by tumblingdice » Thu Mar 10, 2016 12:44 pm
Once you're all safely aboard, your gear and mounts secured, Pormas unties the raft. Plunging a long pole into the mud, he pushes you away from the dock, and into the slow moving waters of the Asanda.
In the stillness of the early morning, you are surprised to see movement in the village. Rounding the corner is a disheveled, stooped, filthy old man. It's the hermit! In one hand he's holding a cracked tea cup. In the other he appears to be holding...Krug's head.
"Your friend proved to be a most ill-tempered house guest," the old man states. "Be careful who you invite to tea. And above all, beware the Malakaz!"
With that, the old man holds aloft Krug's head. Looking it straight in the troll's dull eyes, he wags a cautionary finger. Tossing aside the head, and the tea cup, the hermit then struts into the slow current, his dirt-encrusted clothes trailing behind him. "Here fishy fishy...here fishy fishy."
Pormas chuckles. "Looks like his holiness is having a good day," the boatman confides. "So long, Harold," he shouts. "You're all that's left, so you're in charge while we're gone." The hermit stands up straight in the water, then gives Pormas a snappy salute. Looking down, he notices something caught in his beard. He gingerly removes it, then pops it into his mouth. He lifts his eyebrows in surprised pleasure, then begins searching the water around him for more of whatever he just ate.
Within a few minutes, the village of Pramayama disappears downstream. You pass the remains of a few farms, their burnt out hovels still smoking, their meager fields trampled. As you ponder the forces responsible for such carnage, you remember Sarras' orders and admonitions. In this war, survival and success will require secrecy, stealth and discretion.
The sun rises higher in the sky as the hours go by. You pass one human settlement after another, all of them having suffered the same fate as Pramayama. Buildings lie in ruins. Livestock lie slaughtered on the banks of the river. Humans hang from makeshift gibbets in the remains of the town squares.
Other than a few carrion birds, you encounter no living creatures on your journey.
Actions? Questions for Pormas? Care to stop at any of the other settlements? Drink?
Get thee to the dungeon. Get thee to the dungeon forthwith. Pass not the barbican. Amass not 200 GP.