The night was still and the cool breeze sent shivers down the T’Skrang’s spine. He was leaving Travar in a haste to go to Ktenshin. His reasons were known only to on person except himself, his mission a very delicate and dangerous one, his life in peril. The ferry was already moored down at the river docks like a huge beast awaiting release and freedom. Boarding the ferry was easy and the journey proved to be surprisingly uneventful.
Ktenshin proved to be a very busy community. The Ktenshin house is notable for being the only major T’Skrang house to ally with the hated Therans. It seemed that the Ktenshin were preparing for large scale action as there was an influx of new recruits flooding the streets to join the Ktenshin navy and army. Mercenaries abounded and filled the taverns and inns around the town; it was clear that the Ktenshin were up to something in big scale, perhaps an invasion or expansion of territory.
Ahmok, now under the name of Nahual K’Santiss, enrolled in the navy to try to divert any unwanted attention from any agent of ‘The Hand’. For three long months the navy proved to be a challenging but rewarding experience. New friends and rivals were made and new skills acquired. After three months Nahual decided it was time to start looking for his first quarry, K’Eregem the swordmaster.
Travelling along the K’Tenshin River many rumors were acquired. Some told of the whereabouts of the tomb of K’Eregem, others that he was still alive and others still that he was recently seen in a nearby village. Some particularly interesting ones told of K’Eregem’s scales changing colors during the time of the day and other tales that he was dropped off a ship in the Servos Jungle near a tribe who knew where he was headed. Nahual followed this trail as his own sources indicated that he was to be found in the jungle. During his hunt for a guide he met another T’Skrang named Rithik who was also looking for K’Eregem to learn from him. Together they hired an orc guide by the name of Baathus. He was covered in animal skins and had a pet lion named Pussy.
Rithik had discovered that K’Eregem might be headed into the jungle looking for a temple hidden there dedicated to Floraanus and Thystonius. This rumor related well with Nahual’s and they decided to follow that route.
The ship dropped them off at the furthest possible stop up the river in the middle of the jungle. The jungle was humid and the going was tough but the trio finally managed to find a the tribesmen they were looking for. It was an ambush actually where all three were captured. After some convincing the three and the tribesmen made friends through gifts and difficult methods of sign language. The tribes people indicated the way to Baathus towards the temples K’Eregem was rumoured to have gone to. True enough, the temple was found after some days of difficult and labouring travel. It was a huge ziggurat which must have sat there for millennia. A search for entrances proved useless as the ziggurat revealed no entrances whatsoever.
Then form nowhere an old T’Skrang holding a stick appeared. He walked nonchalantly towards the two alert T’Skrang and asked them what was their business. After introductions and after giving their reasons it was still unclear whether this old frail looking T’Skrang was indeed the legendary K’Eregem.
All of a sudden while Nahual was speaking with the old T’Skrang, Rithik gave him a sudden blow to the head which failed to knock him unconscious. Swords were drawn and fighting ensued. The two fighters were evenly matched, trading blow after blow and cut after cut. Meanwhile the old T’Skrang watched, impassive. Nahual started gaining the upper hand before Rithik surrendered when he was on the brink of unconsciousness. He claimed to be K’Eregem himself and asked for Nahual to show him his sword while he was telling the whole story to him. Healing potions were used and the two warriors were almost fully healed for their cuts and bruises. That was when Rithik turned Nahual’s own sword against him. Now swordless, Nahual dived for Rithik’s own weapon and used it against its former master. The two fought again but this time Rithik was better prepared and managed to wound Nahual before almost succumbing to his own wounds. As a response to this he opened a portal and attempted to go through it. Realizing that should Rithik make it through the portal all his cover and mission would be blown so he desperately tried to hamstring Rithik before he escaped. The ploy worked and Rithik fell dead at Nahual’s feet. Nahual threw Rithik’s sword inside the portal before it managed to close. He was still surprised at how the agent of ‘The Hand’ managed to fool him. It was only then that the old T’Skrang spoke again. He introduced himself as K”Eregem. After some debating K’Eregem accepted Nahual’s mission but not before allowing Nahual to train with him. He took the sword off Nahual and never gave it back before four months. During this time Nahual learnt the virtue of patience, something that would come extremely useful in a few weeks time. It was agreed that K’Eregem would travel to Bartertown and meet Nahual there.
With one target off the list Nahual decided to head to Kratas where his quarry was a troll by the name of Vin Namek. The fact that this particular troll was wanted all over Barsaive didn’t help much. Asking a bartender in an inn about Vin Namek yielded no results but Nahual was directed to a man sitting alone on a bench who might have information on Vin. After taking money off from Nahual he directed him to the table opposite his and introduced Vin Namek to him. Nahual ordered a drink for the two of them and started relating his story to Vin. The troll, who was a mix between crazy and nonchalance, readilt accepted the mission on one condition; that Nahual help free his imprisoned crewmen, on death row, in Travar. Having no other choice, the T’Skrang accepted.
The journey to Travar was quiet but what followed was a rapid chain of events which led to the trolls being freed from the guardhouse dungeons. Vin’s plan was simple and risky, create a diversion to empty the guardhouse to then enter and free the ‘innocent’ prisoners. Creating the diversion proved to be quite easy; Vin and Nahual entered a tavern close to the target guardhouse and created a ruckus which ended up in a bar brawl. Some patrons fled the scene and others joined in the fight. Unsurprisingly the troll’s might and the T’Skrang’s agility were prevailing against the untrained patrons and the few off duty guards present. Then the rest of the guards from the guardhouse joined in. What resulted was a mind-boggling display of finesse and brute force that landed all the city guards, including the bar tender who was trying to shoot a crossbow hidden under the counter, unconscious and with a bruised ego.
