Personal Musings of Kai Tsintah
By Pippa Bushell
We arrived on a small jetty in Iridan and I am not ashamed to admit, I was so happy to finally be off the water. I knew the path ahead of us would not be easy, but the sea is no place for an Errow. It is confinement of the worst order, surrounded by poisoned water and strange creatures. This may have been plague land, but it was land and I was happy to see it.
We gathered on the dock in the south west corner of the ghost town, whilst Adoril used his magic to scout. The news was not good. The whole town was full of the plagued, along with one of those damned hard to kill pyramid headed beasts and what appeared to be a many-headed mage. A plan would no doubt be needed if we were to get out of this with no casualties. Sarafina stated the best path would be to the East, and there to join the road that heads to the North. We determined to move in that direction with speed, and as much stealth as we were able. The stealth option seemed like a reasonable one, although I was almost overcome with the desire to just start hacking away at these plagued rats. I offered to create a distraction to the South, to draw them away from the group. I really wanted a chance to try out my cool new owl feather cloak. I need to fly. After the dragon, and my time spent with the air sprites, I want to fly so badly I can taste it. I do not know how Sarafina manages to stay on the ground as much as she does, when she can take to the sky at a whim. Well, unsurprisingly for our merry band, it did not go down as planned. In fact, we did not even get to start the plan. Just as we had all agreed the way forward, an interesting voice spoke in my mind “What brings you to our lovely village?”
Of course, I was not at all surprised by this. It is not like voices in my head are a new thing. What with the crown’s distant whispers, the calling of the plagued and, of course, my father constantly wittering away in there, I’m kind of used to it by now. What was a little different about this one was that, not only did everyone else seem able to hear and understand it, despite being in Errowhani, but there appeared to be a visual manifestation to go along with the voice. That creepy plague sorcerer with all the heads. That guy must have to spend a fortune on hats! The creature brought from my memory the tales told to me as a child, of the Skudakumooch, a Ghost-Witch. An entity born from the dead body of a Shaman who is twisted both in body and mind by the practice of black magic. It is said that they can bring down great curses just on the unwary, just by hearing their voice. I had determined to not engage in any discourse with this vile creature but Adoril tried to reason with the freak, saying we were just passing through. This guy was not having it and came back with “Are you here to heed the call of The Master?” Huh? Master? Nobody is my master, you achxoʼ! I could feel what I first thought was that old familiar anger rising, but this was an all-new flavour. This was cold, where there is usually heat. Spikes of ice running through my veins, instead of fire. The need to tear into these abominations was almost unbearable, and I felt as though I had the strength to do it with my bare hands. Adoril continued to try and bluff the creature, why he decided that was the way to go I have no idea, he is useless at lying. I guess that Nothur recognised that Adoril was struggling, as when the plagued mage asked what we were there for, he stepped up to try and convince him we were just passing through and had no interest in them. At least, I think that is what he said. The words were strange and slippery and trying to hear them was like trying to pin down water. I think Nothur has been learning some new tricks in his time away. He’s maybe not learned them well enough though as the last response in my head was; “Too bad, our Master could have used you in the upcoming war”, before this blood curdling screech tore into us and the hordes start to charge.
Elre responded to this in a manner far more befitting than all the useless chatter and took a swing at the creep. Unfortunately, the blade passed straight through him and he disappeared, the cowardly chxąąʼ, leaving his horde of minions to swarm us. I was still quite far back on the dock at this point, so I quickly ran forward, screaming my rage “chʼį́įdiitahgóó díníyá!” Seeing Yugao slice the creature in front of her in half, I drew a silver arrow and aimed at what I thought was the biggest threat, the plagued giant with a pyramid shaped helmet covering his head. A good hit, straight in his chest and seeming to stagger him a little. I did not rejoice though; these guys are as tough as Strohm jerky. I knew that it would take more than a single arrow to bring him down. Thankfully, Nothur had also seen the threat and had stepped forward to attack him with his axe, with Tavin and Marcus moving to back up Elre, and Adoril seeming to employ the tactic of drawing in as many to engage him as possible.
So, the battle was on. Hordes of plagued ragers just kept coming, piling into us. Yugao managed to mostly stay out of their grasp, disappearing and then reappearing yards away to strike against them again. Adoril adopted an opposite strategy, allowing them to grapple in close so that he could employ his flames and fists against them, seemingly at the behest of Vallen who had yelled “Flame On!”, whilst tossing a fireball at the nearest group. A good tactic for both Adoril and Yugao as although fire does not stop these creatures, it does slow them down. Everyone was engaged, Elre and Marcus slashing away with their usual efficiency. Nothur and Tavin effectively wielding their shields to keep them at bay whilst they employed their weapons to deadly effect. Marie had placed herself in advantageous position to cast any curses that could be useful, and Sarafina was starting her transition to bird form. A very wise decision as she does not have the benefit of our immunity to the plagued and just one bite would be disastrous.
