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Sorrounded by armed and dangerous people and with his leg hurting for a bullet, the man drops the shotgun and reaches for the sky. Alright, alright, just, don't kill me, ok? There is a path leading downwards the Canyon, through that opening in the rocky wall. You will find Slate and the rest down there. He then slowly backs up towards the pathway you came in, with a worried look on his face as he moves close to the elven tribesmen.
Upon more careful examination, the rope reveals to be the trigger for some sort of trap, though you can't make out what would happen if it goes off.
The man reloads the gun, but doesn't fire this time. What do you want!? What the f#*@ do you want?!!
No problem, during holidays I have much less free time too, go figure.
Needless to say, fear got the poor Pissbucket to his final demise. The lizard screams as the knife sticks into his back, and then drops to the ground, motionless. It's very difficult to estimate the distance of the gunshots: the Whispering Canyons are famous for their constant winds that make almost impossible to discern from where a noise comes from. That said, the gunshots seem to be pretty distant: there are probably quite a lot of solid rock walls between you and there. And now there is someone yelling, too. Thel, as you move inside one of the rocky openings of the canyon walls, towards the path that Pete pointed at, you can see something in the sand... Probably some sort of rope, though you can't see what it's attached to.
At the sight of Grymblade slitting Pete's throat, Pissbucket freaks out, at tries to burst the ropes that are holding him. .
Judging by how easily you want to slit throats, I hardy believe that you care for the lives of the innocents, elf. Besides, I know no more than what I've already told you. I don't know where those shots came from either. Meanwhile, another gunshot resonates in the night air.
Shosuro, you see a man going out of the could, that receives an arrow in the knee from Katz-ne-ate. Your sword slash is enough to finish him. Korren, despite the dust and the darkness, is able to make out a shadow within the camp area that is reloading a weapon, and hits him with a bullet. The man screams, and moments later another shot is being fired haphazardly at your general direction, missing you. You also see that the elven warriors are now charging at the camp, screaming about their enemies' demise in their native tongue. Jin, a buckshot grazes you: the man with the gun is very close. Although you missed while he was reloading, your second attack literally decapitates him.
The dust finally settles.
Oh, s!$*... I knew this was going to happen... Pete gets up slowly, still dizzy for the sleep poison. Look, just let me go, alright? I'm just here for the money... Not unlike you. The camp's right there... he points at one of openings in the rocks. Follow the pathway, you can't miss it. Good luck with his men, there's 30 at least. He then looks around, seeing all the other guards dead. Poor sods, but I don't want to end like them. A revolution's just not worth it. All of a sudden, everyone can hear a distant gushot, though you can't make out from where did it come from. Seconds later there's another one.
A bandit does come outside the cloud, and gets Katz's arrow right in the knee. The other two instead stay inside, waiting for it to settle. You can only hear the sound of firearms being reloaded.
I'm having connection issues, sorry for the lack of posting. An upcoming major event will speed up posts for sure.
Dats right! Ask Pete! He knowss! Me knowss only 'bout these guards! says Pissbucket.
Connection issues, sorry about the late post.
Pissbucket kept his mouth shut for the whole duration of your ambush, but as Ember drags him down, near the fire, he starts hissing and biting the ropes. Lemme go now, pleasse! They gonna kill me if they saw! Me bring you here, now lemme go! Thelnyss finds very few sets of footprints, mostly going from the camp to one of the openings in the sandstone walls.
The axe guars tries to chop the head of the charging Jin, but misses. The samurai instead strikes true despite the darkness, killing him.
Katze is up.
Between Boss' blade and Mord's powerful kick, the guard drops on his knees and then ceases to move. Except for Pete, who is snoring, everyone on the site is dead. A quick examination of the camp and the bodies reveals the following things: 2 banded mail armors
and a small barrel, about 2 feet long and 1 wide, which appears to be completely loaded with gunpowder. Before you, the path interrupts, and there are several crevaces in the Canyons. Wind and dust pass through. The way to Slate's camp is probably one of these, but which one?
