[Balorac]

Burning bridges

Rahul climbed on board of the Black Nautilus as the full moon shone over Khemi.

On board the crew was preparing to cast off.

Nexill was giving the rowers from the Black Coast a hard time.
They would learn to hate him soon enough.

On the other side of the deck Milika stood there taking to Mordhain, probably trying to reassure the poor boy with her stories but failing miserably.

He felt it... Mordhain... Mordy... This might be a one way trip.

In the crow's nest he looked at Vonsky. A former enemy. A companion now?

He thought of Cyhl. Sweet Cyhl. Seeing him off.

And then a cloud passed over his moment of bliss.

The man in the hold that he once held in the highest respect.
As an enemy, or was it Balorac's enemy?
Had he hunted an captured somebody who deserved better?

He was pretty sure that whatever he had done, he had not deserved to burn almost beyond recognition in the hold of his ship.
Luckily the wood used in the construction did not burn very easily, so the ship was undamaged.

And luckily the precious guest had survived.

Luckily...

Rahul snorted.

He signaled Vonsky who shot a flaming arrow into the air to alert Kairi and Wolfdann of the Iron Hand to cast the Serena off and start sailing flotilla with the Black Nautilus towards their next port of call, Tortage.

He imagined the arrow would hit his own private wooden bridge and set it alight.

As the rowers got into their benches, some shackled, some free, he looked down into the reflection of the full moon in the tranquil waters of the Styx.

And from his reflection in the water the Beast stared back.

===

Thanks all for the RP tonight!

It was great fun and tomorrow it will continue in Tortage and further...

[Gnothe]

Shame I couldn't make it.. RP on the weekend, phaugh!

[Balorac]

Thanks all for coming tonight and making it another fun evening!

Originally Posted by Gnothe Shame I couldn't make it.. RP on the weekend, phaugh!

Well, as it happens the show continues tomorrow as the Black Nautilus reaches Caldera! For those who like to join in, we have the following roles that make sense:

* Mercenaries on the Black Nautilus (Rahul's crew) or on the Serena (Iron Hand)
* Competing treasure hunters or others groups that come to Caldera for treasure or simply to thwart Blackthorn
* Picts
* Certain key extras

Send me a forum mail if you want to join.

===

Death ship

Death ship, the Pictish woman had called it.

A lovely nomenclature for our expedition vessel and with a few appropriate meanings.

The Death Ship that brought Nexill and Milika to Tortage, who killed some sailors and a bunch of guards within a few hours of shore leave.

The Death Ship that nearly meant the death for all of us as the Tortage militia fired their ballistas at us as we fled the harbour, not to mention the demented Pict women who blew a hole of about a foot in the bow... Just because we happened to have captured her sister...

The Death Ship because only a thorough check of Mordhain prevented us from sailing away with rotting rations underneath a layer of good materials.
I shudder to think how that would have ended.

The Death Ship because of the dying man that we are carrying in the hold.

The Death Ship because of what we are going to do on Caldera.

The Death Ship because of this infernal dagger that is part of its cargo.

Rahul sits in the confines of his private cabin on the Black Nautilus and unwraps a fine piece of cloth to reveal a black wicket looking dagger, that the Vendyans call Phurba of Dark Wings.

[Tielan]

Tielan sat alone upstairs in the trading post of Summeria's Hold, home of the Hand of Ibis and temporary shelter for one or two of her people and some of Kathal Chieftain's kinsmen too.

She was turning the object in her hand over and over thoughtfully, then stopping occasionally to stare intently at it again.
The darkly jewelled dagger seemed to move in her hand as she looked at it yet she could feel no movement. Phurbas of Dark Wings, Teleia had called it in her notes.
Shivering invuluntary, only partly from the cold, she lay the dagger back on the folded red fabric in the box, closed the lid and continued to read the notes she'd found with it from Teleia.

Unfamiliar names and locations jumped from the pages in a hand she recognised as Telia's own. Sorcerors, a demon of chaos and darkness, rituals, and a hidden key to help bring the demon back. Something Balorac wanted to do really badly and should be stopped from doing at all costs. And what had happened to the rings she'd copied that day in Akhet? Had Teleia passed them on to anyone? There was no mention in her notes. It made no sense.