For a change, we were all working well together to chip away at the vast numbers that were pitted against us. Adoril was hammering away at those that were clinging to him and Nothur, with Elre alongside, had added to my damage on the pyramid head. I began to think that perhaps we would make it when another blood plagued mage came into view. I could not see very clearly, as he was lurking in an alley ahead, but he appeared to be carrying a staff, decorated with human skulls. Expelling a single blackened breath, he healed pyramid head and all those plagued around him, whilst striking at the very souls of my companions. With his renewed vigour, the pyramid head was able to strike a terrible blow down on Nothur, wounding him grievously. Although everyone was fighting well alongside each other, and slowly reducing the numbers of our attackers, if the battle continued in this manner, with the skull-staffed mage dealing damage and healing his way across the field then we would eventually be overrun. He needed to be taken out of play. I quickly reached for a stun arrow from my quiver, aiming into the centre of a group of ragers coming up behind the mage and being careful with my aim to ensure that none of my team were included in the stunning blast. My aim was true and all the plagued surrounding the mage were shocked into inactivity. Alas, the mage himself remained able to act, and again released his dreadful breath. Fortunately, Marcus and Tavin had also seen the danger represented by this spell slinger and, with his surrounding ragers stunned, had been able to take advantage of the situation to move forward and engage him.
Whilst Tavin and Marcus dealt with the mage, there was more trouble appearing from the North. A giant, plague creature in full armour, the like of which I had never seen. It was this beast that had unleashed that dreadful screech earlier, as it again tore out from him, stunning Vallen into immobility and shaking the rest of us. Adoril cried out “at last, a worthy opponent” and redoubled his efforts to destroy the many ragers hanging onto him, so that he could escape to face this new foe. That guy has some strange ideas sometimes. I even think that he looked disappointed when Yugao managed to dodge a swing from this giant’s Warhammer and landed a perfectly aimed thrust to the creatures face, her blade striking so well and so true that it exited the back of its head, killing the monster instantly.
The battle continued, with Tavin and Marcus injuring the mage, but not enough to stop him from again letting lose his terrible black breath, restoring vigour to the plagued and further damaging my embattled comrades. Nothur, having been healed a little by Vallen before he was stunned, could only manage to start crawling away from the melee after this additional harm being struck. As more ragers grappled onto the battling Adoril, and finally managed to get a hold of Yugao, Elre struck a mighty blow upon pyramid head, crippling his arm and distracting him enough to enable me to again strike him with a silver arrow and finally bring him down.
Marcus was able to bring down the mage, but not without sustaining further damage from his attack and although Tavin and Elre were still valiantly striking down the plagued around them, Yugao and Adoril were now virtually lost to view under a pile of ragers. With Nothur gravely wounded and Vallen still insensible, I saw with some concern another large group of plagued, heading towards the dock to the South. I realised that we would be in some hardship should they be allowed to flank us. I quickly drew and loosed another stun arrow into their ranks, and with two large groups of the plagued now stunned, and the three largest threats neutralised, we were finally able to overcome and vanquish our raging enemies.
After taking some time to rest and for the magic wielders to provide healing to the injured, we made our way towards the centre of the town where, to our surprise we were met once again by the many headed sorcerer. Having no patience this time for his poisoned words, Adoril took a swing at him. Seeing the blow swing wide, I drew a silver arrow to my spirit bow and prepared to shoot. However, Elre was quicker off the mark, throwing his axe, causing damage to the creature, which Marcus followed with a swift and true strike through one of its many eyes, swiftly killing the Skudakumooch. There was some discussion afterward on how we could have gained information regarding this “Master” of which it spoke, before dispatching the creature. I do not know if that is true, but I do know that I would not have trusted a word from this witch. Better a swift death and a lack of knowledge than the risk of a blighted curse falling upon us. “Coyote is always out there waiting, and Coyote is always hungry.”
We find ourselves now at the edge of the Northern Woodlands. I was hoping for some long-awaited and much needed revitalisation in these green forests, but gazing upon the briar wall that surrounds it, and noting its obvious erosion, my hope may have been in vain. It was a long and arduous trek from Iridan to here. We had no rest or ease in our travels across the plague lands, fighting every step against wave after wave of unceasing plagued. Yugao has said that there is a large offensive towards the South, if that is the case then I fear to think how many of the plagued there truly are, when we have faced so many, so far to the North. If they are able to field such significant numbers on such far-reaching fronts, then I feel that the size of our enemy has been vastly underestimated by the Silver Order. Such an increase in activity and numbers is worrying and I cannot help but further regret our releasing of Ulene. There is no way that her appearance and the timing of this uprising can be a coincidence. I am now more certain than ever that she is at the centre of all this, if not the “Master” herself.