# Diamond Boys Snap Into Action Against Humanist Menace!



## RobNJ (Sep 23, 2003)

And so begin the campaign logs for the anti-Humanist campaign.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a brief rundown of the basic concept.  For exhaustive ruminations, check out http://pub102.ezboard.com/fokayyourturnfrm32.showMessage?topicID=250.topic

There is an organization at work in the campaign called the Humanists.  Humanists range from people who are greatful to the giants for freeing them, but who now want to be able to recreate their own kingdom, all the way up to people who see giants and almost every other race as a filthy scourge and want to be free of them as violently as possible.

The campaign is set in Xavel where in recent years, more and more humans have been moving in, and becoming more vocal about their rights.  The party are Knights of the Diamond, subProxies (a quarter-step down from a lieutenant, roughly, in a modern military) who have attained the highest rank possible for non-giants in the giant military.  They are each routinely responsible for leading small 5-man patrols of guardsmen, but are also part of an elite group lead by Proxy Ku-Carram, a Giant 3/Warmain 3 capable of entering Chi-Julud, and also a Born Leader.  The Proxy is a man loved by his soldiers and by this party in particular.

The PCs:

*Wolfwind, 1st level unbound human male wolf totem warrior.*

Wolfwind was found wandering the Harrowdeep as a little child (~4 years old), and was adopted by Seili Everfight (former quickling spryte female hawk totem warrior) and Soen Loreshadow (former loresong spryte male magister), both of whom are in their late middle age.  These two both chose to become sprytes at a time when they were focused on excelling in their respective fields, regarding romance as not for them.  Later in life, they fell in love, and it was a great tragedy that they could not have a child together.  They were the leaders of the village (Heandale) that found Wolfwind.

Wolfwind was given a surname only because it would be presumptuous for the faen to come up with his real name.  Similarly, he was offered the choice to not have a truename (which he took) because the faen were uncomfortable just "making up" something.

Wolfwind considers himself to be a faen, even though logically he knows he's not.  Still he _feels_ like he's faen.  He was teased mercilessly as a child by the faen children, but thanks to that learned how to control his temper better than another human might, since very soon he would be capable of doing great harm not only to the other children, but even to the adults.

One day, Wolfwind was out in the forest and had what he believes to be his first ephiphany of a Faen god, Great Father Wolf.  Any faen would patiently explain that something that broad couldn't possibly be a god; he'd have too much to do!  But this epiphany was such that he felt compelled to go out into the world and aid it in the way his parents taught him to.

He entered the city Navael, and even though it's heavily faen influenced, his strange demeanor didn't go over well.  He got into an altercation with a drunken man in a bar and hurt him severely.  He fled into the wilderness but was tracked down by a patrol that included former squadron-mate, Akai Windrider.  He was offered the choice: face his crimes, or join the military to atone for them.  He chose he latter.

Wolfwind has an anger problem, and a violence impulse-control problem, but his extraordinary skill and determination to aid the Land and The Diamond Throne have won him a place in Ku-Carram's eilte unit.  Nonetheless, these problems make him a bone of contention in the military, and it is only through the sheer force of personality that the Proxy wields that protects him against his enemies in the force.

Wolfwind's player describes the character's personality thusly:  "Nice guy.  Intense."

*Scetigoth, mojh magister*

Scetigoth was a man known as Ogar Morsten before his transformation.  He lived in a small town called Queviri, in the uncontrolled land between Zalavat and The Diamond Throne (though functionally most ties were with The Diamond Throne).  It was a heavily verrik town that had a Humanist attack which forced out almost all non-humans.  The town is now largely a Humanist enclave.

His parents ran a tavern called Hanson's Well.  The father, Jonaird, died of a wasting sickness and his wife, Carna, died shortly thereafter, despairing in her loss.  He was left in charge of his sister, Lynan, and the tavern.  He saw his life closing up around him and the chances for him being the kind of man (or, non-man) he wanted to be disappearing, and so he left his sister in charge of the tavern and fled to a mojh enclave called Sadisin.  I haven't established yet how he found out about it and the like, but I'm asking the player.

