You fearlessly fought off the Sathanid attack, but when you had slain some and driven off the rest, you turned to look for Hobb's family, headed down the road in the stolen wagon. But the wagon had been overturned and the innkeeper, his two daughters, and the horses apparently kidnapped. Following their track led you to an encampment of Dorje, the nomadic halflings who had apparently wanted to keep the family safe from the spectres.
You have been resting around their campfire deep in the pine woods. They've offered you roast duckling and a place to rest on a cold, misty autumn night. Brion and the Dorje seem to get along well. in no time at all he was regaling them on his lute and they were joining in with their own accompaniment. The camp is about 50 Dorje, with small ponies to carry their loads, led by an elder named Dukas.
In all, the camp is a welcome refuge from the terror and turbulence of the night.
Thragga chews and swallows some roast duck haunch, and licks his lips noisily. Tyrin watches him admiringly. He's never seen an Urag up close before.
Kane has finished eating and is busy tending to his horse.
You have been discussing your options. You have several. If you travel to the west, just a day or two is a small hamlet run by a friendly vintner, a companion of Taggart's. If you go southwest, you could make a run for the As River and Anghara beyond, where Kane and Thragga have some influence. The shortest way out of Tol Nedra, however, would be to the south, a straight two-day run to the swamps of the Sedir River delta on the northern border of Sarrik, where Khom-Bei knows of a shaman who would be able to help Hobb's family.
Tyrin leans close and touches Thragga's axe where it rests at his feet. Thragga watches the boy silently, frowning.
Khom-Bei stands, stretches, and walks to where his pony, Cakilgan, stands and begins combing the animals coat, softly chanting a song of his homeland.
Thragga growls, "In my country, we would kill someone who did that without permission." Tyrin shrinks back.
Kane approaches Khom-Bei and says, "Which way do you think we should go next?"
Tyrin, a small dark-haired boy of about 10, looks to Kane and gulps.
Across the camp, Brion leads the Dorje in an old Tol Nedran drinking song with bawdy lyrics. He waggles his dark eyebrows as he sings, which causes waves of laughter among the small folk.
Khom-bei jumps, startled from his chant by Kanes words, and takes a deep breath before speaking. "I do not know, Kane. I have called on the Great Father much today and there seems to be a fog in my mind that keeps me from seeing clearly what to do."
Kane says, "I would like to first get Hobb and his family to safety... then I have business in Anghara to take care of."
Thragga belches. "I know what we should do. We should kill more Vorghol. We did not kill enough tonight." Tyrin smirks.
Kane says, "Don't forget we have friends yet to find."
Thragga rumbles, "We have friends enough here." Tyrin nods.
Kane suddenly turns to the head Dorje and asks, "Have you seen anyothers heading down this road by the way?"
Brion dances merrily with the two teenage daughters of Hobb. The handsome troubadour sweeps them this way and that, singing dramatically.
Dukas shakes his head. "None but you. But the mists are deep tonight, sir, so they are!"
Khom-Bei shakes his head as if trying to clear it. "I think that Kane is right. We should head for Anghara and then find our friends before we try to recover the spear of the dead King."
Kane says, "I have a mind to ride back and make sure they have stolen clear of Camars."
Thragga picks his teeth with a long pinky nail. Tyrin does the same with his own pinky.
Khom-Bei says, "I believe that would be a poor choice, Kane.
The Urag says: "Crossing the border will not be easy. The Angharans guard it well. We may have to kill a few to get in!"
Kane says, "I'm sure all of Anghara knows you by now, Thragga. If you find a few that don't show them the medallion King Henrick gave you."
Khom-Bei moves away from the conversation again and tends to his pony.
Kane says, "Do you think you could get them over the border Thragga? Perhaps with a little help from Brion?"
Thragga fishes out the badge from his pouch, and Tyrin cranes his neck to get a closer look at the thing.
Kane says, "Khom-Bei, I would like you to scout back to the city with me. I am getting worried about Verraine and the others."
Brion is leading a larger dance by now, a courtly set of movements beaten out in time by Dorje drums.
Thragga says, "What? You would go back there and send me to Anghara with him?" He points at Brion, across the camp. Tyrin looks towards the dancing troubadour.
Kane says, "I would leave this family in capable hands and I can think of no better."
Khom-Bei faces Kane and nods slowly. "We should go quickly then, Kane, though I think Thragga may be right. We should not split up now."
Brion notices Thragga and winks at him while he plays.
Thragga spits a big green glob into the fire. Tyrin spits a lesser glob.
Kane says quietly to Khom-Bei, "I wish this to be a quick and quiet visit. Too large of a party would not allow such."
Khom-Bei says, "Perhaps we should ask the Dorje where they are traveling and if they would keep Hobb and his children safe?"
