Debris from the fallen adobe fort walls lay scattered everywhere along with bits of shattered wood. Burning wooden beams, probably of Westland import, choked the entire scene with smoke. Large crimson stains quickly turning black in the desert sun spattered the pale compacted dirt of the courtyard. Strewn everywhere were the corpses of at least a dozen humans almost all Ivoran with a few Hyvalians amongst them). Some were dead from weapons others burned to death. An absurd amount of spent sling stones littered the spaces between the corpses. Arrows feathered the remnants of walls and more than a few of the dead.
There was a collection of large, rusted iron cages dominating the center of the courtyard. All were empty, their doors creaking in the breeze. The locks apparently broken with great force. The acrid stench of burning human flesh and the shear high temperature of the air was overwhelmingly sickening.
Kazoo (Isis’ character) wandered around looking for anything as did the other two. He could see that all the soldiers and guards were burnt to the bone from the waist up implying that they had been blasted with extremely hot fire from above. Moderately skilled in dragon-lore, Kazoo determined that a dragon, most likely an adult Yellow Fang was responsible. Bloodfang (Gil’s character) found a single massive footprint. He confirmed that a 5-toe Yellow Fang dragon left it.
Bloodfang (to Kazoo): “Would you know why this dragon would kill these people?”
Canica (Jenn’s character): “Because they were SINNERS!”
Bloodfang: “As good an answer as any I guess.”
The southern barbarian slithered over to the well in the courtyard for a drink and a splash of cool water. They collectively decided to stick around as most things give dragons a wide berth so they reasoned that anything out there would avoid the ruined fort for at least the night. They also decided to search the area for any loot. Eventually, against the odds, Bloodfang discovered an intact cellar underneath a pile of rubble.
They found 2 hogsheads of cheap wine, 1 carboy of water, 1 carboy of high-quality mead, and 2 empty casks. Bloodfang and Canica filled the empty casks with well-water.
Bloodfang (to Kazoo): “So. Are we going to stay here?”
Canica: “We’re staying here, we can barricade the doors and drink up. There’s plenty of wine and mead!”
Kazoo: “Um, yeah. I need a rest anyway.”
Later that night Canica was spending the first watch drinking, Kazoo snored away, and Bloodfang exited out into the night defeating the purpose of the barricade. He found a place to coil in the courtyard and prayed for the souls of those who had died that day.
The next day they were back on the road with Canica in the lead. The day was uneventful, by night they had traveled approximately 10 miles. They bivouacked in a depression just off the main trade road (1 on the map).
As they settled in for the night, they set up watches. As usual Kazoo took the third and as soon as he was unobserved, he was fast asleep in his knapsack under the endless night sky.
The sense of a soft cold pad and furry claws clamping his mouth shut woke Kazoo. His eyes widened with fear as he saw the fierce snarling face of a white lion, its hideous yellow eyes glowing in the dark, its hairy lips drawn back into a nasty grimace revealing dripping black gums and razor-sharp fangs.
A hideously deep yet feminine voice hissed into his ears: “I’m going to strip your flesh bit by bit, suck out your eyeballs, you will feel every crunch of bone as I eat, and then I’ll drink your blood.”
Kazoo was unable to wriggle free. Fortunately, Bloodfang was awake after spotting the creature stalking the camp but was currently distracted from Kazoo’s plight as he was quietly sneaking up on where he had seen the creature before which was directly opposite of the current situation. Canica was fast asleep in her tent.
The creature realizing Bloodfang was up and moving took its paw from Kazoo’s mouth as it went to sink its yellow fangs into his neck. Kazoo threw a handful of sand into its face temporarily blinding it (via dirty fighting) causing it to rear up and away. Bloodfang saw this. Recognizing the creature he shouted, “Ilimu!” He charged and struck with all his might (power attack) at the monster’s neck. His Guan Dao crashed into its face with a loud wet crack as it sliced straight through its ugly skull. He had slain it in a single stroke.
Canica stumbled out of her tent buck naked with a broad axe in her hand. Seeing all was in hand she ducked back inside. Kazoo, now unable to sleep, decided to finish his watch duty while Bloodfang explained what the creature was as he skinned it.
The Ilimu is a therian creature, a predatory supernatural lion that can change into the human form of their victims. They often seek shelter with the relatives of these victims and at night return to their animal form and then murder them in their sleep (pg.132 MMI).
Come morning Bloodfang found that the Ilimu hide he had taken previously had rotted and was falling apart, the naked corpse of the monster was missing.
Kazoo: “Um.”
Bloodfang: “That is probably not good.”
Canica: “What? We can’t eat it now but so what. It’s gone.”
Later, just before striking camp, Bloodfang polled the others to see if they had any rations or water left. They were all out of food, but they still had some water, however there was only a single water cask left as Canica’s horse easily finished one per day as do all three of them. They struck camp and got out onto the road.
Jenn: “Oh, I still have the mead. But I think I wanna trade it… for a better weapon or some armor – maybe a shield.”
After a single hour of travel, they saw the old stone water well ahead of them (see Wanderers of the Waste Pt.1: Thirst).
Kazoo (just after washing the road dust from his face with a full waterskin): “Hey! Are we going in circles!?”
