And in they go....

As soon as the Rangers have entered the stairwell, with Taya and Rikki scouting ahead, dim lights appear in the ceiling, reminiscent of the Mostali tomb back at the Rhino Gorge, but a lot less intense. Coming on a few metres in front of the Rangers the light is insufficient to see details by but enough to get their bearings, and once those at the rear of the group pass through the door, the lights turn off a few metres behind them.

With Tarnessh at the fore, followed immediately by Hoskar, the group descends, the Condor brave's detection charm flowing out with a barely audible ping.

It doesn't have time to register...

From behind comes a grating, earth shuddering noise as an immense slab of rock begins to slowly descend, blocking off the doorway to the Tower.

Whether Ohanzee would have tried to dive out will have to go un-decided, because at the sound and the sight of the stone closing the young brave'smind flashed back to the door at the Mostali tomb and then on to the door closing on the Basmoli tomb. By the time these scenes had played out in his mind it was too late so he shrugs "Better go find how it opens!"

He turns to Ohanzee, "what did you step on Short Round?" He thinks briefly of diving for it, but realises he's too far away. "Lets hope there's no snakes down here."

Henal hearing the sound looks to see the door closing. Realising that it is too far for him and Rikki to reach safely he checks his torch and looks around the passage to see if anything is visible with the extra light.

Are there any spirits present? he asks Rikki

In reply to Melock (msg # 3):

"Your footprints Raven, so maybe you should watch where you step!" Ohanzee replies with a chuckle.

"What's wrong with snake, they make good eating?"

He grimaces, "I doubt the ones that live down here would, I have a bad feeling about this." He carefully walks over to the wall on the left of the passage way and has a look to see if there are any markings or pictures on it. "There might be some way of opening it from in here." He turns to the big female Stormbull, "Any chance of you being able to bash your way through?"

The stairs descend far further than any of the Rangers expected causing the temperature to cool considerably, though not to the extent that any one fears the appearance of ghosts or spirits...

Above their heads the dim lighting panels follow their passage into the depths, looking like a glowing snake and drawing suspicious mumblings from the four Storm Bull warriors, who over the last minute had introduced themselves to the Rangers.

Big Bertha...Mad Max...One Punch Gari...And the Noodler. A tough looking bunch to say the least.

The stairs end, with Taya and Rikki reporting that there's a long corridor branching off to the left and right. Whichever Ranger pokes their head out first, notices that the dusty floor is scuffed by the passage of many feet, heading to the Left, but coming from the right.

Hoskar casts a charm of detection which shows that the corridor in both directions is clear, though something to the right shows up, perhaps in another chamber.

"Indigo Hue went this way." Tarnessh said, pointing at the footprint. "Looks like he might have been followed though." He added.

"Hopefully its him." Melock has a closer look at the footprints, trying to work out if its lots of different people or the same person lots of times. He then chooses 1 footprint and puts his foot next to it to see if they where bigger than him, well bigger feet anyway.

It's too hard to tell exactly, but Melock is sure that what ever scuffed up the dust was no bigger than the braves examining it and that there was a dozen of them at least.

And the lone foot print pointed out by Tarnessh is most certainly that of Indigo Hue.

"Did he only go that way, or did he go right first and then back to the left?" Ohanzee asks those at the front a little frustrated that he can't see for himself.

Kobal pushes through to stand in the open, soon joined by the Storm Bulls who stand around glaring up both directions of the passage.

A passage that looks very familiar to those of the Rangers who had seen the Mostali tomb. Certainly made by the same race, but larger and grander, though at the same time functional with no fancy work.

He looks to the right. "Well, if they all went left, maybe we should go right and see where they have been?" He turns and looks the other way, "But if we want to find Indigo we should go left. I think we need to find where they've been first. It may let us know who we are dealing with."

"Right I say, Hoskar's spell detected the possibility of a trap to the right and as there were skeletons in the level above and given the time this has been closed I think it's safe to say whatever it is shuffling it isn't alive."

"Amara described Yado as shuffling kind of so my guess is something like him. Better to destroy them before we get tired doing other stuff."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:43, Sun 01 Feb 2015.

Ohanzee concentrates a moment but then shakes his head and sighs then asks "Kobal, can Emesh-Ga sense anything about this place, the layout or movement anywhere?"

Tarnessh shrugged. "I think we should go left, personally, but I'll go right if you would prefer. The important thing is that we all stay together."

Let me use my magic to detect the animated dead so that we know if more are here. It can warn us if they are to either left or right, but it is best to see what is in their lair to the right. Henal says.

The spell comes back negative, but from experience Henal knows that the charm can be stopped by rock of a certain width.

Despite the chill of depth, Hoskar is perspiring freely. Trapped anyway. Tunnels and no way out. Great. Struggling to keep his breating normal, he continues to look nervously about.

Yes. Definitely stick together he remarks shakily. Left first sounds good to me. Don't want to set anything else off. Next one might...gulp...bring the roof down.

Ohanzee is happy to let the Storm Bulls and Kobal push past and take a more forward position. This of course leaves him at the back of the group standing at the junction as they start moving down to the left.

He glances at Melock then down the tunnel to the right and back at Melock again.

Seeing Tarmmessh's torch burning brightly Henal extinguishes his and draws his sword.

Lets not stand and talk all day. Can we see if that trap can be avoided or made safe then go

In reply to Ohanzee Shappa (msg # 21):

He returns the look, "Right it is then." He walks down the right passage, with Taya a couple of meters in front of him.

A shudder runs through Ohanzee as he looks back down the tunnel to the right, a shudder greater than the constant tremors and he presses forward past the Storm Bulls so that he has some strength at arms behind him!

As he goes ”Of course it can be avoided, we just follow the wizard and the undead following him to the left!” He sounds annoyed, though at what is unclear. ”After you Hoskar”

The Rangers head to the Right to ensure that there were no dangers that way, before possibly heading back the way they'd come to investigate where the Wizard was.

Seeing that Tarnessh's torch gives out so much light, the majority of torches are extinguished, leaving just the Sun Hawk, Kobal and one of the Storm Bull's holding them.

Said Storm Bulls stay at the rear, worried about a possible attack from undead.

The Party immediately come across a doorway on the right side of the passage, oblong and made of bronze, with no obvious way of opening it. On the wall next to it is a panel made of the same material the long dead trader's flasks had been made of, about the width of a splayed hand. It was somewhere behind this door that Hoskar's charm detected a trap.

It reeks of everything the Nomads consider Taboo. The trail of scuffed dust leads to the door.

On the other hand the passage looks to open into a large cavern, filled with what looks like mushrooms of many different sizes and shapes.

Amara casts a charm towards the entrance into the mushroom filled chamber and it comes back almost blinding her with the multitude of life it has detected....

"I can smell Rubble Runners" says Taya excitedly as she sniffs deeply at the entrance to the Mushroom chamber...

”Maybe I’ll bag myself a runner too, they seek more durable than skullbats.” Ohanzee half jokes to Melock as he moves forward. Peering into the mushroom filled cavern he suggests ”Well, if this takes longer than we’d have liked there’s food in there, food and drink if we need to earn it.”

He then turns to look at the door and the panel and seeing the same material as the flasks that the long dead trader had and the same as the cup he drank from back in Corflu. Sheathing his sword he raises his right hand to brush away any dust and see if there is anything visible through it.

The Mushroom cavern is vast, vanishing off into the gloom and as Ohanzee pokes his head in he hears movement deep within the undergrowth...Everywhere.

Back at the door he finds that he can not see anything through the glass, torch light reflecting off it's surface. After a bit of experimentation he reckons that it is bare rock or metal.

"Sounds like the natives are restless. Lets go the other way before we have a fight on our hands that we don't need." Tarnessh said.

"Lets see if I can keep them calm." she walks a couple of meters in to the cave and then calls out to the other runners, to let them know we have no wish to hurt them.

There is a kind of snort that comes from Ohanzee as Tarnessh makes his suggestion and he mutters under his breath ”Oh what a good idea. If only someone had suggested it back at the junction. Oh wait, I did!”

Then, perhaps because stubbornness is creeping in Ohanzee goes back to examining the glass panel by the door. ”This has to have something to do with opening the door, there’s nothing on the door itself and else about.” He tries lifting or sliding the panel, his curiosity and love of puzzles overtaking his feelings of self preservation.

As he investigates the glass panel it depresses slightly,  causing it to emit a low, negative sounding

*MERP*

Whilst briefly flashing red.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:57, Mon 02 Feb 2015.

Instinctively Ohanzee jumps withdrawing his hand quickly as he gasps. He waits there heart beating heavily and senses alert to the sounds of on shambling undead things come to answer the call of the *MERP*’ing red light.

After a moment when nothing else seems to happen he suggests ”Maybe you have to be associated with a particular god for it to work, maybe it is sorcerous magic that reads your soul to know if you are allowed to enter?”

"Fucking smash it or leave it" comes a bellicose reply from back along the passage, followed by some laughs.

Storm Bulls itching for a scrap.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:31, Mon 02 Feb 2015.

"Why are we trying to examine this door when Indigo Hue went the other way? We don't know what's behind that door and we have no real reason to look inside right now." Tarnessh pointed out.

Amara agreed with Tarnessh. "We can always come back to this place later. IT doesn't look all that threatening.....and we know Indigo has a bunch of people following him. My suggestion would be to leave this place and follow the wizard."

"Got movement down here!" calls the Noodler from back down the passage, from the direction Indigo Hue presumably went.

Ohanzee doesn’t answer Tarnessh and instead raises his right hand again. But then he pauses with a  frown, hand half way to the panel

He grabs the shield with his right hand and slips his left hand out freeing the blue arm and instead raises it. Placing his left hand flat on the panel ready to push it he pauses again

Using his connection with Disorder Ohanzee tries to force the lock with his inner strength....Nothing happens, though he feels this is more to do with lack of control than it being the wrong thing to try.

The sound of fighting can now be heard, and those looking back the way they came can see that the four Storm Bulls are in the tick of a swarm of skeletons, many streaming past to head towards the Rangers.

Henal casts a quick protective charm on himself them moves to fight the approaching skeletons.

Hope these fall as easily as the last ones.

Kobal joins his fellow Thunderbird, casting spells as he runs.

Slipping his shield back onto his left arm with a sigh Ohanzee draws his sword again starting back down the tunnel with the others ”I we form up at the junction, shield to shield on the two tunnels then we can bring four people to bear against them!”

"Good luck with that, if you ask Taya nicely maybe she'll help you." He laughs, then watches as Ohanzee starts playing with the door, "I'd be a bit more carefully before playing with that, remember the main door in the tomb dropped stuff on your head." he warns as he takes a step back, "Though there was a little alcove that turned off the traps in one of the other rooms." He's just about to start looking for something similar to how he turned the trap off in the tomb when the cry of undead goes up. He follows the others, drawing his axe and settling his shield, ready to step in to a gap if any of his companions go down, or heal them if need be.

Amara nodded, readying her shield as she formed up beside Ohanzee. "Emesh-Ga, with our shields we stand together. United as brothers. We fight as one, for the green. Let us not falter in our will and let us smash our enemies before us." She smiled at Ohanzee as her shield slipped into position on the wall.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:41, Mon 02 Feb 2015.

Ohanzee returns Amara’s glance and then flushes a little Why is she smiling at me? She looks so different when she smiles! and then returns the smile albeit a little weakly.

