The nearest Morokanth pays attention to Ohanzee, likely as they share similar runes, and that he'd managed to summon a Hyena spirit. This last bit of information soon spreads amongst the creatures.

Even so he's is quick in his response about the Hyenas "Boss'll never allow it. What you want one for? You'd better not be thinking about eating one..."



This elicits a grumble from the Sun Hawk's target and causes his friends to laugh "You've been burnt mate!"

Despite the comeback from Tarnessh the old brave doesn't rise to the bait, instead raising his short trunk in salute of the Sun Hawk brave acknowledging his win.



Perhaps surprisingly the rest of the day passes uneventfully, the gully being reached by mid afternoon and the rest of the day being taken up by travelling through it's high walled and shady way.

The Gerns are unsettling to watch, so similar to humans, though lacking in any intelligence greater than a Dog or Manul cat and far hairier than the most stereotypical Bison Rider. Several of them, a tad bit smarter than the rest, are employed in carrying gear and performing tasks that the Morokanths find unable to do.

At dusk a halt is called, time to rest, eat and make sure that mounts are okay before carrying on for another few hours in the dark.

The Morokanths huddle around a fire roasting what looks like several haunches of meat.

The Eirithan comes over to Amara

"Come sit with us sister and tell us about yourself and why you ride as a warrior."

Hoskar goes to sit with Peat Bog and Salen, whilst Leaper the Impala brave from the Thunder Clan sits down with Akala, Greeshar, Tarosh, Kobal and Henal.

Ohanzee finds himself with Tarnessh and Glama, the latter grinning widely at the Raven brave.

Sand Fox and Nixa are flirting with Whispers from the Sky, who though looking tired seems amused at their antics.

Amara nodded and joined the women, though she wouldn't eat any offered gern. She joined in the conversation and watched as they cooked, to see if there was anything she might use on other dishes. She hoped the food they prepared would not smell as good as the gern back at the Giants Finger Holes. When it came to the right time she began her story.

"I am Amara Brightsky of the SkyWatchers, and I have not always followed the path of the warrior. My mother would have had me follow in her footsteps and become a HerdMother. The story of how my path changed is a long one, but I can at least tell you the beginning. After Moonbroth our clan was all but lost. Once a powerful clan, those that survived Moonbroth were the old, the wounded and the young. Almost all of the men and women of the clan were killed or scattered to the winds. Our clan travelled in search of a place where we could begin to become strong again, but we still faced the dangers of the Wasteland. At one point during our travels our paths crossed with those of another clan. Tensions were always high between us, but there was safety in larger numbers. My younger brother Hakaris at the time always spoke what he felt and he was suspicious of those who travelled with us. He ridiculed the strongest braves and oldest women without pause. Eventually the time came for our clans to part ways." Amara poked the fire with a stick. "Without anyone travelling with us. All of our remaining warriors, wounded or not had to be sent out as outriders, to give early warning to the main body of the clan so no-one was left to guard us all and that's when Shiarn the Headstrong struck. One night he stole into our camp, stole some of our herd and to punish Hakaris, he stole him and took him as slave." Amara smiled sadly "There were only women and children and the Khan left in the camp. Even Greeshar my brother was with the warriors learning their ways. None of them were expected back for a day and we were expecting more attacks. Where Shiar struck and found it easy to steal herd and slaves, others would follow. I begged the Khan, I begged the Queen, I begged all around me to return my brother to us, but to no avail.... none would heed my call. So, because none would listen. I chose to go get him myself....and the story of that tale is longer than we have time here, but it marks the first time I chose the path I am on....and I prefer to think of my path as the path of the protector as opposed to the path of the warrior."

"So Leaper what made you want to join the Wandering Rangers? This is no easy path as the number of our comrades who have fallen would show, but there is glory there. Just on our journey to the Giant Finger Holes we slew many broo and scorpion men, and on our journeys before killed many more followers of chaos."

Henal asks while playing with Rikki, the manul cat pouncing on a cord he dangles through the dust like a snake.

After tending to Carross, Tarosh joins the other Thunderbirds. He sniffs the air and looks over towards the fire, "That meat smells good." When he see's Amara with the female Morokanth, "She cooks as well as fights?" The quick movement of Rikki catches his eye, "I'd watch out for the hyena's mistaking you manul for a quick snack."

"Waha's whiskers no!" Ohanzee replies in a shocked voice then "No, for the same reason as you, I recognise their potential, their value, as guards, for hunting, affinity to the Darkness."

He shrugs "I spoke with Ehawee and she gifted me a Skullbat to bind a spirit to and she served me well until she was killed by the spirit of a Basmoli hero. A hyena, like a dog but more sturdy."

