Escaping the Gnolls and meeting the forgotten Human villagers ============================================================= ** 1029/12/07 ** Tess is in foggy mountainous area with pine trees. He teleported way off course. Tess heads down out of the mountain range over the next day. Still no idea where he is. Thora reports the next day regards her attempting to pick up Stephan out of Gnoll territory. They traveled for a couple of hours as there were no Gnolls nearby. Stephan will hole up and wait for Tess. Thora picks Tess up and teleports him to where Stephan was supposed to be. Stephan headed north it appears. As we follow Stephan's tracks, we find tracks of Gnolls heading north, following him. Maybe they captured Stephan. Signs of a large number of Gnolls heading northwards, and tracks of Ogres that appear to be working with the Gnolls. We hear drums and see smoke, and continue on. By the end of that day Aldara spots a large number of Gnolls - 200 or so - ahead of us. Scouting the Gnoll encampment - an entire tribe of Gnolls and Ogres, who are beating drums to summon more Gnolls and Ogres. They appear to be chasing Stephan. Overhearing them, their concern is that he will reach the tunnel before they get to him, but they think he will die there. They are upset at him having invaded their sacred death grounds. ** 1029/12/08-1029/12/09 ** Thora can track Stephan based on scent. The Gnolls don't stop to rest either, but are slower. At dawn we spot Stephan toiling up a slope ahead of us. The nearest Gnolls are 3 miles away, Stephan is 1.5 miles ahead, and more Gnolls behind that. He is heading up towards a waterfall, which appears to be a dead end. We teleport up to Stephan. Stephan says "Thank Halav." Stephan and his horse are tired. The valley has been getting narrower and narrower. The waterfall is quite tall. Stephan is still following the remnants of the road. Tess gets his Hat of Disguise back from Stephan. Tess, Stephan and Thora start moving again. The Gnolls appear to be trying to catch up with us before we get to the waterfall. They're running to catch up with us, but won't get there in time. The waterfall is gigantic - several hundred feet high. On the left hand side (the road side), the road leads in, more intact fashion, into a tunnel. The tunnel has pillars at the entrance - it appears to be worked. There is what appears to be a small stone tower at the top of the waterfall. The tunnel is 20 feet wide and high, appears to have been chiseled out of the rock. The tunnel goes in a short way and turns to the right with stairs spiraling up. There is thick mud, which is undisturbed. Nobody has been here in a long time. Tess goes back outside and hides. The Gnolls stop before the waterfall. The leading edge of the Gnolls spreads out, so as to not allow someone back through, but don't approach the tunnel. They are yipping and shaking their spears. The main body arrives, and likewise stops. Only Gnolls and Ogres amongst them - some leaders amongst them. Tess casts Invisibility silently and heads back into the tunnel. At the top is a wide stone bridge across the waterfall. The bridge is only just above the water. There are 3 mouldering skeletons face down between us and the tower, which is in the middle of the bridge. The bridge is 80 feet across. The tower is 20 feet square. The tower has bronze doors, which are closed, which we'll need to pass through to cross the bridge. The tower is 20 feet high. Tess inspects the skeletons. They are Gnoll skeletons without weapons or armor - there is no steel equipment on them, even metal belt buckles have been ripped away off the leather. Tess uses the Hat of Diguise to appear to be carrying no metal and heads up to the tower. There is a pattern - entwined needles and threads - on the bronze double doors (14 foot high). We push open the doors. They were opened not that long ago - several times recently. Inside of the tower is empty, aside from two unrusted steel statues. They appear to be jackal headed humanoids. The statues are freestanding (not on pedastals). They look quite similar to the statues we saw before. As Tess enters, the statues animate to attack. Tess backs out and we Teleport (Stephan, Tess, and horse) to the other side. Thora shapechanges. Thora gets the golems to chase her on the other side. Tess casts Detect Magic and looks at the bones of a robed figure gripping a stick. Tess picks up a **magical stick and a scroll case**. There is a road carved out laboriously on the side of the cliff. Thora heads off to find a tree to make her way out of here. Stephan and Tess continue. There is a sheer drop on one side, and sheer rock wall on the other. There are some streams crossing the road - some have bridges, some don't. A little slippery, but not too difficult to pass. We stop and rest for 24 hours. We're about 200 feet