Kane says in a low voice to Khom-Bei again, "My point is, Thragga is very quick, but rarely quiet. I feel a great debt to Dras and would not abandon him now that his cover may be blown."
Khom-Bei nods and smiles. "I understand, Kane. We should go quickly and without drawing attention to ourselves. But I'm certain that Dras and Ugash have plans for times such as these. And Verraine is quite capable in her own right."
Kane says to Khom-Bei, "We came so far to save Verraine--will we just leave her to fend for herself now?"
Dukas sets down some loaves of flatbread and a crock of aromatic garlic paste for you to enjoy.
Thragga smears garlic on the bread with his fingers. Tyrin does the same. Both munch happily on the bread.
Brion bows as the Dorje, Hobb and the two girls applaud his musical talent. He turns and plops down at the fire and helps himself to some of Thragga's wineskin, mopping his brow with a silk kerchief.
Brion says, "I amaze even myself sometimes. That was fun. Why the sour faces gents? This wine is cheap but it isn't that bad. Did someone mention Verraine? If anyone's going to make a move on gorgeous, it's going to be me, I can tell you that much..."
Kane says, "You choose a strange time to be so merry Brion."
Khom-Bei says, "Whatever we do, it should be soon. If they need help, they will need it quickly. If they do not need help, the sooner we know, the better."
Brion says, "This is the perfect time to be merry--when things are dire!"
Thragga snatches back his wineskin and passes it to Tyrin, who sniffs at it.
Kane says, "Perhaps we should leave Hobb and his family with the Dorje for another day, and the four of us can travel back."
Brion smiles "Perhaps Hobb's daughters can accompany me"
Tyrin takes a gulp of wine then does a spit-take, spraying wine into the fire. PPPPPPPP! The boy gags and coughs.
Kane approaches the leader of the Dorje and asks, "How long do you and your people plan to camp here?"
Khom-Bei says, "The little ones seem to travel safely in this land, and they seem willing to take the risk."
Dukas considers. "Another watch. Then we must travel under the sun once more and leave this Shroud. We Dorje cannot live in the night forever...our souls grow cramped. Why do you ask?"
Thragga takes his wineskin back. "Look what you did to the boy!" he accuses Brion.
Kane says, "I would have this family safe from the Vorghol. My companions and I need to return to the city to possibly help friends of ours. I hope this trip will only take a day or so."
The Dorje thinks a moment. "We want no trouble with the Lords of Tol Nedra, Kane."
Thragga pokes Brion with his finger while Tyrin coughs and clears his throat.
Khom-Bei says, "You were willing to help them a short while ago, will you change your mind so quickly, Dukas? Can you not take them clear of this foul land?"
Kane says, "Dukas, I know I ask a lot and will understand if you refuse. Remember though that the Vorghol are all of our enemies and we must work together to drive them from Tol Nedra."
Dukas looks at the horses they took from the wagon. He may come out ahead on this deal. "They will be safe with us." he tells Kane.
Kane says, "Where do you travel so that we might catch up with you along the way?"
Dukas says, firmly, "Dorje travel where they will. We go east of here. But none may follow. Not even you!"
Kane says, "Will you then delay for a time till we return back here?"
Thragga stands. He glowers at Dukas. "You will remain here until we come back!" he orders. Tyrin attempts to glower at the Dorje chief. They are about the same height, though, so the effect doesn't really work.
Dukas scratches his head. "Dorje travel where we will. But these Reith will be safe with us."
Khom-Bei walks away from the group to where Hobb and his daughters rest. "Hobb, I would speak with you, please."
Hobb rises. "Of course, Khom-Bei. My family and I, we owe you our lives."
Khom-Bei pulls a twisted strand of leather from a pouch at his belt, from it dangles a token that once belonged to his mentor, Taggart.
Khom-Bei says, "Take this and keep it safe. As long as you carry it, I will be able to find you again."
Hobb takes this soberly. He examines the token and bows. "You are good men in a bad land, sir.
Kane kneels down infront of Tyrin, "Come here boy, I need to talk to you man to man."
Thragga nods to Tyrin to obey Kane. The boy shuffles forward.
Khom-Bei says, "We must return to Camars to make sure that our friends are safe. You must do what you can to keep your family safe as well. Travel with the Dorje. They are not like us, but they are good in their way. And tie up your son if you must, but keep him with you."
Kane speaks to Tyrin in a low voice. "The Dorje are good people but the Vorghol are vicious. I will need you to stay here to help guard your family. Do you think you can handle such an important task?"
Tyrin looks to Thragga and then back to Kane. "But...I have no weapons."
Kane reaches and hands the boy his own belt knife. "When you are older we will see about getting you a larger one." He looks the boy in the eye in order to take his measure.
