Story:

Chapter 4 – In the Servos Jungle

The Fugitives

Ka'El examined the escaped slave, a male Human who said he was from Syrtis.  He had a broken ankle, which had made it impossible for him to keep up with the rest of the fugitives.  He told us that three of them, two Dwarves and one T'skrang, had been killed by the inshalata in the attack that left him wounded.  Ka'El and fashioned a travois to help him travel, and started following the trail.

Meanwhile, Eldan was still tracking the larger group of prisoners.  It took him most of the day, but he finally caught up with them, and they recognized him as the one who had freed them.  They were a motley assortment of Name-givers.  Most of them were from Thera and did not speak Throalic or any other language we understood, though a few were from Barsaive.  Two of them were Windlings; their wings had been removed to prevent them from escaping. 

Most extraordinary was a creature with the body a Name-giver, Human- or Elf-sized, but the head of a jackal.  In time Ka'El, Skreb and I caught up with the larger group.  Although Eldan thought at first that the jackal-headed man must be Horror-marked, we discovered that he was a woodcarver of some talent.  He carved a figurine of each of the three of us, quite recognizable, and gave them as tokens.

Trackers

That day, far in the distance, we started hearing the baying of dogs; the Theran slavers were searching for their escaped slaves.  Eldan herded and guided his flock toward Lake Pyros; though we moved as fast as we could, the sounds kept getting closer. 

During that night, I was awakened by Eldan.  "There's someone in the woods," he said, "someone good.  Not as good as Eldan, but good."  He said that someone had been circling the camp and the makeshift defences Eldan had set up.  He had been unable to catch the culprit.  But in the middle of the night, we heard barking dogs circling our camp in the dark.

Under Eldan's directions, we set up careful defences around our camp: traps, trip wires, nets, and trenches.  We stoked the fires and got ready for an attack, as the dogs circled and circled.  Three dogs crashed through the undergrowth, ran towards us, about to fall in Eldan's trap, but then suddenly turned back.  Before we could decide whether to move, they came back in force and flanked our defences in a pincer manoeuvre.  We waited in the dark.  Eldan saw a female Dwark, finely dressed in green and brown, trying to cross the stream.  She threw a rock at me, but I was merely bruised.

Later in the second watch, another rock hit Jubini, a Barsaivian Troll.  In the morning, Eldan found tracks around our camp and our traps, as if the visitor had examined them in the dark and picked a way through.

With dawn, we hurried as much as possible on our trail but then we started hearing the dogs and hunters again, getting closer.  Towards the end of the daylight hours, we found a suitable spot and frantically set up our defences.  Again, Eldan heard someone else in the dark and tried to track the intruder.  The slave hunters attacked in the dark. 

Fight for Freedom

Ka'El and I faced an Ork leading a pack of dogs.  I took a wound, but between the two of us, we defeated the beastmaster and his dogs.  Then archers attacked from the other side of our camp, under cover of a deadfall.  Swinging from lianas, I lept to the rescue of the former slaves, while Eldan raced around from the far side.  The jackal-headed man had already managed to sneak up on the archers and was them causing some damage.

Though at the time we did not realize it, the Theran Fegis Kul arrived, in full chain mail armour.  Ka'El used his Mind Dagger spell on him, but it was dispelled by a charm.  Alone against Kul, Ka'El was outmatched, and the Theran sank his sword into our friend's breast, killing him.  But by this time we despatched the archers as well as the dogs and the beastmaster.  Fegis Kul sensed that he could not win this battle; he ran off, along with the well-dressed Dwarf and a male Human.

Once Kul's sword was removed from Ka'El's chest, the death-cheat amulet glowed, then cracked and faded to a dull sheen; Ka'El's wound closed, and he started breathing again.  Aside from us, there were eleven survivors among the fugitives.  Still led by Eldan, we found our way to the shore of Lake Pyros and circled it.

War!

By the time we reached the east end of the lake, we saw a Theran flying fortress, a kila, fly by at speed toward Lake Ban.  Smaller vedettes trailed on and on for hours; the Therans must be sending a crushing force to Barsaive. 

Then at sunset, a humongous dragonflew by at incredible speed, following where the Theran air fleet had gone.  From his markings, I knew him as the one the stories call Mountainshadow. 

Our ragged band finally dared to stop at a village, where we learned that the Foolish Venture was expected the next day.  We were greatly relieved when we saw our vessel pull in.  But as Eldan, Ka'El and I were meeting up with our shipmates, we saw five Theran galleys rowing downriver, pursued by a different and much younger dragon. 

The dragon harried the galleys, and they the managed to wound and repel the great beast with their cannons, still it managed to sink one of the galleys before flying off.  The galleys kept going downstream as fast as they could.

Thanks to this stunning distraction, we had received no attention whatsoever.  Captain Voostra G'dorren said we could bring the fugitives aboard under cover of the procession.  We stayed a day in the village, then the Foolish Venture continued its voyage upriver toward Lake Ban.  When we passed Ahodhya, however, and the start of the Great Pilgrimage Route, we saw the kila and its cloud of vedettes hovering above the site.

Later that evening, she called the three of us.  "I believe you have your work cut out for you." she said.  "We will be staying for a week at the Floating City of V'strimon; I'm sure the Green Arrow Path will want to investigate the Therans activities during that time."

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