Blood and Bewitchment Logs

[Steerpike]

[ic=Children of the Red Rain]Where once must have towered the vast living monoliths of a green and verdant woodland now stretches a barren arboreal graveyard.  The hardened corpses of trees jut from the parched earth like gnarled, twisted fingers, broken splinters of once-organic vegetation transformed by time and sand into misshapen  jags, like an army of malformed statues.  In places, this almost otherworldly forest becomes dense and shadowy, the stony boughs of its trees interlaced.

You find a decent-looking spot to camp beneath an enormous oak.

Eareg Maar - We should be fine here.

Tarim - I hope these dead trees aren't very flammable.

*Eareg Maar knocks on one of them eliciting a deep hollow sound.

Eareg Maar - They can't even burn anymore.

*Tarim busily sets up his tent.

Wispy (to Kaius) - Mislike my constant noise... well, I dislike how you're so silent. Tell me a story, and I'll think of a fable. I'll be quiet if you are able.

Eareg Maar - Wispy, let me tell you a story.  There once was a group of intrepid explorers who dared the great wastes of the slaughter lands... but the groups jatayi couldn't keep quiet and in the dark of night great beasts tracked the noise and ate them all.  Perhaps you catch my drift?

*Eareg Maar rolls out a bedroll.

Eareg Maar - Now I'll keep first watch and you will not draw every fell thing within ten miles to us if you please.

Wispy - That Jatayi obviously wasn't as skilled as I.  But thank you for your tale.

Tarim - I can take the second watch. I'd rather stay awake while it's dark and sleep when the sun's up.

Mr. Carver - Doubt I'll be able to sleep well after the sun has risen.

While standing watch you hear something moving in the depths of the wood.  Peering into the gloom you discern a hunched, humanoid figure, watching you and your companions from the darkness.

*Eareg Maar examines the creature.

It appears to be a perfectly normal human, clothed in ragged, dusty leather armour.

Eareg Maar - Can I help you?

The creature hisses and darts away into the forest with simian quickness.

*Kaius Alexander stands up, sensing something amiss.

Eareg Maar - Go back to sleep kaius.

Kaius Alexander - My sleep for the night is done. I need no more rest.

Eareg Maar - It wasn't anything that should trouble us

Kaius Alexander - If you are sure.

*Kaius Alexander sits down, and begins to draw a whetstone along his blade

Tarim, your watch begins.  You hear a movement off to the northeast, deeper into the woods.  You don't see anything immediately.

*Eareg Maar closes his eyes though sleeps only lightly.

Tarim - Kaius, something's moving int he woods

Kaius Alexander - Yes. I had thought so.

*Tarim loads his pistol.

Kaius Alexander - Let them come to us then, they will rue their decision.

As you ready your weapons half a dozen hunched, scrawny figures emerge from the depths of the calicified wood.  They creep through the fossilized undergrowth, obscure in the pre-dawn light.  Five are human; one has he claws and red eyes of a mantid.  Some are armed with bone clubs or rusted knives.

*Eareg Maar wakes at the sound of Tarim's clicking pistol.

*Tarim fires a shot at the creatures, blowing the head off the nearest interloper.

Eareg Maar - Ah, our friend brought his friends.

*Eareg Maar gets up, hefting Meteor and giving Mr. Carver a light kick.

*Mr. Carver bolts upright.

*Wispy wakes up at the sound of Tarim's shot, mumbling about leeches.

*Kaius Alexander stands, flicking the residual oil from his blade smoothly

Eareg Maar - As I had imagined - fetch.

Mr. Carver - Fetch? Supposed to be malicious bastards

Tarim - We'll make them dead bastards soon

Eareg Maar - They're pretty skittish by themselves... I didn't expect it to be a full group.  Not after that lone one ran into us.

Mr. Carver - Didn't know they hunted in packs. Thought they pretty much attacked everything in sight.

Eareg Maar -    Oh they do, Mr. Carver.  They prefer it too.  A group can take much stronger prey.

Mr. Carver - Oh yes, that's sound advice that even thrum-addicted street thugs can follow.

Kaius Alexander - They will learn soon enough that we are not to be trifled with, regardless of their numbers.

Mr. Carver - They don't look all that menacing, the snarling and the superior numbers aside.

*Wispy whips up his wings, revealing his twin Jatayi bolts.  Two quarrels whistle through the air, hitting two of the fetch.  Both continue to advance, looks of evil eagerness twisting their features.

Wispy - Ha-ha. Jatayi sting like a butterfly and fly like a bee!

Mr. Carver - A vulture more like it.  But I can see how that lacks the necessary poetry

One of the fetch launches itself at Kaius and batters the Insomnolent with its bone club.

*Eareg Maar flips Meteor around his chanting eldritch words causing the barrel to erupt into flame.  At point blank range a missile flies from the end of the weapon towards the nearest fetch.  The fetch explodes gorily, flaming giblets raining down where it once stood.

*Mr. Carver  runs towards the nearest fetch and slices him across the face with the Agony Knife.  Carver skilfully butchers one of the fetch attacking Wispy; the muderfolk gurgles and dies as the executioner's blade slits his throat.

*Kaius springs off the oak and casually decapitates the fetch battering him.

One of the fetch stabs at Tarim viciously, wounding the ghul witch on the thigh.

*Tarim dodges and sidesteps, avoiding the fetch's blade as best he can. Even as he does so, his flailing arms are working the motions of a hex, and his ghul tongue is hissing words of witchery.

*Wispy pins a fetch to a tree with a bolt, impaling him at the shoulder.

Wispy - Bit by Bit, Peck by Peck, Soon enough, you'll be dreck.

The remaining fetch slashes with his blade but misses and makes to run.

*Tarim snarls ad bites the fetch, drawing blood from the bite and coming away with some nice fetch-meat in his mouth.

The fetch retreats into the wood with a mad cackle.

*Tarim spits.

Tarim - Damn things taste horrible.

*Eareg Maar sends a flaming bolt zipping towards the fleeing mad-being from the end of his gun. But it strikes a tree and dissipates.

* Mr. Carver tries to hit him with a throwing knife, but it quivers harmlessly in a tree.

Wispy - Jah Tarim, I never eat the walking dead, myself.  For that very same reason.

* Mr. Carver drops his head in resignation and walks over to retrieve his knife.

Wispy - Dead flesh is good... but it has to be DEAD flesh, if you know what I mean.

*Kaius Alexander takes a shot and grazes the running fetch.  The fetch grunts but stays on its feet.

*Tarim invokes a Corrosive Lash from a tattoo, seething with silent rage at the fetch who injured him.  The lash sears the trees as the fetch continues to run.

*Eareg Maar lines up his shot as tendrils snake down his arm aligning with the barrel and leaping off to touch the fleeing fetch (true strike tattoo).  He pulls the trigger.

You hear a muffled shriek, then silence.

*Eareg Maar holds up meteor, blowing smoke from the barrel

The fetch pinned to the tree is still alive and laughing maniacally, though it is too weak to extricate itself and will die soon.

*Kaius Alexander chambers a new round and holsters his revolver

Kaius Alexander - Someone end that creature.  It irks me.

* Mr. Carver stabs the fetch.

The murderfolk dies quickly, its laughter silenced.

Eareg Maar -    Ah well, that was entertaining.

Dawn light is just beginning to creep over the horizon.

*Eareg Maar unpins the thing from the tree and tosses it off to the side

Eareg Maar - We will stay here until the sun gets low on the horizon.

Mr. Carver - Could have done with more sleep and less nightly exercise myself.  At this rate sleep will kill us long before the Slaughter-lands will.

*Eareg Maar motions to Kaius.

Eareg Maar - Let's get these things away from here.  Don't need to attract more things.

