Page 43

Dependants 
Journal Updated 06.04.09
Write-Up: A Rat in the Hand  

Background
Part of a mercenary company, you travelled thousands of miles to fight in someone else’s war and yet another cause.

Unfortunately, sides change, losers become victors and vice versa, and deals get done. All of which made you surplus to requirements, and a dangerous group of alien soldiers. So, you had to die.

Now you are the survivors, and you need to get home, together with your remaining loved ones and fellow mercenaries and followers. It is only about a couple of thousand miles, through foreign countries that you never knew existed – never mind speak the language.

Still, adventure is what you signed up for!

Think of      Xenophon’s Persian Expedition
                    Twilight 2000 for WFRP
                    Star Trek Voyager (if you really have to…)

Players so far:- Lee, Phil, Julius, Steven, Fred, Ivan.

Dependants
Lee
Phil
Julius
Steven  
Ivan  

Because the PCs are survivors of a massacre of a small mercenary army, they find themselves with a bunch of hangers-on to look after. I would like each player to come up with a list and description of a few of these. I will be controlling them, but in line with your background write-ups. The more you give me, the better they will be. But, yes, they will also be there to stitch you up, get kidnapped, drink all your water and accidentally burn down the tent. And anything else I can think of. But they will also be there to help.

We're looking at mundane people predominantly - those who washed and mended clothes, and did some cooking and cleaning. Maybe they sold cider and rum or traded other things. They were nurses. Brothel keepers or workers. Etc

In WFRP career terms, the following are all allowed.

• Artisan Apprentice - Tailor
• Artisan Apprentice - Cobbler
• Beggar
• Entertainer – Comic, Animal, Juggler etc
• Gambler
• Herdsman
• Hunter
• Initiate
• Labourer
• Muleskinner
• Pedlar
• Physician’s Student
• Scribe
• Servant

More generally, we might want to think of women and children, wives and mistresses - but WFRP is not as gender-specific as real life, and so reverses are equally plausible.

I do not really want any fighter-types, as they all died. Or didn’t, but that’s another story!

Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves to cover a number of possibly useful archetypes.

Survivors of the Petrum Expedition Slaughter – to date

Basically the following are the write-ups submitted by you, the players, as your friends, hangers-on and assorted camp followers. I have published them pretty much ‘as is’ because most of this can be public knowledge quite easily.

In terms of how we use them, then I have overall control as usual. I will ultimately run these people as NPCs. However, I have no problem with players utilising them and their skills for the individual/ common good, and as general colour to the adventure.

I will also award experience for good use of these NPCs. However, by this I mean where you use them ‘honestly’, so that they get the group into trouble as well as help.

Final arbitration goes to me, but the person who created them has the lead on what they would/ would not do. Whilst I want anyone to use them, this must be fair and equitable and in character. And I think it only fair that if you went to the trouble of creating these NPCs, you should have greatest ‘benefit’ of them.

And as we can clearly see from Phil’s write-up, Louise is definitely not a slave. Oh, no. Not at all. I’m glad that is cleared up.

Firstly, Julius: [top]

Cooks - Renko & Matilda Sandtracker
Renko (35) - Husband to Matilda, quite short even for a halfling but has a cheeky demeanour and is quite popular (fairly high fellowship). Has an eye for the ladies but has never broken his marriage vows to Matilda. He does love his wife very much and does make big gestures on a fairly frequent basis. The pair of them met and were married in Altdorf and as of yet have no children. Obviously fond of food and drink even more so than most halflings and takes pride in his work.

Matlida (33) - Wife to Renko, fairly tall for a halfling and stands a good head above Renko. Matilda can be quite stern at times especially with Renko but it is only because she loves him so much. Matilda is pregnant but has not had the time to tell Renko yet because she found out on the day of all the trouble. She does not know if she will tell him yet because it will make Renko even more worried than he already is. Matilda is the more sensible of the two and keeps house and business in order.

Entertainers - The Cupshigh Brothers (5) Poldo, Timbul, Hanbul, Harthol & Willy
The brothers are all acrobats with Timbul and Willy also being jugglers. A travelling troupe always on the move. If one of the brothers gets into trouble or is being picked on then all the rest will join in to defend their brother without hesitation. The brothers are not so cowardly as the general population of halflings, infact you could call them quite brave. 

Poldo (36) - The eldest of the brothers and the most intelligent. He has got them out of tight spots in the past when the twins have gotten them into trouble. He has had some training as a lawyer but preferred the entertainment business which runs in the family.

Timbul (34) - Is the money holder. Quite tight fisted when it comes to money and always complains on how much everyone else spends.

Hanbul & Harthol (33) - Twins very mischievous and always playing pranks on the audience and Poldo. Each of them claims to be the eldest and tries to play on it but no-one is quite sure. They tend to do everything together and a single call of “twins” will get them both running.

Willy (30) - The baby of the troop but the biggest and strongest of the brothers. Even though he is the youngest and gets all the bad jobs to do he doesn’t mind because he loves his brothers.

Secondly, Lee: [top]

Ulrike and Reiner
Reiner is a chubby, flustered middle aged scribe and scholar who was worked for the quartermaster before the company broke up. He is good with languages (speaks Arabic and has linguistics) and is good with money (supernumerate and numismatics). He relies heavily on his daughter for practical matters however, although he would never admit it. Did Reiner steal something of value from the Quartermaster before the company broke up? Something the Quartermaster and his people would persue Reiner to the ends of the earth for? Reiner would say no if asked, but then he would, wouldn't he..?

