leng. If the crew agreed to smuggle
Sir Unvelt out, and they reached her contact in The Jade City, they could have
10% of whatever deal they struck.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It wasn’t just opium that Clarissa peddled to her fellow
aristocrats, nor the mushroom powder that Grozgull the Shrike, Sasha Volenveen’s
son, had grown addicted to. She wanted
the band of thieves to bring back such narcotic wonders as the Purple Lotus and
the Golden Crystal Bark. Clarissa
further sweetened her offer by agreeing to provide them with transportation by
steed of their choice or caravan, and provisioning them for the long journey.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Clarissa presented them with a sealed scroll case with her
order, which could only be opened by her contact in The Jade City. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The crew wanted to know how exactly they could leave the
city, but Clarissa insisted was their job to figure out. Noticing that Ketil the Dwarf carried a
cursed shield, she surmised they’d been to the Ghoul Market. She has heard that the ghoul market was
connected to every cemetery in the realm.
Assuming they used that as their means of egress from, she suggested
three possible destinations. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first was the closest, a monastery of The Eastern
Orthodox Church of the Iron Cross by the border between Rus and Karakhim, the
land from which Zabutai hailed. The
monastery not only had a cemetery, but housed one of Sir Unvelt’s former
comrades in arms. Brother Gregor fought
with Sir Unvelt in the Battle of 1,000 nights against Koschei the Undying. Surely Gregor would hide Unvelt.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next was further east, along Clarissa’s smuggling route,
in a land the crew had never heard of.
Another monastery, this one dedicated to The Plagues of Pleasure, which
sounded at once tantalizing and terrifying.
Having contracted the mysterious Scarlet Curse that at times left them
without full control of their faculties, the party rejected it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, there was The Shrine of The Silver Python, not far
from the Jade City itself. Jotis the
Knife and Ketil knew of this place, as they belonged to a secret serpent
society. Their cult wanted the shrine
reclaimed, although for what profane rites they did not know.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But Ketil, still burdened by his cursed shield, wanted
nothing more to do with the The Ghoul Market.
Instead, he pushed Clarissa to give up her man inside the city
guard. She reluctantly told them his
name was Buri, and that he was a half-orc crossbowman who manned the city gate
and might be susceptible to bribery. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Still, the party needed to confer. They secretly planned to take Clarissa’s
scroll and then report back to Lady Dominique Orrik, who they had framed as
secretly dancing in the city’s red light district by Clarissa, and for who
Jacques had served as a private guard (and lover). Together, they would expose Clarissa to Tal Skallar’s
royal family.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But then, three suddenly clean - if still feral - children
ran down the stairs. Braha, a human boy.
Zlava, a gnome girl with a scar that showed her to be the bastard child of the
Bratva (thieves’ guild) councilwoman in charge of prostitution. And Prany, a savage white haired halfling
boy. In an uncharacteristic bit of good
will, the crew had freed them from slavery in the ghoul market at 100 gold a
piece.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They had originally planned to tell the royal family that
not only was Clarissa a blackmailing drug smuggler, but an employer of child
labor as well. But that would require
the children being present in Clarissa’s household after they left. Clarissa would not have it. She was running an opium smuggling ring, not
an orphanage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The children looked hopefully that the crew would take them
on their journey. But it wasn’t their
doe eyes that melted the crew’s hearts.
No, it was money once again.
Clarissa would only agree to take care of the children if the expenses
were deducted from the drug deal the crew negotiated in The City of Jade. On this matter, they refused to budge.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Instead, they donned their plague masks again. Taking Clarissa’s servants’ cart, they hid
Sir Unvelt under a pile of Clarissa’s laundry.
Clarissa rarely wore the same outfit twice, but Sire Unvelt was still
surprised her wife would part with such finery…particularly a favorite outfit
of hers. Clarissa told her knight that
she wished him to carry her scent with him into (temporary) exile.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The children would be props.
They’d claim they were plague ridden and had to be let out of the city,
which had been on lockdown since Lady Sasha Volenveen’s murder. Clarissa agreed to the plan, and arranged for
mounts to be waiting for them outside the city gates.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Abandoning their plan to betray Clarissa, they crew set out
for the city gates, and then planned to ride to The Monastery of The Iron Cross
and to Karakhim and Mu-Leng beyond. But
betrayal was still in at least one of their minds. In Karakhim, Zubatai hoped to report to his
God-Khan on the defenses of Tal Skallar.