Sadisin is in the Elder Mountains, on the site of a former dramojh "lab" where foul experiments were conducted.  In it can be found both a black stream and a power cyst which are both carefully tended by the enclave's leader, the akashic Scisalin.  The enclave consists of 6 mojh and 7 mojh-born.  The enclave's philosophy is that people who rail against The Dark are being foolish and provincial.  They regard the dramojh as vile because of their excesses, but not on principal.  They feel comfortable utilizing the tools and discoveries of the dramojh.

Scetigoth spent 5 years among the mojh, learning their ways and eventually "ascending" into their ranks.  They gave it its True Name ceremony, and inducted it into the world of those bold enough to truck with The Dark with the Corrupt Mage ceremony.  They then sent it out to De-Shamod to study at the ancient magisterial academy, Se-Heton.

Scetigoth didn't have the money to attend the college, but it learned about an opportunity that The Diamond Throne's military was making, and offered to enlist for a five-year tour of duty with the military in exchange for the cost of its training at the academy.  Scetigoth swore its oath, and began training.

At the academy, it was hardly popular.  It didn't take the instructors very long to figure out that it tangled with forces that most civilized people would find repugnant.  Word about this got out quickly among the students, as well, and Scetigoth quickly found itself ostracized.  The only things that provably prevented its complete ouster were its determination, its extreme sense of honor and forthrightness when it came to its word, and its ability to domineer those who tried to bully it.  While in Se-Heton, it met its future co-recruit, Chardak.  The two could not be more different, and did not form a close relationship while studying together.

When it completed its studies and began its enlistment with the army, the word had gotten out about what it was, and what sorts of things it was "into".  But the military had made an oath to it as much as it had to them, and so it was beholden upon them to honor it.  The decision was made to send Scetigoth to the furthest reaches of The Diamond Throne (where, incidentally, there wasn't as much life to be corrupted by its unfortunate predilections).  The hope was also by giving it the assignment that most giants would consider to be the worst possible assignment to get (far from the water), it might be encouraged to quit on its own.  That part of it probably wasn't even conscious; it's just that love of the water is so core to the giants' nature that they can't but think of Xavel as one of the worst places in the world to be.  It's just about perfect for a mojh, especially one so morally grey.

Scetigoth's enemies include:

*Gellis Froron*, a human rabble-rouser for the Humanist cause.  He is Lynan Morsten's (Scetigoth's sister) fiance, and helps to run the family tavern these days.  Sctigoth has tried to go back to its home village several times, to try to reconcile with its sister, but such attempts have never been successful.  It believes Gellis has brainwashed its sister into the Humanist cause, and while she occasionally shows some trend toward sympathy toward what used to be her brother, on those rare occasions, Gellis would always be there with his bully boys to run Scetigoth out of town.  While Scetigoth is certainly capable of making Gellis rue the day that he ever met Lynan, it can't bring itself to harm one who its sister so dearly loves.  Besides that, doing so is not likely to endear itself to her, anyway.

*Fisgar* is a greenbond who tends to the population of Xavel, aiding both with crops and with the everyday insults and injuries the poor see inflicted on their bodies and spirits.  Fisgar is, however, a Humanist.  He's one of the more moderate humanists (at least, in public, who knows what his heart truly believes), advocating merely for independant governance and representation rather than the more vile and racist attitudes of some of his compatriots.  However, to him, Scetigoth represents everything wrong with the giants.  They have a practical darkbond (to his way of thinking) as an officer in their military!  The truth is that Fisgar probably regards Scetigoth as his own enemy more than Scetigoth would regard Fisgar as its enemy.

*Kesh the Lost* is a sibeccai champion of darkness who is a raider in the area.  He preys upon the caravans and any peasantry that he and his occasional henchmen are able to find out on their own.  To Scetigoth, Kesh is the reason that people are unreasonably quick to judge with regard to his own activites.  He wants to stop Kesh because, basically, Kesh is giving The Dark a bad name.

Scetigoth's player describes his personality as, "Grim, quiet, not to be trifled with."

