Game Log 08

## Riders of the Storm(bull)

The few bare acres of greenery barely deserved the name oasis. More water passed through the stead in five minutes than existed in the entire pool. Despite this, it was still life in an otherwise barren wasteland. Trees and underbrush grew lushly around the water, tapering off abruptly a few dozen paces from the center. Animals likewise drank from it, appreciating the bounty as much as their dim minds and personalities could manage.

Riders on bison quickly surrounded the heroes, suspicious looks on their faces. Or maybe they were suspicious of all strangers so, in the end, the difference was irrelevant. "Who dares walk on the Good Place?! Those who sully the great water will feel our spears!"

Astra whispered, "Bison riders. They like their mounts and Stormbull and little else."

Mankar whispered back, "We can work with that." He raised his voice and declared. "We were sent here by Daka Fal! Our quest is to stop a Lunar hero who will be here in days, if not sooner!"

"Ha!" shouted the biggest one. "They have come to take the Best Place from us! Even after slaying their wicked tax collectors, they still dare to come!"

Apparently, hating Lunars was a good introduction as the heroes were welcomed to dinner with the riders. Their village wasn't large but they had a good-sized herd of bison and there were several firepits with meat roasting over them. Aud wrinkled her nose when she saw the meat. "Is that...?"

Astra nodded, "I think we know where the Lunars' mounts went."

Mankar shrugged, "Meat is meat." He grabbed a plate handed to him and dug in with as much gusto as the riders.

Mantis took this time to speak up. "We are trying to stop the Lunar hero from getting a sacred artifact that we heard is up in the mountain. Do you know anything about that?"

An older rider with greying hair and more than a few scars grunted and hit his chest to get everyone's attention. "In that mountain is a foul goatkin! He is a Malia pus-sucker but very powerful! There is a ritual, an old one, and the spirits tell me what is coming. To get her favor he must eat larger and larger prey until he can finally eat an entire man in one sitting!"

Several riders shake their heads. "Narab is still missing," muttered one. Another chimed in, "He never was very big." "May he choke that goat on the way down!"

The storyteller quieted them with a glance. "After that, he will be empowered enough to eat the rib of a god! What foul gift he will demand for that feat is uncertain but not good."

"No, not good." The surrounding tribe murmured.

Astra had been listening carefully to the recitation, eyes alert. "What can he do right now?"

The older man rubbed his chin through his scraggly beard. "He is busy with his ritual but his influence has already spread." Then he told the heroes of a story of Thed. In the time before Time, animals began to disappear. It was a mystery until someone noticed that many tracks led to Thed's cave, but none came out. "Follow me."

He led them to the oasis and waved toward the animals there. "What do you see?"

Ryala cocked her head like a puzzled spaniel. "Bison?"

The little healer caught on first. "Well-behaved bison!"

Mantis nodded. "They aren't even pushing to get more water. They are taking turns!"

Mankar climbed a tree and a 'wild' bird allowed him to pick it up with apparently no fear. He put it carefully back in its nest and climbed back down. "That is unnatural."

The rider sighed and agreed. "Still, it shocked the Lunar bastards when their mounts wouldn't obey and walked them into our ambush!" He laughed loudly!

While they investigated the animals, Mantis was communicating with the spirits nearby. As usual, his facial expressions were amusing if not very informative during this process. The predominant one was somewhere between boredom and impatience and he looked relieved when he finally woke from the spell. "I have news both good and ill. The sacrifice is still alive so the earliest he'll be eaten is tomorrow and the bone the day after. Unfortunately, broo stalk these hills and their numbers aren't small."

Aud look anxious. "We must go quickly! The longer he stays in that den, even if rescued, the more chance he'll fall to disease or even become a broo himself!"

The giant warrior shook his head. "Broo gain strength from the night... followers of Malia love the darkness! We go at dawn and will travel as much as possible during the day. Moreover, their sense are more keen than ours at night and I don't envy anyone ambushed unawares."

Astra look surprised and impressed at his words. "You've been studying Mankar? Very good!"

He looked embarrassed. "Well, not studying. I followed the Stormbull worshippers at the stead for a week thinking I might want to follow Him. They told lots of stories about chaos and monsters."

"I withdraw my praise."

The chief of the bison riders struck the ground with the butt of his spear. "As you go, the Riders go with you! We can take you to the mountain but must return to protect the Best Place. Everyone always wants it but none shall have it but us!"

He pulled Mankar aside and asked bluntly. "Whose the husband of those women?"

The warrior paused and decide the truth would be too much of a problem. "They are all mine!" he said solemnly.

The chief grunted as if he understood completely. "The big one acts two much like a man, but the other two are properly womanly." He looked over to where Aud was tending to some sick cattle and Astra was studying the curiously tame birds. "I'll give you three, no, FOUR bison for each of them and even two for the other one!"