She sighed heavily, placed the notes carefully back in the box alongside the mysterious dagger, and leaned her head against the wall. Why did Teleia have to leave her now? and why had she left the dagger with her?
Caldera.......such a long way away and nothing she could do about it while the frozen mountains held her in their grip. She frowned and rubbed her forehead thoughtfully. She'd have passed the problem to her Elders before, but now...........

.....but now, she had more pressing worries and no Elders to turn to any more. Find Somewhere to live first,she thought to herself. Food to hunt, a place to sleep. She pulled the pelts around her and tried to rest. Kathal and Cedric would be back in the morning, hopefully, with news of the expedition. Maybe they'd know what to do.

[Milly]

The trip took already more than a week. Ten days if to be exact. The island Caldera where we headed was seen on the horizon now, dusky, surrounded by mist. Scary place. After all we went through this is promising to be the worst of the all. What bad happened you ask? Tortage. I was there first time in my life and it was not such interesting place as I expected. Disgusting ugly pirates staring at me and letting out different perverted comments each time I walked near ones… Nexill, that strange man who got in trouble and killed three locals right in the street. In the tavern, where we had to meet a man called Biggish Bill we discovered that some crazy pict woman wanted to damage our ship because thought we were “Death bringers” and cursed. We had to kidnap her friend and tie her to the sail so she would not blow up the ship where he friend was…. We were wrong. She still did it but fortunately for us – not successfully.

Oh did I forget to mention also that local militia and guards were chasing our rowers from the docks and when we tried to leave the port in rush they were shooting in us with ballista? The projectile made a hole in the board and killed three rowers there… At least it was high enough from waterline to not make the ship sink.

Then was even more interesting. Three pirates who we met in Tortage tavern sneaked into our ship in hope to get some of the treasures. At least they thought we were after them… what fools. We decided for some time what to do with them. From one side it was cruel to just kill curious people, from other they were hungry mouths and our supplies were limited and were enough to just get to Caldera. I remembered that thanks to one of them we discovered about the pict woman’s plan to sabotage our ship and told about it to Rahul. He made a wise choice and spared them. But they had to change our dead rowers under desk.

Caldera. Before setting foot on this distant and forgotten land Rahul explained many things we were about to face. They came all from legends but sounded creepy… The island once belonged to ancient serpent-men race and it was possible that they could still exist there. Also there were rumors about huge monkey people who were savage and merciless. That day I hoped it all was just fairy tales and nothing more, that we will get to the island, freely venture through it, get what Rahul was after and safely return. People mistake too often…

We left the ship with part of the crew in the wide cavern and ventured deep inside the island. It was a very hot place with jungles, strange creepy noises of different yet unknown creatures came from all directions and never called down. Our way lied through watered swamps and grassy valleys and we had to avoid small settlements of serpent-people, those who were thought to be a myth. Several patrols and hunters from that strange folk chased us and tried to attack but we destroyed them all. They looked like humans mostly but their skin was like scale and the snake eyes reflected evil. Also there were monkeys… so many of them and so devilish wicked… they attacked us many times in packs and even by one, but all met their end from our blades.

Our crew thinned with time as we went deeper and deeper. Someone was killed on the way, someone was missing the next second you you’d turn your face from them. Two people as I thought lost their minds and fled into the jungle… what happened to them? Guess the worst and don’t want to think about it. I was terrified.

The jungle were endless… and we started thinking we were lost. But suddenly we say a strnge tall stone with serpent woman lying tied on it. Around her and down around the stone were many of the monkey people. From screams of the woman it was clear she was about to be sacrificed. We decided that if we save her she would not be hostile to us and help with directions a little. We rushed to battle. It was a mess I must say, I never like fighting but here I had no choice. Monkey died in big numbers and soon fled away as they understood they were no match to us. The woman as we expected was helpful and even could understand out language. She shown us the way to the big temple-like building where Rahul expected to find the artifact we were after. And of course the temple was not abandoned…

There were several winged serpent people, they looked much stronger than any other creatures we met here before and as soon as they spotted us they charged in attack. They were truly furious fighters but we managed to defeat them and to claim the small part of the temple. Rahul and the serpent woman who was now our ally started exploring the strange pictures and texts on the walls of the temple. It was only me, Rahul, Mordheim and her who left in group after the terrible journey. Then… then……