*Akai Windrider, male quickling faen unfettered*

Akai is from the city of Navael.  His parents were merchants, who left him at about 8 years old because they were both struck with inspiration from the gods and wanted to become Champions of Freedom.  His father's name was Voen, his mother's Saeni.

He wound up in the care of his uncle, Goen Windwriter.  Goen is a scribe who set up a shop in Navael and produces beautiful manuscripts for people, complete with illuminations.

He joined the military because he wanted to live a life of adventure.  He served alongside Wolfwind when he was found, and Wolfwind's affinity for faen spoke naturally to the Akai.

Akai's player describes him as an arrogant smartass.

*Kester Stenth, male human akashic*

His family (Father: Pagis, Mother: Tarra, Brother: Edric) are from Khorl and claim to be descended from what nobility remains from the days before the dramojh.  In any case, they are inarguably rich.  They use their sizeable wealth, putting it to work in offering loans to citizens and passers-by through the city, and reaping the rewards of interest.  The family has unreasonably high standards of excellence for its children.

Several years ago, Edric was caught with a book of necromancy and disowned by the family.  During that same period, Kester had become fast friends with a poor and troubled giant named Vi-Gorto, who introduced him to the city's famous and fetid underbelly.  Young Kester found himself fascinated by the workings of the criminal underworld, and was drawn to it like a moth to flame.  When his parents caught on, they decided they weren't going to lose two children to perfidy, so they packed him off to an akashic school founded in Khorl (a city which echoes with the memories of the multitudes that once lived in wide swaths of the city which are now utterly abandoned--at least by most legitimate people.

This school is known as the Mirran Mind Academy, and is run by a verrik named Veyinr.  4 other akashics call that school home.  One of them is Lofgin Corstrat, one of Kester's enemies.  Lofgin was always extremely competitive with Kester, and hates him in part because Kester had a fling with Lofgin's sister, Jenlene.

While in the academy, Kester found himself far more interested in the illicit skills he could learn than those his parents were hoping he would take on.  However, in the mean time, his old friend Vi-Gorto reformed himself by serving in the Giant military, where (along with some time learning from magisters), he became a mage blade.  He convinced his old friend to join up, too, and Kester followed suit.

Kester's player describes his personality thusly:  "Very gung-ho, enjoys a challenge."

*Chardak, male human magister*

Chardak is from a village called Janithan.  It's a small farming village north of Xavel.  The people there are superstitious and suspicious, and humanist-allied.  The town is now all human, thanks to a Humanist-lead expurgation of "undesirables".  In this conflict, his family was killed, and his older sister took over running of the farm.

Chardak saw this revolution and his taste for the Humanist cause rather muted.  He chose to attend Se-Heton on the same sort of scholarship program that Scetigoth attended on.  Once he was exposed to the multicultural environment of De-Shamod and Se-Heton, he fully rejected his former ways, and now feels it's his duty to atone for the excesses he aided or particpated in.

Chardak's player describes his personality as, "Very honest, outgoing, chivalrous."

Most of these characters were created with 32 point point-buy.  2 (Chardak and Kester) chose to roll 4d6 and drop the lowest, though they were told they'd be stuck with whatever they rolled as long as they had a net +1 modifier.


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## RobNJ (Sep 26, 2003)

So I figured it's about time I actually do a bit of adventure-logging.  Unfortunately, after character generation, we didn't have that much time to actually play.  However, we did get about 2 hours of game in, so here it goes:

The party are getting ready to walk the patrol in the morning when Ku-Carram comes in and tells them, "Something big's come up.  Meet me in the conference room in an hour."  The characters go to the steward's palace, which is an enormous dome with concentric domes inside of it.  The conference room is a place used mostly by the steward to conduct meetings with the various racial sitters, but it can be used as a situation room as well.  Ku-Carram is late, and when he comes in he apologizes, explaining that his radont, Karat, was being fussy and that no one else is able to calm the beast but he.

He explains that a village about two days to the north has not been heard from in a distressingly long time.  It's two weeks past when they usually send in their harvest.  Also, a local verrik iron witch named Urquay was said to have had disturbing visions of the future.  Ku-Carram asked his men if they had had similar visions, but none had.  He confessed that he had some bad hunch, but couldn't nail it down any firmer than that.