above the river. Water appears to have carved this area through the mountain. ** 1029/12/10 ** Tess memorizes his Mook Killing spell list, with Invisibility instead of Blur. We continue. Part of the road has fallen away. Stephan leads his horse carefully through the area. The path is bare stone. There's some lichen.We encounter a wide gorge near the end of the day, and a bridge across the gorge. There is a parapet on either side, but the bridge is crumbling and doesn't look that safe - unmaintained. The bridge looks weak to Tess' eye - it crumbles slightly as Tess crosses. Tess heads back, then teleports Stephan and the horse across. We then continue on the other side. There is an area where the ledge has mostly collapsed and is only 1 to 2 feet wide for about twenty feet in length. Stephan tries to carefully lead the horse across, and manages to get the horse across. We continue. Late in the afternoon we encounter another bridge. It crosses another gorge. This bridge has fallen in. The gorge is 200 foot wide. Tess tries to teleport across - we appear to have teleported back to the bridge before. ** 1029/12/11 ** We spend a day getting back. Then teleport across successfully. We continue on and rest again. ** 1029/12/12 ** We come to a gorge that a bridge once crossed. Pillars that once supported the bridge remain as a testament to the great architects who built this road. The biggest gap between pillars is about 30 feet, as well as vertical gap. Tess casts Alter Self into Faenre, and scouts across the other side. On the other side of the gate are two rock statues with jackal heads. On top of the gate wall are a family of ravens. Tess then flies back to teleport Stephan and the horse across, further up the path from where the statues were, and we continue on. We are in a broad valley, hemmed in by sheer mountains. The road into the valley is overgrown - trees, et al. There is a long abandonned village here, and fallen in buildings built into the lower parts of the cliff. Human sized creatures were living here. Rockwall behind us stretches from southwest to northeast. There is a remnant of a road that leads west-north-west. We head up that as it heads deeper into the valley. There is a ruined structure on the side of the road - a small, elaborate stone house - too small to be a house, maybe a shrine? There are geometric carvings on the walls and floor. It appears that someone intentionally defaced the decoration with a chisel. In the corner are a set of rusty broken manacles. We come across another ruined village. Roads south-southeast, and north. We head north. There is a fork in the road. One fork goes northwest into a forest, one fork goes east. Structures to the east, into a forest to the northwest. To the east is a ruined village, with a similar elaborate, defaced building. And there are mountain cliffs further to the east. We stop and rest. ** 1029/12/13 ** Tess looks around the village overnight. Tess hears big multi-limbed things entering the village. Three gigantic lizards - 10 foot long, with skinny legs and big pads on their feet. They are looking for food. Tess avoids them. The next day we take the northwest fork, into the forest. We cross a bridge over the stream. There is a fork - one path to the north, one to the west. The mountains close into the north. We find another abandoned village to the north, with another abandoned shrine. This village is nestled up against the edge of the passable terrain. it is mid-morning. We then head back to the west, paralleling the northern part of the mountains. The main road with paving heads southwest, and there is a trail to the north. We check out the trail to the north first. We encounter another shrine (no village). This one is also defaced. There are a couple of statues in there, and a heavy blunt object has been taken to the heads of the stone statues - they were on pedestals that they were a part of. We head back to the southwest. We encounter a shrine at the fork. This shrine has rusted broken manacles with chains. The shrine has been defaced. Road goes west and southeast. To the southeast Aldara spots another village. The valley narrows more to the west. We check out the village. The shrine is abandoned and defaced again. In one of the houses are rusting, what appear to be strangely shaped weapons or agricultural implements. There is wild wheat, and some signs of there having been ditches here. There is a path to the southeast, where there is another bridge. We continue as it gets toward the evening. There is an arch with horribly defaced humanoid statues. We arrive back at the second village. ** 1029/12/14 ** We head to where the valley narrows, and then it broadens out again. Another village with another defaced shrine. Roads to the north and southwest. This time we take the road to the north. We encounter a defaced