Grym's knife passes through the man's body as if he was made of butter, and the pointy end sticks from the other side. A desperate look appear on the guard's face.
Updated Initiative:
Do I hear the men making noise? Yep. Both guards are caught by surprise by Jin and Shosuro's attacks. The one with the axe survives Jin's arrow, but the same cannot be said for the other guard, that falls to the ground in a puddle of blood. Meanwhile, Katze's escavation gambit works: the bullhorn disappears into the ground, and between the ground lowering and the dust rising, the campfire is soon swallowed too. Darkness falls in the area: you can only hear the sound of the remaining guards, coughing due to the dust.
Missing rolls: Shosuro, Korren
What footprints? These are just ours. Yeah, right, maybe I'm just being paran- says Pete, but it's interrupted by Thelnyss arrow that gets him in the stomach. He makes a surprised face, and an instant later he falls face down in the sand. His hat goes into the fire, starting to burn. Meanwhile, Grym's sudden appearance and Boss'charge put the sleeping guards out of their misery. The remaining guard, very confused, quickly unsheaths his sword, facing towards Boss and thus turning his back to Grymblade. Damn you!
... the sphere is our chance for victory, and a bloodless one at that. Too many people have died already. Whatever, I just my share, that's all says Pete. You don't need to convince... Hold on, whose footprints are these? Pete spotted Grymblade's tracks in the sand, but doesn't see him or the missing horn.
Who's there! Is that you Logan? says one while turning towards the place where Shosuro made some noise. There is someone here... says the other one, while going for the the horn beside the fire.
Why do you joined him, anyway? You aren't in this for the money, I know that asks Pete to the man in armor. You wouldn't understand it. Slate is not a bandit. He fights for a just cause, against an unfair king. And we might be this close to put an end to this sensless war. Sounds to me that he just stepped on the wrong set of toes, and now is playing the "fighter of the freedom" role just to save his ass. Why don't you tell that to his face? replies the other bluntly. I'd love to see that. For what? You know you can't touch him now, not with that wierd sphere of his...
...five of them I tell you. They didn't come back. Either they betrayed the Chief, or got themselves killed, which is bad news anyway. Bad news? Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say. We don't need more scumbags around. replies the other one. We need more men. We are never going to be able to get the town by losing men at this rate. Chief should stop leaving them for dead in the desert. We've been over this. That Jaxus killed three unarmed... wait, what was that? While Katze and Jin were positioning themselves behind a group of rocks to the west of the fire, (Shosuro was ableo to flank the patrol on the opposite side), some rubble fell to the ground, and the armored man is looking that way. You are now circling them, just outside the light cast by the fire, at about 60 ft of distance. Between you and them, it's open ground.
...darned coyotes, that's what they are. I don't get why the chief would surround himself with thieves and bandits. Oh, like you aren't one, right? replies the other one. What! I take offense to that, did't they teach you manners in the Capital? Pete the Giant never killed or robbed anyone. Sure, sure, so the Marshal is just put a bounty on you for what, your charming conversations? That AND because of all the families I ruined. Married ladies just can't get enough of ol'Pete here. Taking advantage of their distraction, Thel and Boss position themselves behind a group of rocks to the west of the fire, while Mord and Grym flank the patrol on the opposite side. You are now circling them, just outside the light cast by the fire, at about 60 ft of distance. Between you and them, it's open ground.
Grymblade:
The lizard looked scared by your menace, maybe TOO scared. You suspect that he might flee at the first opportunity.
You also notice, while approaching the patrol, that there is a large bull horn beside the fire, and a small barrel with a red X painted over it.