The patrol left an hour later, the PCs on foot and Ku-Carram riding his radont.  Nearing the end of the first day of travel, they find themselves passing through a box canyon that almost closes over their heads.  On the way, they begin to hear weird sounds.  Straining to hear, some think it might be the sounds of people in pain, and others think it might just be the sounds of their own movement being reflected back weirdly to them.

Wolfwind goes ahead of the party as they see the end of the canyon (the canyon trended upwards, biting into a cliff-face, and the party is now atop the cliff).  He sees, about 500 feet away, the wreckage of a caravan that looks like it's made of brass and dark wood.  He goes back to report this and Kester is reminded of the Jeran, the shadowy trade organization that plies trade throughout the realm.  The party advances a bit, coming out of the canyon, and see humanoid figures capering among the wreckage.

Just that moment, there is a massive explosion behind them, causing a massive boulder-slide, cutting off retreat into the canyon.

They send ahead their scout and spy (Wolfwind and Akai respectively).  As they get closer, Akai and Wolfwind are able to get a better look at what's going on.  It appears as though some grey-furred, powerful-looking humanoids with curled rams' horns and long, skin-peeling muzzles.  Akai decides to head back and report to the party, but Wolfwind decides he's going to attack.  He beings to creep forward slowly.

Akai gets back and reports what he's seen, and as he's doing so, Ku-Carram's face is getting harder and sterner.  He identifies the attackers as Rhodin, then heels his mount to move and shouts the command to attack.  He lowers the mask on his helm and cracks a wafer, the crumbs of which he sprinkles on the back of his radont.  The beast picks up speed and rockets forward.

Meanwhile, Wolfwind has stopped in his advance, because he has noticed that the rhodin are staked into the center of the camp, and chained to that stake.  He also notices this line of salt that is shimmering oddly, extending away from him in both directions.  As Ku-Carram thunders forward, Wolfwind carefully lines up a shot to bring the radont short.

Unfortunately, Wolfwind misses his mark, and mount and rider pass over the rune.  Ku-Carram's flesh begins to boil and burst and grow rapidly, as though all over his body every cell was afflicted with an explosive cancer.  He flies from the radont, which gallops away quickly in fright.  Flesh is boiling from between the spaces between his armor, and the pressure of the growth is causing the immense and thick plates of his armor to bend and warp and snap.

Wolfwind notices that the shimmer has gone out of the salt, and jumps to the fore to protect his commander.  All four rhodin are utterly uninterested in the seething, boiling mass of flesh but do jump greedily toward Wolfwind.  They are brought up short by the chain that is staked into the center of the camp, but the action of four full-grown rhodin pulling with all their might at their tether, and all in the same direction, means that the stake is slowly being worked out of the ground.

Just as the stake breaks free, Wolfwind's fellows come to his rescue and a battle is joined.  Ku-Carram is now a Huge blob of flesh, growing at a feverish pace.  However, he retains enough of himself to reach out with one good arm and he _yanks_ the chain binding the 4 rhodin together, buying his troop a moment's respite.  The effort is too much, though, and the noble steward dies.  His body begins to rapidly necrotize.

With much difficulty, the troop is able to dispatch almost all of the enemy.  The last one, terrified, runs, jumping over the broken wagon.  The chain yanks it short again, however, and it is left dangling off the edge of a wagon, choking to death and kicking its feet futilely.  Scetigoth wants to question the rhodin, but Wolfwind, irritable and angry, buries a tomahawk into the back of its skull.  By this time, the corpse of their leader has mostly dissolved into a viscous black muck, that which touches the ground having wilted the grass and blackened the earth.

The party rinses off Ku-Carram's breastplate, intending to bring it back home to his family, and the brief session is ended.  For now.

Next session:  Will they go north to complete their mission?  Try to find some way back south?  And The Knights of the Diamond's require a new leader be chosen.  Will it be one of the party's skilled warriors?  Or the take-charge intelligence officer, Scetigoth?