He had been sent by the Karakhim horse lords to scout the city for
weaknesses in its defenses. Ketil hoped
that Zubatai’s uncle, a shaman, could relieve him of his cursed kite shield.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was not long after they hit the streets that their plan
hit a snag. They ran straight into Sasha
Volenveen’s funeral procession. The
city’s famed Ursine Guard, humanoid war-bears, led the way. Grozgull, in chains for stabbing Ariska for
his mother’s murder, was nonetheless allowed to follow behind. But it was mostly commoners whose throngs
mourned their beloved Lady Sasha, secret spymaster and commander of the militia
that had kept them safe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With or without their plague masks, they could have been
recognized by Grozgull, and wanted to get away from the procession. But suddenly the Scarlet Curse hit them each
hard. They were compelled by some
unknown force to rush the procession and infect as many people as possible. Mardak flung himself into the crowed and
sneezed. Zabutai did the same and
vomited. Jotis coughed up blood. Ketil the Dwarf shat himself, and then
smeared his feces into any stranger’s orifice he could find.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A normal crowd might have fought back. But as each stranger was infected, they did
the same to the uninfected. In the
shit-stained chaos, poor Sasha’s coffin was overturned. The Ursine Guard, seemingly immune to The
Scarlet Curse, tried in vain to maintain order.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Having followed the virus’ command to infect others, the
crew was suddenly relieved of their urge.
When Sir Unvelt peeked out of the laundry cart to see what was going on,
she found Ketil and the others wiping their bodily fluids on his poor wife’s
clothing. The crew ignored his
objections, and he could hardly do much about it as they approached the city
gate. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Two Ursine Guards stood with pole arms at the ready, while crossbowmen manned
the guard towers. Zubatai signaled to a
half-orc on one tower by showing he had Clarissa’s scroll.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Buri, the half-orc crossbowmen, came down and told them
leaving the city was forbidden. The crew
argued they had plague-ridden children. Buri
suggested 100 gold each for the adults would be enough to let them
through. Mardak didn’t have that much,
and had to borrow from his fellow brigands.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ketil handed over the gold, making sure to smear it with his
shitty palms. Not because the Scarlet
Curse compelled him to infect Buri, but just because he was pissed. Buri was more so. “You could have just bargained me down, you
filthy dwarf!” Nevertheless, he let the
crew, the children and the cart carrying Sir Unvelt out of the city.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Out of sight of the guard towers, they met a man in
Clarissa’s employ. There, they were
introduced to their mounts. Richelieu, a
glowing horse, would carry the cart. The
party was warned Richelieu would age prematurely and be dead within a week
unless he was buried for a full day. But
Richelieu was the least strange creature.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The rest were War-Ostriches.
Zabutai chose Brutal Master, a red ostrich clearly bred for battle. Ketil claimed Karrier, who though the size of
four ostriches was surprisingly nimble.
Mardak wanted Damascus, who had been trained to smoke a pipe and who
Clarissa’s man claimed had a nose for mystery.
Jotis was stuck with Fat One, although in actuality that ostrich was in
good shape, and bent his neck down so that Jotis would not have to step in the
mud to mount him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With the children in the cart with Sir Unvelt to help hide
him from any patrols, they set out to the northeast for the monastery, which
guarded the mountain pass to Karakhim.
They made it half way, and after an uneventful journey, they camped for
the night.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But as they slept by the glow of Richelieu the Horse, two
undead creatures erupted from the ground.
Ghouls. Not the canny traders of
the market. No, these were fearsome
creatures who wore the armor of Koschei the Undying. With battle axes in hand they charged the
party.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zubatai and Jotis hit them with arrows, but that did not
stop them. Ketil could not hit them, the
weight of his cursed shield preventing him from swinging or flinging his hand
axe. In frustration, Ketil through his
dagger to Prany, the wild halfling child he’d adopted, and urged him to
fight. The boy lunged at the ghoul
without fear, but also without success.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sir Unvelt had not excuse for her inability to hit the
ghouls. She had once been a hero, but
her years married to Clarissa had made her soft, a kept woman, not a warrior.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mardak was able to fell one of the arrow-struck ghouls with
a dagger through its eye. But his
victory was short-lived. The other ghoul
cut cleaved him in two. He never even
had a chance to utter the spell he’d had memorized for such a life and death
situation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The remaining ghoul lashed out without any apparent
rhyme. He even swung at the
children. They were not harmed, but soon
Jotis the Knife was split in two as well.
The battle only ended when Ketil mounted his war ostrich. His curse shield did not extend to the bird,
and its beak bit down and severed the ghoul’s head.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As dawn came, there was sadness and much condemnation of Sir
Unvelt. She was a proud warrior, so when
her sincere condolences fell on deaf ears she took the abuse hurled at
her. The insults stopped at some point,
perhaps because Ketil and Zabutai realized that, unless they counted the
children, they no longer significantly outnumbered the knight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stone cairns were made for the dead, and Zabutai took a
strand of hair from each as was the tradition of his Karakhim tribe. He said a prayer to the sun, as Ketil wished
that the gentle breeze may carry them to the happy hunting grounds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The survivors passed the corpse of a giant ceratosaurus, but
did not stop to examine it. They reached
the village below the monastery at nightfall.
