The Forgotten City VII
General Summary
The chanting grew closer and smug Urks appeared at the edge of the firelight speaking Ashkuzi. They mistakenly believed that the Ashkhuz-style yurt Kegho set up was theirs and spoke impertinently to Kegho, who recognized them as Urk slavers and sassed them mightily. They are momentarily confused by his backchat and Asbjørn is enraged at having the transition time between killing and sleeping interrupted and lunged at the nearest enemy, killing him instantly.
Alex sighed heavily and let fly his sling, but misse. A bigger urk warrior dressed in finer clothes with mustard colored accents appeared. Riven exited the tent and droped the urk currently menacing Kegho. Theo intonef the word stay, his voiced laced with the polyphonic reverberations of the divine, and the mustard-clad urk and another are frozen in place. Teleptyon reached with his noodly arm up to touch Kegho on the shoulder and Keg began to radiate a protective aura. Teleptyon hewed unusually close to Kegho to stay bathed in the protective emanations. Riven turned and shot an urk that lunged at her. The urk died as his scimitar clatters loose from his hand. Asbjørn’s threat management system was impaired by rage and he felled the paralyzed leader; Theo began to yell “I thought we might interr-” but cut his comment short as Asbjørn briefly turned his bloodshot, spittle flecked countenance toward the priest before chasing off after nearer prey. An urk charged Alex who braced for a strike, but Brother Theo stepped in front of him and received the hit instead before swinging his mace at the urk and ringing his bell. The Oameni nimbly stepped from behind the priest and loosed a bullet at short range into the urk’s eye, finishing him. Another urk charged at Kegho, who intercepted his attack with the bit of wraith-cleaver, shattering his scimitar before neatly bisecting him. An urk fired a crossbow at Theo, but missed. Teleptyon wished to leave the last paralyzed urk intact for questioning, and loosed two bolts of arcane energy at one just on the edges of the firelight, killing him. Two urks appeared from the darkness and flanked Kegho; he dodged the blow of one while being struck by the other. His axe dealt with one and Riven nimbly stepped and shot, killing the first. While Asbjørn tore the last paralyzed urk limb from limb, Theo yelled “at least don’t destroy his jaw so we can question him in the morning.” While Absjørn’s attention was on the priest, Alex ran into the midst of the battle to leave his lantern unhooded and illuminate any enemies remaining. As light fell upon those that had stuck to the shadows, two more blasts of Ar shattered their bones. Alex realized how close he was to the still wroth Asbjørn and left his lantern and disappeared behind the yurt.
The priest tried to calm the raging barbarian, but Asbjørn was faster and slipped Blóðdrykkjumaður into Theo's belly just as he whispered out the honeyed words “peace brother.” Asbjørn withdrew the blade and watched with interest as the priest’s blood pooled, then beaded, and then was absorbed into the blade. “That doesn’t seem ideal.” Asbjørn muttered before yawning and climbing unconcerned into the tent to sleep deeply.
Lamos looked kindly on his servant and knit the priest’s flesh before Theo too lumbered into the tent insensate.
Keg worked into the night stripping the Urk slavers and desecrating their corpses thoroughly. The other members of the party drifted off to the rhythmic wet thud of Wraithcleaver beheading corpses.
The party reviewed the spoils of battle and note the poor Urkish craftsmanship, but Asbjørn in a moment of intellectual lucidity suggests the crossbows would be good traps back at the cave. Theo and Teleptyon pondered over the mint of the coins, but Alex recognized the coins as Shayrid. Theo and Teleptyon have diametrically opposed reactions to hearing the name.
Kegho left only the leader intact for Theo’s ministrations, but the Urk spoke in riddles of the “Master beyond the sea who wishes to rule all of us.” Kegho confirmed this was not standard Urk bullshit. The leader mentioned an alliance with a Shayrid magus must be formed before his lifeless eyes closed and he returned to the sleep of the dead. The party spent time to dig a burial pit making sure that the urk slavers’ final repose was as obscene as Kegho had left them. They swept clean their camp. Riven's keen eye for tracking turned toward making La Compagnia untrackable. They considered looking for the Urk tent to see if they can learn more about their mission, but Riven could not find a clear sign of where they Urks had hoped to go, and wandering the desert aimlessly with slavers about seemed unwise.
Once back in the cave, they found the canoes still moored and braziers flanking the altar to the serpent woman statue remained lit. As Riven, Asbjørn and Alex worked to prepare the boats, load their items and tether the boats together. Theo deconsecrated the idol. A chill wind rushed through the cave as he dabbed holy chrism on the statue’s brow and the braziers blew out as everyone shivered in the unnatural cold. The superstitious Oameni looked around nervously, but Theo announced it a marvelous success and bade the party set off.
Alex hooked his lantern, with its dusky red glass to the prow of the first canoe and they paddled drifted with the swift current, paddling occasionally backward to slow their progress. They came to a small beach where the cavern ended in a worked stone wall. They pulled the boats ashore and Riven and Alex snuck upon a hallway that ended with a door. Alex cupped an ear to the door and heard the murmur of casual conversation, the crackle of fire and the hiss of someone relieving himself in a corner. He made the international hand-sign for performing a warrentless no knock raid and backed silently away from the door.