Canica: “Remember. We had to back track when the spirits guided us to water.”
Kazoo (emptying the waterskin to wet his hair): “Oh yeah.”
Disgusted, Bloodfang decided to go off the road East past the well and hunt for food, they had no idea how far away they were from any kind of settlement, as there were no other markings aside from the city of Ziwen. His companions accompanied him though Kazoo wanted to wait by the well. He was easily convinced to join the group after the subject of the missing Ilimu corpse was brought up.
So, they moved into the desert seeking prey, the punishing sun above glaring at them from an empty blue sky, not even the birds dared the heat of midmorning. After an hour of seeking, Bloodfang finally found some tracks, several kangaroo tracks – many of them. It appeared a fair-sized herd of kangaroos were heading East, maybe Southeast. He began stalking the trail with Kazoo and Canica, leading her horse, following.
After about an hour they came upon a vast patch of cactus. The dense tangle of spines and green flesh covered a large area over the hard packed rocky desert floor and was high and long enough to obscure vision North. They contemplated going around along the Southside of it, but Bloodfang found a wide enough winding dirt trail through it peppered with tracks. It took another hour, but they found their way out and traveled into an open area of desert.
The air danced angrily in the distance along the blazing sand and stone. Their backs burned as the sun beat down upon them. There were pale sand dunes along the Northeastern horizon. To the Southeast hills rose up surrounding a massive and tall red-orange mesa. To the South the desert floor angled down into a hill rimmed valley. However, the trail led into the valley, the floor of which as they neared the entrance from the high ground was populated by various desert bushes, orange-white-yellow flowers, and a few trees as well as several yuccas.
Canica stayed on her mount just behind the cover of the high ground as it sank into the valley while Bloodfang led Kazoo down into it staying low and hidden by the thickening vegetation. Time passed and the pair of hunters found their quarry, a kangaroo herd grazing on the clumped grasses and cactus flowers. Meanwhile, Canica as she fed her horse a handful of gathered grass, spotted what at first, she thought was a large bird in the distance above the giant mesa. She watched as it swerved and turned towards the valley, it was larger than she had at first thought. As it turned, she could see its underbelly, its bright yellow belly and leathery wings and its black horns and claws. It was a Yellow Fang dragon.
The hunters saw it right when it dove down into the valley snatching two large kangaroos in its claws and hoisting them up into the air. The panicked mob immediately turned and charged up towards the high ground and out of the valley. Bloodfang and Kazoo lunged from their cover into the choking cloud of dust raised by the fleeing animals. Bloodfang managed to ambush and kill one kangaroo while Kazoo managed to rope another, but it pulled free and got away. Canica pulled her horse to cover behind some cacti as the kangaroos blasted through the pass into the Northeast. The hunters waited till the dust settled to drag the carcass back to Canica’s location.
Jenn (glaring at me): “Oh no! I’m protecting my horse! He better not come for my horse!”
Isis: “What?”
Jenn: “In the Dragonslayers campaign the dragons kept eating our horses!”
The GM (me): “It doesn’t notice you at all.”
Canica: “Was that our dragon? The one that burned the fort.”
Kazoo: “I dunno. Maybe.”
Bloodfang: “No. The one that burned the fort was at least an adult probably a great adult, that one was a young one.”
Canica: “Oh damn.”
Gill (his nose in the Monster Magnus Vol.I): “Well, at least Yellow Fangs are medium weight dragons and not heavy weight.”
Bloodfang skinned and butchered the carcass and divided the fresh meat between them evenly (2 portions), there was a seventh portion left.
Kazoo: “I will be the better man and prevent any disagreement between you two and take the last portion of meat. You’re welcome.”
Bloodfang: “Um no, no you’re not.”
Kazoo: “Please sir, thanks for saving my life, but I am still very much wounded…”
Both Canica and Bloodfang folded their arms and scowled at him.
Kazoo: “…so I need the extra rations.”
They argued back and forth for some minutes before Kazoo turned on the charm and Bloodfang relented. It was early afternoon by time they got moving again with Canica in the lead.
After about 2 hours, the group realized they were in unfamiliar territory and Canica had to admit that she had forgotten how to get back to the road. Fortunately, Bloodfang remembered, and he took the lead. About three hours later they arrived at the stone well after passing through the narrow path between a pair of rocky hills.
Kazoo: “ARE WE GOING IN CIRCLES!?”
Canica: “Maybe.”
The GM (me): “It was more like a horseshoe.”
They continued along the road for another hour until they spotted what looked like a walled village.
Canica: “Yes! I am out of water, and so is my horse.”
Kazoo (spitting out a mouthful of water, a small wooden bottle in his hand): “So am I!”
Bloodfang sighed.
Eventually, as the sun finally began to drop in the sky and the searing air of late afternoon softened into the heavy, warm atmosphere of evening, they could clearly see tall adobe wall that encircled the nearing village. Relieved, they approached the sturdy wooden gates, the guards appeared above the battlements directly over the front gates when hailed. Two of them immediately pulled their javelins and aimed them at the desert-scoured adventurers.
One shouted: “BARBARIANS AT THE GATE!”
To Be Continued…