But there was no time to pray for their fallen comrades again. They found the doors to every building barred
shut, and heard the howling of wolves. They did not know what the sights and sounds
that greeted them meant, but they were quickly overcome by a horrible sense of
foreboding.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Mark Sablehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13154484354008134026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664117071410138648.post-63013919016811949042016-04-12T00:51:00.003-07:002016-04-12T00:51:44.997-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>THE BOOK OF SCOUNDRELS PART THREE: MERCHANTS
OF</b> <b>UNDEATH</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When last we left our scoundrels, they’d convinced the
warden of the prison of Tal Skallar to release Ariska Orren to their
custody. Dressed as plague doctors, they
told the warden he had the Scarlet Curse (which they themselves were infected with),
and fearing it’s spread among the prison population (and more so, to his own
person), he let them go with an Ursine Guard escort of two giant bear soldiers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ariska Orren stood accused of the murder of Lady Sasha
Volenveen, commander of the city militia and former spymaster of Tal Skallar. In fact, our heroes had witnessed Ariska the
Executioner and the female knight Sir Unvelt Gor Gothren carrying the body of
Sasha Volenveen out of a house of ill repute.
The two had asked for their help, and they refused.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, their patron, Lady Clarissa Griever – wife of the Sir
Unvelt, wished them to kill Ariska before she could implicate Unvelt. Unvelt accompanied them, as did Grozgull the
Shrike. Grozgull was Sasha’s son, a
former hero turned mushroom powder addict who they had rescued from Bratva –
thieves’ guild thugs – who tried to collect his drug debt.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once out of the prison, Grozgull stabbed Ariska. As Ariska started to bleed out, he pointed at
Sir Unvelt and said that she had helped murder Lady Sasha. He pointed to our band of thieves and
mercenaries as witnesses.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A giant bear restrained Grozgull before he could do any more
damage. Mardak the mage and Jotis the
knife disappeared into the crowd.
Grozgull again asked whether Unvelt had killed Sasha. He whipped the mob into frenzy. Was Lady Sasha not beloved, and Grozgull not
the hero of the Battle of 1,000 nights?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jacques Roqumare, the crew’s over-the hill, foppish fighter,
ignored Grozgull’s question, and went to stop Ariska’s bleeding. The crowd began to side with Grozgull and
close in on them, until they saw the party’s plague masks. Together with Zubatai the Karakhim thief,
Ketil the Dwarf and Sir Unvelt, they ushered the wounded Ariska The Executioner
to their plague house. Unfortunately, a
war bear accompanied them. The Ursine Guard
could not have another death on its hands.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The crew arrived at the Plague House that Mardak had
purchased from the physician Misvet Min Vale fleeing the Scarlet Curse to his
native Oghma. Waiting for them was an
old man in a bird-like plague mask and the bloodied garments of a doctor or
butcher. He introduced himself as
Dobromil. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Dobromil learned that the crew was now running
Minvale’s Plague House, he told them that he was a vendor at the Market of Ghouls. He wished to continue his lucrative trade in
buying corpses. The crew was busy with a
bloody Ariska, so he gave them a scroll with a sigil he called a “Writ of
Sanctuary”, and told them where to find him in the Ghul Market. With that, he bid them farewell.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally inside the plague house with Unvelt (the War Bear
stood guard outside), the Zubatai and the party began to question Ariska the
Executioner. Why should they not just
bring his head to Clarissa Griever as they were contracted to?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ariska begged for his life.
He said that, were they to take him to Prince Casimir, they would reward
him for exposing the conspiracy that he had shamefully taken part. Lady Griever had Sasha killed because she
found out about her illicit drug trade with The Jade City, as well as her
building a private alchemically mutated army.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sir Unvelt did not like this talk and drew her sword. But she was forced to stay her hand
surrounded by Zubatai, Ketil and Jacques.
Sir Unvelt said that what Ariska said was true, she and her wife
Clarissa had murdered Sasha. But things
weren’t that simple. Tal Skallar – and
the Rus Empire to which it belonged, faced two major threats. The undead, skeletal army of Koschei the
Undying, and Zubatai’s Karakhim horde of barbarian steppe horsemen.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zubatai realized that a city pitted against each other could
prove ripe for the taking. He had been
sent by his God-Khan to scout the city’s defenses, and had learned much. Ketil pointed out that Lady Clarissa Griever
had been good to them, paying them handsomely for framing Lady Dominique as an
exotic brothel dancer. With the group’s
assent, he slit Ariska the Executioner’s throat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Along with 4 other (plague-ridden) corpses the group had
left behind, they shoved Ariska’s body in a cart in the back alley used to
dispose of the dead. They hauled it to a
cemetery in the shadow of Tal Skallar’s clock tower and amphitheater. There, among graves marked with the
crucifix-swastika symbol of the Eastern Orthodox Church of The Iron Cross, they
found a Dobromil’s family crypt. It was
marked with the white sigil on the black scroll he had given them, the “writ of
sanctuary”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Joined now by Jotis the Knife, they dragged only Ariska’s corpse into the
mausoleum, leaving Sir Unvelt to guard the plague-ridden corpses. Inside, they saw the skeletal remains of
Dobromil’s family picked clean to the bone on both sides, and a large hole in
the ground in front of them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zubatai lit a torch, and with Ketil taking point and Jotis
and Jacques carrying Ariska’s bloody remains, they made their way down the
whole to through a dank soil tunnel. It
appeared to be dug solely by human hands.
