Campaign Timeline
6.051 T.E.I.
381 Yinka Timeline
Winter
After over a weeks march through dense jungles and rocky mountains Tadjeb and his small army reaches the southern coast of Meluria, after finding a road Ashdar tells that there is a town just a days march west from there and they immediately heads of to that place.
Reaching the town is no problem for them now when they have a little easier roads to travel, even though many of the soldiers are sick from the jungle march, the army is not allowed inside the town, but at least the leaders get to go inside and rest up a little and also gather food and supplies for the soldiers, they also meet a few surviving Yinkas inside the city that has escaped there after the defeat in Bazilaar. They also hear a rumor that someone is paying a lot of money for Yinka heads further east, they do not have so much doubt on who that is.
During the night there is a attack on Tadjeb, several men fully armed get inside the generals room, he armed only with a knife manage to hold them of until Ashdar comes to help, and seconds after Shúkort aids them too and burns down the room completely and almost Tadjeb with it, the entire Inn burns to the ground and the town guards are not very happy with them even though it is clear it was not their fault, Shúkort pays the innkeeper some gold for his Inn and they leave the day after.
A couple of days further west they reach a bigger city and stay there for a while, looking for employers, they discover even more of their former army there, almost two hundred men live up in the hills above the city and they all join again, the army now reaching almost 500.
A strange man looks them up, says he is working for a man called Durgan Cromm up in the Western parts of Fulcrummia and that he wants to hire them all, they find out it seems to be some conflict with a neighbor, but not so much more so they travel NW to meet this Lord Durgan Cromm
Raznir decides to investigate the carriage on the square, he leaves his friends to continue his work in Gûl and leave Nak-Enog at his room, hoping he will stay there. He then goes to the square in the late night and hide and watches. A little more then an hour before midnight a wagon stops there and just waits in the completely empty square, it is black and covered and all he can see is the tall pale man driving it. Just a little before midnight a couple comes there and the women goes into the carriage, the man leaves into the city again, Raznir decides to approach, the driver asks him if he is wanted there and then lets him go, inside the carriage he meets the woman and they head of towards Sidar.
Cyrus knows his situation is really bad on the Isle, he keeps careful and hides in the dense forest where it seems to be relatively safe, until it calms down, he starts investigating a little around the isle and finds a great Ruin city under rebuilding, Tarek Nev. He takes his time to scout the area and being really careful but it seems impossible to find a way into the isle, a couple of leagues from Tarek Nev he finds another ruin city, this too under rebuilding, but not inhabited so far, he discovers that many of the builders only work night time and are the dead remains of slaves.
He decides to try and escape the Isle, the only way that seems possible for that seem to be the Fulcrummian ships coming and going, one dark night he slips on one ship. Hoping it will head for safety.
Working with Darkness
Tadjeb, Ashdar and Shúkort meets with Lord Durgan Cromm and talk about employment, they accept a low fee for the soldiers since they get food and lodging during their service and at the end of it they will get ships with crews to take them towards Tanara again
After a few days for getting settled in their new location they are informed of plans of the war, Lord Durgan has a problem with a lord south of him, and have decided to teach him a lesson, the army will attack a small town that is under the rule of the other lords son, the town is to be put to the torch and the young prince to be put to the sword
After short preparations and some scouting the Yinka army moves to the town, they build a ram to get through the town gates but besides that they feel no other preparations are necessary since it is a small town with light defenses. At late evening they attack under the cover of darkness, archers keep the city defenders suppressed with fire arrows and javelins while the vanguard batter down the town gates and let the army pour into the city. The town militia falls fast but the people living there fight for their lives and inflict heavy losses on the Yinka invaders before they are crushed. Except for a few craftsmen every man, woman and child is slain in the town. The young prince head is brought back to Lord Durgan as a price. They put the town to the torch and also burn all the dead before leaving, the troops, being used to the rich Rhakhaan is disappointed on the poor amount of loot they get.
The get almost a week for the wounded to recover and for the rest of the troops to be training. During that time Tadjeb, Ashdar and Shúkort familiarize themselves with the surroundings. They also discover a hidden alliance between lord Durgan Cromm and some ebony skinned sorcerers, a discovery they have to pay dearly for.