Tyrin takes the knife seriously, like his father took Khom-Bei's talisman. He nods to Kane...earnest and fearless.
Thragga steps forward and places his own Urag helm upon the boy's head. It covers his face and eyes and he pushes it back so he can look at Kane.
Kane clasps Tyrin's hand says, "I know I can trust you to do this job, and I thank you."
"I am not afraid of them, Kane!" Tyrin says. He sounds like he means it.
Kane says, "Be afraid. We are all afraid, that's what keeps us alive. To be brave is to face your fears."
Thragga tells Tyrin, confidentially, "He always talks that way."
Khom-Bei returns to the group and lays a hand on the boys shoulder. "To face your fears and win against them, that is what it means to be a man."
Kane says, "And sometimes to be brave is to live to fight another day. Do not be ashamed to flee if you must."
Brion finishes his meal and rises, wiping his hands clean on his kerchief. "So, when do we go rescue Verraine? She'll be so glad to see me again!"
Khom-Bei says, "Kane, we should go now."
Thragga claps Tyrin on the shoulder. "We will fight together again, young one!" Then he turns to go.
Tyrin sheathes Kane's belt knife and tries to look like a warrior.
Kane looks at his three companions stearnly. "This is to be quick and quiet. Am I understood? No heroics and no flashes of temper. Lives may depend on this.
Hobb's daughters embrace each of you in turn, and then Hobb bows. "We owe a debt that may never be repaid."
Thragga frowns. "Very well."
Kane says, "Brion is this understood?"
Khom-Bei smiles wistfully as he looks at Hobb's daughters. "Live your lives free of these lands. Raise your children in peace far from this place of darkness."
Brion nods. "I'm just in this for Verraine."
The troubadour tells Thragga, "So stay out of my way, ok?"
Kane says, "No heroics Brion nor jokes either. Otherwise I will leave you here now."
Kane mounts up on his horse. He leans down in his saddle and says, "Good luck Hobb. If the Powers will it, we will be back by morning." He gives Tyrin a stern look then nods.
Brion mounts up behind Kane on the sturdy cavalry horse. Thragga lifts his axe and races out ahead of you to lead the way back to Camars.
Khom-Bei climbs onto his pony and follows Thragga out of the Dorje camp.
Kane kicks his horse into motion, Brion clinging to his saddle.
A watch later, you are on a low ridgetop overlooking the old city of Camars. A mile away, in a wooded vale, the walled city seems to be most vigilant, almost in an uproar, guards on the walls and clouds of bats overhead. The old King's Gate, through which you entered before, is barred, admitting no entrants.
Brion dismounts and stretches his legs.
Thragga watches the city intent for a time with his dark-adjusted Urag eyes.
Khom-Bei says, "What now, Kane."
Kane says, "I'm not sure. We must find some way to get in."
Brion adjusts his clothes, cloak, and boots.
Kane says, "Perhaps we should make our way around the wall to see if any opportunities present themselves."
Khom-Bei says, "Lacking a better idea, let's look around."
Kane says, "Thragga can you scent anything, or is there too much humanity to wade through?"
Thragga says, "From this distance? Even an Urag can only scent so far Kane."
Kane says, "You have amazed me so much in the past I come to expect miricles of you my friend."
Brion says, "Hey, Khom-Bei, can't your great father hide us somehow?" He makes magical gestures with his fingers.
Khom-Bei says, "From the undead, maybe. From the living, no."
Khom-Bei says, "Cannot you lullaby them all to sleep, troubador?"
Brion smirks. "With the right song, I can charm the legs off a mule and get it to go for a walk after."
Kane snaps, "Quiet. Let us move unseen around the castle wall."
Kane leds his horse off to the right.Khom-Bei dismounts and follows Kane.
Thragga points to the Old Keep. In the earliest days of Tol Nedra, it was the proudest tower in the land. Two flags fly there, one the vulture banner of royal Tol Nedra, and the other, the purple insignia of Lord Valkris. Clearly, his Lordship is now in residence in the city.
Kane says, "That would explain the beefed up watches."
The city of Camars is an old fortress, not easily scaled, built for defense, with sheer walls overlooking the low foothills of the Dragonsback Range. In more recent times, however, a canal was across the city to bring water from the nearby river. It actually travels through a section of city wall in a short tunnel and emerges near the Old Keep. That was where you fought the spectres recently.
Kane says, "Thragga, see if you can find us a log around here that looks like it can float. Brion give him a hand."
The riverbed, a cold mountain stream, splashes noisily about a mile from the city walls. Nearby, upstream, the stone canal bed arcs off towards the city, winding about and then piercing the curve of the city wall, where it flows through a portcullis.