Ulrike is an attractive and sensible (possibly cynical) scribe who my character fancies, hence offering to lead them home (although he didn't bank on all the others). Ulrike knows her father couldn't tie his own shoes without her around but she always supports him. She doesn't approve of the mercenaries or their lifestyle but she realises they are their best chance to get home in one piece. And as for that mad whore...

Gretel, Kirsten and Heidi.
Whores. Put simply. And an ex-whore turned fairly successful madam in Heidi's case. They would be fairly unremarkable except that ever since Gretel came down with a disease the 'doctor' cannot diagnose and which robbed her of her strength, she has begun to have feaverish dreams about Ulrike the scribe. In these dreams Ulrike is a saintly Joan of Arc figure who will save them all from an unseen evil. From now on she must go where Ulrike goes and, as she is too weak to walk, the others must take her there.

Kirsten is a kindly soul who divides her time between camp duties and acting as nurse for Gretel. Plus she's developed a crush on 'doctor' Rudolph through spending lots of time with him seeing to Gretel. But a fine gent such as him wouldn't be interested in a girl such as her would he?

Heidi (a bawd) wants to get home, and get her staff home. She had it sweet in the camp as she was servicing one of the officers who offered her and her people some protection. Now he's dead or paid off, its all gone to shit. Plus Gretel wants to follow Ulrike because of the delerious dream she keeps having. However, that merc obviously fancies Ulrike and has persuaded her he can protect her and her dad. Tagging along with the scribe and her friends with swords doesn't seem like such a bad idea really.

Gunther
A very large (S6 T6-ish) bodyguard Heidi took on in the Border Princes. The kind of man who can deal with drunken mercs who try to go a bit far with the ladies. The problem is, he's racked up a bit of bad feeling in the camp by doing this and now he and his girls aren't protected, people want to settle old scores. As Gunther drives the cart containing Gretel and the makeshift hospital North and away from the camp you would think he'd be happy. But the closer they get to the Border Princes, the more nervous and agitated he seems to get.

'Doc' Rudolph;
A young-ish physician's apprentice who never completed his training for some reason or other which he refuses to talk about. Has the slightly worn look of someone who has seen a bit too much of life, but he tries to be up-beat. Taken on by Heidi to see to the girls, he is good with diseases and cures (cure disease and manufacture drugs) and can patch people up if they aren't too badly hurt (heal wounds). He's buggered if he knows what's wrong with Gretel though.

Stephan von something-or-other
A raconteur and general waste of space from Carroburg who tagged along with the company for the glory and stories and is amazingly still alive and is now randomly tagging along with our heroes. Think Lord Byron minus the mad, bad and dangerous to know. Not unpleasant as such, just a deeply irritating rich-boy - like Aldhelm minus the useful abilities (yes, he's really that bad). The really irritating thing is though, that the women love him and, even though he's about as much use in a fight as a toffee sword, he always escapes without a scratch (massive Fel, luck skill and at least 4 fate points).

Thirdly, Phil: [top]

On the way to wherever it was he ended up Gerrard found himself with the winning hand of quite a considerable high stake card game. Everyone but a travelling merchant were good for their wagers and after little persuasion, well several hundred mercenaries backing you up tends to make negotiations quick, the merchant signed over a slave to Gerrard as way of payment.

Her name was Louise, she was about twenty years of age and if she smiled, some would say she was pretty but she didn’t smile or hadn’t as yet. She had dark brown shoulder length hair and her clothes were almost threadbare. Her tanned complexion and short, slim stature pointed out an origin from a southerly region, an area used to a good amount of sunshine, perhaps one that the army had already travelled through. She understood Gerrard’s tongue well enough but rarely spoke. At first Gerrard was a bit mean and heavy handed towards her, he didn’t really want a slave and had plans to sell her on at the earliest opportunity but his plans never worked out. Over the weeks that passed, he became used to her being around and his treatment of her lessened and he came to regard Louise as a slave less and less.

Louise proved good at making a reasonable meal out of almost anything and was also good with needle and thread. She fetched and carried without complaint and followed on after him in silence, she even shared his bed upon occasion.

If he just had one extra mouth to feed, he could manage with that and too some extent that’s all he did look after but during their time at their final destination and during the weeks before the betrayal, Gerrard had sort of inherited the help and hindrance of a pair dark skinned brothers.

Ahmed and Hasseem were orphans, as far as he could tell for language was a bit of a bother as they only understood a few words of Gerrard’s tongue. They were beggars and scavengers and had no qualms about looting from the dead. Both were athletic and skinny and their affection for each other was borderline homosexual.

The brothers had tagged onto the army and would beg, steal, borrow or loot at every opportunity. Gerrard cursed the day that he stood up for them that day when Ahmed was about to have his hand cut off for allegedly stealing a knife from another mercenary. In truth the man had lost it gambling the night before when very drunk and rather than admit to his ineptness at gambling and holding his ale, he decided to blame one of the brothers for his failing.

Gerrard had knocked some sense into the man and since then the two brothers had sort of attached themselves to him, especially when they got into trouble which was quite often. Since the armies rout, the brothers had curbed their thieving tendencies knowing that to alienate themselves from the group would end with their deaths or being forced away and so when they did steal, it was from the places the group passed through and not from the group itself unless the opportunity was just too good to miss.

On most occasions the brothers did pull their weight and so shared food from the pot, but there were times when Gerrard was on the brink of washing his hands of them and his patience would one day soon run out.

