Sea Season to Fire Season 1615
The party arrived at Wild Temple on 42 Sea Season. Kirwin, Darkos, Grant and Gramper travelled back with the centaurs to see what Lord Ironhoof wanted with them. The Lord of Beast Valley still resided among the ancient stones atop Wild Temple Hill. ‘I gave you aid when you needed it,’ said the centaur hero and demi-god, ‘and now I require your help in return.’
They could barely refuse.
There was at Wild Temple three Grazelanders – traditional friends and allies of the folk of Beast Valley who worshipped the Sun and rode upon magnificent horses. Their names were Vantarl Devotsson, Oris Firebow and Chun-Sa. They had ridden from the north, from Maregraze Vale, and were hunting tusker riders who had slipped unnoticed into Beast Valley. Vantarl was hunting them because many years before he and his family had been attacked by tusk riders and his wife and daughter had been killed by them. For years he had been trying to locate the warband that had fallen upon them and at last he had found them in Beast Valley. With Oris and Chun-Sa they sought revenge and appealed to Ironhoof to stalk and attack the tuskers in the centaur king’s lands.
Facing such a foe, Ironhoof agreed to send help with the Grazers and so Grant rode with them to hunt down the raiders. Vantarl proved himself to be a cold and efficient killer, single-minded and set on revenge. Among the burning remains of a farmstead that had been attacked by the tuskers they found a woman who had been raped. Vantarl drew his knife and cut the woman’s throat. ‘Better that,’ he snarled, ‘than she should give birth to a bastard.’
Chun-Sa was offended by Vantarl’s actions, but stayed his tongue in deference to a clan leader.
Chun-Sa, Grant and Oris kept silent about Vantarl’s ways but there was a growing tension between them and their taciturn leader.
Then one night the four of them found the tusker camp. Vantarl and Chun-Sa decided to go and scout the camp to get a better idea of numbers and the lay-out of the camp. Getting closer to the tents Vantarl pointed out to Chun-Sa the shaman’s shelter. ‘Let’s go in there and kill him now,’ said Vantarl. ‘That way they will be severely weakened’. Chun-Sa was not so keen, but honour-bound to follow Vantarl. ‘You go in to distract any guardian spirits and I will kill the shaman,’ said Vantarl. Chun-Sa protested. ‘It will not be for long,’ Vantarl explained. ‘As soon as the shaman is dead the spirits will flee.’
Slipping into the tent Chun-Sa was immediately engaged by a fearsome and screaming wraith. Vantarl went for the shaman, but the noise had woken him and his guards. Making a lunge for the tusker shaman, Vantarl grabbed the man and held a knife to his throat warning the guards to stay away else he would kill him there and then. Exhausted and drained, Chun-Sa fell to his knees, as the wraith disappeared at the shaman’s orders.
With all this commotion the rest of the tuskers had roused and drawn their weapons. Up high on the hills, looking down on the camp, Oris and Grant could see there was a disturbance and so mounted up and made their way down to the camp.
In the tent a stalemate had been reached. Vantarl still held the tucker shaman with the tuskers waiting for the sign to move on him. And then, in through the doorway, came a human girl. Dirty and bedraggled, showing the grime of living with the tuskers, she stood there looking at what was happening. Vantarl saw the girl and then a spark of recognition. ‘Jh’ena..?’ he whispered.
With one swift move he cut the throat of the shaman, cutting deep and hard, and lunged for the girl. He grabbed her about the waist and, before the tuskers had time to react, he fled the tent with his daughter. Close on his heels were the tuskers, keen for revenge. In this confusion Chun-Sa chose his moment and carefully slipped out the way he had come in.
As Vantarl fled with Jh’ena the tuskers threw javelins and slings at the two. Oris and Grant made a timely arrival. Oris held the horses so they could mount up and Grant rode forward, braving the tusker’s missile fire, to protect them as they made their getaway.
They fled the tusker camp and made for the hills for safety. It was then they found that Jh’ena had been struck by a tusker javelin and killed while in the arms of her father.
Vantarl was distraught. All those years he believed his daughter to be dead just to find her and lose her at the same moment. He dismounted his horse, giving it to Oris and Chun-Sa, his kinsmen, and asked them to give his daughter a true Grazer funeral. He would stay behind. He would stand his ground. When the tuskers came he would cut them down until he too was taken.