In the end of the week Lord Durgan summons them and tells that an enemy fleet is only hours away, they quickly gather the army and boards the ships, preparing for their first real sea battle. About an hour from the harbor they sight the enemy fleet. Eight sails showing in the hard sea, against their own four ships it looks like the outcome can't go well. Three of the enemy ships circle around Lord Durgan's slow overloaded ships, the other five steer right into the formation and prepares for boarding. They enemy is taken a little by surprise by the massive counter fire of arrows that meet them, too late they start to realize that Lord Durgan's ships are so slow because they are overloaded by bloodthirsty Yinka warriors. The boarding actions start fast, the enemy flagship comes out of course by it's burning sails and end up right in front of Lord Durgan's flag ship, something that proves fatal, in the front of the ship a massive flow of red, unnatural, fire engulfs the enemy flagship, all the sea around it stays burning taking most of the ships crew as they try to dive for safety from their burning ship. The boarding fights are extremely bloody and violent, but the unleashed fury of the Yinka and their berserk commander prevails. In the horizon they can at the same time see a dark cloud descending over the three ships trying to circle the fleet, over the blood-filled sea they can hear the screams of the dying and when the cloud disappears the ships drift in the wind, not a living soul onboard.
The Yinka army has lost around 100 men to the waves but it is still an exceptional victory, only one ship was lost against the eight of the enemy, the fleet returns to shore to celebrate their victory and tend to the wounded.
A few days later Raznir and his company arrives at the army camp of the Yinka, he finds to his surprise that Tadjeb is still alive even though he has not been able to sense him at all after the battle of Bazilaar. He hears the full story about what has happen since they parted in Bazilaar, but tells them little himself about his adventures.
The Druids
After a few days Tadjeb has a especially bad dream, after he wakes up he gathers his guard and departs east for training his men, at the same time Ashdar and a couple of scouts depart at the same direction to try and find the last of the Yinka army still lost in the Jungles. Raznir, Nak-Enog and Shúkort decides that it is not so good to stay there alone and leave the army in the capable hands of Korch and leaves after the others, catching up with them in the night.
Tadjeb is not telling what he is on his way to do, but seem to know very well where he is going. After a couple of days when they enter the jungle he heads more NE, but Ashdar still goes with him to take care of his problem first, and finding the troops after that. A couple of hard days in the jungle more they sight a mountain and a lake, it seems to be the end of their journey, Raznir stalks away to scout ahead accompanied by Nak-Enog. He finds a cave with some people that look like monks, he sends back Nak-Enog to tell what he has found and decides to start the work himself, something that proves dangerous. He sneaks up behind the two men outside and kills the first one fast and silent, the other has time to call out for help before he can attack him, and the situation gets more stressed and he gets problem slaying his other opponent. Some other men have seen what has happened and starts chanting in some strange tongue, out of the ground some monstrous creation rises and starts to move against Raznir. Figuring that dagger against a creature made from stone is no good idea Raznir flees up the mountain, the others has by now heard what happened and starting to run to aid Raznir and hoping to still have some surprise left for the enemy. Ashdar runs up the mountain to aid Raznir but they are both forced to flee from the creature. Tadjeb and the others attack the cave and gets to face another stone creature summoned by the druids, as they reach the creature the rear lines are attacked by dozens of mountain lions, coming to aid the druids in the battle and the fighting fast gets bloody and losses are high on both sides. The battle rages for a long while, Tadjeb manage to slay one of the stone creatures and Shúkort makes the other fall down the mountain to it's destruction. A few of the druids flee into their cave while the others are slain in the battle, most of the Yinka attackers are dead or seriously wounded.
Tadjeb, Raznir, Ashdar, Shúkort and Nak-Enog manages to enter the cave to hunt down the remaining druids, Tadjeb enraged by the bloodbath outside looses control completely and runs into the cave searching for enemies to slay, the battle is fast and bloody, the druids that was skilled in defense already laying slain outside the cave so the ones left inside gets butchered without mercy. After the battle when Tadjeb calmed down he feels so empowered by his new battle rage that he rips of his necklace forced upon him by the Nurieti Summoners. With a sound of thunder a gigantic creature emerges from the remains of the necklace, crushing the roof by it's sheer size and it starts lashing around with it's scythe like claws, inflicting terrible wounds on the shocked characters. After a hard fight and the fact that the creature has problems moving they manage to defeat it, finally free from the cursed Nurieti Clerics.