Fourthly, Ivan produced: Kurt and Gertrude – a love story? [top]

Kurt is the fourth son of an itinerant tinker, from the villages around Altdorf. As a young man, on his first excursion away from the protection of his family, Kurt was "persuaded" to join the fleet on his first visit to the metropolis. The fact that he could not remember any of the old sea dog’s arguments, and had a nasty lump on his head cut no ice with the ships bosun. Since he was, at the time, unable to swim, and could not quite manage the trick of walking on water, he had little choice but to bide his time, and seek to escape the harsh life of a mariner at his first opportunity.

Now, at the age of 32, that opportunity has yet to present itself, Kurt finds himself with a bride, some years his senior, and made of much sterner stuff than he, adrift on a sea of sand in far Araby. Gertrude is a dozen years older than Kurt. When she first set eyes on our feckless young hero, she new immediately that he was the man for her – someone she could easily dominate.

Gertrude is of Imperial stock, and grew up in the verdant valleys of The Vaults, in the Border Princes. She has lived by her wits since her family was wiped out in a chaos incursion, some years ago, which also accounted for most of the other population in that area. She lost her extended family, her first husband, three children, and all of the wealth and comfort that they had accumulated through hard years of toil. She decided to quit the dangerous lands of her birth, and travelled to Remas, where she worked as a “seamstress” for some years, before striking it lucky in meeting Kurt (a malleable younger man). It was she who decided that marriage was an excellent idea, and that “they” could make a lot more money by Kurt signing on to a mercenary expedition. She would work in the rear of the army, while Kurt went about the easy business of teaching the foreigners who’s the boss.

She is not pleased about the way things have turned out. While she knows that the betrayal is not Kurt’s fault, this does not prevent her from taking things out on him. Perhaps this is his chance to break free of the many tyrannies of life.

Finally, Steven: [top] 

Karin Bauer (Gustav's wife): Karin is an enormously beautiful and intelligent woman. Why she would to marry Gustav is a mystery; the only explanation he can think of is that she really loves him. She and her brother, Kurt, insist that they are of noble descent and that their family was robbed of its rightful inheritance generations ago through some vague and convoluted injustice. Gustav strongly suspects that this family legend was made up by Karin's rather pompous parents, Morr rest them.

Back in Altdorf, she was apprenticed to an alchemist. This seemed to be a promising career to Gustav, with only a moderate risk of death or serious injury, but Karin's cleverness, ambition and the troublesome influence of her brother conspire to drive her in other directions. Karin gave up her apprenticeship to invent financial products for her brother to sell. Gustav's home became a whirl of 'repackaged debt instruments' and 'securitised credit derivatives'. What any of these things could be quite escapes Gustav, but it seems that they are something to do with creating money out of nothing, so he assumes that they are something to do with alchemy.

Unfortunately, these things turned out not to be all they were cracked up to be. This is how Gustav and family ended up fleeing the city in the dead of night and boarding a mercenary ship headed for foreign parts, in the hope of escaping the mob of cutthroats and assassins sent by aggrieved investors.

Kurt von Klopp (Gustav's brother in law): Kurt sits somewhere between petty thief, dodgy trader and con-man. An aspiring entrepreneur with delusions of grandeur, driven by the legend of his family's glorious past, he is an affable enough failure. Gustav would like him, if he didn't always draw Karin into his schemes. Karin adores him and appears blind to his many faults, going to great efforts to help him restore the family's fortunes. Sadly, it isn't going well.

Maxi (Karin's companion): Maxi is a small, ginger tom cat and a psychopath. Karin adores him and considers his hateful malevolence, particularly directed at Gustav, to be quite adorable.

Roberto Capa (a random Tilean): Roberto is some kind of writer or artist. Kurt picked him up in a Tilean port on the way down the coast. Kurt has misrepresented himself as an experienced mercenary soldier and was taking money from Roberto in exchange for acting as some kind of guide and expert on the hostilities. Roberto claims to work for some king of agency or publisher, but all he seems to do is poke around, drawing sketches and taking notes. Gustav is pretty sure someone is being conned here, but he's not sure who. He is sure, however, that Roberto has his eye on Karin, as he takes any opportunity for them to be alone together. Gustav has been eavesdropping on their conversations, conducted in Tilean; this has been easy so far as he has not let on that he understands Tilean.

Gerrard's Journal  [top]  
Phil has written up some of the musings and experiences of his character as he travels through Araby and beyond. You can download these here: 

Part 1 49 KB

Part 2 70 KB 

Part 3 90 KB 

Part 4 66 KB

Part 5 80 KB NEW

A Rat in the Hand.
The first part of my next account is a little a little vague to say the least due to the malady that laid me low a few weeks back returning and so forcing me into only light duties whilst I recover, though that didn’t stop me from engaging the trolls that were herding the giant crabs to the settlement.
One troll was quickly dispatched and with brands of fire being used to frighten the crabs, this fear overtook the threat of the single troll that now blocked their escape and so they fled, going through the troll in the process.

The commander of the settlement turned out to have a small garrison of soldiers and once seeing that we were engaging the trolls, came out to fight alongside us.
Eunuch I believe his name was and he thanked us as best he could in the native tongue of these people. He was here to investigate the area for sources of water and had come across some priests in a nearby ruin and that he said were the living dead. Sometimes these interpretations just don’t translate too well but since we had encountered many strange sites on our travels, some of our number decided to join the commander and take a look.

