2nd of Fortuna 6:38am

A long chase, a rock and a hard place, a Lilly falls, and the death of a Snake.

by Sam Tarkus

As it turned out the object dropped was a bit of a bargaining chip from our pursuers. The lady lilly was offering us the key to a treasure chest we had already opened so unknown to them it was not as enticing as they must have thought. In exchange for this "offering" we were expected to produce the girl to them and run off into the sands as cowards. We decided to press on and try and find a way through this hell blasted land and a way to obscure our passage from the bastard vulture riders above us.
 
At some point we begin to see dust trails on our heels. They had found us and were taking pursuit down the washed out riverbed of death. The chase begins we start moving down the The bone springs canyon at speed, our plan is to move 5hrs normal and hustle 3hrs then heal the horses to maximize our pace.
At some point during this drag out chase, Revan thinks to explode the canyon walls with thunderpowder. It might have bought us some time but not a lot. The pursuers keep on our heels.
 
A sand storm approaches us from the south heading north we spot a pillar of solid ground with a short figure next to a cart camped, it waved at us so we headed towards it to try and reach the area before being overcome by the storm. our pursuers keep on our heels 4 wargs and 3 horses, as we are consumed by the storm and something else instectoid and chitineous becomes a threat and we are embroiled in a fight for our lives. After defeating the sand worm creatures in the midst of a sand storm we find the mysterious stranger whose name is Gus Craghyde. He seems to have lost his horses and not a few of his marbles; and his wagon is disabled. We speak for a few moments then agree to take him with us but the arrangement was tenous at best. Revan had a very uneasy feeling about this fellow.
At some point, Revan and Gus were riding together he then jumped off after Revan stabbed him! Revan claimed he was an enemy an warned us not to stop for him, willowwick not knowing any better just kept going and dodged his path.
 
Kai threw him a water skin, I watched on in confusion. Later I had words with Revan about what happened to spur him to stab the stranger and then want Willowick to run the man down in the dirt? Revan wasn't making much sense, claiming that the man might be a spy for the lady lilly even though there's no possible way they would have known he would be there or that a sand storm would have come through. How could she have signaled to this assassin if the sand obscured such things? Well there was nothing to be done about it, we had to keep moving but it boils my hide that Revan took it upon him self to make a choice for the whole lot of us without even talking about it. I would not claim to be the leader of our rabble but I sure wouldn't call Revan such. He seems more concerned with his own fortune than that of his fellow group mates.
 
After finally making it to the old road we cam across an ambush massacre. A caravan of pilgrims for some such, had been waylaid by gnolls on the road the violence and gore was horrific and merciless. None looked to have survived. Noticing the scene and thinking to our selves we decided to try and stage an ambush here. As a group we decide to stand our ground and fight the pursuers. We hid a few thunder powder barrels in strategic locations under cover of night and waited for the approach.
 
That was a bad idea.
 
We barely escaped with our lives now we are again in a rock and hard place situation. Apparently the snake man who ended my mortal coil not days ago, is also explosion and fire resistant. As Revan told it, he withstood a nearly direct blast from one of the thunder powders and was hardly phased by it. The Lady Lilly kept at a distance as we fought some of the worg riders and the Snake man. The gods were not on our side, we sustained heavy damage. I was able to end the long sighted sharpshooter bugbear's filthy life though, one down i guess. His mount found a new home in my hands as we made haste to gain ground from the ever pursuing Snake and Lilly. To our benefit, the explosions had scared their mounts away buying us more time.
 
We moved on down the road towards fort Alzacan. Our ever present aerial spies, that we could do nothing about, over our heads day and night. We came upon an arch spanning the road on a small ruins of what could have been a gated wall. Gnolls! We decide to make a mad dash to overrun the ambush and speed by as fast as possible. Things did not go as planned.
 
The Gnoll's had a shaman/witch leader and two small children as hostages. The thing we didn't account for was the pit trap they had fashioned in front of the gate. It's one purpose to slow down or stop carts, floating or otherwise. They succeeded in doing so but contrary to their victorious glee, they sealed their own deaths. We confronted the witch and I tried to bargain for the lives of the children but unknown to me, the Ninja had another type of diplomacy in mind. Out of nothing a puff of smoke erupted near the witch and before anyone could so much as take a breath. Kenichi's blade sung through the dry air and liberated her head from her body. Negotiations were done.
 
Tired of running and out of ideas on how to rid ourselves of the spies in the skies we again decide to make this ancient ruined wall our final final stand. The old dwarf Gus had warned us Fort Alzacan was under siege so chances are, we were doomed no matter what. At least this way, we go out on our terms in the glory of combat. Through our combined efforts, with the aid of Revan and Corrin's darkness, we managed to camouflage the cart against the western side of the wall. We then sent the sky spies on a wild goose chase after a decoy west, further down the road. Willowick helped me stretch a length of rope from arch to arch to form a clothes line and then he cast Invisibility upon the rope, we dug in and waited for our fate to arrive. Our hope was that the ruse would hold, and they would be dismounted by the rope. We had a bead of force in hand and our plan was to trap the Snake in the bubble and remove him from the fight long enough to kill Lady lilly and her worg riders. This time we knew what we had to do.
 