Milika opened eyes and turned her head around trying to understand where she was. It was very dark, smelly and wet place. Her whole body was hurting terribly and she could not move at all. Trying to understand what happened she suddenly gasped in terror as she remembered her fall. When she was in the high temple room with others she stepped on something and the floor under her opened wide, swallowing her into a thin but very deep and dark tunnel. She yelled as she fell but could do nothing, she slid down in the darkness and then fainted. Milika turned her head towards thin light coming from somewhere far. It were iron bars and after them water surface. A spark of hope flashed in her head but when she tried to move her whole body was shocked with pain. Silently groaning she thought that if she broke a leg or even both it would be the end of her. She would never make it out and get to the ship… Her had ran through her damaged leather armor down to legs and found many bruises and cuts on her skin but the bones seemed to be still undamaged. With a relief the woman started crawling towards the light and soon reached it. It was a lake outside the temple and to get out she only needed to somehow remove the iron bars… She tried to push them and with great relief heard an expected noise – the stone holding the bars was too old, with cracks and if pushed well enough the bars would move away from it.

The strength started coming back to her and she could lift up a bit and stand of her four. The tunnel she was in was too small to afford more. The darkness behind her was so deep and utter she didn’t want to look back into it. Her all forces were now focused on getting out of the tunnel through these bars. She pushed the bars again falling on them with her shoulder and helping with feet, fixing them on the stony walls of the tunnel. Suddenly she stopped and the creeping fear grabbed her heart. Something was in the tunnel behind her… She turned her head back into the utter darkness and the strange moan came out of it again… Something was crawling to her… something knew about her presence. She gasped and picked up her sword which was too long for this tiny space to swing it properly. But it was her only hope now. From one side was the freedom behind iron bars, from other side the darkness and approaching unknown creature…

[Galadh]

Thank you from the event Balorac & Co.

Clegg, Fatsy and Jip enjoyed from the little adventure. Perhaps they are not brightest stars on the sky, but nevertheless a good decent pirates at least and good rowers. *bows and smiles with his toothless mouth*

It was good entertainment to row many days in row and listen Dropkick Murphys - Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya


PS. If it still continues then merry pirate group is ready for more action.

[Balorac]

Thanks to all who joined our version of and then there were none in the serpent and apeman infested jungles of Caldera.

It was fun and hectic, and certainly something to be repeated in the future.

Originally Posted by Galadh PS. If it still continues then merry pirate group is ready for more action.

Well actually, Rahul and Jip are making their way back from the Sanctum of Yig to the hidden harbor. Hopefully the brave pirates who went back to defend the ship when it got really crazy will be there again as the survivors are shipping up to Tortage.

The first location will be the hidden harbor of Caldera, for which we pick the cavernous area in Thunder River, below the Prison Colony.

It will start again at 21:00 CET / 20:00 UKST.

Hopefully see you all there!

[Balorac]

Run, don't look back

*Rahul runs as if the Erlik himself is on his heels, which is not too far from the truth*

It feels strange, now that it's gone

Keep up, Jip, I hear them coming...

Balorac had planned this all from the start, a pretty nice feat for a boneheaded Cimmerian...

*he nearly smashes into a tree as he loses his balance, the cloak bundled up with heavy loot bouncing on his back*

How we 'found' Zackita there, how we were led to the fang of Yig and how he just happened to swoop in on dark wings by the time we open the final door to the sanctum.

Nooo, not that way Jip! I think I say some of them flyers through the trees...

*his heart is bouncing in his throat as suddenly a winged serpent-like creature lands in front of him. He quickly dispatches it and sees that Jip does the same with another fiend a few meters away*

Focus Rahul focus... Balorac killed the Rakshasa with his dagger and used it to fuel his escape with Zackita, but with the demise of the demon something is lost. I can feel it.

Jip, keep it up... we are nearly there. Just over that ridge...