At Wild Temple Oris and Chun-Sa spent three days wailing and lamenting for the spirit of Jh’ena. Meanwhile Ironhoof asked the others to send an embassy to the Feather Horse Queen, the ruler of the Grazers. Kirwin, Grant, Gramper and Darkos discussed what to do next. They decided they should meet the Grazers and keep contact with the centaurs as possible allies. But also they realised they should maintain contact with their friends in Sartar. So it was decided that Kirwin would make his way back to Grey Dog village, where his young wife waited for him, Darkos would remain at Wild Temple with the centaurs and Grant and Gramper would head for Queen’s Post in Hiia’s Valley. Escorting Grant and Gramper would be Oris and Chun-Sa.
The ride across the Dragonspine Hills took just over three days. During this time they noticed they were being followed by a party of Lunar scouts. Oris Tracked them and counted nearly two dozen antelope riders. With those kind of odds they decided against an ambush.
When they reached Hiia’s Valley, where the Humakti hero Hiia was the favoured deity of the Grazers, they reported the Lunar riders to the Lighthoof clansmen. They continued along the river valley until five days after leaving Wild Temple they were in Queen’s Post, the home of the fabled Feathered Horse Queen.
The Queen was found to be sad. She had tears painted beneath her eyes. When asked what upset her she replied, ‘Woo is me. There is a sadness in my heart. My people weep with the earth, with our beasts, with the rooks and crows who roost in the highest boughs, with the spirits of the plants and crops. Ours is a woeful time.
‘Our herds run lame and we are incapable of healing them. Our beasts suffer in labour and we cannot ease this pain. Our people succumb to illness and we cannot soothe their discomfort.
‘Alas for us, the White Horse Herd have disappeared.’
Oris and Chun-Sa explained to Grant and Gramper that the White Horse Herd where pure-white, magical horses brought many centuries ago by a Grazer hero called Jardandarin. The Grazers have no healing magic of their own and so they need the White Horse Herd to teach them healing magic and skills. If the White Horse Herd goes missing so do the Grazer healing abilities. The only way to return the herd was by way of a special Grazer Heroquest! Oris and Chun-Sa readily volunteered to take up this challenge and Grant agreed to go with them.
To perform this Quest the three of them had to re-enact the myth of Jardandarin, acting as this ancient hero would have done and performing the same feats and rituals he did. The Feathered Horse Queen performed a special ceremony over them, warning them they would, ‘only find what you took with you.’
Unarmed and naked, but sparkling with the inner fire of the heroquester, they made their way across Golden Horse Valley and down into the Dryad Woods on the first day of Fire Season 1615ST.
For a day and a night they wandered lost among the ferns and brush of the woods. At last they came to a grove shrouded in mist. In this mist there was a dryad who cried for pity and help – terrible monsters plagued her grove at night and she was powerless to stop them. Grant, Chun-Sa and Oris stayed with her and at night the grove was invaded by zombies who dug at the ground, raking up the soil and flowers. They attacked these creatures and then Chun-Sa saw a dark shadow among the trees. He followed this spirit until he came to another grove, wherein there was a dark and rotten tree with an opening among the roots. He approached, but as he did he was overcome with a terrible fear of this place and stood at the edge, throwing boulders at the tree.
Oris soon found him but when he saw the tree he too was possessed with fear. It was up to Grant to pull them back and cast protective magicks on them. Chun-Sa approached the rotten tree again and entered the gap among the roots and descended down into the dark. Out of the shadows claws struck at Chun-Sa as he went deeper and deeper. At the bottom he found a skeleton entwined with the roots of the tree and so he brought the bones once more to the surface. Returning to the grove they gave the bones to the dryad who called upon a large earth elemental to take the bones deep into the ground.
Their trek continued into the woods. Soon they felt hunger and thirst. Wild hunting dogs prowled the woods, and the three of them managed to wound and kill one of the dogs for meat so they would not starve. They had to cross a fast flowing river and a large rockfall. Then they came into a clearing.
In this clearing was a wooden fort, burnt and broken. Oris approached and heard a moaning coming from within. There in the hall he saw a man writhing on the floor, a sword stuck in his chest up to the hilt. Oris took a firm hold of the sword and pulled it out. The man stopped moving and Oris thought he had died. Then he moved. Standing up he addressed Oris: ‘I am Harstul Varok, the Sure Hand of Death, and I thank you for your charity and mercy my friend. Laid low by treachery, I have rotted here for an age it seems, but by your courage my soul is free again.’ For his courage Oris was granted the gift of the Wyrd Strike – a powerful blessing from Humakt.