Or perhaps, inhuman ones, they thought, as they faced a hungry ghoul who
salivated over Ariska’s corpse.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jacques took out the writ, and suddenly the ghoul stood
upright and apologized. He led them into
a cavernous chamber filled with others of his kind, feasting on bits of human
flesh but also conducting business as the living might. Well, not quite.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Ghoul Market was filled with stranger sights than the
undead. Ghoul merchants sold magic items
and fairies trapped in amber. An inhuman
sculptor his outsized body was covered in the flesh of more humanoids than they
could count carved corpses into works of art and tattooed magic spells onto the
living. A drider – half-dark elf,
half-spider – sold…unusual mounts, such as a flying whale that floated in
liquid darkness, and regal, ostrich-like raptors. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Far across the market, they saw Dobromil next to a ghoul
selling slaves, human and undead alike.
Dobromil greeted them warmly. He
paid them 100 gold each for their corpses, with the party dragged in and
out. Painted by Dobromil in blood with
his sigil on their foreheads, they were able to come and go unmolested by the
flesh eating ghouls. He offered to
identify any magical items they might have, and sell some of his own, including
a restorative potion. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dobromil said that whatever the party lacked in gold, they
could always make up for by selling a bit of their…essence. Their charm, their strength, their
vitality…any bit of humanity, ghouls prized.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With all the gold they acquired, they could not buy the
ostrich mounts that Zubatai desired. He
would not be able to make his fellow Karakhim horsemen envious.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But Ketil found some ghouls closing shop and willing to part
with magical armor at unbelievably low prices.
He purchased a great helm and kite shield, and proudly marched to
Dobromil to learn their magical properties.
Dobromil, true to his word, assess the items for free. The helm was indeed enchanted, but with fey
magic that would wear off in a day. The
shield would indeed protect Ketil more than any man-made shield, but it was
cursed. He could not remove it from his
arm, and knew that trying to wield a weapon with it would be incredibly
difficult.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ketil turned to face the ghouls that fleeced him, but they’d
burrowed a deep tunnel towards Gods knew where, and were long gone. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zubatai ushered the group over to the ghoul slaver. Aside from his fellow ghouls, the slaver sold
human children. “Bastards”, he answered,
when asked of their origin. He assured
them they were good workers, unlike the dark skinned folk of Oghma, where the
Scarlet Curse had originated. Racism
evidently survived into undeath.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Each of the party members freed – or at least purchased – a
slave from the ghoul. Zubatai bought
Braha, a human boy. Ketil bought Prany,
a savage halfling who at the rations Ketil offered him, at first suspiciously,
and then ravenously. Jacques bought
Zlatva, a gnomish girl who dressed in fine clothes and a strange scar on her
leg.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She limped up to the corpse cart along with the rest of the
slave children when the party was safely outside the ghoul market. The cart ride seemed to dry their tears, even
as Unvelt berated the scoundrels her wife had hired to murder her accomplice
for adopting “half the gods damned city.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As night once again fell on Tal Skallar they arrived back at
Clarissa Griever’s manse. Clarissa did
not like the look of the children, but was forced to usher them inside to avoid
undue attention. She had Unvelt and her
guards escort them upstairs to be watched.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She paid the crew 500 gold a piece for successfully
executing the executioner, Ariska. But,
while they’d succeeded in removing Ariska from the picture, Unvelt still
remained a problem. She’d been seen by a
large crowd publicly accused by Ariska of complicity in Sasha Volenveen’s
murder. At the very least she’s be
wanted for questioning in Grozgull’s attempted murder of Ariska.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The crew would be wanted for questioning as well. They could be tied to Lady Dominique’s guard
they’d killed while attempting to frame her.
Might Dominique would be suspicious that after the murder, Jacques, her
guard captain had ushered intruders from her home and not been seen since? What if Grozgull’s drug dealer had learned
they had prevented The Bratva from collecting Grozgull’s thousand gold piece
debt? And surely the War Bear posted outside the plague house would have
realized that they had disappeared with Sasha by now. The Ursine Guard was likely looking for them
as they spoke, along with Gods knew who else.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Clarissa Griever also warned them that she believed that the
gnome slave they redeemed was the bastard child of the Bratva (thieves’ guild)
councilor in charge of the city’s brothels.