Brion says, "A log? What do I look like?"
Kane says, "You look like a strong young lad with a good back... now go."
Kane says to Khom-Bei, "I guess this is the best fate has to offer. I hope it will do."
Khom-Bei says, "It will have to do, it is the only way."
Kane says, "We'll use the log to float us to the grate then hope there is a way through."
Thragga hurls a huge dead oak into the river with a splash and holds it there. Brion stands around looking like he'd rather be somewhere else.
Kane says, "Khom-Bei you are the most used to water. Will you lead the way?"
Brion says, "This isn't the best way in, Kane!"
Khom-Bei says, "Is there a better way in, Brion?"
Brion shrugs. "Yes. Through the front door while they throw rose petals at our feet!"
Thragga growls. "Urag do not swim, but we also do not complain!"
Kane says, "No one forced you to come Brion. This is no time to start complaining."
Khom-Bei scoffs. "And you will sing them a song to convince them to open the gates?"
Kane says, "Enough. All who are coming lets go." He enters the water up to his chest and steadies the log.
Brion sighs, strips off his armor, folds his silken cloak neatly by the riverside, checks that his sword is secured about his waist, and wades in to where Thragga holds the log.
Khom-Bei places his chain shirt in his pack and secures it to the log. Looking at his pony, he commands. "Wait for me here."
Kane seeing the sense in Khom-Bei's actions does the same, securing his armor in a pouch and lashing it to the log.
Thragga pushes the log off the from stream and into the canal waters. The artificial river is lined with small stones skillfully set to guide waters to the city after the river shifted its bed. The four of you cling to the log, heads above water, feet treading the stream and are borne along swiftly.
A cloud of bats lurches overhead, scanning the area and sweep past you, unseeing. The canal waters are chill with fresh rainwater from last night's torrent.
The portcullis approaches. It's a large iron gate, ten feet broad, ten high, and seems to go from the top of the tunnel in the wall to the canal bed beneath you. The log is aimed right at it, the waters flowing swiftly.
As the log nears the portculli, Khom-bei grips tightly onto his handholds, bracing for impact.
Thragga is clinging desperately to the log, spitting and sputtering.
Brion sighs. "Verraine, gorgeous...you owe me for this!"
Thragga looks over his shoulder at Kane. "What now?"
Kane says, "Hold on for dear life!"
The log sweeps down the canal stream. The guards on the walls above you don't seem to notice your approach. There are three of them up above the portcullis.
The log slams headlong into the lowered portcullis, jarring each of you loose.
Thragga clings to the massive steel gate and Brion clings to Thragga. Water flows through the gate into the city beyond. You are now protected from view by the roof of the short tunnel through the city gate.
Kane swims to the gate and takes hold of it.
Khom-Bei grabs onto the gate and clings to it.
Thragga hisses at Brion, "Quit choking me!"
Brion slides black wet hair from his eyes and releases his death grip on Thragga's neck.
The water flows swiftly, flooded as it is from yesterday's heavy storms. The canal is about ten feet deep.
Khom-Bei takes a deep breath and dives beneath the water, pulling himself under the surface, going hand-over-hand down the bars of the portcullis.
Under the water, Khom-Bei sees that the gate is well-secured, since the city is under lockdown. But something catches on a snag down there, trapping the shaman underwater.
Above, the other three can see chains draped down from a hole in the tunnel above, obviously to raise and lower it. A determined group might be able to lift it from the canalbed.
Thragga spits water and peers through the grate into the city beyond.
Brion says, "Khom-Bei's been down there a long time!"
Kane says, "I'll check on him." Kane dives down to check on Khom-Bei.
Khom-Bei tries to lift the gate, and almost manages, but he loses his grip and it falls to the canalbed again, pinning him.
Kane frees him and the two hurry to the surface, Khom-Bei gasping for air.
Kane says, "Khom-Bei are you alright?"
Thragga takes a big lungful of air. He tells Kane, "Urag do not swim!" Then he disappears below the surface, hand over hand down to the bottom.
Khom-Bei continues coughing and spitting water between gasps for air.
Kane dives down to help Thragga.
The gate rises slowly, a few feet...just enough for you to slip under if you can swim to the bottom.
Brion nimbly clambers down and under and is first through the gate, emerging from the water on the other side.
Kane kicks up beside Brion. Thragga is holding the gate up from the canalbed.
Khom-Bei glares at Kane and Brion before diving under the surface again.
Khom-Bei emerges safely on the far side of the gate, still glaring.
Thragga steps under the gate, settles it down quietly, then bobs to the surface.
Kane dives down to hold the gate for Thragga.
The dark city stretches before you. The canal cuts east and west across town, with the Old Keep to your right, on the north side.