Upon their return they came up with some tale of ghoulish priests that they destroyed, a secret door leading deeper into the ruins. A skeleton of some king, mummies and a litch that they fought and were forced to flee from.
Though that was not before they had snatched a pair of swords made from some strange wood from under the noses of wraiths. Likely story, I expect that without my presence their Erhardt simply resorted to grave robbing. After all it was he that now brandished one of the swords, the other having been taken by the commander. The pommel of this sword was engraved to depict a rats head, how fitting for one such as he, and he now fondly referred to the weapon as 'Ratty'. The man has been in the sun for too long.

Several days later and my health now having been returned to me, our group was attacked once more. A number of orc riders appeared on the road ahead of us and began to advance until they were within bow range and then they opened fire.
Upon my orders the group stayed together taking what shelter they could which was just as well as I spied another group of orcs advancing on our position using the cover of a small gully.
At the most opportune moment, the order was given and I lead a small group to engage the enemy in the gully to destroy it before the second group could join in.
The tactic worked and through skill of arms the orc ambushers were cut down well before the larger group could support them.
Seeing that their plan had failed and a fair number of the company had been slain, the orcs turned tail and fled. Erhardt it appeared was in some kind of battle frenzy and broke rank to charge after the routed orcs. Either his mind has finally become shrivelled by the sun or that sword he now carried was cursed, one way or another I can see him getting some if not all of us killed.

Simara So Good.
Another few days later and with our supplies all but gone our next goal, Simara, appeared ever so welcoming and we left the emirate of Ka-Sabar behind us.
Simara was a large town on the southern bank of a broad river. We had little trouble in crossing the river though it still meant our funds were yet further depleted in order to do so. I do so hope that work comes our way as our purse will not purchase us much food.
Before we crossed the river we had encountered a caravan heading in the opposite direction and the caravan was manned by halflings. Fulfin was invaluable here and he managed to find out that Simara was ruled by a woman, the Emira Fatima el Sari.
This Emira was in conflict with her cousin, a man by the name of Yassa and he claimed that he was the rightful ruler as it was not a woman’s place.
Yassa, a member of the Brotherhood of the True Flame, was holed up in a town up stream called Ashur. He had arranged for pirates to blocked the river so no trade traffic was going up stream and things in Simara were becoming dire. Of course some trade traffic was coming down stream from Ashur so it didn’t take a genius to realise that they were supporting the cousin. In order to prove that Ashur were not involved a diplomate was currently in Simara, Prince Yasmuk, to talk of peace between Simara and Ashur.
We were also told that this Emira worshiped Anahit, a goddess of the Araby Pantheon to Nature, also known as the Lady of the Dance Enlightened. Perhaps this information may prove useful but it is Sigma that has guided us so far and it shall be he that gets us to our destination.
One other final piece of information Fulfin gathered was that there was a large contingent of halflings in and around Simara and he gained details of a contact that may be of help to us.

As we crossed through Simara heading for the farmstead of the halflings, a girl ran out in to the street ahead of us closely followed by two men wielding knives. No one in the street appeared to be bothered despite the girl’s fearful cries. Even when she reached two guardsmen they shook her away and didn’t look back.
The lass was dressed well and looked as if she came from a wealthy background and this could be our chance of gaining a reward for saving her from these bandits, but more importantly I was not about to stand aside and watch this poor girl, heathen though she may be, just be cut down in the street.
Stepping forward, Gustav soon on my heels, we interceded and placed ourselves between the girl and the brigands. Another man, this one older and more portly joined the first two men and began jabbering at us in the local dialect. The three men were obviously happy to attack a single girl but a pair of armed men was too much for them and with lots of finger pointing and words no doubt full of curses and foulness, they left.
Upon reaching the halfling settlement, through Fulfin, we learnt that the girl was called Fatima Rehunack and that the portly man was in fact her father and the other two men her brothers. She had fallen in love with a man that her family did not approve of and because of this she was to be slain in what was called an honour killing.
Where is the honour in slaying your own flesh and blood I ask you?
It just goes to show you what barbarians these people are and may Sigma guide me and strengthen my resolve.

The halflings proved to be very courteous and after the girl was escorted to safety by the halflings, most of which also served as the towns militia along with very strange looking men with skins painted black, a camp site was provided and we are told that our best hope for travelling up stream was through a man by the name of Malik Al Azade.
He was the owner and captain of a riverboat from Ashur and was currently in Simara. If we could sell our livestock we should re-coup enough coin to buy passage and food for the next leg of our journey and so with a potential positive day in store for us, we took to our beds.

The day dawned bright but we were awoken rudely with kicks and shouts, not the positive start we had all hoped for.
Unknown to us a boat had arrived captained by a man called Berlus Sconey. He was under the command from Admiral Benbar and he carried with him a warrant for the group’s arrest.
The captain’s own men were supported by the Emira’s town guard and we had little choice but to surrender. It soon became apparent that the captain intended to execute us there and then despite my pleas that the warrant was not authentic or even valid here in Simara.
It was the Emira’s own guard that stopped the slaughter though we were all still chained and imprisoned in the Palace dungeon whilst he Emira decided how to proceed.

I have come to realise that there are many people in power that have jobs that they would like to have done but due to treaties, pleasantries or simply not being powerful enough they have simply not gone through with the task.
Then sometimes an opportunity comes along that could mean that the job could be completed with the blame pointed elsewhere and we had been on several occasion that point of blame.
Well the Emira it seemed had one of these little jobs that needed doing and if we agreed to accomplish it arrangements would be made for our escape and if not there was still the executioners axe!