Clarissa recognized the familiar scar the pimp branded his property
with, and she was familiar with Tal Skallar’s dens of iniquity.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Clarissa once again offered them a solution to both their
problems. She needed to re-establish her
opium trade with the Jade City to the East of Karakhim. They could smuggle Sir Unvelt out of the
city. Whether by horseback or by
caravan, Clarissa agreed to pay for their transportation – even the exotic
mounts at the Ghoul Market - and whatever provisions they might need. She would not provide an advance beyond that,
but would give them 10% of whatever deal they could cut with the opium
smugglers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The crew was left with a difficult choice. They had thus far been able to find steady
work in Tal Skallar without so much of a scratch. They had a base of operations, albeit a
plague-ridden one. But how long could
they elude the city’s authorities with impunity?<o:p></o:p></div>
Mark Sablehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13154484354008134026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664117071410138648.post-2924181263578864732016-04-06T23:40:00.001-07:002016-04-12T01:06:57.245-07:00THE BOOK OF SCOUNDRELS PART TWO: THE BEAR AWAKENS<div class="MsoNormal">
Jacques Roqumare was once a noble in Voskva, capital of the
Empire of Rus. No longer welcome in
Voskva, Jacques had been forced to slum it in Tal Skallar as a sword for
hire. But he still carried himself as if
he’s part of the aristocracy. While his
regal bearing skill with a sword may have gotten him the position of Lady Dominique
Orrik’s household guard, it was…other skills that gotten him into her bed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As he was getting dressed from a night of pleasuring his
mistress, he heard the screams of his guards.
But it was Lady Dominique that charged out into the hallway of her
living quarters over the Royal Warhorse Stables. He followed her out, sword at the ready, only
to see his brother Jotis the Knife among the intruders.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lady Dominique asked who the intruders were, and why they
had a letter with seal. Quick thinking
on Mardak Hawklight’s part convinced her that she was with a special royal task
force meant to test the security of noble households.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then, bells started tolling.
Could the militia be summoned so quickly? Our band of thieves had only just killed a
guard. No, the number and tone of the
bells indicated a noble had died.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bells were quickly followed by an even more ominous
sound. Growling from the depths of the
earth. The Ursine Guard had been awoken
from hibernation early. The Tsar’s elite
bear soldiers would soon be pouring forth from their caves.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jacques did not give his brother and his band of miscreants
up, not even when two guards under his command appeared, blocking them from
leaving from the stands. Ursula, a human
fighter, and Vasken, a half-orc former monk, told Jacque and Lady Dominique
that their fellow guard Gorble had been slain.
She did not know that it had been Zabutai’s arrow and Ketil Gravelborn’s
knife that had finished him, despite the apparent suicide that Mardak had
staged.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jacques ordered them to spread out and search the grounds for
the murderer, and asked Zabutai, Ketil and his brother Jotis to accompany him
so they could report the crime to the city authorities. They followed Jacques, but Lady Dominique
asked them if it was truly necessary to confiscate her sealed letter. She whispered to Jacques that the letter
contained information that could be damaging to them. He reassured her that he would protect her,
and soon all the men had left the stables.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They found refuge in an alley in the Itinerant Scholar’s
district, where learned men from all over the world came to study Tal Skallar’s
unearthed antiquities. In this alley,
Jacques and his companions opened Lady Dominique’s letter, addressed to Lady
Sasha Vollenveen. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lady Sasha’s white hair and age belied her importance. Currently the honorary head of the city
militia, the party knew she was and may still be the city’s spymaster and
liaison to the Goblins with whom she forged an alliance. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unfortunately, they had seen Sasha dead earlier that
evening, being carried by Ariska and The Executioner and Sir Unvelt von
Grothern, female knight and wife of Clarissa Griever, who had tasked the
thieves to break into Dominique’s stables and frame her for dancing in
brothels.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lady Dominique’s letter to Sasha read:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“My Dear Sasha,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I await the information you possess regarding Lady
Orchid. If what you say is true, and she
and her alchemists are in league with Koschei the Undying, I will insist to
Masha that I speak with the Prince. Take
care of yourself, my old friend. And
beware of Unvelt, I do not trust him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With both fear and affection,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lady Dominique Orrik”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Koschei the Undying.
The Deathless. The name sent
chills through the thieves. Long ago,
when Rus was at war with the Karakhim Horde in the Eastern Steppe (from which
Zabutai hails), Prince Koschei sought help from Baba Yaga. She granted him eternal life. But as with everything she did, it had a
price. He was burnt to a crisp, with
only his scorched bones remaining. He
became a lich, and with his army of skeletal undead driving back the Karakhim horse
lords. But then, cursed with unlife, he
and his death knights turned on mighty Rus.