"Sorry, chief, but they cost more than four bison each."

The man blinked as he struggled with the concept of ANYTHING costing more than four bison, much less a woman. Finally he walked off grumbling about unreasonable foreigners.

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The next morning, right at dawn, the heroes gathered with the bison riders to one side of the oasis. The fur-armored men had more than a passing resemblance to their mounts as they snorted and stamped on the ground in rhythm. The leader held up his hands and started chanting in a language they couldn't quite make out. A word they recognized as one of Stormbull's names was said frequently, though. As they stomped and chanted, a hot wind sprang up and swirled around them all. Even mystic novices could sense the spirits of air and fire around and their righteous anger! The wind blew stronger and faster and the heat increased until it rivaled the sun itself! Those inside the vortex of magic weren't hurt and felt the energy enter their bodies, enter their bones. Strength! The will of The Bull filled them with strength and fury!

Mankar laughed as he flexed his bicep. "Ha! I feel like splitting a few broos! Let's be off!"

Less than halfway up the mountain, they encountered a band of broo. The demi-human twisted goat things screamed as the heroes leapt to attack and the bisonriders prepared their battle magics. Before even 30 heartbeats had passed, the twisted sub-men lay dying on the slopes with their ichor-coated crude weapons lying beside them.

The leader of the riders, shocked by how fast the battle went stood mutely for a minute and then said, "Let's ride!"

Night was falling quickly so the group looked for a defensible place to rest for the night. Mankar looked across the crevasses and folds of land and said, "Let's camp there. I think we can disguise our presence and hopefully the broos won't find us in the night. No campfires tonight!"

As hoped, what broos there were passed by without finding them.

The next morning, just before dawn, Mantis confirmed that they still had a day or two before the broo's ritual completes. He grimaced. "The problem is that the spirits tell me that the Lunar's ship will be here in a day."

Ryala gripped her axe handle. "We'd put up a good fight against one, but two foes? We'd be caught between!"

Astra, who had been listening and, of course, thinking suddenly smiled. "If we could get caught between them, why can't they get caught in between as well?"

Aud tilted her head to one side. "What do you mean?"

"The Lunar runelord obviously wants the bone. Why not let them fight? While they are busy with that..."

Mantis finished the thought, "...we can sneak in! Yes! With the help of our elemental friends, we can come from behind during the fight and snatch the artifact. It's too big to carry into combat and far too valuable to risk like that. I have a rough layout of the cave system already mapped for us. We can do this!"

The consensus carried the day and they prepared to set off. The bisonriders renewed the blessing of the Bull on them and retreated back to their village. After they left, the reinvigorated heroes watched as Mantis called up an elemental and said. A grumbly sort of conversation followed and the roughly human-shaped earthen being gave a rock to Mantis. It had a glowing rune of earth carved on it.

Mankar looked at it, curiously. "What's that for?"

The shaman grimaced. "I have to eat it to gain new powers."

"Eat it?! It's almost the size of your fist! Is that the only way?"

"There are ways," he said reluctantly. "Some involved cutting open your body. And there are other options but it's somewhat easier for women, I hear."

The others stared at him blankly until Aud and Astra said, "Ewwww!"

"At any rate, I'll be able to get us through the mountain and speak more easily to the earth elementals after this." With great difficulty, he tried to swallow the stone.

Ryala called over. "Hey, doing okay there? I can help with one of the other methods!" She balled up her fist and made a rapid punching motion with an evil grin on her face.

Mantis tried to ignore her and finally swallowed the rock.

Aud pointed up the slope. "I think they are here." Indeed, they spotted the moonboat 'climbing' slowly up the mountain toward the cave complex. Whether it was because the red moon's influence was weak here or the steepness of the slope, the craft was moving slowly, though steadily.

Mankar nodded. "Let's be off. How long will it take your rocky friend to make a tunnel for us?"

"It's more of a path than a tunnel but not long at all. A minute at most."

"Then let's wait for them to fully engage in their combat and then move in. We don't want the broo to detect our arrival, after all, and I have little desire to encounter such a foul creature."

After another half hour, they were at the spot that Mantis had chosen for entry. Soon afterwards, the aircraft stopped and discharged some of its occupants. Before long, they heard the sounds of swearing and combat including the weird shrieking throaty cries of the broos released when fighting.

"Okay, go!"

Mantis raised his hands and a platform of stone appeared under the heroes. "Don't stray from where you are standing, don't panic, and don't breath the dirt."

"What?!"

Unfortunately, the warning wasn't clear enough because Aud got a mouthful of dust and dirt as the group dove into the mountain. As promised, it wasn't really a tunnel and it was more like being propelled through water. But, like water, it couldn't be breathed! After they popped into a foul-smelling cave, Mankar helped Aud clear out her mouth and shared some of his breath with her until she could manage on her own.