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## Jaws (Sep 26, 2003)

*Sweet!*

A new AU: Diamond Throne story hour! Awesome. I like it so far. What a gruesome death.


Peace and smiles 

j.


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## RobNJ (Sep 26, 2003)

Jaws said:
			
		

> A new AU: Diamond Throne story hour! Awesome. I like it so far. What a gruesome death.



Thanks!  That gruesome death was my favorite part of what I did.

I forgot to mention that afterward, the PCs looked at the rune and realized it was triggered to have effect only on giants.  Also, in the center, there was a red-sand painting of a fist into the center of which had been nailed the spike.  The symbol was recognized as that of the Humanists.


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## blackshirt5 (Sep 27, 2003)

RobNJ said:
			
		

> And The Knights of the Diamond's require a new leader be chosen.  Will it be one of the party's skilled warriors?  Or the take-charge intelligence officer, Scetigoth?




It will, of course, be Wolfwind.  Nobody respects a leader who won't lead in battle, wants to spare a feral opponent to report back to it's master, and who lacks genetalia.

And I don't remember Scetigoth jumping in to save Akai, unlike a certain Wolf Totem Warrior we all know and love.


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## Angcuru (Oct 4, 2003)

*finally is able to log on*

Well dammit. Typical that all the exciting stuff happens after I leave.  Nasty way to kill off a giant and pose the question of party leadership there, Rob.     I notice that Chardak was not mentioned once, which is all well and good considering who was NPCing him.


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## RobNJ (Oct 5, 2003)

Angcuru said:
			
		

> *finally is able to log on*
> 
> Well dammit. Typical that all the exciting stuff happens after I leave.  Nasty way to kill off a giant and pose the question of party leadership there, Rob.     I notice that Chardak was not mentioned once, which is all well and good considering who was NPCing him.



Yeah, I considered laying out the combat round-by-round, given how the session was only 2 hours, but basically, Chardak did a lot of healing.


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## blackshirt5 (Oct 5, 2003)

Yeah, Chardak did well; I might try to enlist him as an ally in my bid for leadership over Scetigoth; I figure a healer wouldn't want a Mojh Necromancer to lead, right?


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## RobNJ (Oct 7, 2003)

After the death of their leader, the party discussed who ought to lead them in the future.  There was a bit of unpleasantness, as Wolfwind made some blatant ad hominem attacks against Scedigoth, who in turn gave a few more subtle (or at least not as offensive) jibes.  Since Kester Senth's player wasn't there yet, I used him to ask pertinent questions to the candidates, eliciting responses that would show what each would bring to the table as a leader.  Initially, the vote is Akai for Wolfwind and Chardak for Scedigoth.  Kester is uncomfortable (that is, the DM is) with the idea of making the final decision, so there's some more discussion.  When Scedigoth makes it clear that it will listen to the warriors when it comes to making fighting decisions, Wolfwind withdraws his name from consideration and the party is agreed on who will lead it.

The corpses of rhodin and merchants are burned to avoid drawing a lot of predators and carrion-delvers.  There is some talk about whether or not to continue the mission, and it's decided that since they're halfway between Xavel and Tevdi, and it would probably take them a day to find a surefire way back down the pass, they will continue on with the mission.

The party makes camp about 100 feet away from the wreckage and in the night, near the end of Wolfwind's watch, he hears a ruckus among the wagons, and wakes up Akai, whose watch is next.  He then goes off on his own, leaving Akai to watch over the sleeping party.  Wolfwind comes up close and can see about a half dozen normal rats, two rats about the size of a dog, and another rat the same size, but whose hide is covered in spidery, silvery runes.  He remembers that there are such beasts in the world, known as runic beasts.  This runic dire rat is probably intelligent enough to understand speech (though he can't guess which language it might speak).  The smaller rats are burrowing into the charred corpses to find fresh meat, and the larger rats are then tearing away all the charred parts and the rats are sharing it.  Wolfwind decides this is harmless enough, and goes back to camp.  When the party leaves the next morning, they note that the corpses have been arranged in some alien sort of "respect for the prey" ceremony that the runic dire rat must have lead.