Tarnessh found himself unable to think of much to do in this combat, stuck without sunlight to power his more powerful spells, and with not enough space to use his sling without whacking one of his comrades with a rock while spinning it, so instead he moved behind Amara and Ohanzee and kept his torch up so that at least everyone could see more clearly.

Didinv in to lock his shield against his comrades' shields to hold back the skeletons, Hoskar is glad to put the furtive rustlings of the mushroom cavern behind him. Gave me the creeps, that did. At least there's something to hit here.

Solid as the earth, squared for the earth he intones hopefully.

Tarnessh withdrew the Disrupt matrix, a ring of Rubble-runner bones, and drew on it's power to disrupt the skeletons

Tarnessh's torch pushes back the darkness revealing the four storm bull warriors covered with slashing and stabbing skeletons. The undead are armed with a collection of scimitars, spears and daggers, and whilst on the whole are un-armoured, several wield crescent shields, wear helmets similar to the one now gracing Amara's head or scraps of clothing and leathers.

A mob of them swarm past the beleaguered Black Shields to attack the Earth protected Rangers. Two stumble, one from a shattered leg the other from an exploding head, both caused by powerful disruptive bursts sent from the now glowing ring on the Sun Hawk's finger.

Despite their brittle nature the amount of skeletons are soon causing the shield wall to falter. Unlike their counterparts upstairs these ones carry on fighting despite the loss of limbs and are certainly better with their weapons.

So far the Rangers' armour and skill at arms have meant no serious damage apart from the odd wound has occurred, but it can't be long before somebody falls.

The Rangers can't help but notice that the skeletons after their initial charge have formed up in orderly ranks, stabbing over what shields they have with spears and slashing at legs with scimitars. Not skirmishers at all but obviously properly trained soldiers...

Eyes.

Lots of eyes watching from the darkness, two score and ten pairs if the spirit could count. The Rubble Runner's grunts are returned tenfold, the vast majority sounding unsure of what is happening, perhaps having not encountered a Rubble Runner not from their family before.

But there's anger in some, not happy that a stranger is on their turf.

Taya can sense that they're stalling for time to see what might happen...

Back at the scrap Henal smashes a skeleton in two with his new sword whilst Hoskar caves in a skull with his club. It's good to fight with companions at your side!

It's the same on either side as Ohanzee and Amara sends shards of bone this way and that under a flurry of blows, but then fumbling Amara goes down, instantly covered by skeletons flowing over her and at those behind.

Kobal smashes one back as it attempts to skewer his brother, but takes the first serious wound of the fight impaled through the thigh by a spear. Melock saves him by shattering it's mid section, but now everyone is hard pressed, surrounded on all sides...

As he parries a series of attacks Ohanzee finds himself being grappled by two individual arms not joined to anything, boney hands pulling and crawling up his legs.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:22, Mon 02 Feb 2015.

Henal continues hacking at the wave of fleshless bodies concentrating on driving them off Amara and he calls out. For the Green . Aid us  Emesh-Ga and spirits of the Earth. Smash this chaos for Waha and father Storm Bull.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:33, Tue 03 Feb 2015.

Once the one attacking Kobal has be made legless, Melock raises his shield and charges the ones next to Amara so she has time to get back up.

”Henal push forward and stem the flow and give the others a chance to regroup!” Ohanzee says as he puts his shoulder to the shield and does the same.

”Someone get he hands off me before they reach my balls!”

Hearing Ohanzee's shout Henal braces himself and pushes forward using his shield to bash and push the skeletons back from Amara and form a new shieldwall.

Thunderbird help me scatter these bones for the Green.

Whilst Kobal wrestles with the spear in his thigh the others go about trying to turn back the undead horde. Helmets centuries old clank as they hit the ground, the heads within exploding under the onslaught of blade and magic.

Amara is saved, luckily unhurt she staggers back up and joins her friends in pushing back their attackers.

It's not all one way though as Rangers take wounds in poorly armoured locations, but they certainly have the upper hand. The fight is relentless though for unlike when fighting living foes, these ones don't need to rest...

Further up the tunnel the Storm Bulls seem to be on top, though each looks wounded somewhere or other. Compared to the Rangers they are lightly armoured, relying on brute strength and magic.

Now it's the turn of the undead to be surrounded!

Bones fly as the nomads rally, their previous protective square forgotten as they charge in to attack.

Dodge, stab, parry, head butt, parry, shield smash. On and on it goes.

There's a sudden spray of blood as the Noddler's head flies through the air, the brave not even having time to cry out as he's decapitated by a strangely patinated scimitar.

That's the beginning of the end, with the death spurring on the living to finally beat their undead enemy.

Then it's just mopping up with still moving limbs and torsos being dispatched as quickly as possible.

The battle finally won Ohanzee slumps against the wall of the corridor and slowly slides down it, his breathing coming in gasps and the Malia induced tremor replaced for the moment at least by the shaking of muscles that have been running on pure adrenalin and determination, both of which have suddenly been turned off.

Eventually he gathers his breath and looks over at Tarnessh ”Tarnessh, you need to get some heavier armour on. If there’s more like that and they swarm around us again you might not be so lucky!”

His words are horse with his heavy breathing and broken  ”Plus I’m knackered!”

He looks at the fallen Storm Bull and then up at the others ”What are you going to do about Noddler, leave him for now and give him the proper rights when this is over?”

“I wonder if they all came from the other room to get Indigo and then came back after it was done?”

As Ohanzee speaks Tarnessh's torch flickers, the area it illuminates contracting so that it is barely that of a normal rush torch.

Breath mists and sweat cools as the temperature drops considerably.

"Whoa! What is that?" shouts Big Bertha pointing with her Two handed axe down the passage way from where the Skeletons had swarmed from.

It's pitch black down there, darker than dark should be...

The Rubble Runner familiar sniffs deeply.

Something about these creatures seems wrong and now she detects movement and sounds high up in the cavern's mushroom covered roof.

High pitched squeaks, more felt than heard.
This message was last updated by the GM at 12:28, Tue 03 Feb 2015.

"Repe Sorsa?" Ohanzee responds to Big Bertha his tone suggesting that he is far from sure that it is, though it is a name that he had head the wizard use.

Henal leans against the wall while catching his breath. He.looks around at the numbers of shattered bones and looks for a usable spear.

So many of them coming. Wonder if the wizard got done by them before they came for us?

Seeing the wall of darkness advancing he moves towards the staircase, Rikki following closely.

 We can defend ourselves better if we don't have to worry about anything coming from behind. Form up as a shield wall on there and be ready to fight again.

He tries one more casting of his spell to detect undead.

Tarnessh shrugged at the torch and waved to get another one and cast his charm of ignition upon it. He tapped the unlit torch against the side of the wall and it suddenly sparked alight. "Tell me about it, Ohanzee. Do any of the skeletons have anything useful for me?" He asked and was about to inspect them on the off-chance they had any useful gear when he noticed the dead Storm Bull and the breath was sucked out of him. "Oh...by Waha I'm so sorry." He told the others. He was less surprised by this, since Storm Bulls were practically guaranteed to die in battle, but it still was painful for his fellows, no doubt.

At the mention of the name the darkness expands, drawing ever closer to the Rangers, pushing before it a feeling of terror so strong that all but the strongest braves will stay their ground.



The spell nearly blinds Henal as somewhere within the darkness flares up, registering positive...
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:32, Tue 03 Feb 2015.

Tarnessh's legs shook involuntarily as a chill ran down his spine like fingers made out of icicles, but he managed to stand his ground.

As the Darkness floods forward Ohanzee feels a cold more biting than anything he has experienced before. This is not a Darkness that he has experienced before, it is not the kind of Darkness that he feels at home in, welcome in, that welcomes him. He shudders Raven protect us! he prays.

Then, standing his ground against the wave of fear that flows over and around him he requests ”Someone sharpen my blade!”

The already edgy Hoskar can only stagger backward, vitals clutched with fear; shrinking down till he seems to be hiding behind the shield in which he's taken such security and staring round into the dismal darkness to find a means of escape his mind knows is not there.
Dark. Cold. No way out. Should have stayed selling salt and moving barrels. Ohshit.

He whimpers audibly as Ohanzee speaks, not even sure if his small sharpening charm would help here.

Henal staggers, his face drained of blood and the spear dropping from his hand as the power of the undead hits him. Rikki feeling it through his link puffs up into a ball of fur and hisses at the approching darkness


Powerful undeath comes to take us he stutters out shaking from fear.

Tarnessh quickly moved to use bladesharp on Ohanzee's blade. "Come on everyone, pull it together! Are we not warriors, are we not going to bring the Green back to the Wastes? How can that happen if we are cowed by the dark?!" He shouted.

Amara blanched in fear as the darkness approached. "Kiwidinok, lend me your strength Amara's voice barely a whisper as she said the words to her charms to try to help her against whatever it might be. They were in too deep to escape. They could only fight, even as the strength sapped from her arms. Despite her fear, she stepped forward to take her place on the wall, hoping that this time it would be more successful.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:27, Tue 03 Feb 2015.

As the darkness approaches, Melock feels his stomach drop and suddenly his feet are warm and wet and he takes a couple of steps backwards towards where Taya is. He glances round at the others, At least I'm not the only one. But darkness shouldn't scare me! He manages to stop himself backing up anymore and tries to look past the darkness and see what is causing it.

Taya lets everyone know about the bats and the strangeness of the rubble runners, "Amara, could Yado talk when he attacked you? because I think these wild runners might be like him." She backs up the passage way until she is next to Melock and she sniffs his feet and looks up at him, "Really? I know its getting cold, but don't you think there's better ways of keeping your feet warm?" When she turns to see what he's looking at, she growls deeply in her throat.

"No...Yado just moaned. He was without his mind." Amara's subdued voice answered. "It was just a shell. Yado was not there."

In reply to Amara Brightsky (msg # 73):

"Then I have no idea whats wrong with them, but something is. But I think we have bigger problems"

Kobal goes to stand next to Tarnessh as his brother makes his short but to the point speech. It has the desired effect though, helping those suffering from fear to at least pick up their weapons and prepare to sell their lives dearly.

"Cast your spell that forms the wall of light so we can see what is there!"

He puts one of his own torches into that of his brothers, adding it's weak light to the mix,

"Push back the the darkness."

In reply to Kobal (msg # 75):

Tarnessh thrust his hands forward, palms out, and let loose a wall of light that shot out along the wall that they had planned on travelling down.

From out of the Mushrooms comes a sudden rush of creatures, scuttling towards the Rubble Runner, intent on seeing off this interloper to their domain...

After the gloom it seems that Bright Treasure itself has arrived, causing everyone to cover their eyes and in some cases shout in alarm.

The Darkness recoils and from within it comes a hideous almost animal screech that makes one's blood run cold. Then it's gone receding quickly down the corridor to eventually vanish around a far bend in the distance....

Whatever it was leaves a residue of fear behind that's hard to shake and a feeling that whatever it was it was certainly ancient and evil beyond reckoning.

Thanks to the Light wall created by Tarnessh the passage is now lit as if it were day, showing the huge piles of bones from all the skeletons that had been destroyed. Now visible are two doorways further down in the direction that the darkness had receded, one on either side.

Just past them the passage turns to the right, preventing any further view of where the creature, thing or spirit had gone to.

In answer to Ohanzee's previous question Max does a little dance and rolls his eyes before picking up his dead friend's head. Then as his mates place the Noodler's corpse in a sitting position he slaps the head back on his neck, waiting until he balances it properly.

