Having defeated the Master, and also destroyed the older force that created him, the conquering heroes, spent several weeks relaxing in Hosadas’s palace. His panicked minions, craven confederates, and disabused disciples had fled with as much treasure had fled with as much treasure as they could carry. But this left behind much in the way of rich food and drink and a comfortable setting in which to enjoy them.
They washed their travel-soiled clothing or, even better,
exchanged it for new garments, and slept in warm beds. They also debated what
relationship they would have with the domain that seemed to be theirs by right
of conquest. Indeed, a few of the Master’s former followers had remained, and
begging pardon, promised to honor Bangqiu or Bo Jing or even Tetsukichi as
their new Master. Salt, despite expressing no desire to rule the lands of
Khorosan, was likewise attended by retainers equal to prove their loyalty.
Most of these former attendants to the Master had little
explanation for their changed loyalties, except for the evidence that the
powers that had once favored the Master clearly favored his conquerors more.
Among the toadies and sycophants, the party identified three honest
liars—Sahir, a wizard who confessed he’d paid lip service to the Master’s
teachings only to gain access to magical knowledge. Nagar Ahmar, a skilled
carpenter, had been pressed into service, and by pretending to be a fool, had
gain access to storerooms throughout the palace. Finally, Zhak Shi had entered
the lands of Khorosan on a private mission of vengeance, having lost his family
to the Master’s depredations. All three, for their own reasons, were thankful
for the regime change, and eager to help the newcomers reinforce their claim.
So, with the help of these trusted advisers, Bo Jing,
Bangqiu, and Salt listened to accounts from the remnants of the Master’s
followers who had stayed on at the palace.
It was the soon determined that the farmers—simple folk who had been
promised enlightenment through nearly uninterrupted field labor—had the most
reliable information to offer. As they had pushed northwards, clearing forest
for new rice paddies, they had come into contact with a group of cave-dwellers,
primitive people who seemed mainly by hunting for game and forest fruits. They kept few animals and planted nothing.
They had attacked the farmers with fearless savagery. The Master had rallied an
army to drive the savages back to their caves, but the northern farms had been
deserted. In the ensuing years, an uneasy truce had created a no man’s land
between the farms and the northmen’s hunting lands. The truce was enforced by regular patrols of [Red
Robes]. Zhak Shi had participated in these patrols and had learned to respect
the savages’ uncanny ways. He’d found
their strange totems in tree hollows and on hanging from branches, he’d seen
one of the Master’s best soldiers felled by an arrow from the shadows, but he’d
never caught more than a glimpse of the strange denizens of the forest.
They’d occasionally raided the farms, and when they did left
no survivors. They did leave tracks.
Clear ones, as if taunting the Master to seek revenge. Zhak Shi had
followed the tracks far enough to know they led to the mountains that the
Master had claimed as his northern border.
There was a waterfall and in the darkness, Zhak Shi had seen the glow of
a fire behind it.
With the Master’s death, the patrols had ceased and the
raids were reaching further south and east, toward the more populated half of
Khorosan. If the newcomers were serious about protecting its people, maybe it
was time to take the fight to the northmen in their lair.
The adventurers agreed, even managing to summon the
mercurial Hyamsam to join them. And so
the conquerors from Zhou Dang, together with their newest allies set off to
raid the raiders.
Zhak Shi showed them the best way to reach their enemy,
avoiding any potential ambush by ignoring the most obvious tracks and instead
taking a more circuitous route by traveling west before heading north, and then
climbing up into mountains and traveling along a ridge line until they reached
the river that descended as the waterfall that marked the savages’s lair.
Behind the waterfall, the party found a large natural cavern
and, at the back of it, a narrow tunnel leading deeper into the earth. The
tunnel was flanked by crudely-carved stone statues of voluptuous women, both
with gaping wide mouths.