Also, on leaving, the party notes that the area where Ku-Carram's corpse dissolved is not only devoid of plant life after a night, but indeed, all organic material seems to have been killed off, as there's a pit of loose, dusty sand where the corpse disintegrated.

On that chilling note, the party begins its trip to Tevdi, the thorp that is out of communication with Xavel.  Along the way, they notice that these gates have been constructed across the road.  Now, the environment is grasslands, so these gates aren't going to stop a man on foot from heading up the road.  However, they probably would stop a fast cavalry charge across the hardpack road, as they open away from the thorp.  The gates are double-door style, and they are equipped to probably have some stronger piece socketed into the back of them to lock them closed.  They find a dozen or so of these on the way, all newly built (the newer ones not yet complete) and the amount of wood would have had to have been shipped in, because it's not native in this quantity to this region.  The group continues toward Tevdi, and they begin to notice that all the farms are stripped bare.  Ordinarily there ought to be some winter crops, but there is nothing left.

Once they can see the thorp on the horizon, the party goes off the road to change out of their dress uniforms into something less conspicuous.  Wolfwind is sent ahead to scout out the thorp.  It turns out that there are very many more buildings there than there ought to be, and that one wall has already been completed, and a second curtain wall is being constructed to fortify the position.  All grassland for a half-hour walk around Tevdi has been cut down to prevent even the slight cover that the grasses would provide.  The thorp has a stream running through it, and on this side, Wolfwind can see maybe a dozen or so riders on horseback patrolling the open space.

He makes his way back to the party and gives his report.  As they are discussing this, Kester overhears a man singing a rhythmic song, probably some kind of work song.  Scedigoth comes up with a cover story:  Kester is a merchant, Akai and Wolfwind are his bodyguards, and Chardak and Scedigoth are scholars who are traveling with the merchant for the safety that numbers provide.  Scedigoth carefully hides its features deep inside the cloak it has just for this purpose, and Kester and Wolfwind head toward the sound of the man singing.  Wolfwind has chosen to have a dagger out, and palmed.  He's also sneaking, whereas Kester is moving more openly.

They come out into one of the few fields that hasn't been stripped bare.  A middle-aged man wearing a red-fist Humanist badge is cutting winter gourds free of their vines with a machete and throwing them into a nearby donkey-driven cart.  He looks up as Kester leaves the grasses, and seems to see Wolfwind as well.  Then _very_ clearly makes note of Wolfwind's dagger, and his mouth goes agape.  He drops the machete and starts making bowing and scraping gestures.  It's evident that the man thinks they are "Barar Resten's boys", and he's at great pains to show his loyalty to Mr. Resten.  Kester gives the party's cover story, and the man collapses into irritation at their barging onto his land and scaring him half to death.  He's giving answers to Kester's questions, but he's grouchy about their presence and the way they scared him.

This seems to sit wrong with Wolfwind somehow, who decides to that he will start being aggressive toward the man, saying threatening things, drawing out his dagger again, etc.  He expresses out of character that he's close to killing the guy's donkey for not being forthcoming enough.  In truth, unless he's a very good actor, he's giving up pretty much everything he knows, especially now that he's scared, but it's not enough for Wolfwind, who wants to hurt the poor man's donkey for not being cooperative.  Kester manages to put a cork in Wolfwind's murderous anti-livestock fury, and the old man gets away.  They have learned from him that Barar Resten is some sort of strong man who says he is "the future" and that he's going to protect the poor people from "the scourges".  The farmer got the pronunciation of the word wrong, making it pretty clear that he's spouting some sort of half-memorized rhetoric.  He also says that all the food's been taken by Resten's boys.

The two humans go back to their troop and make report.  There's some irritability on Kester's behalf, and some bitching back and forth, and Scedigoth severely demands that the arguing end and says that their mission--to find out why the grain isn't being delivered--has been achieved and that they have to report back.  They start back on the road, remaining covered up and de-militarized, and come upon a patrol of two soldiers on horseback, along with a pair of commoners who are hammering in a massive wooden brace across the back of one of the gates.  The brace has metal bars that are hammered into the dirt to add to its strength.