After the battle they tend to their wounded and start preparing for returning to the army. Ashdar and Maegor continues east looking for Marduk, while Tadjeb, Raznir and Shúkort goes back west towards the fief of lord Durgan Cromm to settle the score with the black men
Leaving Aranmor
For days and days Cyrus lives in hiding on Aranmor, hiding from the demonic servants of Tarek-Nev, he takes his time and investigates the area and even tries to enter the city of Tarek-Nev, something he fast realizes the folly with when he can see the defenses there. On the western side of the isle he discovers the ruins of another city under reconstruction, this city is only built during the dark nights, by a host of Undead.
After almost two weeks another Fulcrummian ship comes ashore with supplies and men to Tarek-Nev. He manages the night after the sneak aboard the ship and hides down in the cargo hold for the departure, what he hopes will be back to Fulcrummia.
After being in hiding for a couple of days the ship finally leaves port and soon he can feel the familiar unbearable heat from the Boiling Sea, in the heat he starts to realize his danger when the full crew is on the ship he can't move away from his hiding place without getting discovered and his supplies and most of all water is running out.
A morning a few days into the journey he wakes up and finds a plate of food and a fresh skin of water next to him and a little while later he get more food and water, his benefactor is a Fulcrummian called B'Tar, once a slave at Aranmor, but now seeing his chance for freedom. During the rest of the journey he helps Cyrus with food and water in return that Cyrus will help him into safety once they land.
Almost a week at sea passes and only the last couple of days the climate gets cooler and more bearable and then land is sighted, B'Tar tells Cyrus that there is a Fulcrummian lord living there that is aiding Tarek-Nev. A while after they land they kill a guard and escape the ship, it does not take for Cyrus to find out that the army aiding Lord Durgan is his own people and his rage is almost unstoppable
After finding out that the others are planning an attack against the black men Cyrus calmed down and they make a fast plan about it. Raznir and Cyrus who the black men does not know about will use their magic to enter the castle while Tadjeb and Shúkort will enter normally after them. Tadjeb, who has an errand first goes down to the village next to the castle while Raznir and Cyrus tries to enter unseen, Shúkort is waiting for Tadjeb's return. Trying to sneak past the guards Cyrus is seen and the Guards sound the alarm by the help of a firewall Cyrus avoids combat with the guards and goes up to the roof instead with his magic. There he finds a old door what he breaks down and enters the castle. Unseen Raznir sneaks past the guards and start looking for the entrance to the catacombs.
While the others are away Korch puts the army moving, preparing for a attack from the lords men or something worse, they are also moving down into the harbor area to prevent any enemies to escape them by boat and possible alarming the other black men of Aranmor.
Meanwhile the sound of battle and cries from the dying is heard from the village, Tadjeb while trying to strength then himself has lost control in the village and is slaying people left and right, after a while he calms down and walks up to the castle, the guards when they don't want to let the blood-drenched creature in is brutally slain.
Tadjeb meets up with Raznir inside the castle and together they go down to the catacombs while Shúkort silently follows them, Cyrus is still trying to find his way down from the upper stairs. At a guardroom at the bottom of the stairs they find the bodyguard of the black clerics, wearing a demonic looking armor and a big jagged sword. They engage him and discover to their frustration that their weapons barely can damage the armor while all their efforts are spent on avoiding his jagged sword. Shúkort is not able to enter the battle without causing damage to his friends and he has no way of getting passed them, hearing Cyrus on his way he retreats back up the stairs and they prepare for making a big BBQ of the entire room, hoping that their friends will survive. a pale young woman enters the room of the battle and tells Tadjeb to sleep, a command he is fast to follow, with only Raznir fighting against the armored guard the battle soon is over, Raznir badly wounded is forced to give up.
Then all hell breaks loose, with a rush of air and a massive thunder, two great spheres of fire is unleashed down the stairs, their aim being less then perfect causes them both to explode in the middle of the stairs causing massive damage in all directions. Cyrus is badly burned from his own magic and is helped out of the area by Shúkort, Tadjeb awakens and resumes the battle, but now the black men has arrived and summons forth a hoard of demonic creatures that attack Tadjeb, Raznir uses the general confusion and flees his captives, following a path he seen one of the black men take. Tadjeb is unable to defend himself against this hoard of monsters and is soon captured and tied up.
