Nomen Infernale XII: Bandits in the Hills

Chastened by the silver-lotus mania of Naldus, the party left the next morning for Tel Jumrah to retrieve the spear point of Nudjat for Naldus' wife’s birthday. As they set forth from Akbyset once again, the weather was hot and dry and La Compagnia get re-acquainted with Elissa bas Sisa and learn about their new companion Nuruhotep se Ka.

Elissa was mostly concerned with knowing who had and had not survived the attack on Shagora. Alex privately suspected many of them were taken in by Dacia's pirate crew based on the rumors they had heard in Alarafi Caravanserai when they passed through.

Nuru introduced himself to Alex and asks whose child he was and why a child might be out adventuring. Alex bristled at the question and asked if he’d never heard of the Oameni or Halfmen, but Nuru has no knowledge of them. Realizing his mistake, they complain about the mătăhălos and how hard it is to have a conversation whilst staring at their belly-buttons or retrieving things from their shelves.

When they reach the base of Tel Jumrah they found groves of trees and pathways heading to the north and south. Kegho, Elissa and Asbjørn moved northward and begin to forage for useful items in this new terrain. They found honeycomb which delights Zahur. Nuru inspected the stones of the area to see what secrets they might hold.

Alex skulked silently into the grove of trees to the south and sees a figure in the area beyond the copse. He moved slightly deeper into the grove to get a better look, but one of the bandits caught the flash of his eyes in the shadows and demanded he come out from hiding. Alex walked forward and attempted to bluff his way out of violence by asking for directions in a smooth thieves cant. As he got closer, the bandit realizes that he is not a human child at all and turned to shout something back to his party that sounded like “OAMENI!”

Riven’s ears caught the sound and she tried to get the attention of the party near her.

When the bandit turned back toward Alex, he has only a second of seeing Alex whipped his Oameni Fustibalus before a sling bullet embeds itself in his forehead. The battle now engaged, even the less attentive party members heard the commotion and made their way toward the sound.

A bandit attacked but missed Nuru, but the bandit who had been hit in the head regains his composure and struck Alex back with nearly deadly force. Kegho saw his little friend wounded,and shot the assailant in the throat. Theo brought forth the Hammer of Ator and began chastising the bandits most intensely. The bandit who had cut Alex fled, and Alex swung at him but failed to connect due to his shoulder injury. Asbjørn and a bandit attacked each other and both strike true, though the bandit was injured worse. A bandit swung and missed Asbjørn. Another cornered Theo but narrowly missed him. Elissa slipped around a boulder and spys Theo facing off against the bandit and drove her spear through his right lung, the point of it piercing the front of his ribcage. He slid back onto the shaft gurgling pink sputum while she tried to shake his body off of her spear. Nuru and Riven fired bolts at the bandits. Riven, shooting from cover, missed. Nuru struck. Asbjorn missed. Nuru runs at full tilt and swung his khopesh. From the low angle, he removed the bandit's legs as he runs past.

Elissa braced herself, spear out, at the bottom of an embankment to slow any attackers. She clipped a bandit as he ran past her position, but he landed a mighty blow and she crumpled to the ground. Kegho’s thirst for vengeance was mighty and he brought Skullcleaver down with explosive power.

The bandit leader called for peace on seeing the carnage of Kegho’s fury. Eager to stop the fighting and tend to Elissa, La Compagnia agreed; although, they demanded to know who hired them and why they had been sent. The leader admits they had been hired in Akbyset, but noted that the coin they were paid was not Khemian mint.

Elissa was grievously wounded, and she and Alex have matching shoulder injuries from their encounter, but she survives. Alex was glad to know that he would not have to use his knowledge of Nar burial customs that day.

Theo carried Elissa back to the campfire to tend to her wounds while Riven scouted up the path winding up around the tel. Alex follows behind and the rest of the party hurry to catch up when they find no enemies on the path. Thunder and lightning strike the hill from a clear blue sky and there came a high-pitched scream. Theo became gravely concerned. As they climbed the path, the party caught glimpses of standing stones on the top of the hill. As Aelos dipped low, they returned to camp, to rest in order to mount the tel well-rested and unlock its secrets the next morning.