<Blue>"He can sit here as a warning and guard against chaos" answers One Punch, who begins to place skulls and bones about the dead warrior.

When she see's what is running towards them she calls out, "Crap, Light boy, turn that light round now, we have company." With that she charges at the biggest one, intent on leaping for its throat.
When people turn to see what is approaching, they see 5 rubble runners with extremely long legs, at least one of them is almost as tall as Henal and Ohanzee.

Henal takes up the bronze headed spear again and moves into the passage ready to fight the rubble runners.

He puts a spell of sharpness onto the spear.

Melock spins round to face whatever is coming from behind them, when he sees what it is, he laughs out loud in relief, "At least they are flesh and blood" He casts a charm of skin thickening on Taya. As he runs to attack the same long legged runner that Taya is, he grabs a scimitar and tries attacking them with it, if he finds it as easy to use as a broadsword, he will carry on using it, if he doesn't, he'll drop it and use his axe instead.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:24, Tue 03 Feb 2015.

Tarnessh made the Light-wall swerve around and highlight the rubble-runners charging them without a word, and tried to fire bolts of pure disruptive energy at the one that the others were attacking, once again lamenting that there wasn't enough space for him to safely use his sling.

Amara slapped her axe against her shield, figuring the runners would run. If they were going to stay they would pay the penalty for it. She walked slowly towards them, her axe cracking loudly against her shield like a drum.

As the light banishes this Darkness Ohanzee breathes a sigh of relief. He doesn't turn as the others do at the new threat of the rubble runners, instead standing ready in case there are evil tries to take advantage of the situation.

When that threat retreats again though he urges the others "Come on, leave them there's a greater threat to deal with." and he begins down the corridor towards the two doors. "Indigo Hue may still be alive.", though he doesn't have much conviction in this last statement!

"Indigo Hue might be causing the trouble to slow us down." Amara retorted sharply.

Ohanzee doesn't stop or turn, but he does call back "No. When he spoke of Repe Sorsa it was teh one and only time I saw fear in him. I'm certain if he'd thought that thing was still here he'd not have come."

What with Taya's unexpected and ferocious attack, and the noise and light coming from the corridor the mutated creatures retreat back into the darkness, leaving Melock's familiar to return to the brave with a still twitching leg in her mouth...

"Grrrrrrr."

Reaching the end of the passage after passing two similar doors to the one he'd examined earlier, the Raven brave peers around the right hand corner.

It vanishes into darkness. What little he can see, thanks to the faint ceiling lights above his head, is featureless, with no doors or other passages branching off.

Henal seeing the threat from the undead and the rubble runners recede follows Ohanzee along the corridor. Unless the wizard went through one of the doors he must have gone along here.

He looks to see if any tracks are visible in the dust on the floor.

The floor is totally scuffed up by the passage of undead going both directions. Neither Henal nor Ohanzee can find Indigo's or his slave's prints.

Those coming behind and investigating the two doors find that they are exactly the same as the previous one. Bronze oblong doors, beneath heavy stone lintels and with a glass panel on the wall next to them.

In reply to GM (msg # 92):

He whistles as he looks at the bronze door, If we can get these doors off and take them with us, we'll be rich." He has a look round near one of the doors for a similar panel to tbe one he found in the tomb.

Melock finds nothing familiar.

It stinks of foul sorcery.

What he does find though is faint writing on the lintels above each door. Unfortunately they are illegible.

”So we can’t be sure that he didn’t go in one of those other doors now that there’s been so much traffic” Ohanzee says. Then turning returns down the corridor turning his attention to the closest door first, the one on his right he goes through the same procedure as he had tried on the door need the ‘shroom cavern muttering as he does so ”It’s screwed for the first door but maybe that didn’t screw the others?”

As Ohanzee investigates the glass panel it depresses slightly,  causing it to emit a low, negative sounding

*MERP*

Whilst flashing red.

This time the *MERP* doesn't stop

*MERP**MERP**MERP**MERP**MERP**MERP**MERP**MERP**MERP**MERP**MERP**MERP**MERP*

The three Storm Bulls saunter up to the turn in the passageway joining Henal and who ever else is there

"What's the plan, we killing everything or we gonna sit down and cry about being trapped?" booms Big Bertha

Ohanzee looks sheepishly around as the beeping and flashing doesn’t stop this time and he leaves the door alone proclaiming ”This one was particularly hard!”

He is about to move back down to join Henal and the remaining Storm Bulls when he remembers and he calls down the corridor ”Oi, Max. Can you come try dispelling on this panel, maybe it can be interrupted that way to get in?”

Having just finished arranging his dead friend, Max is currently having a piss against the corridor wall.

Once he's finished he comes over to look at the door, hefting a large two handed axe, the same height as himself.

"Reckon we should just twat it with Beryl here. That should do the trick."

Squinting one eye as he takes aim, the diminutive warrior gets ready to smack the panel.

Getting no immediate reply the Bison rider begins to stride down the passage, closely followed by One Punch Gari.

Overhead panels light up, dimly, but enough to see the two Storm Bulls as they move off.

"Errr yeah... we could try that. On the other hand it migh have some axe destroying ward on it, so how about trying dispelling the magic first?... Just in case" Ohanzee suggests pointing at the panel that isn't continuously beeping and flashing.

Was thinking of finding how to open the door first so our friends can take part in the fun Henal replies.

Seeing the two Storm Bulls moving down the corridor he lights up a torch and starts to follow. Remember the undead are already dead.

This causes the two Storm Bull warriors to stop and stare at each other, both trying to make sense of what Henal just said.

"Eh?" "WTF?"

Then shaking their heads they continue into the passage, followed by Henal, Kobal and perhaps others...

It's not long before they come to another turn and there revealed in the the torchlight the passage continues, but with two doors immediately in front of the explorers, one on either side of the passage. About the ground before them are scattered the bones of several skeletons.

"Nah screw that!"

Down comes the axe shattering the glass panel.

The door  *Whooshes* open, sliding sideways into the wall, then immediately shuts again with another *Whoosh*.

Several seconds later it repeats....And repeats....And repeats.

Ohanzee's eyes roll as Mad Max swings at teh panel and he watches the result for a moment before gesturing to the door with a grin "After you!"

Henal looks to see if the doors are the same as the others and for any signs of them having opened such as tracks leading from them.

Wonder if there is any chaos to smash inside these? He casts a spell to detect any lurking inside.

After he has searched, he watches with amusement as the predictable response of the Stormbull. While they are occupied with that door, he walks up to the door on the opposite side of the passage and tries to fool the switch will his power of illusion, while thinking, I am a Mostali over and over again
This message was last edited by the player at 15:23, Wed 04 Feb 2015.

Tarnessh just watched in bewildered bemusement at what was going on in front of him. All of it seemed so strange and so sudden that he didn't really have any idea of what to do. Still, whatever happened next promised to be interesting, at least. "Maybe we could throw a lit torch into the room when the door opens so we can see what's inside?" He suggested.

Amara picked up a rock and placed it in the track of the door to see if it would impede the door. "A wedge to keep it open might be the best idea."

Hoskar has been quiet, shaking and sweating from the ingress of dark evil that assailed the group, then trying covertly to get away from the obvious and embarrassing stain he's left in the passage.

Creeping nervously towards the oscillating door, he's grateful for a constructive idea, his brain being too numb for planning.
Good idea: don't fancy putting my hand in there to get crushed while it's moving, but if we can stop the thing we might be able to force it. Anything to get us out of here really.

Amara, Hoskar, Tarnessh and Ohanzee get a very rapid and disorientating view into a short passage that looks to end in a T junction. Just visible are several doors directly ahead, which reminds Hoskar of his visit to the cells of the Lunar Trade house in Corflu.

Unable to find a rock in the passage Amara uses the next best thing - a lunar helmet. Narrowly missing getting her remaining hand crushed the helmet drops neatly into place and is instantly crushed, though it does prevent the door from closing properly.

Those watching reckon that with the correct timing someone could dive through....

 Henal's charm comes back negative in all directions.



*MERP*

For the briefest of moments Melock looks rather small, stocky and made from something rock hard.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:26, Wed 04 Feb 2015.

Amara let the corner of her mouth rise in a smile. Preparing herself, she dashed through when the timing was right. The area needed to be explored.

When the panel Merps at him he feels disappointed that it didn't work, but he cant shake the feeling that something strange happened, though he's not sure what. I better not try and force this door while everyone else is looking at the other one. He wanders back to the other door and watches to see what they plan to do.

Sailing through the air after timing the door's action perfectly, Amara rolls to a stop. She finds her self in what reminds her of the cells and basement below the Lunar Trade House in Corflu. Here the walls are solid, and the doors made of Bronze, and from what she can make out under the dim ceiling panels all are closed.

Behind her the door to the corridor and her friends continues to *whoosh* back and forth.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:28, Wed 04 Feb 2015.

As Melock moves back down the passage, Big Bertha pushes the glass panel of the other door.

With a *Whoosh* it slides open and remains so. Thanks to Kobal holding his torch over her large shoulder they can see that there's another short passage ending in a similar door, with four doors on either side. All closed. The floor dust is scuffed, this time by what looks like very small humanoid feet. No one recognises what they might be from.

"Have we lost Indigo Hue's trail?" Tarnessh asked.

Max, the diminutive Storm Bull warrio,r rests his large axe on the ground whilst leaning on it's handle.

"What by the great Bull's horns is an Indigo Hue?" he asks before looking to Ohanzee, Melock and Hoskar for help.

Behind them the door continues to *Whoosh* back and forth, causing Amara, on the other side, to strobe....

It's not a nice feeling.

"Its a lighter shade of Indigo," He laughs, which sounds a bit forced. "He's a stranger from across the big water beyond Corflu, he paid us to get him here as he wanted to explore this place. He must of carried on exploring while we where killing the broo. So we do need to find him" He turns so he isn't looking directly at Amara as the strobe effect is beginning to make him feel sick. "Anything of interest in there Amara. Do you want some company in there?"

Henal looks at the tracks and says These don't look like the footprints that we want to follow. I say we leave this one and investigate the other door and the passage first.

Amara blinked finding the flashes disorientating. I don't know if there's anything worthwhile or dangerous here MElock. I can barely see. I might suggest that it would be good for one or more people to come over, but be careful of the doors." Amara looked around trying to get a feel for what might be stored in this place.

Each of the doors in the cell block have the similar glass panels to one side. Apart from that there's not much else to see. It's cold in here and Amara's breath mists as she breaths.

Kobal nods in agreement and the braves step back from the door, which after a moment *Whooshes* shut. Re examining the marks and bones on the ground both Bison Braves reckon that the Skeletons were trying to get into the other door across the passage in it's Southern wall.

Henal turns to the south door and tries simply pushing the glass panel of the south door.

I wonder why those skeletons were trying to get into here. Could Indigo Hue be inside here?

It's the same door that Melock had tried earlier. This time it opens with the by now familiar *Whoosh* revealing a very happy looking Indigo Hue and his slave.

Behind them is a massive room, mainly shrouded in darkness.

Big Bertha and One punch lower their weapons when they see that Henal recognises the Wizard, though both warriors sniff suspiciously.

"Hmmm....You took your time."

We ran into a few skeletons on the way. Henal replies looking to see if anything else is in the room than Indigo and his servant.

Do you know how to open the door back into the tower? We ran into something deeply undead and managed to drive it off but I don't want to face it again without our powers being at full strength.  We fought and destroyed foul chaos broo while you were down here and it has drained us heavily.