Raznir following the black man finds his way out of the castle on a ledge overlooking the sea and the harbor, there the cleric is chanting and after a while Raznir can see the sea is starting to move and then he can see some shapes climbing out of the water, followed by more in an endless stream, it takes him a few seconds to realize that this is the men who was slain in the sea battle a few weeks passed, brought back by evil magic, the undead army moves fast to surround and attack the Yinka army guarding the harbor. Carefully Raznir sneaks up behind the tall cleric, armed with a poisoned dagger, and stabs him. Instead of screaming and dying what would be the normal reaction the man just turns around and look at Raznir with dark dead eyes, struck by fear Raznir flees the man, hearing his chanting behind him.
When Cyrus wakes up he can hear battle from the outside of the castle, seeing what is happening with the army he rushes to aid them, taking the roof way what he came in. while up on the roof he can see Tadjeb apparently freed approaching the army and just walking passed the dead, Tadjeb orders the men to surrender and cast down their weapons, but this only enrages them with a religious fury that the dark forces has taken their general too, the cry out Yugal! and charges, within seconds the general and his men meet in a short but bloody battle, within a minute half a dozen men lay slain on the ground, one of them being their general, still enraged they attack the ring of dead with renewed strength and suddenly walls of fire cuts the enemy army in half and helps the remaining Yinkas to escape the entrapment, seeing their cleric Cyrus they follow him away from there. Shúkort who also escaped from there meets up with them at the old encampment and they head away from the castle as fast as they can.
After running from the tall cleric only a few minutes Raznir discovers that he didn't come out of the engagement unharmed, a burning pain in his lungs almost stopping him from getting air at all forces him to stop or suffocate himself, relived he can see that the cleric has not followed him at least, but see him staggering into the tunnel they came out from, apparently wounded, but with the dagger dipped in Gaggur he should be dead. After resting almost an hour and seeing the army escape the clutches of the dead he slowly starts to go south, leaving the army and the castle behind him, after only a little while he is found by his loyal servant Nak-Enog who helps his master when he looses his strength to walk, Raznir knowing he been cursed moves south towards nearest town hoping he will find help for his ailment.
Ashdar manages to find Marduk after days in the dense hot jungle, he discovers that Marduk is now a leader for a large band of brigands and has not been able to move further west by the Rhakhaan army south of them and the price on all Yinkas heads, together they start finding a way over the wilderness traveling mostly by night to avoid enemy scouts, after almost a week in the wilderness with their supplies depleted they finally get sight of Lord Durgan's castle, discovering that there is no trace of the other or the Yinka army...
After days of travel with supplies fast running out Cyrus and his men comes down to the southern coast and soon reaches a small town, considering the price on Yinka heads they decide that it is best to send in Shúkort to buy some new supplies, and after that they start of west, not sure where they are going.
A couple of days later Cyrus, Korch and Shúkort reaches the capitol of Fulcrummia, camping north of the city they send in their Fulcrummians and Shúkort to scout a little about what is going on and buy some supplies. They return with the information that a Rhakhaaneese army is only a day further east of their position, they also hear that the price for Yinka heads are still there.
Lady Isadora
Raznir and Cyrus decides that they need to warn Lady Isadora and hopefully divert her attention to a more dangerous threat then hunting poor Yinkas, the write down all they know about the Nurieti and Aranmor and Raznir and his companion Nak-Enog goes to deliver the letter. After only a day they are attacked by demons of the burning night and is not capable to move further, they also get separated and badly wounded Nak-Enog tries to escape back to the camp. Half a day later when Cyrus has discovered that Raznir is not moving ahead he decides to go and help him in case he is in some trouble, so he takes two scouts and a little while later he finds Raznir going back. He hears about the demons and they decide to continue the trip.
The first night they are attacked, a arrow kills one of the scouts and demons attack the camp from all sides, Cyrus calls for Yugal's powers and incinerates all camp but still the fight goes against them and eventually the both fall. The demons instead of finishing the job rip apart their equipment until the find the document and then disappear with that, then Raznir and Cyrus recovers the other scout is gone and so is the demons.
Not having the document they must deliver the message themselves so they continue their dangerous trip. Later in the afternoon, even though it is daytime they are ambushed by the same demons, now when they are not surprised the fighting goes different and after a minute only smoldering corpses remain from the demons.
Before the evening they are sighted by a Rhakhaan patrol and captured (by choice) they are chained and brought before Lady Isadora, they tell her all they know about the new enemy and ask for an alliance against this enemy, something Isadora is not at all interested in, as thanks for their information she decides that they will remain alive for two more days before being hung and they are shackled in the middle of the camp.