Weak and delirious from hunger and exhaustion they soon came upon a plateau that stood high on chalk cliffs and looked out across the Dryad Woods. Realising they had reached the place of the White Horse Maiden they all fell to their knees in prayer and blessing to her kindness. At dusk she appeared to them from out the mist in the woods below. Beautiful and pure she was, a vision of kindness and gentleness. For their honour she revealed to them the White Horse Herd. When they looked into the mist they saw the horses! The rolling mists were the horses – a conundrum of hooves and wild manes that floated up to the plateau. One by one they were thrown onto the backs of the horses and then they charged off into the woods.
For Gramper, the Feathered Horse Queen and her entourage it had been no more than a few minutes when Grant, Oris and Chun-Sa appeared, leading the legendary White Horse Herd. For the three questers several days and nights had elapsed. When they returned they found they had all acquired magical abilities – Grant found he could ride confidently as a natural horseman, Chun-Sa was awake to the animal kingdom around him and Oris developed a natural affinity with horses to such a degree that he became known as Horse Whisperer – to such an extent that he became unaware he had ever been called Oris Firebow.
But while these marvels were marvelled at a rider came to the assembled group. Lunars had struck! In the north, along Maregraze Vale, Lunars and tusker mercenaries had been raiding. Maregraze was the home of Chun-Sa and Horse Whisperer. The Feathered Horse Queen ordered a scouting party be sent out to get an idea of numbers and disposition of the Lunars while an army was raised to counterattack. Grant, Gramper, Chun-Sa and Horse Whisperer offered to lead the scouting mission and Grant was gifted the best mount from the Queen’s own paddock. They rode out with twenty Grazer braves.
As they crossed the Dragonspine Hills, heading north for Maregraze, they came upon Grazer refugees making their way south. They asked what had happened and were told, ‘Lunars have razed North Post and occupied most of Maregraze Vale. They control the Old Road crossing just south of Long Lake. There are Lunar scouts camped atop Signal Hill.’
They declared their intent to attack Signal Hill and asked the refugees if any warriors wished to ride with them. Another eighteen joined their number. To make the attack they decided to split into two and approach from different directions. Horse Whisperer and Gramper would lead half across the Dragonspine Hills and Chun-Sa and Grant would lead the rest along Golden Horse Valley and attack from that way. Along Golden Horse Valley Grant’s mount, the one given to him by the Queen, stepped in a pot-hole and threw Grant. Grant was bruised but not badly hurt but the horse went lame. He swapped mounts with another rider who would lead the animal back to Queen’s Post. Chun-Sa wondered aloud if this had not been a bad omen…
The two groups approached at night, several miles apart and unable to communicate with each other. When they reached Signal Hill they saw there were a great many campfires atop the hill. They stopped counting at twenty and there were many, many, more. Both groups realised this was more than a scouting party. Horse Whisperer and Gramper decided it would be foolish and reckless to attack and assumed the others would reach the same conclusion. They decided they would wait until sunlight and scout around to the north of Signal Hill, hoping to meet up with Grant and Chun-Sa.
Chun-Sa, meanwhile, fired up with anger had raised his weapons to call upon his group to charge up the hill and raid the Lunar camp. Grant, ever cautious, was not so keen. Unfortunately, however, he allowed himself to be drawn into the charge. The Battle of Signal Hill took place on 8 Fire Season 1615 and marked the first attempt by the Grazers to repel the Lunar invasion of 1615.
The charge, though, failed. The omens had been correct. The assault was doomed from the outset and of those that set out on the raid only five returned alive. Among the fallen was Chun-Sa and his name was sung with honour from that day forth for his bravery. Grant McKielson survived the charge but he returned to Queen’s Post with his nerves frayed by Lunar magic and his body scarred and wounded by the Lunar defenders.