The party try their cover story, but the soldiers find it difficult to believe that these merchants got past them without their knowing it, sine they traveled this road back and forth.  They decide they're going to bring the party into town, something that the party at first agrees with, until they're told they'll have to abandon their weapons.  Scedigoth signals to Kester that they won't be going, and it becomes clear to the soldiers that Scedigoth is in charge here.  They demand it reveal its face.  So it does.

Scedigoth is heavily tricked out for Intimidation, and it successfully cows the  out of the soldiers.  The commoners literally take off into the grasses and it's all the leader of the patrol can do to avoid letting his mount throw him in reaction to the serious fright he communicates to it through his body.  Scedigoth demands that they step aside and let the party pass, and they do--though the soldier tells his second, "Let the race-traitor pass."

Scedigoth lets the insult go and the moment the party is beyond the soldiers, they race off to the north as fast as they can.  The party commandeers the draft horse and wagon that was being used to cart the brace, and then hammer the brace in hard behind them.  They then get on the cart and push the horse hard and mercilessly, for about an hour and a half.

When they see the dustcloud of pursuit far behind them, they light the wagon on fire to drive the horse forward and leap off into the grasses to hide in the dark and their depths.  The patrol races past the point they got off, then comes back, then begins to search the road carefullly.  After a few minutes, the patrol races back north, but Scedigoth and Wolfwind notice that one of the horses is without a rider.

The party cautiously creeps away from the road.  First Kester, then Scedigoth, then Chardak each notice a Medium-size rattlesnake slithering past them, but it leaves them be, and they think nothing of it.  When it reaches Wolfwind, however, he immediately recognizes that there's no way that kind of a snake should be active on an early winter night.  He strikes the serpent, which takes a double move off into the darkness, then he calls a halt to the crawl.

At that very moment, a wiry black man jumps onto Kester's back, pinning his knees with each of his feet and his shoulder with one of his hands.  He's not wearing armor and has ritual scarifications all over his face and chest.  His tongue has been split down the middle and the halves wriggle around one another, and his hair is knotted into multiple dreadlocks, which are tied back behind his head.  He can see the man's features transforming out of a distinctly snakelike form, as well.  The free hand drives a wavy-bladed dagger down onto his back, but his studded leather jack turns aside the dagger's bite.

The party snaps into action, racing toward the combatant.  Several valiant attempts are made to strike at the unarmored foe, however he is scathingly--almost preternaturally--quick and he evades every attack before leaping up into the air and backward at least twenty feet.  None of the party have any light sources, and the only one who can see well in the light, Scedigoth, loses the assailant in waving blades of chin-high grasses.  They decide to make their way toward the road, and leave Akai and Wolfwind behind to try to track the assailant.  Before they can make much headway back onto the road, and just as Wolfwind finds a snapped blade of grass, the man appears from the darkness and slashes at his forearm, leaving a nasty gash.  Wolfwind can feel his joins freezing up for a second, but he manages to fight down the virulent fluid the blade was coated in.  He takes a parting shot at the man, then the battle is joined again.

Akai and Wolfwind manage to flank him, while the others variously take missile attacks, use alchemical devices, or just wait for a good shot.  The two are able to deliver a series of quite vicious attacks to the snake totem warrior, who at one point jams his dagger back into the sheath and got another hit, this time on Akai, who also fought off the poison.  The warrior manages to break off the combat and flee into the night, but not before giving them a jaunty salute (earlier in the fight he had mocked their abilities, but revised his opinion by the end) and throwing down the fine wavy-bladed dagger he was fighting with.  The warrior got away, though Wolfwind was able to put together what had happened.  The warrior ran a bit, then hid, and Wolfwind ran past his hiding place, then he went back onto the road and met up with the patrol down the road.

As the party started to head back, however, they found a sack waiting in the road.  In a spidery, flowing script written in a dialect of the Southern Trade Language, the note read, "Congratulations, you earned this.  -- Sades".  The sack had 193 gold queens and 6 platinum thrones in it.  They are not mercenaries, so they must return the money found to the Steward of Xavel, however Scedigoth allows Wolfwind to keep the dagger as a trophy, since he did the most damage to the warrior.

