Dark Sun Marauders (Season 1, Chapter 4)

These posts are copies of the summary emails I write for our DnD group.  The current adventure is a return to the world of Dark Sun.  Whilst effort was taken to follow Dark Sun canon, there are undoubtedly bits where our story strays or contradicts stuff.  We're aware, and not playing to create new canon, but to have fun.  So, read on and enjoy!

The trek back to Altaruk went by without incident, and when Rhotan Vor received his goods and personnel back, he was quite happy.  However, a quick look over the goods brought out a questioning nature in the dwarf - eventually, it was revealed that the map was something he had spent considerable time and money tracking down.  He had been searching for the fabled vault for some time now, and although he wasn't certain that the map was legitimate, it was the best lead he had in over seven years.

With promises for sharing of the possible treasure, as well as  Rhotan agreeing to feed and water the team, if they helped protect his caravan, they are given a day to rest and collect supplies.  The following morning, the caravan heads north, following the Great Road towards Silver Spring.

They made good time the first day, stopping to camp further north than the party had travelled in their previous trip.  The second day, however, was not as pleasant.  A few hours into daylight, a crodlu cry gave small warning of an attack - a small band of elves, lead by a rider with dark, defiling powers, assaulted the caravan, and only after much fighting were they repelled.

The unusual thing was that although they fought well, ultimately they seemed to be more interested in getting to Rhotan than escaping...

Finally, the small unnamed oasis was reached - and good reason was discovered for it's lack of name.  It was little more than a shallow mud pit, surrounded by scarce bushes.  With some work, drinking water could be recovered from the mud, but it was not what they had hoped for.  And, nor were the "Crimson" bandits who had moved into the place and demanded payments for their goods.  Yassi and Drokan were clearly ill-informed on the abilities of the party, and had expected Rhotan to have fielded less able warriors.  Yassi was especially surprised as Gretchan began to throw the halfling around the oasis!

Their weapons and small stash of goods were claimed as compensation, although doubts were raised over just how well the weapons would work, given that half the bows had broken in the skirmish!

With two attacks on them already, Rhotan was concerned that they would not reach the safe plateau before sunset.  Baazrags inhabit the local area, and move swiftly through the sand to catch unsuspecting foes.  Swarms of the creatures can swiftly devour a helpless individual, and would make short work of the caravan, should it be caught.  As the creatures came forth from the ground, Garidias and Kuoroar! each found themselves assaulted and poisoned; only with the help of Gretchan's blasting psionics did they survive. 

A weary, bloodied, and ready to collapse group camped on the solid plateau that night, and with much relief, they made it to the Silver Spring Oasis barely after noon the following day.

Dark Sun Marauders (Season 1, Chapter 3)

These posts are copies of the summary emails I write for our DnD group.  The current adventure is a return to the world of Dark Sun.  Whilst effort was taken to follow Dark Sun canon, there are undoubtedly bits where our story strays or contradicts stuff.  We're aware, and not playing to create new canon, but to have fun.  So, read on and enjoy!

With Rhotan Vor raising the reward for his missing caravan to 170 ceramic pieces, and Garidias proving interested in searching the caravan out, too, the team packed up their scarce belongings and headed away from Altaruk, into the desert. 

For four hours, the party moved towards the north, following the rough path the trade caravans used.  Eventually, Garidias told them that they were near where he woke, after the storm.  Some searching eventually showed up remnants of the caravan - including a few bodies.  This time, Tak-tha was able to study the correct end of the dead, and discovered that not all of them had been killed by the storm - some had wounds suggesting blowguns, and many had small bites, as if by a hungry reptile, over their bodies.

Before the party could study the site further, eight silt runners leapt up and attacked them.  Clearly, these little creatures were the cause of a few of the deaths - their blowgun venom was potent, and their cries (which Zadusic could understand) were only a longing for the fresh meat upon the party's bones.

After a few close scares, the party managed to chase the creatures away; once their wounds were seen to, the fleeing creatures were then tracked back to the location of a wagon, which had been run aground over a kruthik hive.  These creatures were also fought off, and the silt runners tracked some more - to the ruins of a tower.  Beneath the desert sands, a few rooms had been recovered, and the remnants of a silt runner tribe had taken up residence.  Three remaining caravan drivers, now prisoners and "spare food", were tied up to the back of the dark chamber, which had multiple sarcophagi and crumbling rubble throughout it.

Here, the silt runners fought their final battle, their leader inciting them on to heroic deeds and almost sending Kuroar! and Tak-tha from this world.  A solitary ssuran foolishly tried to poison Beren, but the mul smacked him down - as he did to the silt runner leader, after Gretchan threw it across the room.  Zadusic was also taken down, having fared poorly in the previous encounters, but again, Garidias' presence kept everyone that little bit more alive.

In the end, they had an underground base, three half-starved caravan workers, and close to 500 ceramic pieces of trade goods to themselves.  The next question was - what were they going to do with it all?

Return to Altaruk today was not a wise decision - that distance of travel was dangerous when people were fit and lightly packed.  Carrying the former prisoners and all the extra gear, on top of being so injured, was beyond crazy.  So the party cleaned the tomb up a little, and made to rest there overnight.  Whist they worked, some further searching was done, to work out why the silt runners had been here, and what their plans were - a map showing the location of a number of different ruins was found on the ssurian's body.  The current 'tower' was marked, as well as another of small other locations.  However, one ruin in particular was circled in what appeared to be blood - Madar's Vault.  It seemed important, and it seemed that the ssurian was collecting supplies and followers to head that way - further north, away from Altaruk.

Dark Sun Marauders (Season 1, Chapter 2)

These posts are copies of the summary emails I write for our DnD group.  The current adventure is a return to the world of Dark Sun.  Whilst effort was taken to follow Dark Sun canon, there are undoubtedly bits where our story strays or contradicts stuff.  We're aware, and not playing to create new canon, but to have fun.  So, read on and enjoy!