A small number of our group were to go to the Tower of the Fire Beatle located outside of the town, remove some fabulous jewel known as The Egg and return it to the palace. We were also told that if there was a chance that Prince Yasmuck were also slain in the attack then that would be a bonus to our cause. If we failed or did not return then the rest of our group would be executed.

I have begun to feel more and more like the mercenary a was originally hired as when I first headed to Petrum and less like the man of noble birth I am and was hoping to build upon. May Sigma see me through these trying days and allow me to bring these people home.

Tower of Blood.
In the middle of the night Fulfin, Kurt, Gregory, Gustav and I found ourselves ushered through the streets and out through a postern gate. The tower was only a few hours walk from the town walls and before long Fulfin, under my instructions, began to traverse the tower and its outer buildings to gain us more information.
Alas his scouting abilities seemed not to be as good as he boasted and he had to return to us before much information could be gleaned. At least he had some sense in not returning to us directly.

Besides the tower, there was a small shrine a few yards from it and a little further back was an inn of some sorts, complete with stables and it seemed as if there was at least one set of roving guards who were the ones that spotted Fulfin forcing him to run. As for the tower itself, the halfling spoke of a balcony at its top where a pair of guards was posted and at the towers base, something stuck out of the very rock of the tower wall and Fulfin was certain that they were humanoid bones.

Returning the following night to continue our surveying, this time the halfling crept in and we came closer to support him in case of trouble, which was just as well because the tower guards were still spooked from the night before and had set up some hidden guards in the dunes surrounding the tower and like the night before, Fulfin managed to alert one. 
The guard rose from his hiding place and attacked the halfling whilst the rest of us charged in to support our ally and hope to deal with the guard before the alarm could be raised. Upon seeing the extra men the guard disengaged and ran for the tower and managed to alert his colleagues before we could do anything about it.
A furious fight then ensued with many a telling blow being handed out from both sides, the trouble was the halfling had decided that rather then support us he would create a diversion to try and pull the soldiers away along with any reinforcements. His plan was to set the stables alight only he removed all the livestock before he set anything aflame. Why he didn’t get the fire going first Sigma only knows.

Back at the fight things turned against us, Gustav fled after being severely wounded and Kurt was soon on his heals as he took a telling hit. That left just Gregory and I to engage five of their number as only one of their number had been taken down. It was just as we were about to be swamped when Gregory received his fatal blow. I was too busy to see exactly what happened, perhaps his foot slipped in the soft sand but somehow he had left his flank exposed and before he could recover, his opponent launched a mighty swing that brought his blade through Gregory’s armour just beneath the ribs and continued all the way through effectively slicing the Squire in two.
The curtain of blood that showered forth was indescribable, I had seen nothing like it before through all my years. My first thought was to avenge my countryman, but Sigma’s guiding hand intervened and bade me to follow the wiser course, for wounded as I was there was no way that I would have survived a fight against half a dozen heathen soldiers, our people still imprisoned in Simara were counting on me.
It was with a heavy heart that I followed after my companions and withdrew from the battle. May Sigma look out for Gregory’s soul despite all his sins and failings? 

Kurt, Gustav and I, all severely wounded met up a few hours later and Fulfin, who was unscathed, joined us shortly after. We had three choices as to what to do next. We could try an assault again soon, but in our condition that choice was quickly discarded. So we needed to have our wounds tended first which left us with two choices, go back to Simara and try and persuade the Emira to treat us or seek aid from the Halfing farmers.
I could see that by returning to the Emira we would be viewed as failures and because one of our number had been left behind, the tower guards already knew that they had been attacked by Northerners so there was no way that the Emira would let us try again and simply execute the lot of us.
That left the halflings. Since Fulfin could speak there language he was sent to seek aid but he soon returned with bad news, some diplomat he is. A heavier hand was needed.
We all returned to the settlement that evening and managed to corner the priestess and one aid in the building dedicated to their goddess Iesha. Apparently this Iesha is an aspect of Esmerelda that many halflings worship back in the Empire.
Using Fulfin as interpreter, though I am certain he did not use my exact words, I forced the priestess to treat our wounds. This is not something I am particular proud of but the lives of our friends and families counted on it.

Two days later we left the halflings and returned to the tower. At least the guards would be less alert or so we hoped but we need not have worried. Cresting the last dune we came upon a battlefield and Ehrhardt picking through the corpses.
After telling him our tale he told us that the night before last the doctor and one halfling had been removed by the Grand Vizier from the dungeon with no explanation and last night Ehrhardt was taken out and given instructions to find out what had happened to us.
Looking round the battleground, the body of the halfling, Willi Cupshigh was found along with the remains of Gregory. An amount of northern equipment was also scattered amongst the bodies of the towers guards. The inn and its stable had been ransacked with the staff and its guests also slain.
Investigating the tower we found that strangely the balcony was no longer at the top of the structure but down at the base. Now that we were closer we could see strange groves cut in the towers side and the balcony through some mechanical operation was able to travel up and down. There were scratch marks on the balconies edge so grappling hooks had been used to gain entry.

Once we reached the top we started to find more bodies, those of guards and also large fire beetles. Some of the beetles had horrific wounds and when we saw some of the internal doors simply caved in, it became apparent that who ever had assault the tower were huge in size or at least some of them were.
As we searched the tower we found a woman nailed to a throne and close to death, we could not understand anything that she mumbled and Ehrhardt put her to rest. Further down we came across the body of the doctor and before he had died he had managed to scribble a note that read, 'The Chain Vale, Hamda'.
Having completed our search and only finding more bodies and areas dedicated to the beetles, some of which were still alive but not aggressive, we found only evidence that ‘The Egg’ had been here and removed.