*he bounds over roots, dodges tree branches and vaults over sudden outcrops of rock*

I am free, free to make my own decisions. Free... to go back and save Milika and Mordhain from the archfiend that Balorac released when he gutted poor Helshad with the Fang

*he suddenly skids to a halt, drops the bag, and shouts in response to Jip's questioning look*

Go on Jip, you are nearly there. I have some lives to save...

or die trying

[Helshad]

((Extracts from the journal of Helshad))

((OOC: Most of this story derives from logs from Zackita, Balorac and Ansea who played out the scene. Thanks guys you are the best *hugs*. This story takes place after the “hunt” story and before he met Ravni and is the beginning of the new life of Helshad and his brutal adventures.))

The Blessing of Yig

His head hurt badly as he woke up feeling like he was still on a ship but he soon realised it wasn’t as the bumps on a ship was softer, it was too hard and rough. He soon realised he was buried under pelts in a wagon and it was really cold outside. That’s when images of what had happened started to flash back to him with a surging pain. He remembered how he got drugged again but he never really fell unconscious and remembered that this man, Darshan, had removed him from his shackles and smuggled him out of the ship before it took off. He also remembered someone being chained in his place and then set on fire. He wouldn’t have cared much about it if it hadn’t been that strange dream, or was it really a dream? It had to have been he thought as he tried to make sense of the images in his head. It all had felt so real it had actually scared him and at the same time it must have had some effect on him as he felt really numb inside. Then it was Darshan, that voice, it had made him feel nauseous for some reason when he was close and whatever it was he had said it was there in the back of his head like venom infecting his mind. The images however overwhelmed him again and he looked back on the odd happenings to the man who he for a while had thought been himself. He had seen himself being pulled along to some place on an island and to what he remembered looked like an ancient offering place of some sorts. He could see a multitude of artefacts and jewels standing in urns and in the middle a large jewelled fang of about a metre in length. Rahul was there as was Zackita and some other poor soul he didn’t know. She seemed afraid but Zackita did not, while Rahul drew a circle in the marble on the floor.

The woman who came with them stared at the riches and said “shiny”. Zackita only said “Yig, my father, protect me.” She was sort of talking to the huge fang in the room. The woman asked if it was cursed and Rahul said yes and she hesitated but Zackita headed over to the fang and said it was blessed. Then Helshad felt a cold chill in the air as he was standing at one of the walls dizzy and unable to move. Zackita picked up something that looked like an Amethyst and then a screeching sound came through the air and something darkened the sun. The woman said “what be that!” While Rahul said “What in Tarim´s name?” Zackita exclaimed “By set”. While he himself stood silent only feeling the cold. A large pair of dark wings descended upon the structure they were at while Zackita was praying “Father of darkness protect me and lend me the strength of your demons.” The woman whimpered and tried to make her small but not him himself. He just stood there dazed. Red eyes started to emerge from the dark creature and seemed to be carrying something in its arms. It felt like his head was going to explode suddenly but the pain in him was always numb and the others seemed to suffer more than he did. Zackita didn’t seem hurt though while the others clutched their heads and the woman began to cry. “YIG!” Zackita shouted as a welcome to the dark beast. A naked man emerged from the black wings as the creature dissolves behind him. It was Balorac himself. “ARGH! BLOOD SLIME and Ravaging polar bears!” Zackita exclaimed, maybe she felt the pain to, he wasn’t sure. Balorac then spoke “Well, well Zackita… You sound like your old self again.” He grinned at her and then walked over the woman on the floor without as much as a glance and towards the squirming Rahul.

Zackita looked up with tears in her eyes. “Oh what? What are you doing here? And what happened to your face?” She asked Balorac. “You did well, my servant. I will relieve you of your duty after you have done one final act for me... but first…” He talked to Rahul but then looked at Helshad who still stood silent covered by the hood. He walked up to him and pulled his hood off exposing the burned man underneath. It had felt as if he was really there but somehow he knew it wasn’t him. “Nice to see you again, Helshad.” He never replied to him but just stared at him with one good eye and groaned some as if in pain. He could feel it somehow but yet not as any normal person would. Zackita stared at him and the woman on the floor seemed clueless as to what was going on. Balorac then spoke again “I told you that you might live, but I lied... For me to pay off my debt, you must die…” Zackita seemed to start smiling and so did Balorac while he walked over to the huge fang and took it from the pedestal. Helshad didn’t move or do anything and just watched feeling the odd pain and groaned some. Whatever Darshan had did he had done it well he thought to himself in a moment of clarity in the wagon. The images then took over again and he saw Balorac and heard his voice again “From what I know this takes the fang, the sanctum and somebody blessed by Set...” He then shouted out loudly “Gerash magerash hasheel!” Zackita looked as if she watched in some sort of joyful terror. The woman on the floor just tried to peer at the scene without being seen herself.