*Kaius Alexander nods and grabs a body by its legs.

*Eareg Maar begins dragging the bodies a fair distance away.

Tarim - A shame that we didn't keep Gorethirst's maggot. It would have come handy now.

* Mr. Carver heeds the advice of the traveller and helps Kaius dispose of the bodies

*Eareg Maar returns and sits down on his bedroll, leaning up against the tree.

*Eareg Maar pulls out an intricate gunsmiths kit and begins to clean meteor bit by bit.

*Tarim withdraws into his tent.

Eareg Maar - We should be fairly cool here in the shade of the trees.

*Kaius Alexander checks Conveyance over and feeds him a dried apple with a pat on the head.

The lizard growls with pleasure.

*Eareg Maar goes to sleep as the sun rises in the sky.

* Mr. Carver goes back to sleep.[/ic]

[Steerpike]

[ic=A New Ally]You step out of the calcified forest as night is falling.  Eareg Maar and Wispy have gone on to scout ahead, promising to meet the party at a certain oasis up ahead.

* Kaius Alexander looks up at the sky.

The sky is the colour of dried blood, a vivid dark crimson.  A desolate stretch of decayed vegetation and ravaged earth stretches before you, the gruesome wake of the Rotmist.  The decomposing carcasses of animals moulder in the red sunlight.  Vultures and other carrion feeders disperse as a herd of putrevores moves in to devour the remains of plants and animals alike.

Bizarre plasms like gigantic, bilious-green amoebas the size of bull elephants, the disgusting putrevores graze on the dead matter left by the Rotmist, churning it with acidic secretions into a sticky ooze that they then absorb, expelling a miasmic discharge of rancid-smelling gas as they feed.  A pod of the gelatinous beings is nearby, moving towards you.

Tarim, Mr. Carver, the disgusting stench of the grazing putrevores turns your stomachs '" you are sickened temporarily.

Tarim, putrevores like to go after grave-spawn.  If you're not mounted right now you might want to fix that, or you're going to find a pod of the hungry things descending on you very shortly.

* Kaius Alexander sits atop Conveyance, waiting.

* Tarim guides his conjured mount away from the creatures, giving them a wide berth.

The putrevores lose interest ad turn back to the Rotmist's depredations.  You follow the path Eareg laid out for you, skirting the border of the Slaughter-lands themselves.  Night descends, and a gibbous moon replaces the swollen red sun.

Tarim - Ahh, night.  Though the local stench is bothersome, at least the darkness is comforting.

Mr. Carver, Tarim, you distantly hear strange sounds off to the east, not far away.  An alien squeal, chittering, what sounds like a cry of pain...

Tarim - Did you hear that?

Mr. Carver - I heard it... any idea what it is?

Kaius Alexander - Doubtless something foul. It does not concern me.

Tarim - There are many monstrosities in this wilderness.

Kaius Alexander - If you care to investigate, I would not object.

Tarim - Squealing noises should not be unusual.

* Tarim pauses to think.

As you continue to ride, a piercing screech cuts through the night, followed by the sound of weird, inhuman laughter.

Tarim - Investigating could put us in danger. On the other hand, that danger might well find us anyway.

Mr. Carver - Hmm, this is not good.

Kaius Alexander - I am curious.

You are drawing close to the source of the sounds and can glimpse, up ahead, two figures in the moonlight.

* Kaius Alexander turns Conveyance in the direction of the sounds.

Mr. Carver - There is something up ahead.

Tarim - I guess we're about to see what all the noise is about...

* Mr. Carver puts a hand on the hilt of his knife.

You see a humanoid figure defending itself against a bizarre, membranous horror resembling a horrific hybrid of manta ray and insect, with a long tentacle or tail tipped with a sucker-like orifice and a second opening mounted near some bulbous ganglion near its crude, beady eyes.

* Tarim loads his pistol.

As you draw near you see that the figure is a lilix male wielding a pair of blades, skilfully keeping the bestial monster at bay.  The corpse of a second, similar horror lies on the ground in a puddle of purplish ichor, slashed to tatters.  The lilix has only four arms instead of the usual six: two scarred stumps jut from his torso, and one of his limbs has been replaced with a chitinous graft, a grotesque crustacean thing terminating in clawed, armoured fingers like those of a gauntlet.

* Mr. Carver jumps off Conveyance.

The monster floats pretenaturally above the ground, buoyed by unseen forces.

* Kaius Alexander remains mounted and watchful.

Tarim - Whatever that thing is, it can't be good to let it live

* Mr. Carver looks at Tarim.

Mr. Carver - Help the lilix it is then?

Tarim - If it deafeats the lilix, it will surely come after us.

* Kaius Alexander grunts at Tarim's words and slowly gets off Conveyance.

* Tarim dismounts and casts Entropic Shield.

The xsur lashes out with its radula-tipped tail, ripping at the lilix's flesh with its teeth.

* Tarim levels his blunderbuster pistol on the monstrosity, taking careful aim and steadying himself for the kickback. With a loud, ear-wrenching noise a bullet is sent at the creature.  The bullet whines off the abberation's thick hide.

*The lilix swordsman skewers the xsur with one of his blades, slashing at its underbelly and wounding the beast.

*Kaius Alexander leaps from the blasted earth and lands atop the hideous beast.  With a mighty strike he brings his blade down, impaling the horror.  It vomits purplish blood from its tail, which the lilix barely avoids.

*Slinking throuh the dappled moonlight, Mr. Carver springs towards the xsur and drives his blade into its ganglion, wounding the monstrosity horribly.  Confused and overwhemed, it writhes hideously and attempts to fly away.

* Tarim blows at the smoke trailing off the blunderbuss barrel as his other hand reaches for an egg-like Flesh-Melter suspended on his belt. He takes a couple of steps forward and lobs the device at the fleeing xsur.

Tarim's flesh-melter strikes the xsur on one of its wings and it careens into the ground, shrieking in agony.

*Kaius Alexander skillfully drops from the dying creature as it plummets groundwards.  He lands unhurt.

The creature is dying, but is still alive, thrashing around and weakly screaming.

* Kaius Alexander drives his sword into it.

The xsur dies as Kaius' blade enters its brain.

* Kaius Alexander flicks the purple blood and brain matter from his blade and sheathes it.

* Tarim reloads his pistol casually, eyeing the lilix warrior.

* Zaszicar eyes Tarim and the others in return with his eight red eyes.

Kaius Alexander - A lilix. Alone, in the Slaughter-lands.

* Kaius Alexander walks up to Zaszicar.

Kaius Alexander - I find this curious.

* Mr. Carver keeps his knife out, point down, looking warily at the lilix.

Tarim - Perhaps he is a scavenger?

Kaius Alexander - Perhaps. Is that what you are, lilix?

Mr. Carver - What are you doing here, spider?

Zaszicar - A very strange group, a ghul, a human, and... another human?

* Zaszicar says this last looking towards Carver.

Tarim - Well, *mostly* human that one

* Tarim chuckles

Zaszicar - Not a generic scavenger looking for to filch any detritus lying around.  I'm looking for something quite specific.

Mr. Carver - Indeed? what might that be?

* Kaius Alexander walks over to Conveyance and pats her idly on the head.

Zaszicar - A sword, a specific bastard sword, part of a set.

* Zaszicar gestures to two ornate bastard swords sheathed about his person.

Zaszicar - Not like these two.

* Zaszicar hefts the two plain swords still in his hands.

Kaius Alexander - You carry some fine blades, Lilix.

Mr. Carver - You'll be running out of hands soon, then, if you insist on swinging them like that.  Although you seemed plenty dangerous with two so I can only imagine you will be even more fearsome with three.