It was time to track The Egg down and hopefully recover it but before we left, I said that we needed to remove traces of our presence and so we buried the bodies of the doctor, Willi and Gregory, along with the northern equipment that was scattered around. A trail was found leading off into the desert and having equipped ourselves with food, water and anything of use to us, we set of in pursuit.
As we travelled it became apparent that someone from the tower had been taken prisoner as upon occasion a pearl was found making our ability to follow the trail that much easier.

Halfling Gluttony.
Finally we came across a small village of halflings and begin to gather information about our quarry. The group comprised of a dozen well armed men and two large ogres, that would explain the awful damaged we witnessed in the tower.
Taking shelter in a nearby abandoned house so that we could decide what to do next, we persuaded a halfling to tell us more about the village. Through Fulfin, he told us that things were not right in the village, a year or so ago their old priest of Iesha had had an accident and not seen again. A new priest called Roly along with another halfling called Sheva turned up and proclaimed that the old ways of worshipping Iesha were outlawed and that the new bountiful Iesha was the way forward.
Roly banned the use of the old shrine amid tales that it was now haunted and opened up a new temple a mile or so outside of the village.

Since we had a bit of time before it got dark it was decided to pay this old shrine a visit. It was indeed haunted and a wraith attacked us. Erhardht using that damned sword of his managed to destroy it before I could get into the action.
It was then that a mad human hermit appeared and started to babble nonsense at us. One thing he did say stuck in my mind and it was a good thing too for it has proven very useful since. Later you will see why. The words were, 'When the wife of Kazash returns, they’ll be back'.

Returning back to the abandoned house to decide what to do we are visited by another very scared halfling, with him are two heathens dressed from head to toe in black. Using the halfling as interpreter they deliver a stark message, 'Interfere before they are paid and we die'. Only a fool would take on two ogres and a dozen well armed men with only four to support him so the decision was an easy one to make, but what to do whilst we waited?
Perhaps we would find some answers as to what was going on up at the new shrine?

Undercover of darkness we made our way to the shrine. It looked as if some if not all of it had been recently excavated and there were signs of construction inside.
There was a pit in the middle of the floor with a ladder to allow access below. At the bottom were a number of rooms that had paved floors and freshly plastered walls. One had a large table and benches and was obviously laid out for dining.
At the rear of this level were some iron bars and a padlocked door. Here would be our answers if anywhere so after forcing the lock, we began to search it.
In one alcove stood a crowned skeletal statue all bedecked in regalia and as we took a closer look a number of rag clad ghoulish halflings appeared from another alcove and attacked with tooth and claw, and yes there fingers were more like claws. It was not a pretty fight and since we were armed and armoured our foes were soon to run leaving a number of dead behind them. Like a madman, Ehrhardt set off in pursuit and in his recklessness quickly left us behind.
This second alcove revealed a section of floor that had collapsed revealing a wide tunnel below. The collapsed earth made a ramp and it was down this and into the tunnel that Ehrhardt had gone.
By the time we caught up with him he was on some stairs and hacking down one of the fleeing halflings. Beyond the stairs was another tunnel that had crystals of some kind imbedded in the walls and a few side passages but it seemed as if Ehrhardt was on a bloodlust and continued forward.
Further on we came to a chamber and a few more emaciated halflings that stood little chance against the enraged lunatic that was Ehrhardt. The rest of us did what we could to support him and protect his flanks such was his recklessness. It was like he was possessed.

Finally with nothing left to fight the mad glaze lifted from Ehrhdart’s eyes and we were able to spend some time to examine our surroundings.
We were now in a large chamber and I shall do my best to describe what I saw.
Most of the chamber’s floor was taken up by a large pool of water that was fed by a bubbling spring. In the pool of water was a low plinth of rock and upon that was a boat that roughly looked like a longboat in size and description. 
Near to the pools edge was a set of step stairs that lead up to a platform, upon the platform was a large stone ring that stood above the head of a man. Before the stone ring were a pair of poles stuck into the platform and both were carved with strange runes that none of us could identify.
A closer examination of one of the chambers walls revealed a concealed door that lead to a smaller chamber that had yet another concealed door at its far end. Beyond this door we found the desiccated body of a creature that had the torso of a man and the legs of a snake. Memories of Myrmidia came back to me and there were many similarities yet this creature had wings whereas Myrmidia did not.
Finally our way forward was blocked by a wall so smooth you felt you should have been able to see your reflection within it but it was almost as if it drank any image that fell across it. Ehrhardt placed his hand upon it and after a brief snatched it away, a strange expression was on his face. He claimed that the wall was alive some how but warned the rest of us against trying it for ourselves.
Now I am not one for a moment to believe that a wall could be alive, it was just that there was something very sinister and wrong about these chambers and a wise man would best leave things like that well alone.

Leaving the wall behind we returned to the larger chamber to take a closer look at the boat. Since the water was only ankle deep we could easily examine the boat and inside lay the body of a slender humanoid woman, eyes closed and looking as if she was merely asleep but there was no movement of her chest to indicate that she lived. She was dressed in a splendid coat of chainmail and mailed greaves. Her arms were laid crossed wise across her chest and at her feet was an ornate helm with runes engraved upon it, and upon the parts of her legs not covered we could see similar runes inked into her skin. Her features were beautiful and yet it all struck me as just being too perfect if that makes any sense!
Ehrhardt touches the woman’s face and claims that it is warm to the touch but when I also touch her face, I find it cold. With his new impulsive nature enhanced Ehrhardt draws his damned sword and touches its tip to her skin. Suddenly, quick as a flash, her hand grabs the swords blade and begins to pull. Ehrhardt tries to pull his weapon free but her grip is strong. Then just as suddenly she sits up and takes hold of the sword blade with both hands and a tug of ware ensues.
Finally with me pulling her away by her shoulders and Ehrhardt tugging by the hilt and guard he wrests the blade free from her grasp, whereupon she slumps back down into the boat once more unmoving.

