The Most Unfortunate Khatun Part 1 - A Daring Plan

When Bo-Jing and his war band returned to Banua, the battle had settled into an uneasy stalemate. Dead beastmen and other monsters littered the ground before the walls, but the defenders were nearing exhaustion. The archers had almost spent their last arrows, and the surviving attackers searched for ways to climb the walls and overwhelm the catwalks.

Though weary from their long ride, Bo-Jing and his companions immediately joined the defense. Charging through the gates in tight formation, they relieved the exhausted archers and methodically drove the remaining monsters from the settlement.

Bangqiu and Naransetseng reached Banua later that same day. Having crossed the mountains, they spent one final night at a small stupa outside the settlement before entering the city. Naransetseng was warmly welcomed by Ganbaatar, brother to her late husband and Khan of the Bolad Horde, and by Bo-Jing, who once again returned to her the necklace that had so recently been recovered. She accepted it with joy, grateful for his gesture of quiet heroism.

The celebration proved short-lived. By the following morning, Ganbaatar spoke the truth that everyone already understood. Whatever obligations family might impose, his first duty was to the people of Banua. With the Master's armies pressing ever closer, the Bolad Horde could not risk its survival to protect a woman who no longer belonged to its people. Naransetseng would be granted three days' refuge in Banua and might be required to depart even sooner should the beastmen return.

At the time, neither the companions nor the khans understood why the Master's servants pursued Naransetseng with such determination. They knew only that wherever she fled, the beastmen followed.

Those anxious days were brightened by the arrival of Tetsukichi, a renowned warrior of the Sansar Horde. Faithful allies of the Eagle Clan, sixty Sansar horsemen had answered the Eagle Clan's desperate call for aid. Tetsukichi himself was already a trusted companion of Bo-Jing and Bangqiu, having fought beside them in many adventures, including recent victories against the Master's advancing armies.

Together they reached a bold conclusion. The surest way to defend both the Valley of the Five Fires and the northern khans was to force the Empire itself to confront the Master. If Naransetseng were escorted toward Khanbaliq and the beastmen pursued her into the settled lands, the Emperor could no longer leave the burden of the war to his frontier vassals. And if the Master’s incursions weakened the Emperor, Bo-Jing opined that it would be a punishment not completely undeserved considering the institutions of slavery and concubinage that flourished within the Empire.

Bo-Jing and Tetsukichi therefore departed Banua with their companions at the head of two hundred mounted warriors: one hundred and forty riders of the Bolad Horde joined by sixty horsemen of the Sansar Horde. Their road to Khanbaliq led first through the neighboring lands of the Eagle Clan.

There they found devastation surpassing even that suffered by Banua. Dead men and beasts lay where they had fallen. Scores of bodies had been hung from trees or splayed upon the rocks as grisly warnings. For leagues the forests had been felled, and the scrublands burned bare. On the second evening of their march, bitter winds sweeping down from the mountains forced the company to make camp in the shelter of a shallow valley.

There, for the first time, the companions began to question whether escorting Naransetseng to Khanbaliq remained their foremost duty. If the Eagle Clan had truly been broken, pressing onward might preserve one woman while abandoning an entire people—and perhaps the Valley of the Five Fires itself—to the Master's advance.

Siege of Banua Day 4: Bangqiu rescues Naransetseg

It was easy to follow the fresh tracks of the Nergui refugees. It was also easy to note the fresher tracks of a huge number of beastmen. These tracks stayed with those of the refugees, an ominous confirmation of Bo-Jing’s theory that Naransetseg was still alive and still being pursued.

Seeing no other way to reach the Nergui refugees before the beastmen did, Bangqiu took the form of a falcon and soared into the sky.

Bangqiu quickly pulled away from Bo-Jing, Batzorig, Nar-Nuteng, Ryu, and the rest of the war band. Before long he had reached the horde of beastmen, which had half-encircled the Nergui encampment.

There was no fighting.

Instead, a group of wizened men wearing red caps and wielding long, barbed swords were parlaying with a number of Nergui warriors. Naransetseg was clearly the chief point of negotiation. She stood alone on a small mound, eyes darting and hands twitching, at once terrified and terrifying, like a small animal ready to fight for its life.

The Nergui spearmen surrounding her—at a distance—were guarding her in both senses of the word, protecting her while preventing her escape.

