"I agree to these terms" Brenys says and then gets into position and draws her curved blade. My my families spirits guide my blade she thinks as she holds the blade in her hand.
Yaran nod drawing, and his second pair of arms produce a pair of slender daggers. The as yet unnamed hunchback and one legged Mujembai move into flank Yaran, and once their foes are lined up and acknowledge their readiness Yaran begins to count,
"One, two, three!"
Danton mutters a few arcane words and moves his hand as if weaving.
The hunchback glances to Yaran in the center who shouts,
"Hidariiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" As he charges forward, his gait ungainly, but swift. Coming to a halt between Danton and Brenys he attacks both! His spear tip sinking into Breny's side, and a dagger slashing across Danton's shoulder leaving a bloody trail!
The hunchback makes a squarking croak and points first at Vance, then at Ignatius, and two of his hawks launch themselves from his back and swoop in to strike at their respective targets! Both raptors slash into exposed flesh with their talons! the hunchback then takes a step backwards watching proceedings with narrowed eyes.
Vance snarled, ducking low and away from the flapping bird and moving behind his companions. His pistol came up, runes along the barrel flaring to life, but when he pulled the trigger it wasn't a bullet that burst forth. It was an expanding cone of scintillating light that caught the one legged rider and his mount right in the face.
Concentration
Danton with steely will manages to hold onto his spell despite the pain of his wound, while Vance waits eying the one legged rider.
Ignoring the bird, Ignatius moves to K25 and attacks,
threat...
miss..?
(x3 if the crit is confirmed)
Ignatius slashes his blade home between the two heads of Yaran twice sending blood spraying forth as the blackclad mutant tumbles to the sand to lie still.
Brenys hisses as the spear penetrates her new armor and she slashes out at the twin with her twin blade.
Brenys moves forward to strike at the rider her blade taking him under the armpit and sending him slumping lifelessly in the saddle.
The hunchbacked falconer raises both hands in the air dropping his spear, and emits two more screeches which call his hawks back to him. He heads back to his mount and withdraws a canvas bundle, which he unfurls to carefully show you what appears to be a rustic healer's kit. This done he hurries over to Yaran and begins tending to the badly injured tribesman.
Holstering his sidearm, Vance shook his head at the foolishness of it all.
Ignatius will Channel energy to heal everyone in range (including the attackers)
"Thank you, Ignatius" Danton turns to the raiders, "Now I believe you owe us something?"
Yaran wakes after Ignatius's channeling, his slightly smaller head letting out a strange keening hiss, until he places a hand upon its temple silencing it,
"We do, never say the Hidari do not honor their debts. Gembe the token, I will give three of my horses as gift. Mujembai?
The rider, who has now dragged himself back upright in the saddle, but obviously remains seriously injured, retrieves an ornately carved ivory horm from his saddle bags and offers it to Brenys.
Gembe, the hunchback, fumbles in his own saddle bags to retrieve a length of leather cord which he cuts into four pieces. He then removes a necklace from around his own neck and removes four carved bone links from it which he threads onto each cord in turn. He walks over and solemnly hands them to each of the party.
The bone links are finely carved and each show a wide eyed stylized human with a head three times the size of his body. The little men are each different, but covered in blemishes and disfigurements upon each of which is a symbol, mostly animals or plants.
Yaran Twice rises with obvious pain, earning a tut from Gembe, and looks at you each in turn,
"Tell us why do you wander in the desert without mounts? It is foolish. Where do you go? the Spider's Market at Yakari? You do not have the feel of slavers or thieves, you should stay away from that place."
Brenys accepts the horn and the carved bone link.
"We had mounts. They got us here but couldn't get us any further. Guess it's lucky you're feeling generous." Vance said, fastening the carved bone around his neck.
Yaran frowns but nods,
"Very well, I shall head back for the horses, but they are not your mirror sides steeds. If you wish you may join our hunting for the nights meal, and enjoy our hospitality, if not we will find you in the morning with your mounts."
"I would be honoured to join you on your hunt and graciously accept your hospitality."
Ignatius will channel energy once more.
Yaran's large head smiles and he nods in thanks as his wounds heal over for the most part,
"Mujembai lead the hunting here, we will make our camp."