Katze-ne-ate:
You have seen similar warpaint on someone at the Elven Mission back in town. He was on a member of the Awakened Moon Clan too, and you also remember talking to him about their tribe. These elves are ruthless in battle, and, more importantly, not entirely humanoid. It is said that they commute with the Spirit so much, that they can actually turn into animal as well. Good. Then we must go. May the Moon bless our path. As you start riding towards the Whispering Canyons after your brief rest, the elves follow you at short distance on their own feet. You see that the run much, much faster than the average person, and don't seem to be tired as much as you would expect. You also all notice that they look much more feral now, almost as if they were slowly losing their fair elven features. It's 3 hours before dawn when you arrive at the Canyons. The half moon illuminates massive walls of sandstone, eroded by millennia of constant winds that blow on the area. The wind passes through clefts and cracks, creating eerie sounds. The desert elves use to say that it's the spirits of the dead that whisper, and certainly the Canyons have seen many deaths. This way says Four Winds in a very low voice. You should leave your horses here, they won't be of any use where we're going.
The night falls on the desert, and you keep riding towards the Whispering Canyons. It's 3 hours before dawn when you arrive there. The half moon illuminates massive walls of sandstone, eroded by millennia of constant winds that blow on the area. The wind passes through clefts and cracks, creating eerie sounds. The desert elves say that it's the spirits of the dead that whisper, and certainly the Canyons have seen many deaths. Thiss way says Pissbucket in a very low voice and getting off his mount. We need leave horse now. They ain't good on rocks.
Good. Then we walk the earth tonight. We will need just a few moments to rest, then we can attack their first patrol, the one on the east side of the Canyons. Four Winds pulls out an handful of bright yellow sand from his purse, and starts to put it on his companions' faces.
Jade is in mines. Sslate wants Jade too.
I simply sit and watch the conversation.
Good. The visions can show you what's about to happen, but only by accepting the Spirit you can commute with the flow of things. says Four Winds. We can keep on resting, or try to reach the Canyons before dawn. We warriors are not tired, and can run fast. What do you say, travellers?
Embrianna presses the barrel of his rifle to Jarrus'temple. May ye all rot in Hell, cowards, he utters, but you can catch a glimpse of terror in his eyes moments before Embrianna pulls the trigger and splatters his brain on the dust. The vultures are startled by the shot, and bandit's head ceases to move. The puddle of blood is quickly absorbed by the thirsty sand. The sun is setting on the Salt Flats.
The elven warriors light up a fire and prepare food for everyone. The warriors greet everyone of you personally, and introduce themselves in akwardly spoken Common if you don't know elven. Their names are Four Winds (the leader), Fang of the Fox, Red Vulture, Radiant Raimbow and Summer Blossom (the only female of the group).
Nothing is in sight, and the night slowly falls on the desert. The food is delicious and plenty. The warriors don't eat much, and seem to be very focused on what's about to happen. While you are eating, the leader traces lines on the sand, drawing a rough map of the Whispering Canyon zone. The easiest way to go there is through this opening here, halway through the main canyon. We know that Slate has at least one group patrolling the area. If we want our attack to be successful, we must get rid of them first. While Four Winds draws the map, two warriors start beating on their small drums and begin to dance a propitiatory dance. Soon enough, Radiant Rainbow pulls out a pipe from his pouch, and after puffing for a while, he passes it to the person to his left, and eventually the pipe comes to you. This is the Herb of the Spirit. It will show you what's whitin. It's good to know more about yourself before going into battle.
Jerras looks at Pissbucket. That smelly thing over there? That's your guide? Good luck with that! 've seen him at the camp once, and I bet he couldn't find his own tail in broad daylight. If ye want to sneak into Slate's tent, I'm your man. Then he replies to Grymblade and Embrianna. You ain't hanging no body. If you want me dead, then kill me now and be done with it, you bunch of cowards. Because if you bring me behind bars and I escape, something I did before, I'll make sure I pay a nice visit to each and every one of you. Unless you really want a guide that doesn't alert everyone in miles with that smell. Whaddya say? Thelnyss: the Undeath Vultures have been roaming this desert for centuries, and the one that flew was just scared of the noises of your horses.