Tarim - Finding a specific sword in the Slaughter-lands sounds quite a challenge. I take it that you know where to look?

Zaszicar - I am... in the process of knowing where to look.  I'll find them, I've put too much effort into this venture not too.

Mr. Carver - How did this process find you in the middle of abandoned stretches of wilderness, alone no less?

Zaszicar - I'm travelling, researching, trying to find more information on the swords.  And your group? In the middle of the Slaughter-lands?

* Tarim walks to his steed and gets back on the saddle, letting his black, smoking mount trot toward the group.

Kaius Alexander - We are travelling ourselves. On a contract.

Mr. Carver - A job, yes

Zaszicar - Oh? What's your destination?

Tarim - Quite a ways from here still

* Kaius Alexander eyes Zaszicar coldly

Mr. Carver - What about yours?  Heading towards Macellaria, perhaps?

Zaszicar - Macellaria, I need to visit the Vellum Citadel.

Mr. Carver - Hmm, that's where we came from.  Not that there are many other options in this area.

Tarim - If you're heading to the city, beware of the clouds of Rotmist on the way.

Mr. Carver -

Tarim - Those clouds nearly caught us - and we were mounted.

Zaszicar - Hmmm, perhaps we should stick together for safety? Another set of hands, or two, is never amiss '" and if the way to the Maggot City is blocked by Rotmist, I will be delayed in any event.

Kaius Alexander - The way you fight. It markes you as an honest man, lilix.

Zaszicar - My thanks human.

Kaius Alexander - We travel to Shan-Szut, an eyrie of the Jatayi.

Mr. Carver - Or it was.

Zaszicar - My name is Zaszicar.

Mr. Carver - I'm known as Mr. Carver

Kaius Alexander - I am Kaius Alexander.

Tarim - I am Tarim

Kaius Alexander - Our business is to rid it of the scum who have taken up residence at the eyrie.

] Tarim - This will be a lengthy journey. We will not be back in Macellaria for many days

Zaszicar - Hmmm, a pilgrimmage to the Jatayi? Perhaps their songs mention the blades I seek...

* Kaius Alexander inclines his head slightly to Zaszicar.

Mr. Carver - Well, their songs mention a lot of things... Sadly, there are not a lot of them about in the eyrie at this moment.

Zaszicar - Oh?

Mr. Carver - Which coincides beautifully with the whole point of our assignment.

Tarim - Place is overrun by bandits

Mr. Carver - And we are to clean the place up a bit.  Cleaver work, if you will

Zaszicar - Ah, something I can help with most certainly.

Kaius Alexander - As you say, Zaszicar, more hands make lighter work, and we find ourselves a man short.

Mr. Carver - Also, you seem handy with those blades of yours '" even if you seem to think you need one more.

Kaius Alexander - The Jatayi might sing you a song, if you help us. There is money in it, too.

Tarim - An extra warrior would be useful. But whether you'll be paid depends on the goodwill of the birdmen.  There'll likely be an opportunity to loot though

Zaszicar - I'm sure they would be willing to spin me a tale, seems like some of them never keep they're mouths shut.

Kaius Alexander - The Gorethirst will not be needing its share. There will be enough to go around.

Tarim - Ah, true. May it rest in peace
[14:39] Zaszicar - I do have a mount nearby, let me retrieve it.

* Kaius Alexander nods to Zaszicar

* Zaszicar goes off and returns shortly riding a large bipedal clockwork contraption; it resembles a stylized walking bird.

Mr. Carver '" Impressive.

* Kaius Alexander looks the bird over appreciatively in silence.

Zaszicar - Something that I picked up for my travels.

Mr. Carver - I begin to feel a little left out with all you people and your mounts.

Tarim - Perhaps we will 'liberate' one from the bandits for you...

Kaius Alexander - Conveyance's back is strong. Do not worry for the moment, Mr. Carver.

Mr. Carver - Well, couldn't hurt to get a horse.  Although I'm not entirely comfortable with the creatures...

Kaius Alexander - Come. We must continue. Eareg will be waiting for us.

You continue on deeper into the waste.  A greenish-grey splotch in the distance marks the location of a rare oasis in the midst of the desert.  Moonlight glitters on the water.

The oasis is small and far from verdant, the vegetation mottled with blight, the spring-water murky.  This is the locaton you were supposed to meet Eareg and Wispy.

Tarim - An oasis. I wonder if the water's safe to drink? You can never assume it in this wasteland.

Odd fungi gnaw at the trees.  A vaguely equine beast with too many legs and a pallid, rubbery hide drinks from the clouded pool, and two travelers '" one a young child with the grey skin and yellow eyes of a ghul, the other a hulking brute with metal plates grafted directly onto his scarred, bronze-coloured flesh '" linger nearby

The ghul smokes a cigar while his giant companion sharpens an enormous halberd whose haft lies across his knees.  The pair squat about a small fire that burns with a wan, greenish flame.[/ic]

[LD]

This reminds me, we need to finish Wispy's one-off in hell. :o

[Kindling]

I'm reading through these, not quite up to date yet though, but I'm enjoying them verrry much :)
Looks like you guys have so much fun with this.

[Steerpike]

[blockquote=Light Dragon]This reminds me, we need to finish Wispy's one-off in hell.[/blockquote]You're right!  It keeps slipping my mind - what would be a good time for you?  Just one of the times posted in the IRC players thread?
[blockquote=Kindling]I'm reading through these, not quite up to date yet though, but I'm enjoying them verrry much
Looks like you guys have so much fun with this. [/blockquote]I'm glad you're enjoying them.  I'm waaaay behind on these - they take quite a while to edit - but the campaign's on a hiatus so by the time we start up again the log should be up to date.  The party just finished their first major quest (the jatayi/Sebastian quest), as the quest log reflects.

[LD]

That would work for me- I should even be able to do it on this monday at the listed times if you're around. (If it is only going to take 2 hours maximum).

[Steerpike]

This monday I'm actually super swamped, but the week after may be OK.

[LD]

Ok. Tentatively that might be possible. Thanks.

[LD]

Given your comments in the shoutbox- is tomorrow still on for our 1x1 or is it canceled? And if it is not canceled, what time were you looking at? I probably won't be available before 8PM EST. If necessary, we can hold off until the 27th of December--that would be fine by me :).

[Steerpike]

Yeah we should probably hold off; I'll have a lot more time to do it justice in a week or so.

[Steerpike]

[ic=Lucius and Tormbolge]* Kaius Alexander raises a hand in greeting to the two wayfarers.

The ghul looks over towards you, one hand lingering near the knives at his waist.

Mr. Carver - "Hey!"

"Hello there, fellow travelers!  I am Lucius, and this is my associate, Tormbolge.  Would you care to share our fire?"

Kaius Alexander - That is most kind of you. I would be honoured to accept.

* Kaius Alexander inclines his head slightly.

Mr. Carver - That's very gracious of you.  And even if it's bloody searing in the day it gets awfully cold at night... I'll join you.

Tarim - Better than wasting firewood on making another fire for our own.

The giant remains silent.

* Kaius Alexander sits down relatively close to the fire

"Indeed.  Are you lately from Macellaria, then?"  The ghul-child asks.

Mr. Carver - Yes, we came from there. Just a few days ago in fact.  Yourselves?

Mr. Carver, you think you recognize this pair.  They fit the descriptions of the quasi-legendary thieves and warriors Lucius and Tormbolge: mercenary partners, adventurers, and occasional brigands who can most often be found doing contract work in the ganglands of Lophius, scrapping in the Pulsetown pits of the Maggot City, or freebooting along the southern fringe.  Atypical amongst their rough kindred, the veritable armies of sellswords, hired guns and hexers, and other scum that roam from city to city in search of coin and blood, the pair are unforgettable: Lucius at first glance resembles a sickly nine year old boy, while Tormbolge towers seven feet tall with a prodigious girth to match his height.