To greet them back at Queen’s Post was Darkos and Cleombrotus, who had made his way south to Wild Temple. They all held council with the Feathered Horse Queen on what should be done next. The advice was that Grazer strength lay in their speed and mobility and that rather than face the Lunars in open battle they were better off conducting a guerrilla war and attacking Lunar supplies and logistics. The Grazers readily agreed this was the best tactic and also decided to send an embassy to Ironhoof and the beast people at Wild Temple. They were also told how a powerful spirit had been detected in the north, heading south. Whether this was a ghost or a Lunar heroquester no-one was too sure but all were certain it could be no friend.Listening at the edge of this conversation they noticed a dark-clad warrior mounted on a powerful warhorse. This stranger’s name was Sigurd Offnial. Cleombrotus was suspicious about this man and spoke to Darkos about him. Sigurd had a sickly pallour and told Grant, Darkos, Gramper and Cleombrotus that he had been looking for them for a long time. He told them he had spoken to Forang Farosh and that he knew of the prophesy revealed to them and that he was the eighth man (The Man whose heart never beats). He also said they should return to Tink to speak to Forang as soon as possible.
So that is what they decided to do. Darkos, Gramper, Cleombrotus, Sigurd and Grant left Queen’s Post for Tink. Horse Whisperer knew the northern Grazelands well, and he volunteered to lead them along difficult to follow and obscure trackways that the Lunars would have trouble finding.
On 19 Fire Season 1615ST they were in Tink where they found Bolgbiter and O’Mallard still propping up the bar and Forang and his three servants still living at Tink Inn. They told the old mystic of all that had happened, of the Lunar invasion of the Grazelands and of the spirit that had been detected. Forang could not identify the spirit but said he would do all he could. Horse Whisperer believed it to be vital to uncover the nature of this rogue spirit, since if it was a Lunar heroquester it could be attempting to change the nature of the world, re-writing history and thus weakening resistance to Lunar invasion in the Dragon Pass region. The gravity of this situation soon dawned on all and so they decided they would make for Old Wind Temple and see what the Storm Priests there had to say.
Wind Temple stood atop a tall, winding hill. Only three of the party went up the hill – they were Cleombrotus, Grant and Gramper. Wind Temple itself was made of air. The air had come together and solidified to make a vast temple complex of many floors and levels. Standing at the gate of the temple was a warrior armed with an iron spear and shield. Like the temple, this guardian was also made of the winds. He asked them three questions: ‘Will you fight with me?’ and the three of them cautiously replied they would. Then they were asked, ‘Are you intentions honest?’ and all three answered, ‘aye’. Then the last question asked was, ‘Do you swear loyalty to the four winds?’ Cleombrotus and Gramper said they did, but Grant replied, ‘No,’ keeping his faith in the power of the Dragons. For this he was not allowed final entrance to the precincts of the Old Wind Temple and he made his way to the bottom of the hill where Horse Whisperer, Darkos and Sigurd waited.
Inside they made the acquaintance of a Lhankor Mhy priest, Medulux Harvasson. They asked Medulux about the appearance of the powerful spirit that had been found in the Grazelands, but Medulux knew nothing of it. It was then they said how they were protecting the location of the True Brown Dragon, and how they hoped to unite the people of Dragon Pass to fight against the Lunar Empire to keep the Dragon safe from Lunar priests and sorcerors. Medulux was aghast. He asked to be shown the location of the Dragon, and swore an oath not to tell anyone else of its existence. Cleombrotus thought about this, and knew it would upset some of his compatriots if he told the priest without consulting them first. But then he thought how it was time they should seek wider help and how it may prove useful to have others in the know. So he agreed to show Medulux the location of Yaska Narj, the True Brown Dragon of Dragon Pass.
The journey to Jarn Valley took only a day. One by one they descended into the hot valley and climbed up to the cliffs to enter the cave wherein lived the mystic guardians of the dragon. Up to this point Medulux, Horse Whisperer, Sigurd and Gramper were unimpressed by what they had (or, rather, hadn’t) seen. The Dragon was too big for them to see. Little did they know that they walked upon the Dragon’s very hide. They entered the cave and spoke a while with the mystics. Grant spoke to them of the nature of Dragons and renewed his pledge to protect and serve the Dragons.
It was as they left the cave that they saw the Dragon’s true being. They saw how the ring of hills around them were the humps on the Dragon’s back, how its gold and bronze scales shone in the sun, each as large as a hoplite’s shield. How the cave they had just been in was the mouth of the Dragon. Then they heard a voice in their minds, ‘begone!’ it said to them and so they all readily fled the Jarn Valley.