Bangqiu soared higher into the sky until he was directly above Naransetseg. Then he resumed human form, using his enchanted levitation boots to break the impact his free fall. He gave her a secret sign to persuade her that he meant no harm. Then he swept her up, cloaked them both in a thick cloud, and used his boots to carry them back into the gloomy sky.

Enraged, the beastmen attacked the Nergui spearmen and refugees.

That evening and deep into the night, Bangqiu summoned all his natural athleticism simply to hold onto Naransetseg while his boots kept them suspended high in the thin air. Naransetseg clung tightly to him with her arms and legs, her tears mixing with the stinging rain on both their faces.

Below them came the terrible sounds of battle and slaughter.

A steady wind from the east carried them toward the mountains guarding the Valley of the Five Fires. When Bangqiu was certain they were far from the battle and the marauding beastmen, he lowered them toward a grassy mountain slope.

Reaching solid ground, they collapsed into exhausted sleep.

By the time Bo-Jing and the war band reached the remains of the Nergui camp, the few survivors they encountered were too traumatized to explain much of what had happened. The “deaf witch” had disappeared, and the beastmen had taken vengeance by killing everyone they could before scattering to the four winds.

Batzorig searched among the survivors for any word of his sister, but none could tell him what had become of her.

Bo-Jing thanked the survivors and urged them to return with him to Banua. Many had little desire to return to the town they had so recently fled, but Bo-Jing promised them his personal protection and convinced a number of them to come with him.

As Bo-Jing would learn later, one of the four winds brought a group of beastmen, yeti, and fanged flying stags north to Banua.

They attacked in a series of poorly organized, desperate raids.

Ganbaatar invited all noncombatants to take refuge within the inner walls. Archers lined the outer walls and targeted the beastmen as they charged through the broken gate.

The beastmen destroyed property and killed animals, but found few human victims in the outer town. Nor could they reach the inner town.

Although the gates had been destroyed by the giant demon-badger during the siege, the pit it had created was nearly impassable. A line of brave warriors armed with spears waited on the far side, turning the ruined gateway into a death trap for the attacking beastmen and yeti.

Most dangerous to Banua were the flying stags. They simply passed over the ruined defenses and descended from the sky.

Fortunately for Banua, Ganbaatar had one defender he had not counted upon.

From whatever shadows had lately occupied him, the mercurial magician Hyamsam emerged to defend his adopted home.

Magic missiles streaked into the flying monsters.

A ball of fire exploded among them.

Then Hyamsam engulfed another group in a cloud of scalding steam.

Several of the flying beasts fell dead into Banua.

The rest fled.

By the time Bo-Jing had returned to the battered city, Banua had survived yet another assault.

And somewhere in the mountains overlooking the Valley of the Five Fires, Bangqiu and Naransetseg slept exhausted on the wet grass, separated from their companions and unaware of what their escape had set in motion.

Siege of Banua Day 3

Banua After the Siege

As later recounted in the Chronicles of the Northern Frontier

Bo-Jing rose early, his breath misting in the cold air as he stood atop the ramparts of shattered Banua. The fires had been stamped out, the beasts driven off. Victory, of a kind, had been won.

The warriors of the Bolad horde honored him with raised voices and lifted blades. They had seen him stand against horrors not born of nature — war machines vomiting flame, beastmen with the eyes of demons. Under his command, they had not broken. His companions, strangers just weeks ago, had shielded the innocent, destroyed siege weapons, and carved paths through the worst of the enemy.

But even as those cheers echoed in the narrow alleys, another sound rose — bitter, sharp, and raw. Grief.

It came from the Nergui.

They had buried their best beneath the rubble. Fathers, sons, daughters. The elders said they had been lured here, promised protection — and instead corralled into a slaughterhouse. Bo-Jing met their words with reason. You came of your own choice, he reminded them. But truth, in that hour, was no salve. Only salt in the wound.

And so the Nergui answered not with words, but with action.
“If we are to die,” they said, “we will die standing — not as shields for Ganbaatar and the Bolad.”

They did not speak again. They simply packed what was left: battered tools, limping beasts, orphans in tow. They left their dead where they fell, to be buried by the Bolad.
And then, they turned not west — not home. But southeast. Toward the lands of the Eagle Horde.

All save one.

Batzorig, son of Nergui, stood by the gate and watched them go. He did not weep. But he did not hide the tremble in his hands.