Lucius is a ghul, having transformed when he was but a child; now slightly over two hundred, he has acquired a surfeit of combat experience to compensate for his size and slight frame. He purchased Tormbolge from slavers and granted him his freedom after witnessing the huge man fight in a small-town circus, killing a cestoid with his bare hands.  A eunuch and a mute, Tormbolge grew up touring arenas and gladiatorial pits, becoming a peerless fighter, his body augmented by his masters with drug-secreting implants and ugly metal plates, fused to his flesh like chitin. While Lucius favors knives Tormbolge wields a huge halberd in combat, though he is also an accomplished pugilist.  Tormbolge is a known thrum addict, Lucius a gambler with a bounty on his head in certain regions for cheating at cards or dice.

"We're heading back there after a little venture up to the north,' Lucius says smoothly.  "An expedition to a certain temple on the borders of the Tallow Plains, where reality roils and space grows sickly.  Our investigations proved most fruitful, however - didn't they, Tormbolge?"

The giant merely nods.

"Excuse my companion: he was robbed of his speech and his sex as a young child.   Fortunately, I speak enough for the both of us, or so I have been told."  The ghul grins and drags on his cigar.

Mr. Carver - Oh? you managed to scavenge some useful scraps from the ruins I gather?

"Indeed we did.  Perhaps you would be interested in some trade?"

Mr. Carver - Perhaps. What do you have to bargain with?

* Kaius Alexander interjects

Kaius Alexander - We were supposed to meet our companions here. A ragged ghul scavenger and an obstreperous jatayi.   Have you seen any sign of them?

"I'm afraid I haven't seen a pair by that description.  You, Torm?"

The muscular man shakes his head.

* Kaius Alexander lowers his head in thought

Tarim - We will be waiting for them here then. We can bargain in the meantime.

"They're probably on their way - all sorts of things can delay one out here.  Red Rain, Rotmist, sudden sandstorms."

Kaius Alexander - This is unusual. Eareg is not one to be waylaid easily.  I mislike it.

Mr. Carver - I'm pretty sure Eareg knows when to sit tight out here.  It's not like he took a secret shortcut through the Rotmist last time.

Kaius Alexander - We shall see, Mr. Carver.

Tarim - Not that there's much we can do, anyway.

The ghul looks at Carver.  "You mentioned you were a mite chilly, Mister... Carver, was it?"

Mr. Carver - At night yes.  During the day, I only wish I was chilly.  I'm accustomed to less... dramatic weather

The ghul removes a small gold hoop from his pocket, set with a red gemstone.

Mr. Carver - What is that?

"Little earring'll keep you warm on the coldest night.  Not much good midday in the desert, but works wonders if you find yourself up north."

* Tarim eyes the trinket curiously.

Mr. Carver - How much would you take for it?  In obeloi.

"Fifteen hundred or so... got a powerful ward on it."

Kaius Alexander - You would be wise not to rely on such trinkets if you ever did find yourself exposed to a northerly winter, Mr. Carver.

Mr. Carver - How powerful could a thing that keeps you warm possibly be?  Isn't it pretty much just a magical blanket?

"You could walk through the Aurelian tundra itself without feeling the frost.  And if some tongue with a rime-hex happens to hit you with a cold spell, it'll absorb the chill."

Mr. Carver - Well, that does actually sound useful.  But I'm afraid I can't quite afford it.

Kaius Alexander - Wasteful. A good set of furs would serve well enough.

Mr. Carver - Unless you are willing to make a trade of goods.  Mr. Carver - I have this.

Mr. Carver puts the globe with the cestoid in it on the ground

Mr. Carver - Or possibly this,

* Mr. Carver puts the black occult gem on the ground,

Kaius Alexander - Your poverty saves you from a wrongful purchase, Mr. Carver. Do not so casually trade away your possessions.

Tarim - What is that gem?

Mr. Carver - Something I got from the summoning room of a wizard.  Don't know what it is '" looked valuable.

* Tarim raises a brow.

Tarim - How interesting. The value of such an object depends entirely on what it does, of course '" It could be anything from meagre to... invaluable.

Mr. Carver - He was a pretty powerful witch, I'll tell you. Just glad to get out with it alive... Can't you use your hex eyes or whatever on it?

* Mr. Carver throws the gem to Tarim.

Tarim - I do not have the necessary craft.

Mr. Carver - Hmm, here I thought those gems in your eyes were good for something practical.  In any case, I'm not sure I'm keen on holding it.

The ghul picks up the globe and snorts.  "Looks like a bauble to me."  He eyes the black gem more thoughtfully, though. "I'll trade you the earring for the gem... unless you'd like to see something else, first..."

Mr. Carver '" Is the ring the only thing you got away with, Lucius?

"Got lots of other items from that run, didn't we Torm?"

Mr. Carver - Show me what else you've got.

He removes a small pipe from his waistcoat pocket.  The jade pipe is carved to resemble a daeva with a gaping mouth.

"Take a puff on that, you'll exhale a cloud of flesh-eating smoke," Lucius explains.  "Just be careful and go easy - it'll scorch your lungs, singe your mouth."

Mr. Carver - Interesting. But terribly unhandy not to mention unhealthy.

Lucius looks through a bag and removes several other items, laying them on the ground: a horn, a pair of bongo drums, and a small charm - an amber orb with a wasp inside.  He also puts down a small, nondescript jar.  The horn is made of ivory and is carved with stylized images of bogeymen and monsters.

"Some kind of warhorn," Lucius says.  "Makes any who hear it shit themselves with terror.  Good if you've got suitably brave companions."

He moves the drums, tapping them.  The bongos are made of bones with a covering of human flesh; the sticks are similarly macabre.

"These are powerful," Lucius says, smirking.  "Beat them and any dead bodies lying around wake up, obey the will of the drummer - so long as he continues drumming, and doesn'˜t mess up the beat.  The bodies gotta be fairly fresh, though, and it won't help you against already animated grave-spawn like haunts or geists."

Mr. Carver - Hmm, you seem keen on arcane instruments.  Any idea what this is?

* Mr. Carver waves the bone flute in front of Lucius.

"Hmm, can't say I recognize the thing.  Looking to part with it?"

Mr. Carver - Not before I know what the hell it is.  It had a place of honor in the room where I found it.

Tarim - In that case, it's probably quite valuable.  Either that, or a decoy.

"Looks like a simple flute to me.  Is it warded?"

Mr. Carver - Can't tell. That's not exactly where my talents lie.

"Mmm.  I'm afraid I don't have any witchcraft myself."   

Kaius Alexander - Mr. Carver, do what you will, but know that I think it folly to part with items of unknown quality.

Mr. Carver - Let's leave it at that then, my friend here speaks the truth. Shouldn't bargain before you know the value of your chips.  But were you heading for Macelleria?  Maybe we can find you after we've finished our job and been paid.

"Yes, back to the old Maggot City... home for the pair of us, these days, or as close as we have to it.  You can find the pair of us most days in the Ensqualmed Cockatrice, over in Velveteen Circus, or else at the Pulsetown Pits."

He picks up the small orb with a wasp in it, tosses it and catches it.

"This is a wasp charm," Lucius explains.  "Picked it up from a peddler in Chimera Plaza.  You swallow it, and then spit out a swarm of the little bastards."

Tarim - A one time use, I take it?

"Heheh, well, far as I know.  I suppose the thrifty traveler might try, ah, bringing it back up afterwards, or else go digging in the latrine."

Finally he opens the jar, revealing some pinkish paste

"Got this off a traveling alchemist on the road. Smear it on wounds and they close up.  Should be good for a few nasty scrapes."