"Hmmmm....I was chased here by animated bones. I glued this door and another door shut. Hearing your voice I then guessed it safe to dispel and appear.

That was undoubtedly Repe Sorsa himself. We spoke for a while...Negotiations that were broken off by you and your friends' arrival."

Popping his head out he checks that the corridor is clear

"Where is everyone  else?
Hmmm the door? Brute strength should do it. I will lend my assistance.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 07:56, Thu 05 Feb 2015.

From every direction comes the deep boom of a large drum being beaten.

Thanks be to Trade: someone with some actual power at last... then he hears the drums...ohshit again. What now?

Trying hard, but not succeeding well, to contain the panic in his voice he asks plaintively What in earth is going on now? How much trouble are we in here? to anyone who's listening; but with his gaze expectantly towards the foreign sorceror.

And then the drum beat starts...

Ohanzee twists his head one way and then another to try to determine which direction the beating is coming from, tunnels or cavern. ”I think that’s our queue to all get back together. Amara can you get out?”

He then adds his voice to Melock’s showing his blue hand ”He healed my all but destroyed hand. Powerful foreign magics he has, but he was been tested by the Storm Bulls of the High Tree clan and they found no Chaos in him or in his magics.”
This message was last edited by the player at 10:08, Thu 05 Feb 2015.

Henal tenses at the sound of the drums.
Time to rejoin the others and get out of here. There can be time to come back and explore more later. We don't come to be prey for Repe Sorsa.

He turns and starts to walk back to the others.

"As we haven't found Indigo yet, I think we need to check these rooms out, just in case anything is hiding in there." He takes a deep breath and then runs towards the door, hoping he can copy Amara and get through.

"No, we REALLY need to leave." Tarnessh said, his voice cracking just a bit much.

Landing at Amara's feet the Raven brave is just in time to see a ghostly form appearing at the end of the cell passage.

Taya, still chewing on the leg outside the cell block, sits up straight

"Ghosts"

Which thanks to Rikki, Henal picks up straight away.

If that's not bad enough, other ghostly forms begin to pass through cell doors.

*Whoosh* goes the door *Whoosh*

Indigo grabs Grim Wire and follows, his long legs soon out distancing those he is with.

Sharing odd looks Big Bertha and One Punch perform a rear guard action, letting Kobal and Henal try and keep up with the Wizard.


"Somethings coming" bellows Bertha.

Those standing  in the corridor next to the door that is opening and closing continuously hear the sound of running feet and there coming towards them is Indigo Hue, Kobal, Henal, Grim Wire, Big Bertha and One Punch Gari.

Everyone is together again...

*Merp**Whoosh**Merp**Whoosh**Merp**Whoosh**Merp**Whoosh**Merp**Whoosh**Merp**Whoosh**Merp**Whoosh**Merp**Whoosh*

”Amara, Melock get out of there! Everyone’s here including Indigo Hue and there’s something scary coming!”

He readies his shield and sword to try to hold the corridor whilst the other two exit at the same time pointing out to those who might not have hear Taya ”There’s ghosts coming!”

He looks at the ghosts coming out of the walls, then back at Ohanzee, "Really? I hadn't noticed" he grins, then turns to Amara, "After you" Once she has jumped through, Melock follows her.

The sudden realisation comes over Ohanzee, the realisation that he is in heavy slowing lead armour. He turns and runs shouting to the ”Indie we need distance! Can you open the door above, otherwise I’m heading for the cavern!”

First Amara and then Melock leap past the slamming door, arriving just as the others pull up. Except for Indigo Hue who keeps running for the stairway....



"No Idea....*Pant*....." comes back the Wizard's  reply.

Visible to those still hovering around the *whooshing* door is a gaggle of ghosts, horrendous in shape and form streaming down the short passageway recently vacated by Amara and Melock.

Gibbering wrecks of humanity, led by a deformed hunchback cliche of a gaoler...

"WhoooooooooooOOoooooooOOOOoooooo."

Head for the stairs with all of us there we should be able to get the door open. Henal says running after the Wizard.

In reply to Henal Longgrass (msg # 142):

"We need to stay together, so the stairs it is" and he follows Henal, though he keeps alongside Ohanzee in case he needs to quickly take the armour off. "Come on raven, get those feet moving!" he calls encouragingly.

"Fuck this shit!" Tarnessh said and ran away with the others, thoroughly spooked.

Seeing everyone decide it was time to go, Amara headed for the stairs. Fear lending speed to her feet.

Now there's an idea I like.

Damn straight. Let's get out of this.

Almost glad of his earlier accident, which at least makes him a little lighter, Hoskar pelts for the stairs with the rest of the Rangers.

His legs pound away, but the armour makes no where near as much sound in his own ears at least as the pounding of his hear. Heading for the stairs he tries to take them in as many steps as he can at a time, his breathing becoming laboured, his chest tightening and his leg muscles begining to burn.

There's a general stampede back up the stairs, where they find Indigo Hue leaning against the slab of rock blocking the way out. He's wheezing and quite possible laughing.

Behind him the rock face glows from the strange and oddly disturbing sigils and runes that covers it's surface.

Centre spot is a large representation of a Black Feather.

Following the Rangers are the three remaining Storm Bull worshippers who look to be carrying their headless friend's body.

"Decided it was a bad idea leaving him down there...Didn't want to meet him if we go back down...You know...Walking dead and all that" points out Big Bertha, speaking loudly to cover her two companions who are doing rather good impressions of wild fowl

"Buc Buc Buc"  "Buc Buc Buc" "Buuurk."

Of the ghosts there are no sign...

Panting Ohanzee stoops with his hands on his knees looking up at the glowing rock "What now, press the feather?"

"Could be a trap" grins Indigo, his tall blue hat nearly touching the ceiling.

Melock looks back down the passage, not quite believing that the ghosts haven't caught up with them yet. "Taya, go and have a look and see if they are just really slow or if they haven't left the room"

Taya slowly turns and glares at Melock, "Why me?" She sniffs, "So it wasn't just you that decided to warm your feet by pissing yourself."

Melock turns a deep shade of red, "Thanks for bring that up, again. Look, just go to the bottom of the stairs and have a listen. I'll kill you something nice when we get out of here."

With a final glare at Melock she turns and muttering under her breath, "You better, or you'll wake up missing something important." she creeps down the stairs, staying close to the wall, until she gets to the bottom, where she freezes and listens for the ghosts.

Amara raised an eyebrow at Melocks suggestion "Melock, it is not wise. Taya is not any better suited to fight spirits than we are. It accomplishes nothing to have her look. We should ficus more on leaving this place."

Amara sighed heavily looking at the marks on the wall. "I hate seeing those marks they leave behind. We've had nothing but bad luck with these places."

The brave frown "A trap on the inside to get out?" then shrugs "Easy to tell. Hoskar if you wouldn't mind doing the honours?"

He smiles back at her, "Your right, but someone needs to find out. I'm the last person who should go, considering my back luck with ghosts" He tilts his head to the right to expose the scars on his neck, "besides, she can run faster than us."
He turns to look at the feather on the rock, "The map in the tomb that showed the tower and the feather was rigged with a trap, which might have been a warning. Which the more I think about it, the more I think we should have paid heed to"

It's Ohanzee's urn to laugh ever such a little "What? And miss the chance to have the Big Pecker killing broo come to us? Of wiping out those pig riders?"

In reply to Ohanzee Shappa (msg # 155):

He chuckles, "Ask me again when we get out of here, but at the moment I rather not be stuck in this tunnel."

Hoskar's detection charm comes back negative.

As Taya sneaks down the stairs, the light over head marking her descent she spies light advancing towards the stairs exit. Something or someone is coming down the passage towards the foot of the stairs.

She can hear them...

The thud of heavy bone feet.

Ghost's don't make a sound when they move. Time to go! She turns round and runs back up the stairs. "I can hear something BIG walking this way, I hope you lot have opened that door!'

Henal looks at the door and says: Shall we try pushing on the feather or just use the strength matrix and all try and push it open?

With no traps detected Ohanzee half presses, half leans on the feather, his breath still coming in gasps ”Open in the name of Repe Sorsa”  then looking at Indigo Hue he asks ”How would he say that, his own language?”

"With a lisp" replies the wizard enigmatically, before starting to cast a spell of some strength at the door.

The Black Feather depresses and Ohanzee goes flying backwards into his companions, small traces of blue lightning crackling over his lead armour before dissipating with an audible pop.

His hand is burnt and smokes slightly. It doesn't smell nice...

"Hmmm Interesting, level 1 warding incorporated in to the feather. Most likely geared for Ravens and other such rascals...."

HIs spell goes off

"I suggest those feeling strong try and lift the door, we don't have much time."

As his dispel charm takes hold the door begins to vibrate, lifting slightly off the ground, enough to allow edged weapons to be stuck underneath and levered open.

It's soon wedged open enough to allow the Rangers to slide underneath.

From the bottom of the stairs the ceiling light flicks on and a mob of massive creatures surge upwards.

Bigger than humans they can only be long dead Uz, armed with vicious looking mauls, clubs and shields.

Zombie trolls....

"Get through" hollers Big Bertha leaning on the handle of her massive axe.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:15, Fri 06 Feb 2015.

Henal uses the strength matrix and the last dregs of his power to boost his strength so he can help lift the door open. He slides through glad of his diminutive size after Rikki has run through.

Once through he helps keep the door wedged up for the others ready to let go once all are through. Quick get through, hopefully this can hold the trolls back in there.

Rikki, let the other familiars know that these are coming so the others can come to help us fight off the undead trolls if they get through.

Melock also touches Emesh-Ga's shield and swiftly increases his strength. He gets through the door and helps Henal hold the door open. "Get up the stairs and get ready to hit them with spells, if they get through"

Taya bolts under the held open door and stops at the bottom of the stairs, looking round to see if anything is waiting to attack them on this side.

Picking himself up Ohanzee flows on his hand, shakes it and blows again ”That was a rush!” By this time he door is open enough to squeeze through and that is exactly what he does.

As the last Ranger dives through there's a rumble and the slab falls back down. Moments later there's a *Thud* more felt than heard as something large hits the other side.

It's quickly followed by the muffled sounds of combat, with everyone quickly realising that Big Bertha hadn't made it in time, whether by design or bad luck no one knows. It sounds like the warrior is selling her life dearly.

Mad Max and One Punch salute the blank section of wall, then set about arranging the Noodler for his eternal guard duty.

As they work from the top of the stairs leading back up to the tower comes the voice of Salen.

"Anyone for a brew up?"

Ohanzee, still breathing heavily looks at the now closed rock surface with horror, but slowly recovers seeing the stoic way Big Bertha’s fiends deal with her sure death as well as the already dead form of the Noddler.

”Brew up sounds good, but make sure there’s some kumis in there. There’s undead trolls the other side of this rock wall fighting Big Bertha maybe first we should wait a while to see that they don’t open the door and come this  side though!”

“We could all do with a rest and we need to speak with Indie!”

Amara felt sorrow for the woman who chose to stay behind. the expression of loss showed on her face as she talked to the other Black Shields. "I'm afraid I can't think of a way to get her back to us. I wish there was. The world needs more people like her. The Black Shields are strong and good allies to have. We'll drink much kumiss in her memory when we return to the clan." Amara walked over to Ohanzee "Do you think this wizard fella might be able to get Bertha back?"