It was only with the help of the Bear Soldiers that they were able to be
defeated. Defeated…but not eliminated. Koschei and his undead have been rumored to
have been mounting raids for a purpose none save The Deathless know.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was all beyond the thieves’ power and concern. They brought the letter to their patron in
blackmail, Lady Clarissa Griever, along with their report of a successful
mission.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While Clarissa was not happy with the mess of a dead guard,
she rewarded Mardak, Zabutai, Jotis and Ketil with 500 gold pieces each. She did not know or trust Jacque, let alone
owe him a reward.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Clarissa gave the crew words of warning. In addition to the messy loose end of the
guard, there was the bell announcing the death of a noble. She revealed that noble to be none other than
Sasha Volenveen, who they’d witnessed with Clarissa’s wife, Sir Unvelt. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bear soldiers would be combing the city for
suspects. They crew would not be safe in
the city.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But Clarissa presented them with an opportunity. She had established a lucrative trade in
illicit substances with the Far Eastern city of Mu-Leng. Each year, the half-human, half-animals of
the city would switch social strata according to the Zodiac. She had a deal with the Oxen-Men, but needed
a deal with the Cock-Men. If they went
to Mu-Leng in her stead, she’d give them 10% of whatever deal they could
strike. She even offered them safe
passage outside of the city – horses if they wanted to travel the direct route
through Zabutai’s Karakhim steppes, or a Caravan if they wished to travel the
Silk Road through the arid deserts of the south.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just then, a flustered Sir Unvelt entered. She looked nervous when she saw the party,
and asked her wife what they were doing here.
The crew informed Clarissa of their encounter, and how Sir Unvelt had
asked them for help with Sasha’s body.
Sir Unvelt admitted to finding Sasha’s body and trying to help dispose
of it, and that her accomplice, Ariska the Executioner had been
apprehended. Furious, Clarissa ordered
her wife upstairs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She rewarded the crew for their honesty by offering them another
opportunity. If they could infiltrate
the city prison and find a way to dispose of Ariska – who might implicate the
crew as well as her husband – she would pay them extra. They balked at the job initially; they were
all too familiar with prisons and didn’t wish to return. Clarissa reminded them that she couldn’t
guarantee any cut of the drug trade if Ariska’s testimony jeopardized any of
their positions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While the crew debated, Ketil Gravelborn sneezed. All but Mardak soon felt them impossibly
ill. Ketil vomited, Jotis and Jacques
felt weak, and Zabutai had a sudden outbreak of…gangrene? All of them felt a sudden urge to be near
crowds. To infect others.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Clarissa drew back.
The plague was in her house! But
despite the crew’s weakened state, she needed them to take care of Ariska the
Executioner. She gave them the name of a
physician and offered to spare no expense for their treatment if they left
immediately. With Sir Unvelt as their
escort, they made for the physician on their way to the prison.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The crew tried to reach the doctor by cutting through the
Fortune Teller’s district, where this adventure had started. Zabutai fell through a manhole into the
city’s sewer, and soon found himself face to face with an albino, jewel
encrusted crocodile. Another mutated
monstrosity? Or a valuable royal
pet. The croc snapped at Zabutai, who
scrambled up a ladder. He tried to fire
his bow at the beast and claim its jewels, but he missed. The crocodile slithered back into the sewers
and the party thought it best not to pursue it in their weakened state.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unvelt and the thieves reached the Ostler District, where
visitors to Tal Skallar kept their horses. The majority of Dominique Orrik’s
Imperial Warhorses - those not shown at the stables over which Jacques and his
guard presided (when Jacques was not pleasuring his mistress) were housed there
as well. In the shadow of The Mosque of
The Formless God, they saw a nobleman being chased by two mutated thugs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They recognized the nobleman as Grozgull the Shrike. Son of Sasha Vollenveen, and father of Masha,
wife to the city’s regent, Prince Casimir.