Balorac then thrusts the massive fang through Helshad's abdomen and up through his chest cavity so the point protrudes from his shoulder and gave it a good wrench and stepped back. This time he felt the pain sharply, as if it was done directly to him and the body, whoever he was, started to spams and his flesh seemed to be torn from his bones some gruesome transformation. Balorac chuckled “Damn, I am happy that this worked...You never know with ancient artefacts and rituals and all...” Helshad felt as if he was incinerated alive and the body screamed in agony before it went silent and the body caved into the fang until it was nearly gone. Somehow he still felt he was there, as if his soul was trapped in the scene and heard Balorac speak again. “Did you all see that? That was just disgusting...” Zackita smiled a crooked cold smile and began to speak. “For my father, must you rot in eternal pain and for ever be lost. Blessed by Nergal, taken and freed. Cursed by Set and Yig for your betrayal of his prophet, the voice of set.” He remembered then how much pain he caused her and in his own mind he smiled some at the scene knowing she would get the surprise of her life once they met again. He wondered however why he felt so eager to do that. The images came back and he saw that from the fang a froth seems to be emerging that creeps along the bones and starts to harden. “Keep it up, Zackita.” Balorac said while watching. The woman on the floor just tried to hide while Zackita began to scream like a little girl, just as he remembered her doing in Conall’s valley once. “YOU KILLED MY FATHER!

Slowly but surely the shape of a man begins to reform while Balorac spoke. “More like that, babe.” Zackita screamed out “I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I even spared your life, your Mitra infested vermin!” The froth solidifies into pale flesh that slowly hardens and grows scales. The creature grows claws and fangs, a snakelike but very human looking head in the shape of Helshad's and two very human eyes that look at Zackita with sorrow. Balorac addressed it “Who are you?” The woman on the floor looked on in amazement at the transformation of who they thought was Helshad. The monster hissed back “Yglissssssssss…” Balorac nodded solemnly and that’s where the images began to fade for Helshad and he returned to the reality of the wagon he travelled in. He suddenly began to laugh catching the wagoner´s attention that looked inside the pelts and saw that his cargo had awakened. He didn’t know why he laughed so much but it felt good somehow, whatever had happened he now was free and could do whatever he wanted. Not exactly true, he thought to himself and grinned. I will focus my life on revenge from now on and get them all who been a thorn in my life for so long. No more mister nice guy he chuckled to himself. He didn’t know why but he felt refreshed by the thought of revenge and the more he thought of it the more he liked it. He had the upper hand now, they thought he was dead, and once he struck at them they wouldn’t know what hit them. They would all bathe in their own blood before I rest he grinned while the wagoner continued the journey to Cimmeria and all who stands in my way will suffer the same fate. He sat up and the wagoner looked scared of him seeing that evil grin on his face as he got up and sat next to him watching the mountains of Cimmeria grow up around them.

[Milly]

It was Mordhein. Derketo’s mercy how I was scared that moment! By seeing poor groaning Mordhein as he was crawling towards me from the darkness of the tiny outflow tunnel when I thought it was some monstrous creature wishing to taste my flash. I helped him a little and together we tried to push the iron bars. We managed and the way was open and the freedom called us. We fell in the lake near the temple and swam away from it. Looking back there were the snake people all around, roaming and looking for something… most likely those who killed their comrades not long ago. This gave Milika some relief to her heart as it meant that Rahul and little pirate girl managed to get away safely… But what about them, Milika and Ьщкврушт? Rahul could think they were dead and make his way back to the ship, to safety, to leave this cursed island. Me and Mordhein swam to the opposite shore, hidden by liens of the jungle forest from eyes of the serpent people. And when we crawled out from the water on the shore I collapsed on the warm ground and gasped with no force remaining.