The party manages to find a way back down the box canyon and heads into town.  They break the news to the assembled soldiers in the garrison, and it's taken very poorly.  They deliver Ku-Carram's battered breastplate and the money they found to Ixrznr, the verrik quartermaster, who says that he will deliver it in turn to the Steward, and arrange an audience.  Shortly, they are telling their story to the Steward who, despite her reputation for flightiness, is very grave about this.  The party notices that her verrik speaker never blinks the entire time of their quarter-hour interview.

She mentions that Fisgar mentioned, yesterday, that he felt a disturbance of some kind far to the north.  She asks that the party go to speak to him at the local pub, The Spirit of Fury, but asks that Scedigoth remain behind for a brief conference.  Once alone, she mentions to it that despite the fact that it clearly handled this mission well, she cannot give it control over the garrison.  The garrison's commander needs to be a giant, or at least not a mojh, given the tensions around here.  It agrees, and she says that for the time being, she will name herself in charge of military affairs in the town, until a suitable successor has been found.  She says that there will be a Ceremony of Renewal to celebrate Ku-Carram's passing into the ranks of the ancestors.  She also warns Scedigoth that now could be a very delicate time, and asks for absolutely exemplary behavior from all of its men.  It assures that this will be done.

Cut to Scedigoth being belied without its knowledge.  The party makes its way into the pub--which is small despite the size of the town because verrik mostly only engage in debate and other more sober types of public meeting.  Mostly just humans frequent the bar.  Fisgar is an early middle-age human greenbond who is known to have sympathies with some of the more moderate elements among the Humanists.  Publicly, he says that he's grateful to the giants for saving the humans, but it's time to let them control their own destiny.  He uses the Steward's frequent absences and rumors of the verrik speaker's ties to crime to bolster his argument.  One of his favorite subjects to rail against is Scedigoth--not only is it a mojh, but the greenbond can feel the whisps of The Dark whirling around it after it uses negative energy spells.  Fisgar has lightly tanned skin, blue eyes, and white-blonde hair.  He is very severe, deep-voiced and charismatic.  He spends his evenings at the pub not to drink, but because that's where his people gather.  He there ministers to them.

When the party enters, the greenbond is counseling a weeping farmer who is apparently having some trouble with his marriage.  Kester comes in, pats the man on the back, and rudely dismisses him, offering him a few coins to go get some more drink.  Fisgar doesn't stop the man, but lets his irritation at this be known to Kester.  He says the farmer was talking about his problems with his wife, who complains about him drinking too much and spending too much time away, and Fisgar was trying to convince him to heed his wife's concerns.

Kester says that the "government is here to listen to your concerns" in a very patronizing way.  This only makes Fisgar even more irritable, but he explains that he felt an "orgy of river-spirits" a few days travel to the north, and believes that someone has forcibly caused a stream to thicken and deepen, out of harmony with nature.  The knowledge gained, Kester leaves a fuming Fisgar behind, and the party meets back up to discuss what it has found out.  Scedigoth warns its men in very strenuous terms not to step out of line right now, though no mention is made of the unpleasantness at the pub.

The next morning, the party meets to see Ku-Carram off to the afterlife.  In a scene stolen almost whole cloth from Time Bandits, a massive roast cow is brought in, and at the appointed hour, Wolfwind splits it in two with a machete, and out comes tumbling fresh fruit.  What I thought would be a stirring ceremony was mocked as a "meatyata" (as in pinata), and I was humbled.


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## blackshirt5 (Oct 9, 2003)

Don't forget that I was willing to leap forward and stab the patrolman's horse, that I was urging Scedigoth to light the carriage because I didn't care about the fate of the horse we commandeered...

Ya know what, I think Wolfwind's got a serious anti-livestock fury.  He needs help. 

Long Live the Meatyata!


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## Angcuru (Oct 14, 2003)

blackshirt5 said:
			
		

> Long Live the Meatyata!



That's a Sig. quote if I've ever seen one. 


EDIT:  BTW, I've finally gotten back to work on my story hour, doing mostly editing right now before adding on, check it out.


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