That same night they wake up by the sound of battle and think they can hear Yinka shouts at the north edge of the camp, using the confusion they use magic to summon an utterdarkness over the area and in the cover of the darkness they break their bounds and escape. On their way out they can see that a few Yinkas has attacked the camp, all of them seem frenzied and equipped with demonic armor and weapons, they also hear an enraged Isadora calling out to hang the traitors, valuing their lives they are fast to disappear out in the night. Almost three days later they finally reach the camp again. Once there they start discussing a way out of their situation and they think that they might be able to get a boat to take them to Plasidar and from there maybe be able to hire a Navigator that could take them home or at least to Nomikos. In the camp they also find that a wounded Nak-Enog has returned.
Ashdar, after finding that the army has left lord Durgan's castle in a hurry decides to investigate it further, with the use of his magic he has no problem to get into the castle from the roof. Taking the narrow stair down he realize the trap too late, a slight smell of death is only warning when a rusty sword is thrust at him from the shadows, getting away with only a scratch as the sword glides of his leather armor he turns to see his opponent, a sight that fills him with fear, a long time ago he knew this man, and he also remember him being killed in the sea battle weeks ago, a gaping open wound, from a Fulcrummian sword, across his face, still witness of his demise. With slow unnatural moves the dead raises the sword again. Using the magic of the axe Ashdar has it ready and lets it land heavy over the neck of the dead before the sword could fall, the head hits the ground with a wet thud and blinded the dead moves past him.
He runs down some stairs to get away from this unnatural enemy and to find the castle lord, down in the larger hallway of the castle he can see some pale shapes moving slowly, staggering, towards him, deciding this is not his fight alone he retreats back up the stairs and escapes the castle.
Ashdar rejoins with Marduk and Maegor down at the old camp site and explains the situation for them, Maegor has also seen that down in the harbor is standing hundreds of shapes, not moving or talking. They decide to try and find the survivors of their army and rejoin them, maybe that way getting an explanation to what has happened and they find the tracks of only a few dozen men leading away south-east.
With their supplies already finished the journey is extremely slow and strenuous, the men already half starved has to struggle to even stay alive and many does not make it. After several days in the wilderness they sight a city, using the Melurian bandits that joined Marduk they are able to buy some new supplies before following the tracks east after the coastline. There after only a couple of days they join Cyrus and the others, the men on both sides are rejoicing to see each other.
Plasidar
With their situation of being between a rock and a hard place they decide they must try and leave Meluria at all, being in Fulcrummia they should be able to find a captain that could take them at least to Plasidar for a fee, and there they can be able to find and hire a navigator that can start taking them back home, giving Shúkort a lot of money they send him to the city, he gets accompanied by Nak-Enog, who decided camp life getting too dangerous after Marduk came into the camp, but not enjoying the company so much, getting worse when he discovers that the city gates are closed all night so he will have to camp outside until dawn. Once the morning comes he has no problem getting into the city, the Gark seem to have disappeared during the night so he has no problems with that either and he starts to find a captain with ships enough to take their entire army, over 250 men.
After talking to several barbaric humans he finds one captain that are willing to take them to Gûl, The captain Argan seems to be a very stern man, even when he is drunk as he is when Shúkort finds him and after a while he is convinced to take on a load of 250 slaves and ship them to Gûl for a price of 15 silver per head. This being a very high price, but since the winter is over the land that is the only way since the captain needs to risk his ships and crews against the winter storms. They decide to leave in the early morning after and Shúkort, goes back and informs the others.
Bribing their way passed the guards the slaves are stowed onboard the ships, the captain does not seem too surprised that the Dyar lied to him but decides not to make a problem of it. Just before dawn the ships sail out heading towards Plasidar
For the land bound Yinkas the trip is worse then terrible and a lot of talk is starting about even going by land to Tanara again would be better, even though chances are that none would survive that way, but after a couple of days they come into the calmer waters of Bay of Gûl and sight the great city.
The city watch not wanting so much trouble does not let more then 50 men go ashore at a time and also no weapons longer then two feet are allowed so many Yinkas arm themselves with the short swords plundered from their earlier campaigns. The army once ashore scatter fast, none faster then Ashdar.
Shúkort and Raznir goes to find a Navigator and quickly finds the obelisk in the city, there they call for a navigator and there is a shimmer and a tall elf is standing there, they tell him they want 6 ships guided to Nomikos and eh agrees on the meager sum of 200 gold per ship.
