555/3/17.
After the affair at the Kowe village, we didn't know what to do. Tok
wanted to follow the Vulkats to their cave and kill them all -- quite a
change in attitude compared to his carefree days just a couple of
seasons ago, when he was lovey-dovey with the Vulkat miners. I guess
money is more important to him than Chaos. Still, going to the Vulkat
cave for random death and destruction didn't appeal to the rest of us.
Then there was the matter of our injuries, sustained during the battle.
For some reason, the injured people didn't want to be hobbled for a
week. I have no idea why we thought they would help us, but we
convinced the three Rezla youths to take us to their forest so we could
petition for medical aid. The trip itself was a day and a half and once
we got there the guards kept us at the edge of the Rezla domain. We
talked to them and they said they could relay a message to their
leaders, but it would take the messenger a day to get there and who
knows how long for their leaders to decide. So even if they help us, by
the time they get back we're almost healed, so we left.
555/3/19. We skirted the Vulkat caves. Fortunately the Rezla guards
warned us that the Vulkat caves led to a great underground city stuffed
full of Chaos, certainly a very dangerous place to try to raid. As it
was, we for some reason decided to forage even as we passed the Vulkat
caves, so we were separated when a flock of rock birds attacked us. I
cast a globe of darkness to protect myself while everyone else beat the
birds off. As a plus, we did get some food out of them.
555/3/21. Today we reached a Ga village. The Ga are little people who
worship the Heat Gods living up on Mount Xargal. Every Ga must pray to
the mountain three times a day and the mountain has to be visible to
them, which puts a definite limit on the size of their territory. They
speak a curious guttural language, though luckily one of their leaders
knew Vikul. None of them use weapons except for the specially trained
"Holy Warriors" and apparently they like their women to be all covered
up when outside. I can already tell that this is a fun place.
|
555/3/25.
Well, we're still trying to get the Sword of Dymon or
whatever it's called, which is up there on Mount Xargal sorrounded by
thousands of Ga who worship the volcanic mountain. Thousands of
xenophobic Ga who don't look like us or don't speak our language. Now,
why we decided that this little mission was still feasible I don't
know. But somewhow we convinced the first village to let us travel to
the next village, quite a bit larger than the first. This one had no
one who could really speak Vikul, though we're starting to learn a bit
of Ga ("where is the outhouse?").
We did get to meet the local village elder, who wanted to interview us
as to our suitability for continuing on. Tok convinced the elder that
we were on a holy mission as said in this prophecy we had. His
impassioned speech moved the little guy, who looked worried and left
the room. A few minutes later, everybody was bustling about making
preparations. We were to be taken to a city at the base of Mount
Xargal. Apparently there might be a reference to our little party in
one of the Ga prophecies. Whatever. All I know is we're going deeper
into enemy territory with no way out if things fall apart.
555/3/37. It was a long trip. There was one Holy Warrior there to
protect us. A little guy encased in hard armor -- better than Nakaro's
and just the right size for Timroth -- who never seemed to sleep and
never came out of the armor. He ate through a thin slot in the front of
the helmet and after a couple of days the stink coming from him ensured
that he was pretty much left alone. One encounter demonstrated their
skill. A gnartroll attacked our party, composed of my group plus the
elder and his entourage. Gnartrolls are this big flame breathing
snake-dragons, quite tough and dangerous. The holy warrior fought it
single-handedly. The gnartroll couldn't get past his armor and
protection spells and the little guy barely did any damage with his
sword. But after a few minutes he critted the gnartroll and it left us
alone.
We also captured a Telzor. This is a lizard-pony, quite fast yet too
small for anyone but Timroth to ride on. Telly is his name and a fine
Telzor he is too. |