When they were gone, he turned to the ruins. His sister, Naransetseng, had been in Banua. She had not walked out with the others. No body had been claimed for burial. Her ger had burned.

He searched the rubble with Bo-Jing beside him, neither speaking much. Salt stood nearby, head bowed. Even Bangqiu — ever aloof — seemed touched by the loss. It was Bo-Jing who found it, beneath the blackened remains of the ger wall: Naransetseng’s necklace, unbroken, untouched by flame.

Batzorig fell to his knees. Clutched it like it might still be warm from her skin.

Bo-Jing looked to the smoke curling toward the eastern sky.

“She was not killed here,” he said. “I think she fled. Cast the necklace as a decoy. The beasts did not attack Banua — they passed it by. They’re still hunting her.”

Batzorig lifted his head, eyes red with dust and hope.
“Then I go after her,” he said. “Alone, if I must. Or with all the brave men who love what is beautiful and good.”

Bo-Jing clasped his arm. “You won’t go alone.”

And by dusk, the host rode out again. One hundred warriors, led by Bo-Jing, Bangqiu, Nar-Nuteng, and a man with hope clenched in his fist like a blade — chasing smoke trails and the memory of a woman who might still be alive.

Siege of Banua Day 2

At dawn, watchers on Banua’s towers saw the enemy encampments stirring. Beastmen began withdrawing, marching westward toward a long ridge. Despite their rout the night before, they still outnumbered the defenders three to one. Strangely quiet and efficient in their movements, they no longer resembled an undisciplined horde. It was as if an alien intelligence had assumed command.

Sensing deception, Bangqiu and Salt cloaked themselves in invisibility and set off to scout. Skirting around yetis scavenging the battlefield, the two magicians crept to the ridge’s crest—where they beheld a disturbing sight: the beastmen were clustered around a deep pit, excavating with inhuman speed. Lines of them marched out carrying dirt. Something was tunneling toward Banua—fast.

Among the monstrous laborers stood a solitary human in black armor. Without hesitation, Bangqiu and Salt unleashed a barrage of magic missiles, driving him into his tent. To compound the chaos, Bangqiu summoned a stone wall and dropped it across the mouth of the tunnel. Then, taking the form of an owl, he flew back to Banua. Salt, cloaked and cautious, made her way back on foot.

That night, few slept. Red flashes lit the sky. The ground trembled. Rumors raced: the well water tasted wrong. People heard screams beyond the ridge.

Before dawn, watchmen saw movement: beastmen advancing again—this time with giants and juggernauts.

Ganbaatar organized the defense. Armed soldiers manned the battlements. Citizens were herded into the inner barracks.

Then, the earth split.

Right beneath the inner gate, a colossal claw burst through the ground, ripping stone and earth apart. The gate crumbled. Up rose a monstrous, red-eyed badger—taller than two men, its snout dripping with hunger. It lunged. A slash of its claws cleaved a soldier in half. Its jaws snapped a horse’s spine.

Soldiers fled. The beast pursued, killing, devouring.

Then came Bo-Jing. With him stood his henchmen, also Nar-Nuteng, and all of the bravest warriors of Banua. Long spears drove into the beast’s flanks. Arrows peppered its back. At first, it seemed unstoppable. But a spear found its underbelly. It halted. Bo-Jing leapt forward, slashing deep into its face. Nar-Nuteng struck beneath its foreleg. Surrounded and bleeding from every side, the beast collapsed—its death shaking the earth again.

But chaos reigned.

Beastmen had scattered into Banua, setting fires, slaying unarmed townsfolk, killing livestock. The juggernauts arrived next—three immense engines of war—rolling toward the outer gate. With the city’s defenders drawn inward, the gates fell. The juggernauts rolled into Banua.

But the magicians were ready.

Bangqiu, Hyamsam, and Salt struck the wheels of the lead juggernaut with fireballs and magic missiles. Flames erupted. The behemoth veered, tumbling into the pit torn open by the badger. The others crashed in behind.

Still, the beastmen pressed toward the marketplace—toward the tents of the Nergui refugees. Arrows rained down from the rooftops, but the monsters moved from tent to tent, slaughtering the defenseless.

Then Bo-Jing and Nar-Nuteng returned.

Rallying Banua’s remaining warriors, they charged. This time, the beastmen broke. Driven into a corner of the marketplace, they were caught, surrounded, and destroyed.

