Tarsonis in the Wilderness: Tarsonis' Flight

Context

In 300 YR, the ballads of Tarsonis in the Wilderness were very popular among bards in central Emergo. Depending on one's allegiance to the rulers of Sirastir, the tales of Tarsonis can be received as a rousing call to morality, a series of vignettes on life in the frontiers, or a vile set of propaganda aimed at causing sedition or dissuading allies in Principality of Argyle or Marothell from joining the brewing battles.
Tarsonis' Flight picks up after Tarsonis in the Wilderness: Across the Desert. 

Chapter 2 - Tarsonis’ Flight

Three years after they delivered Tarsonis, fate finds Fengrin Shatterhand and Orion in worse shape than legend would tell you, with the dwarf especially bereft of his famous sword. In this state, they were approached by a mysterious wizard called Murray, who was very proud of his “adventuring khakis”. Murray presented himself as an emissary of Menimrest, the Mage-ruled kingdom northwest of Sirastir, and came to our heroes with a plot to break Tarsonis out of the place he was being held.

As nobody knew where Wren was, Fengrin and Orion were accompanied by the zealot Amriel, the so-called “Leper Knight”.  The trio set out to a prison work camp called "The Gash" in an area primarily run by priests of Thoth.

Tunnels and Terrors

As dawn approaches, 40 prisoners are safely stowed in their communal cells while the guards are about to change shifts. Having burrowed into the below-ground camp, the rescuers inadvertently draw the attention of a pair of Xorn.  Faced with a superior foe, and the looming threat of guards returning soon, a strategy quickly develops to open the cells and free the prisoners. 

As the vicious elementals feast on newly-liberated miners, only one prisoner manages to escape, though many chose to re-imprison themselves to avoid the Xorn.  It is immediately clear to Orion and Fengrin that the goliath cleric has been greatly diminished by his experience, and he is able to offer minimal aide as they battle against guards and Xorn alike.  With the priest in tow, all four sprint past several guard towers as they rush headlong into the wilderness, though not before they were spotted by a legendarily stubborn knight, Calum Best. 

River Dash

Best and the The Order of the Rose gave chase to the party

as they flee along the shores of a river. Initially the party had a head-start, but quickly the mounted knights are on their tail.  Orion used his sorcery to ignite the woods on either side of the river, torching or shuttering a number of the knights away from them as he launched bolts of fire indiscriminately.

Eventually, only a few knights remained, bolstered by the leaderhip of the cavalier Best. With their horses providing added speed, the knights are able to corner the party between the cliffs edge and the blazing woods. In desperation, Tarsonis and Amriel leap off a waterfall while Orion flings Fengrin through the waterfall. Finding safety in an alcove behind the waterfall, the party rests until the sun goes down.
As they rested, Tarsonis showed the rescuers his hands, each palm displaying a large jagged scar below the third finger. Seeing their bewilderment, the cleric described his life since he blessed the forges at Lethorp.  Initially a political prisoner, Tarsonis was moved from location to location until he ended up at the tower above The Gash.  Tasked with healing prison guards and gravely injured miners, the goliath holy man eventually refuses to help knowing that he is only perpetuating a cycle of abuse.  Unwilling to do what he is told, the priests of Thoth devised a punishment that would both torment and prevent Tarsonis from using his magic as they removed bones from his hands and heal only the flesh of his palms before sending him to labor in the mine himself.  
In this state, Tarsonis was unable to complete the complex gestures required to accurately funnel his divine magic, and was exceptionally grateful to his rescuers, though survivor's remorse does set in when he thinks back to how many died as he escaped. 

Back to the Desert

Once the sun sets, the party heads out to travel by night, hoping to make it tougher for the mounted knights to find them in the darkness. As the night goes on, a violent lightning storm comes in, and desperation rises in their minds. The party finds an abandoned camp but has no time for rest as they need to put distance between themselves and the Order. 
Hurrying to the rendezvous point on their map from Murray, without stopping to rest, they endure a dust storm with minimal cover and spy a waystation inn just as the skies open up and the parched desert rumbles with a flash flood.  As Orion and Fengrin rush ahead to the inn, the Leper Knight helps a quickly fading Tarsonis sprint towards the door, just beating the rushing flood as the massive cleric collapses in the knight's arms.

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Moral & Reception

The initial tale of Tarsonis' plight was an instant classic, and the follow-up was a rapid addition to many bards' repertoire. While many focused on the possible redemption of the sell-swords Orion and Fengrin from the first chapter, seeing them as stand-ins for the citizens of other nations who stood by while Priests of Sirastir ruled with an iron fist, scholars said the moral was that even running away can be a heroic act when it serves the greater good. Others point to this noble sacrifice Tarsonis was making in the first chapter, and claim that even the most heroic leaders can be ground down and have their power stripped from them, a message meant to dissuade any young folk intrigued by either rebellion or adventuring.
Many others saw this chapter as an attack on Best and the Knights of the Thorn who had certainly risen to prominence since Luctor moved to Argyle. Indeed the spread of Tarsonis' Flight popularized the idea that Prince Luctor and all of Argyle were silently in opposition to both the nation of Sirastir, and it's most prominent knight in recent years.