After that experience, the doubters no more questioned the size and might of a dragon.
Overcome with the enormity of the experience, Medulux saw the need for success in their quest to protect the Dragon. If they wanted to unite the people of Dragon Pass, he told them, then only three things could hope to achieve this: The crowning of the rightful heir of Sartar – whoever and wherever that might be; The return of the legendary Windsword of Alakoring DragonBreaker – again, wherever that might be; the Banner of the Empire of the Wyrm’s Friends – and no-one knew where that was either.
They were warned that the people of Dragon Pass were used to warring and fighting with each other. Many tribes and clans saw each other as traditional enemies, and enemies of longer standing than the Lunar Empire. They were also warned that the three things they sought were famously unobtainable, but if they were to be found then the first place they should go would be the Lhankor Mhy temple of Nochet in faraway Esrolia, and there they should seek the advice of Scholar Wyrm.
They left Old Wind Temple in mid-Fire Season 1615ST. Just a few days on the road and they were soon in Wilmskirk, the last town in Sartar before they crossed the border into Heortland. But at Wilmskirk there was news that Heortland raiders were in the area and so the adventurers, along with all able bodied fighters, were levied to protect the town. They were to act as scouts along the area of Five Berry Vale. They spent a week on patrol, watching the valleys and passes for approaching warriors, but saw nothing.
Crossing over into Heortland they reached the village of Lower Little Hareleigh by the Water and here they joined in the village festival and Gramper experienced the pleasure of human ales and the misery of a vicious hangover.
By late-Fire Season they were in Karse and found passage on a cargo ship to take them to Seapolis, from where they should be able to get free passage to Nochet, thanks to the help they had given the city two years previously.
But at Karse they also heard some disturbing news – Nochet had been closed and was not letting anyone enter or leave the city. There were many rumours about what had happened. Some said a plague had struck, others that a series of murders had been committed, more still said that disease spirits were rampant, many claimed that Wolf Pirates were raiding.
The adventurers managed to get a boat to take them to the city of Rhigos, where they would ride overland to Nochet. Once on the mainland the stories of Wolf Pirates was soon discounted. When they reached Nochet they found that the city gates were indeed locked with many travellers and merchants waiting for them to be opened. Realising that time was at a premium they decided to visit the elves who lived in the temple grove just outside the city and see if they could help them in anyway.
‘Begone from here!’ screamed a dryad at Sigurd. ‘This man is evil and we will not allow such cruelty into our trees,’ they said.
And then Sigurd told how he had been a true Humakti warrior adventuring in the Upland Marsh when he was attacked and captured by Delecti’s evil host. Locked in chains he was taken to Delecti’s stronghold where he was transformed into a vampire. The group had some trouble coming to terms with this news. They questioned Sigurd – about his nature and his ‘appetite’. They wondered if they could morally travel with such a creature. Sigurd explained how he was no threat to his friends, that it was his mission to fulfil his destiny and then take his own life.
Barely reassured, they were interrupted by the sound of trumpets and horns – the city gates were being opened!
It didn’t take too long to find out why the gates had been closed: the Pharoah had been killed! Scholar Wyrm told them that he believed a Lunar heroquester had sneaked into the city and slain the ruler of the Holy Country. Traditionally, when the Pharoah died he would be reborn in a new body. But the same heroquester had also killed all those who had been nominated for rebirth. With no ruler, Scholar Wyrm believed this could throw the Holy Country into civil war. And the only one to benefit from that would be the Lunars.
They asked him about the true heir to Sartar, about which Scholar Wyrm knew very little. They also asked about the sword of Alakoring DragonBreaker – Scholar Wyrm told them it was last heard of in Tarsh. About the Banner of the Empire of Wyrm’s Friends he told them it could be in one of three places: Upland Marsh, Ditali land or Dorastor.
With this information they decided the first place to investigate would be the chaos-infested land of Dorastor, the realm of Ralzakark, King of the Broo!
Their attempts to form an alliance between the different peoples of Dragon Pass had been a failure, They were all despondent to find that the lands of Dragons Pass were more content to argue among themselves rather than unite against the Lunar invasion. And some suspected this perpetual state of raid and warfare may be financed by Lunar coin. The only glimmer of hope though had been that they had made many friends during their journey. Now they sought to bring all these people together, by finding and raising the ancient war banner of the Empire of the Wyrm’s Friends.