Grozgull was once a hero, having fought in the battle of 1,000 nights
against Koschei the Undying. Now, he was
addicted to mushroom powder and evidently the Bratva, the local Mafiya, in the
form of an inhumanly fast elf and a stone skinned gnome, was out to collect his
drug debt.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Grozgull begged for his help, and the crew intervened. They tried to buy Grozgull out of his drug
debt, but the elf told them to mind their business. When Zabutai pulled his bow, the elf charged
at him with unnatural speed. Ketil
loosed his own arrow. As the elf dodged
Zabutai’s missile, she caught Ketil’s in the eye and was killed instantly. Jotis dispatched the stone skinned gnome with
his sword, severing the mutant thug’s arm.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The crew found 43 gold pieces, a flask with an unknown
liquid and an elephant tusk knife.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Grozgull learned they were off to confront his mother’s
killer, he offered to help them infiltrate the prison. He knew the warden. The crew made Grozgull confess that his drug
debt was owed to Artalas, one of the six leaders of Tal Skallar’s Bratva.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once again on their way, the crew found the charcoal-skinned
doctor, Misvet Minvale, in a house filled with the sick, the dead and their
loved ones. But they didn’t need his
treatment…being near a crowd, they started sneezing involuntarily. Having infected those who weren’t already
ill, the effects of their mysterious illness vanished just as quickly as they
had appeared.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While Dr. Minvale couldn’t offer them aid, he could give
them a diagnosis. He believed they, like
many of his patients, had what the Rus referred to as The Scarlet Curse. This plague had apparently originated in
Oghma, the jungle city-state where the doctor was from. There had been no cure found there, but
perhaps the renowned physicians of Mu-Leng could rid them of the Scarlet Curse
permanently.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dr. Minvale seemed in an unusual hurry to leave. He offered them his house for the measly
price of 500 gold. When the crew
accepted, the doctor gave them a deed, took an already-packed bag and left with
no concern for the welfare of his patients.
The crew showed even less concern, evicting the sick and the family
members who tended to them. The dead
they kept, for they had a plan. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Donning the bird masks of plague doctors, they finally
arrived at the prison. There, the bear
soldier’s Ursine Guard let Grozgull and the crew into the prison, but kept a
watchful eye on The Shrike. While they
had fought with him in The Battle of 1,000 Nights, they were under orders not
to let him kill Ariska the Executioner until it could be learned whether he was
part of a conspiracy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The prison spiraled down like a funnel, just like Tal
Skallar itself. At the very bottom,
Grozgull introduced the crew to Fat Balto, the wooden-eyed warden. The warden wished to see Ariska suffer for
the murder of Grozgull’s mother Sasha, but was under orders from Prince Casimir
not to kill him until a new executioner was hired. He would, however, let Grozgull question him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fat Balto seemed wary of the plague-masked crew. Grozgull said that they had saved his life,
and in return they hoped to reach a deal with the warden to study the prison’s
corpses in order to cure the plague. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mardak then surprised the warden and Grozgull by saying that
Ariska had been infected with the plague.
When the warden recoiled, Mardak said they would keep Ariska at their
plague house. Fat Balto agreed; under
the condition that two bear soldiers accompany them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Soon, the crew found itself outside the prison with Ariska
as their prisoner, accompanied by Grozgull, Sir Unvelt and two Bear Soldiers as
crowds gathered to jeer the alleged murderer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suddenly, Grozgull pulled a dagger and stabbed Ariska. Wounded, Ariska claimed Sir Unvelt had
poisoned Lady Vollenveen. And, as Ariska
started to bleed out, he claimed the crew was witnesses who could back up his
claims.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
What would the crew say?
Who would Grozgull believe? Whose
side would the bear soldiers or the angry mob take? The crew had talked themselves out of some
sticky situations, but it seemed inevitable that more blood would be spilled
this night. <o:p></o:p></div>
Mark Sablehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13154484354008134026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664117071410138648.post-29362255580882554382016-03-03T02:15:00.000-08:002016-04-12T01:07:08.019-07:00THE BOOK OF SCOUNDRELS: CHAPTER ONE - INTRIGUE IN TAL SKALLAR<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>CHAPTER 1: INTRIGUE
IN TAL SKALLAR<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b> </b>Our story opens in the city of Tal Skallar. Surrounded by dunes of ash, Tal Skallar is a
city that spirals down into the ground like a funnel, each neighborhood a
concentric circle that descends deeper into the earth. Its mines once served the Imperial war
effort. Now, what some might call
adventurers, others looters, ply what the miners unearthed in a lucrative, if
dangerous ancient antiquities trade.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One such band of
scoundrels found themselves wandering around the Fortune Tellers Ring late one
night. In the shadow of Locksmith’s
Tower, Ketil Gravelborn the thief found himself sneezed upon by a tavern wench. He immediately felt a sickness that, while
not debilitating, was clearly something more than a simple sneeze should have
brought on so quickly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ketil, accompanied
by the thieves Zubatai and Jotis the Knife and the frail mage Mardak Hawklight,
followed the woman to the Pleasure Ring.