Adrenalin pumping the two then ran towards the now depleted guardhouse where they proceeded to neutralise the few guards left there and free Vin Namek’s crew. It was not over yet as to Nahual’s utter disbelief the trolls headed for the airships moored in the city. They commandeered their own air ship, which was impounded there, and fled pursued by another military airship from the Travar navy. The crew of the latter proved inexperienced compared to the veteran crew of Vin Namek and the troll’s ship soon outdistanced the other. As agreed beforehand, Vin landed Nahual a few days away from Urupa and pledged to meet him in Bartertown when the time came.
Finding Ioakbu, the Obsidiman wizard, proved to be a tougher nut to crack. The notorious Obsidiman propensity to take their time doing anything would come into play. Nahual travelled to the Obsidiman district in Urupa, where he asked for Ioakbu. The attendant there told him that he would be contacted when Ioakbu , or his whereabouts, were found. Meanwhile the T’Skrang met another Obsidiman wizard by the name of Imazu who was also a wizard. Imazu told Nahual that Ioakbu was not in Urupa and probably was up north near his life rock. He also explained that it would be difficult for Iaokbu to tag along.
A week after Imazu offered to meet Nahual in an inn. The wizard told him that he had arranged a meeting with the obsidiman Omeyra in a week’s time. The following morning Nahual was awakened by loud bangs on the door. Two Obsidimen entered his room threatening to arrest him. Nahual knew there was no hope of beating two Obsidimen in a small room like that and thinking them agents of ‘The Hand’ he smashed through the window and landing deftly on the ground one storey below him. Alas, there were more guards waiting downstairs. He got arrested and charged of murdering Imazu the night before. Clearly this was no coincidence and the work of ‘the Hand’ was evident.
That very night Nahual was brought in front of Omeyra and a council of obsidiman to answer for his charges. Under a truth spell Nahual simply related recent happenings in Barsaive regarding ‘The Hand’ and their activities to unsettle the status quo in the region. He also related his delicate mission to them and his employer, Merrox and that he needed to find Ioakbu very urgently. The council, not after a short deliberation, accepted Ahmok’s explanation and cleared him of all charges. He was directed to travel north to the
Nahual decided to travel up river by ship and while boarding he thought he glimpsed a familiar face amongst the crowd boarding the vessel but the face soon disappeared in the chaos and confusion. Thinking none of it at first Nahual boarded but a few ports of call later he disembarked and decided to walk the rest of the way to Greenvale following the river itself. He soon realised that he was being followed by someone.
The stealthy dwarf soon realised that his prey understood that he was following him. He was shocked himself when the T’Skrang jumped him from the branches of a tree. He was still reeling from the first blow and thinking how that happened, how an untrained T’Skrang could beat him at his own game. The two soon recognized each other, Ahmok and Ged; old acquaintances with a grudge. The sword fight ensued and both combatants slashed and wounded each other, feinted and dodged each other’s blows and moves until Ged fell unconscious, overwhelmed by his many wounds. The T’Skrang wasn’t too much for wear, he tied up the dwarf and nursed his wounds and quaffed a healing potion. What the lizard man did not realize was that Ged was a master thief and knew how to make knots better than most. He waited for the right moment and made good his escape leaving Ahmok dumbfounded and unable to track him.
Ahmok, his cover now blown, decided to carry on to Greenvale. He had to beat Ged there for he knew that he would try to kill Ioakbu.
After four gruelling days of forced marches and bad weather Ahmok finally made it to the
There he was ‘greeted’ by Ioakbu himself. There were other obsidimen besides Ioakbu. Most of them, as Ioakbu explained, were wizards of the different elements. Ahmok warned the obsidiman that there might be trouble and proceeded to relate, again, his version of events. The obsidimen listened intently without interrupting, taking in every detail as described by the T’Skrang. By the time Ahmok was ready it was almost night. A voice was then heard from the darkness, it was Ged again. He and his now visible numerous followers had tracked Ahmok to the obsidimen’s life rock and they were clearly ready for a fight. What they didn’t realize was that obsidimen protect their life rock fiercely, fanatically and to the death and that there were at least eight master wizards covering all the elements there against them.
The followers of ‘The Hand’ were slain to the last man. Alas two of the obsidimen wizards died defending their most sacred of places. Ged was lying in a pool of blood under Ahmok’s feet, who was wounded himself, but alive. Ahmok held his bloody sword and Ged’s in both hands. He breathed heavily as his numerous cuts bled and some blood dripped over Ged’s lifeless body. He leant down and disrespectfully started sifting through the belongings of the dwarf taking his sword and the Espagra cloak he was wearing. He then went to help tend to the wounded obsidimen and to get rid of the bodies of the followers of ‘The Hand’ that were fouling this sacred place.
Later the next morning Ioakbu informed Ahmok that he could not come to Bartertown and help him in his mission as his place was here, next to his life rock. Ahmok was about to protest when Ioakbu informed him that another of his comrades, a wizard called Olki would travel with him to Bartertown and help him in his endeavour.
Ten days later the two were meeting Omaron in Bartertown where they were greeted and treated as welcome guests. There they also met Vin Namek and K’Eregem.
Their next call was at Dolcral’s forge in the badlands. The voyage was made much easier with Vin Namek’s airship.
Upon entering the forge it was evident that it ad changed. The activity was frenetic to say the least. Numerous blacksmiths were forging weapons, armor and shields and the whole complex was a bustle of activity. To Ahmok’s dismay, of his four friends, there was only Ivor. The fate of the other three, namely Ajisha, Elessar and Jarl was still unknown. A heavy cloud fell upon the two as they greeted each other, happy to see that at least one of their friends and comrade in arms was still alive and with renewed hope that ‘The Hand’ could be still be defeated.
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