The Eagle Hall Revisited

In the years following the defeat of the Master’s lieutenantand his armies of beastmen, the Eagle Clan had struggled to return from the devastation it had experienced. Their new khan was Qorchi, a young nephew of the fallen chief who had distinguished himself during the war against the beastmen. Brave and well regarded as a warrior, he proved less successful in restoring a people broken by years of loss. Some among the Eagle Clan looked to the future, while others could not look beyond the ruin of their ancestral hall. Increasingly it was said that the clan could never truly be whole until the hall itself had been reclaimed.

Determined to end the dispute, Qorchi gathered a company of volunteers and marched against the beastmen occupying the old stronghold. None of them returned. The attacks upon the Eagle lands continued, and yet the clan's shamans unanimously insisted that Qorchi still lived. So long as their khan remained alive, no council could lawfully choose his successor, leaving the Eagle Clan leaderless at the very moment it most needed unity.

The chiefs therefore sought aid from their oldest allies, the Sansar Clan, in particular Tetsukichi, the exile from Zipang who after marrying into the Sansar clan had brought it so much honor, both over the sea and in hisprevious to succor to the Eagle Clan.  They hoped that he would rally a sufficient force to retake the hall. In the meantime, the Eagle chiefs wished to better understand what had become of their ancestral hall and what had become of their young khan.

The enemy no longer resembled the disorganized howling masses of the Master's defeated armies. According to rumors, those few beastmen who had survived, had become even stronger.  Hoping that the same sorcerers who had helped bring about the destruction of first the Master’s lieutenant and then the Master himself might shed light on these mysteries, the chiefs traveled instead to neighboring Banua to seek the counsel of Bangqiu and Salt.

Bangqiu, Salt, and Salt’s apprentice Fen, now an accomplished wu jen himself, accepted the task. Rather than approach openly, the three assumed the forms of eagles and flew unseen toward the ancestral hall.

From above, they found the stronghold much as memory had left it, though more weathered by the passing years. Roofs sagged, walls crumbled, and banners of the Eagle Clan still fluttered from broken towers. Yet the place was far from abandoned. Wolves roamed freely through the compound, though they were continually harassed by nesting eagles that circled and stooped upon them whenever they ventured too close to the old rookeries.

The greatest surprise awaited in the central hall. Once the gathering place of the Eagle Clan, it had long ago lost its walls, leaving only a broad roof supported by heavy pillars. There, concealed among the rafters, the companions watched several distinct tribes of beastmen uneasily sharing the same space. Wolf-, boar-, and dog-formed beastmen greatly outnumbered a smaller band whose features resembled birds of prey. Though no battle erupted, old rivalries and barely restrained savagery simmered beneath every conversation. And the rumors were true. These beastmen, numbering less than 20, appeared larger and more imposing than those encountered during the Master's invasion years before.

Assuming the forms of smaller birds, the companions perched unnoticed near the avian beastmen and overheard a heated discussion. One argued that the boar clans had grown insolent and should be slaughtered to make an example to the others. Another counseled patience.

"Wait until Qorchi is ready."

The name alone confirmed the suspicions of the Eagle Clan's chiefs. Somehow, the missing khan remained alive.

Seeking further answers, the companions descended through a concealed stair into the ancient chambers beneath the fortress. There they found winding stone passages still in use and discovered a single prison cell occupied not by the missing khan, but by two listless giants whose defeated manner suggested they were captives rather than masters.

Further progress proved difficult. Doors barred many passages, and wings—even invisible ones—could neither manipulate locks nor open barred doors. At last Bangqiu resumed his human form while remaining invisible, hoping to continue the search on foot. Before long, however, he nearly stumbled into a patrol of smaller beastmen. Regretting that they had not enlisted anyone capable of speaking with the eagles and wolves, and judging the risk of discovery too great, the companions abandoned their search.

Bangqiu once again assumed the form of an eagle, and the three quietly departed the hall.

Though they had not found Qorchi, they returned to Banua with intelligence of far greater consequence than the Eagle Clan had expected. The ancestral hall had become neither a prison nor a simple monster lair. It had become the seat of a new society of beastmen, divided by old rivalries yet held together by an unseen authority. Whatever awaited beneath the hall, it was no longer merely a remnant of the Beast Master's armies, but the beginning of something altogether new.