[Runequestprax] Chapter Eleven: Muriah's Revenge

[Lev Lafayette]

Er, make that chapter 11, not 10 :)

On Mon, 2008-11-10 at 19:47 +1100, Lev Lafayette wrote:
> Dramatis personae
> 
> Storyteller, (Lev)
> Phoebe, Grantlands Initiate of Zola Fel and Seven Mothers (Michael)
> Red Mouse, Zebra Tribe Initiate of Zola Fel (Sean)
> Honest John, Pavis Initiate of Eurmal and Zola Fel (Rick)
> Zammon, Rhino Tribe Initiate of Storm Bull (Gawain)
> Praxilites, Sun County Initiate of Yelmalio (Jay)
> Mountain Strides, Agimori Initiate of Lodril (Karl)
> Antonia, Antelope Tribe and Lunar Lancer, Initiate of Daka Fal and Seven
> Mothers (Scott)
> 
> 1617 Solar Time, Fire Season
> 
> In the name of Yelm the Sun, and Yelmalio, Son of the Sun God.
> 
> Once again I have been called to the fort of Duke Rauss of the Lunar
> grantlands, and once again I find that there is mutual interests which
> requires our intervention. Plague has struck both the southern lands of
> Sun County and those of the Lunar Grantlands and despite the best
> efforts of both administrations, the number of dead and dying are
> mounting. Once again my great farmlands of Black Rock and Rabbit Hat had
> proven unproductive due to wicked spirits in the land. Now at least we
> have some idea what struck down the Duke's wife.
> 
> The Duke met us in his audience chamber, and spoke of a colony of broo
> that had been sighted near the source of the Vilinar River, east of the
> Agimori Lands. My protector, Mountain Strides, of course expressed
> concern of his people and the Duke betrayed both his ignorance and what
> appeared to be hitherto a lack of concern. Neverthless, it was clear
> that this was a cause of some concern in the area. Daine, his faithful
> second, had prepared linen gloves and blankets for handling any broo
> material prior to burning; it was obvious that he do was suffering from
> a disease but was refusing to let it interfere with his duties.
> 
> The Duke's newtling mercenaries took us upriver to the village of Weis,
> which had suffered a great deal. There was a number of miserable huts
> consisting of both riverfolk and new Lunar settlers and the level of
> activity did not seem to equate with the number of buildings. Upon
> approaching the village, Zammon the Storm Bull sniffed the air and
> declared the presence of chaos at a nearby tree. Charging forth before
> any could prevent him, a disease spirit formed and grappled with him.
> Eventually he broke away, but his arms and legs were shaking from the
> encounter. Carefully we went around the tree and into the village.
> 
> We soon encountered a man who called himself Cavry; he knew of the
> spirit at the tree which had taken two lives already. The villagers all
> knew of it and avoided it, but that did little for strangers. As we were
> talking to him his mother exited a hut claiming in a loud voice that all
> this was Muriah's fault. Muriah apparently was the daughter of a pair of
> thieves who lived in the village some twenty years ago; when her parents
> both fell very sick one night, nobody would help her and her parents
> died. She left the village cursing that she would destroy it. "And now
> she's come back", the old woman screeched.
> 
> Zammon investigated the village in detail, as Phoebe set up a stall for
> first aid and treatment of any diseases, which included a number of
> hazia addicts. As Zammon was engaging in his explorations, he sensed
> chaos at the bottom of the village well. Climbing down, he eventually
> found a broo corpse polluting the waters, waterlogged and rotten, which
> proved most difficult to remove as parts kept falling off. Eventually
> however, and with the aid of Phoebe, the broo carcass was removed from
> the well, dried under the watchful eyes of Yelm, and burnt.
> 
> Red Mouse and Zammon scouted the riverside and located what appeared to
> be broo tracks. Following them upstream, the eventually made their way
> to the source of the Vilinar River, which was a cave in the cliffs, and
> scanned a figure at the entrance. Entering we discovered broo
> immediately and engaged in combat, although with some difficulty as they
> cast Sneeze spirits our way. One escaped further into the cavern and
> Zammon gave chase, only to fall into a pit trap. Rescuing our Storm Bull
> we burned the bodies and continued in the cavern with greater caution.
> 
> Our next encounter with the broo was on a natural bridge crossing; here
> they fought with arrows and spells and we found it difficult at least to
> engage directly. Antonia was felled by one arrow, but returned fire from
> her knees, such was her bravery. Strides was struck down with what
> turned out to be a wicked poison that would take him weeks to recover
> from, and Zammon was infected with Brain Fever. Finally, we gained the
> upper hand as two escaped. Once again the brave Zammon gave chase, and
> almost managed to catch one, the only female we sighted, however she
> escaped down a river current after a rope bridge was cut.
> 
> After some misadventures Honest John made it across the to the other
> side of the underground river and was about to re-establish the bridge,
> when he was struck from behind. Even more broo were attacking us! Again
> we fought them for a while, but as our people made their way across they
> retreated even deeper into the caverns.
> 
> Healing our number as best we could, and low on Power we advanced in
> formation. A lesser Shade came forth and wrapped itself around Zammon
> but it was felled quickly. Finally we came across the goal of our quarry
> - five broo led by one with a shaman's spear and an iron mask. Their
> leader threw disease after disease at us as only a Rune Priest could. A
> frustrated Zammon charged the first line of broo, only to be felled by
> three arrows. Fortunately Befuddle spirits send by our party confused
> the chaos beasts, and Zammon was able to swing his mighty axe and felled
> three in quick succession. One pleaded to Red Mouse, claiming that he
> had fought alongside the Nomads Tribes when the Lunars invaded at
> Moonbroth, but Zammon did not care (indeed this may have been true; a
> contingent of broos did fight with the nomad tribes against their
> ill-fated resistance at Moonbroth). The leader attempted to make a
> getaway up a chimney shaft and although I charged him, he was protected
> by one of his underlings. The last message I heard in my mind was that
> Muriah would have her revenge.
> 
> We burned the bodies of the broo and returned to the village, where
> Zammon was considered most heroic by the locals and with one lass taking
> more than a modest fancy to him, despite his damaged intellect. The
> following day we returned to the Duke's fort, where he expressed his
> thanks. He provided a quick riding beast to take Zammon and Strides to
> the Chalana Arroy temple at Horn Gate. Stride's recovery took some four
> weeks, such was his constitution. Zammon on the other hand was cured
> within two weeks, but only due the Priestess sacrificing her own Power
> for the necessary magics. Zammon found himself in debt to the tune of
> 2,000 pennies which he had to spend twenty weeks working off, providing
> guard duty along some of the most dangerous routes. In the meantime, I
> had to dismiss him as manager of Black Rock and re-employ the Duck. I
> have my suspicions that he was not entirely engaging in proper
> crop-raising, but investigations shall have to wait.
> 
> Praxelites, Initiate of Yelmalio, Lord Rabbit Hat and Lord Black Rock