"Maybe I'll try calling Hyena again if the boss'll say no."


Ohanzee realises that he's seen nothing of the Men-and-a-half since leaving the the camp days ago "What happened to the Agamori, did they not come to the Giant's Finger Holes?"

Tarnessh shrugged as he watched Tulox circling up in the air looking for food. "Depends on which ones you mean. There were the ones with the Sun People, and then the ones that we came to the finger holes with. I assume the ones we came with left on their own after the rituals and such were over."

"I didn't know that any came with the Sun Domers, I meant the ones we met on the way. Did you find out why they met us?"

In reply to Ohanzee Shappa (msg # 55):

Tarnessh looked back and forth sheepishly. "To uh...give us the Sun Disk back." He said while rubbing his arm.

Kobal nods in agreement.  "Yes, as Rangers we have seen and done many things.  First there were we Prairie Thunder bison riders and Skywatcher rhino riders.  Others joined - from the Black Shields and even the Red Thorns - who are enemies of my clan," he gestures towards Nixa and Sand Fox.  "We have fought Chaos time and again, visited Corflu, spied on the Lunars, met a sorceror from across the ocean, delved into Mostali dwellings, challenged Basmoli, aided an ostrich Khan.  With us, you will see and do more than a normal brave."  He grins.

Later at camp, he looks to the new Rangers.  "Leaper, Tarosh, tell us of yourselves.  My father is Colnar Three Steps, an elder of our clan.  His father Tarabula Lightfoot was once khan, and went twice deep into the Marsh to hunt Chaos.  Tarnessh there is my half-brother.  Our clan traveled different lands before the Moonbroth.  But we will take back our lands."

"I am a follower of Thunderbird, I crave excitement, new adventures and the prospect of fame. I am last in a long line of brothers and they each compete to see who is beast. I shall be the best. The greatest warrior of the Wandering Rangers and one day I shall knock down the very walls of old Pavis and take all that is within for myself."

At the mention of Broo and Scorpionmen he gets excited "Where we are now is a place famed for the Scorpion men. On our way here we killed two of them. I pierced one so many times that it ended looking like a cactus. Like any sane brave I fear chaos, but I shall never run from one."

He points at Henal's square shield "I want one of those as soon as possible. Square and stout...Though maybe not as big."

The three female Morokanths listen politely to Amara's story, offering her both meat and water.

"So...There's is bad blood between your band and our Boss. Why so?"

"Aye and they mentioned that they will still be close by and can be called by Tarnish's hawk if needed" replies Glama, Tarnessh's Sun Hawk sidekick.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:01, Thu 11 June 2015.

Ohanzee's curiosity is piqued "Why would they travel the Wastes to find us and return the magical disc to you Tarnessh? Any sane person would keep such an item for themselves. And how would they know who to return it to?!"

In reply to Leaper (msg # 58):

Henal laughs and replies to Leaper. "Spoken like a true Thunderbird! You will have to be behind me in knocking down the walls of Pavis to drive out the moon worshippers".

Pointing to his shield he continues "The wyvern hide is harder to get, but a square shield for the Earth is our symbol".

Leaper removes a Goanna from the coals of the fire placing it on a flat rock so he can begin cutting it into chunks. Passing a piece of the charred meat to Kobal he replies

"I'm a brave of the Thunder clan as you know, most of us follow the little brother and Thunderbird, unlike the rest of our people. Made us tough little bastards as it sometimes seems everyone wants a piece of us."

I was part of the escort of our Priestess to the Giant Finger Holes. We'd heard of you mob and I'd decided to follow my runes and see if you'd take me."

Prominent on his bald head is a rune of mobility.

He looks impressed, "That is a fine lineage and one that I can't better. Like most of the Rangers, I was chosen by Thunder Bird. While it shames me to admit, I haven't fought nearly as much chaos as you. I've personally killed a broo, five river folk and helped capture some sunny boy farmers." he points to his axe, "That was given to me when I became a man, a gift from my father. He claimed it, when he killed three zebra riding raiders who thought our clan was easy pray." he laughs, "Not one of their group got away." He takes a swig of kumiss and passes it around, "I'm glad to hear that we'll be traveling and doing more than those that have stayed behind, there are few women around and one needs to do big things to impress them."
This message was last updated by the player at 08:23, Thu 11 June 2015.

All too soon the coals are put out and the Morokanth set forth, sending two of their number far out ahead with the pack of hyenas as scouts.

It's a clear night, so the stars are visible and the it's still possible to see a little way.

An hour later the band are out of the gullies and boulder fields, heading across the Rhino grass plain before the Rhino Rocklands.