Faced with a problem of lacking the money Cyrus decides to claim the church taxes from the remaining men in their army, this well covers the navigators fee and leaves them with pretty much to spare too, something they will for sure need to get from Nomikos and home towards Tanara.
Raznir goes all around Plasidar to find a man who can cure his ´curse´ without any real luck, he meets with a withered old man who say he can cure any curses but after paying the man 100 gold he gets the answer that it is a disease, not a curse, so he has to continue his quest. At evening fall he finds a man that claims to be able to cure his predicament and goes with the man down to his laboratory, the man apparently an alchemist takes out a syringe and injects some fluid into Raznir who shortly thereafter looses consciousness.
Meanwhile Ashdar is out carousing the taverns in the better parts of town with his fair elven slave. While going between the taverns he note a group of men carrying a box, and from that box he can see a pale army hanging out, although slightly intoxicated he has no problem realizing the seriousness of the situation and he follows the group to a small square in the upper part of Gûl. There they rendezvous with a carriage with 4 black horses and a tall man is negotiating with the party with the box, Ashdar decides that he must interfere before Raznir is taken somewhere else and he walks up to them.. As soon as they notice him 6 of the men draw curved swords and advance on him... with a glimmer the first man is cut down by a flying axe and within seconds the second man two, after that they are getting a little close so Ashdar retreats towards a house to fast get up on the roof and take care of his enemies from there... too late here hear a metallic ´clack´ and something sharp strikes his arm, he retreats up the house and there he realize something is very wrong, his head starts spinning and before he knows it he sees the ground whirling towards him... then all is black.
The next day Cyrus and Shúkort is out looking for places where they can find new books and spells they come across the slave market where they see a familiar face... bloody, wounded, naked and a lot more pathetic then they last saw him they see their friend Ashdar being auctioned out to the crowd standing below. After some dirty tricks they manage to get him cheap though (fifty five pieces of silver). Ashdar tells what he has seen about Raznirs capture and they come to the conclusion that he has been taken to Sidar, the Dyar city on the north side of the isle. They return to their ships to discuss an attempt to free him and they get introduced to a new recruit found by the men, a mercenary with really 'good' reputation and years of experience. They ask this new man to join them as a guard when they travel to Sidar, his name is Raul.
They need to buy horses and then head out towards Sidar, the Dyari center of Plasidar, on the way already Shúkort starts thinking that it might be a pretty bad idea for him to take people with him like this but they are already on their way and not wanting to turn. During the camp at night the can hear a rumbling noise getting closer, when it comes closer still they hear it is horses and a carriage, being on a narrow road with a steep fall on one side and a hill on the other they have no place to turn, they try and signal to the arriving carriage before something happens but it is too fast and crashes into their horses.
Very irritated a Nyezla Maveh steps out of the carriage with her follower, she is not amused to find people, especially humans on the road, but before things get too hostile Shúkort shows his skill in bootlicking and they get to follow with her to the city, Shúkort inside the carriage, Ashdar and Cyrus chained behind, of their friend they have not seen anything since before the crash, during the hard march to Sidar, Cyrus escapes chains and follows the carriage at a distance instead.
Sidar
Once in the city Shúkort tells Nyezla about the capture of their friend Raznir and what they think might have happen, she seem to have an idea about what it could be and they hear nothing more about it, Ashdar is kept in a stable like 'prison' while waiting for Shúkort
During the next couple of days Shúkort get to stay and tutor his fellow Dyari mages in what he discovered in Fulcrummia and what he knows about Aranmor, they are fascinated with the thought of a new demonic realm and the apparent practicality of the Demons of Black Hêl. Only hours after their arrival, a naked, wounded and worn out Raznir is taken back to them, preparations are made for Raznir and Ashdar to go back the following evening, something they are not objecting to at all, Shúkort tells them he will be back before they leave.
Once back in Gûl, Raznir is having a field trip, people start dying the city, everybody involved in the kidnapping of Raznir or that been involved with the alchemist is getting murdered or having fatal freak accidents, there is not so much doubt from the other characters what is going on, but none of them want to interfere. Raznir finds out that the medicine the alchemist injected into him has taken out his spell casting ability and it will be about a week before it will return for him, that is something that does not make Raznir more happy about the situation, but he gets one more dose of the potion from the Alchemist before the Alchemist shack is burned to the ground with the poor old man inside it still.