The cave they were in was grotesque, at best. There were lurid and awful paintings on the walls drawn in feces and blood. The other side of the cavern rang with the an amazingly loud combat. Broo shrieks, yells of men and the sound of metal striking flesh and stone echoed around masking the sounds of the heroes who tried to move quietly in the shadows.

In the middle of the cavern was a huge, fat-bellied broo. He was squatting in the middle giving the unlucky humans a clear view of his oversized naked goat haunches. His massive gut was bulging over his knees and he was relentlessly chewing his way through a small deer. Nearby was an unconscious man (thoroughly tied up) surrounded by blood stains. There weren't any bones as the broo was crunching and swallowing them along with the meat and viscera. Though they couldn't see his face, they could feel his rage as he worked to complete his task. Finally, he managed to eat the deer head, crunching rapidly on the skull bones and clearing his throat with stone bowl filled with a black ichor. He stood up and roared a challenge louder than all the combat combined! Dragging himself to his feet, he waddled toward a tunnel opposite the heroes, wielding the jawbone of some massive beast. The weapon was coated with clotted blood and some foul growth that glowed greenly in the dim torchlight of the cave.

Ryala wrinkled her nose. "I did NOT need to see that," she whispered.

Soon the hooting roars of the broo were matched by a lyrical chanting in the language of the Lunar Empire. The cave, which had been merely noisy, now began to shake with the energies being released. Dust and rock feel from the ceiling and one side tunnel collapsed with a deep grinding roar.

Mantis pointed to the side. "There's the rib!" Indeed, the artifact was there but it dwarfed even their wildest expectations.

"THAT is the rib? I thought it was a tree trunk or something!"

"Enough talk! Mantis and Ryala, help me carry that. Astra, you get the sacrifice. Aud, see if there's anything important we should take!"

The three hefted the rib with a certain amount of effort. Perhaps two could have handled it but speed was of the essence. Astra said, "I think this guy will live. It looks like the sacrifice was supposed to be alive." She slapped his cheeks lightly. "Hey, are you going to make it?"

The man opened his eyes but didn't appear to see the heroes. He muttered with a look of horror in his eyes. "Naked. Giant. Goat. Butt." Then he passed out while foaming at the mouth.

Aud hopped onto where the stone platform would be created, gingerly holding a double handful of coins. "Everything else was too awful to touch."

Before anyone else could speak, there was an explosion and the broo runelord was literally blown into the room, his broken body falling in at least three parts accompanied by a spray of 'blood' that was more black than red and CLUNG to surfaces rather than flowed. Just behind the pieces of the broo was the ichor-stained form of the Lunar. She took one staggering step forward and then collapsed onto the floor. Even from their distance, they heroes could see she had died with a large section of her torso gouged out.

Mantis licked his lips and looked over the pile of iron and magic items for the taking. "Should we..."

Mankar growled, "No, damnit! I want that bitch's equipment too. But she won't stay dead long. We need to leave, now!" His heart was torn... he wanted to rip her head off with his bare hands and throw her dismembered body from the mountain!

The shaman nodded and said something in a gravelly voice that he used with earth elementals.

Taking a last look at the downed Lunar, Mankar took some comfort in her ruined and befouled body. "Who's laughing now, Lunar! Ha ha ha ha ha!" While laughing, the elemental suddenly thrust them into the wall and he got a mouthful of dirt.

After struggling to breathe (though he knew there was no point), he suddenly found his air passages were cleared and there was a decidedly more pleasant sensation on his lips. The taste seemed familiar so he wrapped his arms around Aud and turned her lifegiving help into a kiss. "So impetuous! Well, if you insist my precious healer!"

She struggled and hit his chest ineffectually. "Stop that!"

"You are so fickle! First you thrust yourself upon and then pull back... are you toying with my fragile heart?" He grinned up at her but let her go.

She stood up red-faced but just glared at him, though the expression softened after a moment. "Can you breathe normally now?"

He coughed a bit to test his lungs and nodded. "I'll have to learn to gloat sometime when I'm not buried in the ground."

Mantis waved them quiet. "Enough banter. I have a rib to break!" He held up a hand, "In the name of Rocky the Elemental, I break this rib in exchange for the right to journey with his aid!" He brought his hand down on the rib with a firm slap. Though it had seemed strong enough to resist even a warmaul's strike, it shattered magnificently.

Astra raised an eyebrow, "The elemental's name is Rocky?"

The shaman waved off her question. "It doesn't translate well." The elemental appeared and conversed with him briefly. "It says it's ready to take us from here."

Mankar pondered, "Can we delay that for a time? We still need to kill some Lunar tax collectors."

More gravelly conversation ensued. "He said he can briefly."

"How brief is 'briefly'?"

More conversation, "About a century."

Astra rolled her eyes, "In that amount of time, we could kill them just waiting!"