Nekhil led the way past the statues and was struck by a
small bolt of lightning arcing between the two statues. Non-lethal but painful,
the rest of the party stopped in their tracks. The party discovered that
inserting a pole into either of the statue’s mouth resulted in a shortening of
the pole. At length, Bangqiu and Hyamsam transformed themselves into small birds
and tried to fly past the statues. They,
too was struck by lightning, but shook off the pain and flew deeper into the
cave. The passage descended steeply,
soon reaching a low point from which two other passages rose back up, with
flickering torchlight visible at the top of each of the interesting passages.
From one side, the torchlight grew brighter and more steady, and was
accompanied by voices. Six huge men emerged at the top of the slope, their
torches casting bizarre shadows about the cavern. They were dressed in furs
with helmets fashioned from bear skulls.
Spotting the little bird that was Bangqiu, one raised his spear. Bangqiu
and Hyamsam dropped to the ground, resuming their human forms and enveloped
their would-be attackers in clouds of scalding steam. The men dropped to the floor, their torches
extinguished. Bangiqu and Hyamsam dashed
up the slope and examined their still steaming bodies. Each carried a leather pouch containing a few
polished greenish gray stones. They
returned to their friends with the stones and found that dropping a stone in a
statue’s mouth permitted the offeror to pass by without suffering any
punishment.
The party explored a labyrinth of tunnels leading up and
down, choosing their way carefully to avoid meeting any large groups. When
forced into combat, the magicians used their most devastating spells before Bo
Jing rushed in to quickly dispatch any survivors. And in this way, they avoided
raising any alarm. They were intrigued to find a stout, well-constructed door
in an otherwise rough natural cavern. They were especially intrigued to note
that it was barred from their side. But
when Bo Jig removed the bar and pushed it open, the door squeaked loudly. Knowing they had given up the advantage of
surprise to whatever horrible thing resided within, they moved away quickly,
bypassing a nearby group of women engaged in cooking to follow a narrow
twisting passage deeper into the caverns.
Exploring the home of the “bear people” the party found crude
murals depicting houses on fire and screaming people being pursued and eaten by
snakes, animals, and horned men. Sudden drafts carried pungent, eye-watering
smoke. A shrill discordant piping, like
that of a bird, could be faintly heard above the sound of the party’s footsteps,
ceasing when everyone stopped to listen.
They wandered into a large cavern, the floor slick with
guano and the foul air almost unbreathable.
Choosing another path, they found a short flight of steps carved into
the rock. The steps, thickly covered with filth, led into a small forgotten
shrine for a single dusty idol. Searching the tiny chamber, they heard voices.
A fissure behind the idol provided a
second means of egress. In a room beyond, a group of bear-man warriors sat next
to a smoldering fire, passing around small jars and sniffing the contents. They
sat with heir backs to the fissure and gave half attention to the wide corridor
in front of them.
Hyamsam, using his magic to conceal himself from being seen
or heard, climbed through the fissure and into the room.
The party watched the men closely and silently, waiting for
any sign that they had detected Hyamsam.
Salt, for her part, watched the way that they had come, and
heard the sound of soft footsteps approaching. Not wanting to risk being caught
between two groups of enemies, she
stepped into the guano room and directed a cloud of boiling steam at the
approaching figure. The figure, a woman screamed and perished. The sound
alerted the bear-men. Bangqiu blasted them with magic missiles and Bo-Jing charged in with his word, followed by
the other warriors. The bearmen barely
had time to stand before they all been cut down.
Salt, fearing that she had overreacted, inspected the body
of the woman she had killed and found that she had snaking growing from her head
in place of hair. With a mixture of relief and horror, Salt reported to her
companions that the caverns could be filled with strange creatures, among whom
the bear people were perhaps the least fearsome. Hyamsam reported that the large corridor led
back to the entrance.
After a brief conference, the party agreed that they had been
very successful in infiltrating the bearpeople’s lair, having killed several of
the warriors without having raised the alarm or even leaving any living
witnesses. They had suffered no casualties
themselves, but they were hungry and tired and none wanted to risk finding a
place to rest with the caves. Thus, the party heartily agreed that it was time
to leave the caves and return to the Master’s palace, feeling all the more secure
in claiming it as their own.