Mr. Carver - So you deal primarily in musical instruments and things that will hurt your throat I see?

* Mr. Carver smirks.

Tarim - The salve could be useful, if it truly works.  How many doses does the jar hold?

"Depends on the severity of the wound, but there's enough to last a few fights at least.  Only six hundred bones for the paste."

Tarim - Sounds pretty expensive.

"It can mean the difference between life and death out here; but it doesn't come cheap.  Mayhaps instead of trade I could interest some of you in a game of chance?"

He produces a pair of dice.

Tarim - A bit of gambling could pass the time.  What kind of game do you propose?

"Back-alley bones to your liking?"

* Kaius Alexander looks on impassively while cleaning his revolver.

* Tarim sits down by the fire, uttering the hex Sense Witchery, his eyes fixed on Lucius' dice.

The dice are mundane enough.

* Tarim nods, smiling faintly.

Tarim - No sorcery on these.  Not that I suspected any ill will of you. But as a witch I must always consider the possibility...

Kaius Alexander - Gambling is a fool's passion. Tell me, Lucius, what is the attraction to one such as yourself?

"It passes the time; and I find the rattle of bones soothing, I confess.  Perhaps I have an especially macabre nature..."

Kaius Alexander - I see.

* Mr. Carver picks up the bone dice and rolls them along the ground.

The party plays dice for awhile, and Lucius wins a few obeloi from Carverand Tarim..

* Kaius Alexander shakes his head.

Mr. Carver - I'm going to bed... or what serves for it out here

Tarim - I will keep watch.

Kaius Alexander - As you say, Tarim. I will awake in three hours.

Lucius shrugs.

"Suit yourselves

You turn in to await Eareg and Wispy.

Mr. Carver - Thanks for the game Lucius.

* Tarim digs a bottle of wine out of his haversack.

Lucius eyes the wine.

* Tarim pours a drink for himself.

Tarim - Would you like  a taste?

"Kind of you.  Care for a cigar?"

Tarim - Smoking never appealed to me, but thank you for the offer.

"So, you do not look like a native of Macellaria.  Where do you hail from?  And for how long have you been grave-spawn?"

Tarim - I am- I *was* a man from Marainein.  That was a few years ago.

"A fell city, or so I have been told; where the Putrefactors patrol the streets in their green armor, and the populace lives in fear of the priests and their Excruciators.  No doubt why you left, eh?

Tarim - The tales have more than a grain of truth to them.  I have no longing for my once-homeland...

Your watch passes uneventfully, Tarim.  You awaken Kaius from his brief slumber...

Tarim - Still no sign of Eareg and that damn bird.

* Kaius Alexander nods to Tarim.

Later, Lucius gets up in the middle of the night and heads into the depths of the oasis.

"Call of nature," he explains.

* Kaius Alexander stares at Lucius impassively as he gets up.

Kaius, you catch a glimpse of the small child-thing lingering about Mr. Carver's bag.

* Kaius Alexander turns slowly, drawing the hammer back on his revolver, but leaving it by his side. The click echoes through the oasis.

Kaius Alexander - Mr. Lucius. I suggest you return to your bedroll.

Lucius freezes before his hands touch the bag-strings.

Though you did not hear him approach, Tormbolge is now suddenly behind you, his enormous halberd at ready.

There is a long, draw-out moment of silence...

* Kaius Alexander half turns, keeping them both in sight.

Kaius Alexander - We do not want this to become complicated. I will say again, I suggest you return to your bedrolls.

Lucius grins at you.  "This is not the first time I've had a gun pointed at me, Insomnolent."  He half-whispers the words; you can only just hear him.

Kaius Alexander - If you wish it to be the last, that is your decision.

Tormbolge could gut you in a moment, finish off your companions before they knew what was happening.  Why not put the gun away?  We'll be gone by morning, and you can claim you didn't see me at all..."

Kaius Alexander - That is not possible, I am afraid. I had judged you better than a common thief, Mr. Lucius, if only by a bit. It seems I was wrong.

"I see you are not to be trifled with, sir.  Perhaps, as gentlemen of honour, we can simply put this whole incident behind us, forget it ever occurred?"

Kaius Alexander - Reasonable.

Lucius nods at Tomrbolge, who lowers his weapon.

'Very well."

* Kaius Alexander relaxes his grip on his revolver and lowers it.

The rest of your watch is peaceful; Lucius makes no more attempts at robbery.[/ic]

[Steerpike]

[ic=Reality Sickness]*Eareg Maar appears out of the waste, looking haggard, his clothing dusty and shredded, his exposed skin raw and wind-chafed.  He's smoking his pipe nonchalantly, Meteor slung over his shoulder.

Mr. Carver - Eareg!  Where the fuck have you been?

Tarim - What took you so long?

* Kaius Alexander sits by the guttering fire, sharpening his blade.

Eareg Maar - I was delayed... damned Flaystorms.  Had to seek shelter.  Wispy got blown off somewhere to the east.

*Eareg Maar gestures vaguely towards the Slaughter-lands.

* Tarim nods.

Kaius Alexander - It is well that you are alive. Time we have in abundance; the delay does not concern me.

Tarim - Good to see you're again with us.

Mr. Carver - You look pretty roughed-up.

Eareg Maar - Those winds will strip the flesh from your bones.  Have any fun without me?

Kaius Alexander - There is nothing to report.

*Eareg puffs his pipe.

Tarim - Sat down with some wanderers for some gambling. Lost a few bones.

* Tarim grins.

Eareg Maar I'm no stranger to encounters of that nature.  Well, ready to press on?

Tarim - Lead the way.

Kaius Alexander - Yes. Let us go.

* Kaius Alexander hefts his pack and saddles Conveyance.

Mr. Carver - Right behind you.

The ghul scavenger leads you further north.

* Tarim summons his smokey horse and climbs on the saddle.

*Zaszicar introduces himself to Eareg and relates his story as you prepare to leave.

* Mr. Carver awkwardly mounts Kaius' lizard-creature.

The extreme eastern edge of the Tallow Plains becomes evident.  The Shifting is not radical here, though it is queasily evident - a viscous roiling of the landscape as shallow hills and rock formations subtly melt and reform.  Cacti writhe like spined, vegetable serpents.  Further east the horizon spasms with reality-sickness.

You hear sounds in the far distance.  They sound like music - drums of some kind, high, wailing pipes, and ululating voices raised in raucous song.  There are distant glimmers of weird light to the north.  The sound is at once near and far, full of strange distortions.

Tarim - Sounds like someone's having a party...

* Kaius Alexander cocks his head at Tarim.

Kaius Alexander - I hear nothing.

Tarim - It's pretty faint at this distance.

Mr. Carver - Eareg, anything that has a habit of playing music out here?  Anything with teeth and or sharp implements, that is?

*Eareg Maar thinks to himself.

Eareg Maar - Nothing I can think of; perhaps bandits of some kind.  All manner of strangeness dwells in the Tallow Plains however, which lie just west of here...

Tarim - We better be cautious then.

You press on; the Shifting begins to worsen somewhat.  Some time later, half a dozen men and women mounted on an array of beasts - camels, pack lizards, horses, llamas - approach you from out of the spastic, retch-inducing haze.

Some of their beasts pull wagons laden with goods.  Most are human, though one chalky-skinned woman in the rear with a wide-brimmed hat might be a ghul.  One tall figure who wears glittering, sapphire-encrusted armour despite the heat bears a banner depicting a stylized goat's head.

* Kaius Alexander shades his eyes with his hand and raises himself in the saddle to get a better look.

Tarim - Looks like a caravan. Or a convention of caravans.