The execution was messy but the plan held and though we sustained grevious wounds and some of us passed beyond the veil more than once, we were in the end victorious.
 
The force bead hit the Snake and trapped him just as we had planned, the rest of us set to killing the worgs and riders. This task proved harder than we had anticipated. Kenichi took off after Lady lilly keeping the pressure on her. At some point there were goblin flyers dropping alchemist fire on our heads and I saw like a nightmare scene, our shadow warrior streaking through the night on fire! Things were starting to look really bleak. Then suddenly things turned and when Kenichi returned with the beaten and bloodied body of Lady Lilly incapacitated we set to the next task. The Snake man, cold as ice, seemed unperturbed at the lifeless body of his mistress.
 
Willowick saving his magic for this moment cast the spell of enlargement upon Kai but before he could get it on Kenichi the battle was again rejoined as the bead of force dropped and the Snake was upon us. His blows were furious and unrelenting and more than once Kai was brought down. He was even fast enough to disarm the Ninja at one point. Revan tried to bargain with the life of the Lilly but the Snake man either didn't understand she was still alive or didn't much care. He called Revan's perceived bluff. It wasn't a bluff, to my horror Revan slit her throat then and there, she bled out before I could make it to her body. Enraged the Snake fought on. Willowick was able to get enlarge cast on Kenichi. With the combined force of Kai and Kenichi's gigantic new strength, the Snake at long last, met his end as well.
 
Without much time to waste we collected our spoils from the fight. The lady lilly bore no spell book but she did have a curious book of some unknown nature. After consulting with the mysterious girl we discovered that it was a communication device from the old world. It was Lilly's direct line of communication to Baribus and it is also used to send one way messages. After reading some in the contents we were shocked to see the book animate to life. A brilliant light imminated from it and it flew open to the latest entry there we saw the hand writing of what could only be Baribus, come into being upon the page. As a group we discuss what to say in return to gain as much time and intel as possible. Revan's talent for deception paid off as he was the most well equipped forger amongst us.
 
Willowick being the newest member of the group and a touch of an outcast, was given the gruesome task of taking the heads of Baribus's gang. A terrible act no doubt but we will need the reward money when we get to Alzacan if it still stands. He loaded the heads into one of the empty water barrels and we sealed it up as best we could and put it on the cart. The two children, brother and sister, were named Cassian and Ruth. They had been forced off of their farm and east away from the rampage of the 5 tribes their parents had been killed along the road in an ambush and they were taken as hostages. We settled them inside the carriage with the mystery lady and set off on our way. The Ninja, Kenichi, ever full of tricks, suggested we use his ability to summon elementals. We summoned air elementals and used them to cover our tracks as we ventured off the road south west.
 
Moving south west off the road we came upon a lone stranger ahead of us, he was dressed in unfamiliar garb and carried a scimitar and a polearm. His name was _____ and he told us his tale of woe and his exodus away from Alzacan. This was beginning to look bleaker by the moment. Once he figured us not to be bandits, he motioned to the bushes and a second traveler emerged. She was a young woman who looked a little banged up. I approached and offered to heal and treat her wounds as best I could. She did not seem afraid of the man or in any kind of distress. Kenichi vouched for his story and recalled these warriors of another land as being very noble and reliable. The stranger offered to take the children with him on this journey to ultimately Ironhoof in the east. After some dubious debate we agreed to let him chaperon Cassian and Ruth in the hopes that they would be safer farther from the conflict ahead.
 
Before departing, to each Cassian and Ruth, I gave a sheet of the book and showed them how it works. Instructing them to let me know when they arrive safe at their location or to let us know if they come to dire straits. Parting with some bitter sweet moments we moved on our way.
 
We are lost, the gods are crazy and this land can really make that evident. We traveled in circles for what felt like hours until we came upon the ruins of an ancient tower, all around it remained the blasted ruins of it and the surrounding terrain. The wild magic here from the Maelstrom had left rocks and debri floating around in a shocking mind bending scene of wonder. Arcs of still active energy flashing here and there as the air was filled with a static charge of energies unknown to us. We made note of this ancient place on the map, in the hopes of one day maybe returning to delve into it's depths. We continued on through the night until dawn. Hopefully we are not lost again.
 

Continue reading...

  1. Mother and Father
  2. Born again...
    1st of Fortuna
  3. Late to the Party
    1st of Fortuna
  4. A New Dawn, A New Day
    2nd of Fortuna
  5. A long chase, a rock and a hard place, a Lilly falls, and the death of a Snake.
    2nd of Fortuna 6:38am