We will gladly share a fire and some fresh food with you, shaman he says the one in the middle, showing a dead sand rabbit on his back. The night is not for travel, but for battle and contemplation. The others start to set up a camp fire. The youngest warrior, a tall and slender elf with dark skin carrying a short spear, answers to Jin-Darus.
Then the oldest one, obviously the leader, speaks again.
The man looks at all of you with a very stern gaze. S$+*. Bounty hunters, aren't you? Trust my wrinky ass to be saved by a bunch of marshall wannabes. He then replies to your questions. To Thelnyss: Slate, that ol'bastard, put me in this cozy hole, may he rot in hell. We assaulted this g&@*$*ned caravan and I figure out: heck, might as well get rid of those merchants too. But he said no, we don't kill civilians. Civilians! You should have seen him, acting like a g%+%*@n general, just because of that blasted sphere of his and all that mambo-jumbo. So he put me here to punish me, and told the others to watch and learn that he don't want his men to kill civilians. That f!*%er left me here to rot, one straight day watchin' the Vultures turn the merchants into bloody walking dead, with nothing to do until they started to crawl here to eat my own face. That's when I saw you comin'. To Grymblade: I can help you alright, just get me some water, an horse and I'll bring to Slate's camp. To Embriana: What the f$@# is your problem, lady. I ain't going to no jail. You might as well let me die here, cause I'm not gonna get myself killed by ropes and lawyers. The only trial I know is the trial by gun, so you either give me one now or bugger off somewhere else. He spits to the ground near him. Dunno why you know my name, but if you're looking for a knife-trowing man, that backstabbing scumbag killed one of my men and disfigured my idiot brother before giving me the courtesy to die. A courtesy I would be happy to receive from you as well.
Shortly thereafter, you reach the Choke Hills, one of the few lankmarks in the whole Flats: a zone of rocky mounds and hills with sporadic shrubs and small trees. The zone is famous for two things: there are a few ponds of muds here that survive despite the insanely hot weather, and many bandits choose to hide the bodies of their victims in the aforementioned ponds, ence the name Choke Hills. Here, among the shrubs, Katz-ne-ate notices erratic horse and boot tracks, among with a few small puddles of already dried blood and a long trail in the sand. A fight took place here: the few empty firearm cartridges you find on the ground are still warm, so it didn't happened a long time ago. Traces of a small wagon, that headed West on your way, suddenly stop and head back.
At about sundown, you are about to reach the Jade Mines, the middle point between the town and the Canyons, when suddenly you see 5 figures in the distance. They are on foot, and look like members of an elven tribe of the desert. They don't attack you, and instead come close to you without showing any sign of belligerance. Once you reach them, you recognize them as members of the Awakened Moon tribe. They put their hands in the air to make sure they see they don't carry any weapon, and address Katz in elven (though anyone who has the language understands).
Mord's kick bashes the undead's skull, and the thing drops to the ground without a sound. There isn't anything else moving, and the vultures are high in the sky, but still circling around the place.
Embrianna: He may be uglier than before, but you would recognize that face everywere: it's Jerras Blackstone, the man who killed your husband.
The body is very light, due to all the water that he lost. Putting it on the back of one of your horses won't slow him down that much.
Close, we are. In deep of the night we be there says Pissbucket, that seems to be riding at your speed despite the tied hands. There are no obstacles of any kind between you and the undeads, but two of them instantly fall to the ground and cease to move due to your arrows and bullets. The third one keeps going, and as you close up you can see his lifeless eyes glancing at you. You can also hear the cries for help more distinctively. Help! Come on, dammit! Get me out of here!
Vultures:
Those are the Undeath Vultures, a species of foul, rotting flying carcasses that eat other carcasses as well. And the half consumed carcasses they touch rise up as undead as well. Their presence is considered a very bad omen by the Elven tribes. Thel can clearly see that the men approaching are most definitely not alive anymore. They creep towards you, slowly and growling. But Thel also notices something else.