Siege of Banua Day 1

As the sun went down, the people of Banua feared an attack from the besieging horde outside. Beyond the walls, bonfires blazed, and gusts of wind carried the sounds of aggressive chants punctuated by screaming; in certain parts of the city, a deep rumbling in the ground shook the tent poles. The sky flashed red with fire to illuminate the forms of giant flying lizards. When the horde charged, the archers of Banua were ready. Arrows rained down on the onslaught of beastmen, trolls, and yetis. Still the monsters pressed in a crazed fury, many with multiple arrows embedded in their flesh. Pondering behind the hordes of beastmen was an enormous wagon with an iron head. Arrows bounced off it harmlessly. Beastmen who stumbled before it were crushed underneath its thick, spiked wheels. As it reached the gates of Banua, the town’s defenders began to pelt it with stones. These missiles barely damaged the juggernaut, and did nothing to slow its progress. When it reached the entrance to the town, it began to rock back and forth, ramming its iron-shod head against the wooden gates. Bo Jing directed the defenders to direct their fire at the beastmen who were scaling Banua’s walls.

Bo Jing called on the power of the Coin of East to freeze the wheels of the juggernaut. He and his henchmen joined the defenders in killing the attacking beastmen; their bodies began to pile up at the foot of the walls. Once the beastmen’s onslaught was neutralized, the defenders resumed their efforts to destroy the incapacitated juggernaut. The strongest men attacked it from above, casting down huge stones and barrels of flaming oil. At this moment, Bo Jing received word of another attack in another part of the town. Dragons had descended from the clouds into the midst of the crowded mass of yurts behind the Khan’s palace. They were devouring people and setting fire to their homes.

Bo Jing and his men, rallied the most capable of Banua’s defenders and dashed to the rear of the town to confront the dragons. There were two fearsome beasts, surrounded by burning wreckage. Bangqiu and Salt, from the safety of the Khan’s palace, blasted one of the dragons with magic missiles. Enraged, it took wing, flying toward them. Bo Jing and his men to attack the second dragon, striking it from all sides with swords and spears. The dragon thrashed from side to side, desperate to seize and devour a hapless spearman. But Bo Jing, with astounding bravery and quickness, stayed at the dragon’s head, slashing at its eyes and mouth, denying it the opportunity to strike. The dragon weakened and Bo-Jing saw his opportunity. He rushed toward it, feinted to the left and, as the dragon went to the right, dashed past its open maw and slashed its throat with his long sharp sword. Black blood gushed out and the dragon died. The flying dragon, meanwhile, had made itself a target for archers throughout the town. Pierced with many arrows, it floundered and crashed to the ground, never to rise.

Defending the Lands of the Five Fires 05 (First Khazu-Kala and then Banua)

Bo-Jing, Bangqiu, and Salt decided they would go to Khazu Kala. Expecting a difficult battle, Bo-Jing ordered that they make a comfortable camp and rest for a couple days, giving their wounds a chance to heal. 

And so, by the time they reached Khazu Kala, the battle was all but over. A single wizened creature, wielding a rusty wicked sword, stood surrounded by a dozen Nergui warriors—and also dozens of corpses. Bo-Jing, riding on Ses-Hami, arrived by air and Bo-Jing attacked the strange fiend with a flying leap. With his fiery sword, Bo-Jing dispatched his foe and won the admiration of the Nergui. 

Gansukh was dead and his name had the taste of ashes. His duplicity had brought his own death, the deaths of his loyal bodyguards, the deaths of the people who depended on him. With little argument, the survivors of the attack, both the warriors and the people, agreed they would join Bo-Jing. Yes, even in rejoining the Bolad horde in Banua.

It took three days to arrive within sight of Banua and the arrival was not a cause for celebration, but another serving of hardship. For the proud city of the steppe was surrounded by an army of beastmen, dragons, and monsters. Bo-Jing himself cursed bitterly at how the pettiness of Gansukh had brought such horror among the people he had agreed to protect. But Salt would not allow her friend the luxury of despair. She directed his gaze from his foes to the people who now trusted him. With courage and faith, he could bring these people into Banua. Reuniting the people of Bolad and Nergui did not guarantee their survival but preserved their hopes for another day.