- We need to rest, you look wasted, Milika. - Said Mordhein. He was right…

- Just five minutes… then we must go if we want to get to the ship with Rahul. If we are late we are dead.

Mord agreed and in five minutes we made our way away from the temple. Shivering, tires, bleeding, hungry and very depressed I didn’t know if I could move any further… But then happened something I didn’t expect. It was Rahul’s voice calling for us. He returned to save us! It was amazing feeling, a spark of hope. Cheerfully I yelled in return and soon we found each other. Rahul said that he and Jip, the pirate girl, made their way almost to the cave where they ships were… but then he felt he had to return and try to save us. And he did.

Together we went deep in the jungle to the ships. But… we go lost. It was already becoming late and sun was rolling down over the sky. The island was not large but still we were here first time and the hostile creatures roaming around and threatening to attack us did not help to navigate so well. So we took a very dangerous decision – to climb up somewhere far, over wait the night and in with first sunlight to continue our way to the ships.

We decided to not make any fire not to attract the lizard people and gladly the air here was wet and so hot that even when it became darker it still was very warm. It was the time for Rahul to tell us the true reasons of why we came to this place. I discovered a lot that time. But out conversation was not finished and we had no chance to close our eyes even for a short nap… as the jungles trembled from a horrible loud roar, a roar that could bear only a very massive creature. We gave up the idea to wait for the night pass… we made our way to the ships right away.

We were lucky and Rahul soon found the right direction. There in the cave the pirates were waiting, Woldann and Nexill, men who we thought we lost in the jungle were here too, as always arguing and threatening each other. How lovely! They saw us and greeted warmly… at least some of them. The pirated did not seem very happy about not getting what they wanted – treasures and gold. But they were about to be very surprised as Rahul arrived not empty handed. After me and Mordhain fell he managed to find some of the temple jewelry and gems and of coursed “borrowed” some. He poured the treasures on the floor and the pirates jumped on them like mad… they were crawling and whimpering like kids from common district who were given a pile of the sweetest candies. But it was not yet the time to cheer. Behind, in the jungle something enormous appeared and it something by the sounds of crashing jungle trees were making it’s way here… On the way to ships we were attacked by some crazy crocodile mutants and Nexill was wounded by one of them. Is it usually happens to be with strange creatures, the bite was poisonous and poor meanie could no longer walk by himself. Rahul came to his help and carried him forth.

We reached the ships and hastily started preparing to sail away. No one had rest these moments, everyone even Rahul sat with the rowers to help. The sail got the wind, the oars hit the water and two ships left the cursed island of Caldera. Through the mist and silence of waters around the island we heard the tremendous roars again. The crew started whispering and talking about something incredible and terrifying. Rahul sat in front of me and turned his head back, I saw how changed his face and it could not mean anything good.

- I very hope this creature wears wings only for show-off… I really hope it can’t fly. – Then he looked at me and added. – Better don't look back. Just look forward and row.

I nodded and kept rowing. But you know what the curiosity is… you know what it forces people to do, ignoring all warnings and possible troubles. I looked back and saw… I never saw anything like that. It was the most huge-ass bat-serpent-human monster and it was sitting on the rock where the cave we left was… He glared at us with anger and hunger at us, hissing and unfolding his huge membrane wings. I screamed like never screamed, don’t know what now was more scary for the crew, the monster or my defining yell. Rahul then jumped up and rushed to the back desk ballista, started preparing it for a shot. The monster was about to try his first flight. I imagined how his huge body will collapse on our ships and crash them like they were made of grass blades… But something stopped him. A strange woman figure emerged from the water in front of him and told him something, asked him to stop for now as I was told later. We were safe now… for now.

Several hours passed when we finally felt that nothing was threatening us any more. It was time to take care of poor poisoned Nexill and to have a look at the treasures Rahul managed to get. I was right of course when said it was not a good idea to let the pirates keep the treasures… the fools ate a part of them to keep them hidden. Poor poor fools. I bet the pirates were forced then to dig in their own poo and get every single gem, ring or coin the swallowed. I don’t know that, I just went to lower desk to sleep. Enough for me for today!