Ohanzee falls silent as he listens for any sounds of ongoing battle the other side of the wall and then responds "I think it's too late. Recover her body maybe, but not rescue her, you saw there were many of the things and they were Uz skeletons."

Still he turns to Indigo Hue and as usual asks through his slave "Did you get that, any chance of rescuing her the other side?"

Tarnessh just flopped onto the floor in exhaustion and relief. "You go on ahead. I'm just going...to lay here for awhile." He told the others.

When he realises that Big Bertha didn't make it, he goes to look for a way to open the door, but when he see's that Mad Max and One Punch aren't looking and how wiped out the other rangers are, he joins the Stormbulls in saluting her. Then he joins the others climbing back up the stairs. "Taya, do us a favour and keep an eye on the door." he asks her in a very tired voice.
She just about to answer with a cutting reply, when she realises how bad a state everyone is in, so she just nods and finds a spot on the stairs that is as high as she can go, while still seeing the door and settles in to watch and wait.

I definitely need a brew after what we faced down there. Henal replies wearily leaning against the wall before he starts upstairs with Rikki at his feet.

Then time for another wash down to get rid of the smell of combat and blood.

Don't you mean piss? Rikki asks him.

Weak and shaking, Hoskar puts his back against the nearest solid wall and slides down it limply to a sitting position; shield in front of his knees.

Bugger Kumiss this time. I might be a chicken trader he remarks with a glance at the remaining Storm Bulls but we have our uses. I've been lugging a barrel of Pavic wine around for seasons: think it's time for the strong stuff. Oh, and a smoke.

He struggles to his feet again with a weakly-embarrassed smile as his brain catches up with reality and realises he's sitting in the cold and noisome remnants of his fear. I just need to...um...get some things from my mount anyway: be back shortly.

Head bowed, he seems to actually totter as he moves off; holding the wall to support himself.

It's not long before Choppa can be heard thumping down the stairs to arrive like one of the foul tempered winds created by his Great Spirit.

Once he sees the dead Noodler and hears of Big Bertha's demise he really lets loose on the two survivors, knocking both men to the ground before glaring at those Rangers remaining and then stomping over to stare at the illusionary wall.

He remains there muttering.

Indigo shrugs "I fear we may be too late. I can stop the door magic for a while, but to be honest I must rest up. I was foolish to try and go in by myself Hmmmm. Excited and foolish."

He stares at the nearby Choppa and looks like he has decided to say no more.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:12, Sat 07 Feb 2015.

Amara finds herself being taken aside for a moment by Kobal, who presents her with Emesh-Ga's helmet.

"Emesh-Ga has said that he would like you to wear his helm for a while."

He walks slowly after Hoskar, "Your not the only one." he grins, "I need to get some clean trousers and" he shudders, "wash these ones. I'd only just got them worn in as well."
Once he's got changed, he'll check on Copperman, then leave him with his gear. He'll grab a couple of skins of kumiss and head back to the others. Leaving the soiled trousers on the floor, to be washed sometime in the future.

It was early evening when they went down and on the way back up Ohanzee feels as though it's late into the evening or even well into the night. Reaching the windowed level he takes a look outside to confirm the time.

"I'm going to try our friends above one last time. Anyone want to tag along?" he says taking a torch and heading up the steps.

It is indeed night time and as Ohanzee stares out of the window he sees the far off glow of the still burning bush fire. Perhaps to escape the wrath of his boss One Punch volunteers to come up to the roof of the tower with the Raven Brave...

Below the mounts are gathered around the tower, the ground floor to small to take everyone, but it's likely a safe arrangement due to the amount of folk who are planning on taking their turn at watch.

Inside flames spring up from the fireplaces, the largest conflagration taking place in the basement where watched by Hoskar Tarnessh begins a ceremony of cleansing on the Broo armour, a ritual half remembered and half made up....

Rangers wash the blood and stench from their exhausted bodies, explaining to those who'd remained what had happened below. Choppa is furious, but seems not to want to take it out on the Rangers though he obviously holds them partially responsible.

"We will leave in the morning, I am already late as it is. I shall inform our Elders what has occurred here." Whilst talking his gaze takes in the tall dark skinned wizard and his naked slave and the odd bunch of braves that make up the Rangers.

Upstairs Ohanzee finds the rooftop empty and nothing evident in the dark but star filled sky. Far in the distance can be seen the red globe of the invader moon.

"Tada's blind eye" remarks Gari, from where he leans on the wall of the roof. He then points further out and up... "Tada's Tooth necklace" a constellation of eight stars. "That's what us Bison folk call it...Hear the High Llama's call it the Walkers, the founders of the seven none mounted human tribes and the Newtlings. Load of old bollocks, but that's High Llama's for you, full of shite."
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:50, Sat 07 Feb 2015.

Ohanzee smiles at the quaint beliefs of the Bison tribe and of the High Llama's too for that matter "That my friend is Orlanth's ring, his celestial home where he holds court."

"It leaves Stormgate, the entrance to the Sky World" he points to the star "on Windsday and takes seven days and night spiralling up to the Pole Star" he points again "where it vanishes to reappear at Stormgate seven days later."

"Ah you follow little brother then? Not surprising as you're a Rhino rider. Not much use for him out here is there? Hear he's bigger  over that way" his finger indicates the West.

"Big Bertha was a good friend of mine. Was a good way to go. How she'd have wanted it."

Indigo Hue settles in to the room above the main doors, bringing in his belongings and spreading them about.

When he gets the chance he asks the Rangers what they plan to do

"Will you stay? I could use your help, but I understand if you too must depart. I plan to make the Tower my home for now and would be interest in acquiring some guards to help protect it."

We will only stay a few days more to recover and repair out damage. We have much still to do on our journey and to wait too long would stop up achieving it. Henal replies to Indigo's question.

It is not our way to stay in one place too long as the grazing gets used up and the beasts need to walk.

In reply to Indigo Hue (msg # 182):

"Unfortunately, we have obligations elsewhere. However, you have been honourable with us, and so in exchange, we will not tell others where you are if we can help it, so that they don't decide to come and raid you." Tarnessh said.

"We'll avenge her and rid this place, but we must prepare first." He offers and then sighs "But first sleep!" and heads below.

Melock finds the others and gives Choppa a skin of kumiss, "To Big Bertha and Noodle, I don't know how they lived, but they died like Stormbulls." He takes a big swig of kumiss from the other skin he had picked up, then passes it to the next person, "I'll take first watch of the door with Taya." With that he nods and heads down the stairs to start. On the way down he collects his new bronze dagger, his sword, his canteen and a mixture of dried fish and trail rations. He gets comfortable on the steps next to Taya, "This will have to do food wise for now." and he feeds her the dried fish.
"As long as we don't become food for whatever that thing was, I'm happy." Once both of them have eaten, Melock gets his sword out and putting it point down on the step below, crosses both arms and leans on it.
"What are you doing?" Taya enquires.
"This way if I fall a sleep, I'll fall forward and that will wake me up."

Arriving downstairs Ohanzee pays a visit to the Indigo Hue in his newly acquired rooms "So are you still planning to stay here then? We'll be leaving in a day or two so you'll be alone. There's the two flying stone creatures above, they'll likely not let much come in that way whilst they're about, maybe you can even deal with them to do more."

"It's the forces below that I'd be more warried about if I were staying. What's to stop them coming up?"

"Either way we'll be back, maybe other Chaos hunters sooner. It is the duty of the four clans we Rangers hail from as well as our own duty as Rangers to deal with the Chaos below."

It seemed to Amara that the release of the ghosts might have been a ploy by the wizard to keep them away from the secrets of the caverns below. A way to hide everything for himself. She watched the wizard carefully as Kobal took her to one side.

"I understand Kobal. Emesh Ga is the guardian of us all. I shall watch him only for as long as you are not nearby and return him when you are close. His words and guidance are always valuable. Something you might need in the future much more than I." Amara thought for a moment before handing her helmet to Kobal "Keep my helm. When you return it to me, I know that you will be ready to be the guardian of our spirit once more. In the meantime I'll protect him with my life."

Amara cleaned herself up out of the sight of the others, rueful of losing people for no real purpose except clearing out the physical threats from the area below the castle. She returned and sat by the fire taking some food and passing the rest around to the storm bulls. "We should be on our way soon. To visit the place we have restored to the garden. If any of you like....you are more than welcome to come with us and see the wonders."

Tarnessh got up and nodded enthusiastically. "I haven't seen it yet, so I'm really eager to see what's changed there." He said, for the moment forgetting the pall of losing yet more Nomad lives for what didn't seem like much.

Amara embraces the familiar feeling of Power as Emesh-Ga's personality flows into the same space as hers and her perceptions of her surroundings change. She's conscious of the chambers below her and if concentrates feels the existence of the complex far below sitting like a cancer in the Earth.

"Amara Brightsky welcome."

His voice is deep and warm.

"You have encountered problems below."

A statement of fact, not a question.

The few Storm Bulls present watch, aware that something special is occurring.

Amara beamed as Emesh Ga spoke "Welcome Lord Emesh Ga. I hope your time with me will be pleasant. We have much to talk about and a long way to go to restore the garden and the reunite the clans, yet with every day we come closer to our goal."<Green> Amara nodded a tacit acknowledgement that things hadn't gone their way. <green>"The problems are of a nature we find difficult to cope with. Ghosts and zombie Uz. Spiritually, we're no match for such a large number of ghosts. Grandmother Thorntrees bark might be good to keep them at bay, but these ghosts have been there for a long time and are powerful."

"Hmmm I do not think they are able to pass, or at least have no reason too. Daylight is on my side, that and my magic."

The wizard seems distracted, searching through several of his chests, picking up strange objects and then putting them back.

"Though I fear if you do remain you may be in some danger."

As he speaks he seems to be watching Amara surreptitiously.

Grim Wire stands next to the bent over Wizard,  every now and again holding his hand to take something proffered by his master. The few Storm Bulls who are in the room watch suspiciously, for the moment letting this odd pair alone.

"Aye I sensed them, but they were weak and bound to the area they had died in. But you were wise to run, it was not the place to stand whilst many of you were near exhausted spiritually."

"Tell me what are the Wandering Rangers' plans for the call of my home is getting stronger and you are bound by geas to rerun and assist the Earth Witch."

Melock and Taya start to feel the cold so far below ground, despite their affinity with Darkness. It's lonely and kinda spooky.

From behind the illusionary wall comes a barely heard *Thump*

"We are heading to the giants finger holes. We need to stop off for a short time prior to our return to gain the assistance of a spirit that will help the giants finger holes. The Earth witch is strong and so are her defences, but the temple can be defeated if enough resources are put into it. With Kinopes assistance we hope to have a powerful spirit watch over the temple. We spread the word wherever we go in the hopes that pilgrims choosing to visit would also assist in its defence should there be any problems, but the safer we can make it, the stronger it will be. It will make it safer for you, your wife, the Earth Witch and all who choose to visit it." Amara looked back towards the building "There will come a time when we return here, and when we do, we will return far more powerful than we are at the moment. I almost feel sorry for those who do not yet rest, but when the time comes we shall put their bodies to sleep beside their spirits. Do you have counsel for us or did you merely wish to know what the immediate future has in store for us?"

Listening to what Indigo Hue has to say and then to Amara "Ohanzee suggests "Well if remaining here is dangerous to us then I see no point in staying longer than needs be. If our being present is likely to draw out the dead then the sooner we leave the less draw there is."