On the set day the Navigator Iarsang and five followers to him show up from no where in the harbor and shortly there after the ships set sail out of the bay of Gûl.
As soon the ships comes out of the Bay of Gûl the winter storms start for real, the next few days are not easy at all for all the Yinkas without any marine experience (most of them) but because of the Navigators and very skilled crews they manage through the storm at a good pace.
The Storm
After four hard days in the storms, Iarsang tells the characters and the captain that a essence storm is going to cut them of and that they need to seek refuge in the city of Lindasa on the southern coast of Meluria. Not wanting to dispute the Navigators knowledge they head to the harbor as fast as possible and in the afternoon the day after they tie up their ships on the storm ridden piers of Lindasa, having some problem with the city guard at first it more becomes a standoff when the Yinka army will not leave and the guard does not have enough troops to do something about them. After a dispute with the captain of the guards Shúkort gets arrested, but later Nak-Enog frees him. At that time the Essence storm comes over the city, Shúkort, Nak-Enog and Raznir are seeking shelter in a abandoned stable and the rest of the men stay in a occupied storage down at the docks.
For Shúkort and Cyrus the storm is especially hard, serving as conductors for the unleashed essence they take a serious beating, most others manage pretty well until everything goes black in the storage and with a terrible sound the fabric of reality itself is ripped apart and a rift opens to the other worlds... In the darkness screams can be heard and as the lights starts to come back a hideous shape becomes visible, over 8 feet tall, black as sin and with scythe like claws. It's head is taken only a great maw filled with dagger long teeth, rows upon rows.
The Rippers claws and teeth goes through the unarmored Yinkas like they were water and their swords and arrows just bounce of the creatures thick hide, not even scratching it, Raul, seeing the desperate in the situation takes charge and organizes a fast retreat from the beast that seems completely invulnerable against their weapons. They manage to get out of the building and retreat down to the harbor to make a stand there, the creature however does not seem to follow, instead they can hear the screams from it's victims deeper in the city.
As sudden as it started the essence storm passes, the storm it came by is also slowing down to a gale and the rain is still pouring down. Raznir, Nak-Enog and Shúkort returns to the others, finds them at the docks and after finding out what is going on he returns to the storage building and there finds a blinded and seriously wounded Cyrus that was left in the confusion... wounded as he is and left without power after the storm he is not even capable to heal himself.
During the morning they can still hear fighting and confusion in the city and they decide they need to do something about it, with their knowledge of the demon they reach the conclusion that only magic and magical weapons will hurt it so a small team of those armed with enchanted weapons decides to take it out, Cyrus is not capable of following due to his injuries but Shúkort goes with them even though he is almost without power too.
Finding the demon is the least of their problems, it is just roaming around in the city going from house to house, killing all it can find, the city guard has been in battle with it and suffered serious losses, so they have nothing to object to the reinforcements they are getting.
Besides the group that will attack the beast there is also one group with heavy chains that will try and capture the beast, or at least slow it down, this plan does fail when the group with the chains reach the beast before any other and the Ripper turns quick and cuts into the defenseless Yinkas. The battle is fierce and bloody, in the end only Ashdar and Raznir is capable of fighting the monster when Raznir finds a opening and pushes the dagger deep into the brain of the creature that dies immediately.
During the next few days they are left alone by the city guard, they even get some help with materials to repair their ships so they can be on their way faster again, Cyrus attempt in healing himself ends in catastrophe, he gets a serious burnout and loose all ability to cast spells for several weeks. When they ships are repaired the Navigators return within the hour and their journey towards Ormian resumes. The next few days goes by quietly and they reach the harbor in Ormian safely.
Nomikos
A treasury in knowledge, the largest public place of written knowledge that can be found in all the world, this is heaven for all magicians and scholars and pilgrimages goes to the isle from all over the world. The port of Ormian is a place always bustling with activity and dozens of different languages can be heard at any time.
During the next couple of weeks they find out a lot more about the demonic forces of Aranmor and also a little about the old history of Tanara, that millennia's ago the land was ruled by a people called only the Cloudlords. Descriptions from the old texts is identical to the Cloudlords they are having the problems with. For the magicians the library is a haven of magical knowledge as well and for Raul who is looking for information about the southern parts of Rhakhaan he gets most of his information from the travelers down at the harbor areas, they also find detailed maps of the close regions and find clues to that it might be a land way to Tanara south of the pass.
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by Jonas 'Drac' Cedher.