The one legged rider hurries off into the desert and returns some forty five minutes later as the sun is beginning to set. Soon some four dozen cloth wrapped riders approach and with many curious glances at your party begin to set up a single huge tent, and a number of windbreaks, both of which they embed deep in the sand using strange boring devices that look like ten foot long straight horns, which they then drop long poles into.
In the center of the tent they heap dung and throw some sort of dried plant onto of it in copious amounts. The dry leaves light easily and take the edge of the scent of burning dung, creating a thick fresh menthol smell. They produces several large flat stones which they lay atop the fire and use to cook flatbreads, thin strips of meat, and slices of cactus. You see Hadari crushing the cactus in their hands, coating the bread with it and laying strips of meat over the top.
The bread is spicy, and a little gritty, but tasty. The cactus is sweet and tangy, and gives a nice pulpy sauce texture, and the meat is hot salty and hard to place - its clearly red meat and not pork or long pork ;)
All of the riders have some form of deformity or another, and as they settle down to eat and reveal their faces you see many appear barely human. Yaran is revealed to have one head, but his other is withered and twisted with no ears, only puckered holes, and no hair,
Yaran escorts you to a place of honor on a carpet by the fire and offers you each a large earthern wear jug saying, "Sandstrike?" From the smell it must be nearly pure alcohol.
Danton removes his mask and sits with the Hidari, partaking in the food. When offered the alcohol he takes a small sip, trying not to be rude.
Ignatius will take the drink graciously.
"This is pretty good." Vance says with appreciation, taking a sip of the booze. He lets out a small cough and a whistle. "Potent stuff."
The gathering quickly becomes rowdy with the Hidari enjoying their liqor, and eventually setting up a white sheet with a lantern set up so they can perform an intricate shadow puppet display behind it. They seem to have their own strange slurring tongue, though its obviously a variant of ancient Osirani and you can make out that most of the stories talk of heroes overcoming or using their deformities to slay various terrible beasts, or in one case save his comrades from slavers.
The merriment lasts for a couple of hours and then someone rings a gong and the deformed tribesmen move swiftly to their bedrolls. Yaran Twice points to a space near the smouldering fire where some furs have been piled and takes to his own bedroll just off to one side. Before he sleeps he feeds his smaller head a gooey concoction which seems to send it swiftly to sleep.
Danton moves to the bedroll that the tribesmen have crafted for him and settles in. He turns to his companions as he makes a pillow of his pack. "Well that was interesting, what's our move tomorrow?"
"Keep going. Having horses will make it a lot easier."
"Sounds like a plan."
With the dawn the camp is a bustle with deformed tribesmen performing odd ritualistic stretches, and rubbing various swollen limbs, and growths with some sort of pungeant oil. Nevertheless the tent is deconstructed swiftly and packed away onto creatures that look like deformed camels, while most of the Hidari mount horses or mules.
Yaran leads three solid looking horses towards you, all a dull brown, ugly mishapen beasts. They look like they have been well treated and their saddles seem servicable enough, despite the numerous extraneous leather straps.
"Good look new friends of the Hidari. Keep your bones close, we are not the only hunting band. And I warn you again of Yakari, it is a bad place, of evil men, you will find no succor there, avoid it if you can."
"Thanks for the warning, Yaran. And the horses." Vance says shaking the mutant man's hand.
"Let's just head for Geresh. I don't think we need to take any side-trips."
You ride away leaving the Hidari who turn off to the north west with several groups of three peeling off from the main force of pack animals. Soon the red desert swallows you again, the previous nights winds having carved it anew into a mass of great dunes and temporary valleys. The dunes reach up to sixty feet in height and you are forced to stick to the lower spaces for the most part in order to make good time and spare the horses.
About two hours of hot gruelling travel later, two scorpions the size of ponies burst from beneath the sand on either side of the group skittering down the sides of the dunes they were buried in to close on the party!
Brenys - is up!
Danton - is up!
Scorpions
Vance
Ignatius
Danton dismounts and draws his morningstar, placing his mount between him and danger.
"Woah!" Vance barks, instinctively hauling back and away on his mount's bridle, his mind seizing a bit at the unexpected sight of the giant creatures.