The leader of the group approaches - a short, fine-featured woman with doll-like porcelain skin intricately hennaed from the neck down.  She is shaded by a parasol and sits astride an unusually large black llama.

* Mr. Carver eyes the crowd suspiciously.

'Well met, travelers," she greets you.  "I am Ulhena Magnus Quis-Janell, of the Goat's Head Merchant Company."

* Kaius Alexander inclines his head.

* Mr. Carver relaxes a bit.

Kaius Alexander - Well met, Indeed. I am Kaius Alexander.

* Tarim bows carefully while staying in the saddle.

Tarim - Greetings. I am Tarim, from Macellaria.

Mr. Carver - Carver, also of Macellaria.

Eareg Maar '" Name's Eareg.

Ulhena nods.  "Not many dare the waste-paths this close to the Tallow Plains, where the very earth beneath one's feet is fickle as a Skein courtesan.  What brings you to this region, if it is not discourteous to enquire?"

Kaius Alexander - We pursue the fulfillment of a securities contract.

Tarim - Nothing to do with you, so do not worry.

'Indeed?  You are mercenaries, then?"

Tarim - You could say so.

Kaius Alexander - Of a sort. Perhaps.

She smiles dazzlingly.

Tarim - We are to solve a problem. If it comes to violence, then so be it.

Mr. Carver - So that makes us problem-solvers, I guess.

"A problem, you say?  Do you seek some den of beasts?  Or perhaps men have caused this problem?"

Kaius Alexander - Men, beasts. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference.

Tarim - What about you though? Why all the singing and music? Would it not be wiser to remain quiet while in this wretched wasteland?

She favors the ghul witch with an enigmatic look.

* Tarim meets her glare with subtle puzzlement.

"I cannot say that I comprehend your meaning, sir; but I will say that the Plains play strange tricks at times.  Perhaps you were deceived by an hallucination, or some ambient eldritch effect?"

* Kaius Alexander grunts.

Mr. Carver - We heard music before.

Tarim - The plains are indeed strange. I am not quick to doubt my ears, though.

She pointedly turns back to Kaius and Mr. Carver.  "Your problem does not, by chance, involve the ruthless bandits of the Veldt, does it?"

Kaius Alexander - It may.

"We come from the Maze, the City of Red and Black.  My father is one of the Chimeric Princes, Ulhorin Severus Quis-Xian; he has charged me to convey some of the goods you see behind me to Macellaria, and then on to Marainein.

"Unfortunately, three days ago we were attacked by bandits.We defended the caravan, but before we beat them off they had stolen some valuable cargo.  If you were to retrieve that cargo for me and return it, you would be handsomely compensated."

Mr. Carver - What cargo?

"A jade statuette of the Gibbering Godess.  Do you know Her holy aspect?'

Mr. Carver - Can't say I have heard of her.  Do you know where the bandits went?

Tarim - If the statuette is of the usual form, I should be able to recognize it - should we come across it by chance, that is. Or if we decide to go after these bandits.

"I do not know the location of their lair; but I thought, perhaps, you might know more.  In any case, if you returned the statuette, I would pay twenty five hundred obeloi for it."

Tarim - A fair price.

Mr. Carver - A very fair price.

Kaius Alexander - Where may we find you in Macelleria, should we retrieve your cargo?

"I will be staying in the Blue Orchid Inn, in the Pulsetown district."

Mr. Carver - Maybe we are lucky and our bandits turn out to be your bandits as well '" we can only hope for such an outcome.

"It is not unlikely.  We came across several wagon trains of merchants less lucky than ourselves en route: clearly the brigands operate in significant numbers."

Kaius Alexander - Know this. If we shall find your statue, it will be returned to you. The plains, however, are vast.

Mr. Carver - Can't say the mentioning of significant numbers makes me keen on our task at hand, though.

"We were assaulted on the border of Flense Veldt; the bandits' lair may be in that region..."

Tarim - Which way is that region?

"Somewhat to the north."

Eareg Maar - The jatayi's eyrie is in the Veldt.  It may be the same group.

Tarim - Either the same group or two groups awfully close to each other's turfs.  The former seems more likely.

"In any event," Ulhena says, "I wish you good fortune in your venture.  I am afraid we cannot dawdle; we hope to reach Macellaria in two days' time.

* Kaius Alexander inclines his head again to Ulhena and flicks Conveyance's reins.

Mr. Carver '" Thanks.  I hope the rest of your journey is less... troublesome.

"Your sentiments are appreciated, Carver."

Tarim - Farewell to you then. We'll get that statuette to Macellaria should we happen to find it.[/ic]

[Steerpike]

[ic=The Leering Colossus]You press on across the Plains.  The Shifting continues to become more and more extreme, provoking extreme nausea.

Mr. Carver - What is wrong with these plains Eareg?

Eareg Maar '" The Shifting: some kind of localized effect exuded by the Tallow Plains.  No one's sure what causes it, but space itself is somehow sick in the Plains.

* Kaius Alexander raises his visor and wipes the sweat from his brow.

* Mr. Carver watches Kaius silently.

Kaius Alexander - This land twists with its own sickness.

Tarim - Kind of dizzying.

* Kaius Alexander twists the cap off a canteen and drinks deeply.

An enormous statue thrusts itself up from the wasteland here, showing none of the Tallow Plains' usual effect.  Its appearance is strangely sudden.

Carved of some strange reddish stone the colour of congealing blood, the statue is of a gigantic inhuman figure seated upon a surreal thing that might be a throne or an animal, a bizarre mixture of furniture and fauna.  The thing's vaguely masculine visage is somehow both cruel and comforting, its lifelike, otherworldly features contorted into a bluntly sexual appraisal.  It seems to eye you with lascivious intent.

Tarim - Hm. And what might this be, then?

Kaius Alexander - I mislike it.

Eareg Maar - I know not.  I am not overly familiar with the Plains themselves, but sometimes their landmarks are known to move, somehow...

Tarim - Whatever artist carved it sure had an eye for suggestiveness.

* Tarim snickers.

Eareg Maar - However, perhaps we should rest here?  It seems relatively free of the Plains' taint.

Tarim - Indeed. How strange.  Must be some eldritch effect upon it.

Zaszicar - You think so?  Could it be dangerous?  Perhaps we should not linger here after all.

Mr. Carver - Well, you're the guide... I'm not going to run off in this twisting landscape...

Kaius Alexander - Rest would not be unwelcome.

Eareg Maar - We'll set a double watch, but I think it's wiser to stay here than to try and rest deeper in the Plains.  We should be out of the fringes sometime tomorrow.

Mr. Carver - I do agree with the lilix that this idol seems a bit... off. But I'm not much for the rolling hills either.

Tarim - Doesn't seem outright dangerous, but we better not touch it or do anything else that might trigger some ward.

Kaius Alexander - While I am not comforted by this colossus, I do not think it is something to fear. Be wary, though.

Eareg Maar - I will take the first watch.  Kaius, will you join me?

Kaius Alexander - I will.

Mr. Carver - I'll join Tarim for the late watch then.

* Tarim dismounts and stretches his limbs, then begins to set up his tent

Your dreams are amorphous and stranger than normal, full of twisted, fleshy beings that dance around you in an orgiastic mass of caressing limbs and lewd, obscenely long tongues.  Their touch is simultaneously revolting and sensual, disturbingly arousing.  You awake sticky with sweat.

* Mr. Carver unpacks a few dry trail rations.

* Mr. Carver goes to sleep, sleeps, wakes up.

* Tarim awakens, rising to sit.

* Kaius Alexander lies down stiffly on his bedroll.

* Mr. Carver rubs his temples.

* Fangs also wakes up, rather excited.

Kaius, your short pseudo-sleep is once more perturbed by an unnatural but unmistakable dream.