After a few weeks of odd-jobs and low-level gladiator bouts, neither of which netted the group any more money or supplies than they needed to survive from day to day, they decided to be more active.

Beren put himself forward in a solo-championship challenge; whilst the others (except Magnus, who had disappeared a few days earlier, muttering plans of revenge upon Kaldras) put themselves forward for a high-risk, high-reward challenge.  In this battle, they faced off against four gith savages, with the restrictions on killing removed.  The battle was fierce, and for a moment, victory was in their grasp, but a lucky hit on Kuoroar! took him down, and by the time there was only one gith left, only Tak-tha remained to oppose him.  Moving from pillar to pillar, the thri-kreen tried to evade the javelins hurled at him, hoping for the creature to run out, but his wounds caused him to be too slow, and the match ended with the arena medics running to stabilise the fallen team.

They were not the only ones to fall that day - Tellemon, the local captain of the guards, was murdered; the poison used fast-acting enough to prevent anyone from interfering.  Being outsiders, the bruised team was asked to search for the murderer on behalf of the Governor, Arisphistaneles.  He feared it was an inside job, and promised to reward them, should they find the culprit. 

Tak-tha didn't help much when it came for questioning witnesses, the kreen continuously falling back to his native tongue.  And Kuoroar!'s knowledge of anatomy lead to a great study of Tellemon's feet (instead of the puncture wound by his kidney).  But together, and with the aid of Gretchan and Zadusic, they located the murder weapon - a dagger, coated with poison, and empowered with arcane magic.  They also tracked the murderer to the gladiatorial quarter, and eventually confronted him and his dwarven accomplice in a deserted barracks.  They put up a fight, but were eventually overpowered, and brought before the Governor...who recognised the dwarf as a friend...

It turned out that Arisphistaneles was the head of the Veiled Alliance cell in the city, and Birk one of his agents.  Tellemon had been part of the True cabal (a group of individuals who were quite the opposite of the Veiled Alliance; they wanted more power to the Sorcerer Kings, and revelled in the power that Defiling brought).  He had recently discovered the Governor's ties to the Alliance, and planned to assassinate him: Birk had caught news of this, but didn't have time to pass it on before the attempt was to be made, so took matters into his own hands.

Arisphistaneles was most pleased with the group's work, and as well as a future friendship, offered to look into certain matters that the party were struggling with currently.  He also rewarded them as promised, and gave them a fine set of armour made from Kank hides, which fitted Zadusic quite well.

With high spirits after a job well done, the group returned to their camp, rested, and then re-entered the arena, intent on winning!  There, they faced a half-giant who was almost large enough to bring great question on the "half" classification.  He was fierce, moving about the battle quickly and dealing a lot of damage, but they slowly worked him down, and in the end, he fell with a thud - atop Kuoroar! and Tak-tha, but fell all the same.  The team had won, allowing them to regain a little of the crowd's favour after their last loss.

After the battle, a familiar figure approached Gretchan, congratulating her and asking for a word.  This was Garidias, a former servant of her father's whom she last saw when their caravan was attacked, back before she was made a slave. 

Garidias had also been made a slave, although apart from the small mark on the inside of his left wrist, one might not notice.  His way with words and insightful grasp of tactics had kept him well in the past months.  His 'owners' had been part of the caravan that had gone missing in the recent sandstorm; he alone had made it to the settlement.  He asks Gretchan (and the others, should they be willing) to help him search it out: there was a rare item in the caravan that he would hate to see left to the desert...  As it happens, Rhotan Vor has increased his asking price for help to 170 ceramic pieces, no doubt in part due to the difficult nature of finding the caravan at all, should many more days pass by.

Aside from this, the only other offers of work are Karlen's desire for treasure hunters to claim rumoured artefacts at a fabled ruin; and generic caravan guarding duties.  Sadly, none of these are returning to Tyr, as the turmoil over there (because the Sorcerer King, Kalak, has remained absent this past month, fuelling the rumours of his death) has caused many merchants to fear for their safety in the unruly city.

Dark Sun Marauders (Season 1, Chapter 1)

These posts are copies of the summary emails I write for our DnD group.  The current adventure is a return to the world of Dark Sun.  Whilst effort was taken to follow Dark Sun canon, there are undoubtedly bits where our story strays or contradicts stuff.  We're aware, and not playing to create new canon, but to have fun.  So, read on and enjoy!

The trek from the turmoil of Tyr through to the relative peace of Altaruk was long and harrowing.  The Highsun heat, coupled with the intense cold of the night, wore out more than a few of the caravan guards.  When the raiders attacked the caravan, the guards were almost overwhelmed - and indeed, Gretchan fell, much to her disappointment.

It was most likely this tired and exhausted state that convinced the elves to try their ploy - and allowed it to go mostly unnoticed.  Still, the elves did not prove to be as sturdy as the guards they had hired - which would explain why they were hired in the first place!  If it were not for the prompt response of Tellemon and his guards, Kaldras may well be dead, and the party free to continue their lives as wanted criminals...

Instead, they were challenged to a game in the arena, largely to allow Tellemon, and Governor Arisphistaneles through him, to profit off the disturbance.  The half-minute race around the thorny briars was intense, and went into overtime; but even with Gretchan being disqualified and Zadusic fainting from overwhelming pain (as the trapjaw munched on his leg), Kuoroar!, Magnus, Tak-tha and Beren were able to catch Kakdras and steal the final coin away from him, for a final result of 4-3.  They had their moment of glory, reclaimed the item he had gifted and retaken, and were eventually paid for their earlier work.

Tellemon even promised them a share of the earnings, whenever they wanted to call on him.