"After all it's better to keep them penned up so we don't have to go chasing them all about the land when we return."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:19, Mon 09 Feb 2015.

"Absolutely.For one, my magic is at it's weakest in that area too. Tight corridors, no light, dark, I'm almost useless there. But if we returned in force, things would be much different." Tarnessh agreed.

Once he's clean himself, taking jibes about manly smells in surprisingly good part - perhaps thanks to tiredness - and gotten into something fresh, Hoskar finds himself too busy for wine: there's a surprisingly persistent stain to beat out of battle-worn garb before he can think straight, then armour to see cleansed. My thanks, Tarnessh - I owe you for that. Let's hope next time there's a big fight I'll be standing there solid like an ingot healing folks up.

Finally, with a sigh, he's through busyness and his cat will again come within pole's length of him without narrowing her eyes in disgust at his aroma. Kumiss time. Yet as he swigs and feels his eyes droop, he recalls comrades on guard duty I'd not want to be down there alone, Taya with me or not and potters warily down the stairs with the kumiss skin.

You okay down here, Melock? Little drink perhaps?

As he feels the cold creep in to him, he gets up and starts walking up and down a few stairs, which not only keeps the cold from chilling his bones too much, but also helps keep him awake. Taya just to be contrary is going up when Melock is walking down, but when the thump is heard, both of them move so they can see the blank wall, where the door is hidden.
"Maybe time to get the others" Taya whispers.
"If it gets louder and sounds like they are about to break through, then we will, but they are tired and need their rest" Melock replies, in a hushed tone.



He looks round as he hears Hoskar approach, "I better not" He shakes his head, "I don't know why I'm whispering. Its not as if they don't know we are here." He looks wistfully at the skin of kumiss, "If I drink any more, I'll fall asleep. We just heard a thump against the door, but I don't think they can get through that way. Which means it cant be opened from the other side next to the door. Maybe there's a switch in the room where we found the pig riders stuff."

Taya, with out looking round, "I smell you've cleaned up as well Hoskar." she laughs, "did you bring any food. All he brought down was dried fish"
This message was last edited by the player at 10:26, Mon 09 Feb 2015.

Salen breaks out his pipe, some Tobakeh and some of the other stuff. After a prayer to the spirit of the weed the room is soon filled with it's fragrant smell, aiding both relaxation and communication...


The noise from behind the illusionary wall has stopped for the moment.

In reply to Melock (msg # 199):

You're right. Kumiss probably isn't the best idea. Needed it just to get myself down here to check on things, though he observed taking another sparing mouthful. I suppose you Ravens like it dark, but it's not my thing.

He looks askance at the hungry Rubble Runner Dead right. You think I'm proud of that? You're not making yourself popular here he mutters sourly, but can't keep up any emotion for long and finishes with a yawn. I can prop myself up here awhile or go find something to feed her on if you're alright. Any preferences?
This message was last edited by the player at 10:51, Mon 09 Feb 2015.

In reply to Hoskar Feather (msg # 201):


"Up until now I've never been scared of the dark, but that thing.. that's was enough to make me understand why most people are" He looks in Taya's direction then turns back to Hoskar, "She's always hungry. I wouldn't worry about her. Have you got any tea on you, a hot drink would be welcome and now is a good a time as any to try it." he pats his canteen, "I can sort out the hot water and your company is always welcome."

"I wouldn't feel too bad, you weren't the only one," She points her tail at Melock, her eyes never leaving the hidden door. "At least you've done a better job than him of getting rid of the smell. Its getting hard to tell him apart from those chaos killers, smell wise."

He fumbles in a pouch. Pinch of char? You're in luck. Snaffled a bit from Salen's brew-up above. Is that the magic heating canteen, then?

He grins at Melock's familiar I've had chance to wash - he's been looking out for nasties. Thinking of which, no way am I scrubbing your togs but I bunged them in a bucket - fear's such a persistent stain, and I imagine we could both do without the...well...piss I suppose...being taken any further. he manages a tired grin. Not sure I'll be great company, but I'll try to stay awake.

Hey, cat - chance for earning some friend points down here. Hungry's hungry.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:02, Mon 09 Feb 2015.

Upstairs in the main room

Agreed, if the undead are being drawn out by us being here then lets just rest enough to be ready to travel then go. Henal responds then after taking a swig of kumiss he moves towards another room. Wake me when  it's my turn to stand watch.

In reply to Hoskar Feather (msg # 201):

Tarnessh had made the ritual seem very easy, he had simply placed the armour on a pile of tinder and then willed the fire into existence, but inside it was an act of extreme concentration. The memory of the wildfire he had caused was fresh in his mind, and he knew that to slip up just a bit could cause the deaths of all of them, so he could not allow his mind to waver from what shape the flames would take. He knew that shamans like Smokey Jojo could practically make fire do practically whatever they wanted with barely any effort (or so it was said), but Tarnessh wasn't there yet. That was why when the ritual was finished, which mostly consisted of what looked like staring intensely at a fire with his palms outstretched, he gladly accepted some kumiss and began drinking with the others.

"I'll sure be glad to leave this place behind. Can you imagine staying here for a long time? It would be worse then Corflu! Can any of you understand it?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:01, Mon 09 Feb 2015.

"That'll help keep the chill away," He gets the canteen out, and gets it heating the water. He passes it to Hoskar, "Yes it is, I still don't know how it works, but it does." When Hosker mentions putting Melocks trousers in to soak, he raises an eyebrow, "Cheers, that was brave of you" he laughs, "Well, staying awake should be easy as we don't have to stay quiet"

Upstairs in the main room

Free of the weight of his armour Ohanzee slumps more than sits leaning against the outer wall of the tower below a window so that the sounds and smells from outside can flow over him as much as those inside the room.

He is silent for a while, taking his turn on the pipe when it comes around and adding a little of his own supply when it grows low. After a while and a drink or two he starts singing, the familiar song to honour the fallen and remember their names, to which Big Bertha and The Noddler’s names have been added.

The song over he retrieves the amber and hair fetish that he claimed from Yado’s gear what seems like seasons ago now. Turning the thing around in his hands he watches the flames of the fire through it and feels the coarse whiskery hairs trying to get a feel for its functionality.

As he does so he speaks again ”I say we leave after breakfast tomorrow then. But before that time I’ve a mind to plant some of the Tamarisk seed about the tower. The land has been cleansed by the fire and those plants and animals that could not escape it now add to the richness of the land so it is a good time and place to continue the re-greening.”

Not that brave, mate Hoskar grins. Not my best day for being brave. Truth is, I snagged 'em on a stick to move 'em then legged it when they hit the bucket.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:47, Mon 09 Feb 2015.

Upstairs in the main room

One Punch Gari sits down next to Ohanzee

"Bamled told me that Yado died, I see you have his old fetish...He swore it helped against disease. Never saw him get sick so must have worked."

Ohanzee nods ”Yes, he fell victim to other undead, Basmoli creatures when they were alive I think. I only go by what Amara and Whispers spoke of, but there were two and I was attacked by one of them, a beautiful cat eyed woman who turned into a swarm of bats when attacked.”

He holds up the fetish again, the firelight playing patterns of light that dance on the wall behind him as a result of his tremor. He snorts and then ”I tried to attune it before but failed. Maybe I’d not have these shakes if I’d managed. Still, I’ve gained some experience since then, maybe I’ll have better luck this time.”

He then realises that these Black Shield Storm Bulls might not have been told all so just to check he speaks ”Did Bambled tell you where to find the cave? We spoke of it to the High Tree Storm Bull followers and they were going to investigate it because they said it had the marks of Chaos about it. I think that you may be back to our tribes before us so ask that you pass on the details to them also. We will of course do so once we arrive, but safer to have more than one messenger anyway.”

He's alive then. Good. Form is fitting: fear to lose it. Pad out again, fur flattened. Food for Hungry, Hoskar says.

Smell for something. Upstairs here. What is that coil of textured air there? Nothing known: it's smoke from somewhere. Other Condor. Sucking something. See his spirit. That's not normal: head she has, above the feathers. Beauty of a dream perhaps.

Walls moving here, that pipe weaving colours and bright dreams from the night. Enchanted. Hello lambent beams of floor. How curious my pads are: each hair a mystery untouched.

Sorry, Hungry. Movement's gone. To dreams, mayhap.

Purrrrrr

He chuckles, "You didn't run away, so don't be so hard on yourself. You should have seen how fast Ohanzee ran when Gadesha found us. I was going to try and talk our way out of it, next thing I hear is him running away as fast as he could. I also doubt it was just us two who had such a reaction."

"While we are sitting here, I'll tell you how I found that canteen" He gets himself comfortable.

"Bright treasure was close to entering the gates of dusk when we found the campsite we were looking for. It was within a jumble of rocks surrounded by cactuses of different sizes. The knot map we were following said it was a haven, surrounded by cactus. We followed the trail to its center and found a sand covered clearing, littered with old camp fires and on one side a massive slab of rock jutting up from the ground with enough space underneath to shelter us if a storm hit. In the middle of the clearing stood a cactus, 2 lances high and covered in spines, looking like the granddaddy of the smaller ones.

As we entered the campsite, Kaonu jumped off Yellow Wing and grabbed some prickly pears from the nearby cactuses, Kobal followed him, but is after something else that ran off. As I entered the clearing and looked at one of the old fires, I saw a strange red blob, so I dismounted and investigated, while Amara kept look out, when I got closer, I found it to be a part of a hyena, possibly killed by the pack lizards we encountered the night before. As the party separated, Greeshar clutches his head and bellows a warning, "Chaos!" As he nudged Stoneskin forward, he got his lance ready so he can charge whatever the foul chaos turned out to be. We all looked up and checked our weapons, and waited for Greeshar to tell us where to go.

After scanning the area, Greeshar called the all clear. While Greeshar was looking for Chaos and Kaonu was picking prickly pears, they had both seen signs of Grandfather Jerboa, so they both head in to the cactuses looking for him. Amara and Fireborn decided to check that none of the pack lizards where still around, while the rest of us, apart from Whispers from the Sky and Long Grass's fetch, hunted for anything to eat.

The clouds gathered and the smell of rain was in the air as we settle down to eat under the overhang. We found signs of other travellers in the form of broken equipment and hundreds of prickly pear spines. Once we had eaten, Kaonu and I headed out in to the darkness to set snares, just as the rain starts, hoping to catch some jerboa for breakfast.

When we got back from setting the snares, it became apparent that we had missed Amara and Whispers disagreeing over something, as Whispers stalked passed us saying she is taking first watch. As I look around at the others, trying to figure out what was said, Fireborn held up a very flat jerboa which looked like a rhino had trodden on it, which he fed to Sun Chaser.

As I was about to ask what had been said, an unearthly scream pierced the dark, followed by a sickening squelch of something hard hitting soft flesh. The bison and rhino started bucking and stamping and going wild. We all grabbed our weapons and ran out in to the wet darkness, Kaonu and Long Grass did their best to calm the mounts, while the rest of us ducked and dived our way through the mass of angry beasts.

Amara is the first of us to make it passed the mounts and she saw Whispers unconscious but no sign of her attacker, when the rest of us got there, Amara turned and growled at us her face so full of rage that Stoneskin, with Greeshar on his back, bellows his anger. As she growled at us, we all felt a sense of doom and anger try to worm its way in to our minds.

Kobal gave voice to what we are all thinking, "Beware, foul magic!"