shrine, where there is a sharp turn westwards into a forest of pine trees. There is a fork southwest and northwest. There is a lake to the southwest and then the road continues westward. We encounter a shrine to the northwest - a road to the north to another village, and the other road fork turns southwest. We here people walking through the village - 8 zombies shuffling through the village. There is no shrine in this village. Tess destroys the zombies with Stephan. We head back to the fork to the southwest. There is large outcropping of rock - 1 mile or so across. We crest a small rise and see three fresh human bodies with blood, dressed in rough clothing. They're all dead - died violently - one has a spear sticking out of them. No more than half an hour ago. They appear to have fought, but not for long. There weapons have been taken. Aldara reports somebody incoming from the west. Tess backs off to behind the outcropping. Nine humans riding giant lizards arrive. A person scrambles up out of hiding from the grass and points at Tessarael. The person who was hiding says Stephan and the horse are around the outcropping. Stephan and the horse come out. The humans speak in some strange language that Stephan doesn't understand. They think we killed the people here, but Tess points out we don't have any of their blood on us, nor do we have their missing weapons. The "mutts" seek to re-enslave us. The humans say they have always been here. They broke free of the mutts. The mutts are the Huttaaka. The jackal-headed statues were forced to be built by the humans while they were slaves. The mutts are not good warriors - they usually encounter about a half a dozen at a time, and encounter them frequently. A pair of the bodies were slashed by claws, rather than weapons. My father's father fought for his freedom from the Gnolls. Their language sounds a bit like Traldarian (the native tongue of Karameikos). The Human warriors have lizard skin as armor. Tess suggests he stay here to try and ambush the Hutaaka. Tess camps for the night - trying to be bait for the Hutaaka. The night passes, but no Hutaaka appear. ** 1029/12/15 ** We take a circuitous path back to their village to avoid patrols. Their village is a walled community with a ditch around it, fairly defensible. This is their only village remaining. We get taken into a broad hall, with fairly recently defaced statues and artworks. The people are dressed in brightly color, coarse- spun cloth, aside from the warriors wearing lizard skin. We get taken to their leader Guri-ben-kal. They had not seen horses before, Tess just explains it is a mount. Guri-ben-kal thinks we have to help him against the mutts. There are somewhere between 200 and 300 Hutaaka, and a similar number of Humans. "We have been fighting for as long as we can remember." They will be interrogating a mutt prisoner tonight, Tess is welcome to attend. In a hut is a jackal-headed humanoid. This is not the same as a Gnoll. They call themselves the Hutaaka. Tess asks about their history. A man with a large chest begins the tale ... at various points people repeat bits of it. It is a myth-enshrouded description of how the humans were brought to the valley from distant lands as slaves, and were forced to build the structures here, before they rebelled against their oppressors. They have been engaged in warfare since. They say that the Hutaakas copied human cultural elements - building statues, etc. The Hutaakas worship Pflarr. The Humans worship those who have gone before - they will be waiting for us. Guri-ben-kal decides not to allow Tess to attend the interrogation. They put us up for the night and feed us. There is a scream while we eat. Stephan leaps up, but Tess tells him to sit down. The screams stop after a while. They give us some quarters with bright red blankets, and Stephan organizes care for his horse. Stephan speaks haltingly with the natives in Traladarian. People go around and close shutters against the night - things that eat your soul are outside at night. One of the human's cousins disappeared during the night. There is a tale that those who disappear into the night have sometimes been seen later as a part of it. The Hutaakans released the "night" against the Humans - the Hutaakans are safe from it. The Hutakkans live four miles to the east. ** 1029/12/16 ** In the morning we are having breakfast in the 3 storey greathall. Someone comes in and whispers something to the leader. They have found some information: the mutts are intending to raise up more of the darkness against us. Geri-ben-kal is wearing a brightly colored lizard skin cloak each time we see him. Tess memorizes his Mook Killing spell list with Detect Undead swapped in for Feather Fall and Shield, Detect Thoughts swapped in for See Invisibility, and Arcane Sight swapped in for Clairvoyance.