There, they spied a man in executioner’s garb and a knight dragging the
body of what appeared to be a drunken friend though the streets. In the shadow of the Eastern Orthodox
Cathedral of the Iron Cross (for where better to minister to those in need of
salvation than the amdist dens of iniquity), our band left the drunks to their
business and followed the infectious wench into her tavern.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While Ketil kept a
watch on the wench, the others paid their cover charge and watched an exotic
dancer clad only in a bejeweled ceramic mask prance before a leering crowd on
stage. They recognized her as the noble
Clarissa Griever. When she was done with
her act, the beckoned her over to their table.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There, they
threatened to blackmail Clarissa. She
paid them some gold, but gave them an intriguing counter offer. There had been rumors circulating in Tal
Skallar for some time that an aristocrat was performing in the brothels of Tal
Skallar. Clarissa offered to pay them
more if they would frame another noble for her scandalous behavior – the
beloved Dominique Orrik, breeder of fine imperial warhorses.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They accepted. She warned them that, should they cross her,
they’d have to deal with her spouse, the knight. Unvelt Gor Grothern.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As she left, Ketil
approached the wench who sneezed on him.
Appearing quite ill, she identified herself as Myria. “The Wretched”, added the bartender upon who
she has also sneezed, and didn’t look well himself. She had no answers as to the cause of her
illness, only apologies for infecting the dwarf. She asked him if he’d heard “the voices”
urging her to always be around others.
When he said no, she told him his fortune, some nonsense involving being
awarded for a coin trick.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With no clue to the
nature of his illness, Ketil left along with others as they went to find
Dominique in the stables in the Ring of Itinerant Scholars. Outside, they once again saw the Knight and
The Executioner standing over the body of their friend. They asked for help, and it became clear their
friend was not drunk but dead. Poisoned,
they claimed, in the very brothel from which they emerged.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Knight, who
introduced herself as Unvelt, pleaded with the party for help. Mardak and Ketil recognized the old woman as
Sasha Volenveen, a former spymaster, militia captain and liaison to the Goblin
Kingdoms. They asked that they convey a
letter she was carrying while they made Sasha’s remains received a dignified
burial. Already in a web of intrigue,
they declined. Ariska Orben the
executioner warned that if they didn’t keep quiet about what they saw, they’d
find their heads on his chopping block.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our heroes began to
make their way to the Lady Dominique’s stables.
They passed the Tal Skallar’s Palace, a Kremlin like building at the
very bottom of the city that was a pit.
It was surrounded by poor working-class structures, as the regent wished
to be “among his people”. Some of these
people seemed stricken with the same illness as Ketil and Myria.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They arrived in The
Scholar’s Ring, home of Lady Dominque’s stables. There, they made their way through a throng
of people outside Tal Skallar’s prison, surrounding a scaffold erected for
tomorrow’s beheading. Suddenly, six
mutated rats emerged from the sewers.
They split up, three each attacking the two most attractive men in the
crowd. Our band ignored their pleas for
help, and the rats fled after disfiguring the beautiful faces.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, the
roguish companions stood before Dominique’s fine stables. Two private guards stood watch at each of the
two entrances. Taking advantage of the
commotion cause by the rat attack, they snuck around the back to a narrow
alleyway between the stables’ rear and the earth the city had been carved from.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zubatai and Jotis
the Knife climbed to the second story window which presumably led to Dominique’s
private quarters. Unable to pry the
window open, they smash it quickly and let themselves inside a richly appointed
hallway lit by expensive alchemical globes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Downstairs,
however, one of Dominique’s guards comes round to check on the noise. Ketil put his axe in the stable’s wall, and,
pretending to be drunk, started pissing on it.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The guard drew his
rapier and, picking up Ketil’s axe, demanded to know who defaced the stable’s
wall with it, and why? Ketil claimed he
found the axe already in the wall, but the guard never even mentioned the ace
for it. Seeing the dwarf possesses a
shield, he asked where Ketil’s weapon was.
The Dwarf revealed his dagger.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mardak passed out,
pretending to be drunk. The guard poked
him with his rapier, not fooled. He
demanded the mage and the dwarf come with him, and threatened to relieve Ketil
of his manhood if he did not stop pissing on the wall.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Above, Zubatai felt
he cannot risk the guard discovering their enterprise. Although loyal to his Khan, he felt no
compunction about letting loose with his short bow and putting an arrow through
the guard’s leather doublet. Ketil
finished the guard off with his dagger, nearly beheading him. After taking his gold, Mardak pulled the
arrow from the guard and replaced it with the guard’s rapier. He then wrote a suicide note in the guard’s
blood, not thinking how the guard would have stabbed and then beheaded himself.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zubatai and Jotis
The Knife hauled their comrades up to the second story with a rope. There, they picked a lock and entered the
office where Dominque conducted the stables’ business affairs. They planted Clarissa’s exotic mask on
Dominique’s desk, imprinting it with Dominque’s wax seal. Taking an envelope sealed with Dominique’s
crest from the desk, they prepared to leave when they heard a guard below yell
“Ursula! Vasken! Come quick!
Something happened to Gorble…”<o:p></o:p></div>
Mark Sablehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13154484354008134026noreply@blogger.com0