* Kaius Alexander blinks slowly.

This time you are not in Somnambulon at all, but merely in darkness, warm and complete.  Then there is a sudden, terrible crack, and you scream with a voice that is not your own, and a line of terrible light ruptures the perfect, comforting blackness around you.

There is pain and dizziness, disorientation, and then - bizarrely, vertiginously - you are looking up at your own sleeping body from the outside, looking bigger than you have any right to, a veritable giant.

Obeying an irresistible and inexplicable impulse you find yourself moving (floating? scuttling? slithering?) towards your own face, towards your own parted lips, into the moist, welcoming dark of your own body, your own brain, a lightless landscape abuzz with fleshy cabling and crackling organic filaments...

Both Mr Carver and Tarim see movement over by Kaius' bedroll.  The Insomnolent seems to be having some kind of paroxysm.

* Kaius Alexander gasps for breath.

* Mr. Carver runs over to him and shakes him awake.

* Tarim had been sitting and staring at the statue, pondering some matter. Fangs was flying and hopping around, snickering and and chittering. Tarim is suddenly alerted by the movements and stands up, startled.

Kaius, you are awakened, suddenly, and you can feel the newborn zerher's presence filling your mind, an infantine psychic wail that pounds against your temples, the inside of your skull.  You can feel it coil and uncoil in aetheric, pseudo-physical ways in the depths of your brain, twisting and settling, sending a thousand tendrils through your synapses, filling your consciousness with its own.  You think of ink diffusing in water, of black strands infiltrating and convulsing.

* Kaius Alexander pushes Carver aside and stumbles to his feet.

You perceive the symbiont as a separate being, an invader, a trespasser, and then - after a long, drawn-out breath of euphoric agony or excruciating ecstasy - there is no longer any separation.  One moment you are TWO, Kaius Alexander and the Progeny, and then, abruptly and effortlessly, you are ONE.  You breathe in a human being; you breathe out a Revenant.

Carver, Tarim, you notice a black spheroid on the ground.  It has cracked open, disintegrated into ebon fragments.  It is quite empty.

Tarim - What is wrong? Is it the sickness?

Mr. Carver - Did you have... dreams?  I bet this statue is doing something to us.  Fucking hexes.

* Kaius Alexander wipes bile from his lips.

Kaius Alexander - I am fine... I am, yes.

Mr. Carver - You sure?

* Kaius Alexander nods.

Kaius looks unusually pallid.

Mr. Carver - Hmm, if you are sure. I'm not going to force you into a medical examination.

* Eareg Maar snorts in his sleep and turns over.

* Zaszicar watches the scene inscrutably.

* Tarim picks up the broken spheroid.

Tarim - And what might this be then?

* Kaius Alexander stares at Tarim.

Kaius Alexander - My Lady's final gift.

* Tarim raises a brow.

Tarim - We'll it seems to be broken now, whatever it was.

Kaius Alexander - It seems so. I am not troubled.

* Tarim places the pieces down beside Kaius' bed.

* Kaius Alexander looks up at the sky.

Kaius Alexander - The stars are very bright tonight. A very old light.

Mr. Carver - Hah, Kaius?  

Tarim - I do not care what secrets you keep, soldier. So long as it does not involve double-crossing the rest of us.

Mr. Carver '" I'm not overly worried

The rest of the night is uneventful.  You wake up the next day to find Zaszicar has prepared some kind of odd, spicy stew which nonetheless is quite nourishing.

Kaius, you find the food oddly tasteless...

* Tarim pours some wine for himself as he sits down to enjoy the lilix stew.

Mr. Carver - With my knowledge of poisons I suspiciously check for signs of the more common ones before enjoying the tasty stew.

No poisons.  The stew is very thin - lilix require a liquid diet - but still hearty.

Eareg Maar '" Ready to set out?

Mr. Carver '" Sure.  No reason to stay.

After breakfast you set out into the Plains once more.  The Shifting continues for much of the day, but gradually lessens in intensity.

Mr. Carver - Finally... Glad to see we have been moving in the right direction too. No offense, Eareg.

Eareg Maar - None taken; the paths in this region are difficult to follow.[/ic]

[Steerpike]

[ic=Scavengers]You have now passed into the southernmost reaches of Flense Veldt, a dry, greyish-yellow region whose tall, brittle grasses murmur in the wind like an army of ghosts whispering to one another in hushed, fearful commiseration before some terrible battle.

The susurrus is interrupted only by the distant cackle of hyenas and the far-off rumble of thunder away in the darker lands to the east.  Vultures and leathery things like oversized bats with too many wings (and teeth) fly overhead.  Some have gathered in a dark clump some distance ahead.

Kaius Alexander - Vultures. They have found a meal.

Tarim - Something's died recently over there, I guess.

* Eareg Maar squints.

Eareg Maar '" If the bird-man were here now I'm sure he'd be very excited...

Mr. Carver - Feeling the old scavenger rush, are we?

Kaius Alexander - I will not thank you for reminding me of our unfortunate friend.

Tarim - Would be ironic if it is him that those flyers have spotted.

Zaszicar '" The vultures are many '" almost too many for a single beast.

Kaius Alexander - Let us see what there is to see, then.

Mr. Carver - I see no reason not to. I can handle vultures.

A caravan lies here, a dozen wagons variously overturned or simply abandoned, the horses that drew them dead or fled, the merchants that drove them decaying in the harsh wasteland sun.

The caravan looks to have been thoroughly looted.  A pack of hyenas feast messily upon the corpses, contending with the vultures.  Some are mutant, warped by the weird influences of the Slaughter-lands: one has a beaked maw, another a second head, a third a mass of bristling quills.  There are eight of them altogether.  One of the larger ones turns and growls...

Tarim - Never get between a dog and his meal.

Mr. Carver - Eareg? Anything stand out to your trained eye?  Or should we keep moving.

Eareg Maar - Definitely bandit work.

Mr. Carver, You notice a crate that seems to have been missed by the looters. It's painted with a Hellspeak glyph.

* Kaius Alexander keeps his revolver trained on the hyenas.

Mr. Carver - Hmm, Tarim, there might be something for you down there by the looks of it,

Tarim - Oh?

Mr. Carver - Isn't that a Hellspeak sigil?  On the crate?

Tarim '" Indeed it is.

The glyph is the Hellspeak character for "incendiary."

Tarim - Looks like fireworks... Something to make a big bursty fire with, that is.

Mr. Carver - The pretty kind or the useful kind?

The two-headed hyena is eating one of the horses beside the crate.

* Kaius Alexander looks at Tarim, and moves to open the crate, gingerly.

The hyena growls and snaps at you!  If you draw any closer it will attack.

Tarim - Begone, you flea-sack!

Mr. Carver - Hmm, will fire scare them off?

The other hyenas look up from their meals, snarling.

Tarim - Careful, they dogs are pack-beasts.

* Kaius Alexander's finger rests lightly on the trigger of his pointed revolver. He remains where he is standing and fixes the hyena with a mean stare.

* Tarim guides his mount a bit farther away from the hyenas.

The hyena whimpers and backs down.

* Kaius Alexander opens the crate.

Inside the crate are a large number of rockets.  Many of them are inscribed with mystic sigils.

Kaius Alexander - Tarim. I do not know these. Come.

* Tarim dismounts and draws his blunderbuss pistol, walking slowly to Kaius.

* Mr. Carver eyes the situation atop Conveyance.

Most of the fireworks produce sparks or colourful smoke.  Many could also temporarily blind someone.  Three of the fireworks are more powerful explosives and might easily be weaponized.

* Kaius Alexander looks at the hyenas and spits to one side. He holsters his revolver.

Tarim - Smoke-rockets mostly. But some of these will explode with a blinding flash.