Amara drew her sword and charged toward Salen, with his death in her eyes, Salen barely managed to avoid Amara severing his head, she tried again growling all the time. While Amara and Salen were fighting, I started to look round, hoping to find what attack Whispers and was controlling Amara. Greeshar, seeing an opportunity, jumped from the back of Stoneskin and landed on Amara, who suddenly found she couldn't move as fast as normal, thanks to a charm cast by Kobal, who stepped in and knocked her out.

 I found some strange tracks in the ground, big round ones, about the size and shape of my old shield, suddenly it clicks, its the giant cactus. So I made it look like I'm following some tracks that go past it, then, when I got near it, I stab it. As I pulled my sword out, a vile green liquid sprayed over me and the giant cactus started to move. Even though I was expecting it to move, it still shocks me which is why it managed to hit me and Fireborn, who was fairly close by, sending us both flying. My left arm and Fireborn's right arm were both crushed to a bloody pulp.

 Luckily for me Long Grass come running to my aid, while Kaonu chucked his javelin, Salen attacked it with a flaming torch and Greeshar, jumping back upon the mighty Stoneskin, the only mount who hadn't ran away, charged the monster. Kaonu's javelin barely scratched it, Salens torch got ripped out of his hand by a massive arm as it narrowly missed his head. Stoneskin zigs when he should of zagged and ended up missing, which caused Greeshar's lance to dig in to the ground. Just as it is looking like we are about to be flattened like that jerboa, a javelin burst out of the monsters chest, killing it instantly.

 As it falls it revealed a very smug looking Kaonu, which he had every right to be, as he had just killed a giant walking cactus with one shot. Once Long Grass has help Fireborn, he rushes over and helps heal Whispers, though its a close thing as she had lost a lot of blood. Then the cactus melted in to this foul smelling liquid and gas, which made most of us throw up.

We headed back to the overhang to get out of the rain and away from the smell. Later while I was on watch and walking around, I saw something sticking out of the ground, the sand having been washed off of it by the rain, it was the canteen, still held by its owners skeletal hand."
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:03, Tue 10 Feb 2015.

In reply to Melock (msg # 213):


As Melock's tale progressed, Hoskar's eyes had been getting wider; not in disbelief but in amazement at how narrow an escape the braves had had even while he was doing nothing more heroic than washing pots for that horse's catamite Krakka; not that he'd known how falsely they'd be played back then. His wandering mind fliches where Kaonu kills the foul thing of chaos and that's the man the swine I trusted sold to the Morocanth. We still owe you for that, Rumble; but one day we'll meet again.

In the end, he smiles. Now that's impressive, not least you working it out. So like the sky watcher relatives too. I miss Greeshar, you know, with him not being here. Hope his fever passed. Unpredictable, bloodthirsty sometimes, but he can tell chaos a league off and flinches at nothing. And Amara possessed or such again like that green time at the Finger Holes. She must be getting really sick of that - being out of control of herself.

He takes a reflective swallow at the diminishing kumiss skin. Sure you won't have a bit? Story telling's thirsty work. Tired and the worse for wear, he can't resist an idea and giggles to himself. Or how about you down there? It's basically milk, you know. Whether it's the kumiss or relief at the passing of tension he's not sure, but he shakes with uncontrollable laughter and the effort of suppressing the sound of his mirth, having to lie back on the steps to do so.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:31, Tue 10 Feb 2015.

In reply to Hoskar Feather (msg # 214):


"It was the tracks that gave it away, I was trying to think what could leave something that big and round, when I happened to glance at the giant cactus and suddenly thought, its got to be that." He takes the offered skin, "Your right it is thirsty work." He takes a big swig, "Greeshar's strong, he'll be fine. No doubt waiting for us when we get back, though he'll be mad that he missed killing some chaos. Some times I think Amara gets possessed every couple of days, what with her mood swings" He too laughs, "That feels good, gets rid of all that nasty tension from today."

Taya briefly looks back over her shoulder at Hoskar, "I'll pass thanks, I've seen what it does to you lot."

Early the next morning the remaining Black Shields ride off, carrying messages for both elders and family members of the Prairie Thunder and Sky Watcher clan. There was little ceremony in their leaving, with Bamled embracing his brother before they vanished in a cloud of ash and dust.

The rest of the day is spent with fixing equipment, looking after mounts, gathering gear, resting and doing whatever else needed to be done.

The previous evening Tarnessh completed the cleaning of various bits and bobs, Ohanzee shakes the Shakes and also over night manages to attune Yado's odd fetish.

Both Tarnessh and Amara decide to try attuning their crystals, a ritual that takes up the whole next day.

Anytime someone walks through the first floor of the Tower, they find that there is more and more furniture and bits and bobs appearing. Carpets, a stuffed mud shark hanging from the ceiling, shelves filled with jars etc etc, far more than could have feasibly fitted in the luggage that Indigo Hue had brought.

The Wizard is distracted, slightly grumpy and looks to be glad that the nomads are leaving.

And on the roof two statues can be seen peering over the parapet. Unmoving.


Just after dawn, on another clear day, finds the Wandering Rangers amongst their mounts, tying straps, adding spare water skins and sharing quick witted banter.

As usual Mordy is barking excitedly, Manul cats are hissing, Taya is munching on something horrible looking and far above a hawk circles keeping watch....

As is his habit, Hoskar is to be found checking his kit and filling an absurd number of waterskins just-in-case. So we're by a river now, but who knows? His sad-looking cat is burrowed under a hide on the pack rhino; the light seeming to hurt her eyes today. Not going near that stuff again. Wow.

Lightly-armed for travel , he nonetheless spends spare moments polishing up the new plate equipment Tarnessh fire-scoured; casting gratefully-beaming looks at his comrade. You made that look so easy, but I bet it was knackering. I really am grateful.

Time for the high road with the wind in our faces?

Salen, calling Mordy to his side, moves his Bison out and begins moving northwards

"Aye Hoskar, round 'em up, move 'em on....Time to find Kinope. Let's keep to the higher ground, be safer this way."

In reply to Hoskar Feather (msg # 217):

"Ah no problem, Hoskar. Honestly it was just what I needed to get my mind off of the shit we had to do that day. Now I'm glad to get out of this tower and back in the open plains." Tarnessh replied, mounted on Grumpfy "Hopefully we won't get pulled into any craziness on the way, but that doesn't seem to be our fate so far."

Henal checks over his gear making sure everything is ready. Looking fresh after having slept before taking a watch he jumps up onto the back of Whiteblaze and settles into his place in the formation of riders.

Yes, take the high road who wants to be cleaning mud off themselves every night. I'm glad to be away from that tower, the things lurking there are not something to face without more strength than we had last night.

Rikki settles at the front of the saddle cloth looking ahead at where the bison and rhino are walking while Henal checks all his weapons are clean and ready.

Melock checks his gear to make sure stuff he needs is close at hand. Amara, do you want to be with me while we travel?"
He mounts up and waits to leave.
Taya curls up in her smelly saddle bag, planning to sleep the day away.

When he awakes Ohanzee feels a little more resilient than he did when he fell asleep, perhaps because of a good night’s sleep, perhaps because Hoskar’s potion had done the job and rid him of the Shakes, perhaps because he had managed to attune Yado’s fetish, or perhaps because of all of these together.

After rising and breaking his fast with the others he sees to his mount as the Black Shields see to theirs preparing to depart, wishing them good hunting and a safe journey as they go.

Then he gathers a waterskin, a digging stick and a his pouch of tamarisk seeds taking sixteen of the twenty eight seeds gifted to him by the wise and ancient spirit.

He then rides out away from the tower towards the river, in the direction that the fire raged and he goes about planting the seeds in the freshly scorched ground and on each one pouring some water to help the germination.

Eight he plants in a large circle and eight in a large square and in each case ensures that there will be enough room between them as they grow. As he works he says an impromptu prayer over each seed.

Grow little tamarisk
In the fire cleared ground
Dig deep with your roots
Reach high with your crown.
Child of Aksuwhetu
May your life be long
Growing here still
After I’m dead and gone.




With the wizard and his slave being left behind in the tower Ohanzee has no need any more to remain in the middle of the marching order. He decides then to ride alongside Hoskar as he is interested in the place with stone tents that the Condor brave spent so long in. ”What’s it like in that place Pavis then, the one your mother still lives in?”

“What manner of beings live there under unable to ride away from the Lunar oppressors?”

"Stupid foreigners that don't know any better, I'd assume." Tarnessh cut in, then realized who he was talking to, "Except for you and yours, of course!." He added quickly. While he rode he looked for good smooth rocks that he could use to replenish his sling-pouch in case they ran into trouble. T
This message was last edited by the player at 17:16, Tue 10 Feb 2015.

Hoskar beams at Ohanzee's arrival, gladdened by his company and his choice to join him. Then he bites his lip at the question, brow creased in thought.

Pausing only to give an overstated bow to Tarnessh At your service he grins they call me two-foot in there because they reckon I've one foot either side the wall. Half of me thanks you for the pretty compliment. he turns back to try and answer Ohanzee; babbling out his memories.

That's actually quite difficult to answer: I don't know what it's like not knowing about it - been there so long, seen so many places really.

What was strange to me getting back out here was the simplicity of life. No need for guards to stop people picking pockets or mugging people in alleys. No nasty drunk fights, just good-humoured ones. Honour, I suppose, or at least community. The city's lots of little pockets of people like Corflu was; only bigger and older and harder.

Inside the wall, it's guards and stink and crowds and work and noise and beggars, and no weapon-fighting or you'll be in the halite mines.

But it's good too - exotic foods for a start. If we're ever there, remind me to find you some Zola Fel fermented salt fish: eye-wateringly good, it is. Had a barrel of the stuff till Krakka hijacked our rhinos. And then there's the bisonburgers. Ohh, the bisonburgers. Chewy, but great; and Bob likes a friendly nomad or two around - stops newcomers who know no better he glances playfully back towards Tarnessh thinking he doesn't use the peaceful cut.

There's deals to be done and fortunes to be made, like being able to trade instantly all the way from the Rocklands to the Paps. Good weapons, more metal than we'll see in the wastes in years. Strange visitors from far away too; although I never saw one quite as odd as Indigo Hue. Never a dull moment. And then there's the Rubble next door. Looming place, full of Uz and dangerous mysteries.

He shrugs.

I don't think I really understand what to tell you. So far I've not really said much about the people, have I? What sort of thing do you want to know?

"It makes no difference to me whom I or you ride with, Melock. So long as you are quiet, silent would be my preference and Taya stays in her home." Amara responded as she climbed up on Thunderfoot. She listened to Hoskar talk about Pavis with warmth in his voice, wondering why anyone would want to live in such a place.

"My, your in fine spirits this morning Red" He chuckles, "For you, I will still my tongue while we ride together. Taya will stay in her home, as long as Bright Treasure is in the sky." Good job the wastes are Taya's home, so there's no chance of her breaking my word.

"Well, how do people live there? They all stay in one place, and I assume that they can't all fish like in Corflu, so how do they get food?" Tarnessh asked.

"Warn her explicitly, Melock. If she eats anything that is mine. Her life is forfeit." Amara warned. "I care not for excuses or explanations, only results. So long as she does that I will leave her alone."

Amara prepared to depart, placing all of her weapons in the places where she could easily access them. She massaged her neck trying to ease the stiffness due to her sleeping in an awkward position the previous night.