"Enough of this. Let's return to the oasis and prepare for the ambush. I'd like to torch that skyboat but the Runelord will likely be mobile soon and I don't want to risk meeting her... yet."

The trip down the mountain was much easier as most of the broo had been killed already or summoned to assist the Broo Runelord. The bisonriders were delighted that the heroes had returned safely from such a dangerous mission and they celebrated with food and competitions of skill and strength.

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The next morning Aud noticed that the bison were still behaving oddly and told the others.

Astra nodded, "Probably a lingering effect of the Broo's ritual. It will probably clear up before long."

The chief raised his voice, "Let's show these Lunars what we think about them! And tax collectors!"

Once again the powerful Stormbull ritual infused them with strength. Before they were done, Astra yelled to the others over the noise, "We should attack them alone!"

Ryala asked, "Why's that!"

"These guys will attack the mounts first to reduce their combat strength. In their berserker state now, they probably won't hold back and just go with their usual tactics! Besides, they just want to protect they Best Place... I doubt they'll join us!" She was right on all counts and the heroes set off to find their prey.

The Lunars were exactly where the bisonriders said they'd be... on a trail cursing their mounts as they slowly walked toward the oasis.

"What is wrong with these moon-damned horses?!" The lunar with lieutenant markings cursed.

The person with a captain's insignia scowled, "Ensorcellment of some sort. Some heathenish ritual no doubt to capture prey in this wasteland. We're at least going in the right direction and we can kill whoever cast..."

This was when the heroes struck!

Mankar threw his net on the captain, multiplied by his spell. It neatly captured the man struggled against the bond fruitlessly. But his speed was outdone by Mantis's arrows and a spell from Ryala. Mankar bellowed, "Leave none alive! For Orlanth! For victory!"

As per his habit, Mantis rose into the air while he prepared another arrow. The lieutenant grinned and touched something on his waist. Suddenly the lunar AND his horse appeared in the air and he struck at the shaman, leaving a shallow wound on his leg. Stifling a curse, he shot another arrow into the man doing more damage this time.

Meanwhile Ryala had lopped a leg off of another lunar while the others belated realized their mounts were worse than useless. Despite the lingering effects of the Malia worshipper, a fight going over their heads was too much for the horses and they began to panic! Aud teased the bolting horses to her side with some apples and, easy as a breeze at sea, they were surrounding her and nuzzling her hands for more treats.

Mankar followed his nets by bisecting another of the lunar lackeys, ignoring the captain for now. He was suddenly hit by a spell and realized that the man, while down, was certainly not out! "Astra!"

The scholar stepped closer and stabbed her spear into the prone man... an easy target as encumbered as he was. Unfortunately, his armor blocked most of the damage. By this time, though, the tide of battle was determined. Ryala had damaged another lunar to the point that he was nearly unconscious.

Unceremoniously, Mankar stabbed the captain in his throat to forestall any more spellcasting... or breathing for that matter. The rest were finished off as quickly as the others worked together.

After healing and catching their breath, Mantis efficiently stripped the bodies of anything of value and cataloged them. "Coins, gems, armor, horses... and a few things more interesting!" He pointed to items on the sand. "That sword-thing has a death rune."

"Kopesh," Astra interrupted.

"Yes, yes. And the lieutenant was able to fly with the help of this." He indicated a bauble inscribed with a wing inscription.

Mankar grinned. "Excellent! I was hoping for just horses... and dead lunars! I'm going to claim the captain's horse and that item. I need something that gets me closer to the combat. Even if the combat is 20 feet over our heads, ha ha!" He looked at the death rune. "Does anyone want this? I'm guessing no for Aud and I'm declining any further items."

When no one spoke up, Ryala raised her hand. "Death and I are old friends at this point, I'll take it!" Matching deed to word, she pried the runestone off of the kopesh. She hesitated as she looked at the largish stone and gathered her resolve.

Mantis smirked, "Going to swallow or do you need help to 'insert' it?"

She scowled. "Come any closer and the only thing that will be inserted is my broadsword!"

He held up his hands. "No need for violence. I just learned some things at the Uleria temple and I have a largish bottle of a VERY nice oil that..."

"Stop! Just stop!" Without another word, she fought to swallow the stone.

"...might lubricate the rock to make it easier to swallow."

Ryala's face turned red... though from lack of air or anger, it was impossible to tell. Eventually, just before she passed out, she managed to finish the task. In her mind the power was revealed to her: the ability to animate dead bodies to fight for her though not to actually resurrect the dead.

The heroes left with their booty on their newly acquired horses. Of course, the bison riders ritually shunned them afterwards as being tainted by riding horseflesh but Astra assured everyone that this only applied to bisonriders who were viewed as odd and primitive even by other Stormbull worshippers.

Still, they had profited from their time here so the heroes parted with the tribesmen without ill-will or regrets!