Sour Claw explains that they plan to hole up on the Western edge of the Rhino Rocklands, until the afternoon of the following day. It will still take several hours travel to where they plan to stop.

Those riding on Rhinos find their mounts gaining a spring in their step and the air taking on an unexpected freshness. It is a place of power where they now ride, filled with ancient spirits and magic.

In reply to Tarosh Long Neck (msg # 64):

Tarnessh raised an eyebrow at him saying that he killed River Folk. "Who...were these River Folk? Because we ended up befriending a group of them when we saved their children from mudsharks. We also learned that they were kin to the High Llamas through the grandmother, and they still had ties. They knew the Peaceful Cut." He looked into the fire then. "Also, I spoke to Sun Hawk on his holy day, and he told me that the River Folk were considered of the people." With that he sighed. "You'd think that always speaking the truth and being able to know when people were lying or not would make things easier, more simple, but in truth it's made things far more complicated."

"I have no idea who they were, we didn't bother asking their names before we killed them." he chuckles, "We're not stupid enough to raid her family, she has been known to help a few braves who ran a foul of those cursed lunars" He looks directly at Tarnessh, "What does it matter that they are of the people? We raid and kill other clans all the time."

As they clear the boulders a thought comes to Ohanzee and he asks Sour Claw "The harpies are even closer to your oasis. Have you had any problems with them taking your Gerns?" Then a thought comes to him Can they breed with Gern? but he doesn't voice that question.

Entering the grassland the magic, the power, the history of the place is so palpable that Ohanzee can almost taste it and he can certainly sense that Wihakayda feels it too. His rhino, larger than most almost feels like he would imagine an impala feels like to ride and the now positively nimble feeling mount picks up it's pace apparently eager to get to the front of the rhinos.

It's dark and perhaps he should hold Wihakayda back, but the feeling is intoxicating so he lets the beast walk on briskly looking about at the other Rhino Riders to see if they and their mounts feel it too and out across the darkness of the grassland.

And as he riders be begins singing song of praise to the Great Rhino.

Great Rhino
Father true
Man and beast
We honour you

Horn sharp
Head down
Thundering hooves
Shake the ground

When you charge
The ground shakes
When you charge
You enemies quake

Horn sharp
Head down
Thundering hooves
Shake the ground

Run them through
Send them flying
Pound them down
Hear their crying

Horn sharp
Head down
Thundering hooves
Shake the ground

Spirits come
Charge with us
Rhinos all
Kick up dust

Horn sharp
Head down
Thundering hooves
Shake the ground

Founding Father
Example to all
Watch us ride
Proud and tall

Horn sharp
Head down
Thundering hooves
Shake the ground

Tarnessh shrugged. "Just thinking, is all. When you're riding from place to place a lot, you get a lot of time to think about stuff, you know?"

Amara took a deep breath s she responded to the Morokanth woman. "Before we became the wandering rangers, we had still all been chosen by the feathered rivals. We travelled together as a band. We'd defeated Tripanander and our herd was safe from predation by Leaping Bears. We'd all developed a strong and friendly bond with one another. Our travels brought us this way as we set out to defeat the Red Thorn shaman who'd turned to chaos and we decided to stop by the rhino rocklands to pay homage to the Great Rhino....and also we'd hoped that there might be others of our clan there." Amara winced "There weren't but we managed to gather enough of great Rhino's attention that any who belonged to our clan must know it still exists. It is also why we hope to stop by the Great Rhino to see if any CloudWatchers heard the message and rode there....but that's a distraction from the story."

Amara looked out at the horizon her attention caught by something in the distance before she returned to the Morokanth women "When we arrived we met an irksome man who seemed friendly at the time. We were sharing food with him when Zakeen attacked. We defeated Zakeen and he seemed on good terms with the man we'd already met so after some assurances and offering Zakeen the hospitality of our fires, we visited the Earth Witch, leaving Kaonu to watch over our herd. While we were deep in conversation with the Earth Witch, Zakeen and Krakka conspired with each other. Krakka stole all of our rhino and gear and Zakeen took our brother Kaonu while our footsteps as wandering rangers were just beginning. Needless to say we were upset when our meeitng with teh Earth Witch had concluded. We split into 2. Most of us choosing to track Krakka, to regain our rhino and gear, and the other setting out to rescue Kaonu. While we recovered our gear fairly easily, the ranger that set out to recover Kaonu witnessed him being murdered by Zakeen. So... that is why Zakeens life is forfeit."

His eyes light up with understanding, "That'll be where your going wrong, too much thinking," he shakes his head, "never a good idea"