"So... what exactly is the attraction to living only in one place? Does it not get very boring?" Amara asked curious. "We only spent a short time in Corflu and I thought it was rather...drab. Even the Priestess didn't want to be there."

"I can hear you" She replies sleepily, "Just so I'm sure what you mean, if I eat anything that belongs to you and you alone, you will kill me. So if its something the group owns, I'm safe." She thinks briefly, then sounding more awake and with a hint of mischievousness in her voice, "So who owns the ostrich?"

<Aqua>"It is perhaps more correct to say that if you eat anything that I need, I will kill you personally. I can only assume if you eat something belonging to all of us, we will all kill you."</Blue> Amara paused looking at the saddlebag "And the ostrich is still mine for the time being. When the time is right it will be sacrificed to help the Big pecker clan or the Ostrich peoples."

Ohanzee listens with interest to all that Hoskar has to say, but when he speaks of the rubble, or perhaps of the Uz, then he seems to be even more interested "Uz you say? Have you even seen any, me any even?"
This message was lightly edited by the player at 21:38, Tue 10 Feb 2015.

"So basically, what your saying is, to make sure I don't accidentally give you an excuse to kill me, I need to check with you before I eat anything?" she giggles, "Ok"

Amara leaned closer to the saddlebag "Now that is wisdom from the ages. Anything Melock gives you directly you can eat. Otherwise...you might be throwing caution to the winds and be spending only a little time with us."

Melock goes to open his mouth, then thinks better of it and just shrugs.

Hoskar looks nonplussed at the barrage of questions he's getting, flushing slightly at the level of attention his words have engendered, then smiles once again.

Ask me for the history of the Sartar kings and the exports of all the Shepelkirt's satrapies while you're about it he grins good-humouredly.

Okay. I'll try. Just remember: I was keeping my head down in there - don't know it all - and... he looks nervously round you know I didn't really belong anywhere before the Rangers, don't you? Why do you think Condor called to me?

Can't say why all of them like the city. Not sure all of them do. I liked it because if you don't really fit you'll rub along so long as you can work and tell a joke and buy your round with the rest. So many different people they don't care as much who you were sometimes. Not round the old bit of town anyway. Liked the excitement too. Arguments and chases and odd services. He leers suggestively Ulerians for starters; not all of them licensed. There's this broad called Goneera for one: lives close by the death temple and she can apparently... his voice tails off as his cheeks go red ...not that that was my thing he adds in visible embarrasment. Out here you can go for days seeing no-one unless you're in a group you know; in there it's talk with new people all the time. He winks. Why do you think it's so hard to shut me up sometimes?

How do they live? Well, they do grow things and the river is generous to them; but mainly it's trade - think how a tribe's redsmith lives. Doesn't tend the herd, doesn't raid much. Sells his skill and gets fed. Oh, and they have salt and metal to trade. While we're setting mounts to trees and thanking spirits for salt and survival they're hauling the stuff out of the earth in big chunks.

I guess it's what you're used to. Wherever I go people seem to think their own way is the only one. Think it was one of Gronya's relatives that got called "my way or the highway".

He pauses for breath, looking around to see if he's boring people. Uz and the rubble, you say Ohanzee? I'll have to get my thoughts straight on that one. Give me a bit and I'll have a story for you there.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:23, Wed 11 Feb 2015.

After a little while deep in thought, eyes turned skywards as he tries to bring his memories into order, Hoskar looks around his comrades.

Right. Settle in, folks. There's quite a bit to tell you about here.


It begins soon after I roll up in the city, shaken and nervous after that bad battle and fleeing north to escape the bastard Sables' mop-up. I am rather a wreck then, waking in the night seeing Jondar's face with that arrow in it and such. Becx has been out two nights straight, but one morning she is back and not saying much about her doings. She is wearing the expression of someone on the edge of a big thing – smug and kind of worried all at once. To this day I have no idea what she gets in trade, but she does say she is off again to see a man in the Rubble about a deal and wants everyone – me too – to bring a crate when sent for. Worryingly, she adds to me that if no word comes by Godsday I should get my two feet out of here to the wastes with Kor and as much portable property as can be shifted pronto.

Believe me, I am mighty edgy the next day; not wanting to lose my other parent so soon; and get a real kick when a message comes in before sunup the morning after telling us to be by the river quick. That is my first time face to face with an Uz. Well, an Enlo anyway – one of the stunted ones. Can't believe it, but the Lunars have got those little buggers enforcing curfews now, and they're a crafty bunch although this one seems nothing special. No fangs and his body is twisted a bit. But he's haughty and no mistake, like he's too grand to be taking messages for some salt-shifting Issaries type. All puffed up and wanting to be away while it's dark, he shoves me the note saying "this is for you, boy" then turns his back and is off like a rat into a sewer.

As you can guess, all this is top beans to me: mother safe, river trip, and a sight of the insides of the old walls. I am hopping up and down to be gone while the hired staff laugh at me when they think I don't see it and mutter about danger. It is quite a trudge round through the gate to the river, and wanting to keep things quiet we aren't leaving by the river gate either; but when we get to the jetty I see why Becx wants me there for manpower: there's this great big box in a boat ready to go and I am not looking forward so much to unshipping it later on.

A few rivermen are on board to guide the boat and push us off, and I think someone waves a permit before we're off. Largely, the current can just take you down in that direction, but rowing helps. It is eerie floating through those walls into the old city: the sheer size of them you'll not believe unless you see. Reckon all of us standing on one another's shoulders wouldn't reach the top and they're thick to match. What's worse, when you're past them and in it's like you're trapped there in a different world with no way back against the flow.

To be honest, I am not seeing much detail for most of the trip. The idea is not to attract attention in there unless you desire to win the runner-up prize in a missile fight, so I don't stand up and take in the view. To the right at first we could see the hill where they graze zebra, but everyone knows about that. And then we go under a bridge.

I think the riverfolk throw some sort of toll onto the bank for a guard, but I am just staring up like my jaw stops working. Built like the walls, those bridges: looking like one piece of stone shaped by centuried charms into an arch. Vast. And high. If the rumours about why they say Zola Fel is the river of cradles are accounting for their height...well...I would not like to be meeting the parents.

After that, we all hunker down and watch for trouble – the men tell me it's a bad area – but I pray to Issaries for peace and either he hears or we get lucky and it is quiet. One thing I do see, though, is an opening on the left. Room for a big boat to go in with walls set back from the river, but I am not wanting to go in there if I can help it: the water is darker than is wholesome, or so it strikes me. I enquire later and am told there's a complex in there – some experiment or other from before the old city falls. It gives me the shivers back then, and I'm not sure I'd like it much now.

So there I am, totally creeped out and staring so hard at the left bank for trouble that I miss the rest of the view till it's starting to go dark and we're going under the last bridge. I must have been losing it with the tension by then, for I think I see a man with leaves looking down at us and spend some time checking I'm awake because it just all keeps getting stranger. Past the bridge, the right bank is green as far as you can see and the left is troll ruins: old buildings with new junk. The lads are getting less twitchy now – they say we're less likely to be jumped by bandits here – but I am well relieved when we pass through the walls again and are out; and still happier to see Ram there on the bank with a couple of sturdy fellows I know mother hires when there's hefty lifting to be done.

I am not going to bore you with how we heaved that crate out of the boat – hard work doesn't entertain. One fool almost had Ram's eye out, and my little heal charm came in handy once we'd convinced him the man wouldn't look prettier with a horn up his arse. Took three goes of healing – he's still got the scar.

It gets interesting again when we've lugged things up to where the wall on our left gets ruinous. Can't imagine what it takes to knock it down like that, but it reminds me of that place we camped before we attacked the shaman at the Finger Holes: giant masonry scattered by some massive force. That was before you joined us, Ohanzee – remind me and I'll show you when we get back there. Anyway, there is Becx waiting for us with altogether too many Uz for my liking in the starlit darkness. Big fellows with fangs either side of their jaws and snouts rather than noses, plus a gaggle of the little ones running round having what sounds like orders barked at them although I don't understand any of it.

The word I am getting along the way is to keep back, stay quiet and speak Trade if I have to as they don't like not to understand. Oh, and if any of them says something is his, don't touch it with any body part I want to keep. Thanks to this, I am not putting myself forward for conversation but keep quiet and play nervously with a black stone I found while fleeing the battle. Nothing special, but someone had carved an open circle into it.

Do not be letting anyone con you into thinking the Uz aren't organized: one word from the bigger of the two standing with Becx and the rest are jumping to it. That crate is off the rhino and into the hands of the biggest four of anything two-legged I've ever seen before you can say winking and Becx has a pouch in her hands from one of the little ones who is surprisingly well dressed. Flunky perhaps.

I am taking all this in, turning the stone over in my hand, when the other big Uz that was by Becx is standing right by me. He moves like oiled velvet – I hear not a thing till he is on top of me, all fangs and unreadable expression and me only just coming up to his chest wondering if I'm on the menu.

"You give me that, I give you this" he is saying in passable Trade. He is pointing at my stone with one hand and holding some sort of chinking pouch in the other, and I am not about to argue. "Deal", I quaver and hold out the stone; which he takes from me surprisingly gently. I remember the touch of his hand is as rough as dry old leather, but I am not thinking of much apart from not running at the time. He plonks the purse in my other hand, and is gone; and when my vision clears from panic and I look up there is not an Uz to be seen anywhere.

I still have no idea if he 'tyried me or not: that stone could have been anything from a worthless carving to the tear of his god and I'd not care. For all I know, he is taking it for a snack. Not that I mind either way – I am still alive to talk of it and that's what matters.

I don't recall much about the trip back. We just went outside the wall and I was dog-tired, but I do remember Becx is grinning like Melock's familiar there after a hearty meal and is pleased with me. She is shaking too, though – when I greet her after the deal, I can feel it through her hands.

The pouch? I still have that. Quite a lot of troll coins in there. Could use them in my sling, but I keep them as curiosities. Want to see?

This message was last edited by the player at 13:34, Thu 12 Feb 2015.

Ohanzee listens to the tale with some interest, though when Hoskar mentions that his mount needed healing his curiosity is piqued a little more and he becomes obviously engrossed at the talk of the Uz and trollkin.

Once Hoskar finishes he replies to the question ”Yes, I’d like to look at their coin.” He also asks ”You mentioned a healing charm that you used on your beast? If you still have it then maybe you might think about trading with another since you have the healing matrix from the Wyvern too. That way all the eggs are not being carried in the one hand too.”

In reply to Ohanzee Shappa (msg # 237):

Oh. Sorry to disappoint on the charm, but that's one I know not one in an object. Mother pretty much insisted on it before I went anywhere alone. Not sure father was keen though - not Waha's way to have men running around healing things really. Much less powerful than the armlet, mind you.

He rummages about for the pouch on his saddle and pulls out a misshapen lump of lead with a vague outline of an Uz's head on it to show Ohanzee. Believe it or not, that's an Uz coin. I've still got quite a few - you can have it if you'd like.

”Oh don’t worry, I’m not disappointed, I just thought that if you did have a charm then someone else might use it.” He grins ”Not me, I’m used to being healed rather than doing the healing!”

He looks at the lumps of lead in the pouch ”Thanks. What are they worth? I wonder if they can be turned into anything else.”

Hoskar grins again. I'm not being too generous with you here. One of these - "bolgs" I think they are - is worth less than a clack as far as I know. Issaries knows what they're worth to the Uz: never tried trading with them. Still, it's an interesting little thing all by itself.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:28, Thu 12 Feb 2015.