Mr. Carver - So, it was the pretty kind after all.

Tarim - Those three are more dangerous, though.

Mr. Carver - Sounds better.

Kaius Alexander - We shall have to handle them carefully, then.

Tarim - The smoke-making ones could be used to create a smoke screen.  Tarim - Could be good if we get into a large firefight.

* Kaius Alexander returns to Conveyance.

Kaius Alexander - Let us continue. There is nothing else here.

* Tarim mounts his conjured steed again.

Tarim - Aye. Let the beasts have their supper.[/ic]

[Steerpike]

[ic=The Evil Storm]* Eareg Maar leads you from the remnants of the caravan on into Flense Veldt, a barren country of pallid grasses and occasional twisted trees.

The rest of the day is uneventful, and the night is passed without incident.  The next day you set out a dark cloud mars the otherwise clear sky on the mutilated horizon of the waste.  You can see the distant crackle of greenish lightning, though it is too far away to hear thunder.

Tarim - And odd color for lighting.

* Eareg Maar squints at this storm suspiciously.

Mr. Carver - You know what it is?

Eareg Maar '" Might be one of the tempestas mali.  Keep your wits about you; sometimes these things have... strange effects.

In the wake of the storm, a cluster of figures approach, silhouetted by crackling lightning.

* Kaius Alexander raises his visor.

* Tarim levels his gem-set eyes at the figures in the distance.

Some of the figures were evidently once scavengers, based on the oddments of armour, weaponry, and equipment they bear, but now they are desiccated corpses with eyes glowing ghastly green, reanimated by the fell energies of the storm.  They shamble towards you, grinning with morbid eagerness, numinous energy spilling from their mouths.  There are perhaps twelve or so of the grave-spawn, moving with startling rapidity towards you.

* Zaszicar bristles in his saddle and unsheathes two of his blades.

Tarim - Doesn't look like we'll be talking our ways out of this.

Mr. Carver - Well, if we are going to fight I'm getting off this damn beast.

* Mr. Carver jumps off Conveyance.

* Eareg Maar takes careful aim with Meteor.

* Tarim carefully dismounts.

* Mr. Carver readies a throwing knife and unsheathes the Agony Knife.

Kaius Alexander - We could yet flee... but you are right, Mr. Carver. We should not allow these things to live.

* Kaius Alexander steps down off Conveyance and draws his sword.

* Eareg Maar takes a shot at one of the grave-spawn.

One of the haunts taks a bullet through the eye.  Greenish lightning spills out of the hole, crackling in the air; the grave-spawn keeps coming.

* Zaszicar holds his ground.  One of his blades kindles with flame, the other becomes edged with an aura of icy rime.

* Tarim draws his blunderbuss pistol from it's lizard-hide holster and draws a wide arch in the air with his other clawed hand, pronouncing cacophonous words, his deep voice echoing eerily in the open plains as if bouncing off unseen barriers.

The haunts shamble forwards, nearing the party.

 A bolt of eldritch lightning lances down out of the sky and strikes Tarim.  Arcane electricity courses along the witch's body!

* Tarim nearly drops his gun from the surprise and pain as the bolt strikes him.

Mr. Carver - Eareg! Is the cloud supposed to that? Or this the tempestas-something you muttered about?

Tarim - By the hells...

Eareg Mali - this is one of the tempestas mali; it's raised those haunts, and it doesn't like that we're destroying them.

* Eareg Maar takes a second shot, setting one of the haunts alight.  The horrific creature does not seem to notice.  He reloads and draws a bead on another.

Mr. Carver - You okay, Tarim?

Tarim - Just a bit scorched. But it looks like witchcraft may be more dangerous than usual under those clouds.

* Mr. Carver moves with ensorcelled speed up behind one of the zombic monstrosities.  The sinewy human drops into a low stance and slashes at the creature's knees; the Agony Knife cleanly slices through flesh and bone, and the haunt drops to the ground with a moan.

* Kaius Alexander charges the haunts with a confidence bordering on the suicidal.  He dismembers one of the shambolic horrors with several swift, efficient swipes.

* Zaszicar rushes forward, blades weaving an intricate pattern of fire and ice.  One of the haunts ducks aside, just beneath is ice-blade.

* Tarim hurries away from the onrushing grave-spawn, stops for a moment to take aim and fires a shot at the nearest haunt.  One of the haunts stumbles back, pocked with shot.

Meanwhile, the haunts begin to close in around the heroes.  One mauls at Mr. Carver; where its icy flesh touches his, an electric charge imbued in the creature by the storm passes into the human, shocking him badly.

A second bolt of lightning strikes Kaius.  Conducted by his armour, the eldritch energy courses through him, singing his flesh.

* Mr. Carver stabs one of the haunts and wrenches his blade along its torso, producing a spurt of otherworldly puissance from the wound.  The grave-spawn moans and stares at him with its eerie green eyes.

* Kaius Alexander continues to hew at the mindless, slavering horde around him, severing limbs and heads.  One haunt goes down immediately, shorn nearly in two from one of the Insomnolent's vicious butcher-chops.  A second is all but disembowelled by a second slash, entrails gushing out of its necrotic belly.

* Tarim continues to back away from the shambling corpses, hissing eldritch words. His body seems to burst as insubstantial images appear about him.

One of the haunts shambles up and attacks one of Tarim's duplicates, but the illusion dances aside, leading the thing away.  Another claws at Zaszicar; the lilix chitters as it shocks him.

 A third bolt of lightning singes Mr. Carver, though the dextrous warrior manages to dart aside, avoiding the worst of the damage.

* Eareg Maar shoots one of his haunts point blank as it attempts to claw at him.  The grave-spawn's skull explodes, and crackling gray-matter bursts behind it.

* Mr. Carver ducks and weaves around the haunt he's fighting and delivers three deep, precision slashes, his blade moving almost too fast to follow.  For a moment the haunt sways in place; then it collapses in a mutilated heap.

* Kaius Alexander spins and raises his blade.  With a bellow that would have made Gorethirst proud he fells another haunt with a single blow.

* Zaszicar finishes off his own haunt, neatly decapitating it with a slash from his flaming sword.

* Tarim snarls at the haunt clawing at his image, draws a Flesh-Melter from his pocket and hurls it at the monstrosity.  The haunt shrieks as flesh sloughs off its bones.

A lightning strike dissipates one of Tarim's duplicates.

* Tarim cackles and makes a contemptuous gesture at the storm-clouds.

Tarim - Missed me this time, cur!

A lightning strike hits Kaius Alexander, burning the warrior's flesh beneath his armour.

* Eareg Maar dispatches a haunt with another shot from Meteor.

* Mr. Carver flings three knives in swift succession at the remaining haunt.  The knives quiver in the grave-spawn's dead flesh and the creature slumps to the ground, the energies that animated it bleeding out.

* Eareg Maar hurries up towards the party.

Eareg Maar - We must make haste if we're to outrun this fell storm!

* Tarim hurries back to his mount, climbing hastily to the saddle, even as another lightning bolt from the storm strikes one of his duplicates, destroying it.

* Eareg Maar spurs the party onwards away from the storm.

In the distance, you see a spire of rock jutting like some enormous tombstone from the raw earth.

* Kaius Alexander speedily leaps atop Conveyance.

* Mr. Carver jumps up behind him.

Eareg Maar - That should be the eyrie of the jatayi! The Tallow Plains must have brought us here faster than we'd anticipated as a by-product of the Shifting.

Mr. Carver - Finally!

You ride out from the storm; the clouds mutter angrily, then drift off to the south and east.  Shan-Szut stands before you in the distance '" a dour talon of naked stone, stark against the pallid bleakness of the sky.[/ic]