It is time to leave this place but since a head long charge to this place took us passed a few side passages, we decide to check them out before actually leaving. The only passage of note too us to a chamber that had a large statue within it. It stood a good sixty feet in height and depicted a hideous humanoid creature that I would say matched all that I had heard describe an unholy litch, may Sigma preserve my soul.

Enough was enough and we returned to the village and our abandoned house. It was by now the early hours of a new day and we might get a few hours of sleep before there was any activity in the village.
Fulfin was to take the last watch and since we were awoken by sounds coming from the village centre, I can only assume that he fell asleep.
Creeping forward we spied two new arrivals in the village, both were mounted and to our surprise one of them turned out to be the Emira’s Grand Vizere, the very man who had addressed us passed on the Emira’s instructions. What was he up too?

After a fair bit of discussion, what we believed to be The Egg was handed over and coins changed hands. The mercenaries began to leave and we edged forward.
It is then that we are spotted and Roly shouts out a warning that brings halflings from all over the village to start gathering in the centre.
Ehrhadrt, Kurt, Gustov and I charge the gathering halflings in order to get to Roly and the Grand Vizere before he can leave with The Egg. At this point there is no sign of Fulfin.
It takes us a few moments to rout the first line of halfling defenders, by which time the Grand Vizere is back on his horse and attempting to leave. Gustov goes after him whilst the rest of us take on the remaining halflings to clear him a path.
Once more Ehrhadt goes into his battle frenzy and lays into halflings all about him. Kurt heads off after Gustov to support him and I go in search of Roly and Sheva and still no sign of Fulfin.
Later I make my way to the temple outside of town and find Gustav. He managed to catch the Grand Vizere way down inside the temple by the stairs with the poles and stone circle, there he fought him, slew him and recovered The Egg.
Of Kurt there was no immediate sign and after a search we find his body about a mile from the temple, his throat has been cut. From the tracks it looks as if he chased after a pair of halflings and because I had found no sign of Roly or Sheva, it was surmised that it had been this pair that had used their magics, made him helpless and simply executed him.

Back in the village Erhradt has finally calmed down since the remaining halflings have either fled or hidden so well that the seaman cannot find them.
When we reach him Fulfin also appears and elsewhere in the village an ageing halfling has turned up from somewhere and starts to preach to the few halflings who finally find some courage and crawl from their holes. According to Fulfin this priest is of the true Iesha and tells them off for believing Roly, Sheva and their false version.
We try and speak to this priest to find out any more of what has been going on, Gustov describes the tattoos he found on the Vizere’s body since he had stripped him of his armour and clothing. The tattoo depicted a setting sun with three stars beneath it. All the priest would say is that it is the sign of the dreaming one "Kazath", one of the Tomb Kings.

The journey back to Simara is swift and we after waiting for night to fall we gain entry back into the palace. The Egg is handed over to the Emira where it is placed into her crown, an explanation of our trials are given and we are all once more imprisoned.
It is he following day when all the women are removed from the cell despite my attempts to prevent this and Sigma only knows what these heathens have planed for them.
On the morrow our cell door is opened and we are ushered to a little used wing of the palace, where we are told to make ourselves comfortable and it is with great relief that we find the women there all safe and sound. Apparently they were all thoroughly searched and under went a great deal of questioning, but not harmed in any way. It seems as if these people are fearful of Kazash’s wife returning and according to their prophecies she is believed to be a northern woman.
With this news my thoughts immediately go to Ulrika and Gretel who were snatched by the Nira ‘Am some weeks back.

Against the Current.
All our belongings are returned to us, though some of the Grand Vizere’s possessions are recovered and we are officially released. Some aid is given to us to continue our journey and so with the sale of our animals, much of our travelling equipment we purchase a boat to travel upstream, along with enough food and water to get us to Ashur.
Our boating skills are minimal so we have to defer a little to Ehrhard, who has it in his head that he is now the boats captain. Between him, Fulfin and the two orphan Araby boys who seem to know their way around a boat, along with various help from the group we manage to get going. 
As we leave Symara we learn that the Emira has re-crowned herself with her newly completed crown and had a statue erected in the town centre showing her dressed in the armour that had adorned the humanoid woman in the boat beneath the temple back in Hamad. It would seem that her popularity has grown somewhat, perhaps this news may help us up river but we have pirates to contend with first.

The few villages we see slip by with minimal interest from either the inhabitants or us. One night we moor up a little way past one village and during the night we are paid a visit by a couple of the locals. For a few gold coins we learned that a day ahead of us stood the pirate blockade and we were given rough details of the layout, it would seem that there was a small island at the blockade and a boom was in position either side of the island.
As we sailed closer the boat was drawn to the riverbank and Fulfin was sent ahead to gather more information. He returned saying that the details were pretty accurate and added that there was a watchtower a little down stream, a fortified structure on the island complete with what looked to be a cannon.