Spoiler: You can also hear someone calling for help. It's a human voice, but you can't see where it comes from, you just realize it must be in the general vicinity of the wagon.
As you reach your destination, you can see what appears to be the remains of a wrecked caravan wagon. The thing was set on fire and there are no horses. There are large vultures in the air, and one of them flies away when it sees you coming.
Korren and Jin don't remember anyone called Damien during their stay at Hangman's Noose, but they do remember something very well they learned when you accepted the mission: that Slate was once a noble himself, and a rebellious one at it, and the King himself is paying for the bounty on his head. Adder and Farda are both small town, close to the Valderran capital, which is very far from here. 12/82 is most definitely a date, referring to about 1 year ago, around the time the rebellion started to be noticed. The dates go on like this on the book till the last page, where the most recent date is 3 months ago.
Both the sword and the brooch are revealed to be magical upon a quick inspection . The sword's properties are quite rare: it is a +1 allying sword. The brooch is a brooch of shielding, and the symbols on it belong to the Leveroin, a noble family of the Reign of Valderran, which is the reign Hangman's Noose is part of too. There are also a potion of cure moderate wounds and a potion of barkskin +2. Getting the book out of the corpe's hands is more difficult than you tought it would be, since it's holding it very tight, but you eventually manage it. Inside, its pages and pages of numbers and notes, with very few phrases written in discolored ink. Phrases like "1000 g to D", "out of Adder (a Valderran city) by 12/82", "43 losses in F". By the looks of it it's not exactly a code, but rather notes written in a very sketchy manner. There are also two short letters held inside the book. One of them is half burned, so you can only read the first part. Dear Damien,
The other one looks more recent and goes like this: Dear Damien,
For the Cause,
Mordechai: Sanzu will take care of that. Before departing he said: I'll go to Castle, and tell him to prepare some sort of defense. If by tomorrow night you're not back, we'll get properly worried. Until then, good luck. Embrianna: your thinkering with the gun while riding produces no results so far, but perhaps you will be able to make it work once you rest for the evening.
Pretty much anyone sees the mines nearby, but only Mordechai and Thelnyss notice that past the mines, at about half a mile away from the path to the Canyon, there are large birds flying in a circle...
Shosuro climbs down the tunnel. It is solid, with just a little sand falling as he goes down. There is a strong odour here, probably the one of the snake. On the bottom the nija finds a golden brooch with a symbol on it. The boot, instead, is still attached to the corpse of his former owner: it's deeply buried in the sand, but with the help of the rope and Jin's horse, both Shosuro and the corpse are dragged outside. The corpse is almost mummified by the heat and the dryness of the enviroment, but doesn't look like he's dead from too long. It a man, dressed in fine dark red clothes now ruined by the sand. His eyes are now two empty sockets and his skin is grey and wrinkled. It has a finely crafted longsword on his belt, and a pouch with 2 colored flasks inside. But what gets your attention the most is the fact that he's still holding a small book with a red cover very tightly on his chest. To recap, you find the following:
SOUNDTRACK
You ride fast, and by the late afternoon, just before the sun is starting to set, you pass the Jade Mines, headed to the Canyons.
It is high noon, so the sun is directly above you. This makes Jin able to spot something on the bottom on the hole: it looks like a boot, half buried in the sand, and there is something shiny down there too...
The viper is still trying to figure out what attackers are real or not, when Katz-ne-ate starts speaking to it in a sibilant tongue. The snake can feel the desert's druid spirit commuting with its soul, advising it to get away fast if it wants to live another day. And the snake listens. It dashes away, very fast, but not before Jin's katanas plunges deeply into its scaly skin. The viper leaves a long trail of blood, and at about 100 ft away, it disappears in the sand. You all notice a 5 ft wide hole in the sand, probably the snake's hideout. It looks pretty deep, but solid enough to be climbed down with the help of a rope.
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