Bangqiu became invisible and rose into the air, surveying the enemy camps, and determined the safest route to the city. Bo Jing received the information and led the way. The Nergui warriors formed two files around their families and herds. They raised their swords and shouted as they approached, making themselves appear to be another war-band arriving to join the assault on Banua. The beastmen accepted the deception, cheering as the Nergui passed through their lines. Bangqiu, invisible, flew into the city and alerted the defenders to the ruse. When the gates were opened, Salt and Bangqiu blasted the band of beastmen who tried to join the people of Nergui. The unarmed people passed into the city. Bo-Jing and the warriors stayed to defend their entry, warding off more attacking beastmen. Only when the innocents had entered the city did the warriors follow. Bo-Jing entered last of all and the gates were closed.

Defending the Lands of the Five Fires 04 (The truth about Batzorig's sister)

Npi-Nhut and the other khimoris thanked Bo-Jing for his assistance. They promised to keep watch over the valley and alert him to any more incursions. And, as a further sign of appreciation, Ses-Hami would accompany him as he made his way to Khazu Kala. Bo-Jing was especially grateful for the khimori’s assistance as a scout and promised his father to not expose him to unnecessary danger.

The company made their way out of the valley, Ses-Hami sometimes scouting ahead when they reached likely ambush points. They reached the watch fire of the Nergui horde and were given a cold welcome. The soldiers shrugged off Salt’s questions about the beastmen and rather than share their ger, sent the guests to sleep among the firewood. 

The company, still including the eight men from the Worm Clan, departed early the next morning and not far from the edge of the valley, heard the sounds of battle. Drawing closer, they found a Nergui encampment under attack by beastmen. Bangqiu broke the beastmen’s charge with a wall of fire then levitated above them to blast them with a cloud of steam. Salt cast her magic missiles and the few stragglers were cut down by Bo-Jing and his men.

The families in the camp offered thanks and, recognizing Bo-Jing’s status as a local baghatur, pledged their loyalty to him and the Emperor. They shared a meal and, though hesitant at first, voiced their discontent with Gansukh. Many had avoided Khazu Kala, waiting for a sign. Over the course of the meal, as they listened to the grim tales of the Worm Clan, they began to believe that Bo-Jing was that sign. The invaders welcomed by Gansukh were worse than they had feared. If anyone could rally resistance against the armies of the mysterious “Master,” it was Bo-Jing.

Among the group were three skilled archers and a retired officer from Gansukh’s army. They vowed to support Bo-Jing when the time came, though their first duty remained to their families.

Later that day, Ses-Hami alerted Bo-Jing to another camp under attack. Bo-Jing and Bangqiu again led the counterattack. Several warriors from the camp joined the fight, and one of them proved to be Batzorig—formerly Gansukh’s right hand, and brother to Gansukh’s khatun, Naransetseng.

After the battle, Salt warned Batzorig that Naransetseng was in special danger: the beastmen had been searching for her among the Worm Clan.

Batzorig’s scarred face went soft. His lip quivered. He nodded, then shared his story.

“I overheard Gansukh speaking with a stranger. At first, I thought it was another black shaman—someone after her necklace. But I listened more closely. The man didn’t want the necklace. He wanted Naransetseng.”

As trust in Gansukh eroded, many people of Khazu Kala made secret plans to flee. Batzorig had persuaded his sister to join them. He remained behind, pretending ignorance—a role Gansukh accepted, perhaps too willingly.

“It was easy. My brother-in-law was afraid of her, and he avoided her. But then... the stranger returned. He brought half-man monsters. And suddenly Gansukh demanded I bring her to him.”

Batzorig stalled. He told Gansukh that Naransetseng had gone to visit their mother’s grave—three days west of the city. Gansukh had raged. And then he had despaired. The stranger promised to return.

“That was four days ago. I stayed close, in case Gansukh needed me. Because... he’s my khan.”

Batzorig turned to Salt, Bo-Jing, and Bangqiu.

“My sister is deaf, but she is not a witch. She’s the daughter of the King of the East. When we were children, my mother was alone—my father and uncles were at war. One day, a man came to our camp. He wore green and played the fiddle. He helped my mother... stayed with her... and then Naransetseng was born. Before my father returned, the man left, but he gave her a necklace.”

He looked down at his hands.

“She was beautiful. She believed our father—the man who raised her—was the squat, scarred soldier who came home from war. An ugly man, look at me, my face was his face! And he loved my beautiful sister more than anything. More than me, I think. She was not deaf when she was born.”

Then, almost in a whisper:

“But the stranger... he knows who she really is. That’s why he wants her.”