The past couple of sessions have seen a new player who has rolled up another fighter! These two writeups chart his arrival and meeting of the party.
Farok - 1
It took a while to get away
cleanly, but I finally found myself aboard a ship headed toward Thyle.
All was well, I was used to the cramped conditions and even if the
sailors shot me glances every once in a while I had paid my way as a
guest of the captain. It all went wrong the night before we were due to
land, the gods had obviously tired of the crew and sent a storm like I
have never seen before against them. I had to see the fury of the sea
for myself so I went on deck, that may have saved my life. No sooner was
I on deck than I was swept away by a wave, as I struggled for air I saw
the gods strike down the ship with a bolt, it burst in to flame and
that was the last thing I remembered of the night.
Next I was woken by some rough hands slapping me on the
face, as I came round I could see some ugly men sorting through some
debris on the shore. As I came round I asked them were I was, that
earned me a fist in the face, that was the last thing I remembered of my
first day on Thyle.
Obviously I had needed the sleep, I was woken by the
men as they threw water in my face and then manhandled me and tied me to
the back of a donkey. I should say, tied me very badly to the back of a
donkey. I could escape at any time, although unarmed and facing six
assailants armed assailants would require good timing, so I chose to go
along with it. Three sailors had survived through the ship blaze and the
rest of the night, although they looked like beaten men and I wouldn't
be able to rely on them for any help escaping, in fact they looked like
they would be about as much use as a pickled fish if it came to a fight.
I heard the bandits talking about taking me further
inland to their boss, for what purpose they had need of taken men I
still do not know, the land we were walking through was wild and untamed
and I did not think it would be to go back to the pits again. This made
my desire to leave all the stronger, but I still had to wait for the
right moment. As we followed a small stream, with a pond (that is
apparently much deeper than it appears) a small army charged out of the
woods towards us, this was the moment. The men who had taken us captive
seemed to be quickly overrun, with I noticed 2 dogs tearing one of them
to pieces. By the time I had managed to free myself and grabbed a weapon
to defend myself from either side only the leader of those that had
taken me remained standing, although he had taken down one of the war
band. A quick assessment of the situation gave me only 1 plausible
action for now, so whilst the leader of the slavers was surrounded and
fighting off the war band single-handedly I charged up and shoved a
spear in his face as hard as all my training had taught me. I fear I may
have been shouting some profanities as well. Suffice to say, he did not
survive my brutal attack.
As the adrenaline calmed from everybody it became
obvious to me that this war band did not appear to hold the same ideals
of slavery as either my previous masters or those who had taken us.
After a brief conversation with them I learned that their leader appears
to be a Stygian so now I am very confused why he didn't put me straight
in to irons. Also, travelling with him is a fellow Kemetian and a
Sunspear to boot. Although I am having my doubts about that now given
that she can neither read and offered me some rotting beetle to eat, I
had thought the sunspears to be glorious warrior women who cared greatly
for their brethren, at least that was what the stories always defined
them as. This Quill seems more like a charlatan. The final two, Paige
and Yannick seem competent despite looking like ghosts. For now, I am
hoping that if I keep quiet and go along with them I will at least keep
out of trouble and away from any seekers.
We travelled back to a village the warband called
Yannickville or Yannicktown, I am not really sure though as every time I
tried to repeat it it was followed by a shhh from them. Whilst here
they sorted through the goods, and I pointed out a particularly good
drink, however rather than celebrate their victory as I had suspected
they added it to the list of things they would send back to the nearest
town and sell. Very strange.
Farok - 2
My earlier
tactics of staying quiet appear to have worked, the war band seem to
have accepted me as one of their own and are happy for me to tag along
on their latest mission. Although it appears their latest mission isn't
their actual mission, and I am still somewhat confused by that. We
finalised the items taken from those on Thyle that would have slaved me,
the band are calling them Bandits and have had run ins with them
before. I sense this may be an ongoing fight that I can fully get behind
and maybe free some other slaves. After sorting the items out they
arranged for two of their trusted number to escort them back to the town
along with the three sailors. Soon after this convoy set off Paige and
Bomani started to explain to me how the surrounding area was filled with
dangerous creatures and how they have nearly been killed several times,
and are always happy to have additional bodies along. I am not sure how
that works with sending two of your trusted people though these
dangerous creatures and with three unknown sailors in tow, but everyone
seems to be happy with the idea so why should I complain.
We set of for a dungeon, or pleasure palace I'm not
quite sure which, that the band had stumbled upon when tasked with
finding some lost supplies. When I questioned them about their quest for
the supplies they gave very little thought to it and carried on toward
the dungeon / pleasure palace. Fortunately there were no dangerous
creatures on the way, and I am beginning to suspect some tall stories
being told to the newest member to heighten their own prowess. The
dungeon / pleasure palace is below ground and apparently home to
bandits, like those that had captured me, dogmen, hags, zombie theatre
(which I don't know what that is) and rats the size of dogs. I was very
wary on arrival, but the entrance way was filled with statues which
seemed to me to be of some sort of religious significance, perhaps the
veneration of the female form as they were all of women. Mostly they
were in a state of ruination so we moved past that to the welcoming
voice. This the band explained to me steals part of your soul as it only
speaks to each new person. Again I am suspecting these are tall
stories.
We moved in to the dungeon, it certainly doesn't seem
like a pleasure palace now, and the band had a well drawn map of the
area. I was surprised how silent Quill was being, perhaps thinking on
the things she did the previous day, Yannick I am more used to being
quiet. We moved to secure an area that the band had not been to
previously, we carefully moved to the new door and Paige listened then
Yannick opened it, apparently this is the bands standard way of dealing
with doors. Inside was a room that looked like it had become the inside
of a furnace, runes covered most of the room. We spend some time looking
around but could find nothing useful. The Stygian recognised that some
of the runes were still active and may contain some form of elemental.
We retreated from the doorway they were active on as it was colder than
the rest of the room. As we were leaving Bomani commented that it looked
like a kitchen, and on a closer look it did too. So far this dungeons
dangers had thrown up a kitchen. We proceeded with care.
Around the corner from the kitchen we found more of the
statues, fascinated by these and the artwork on the wall behind them I
felt there must be something hidden here, much like my master used to
have hidden rooms. My investigation showed that indeed there was a
doorway hidden in the finely crafted artwork, alas I could not determine
how to open it. The band spent some time looking, and in so doing found
another door hidden directly opposite the one I had found. The way to
open either alluded us all however so we moved on. Maybe danger lies
behind those doors which is why they are so difficult to open.
After travelling along some corridors we came to a room
emblazoned with a big R. Apparently one of the two owners was a warrior
and his name started with an R, following standard door opening
procedure we entered a room that reminded me of my old fighting studio.
Shields, weapons and archery targets were found on the walls, a training
dummy in the middle, with a portion of the room having matting I
assumed for sleeping. Having found nothing of any real value Paige
decided to flip one of the switches on the wall. Lightening, like that
which had destroyed the ship, leaped across the room whilst blades
slashed down from the roof of the area with mating. Perhaps not a
sleeping area after all. But most intriguingly the training dummy came
to life and moved toward Paige, trying to push her toward the
lightening. Being a well honed adventurer this did not surprise her like
it did me, and she quickly pulled the other leaver bringing it all to
an end. I suggested putting the dummy under the blades and pulling the
leaver again, but the rest of the band seemed to want to move on.
After the training room the rest of the corridor ended
in a landslide, we moved some of this away so Paige could see what was
beyond. She reported seeing several rooms, so we made ready to start
clearing the landslide which would take us several hours.