We neither had the equipment or enough trained men for an assault so stealth and surprise had to be the way forward. Under cover of night I lead a small force along the bank to sabotage one of the booms whilst Ehrhard sailed our boat through.
I seemed as if the pirates never expected anyone to sail at night and the plan worked perfectly. At the last we were spotted but it was too late by then and the pursuit soon gave up.

It was a day or so later that our good fortune ran out. One of the river creatures, a snake of huge proportions, rose up out of the water and struck at the nearest person on deck. It happened to be Haseem one of the Araby orphans and he stood little chance to escape the beast’s jaws. As Sigma is my witness I did all in my power to save the boy whilst everyone else froze where they stood but it was not enough. The snake sank back into the water taking Haseem with it.
One meal was obviously not enough for the creature for a few moments later it once more emerged from the water but this time it was at the vessels stern and its target was Fulfin. It was I that saw it first and cried out a warning to the halfling and a timely one it was. As the snake struck his prey rolled out of the way and once more I targeted the beast with my bow.
Ehrhardt and a few others had finally recovered from their petrified state and joined the attack. With a couple of solid blows and some well placed arrows, the snake was slain but it’s weight landing on the boats deck caused us to partially capsize causing all sorts of panic and confusion.
With order re-established and most of the supplies saved, we had to pay fishermen from a nearby village to help us right and then re-float the boat. A whole three days are lost as we clean out the mud and silt from the boat and because of this our food has to be severely rationed or we will not make it to Ashur.

Under Sigma’s guidance we sail into Ashur with no further mishaps, just a few grumbling bellies but we have survived worst since this journey began.
Sailing into the town many stop what they are doing to look, with the blockade downstream I can understand why. As we near a jetty some official strides forward and jabbers away in his heathen tongue. It is obvious that he wants some payment of some sort but since the pursue is empty, we have to find work first before any payments can be made. To some relief aid comes us in the form of a dwarven captain of one of the boats already moored here. On our behalf he tells the official that the docking fees will be paid, just not at this time.
The fellow introduces himself as Jimino and we exchange introductions as well as gaining some knowledge of what Ashur is all about. Apparently a sacrifice is due to take place shortly and we are invited to attend at the temple to Ulmaz Vestaz. Soime of our number accept Jimino’s invitation but since the sacrifice is to be a human one and a northener to boot, I decline and stay with the boat.

Later the dwarven captain invites a few of us to tea aboard his boat and it is at this event that we are introduced to a northern merchant by the name of Lorenzo, the last of a failed trading expedition from Tilia. Now is the time to gain more information and perhaps details on how we can replenish our pursue and so buy the supplies we need to take us further upstream.
During our discussion we hear that some crates have been accidentally delivered to Jimino’s but think no more of it until a little later a scream is heard above decks. I decide to investigate and come face to face with an ugly serpent as it slithers it’s way down the ladder towards the captains cabin.
It is soon joined by another and yet another. An ugly fight takes place as with blade and fire we try and stem the flow of snakes. Some of us our bitten in the process but by good fortune my eyes are drawn to a concealed door at the rear of the cabin, where unknown to us the captain had earlier snuck through to escape the reptiles.
Up on deck a number of crew are lying dead from the snake’s initial attack and with us now in the open we manage to deal with the remains of the vermin. The strange thing is how was it that all the snakes seemed to try and get to the captains cabin, what drove them forward?

Later we learn that the crates that came aboard were marked with the symbol of Azat and something to do with a cult to the Sun Snakes.

A number of us notice that there is something not quite right with Jimino but so far he has not been hostile towards us so nothing is said. He does though tell us of a halfling priestess who seeks passage upstream with a number of retainers and perhaps she will pay enough for us to re-stock our supplies.
Fulfin pays her a visit and we learn that she wishes to take some builders along with materials a few hundred miles upstream to repair a damaged temple. Her retinue comprises of fifteen and since Gustav offers to help in the temples rebuilding, the priestess agrees to pay for enough food for us all to get to the temple, as well as the Ashur docking fees.
Since we have a little more room onboard, we offer to take a few pilgrims to the temple as well. It turned out that quite a few pilgrims were eager to go and the lucky four paid a handsome premium for passage.

Saying farewell to Jimino and with the merchant Lorenzo onboard as well, since he wishes to get home much like us, we set sail. It is then that there is a commotion on the quayside. A man, a northener by his skin, runs screaming towards us calling to Lorenzo to stop and take him with us.
Lorenzo is clearly not happy with this saying that the man is a cheat and a liar and not to be trusted. The trouble is there are a number of town guards on his trail and it does not take much to realise that this man will soon be a sacrifice.
Reaching the quayside the man makes a valiant jump for the boat and falls despairingly short. Ehrhardt quickly throws him a rope to haul him aboard, but a pair of town guards jump in to the river and try to stop him.
A short struggle sees the guards repelled and the man onboard. The trouble is now that we are all in trouble with the town authorities and if the man is not handed over, we shall all pay.

Our progress up stream almost ends straight away as a boom is rowed across the river but with some luck we just manage to get through with only a slight collision with the rowing boat and the riverbank.
The main trouble is that going against the rivers current there is no way for us to stay ahead of the towns guard who once organised will soon catch up and then keep pace with us on the bank.
Lorenzo eagerly suggests that we should through the priestess and her people overboard, the four pilgrims having already decided to do that. This comment stirs a memory of the former squire Gregory as it is much the sort of thing that one came to expect from him.

It is clear that there is only one way to prevent our capture and sacrificial fate, I put into motion my plan and just pray to Sigma that my observations have been correct.

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