This letter dates from after his exile but was discovered in the
same archive as the others.
Dearest Felicitus,
I hope this missive finds you well. My exile still pains me,
especially the recent loss of my entourage which I told you about in an earlier letter.
Alone I had made my way down from the Redlands to the Kingdom of Immther and then
on to Balazar. In the capital of Lunar controlled Balazar I met with a rather
wonderful surprise. The best servant I have ever had the pleasure to employ,
Gregorious, was there waiting for me! You remember Gregorious do you not? I
had been forced to let him go so that he could enter the employ of another so that some
gambling debt I had incurred with the wrong sort to be in debt to would be forgiven.
He told me that Moonson himself (no doubt feeling remorse at his having banished
me) had hired him away from his most recent employers for the sole purpose of finding me
and entering my employ once more! My jubilation at this chain of events was
unprecedented. I almost turned cartwheels in my joy. In addition to Gregorious
Moonson had sent two creatures of a curious race known as Groratorans or Maidstone Archers
to act as my bodyguards. These are enormous creatures with no head but rather an
extra arm placed where a head would be on a man. They have eyes on the backs of each
of their three hands and are the most amazing archers I have ever seen! They also
wield twin troll mauls to good effect. I have truly been blessed by Moonson!
(Now if only he would take this curse off of me so I could return to Glamour! I
have sent him a letter thanking him for this wonderful gift however).
Being in Elkoi was almost like old school week for who should I see
there but that charming specimen Merodach the Black. Shudder. Meeting that
cold blooded monster again was a pleasure I would rather have avoided. You remember
Merodach and his brother Marduk don't you? They were those twin Scimitars of Yanafal
Tarnils that made Shargashi look like members of Donander's cult. The grimmest, most
heartless men I have ever met. And that includes my visit to Alkoth! Merodach
informed me that he was in Elkoi to avenge his brother's death. (All praise Yanafil
Tarnils for embracing that vermin to his breast. I'm sure he's an important member
of the Legion of Doom). I shouldn't be so hard on the late, unlamented Marduk I
suppose he at least had the virtue that you could get along with him as long as you didn't
violate any part, no matter how tiny of the Yanafal Tarnil's moral code or threaten the
Empire. With Merodach (who told me with a straight face that the only thing wrong
with his dear departed brother was that "He was too soft." This the man
whose allied spirit was rumoured to be scared of him? Too soft! I think not)
you don't know where you stand at any time. It's impossible to know what might make
him engage on a random killing spree of innocents. How he has managed to avoid
breaking any of Moonson's laws is beyond me. Anyway, yet another reason to flee, err
leave Elkoi. Oh before I forget I was informed that Marduk had been slain by a
foreigner incarnating the Wild Mother,
some sort of nature goddess. Bit his head off I understand, poor thing. And
I'm not sure who I pity more, poor Marduk for dying or the Wild Mother for having to taste
him. Seems that dear Merodach is looking for the foreigners who helped the Wild
Mother and took all of Marduk's gear as well. I pity them.
The main intent of this letter is to relate some droll events that I
witnessed while in Balazar. My new entourage and myself had just left the citadel of
Elkoi (the aforementioned capital of Lunar Balazar) immediately after the strange death of
a Lunar official named Halcyon var something or another. Apparently he had been
murdered by some barbarians who had entered the citadel with the express intent of slaying
him. Well they succeeded quite well thank you and put the entire garrison into an
uproar! Why they were even going to refuse to allow me to exit until the Groratorans
and my letter from Moonson asking that all who see it give the bearer whatever assistance
they can made them change their minds. They were suspicious of my leaving at night
but I had already stayed in Elkoi as long as I could bear and no longer being able to
ignore the insistance of my curse that I move on we were forced to leave Elkoi
immediately. I had left my departure too long and by this time I was basically
incapable of making a rational decision so we set off in the wrong direction heading north
instead of east as I had planned on. When I had moved far enough away from the
citadel to allow me to stop we halted in order to have a bite and consider our next move.
While we sat there cooking a filling, but bland repast of porridge one of the
Groratorans informed me that we were being watched by someone in the woods. Not
fearing the locals I called out an invitation for the watcher to approach. He (as it
turned out to be) did so and proved to be an outlander barbarian. Introductions were
exchanged and he turned out to be a Praxian nomad of the sort that ride bison, named
Greystone. He told me that he and his compatriots were just exercising due caution
at the sight of a fire burning along the trail. I invited him to dine with me and he
did so. One of the Groratorans (it may have been the same one or it may have been
the other damn me if I can tell one from the other) informed me that there was a flying
man hovering overhead. I told this Greystone that his flying friend could join us if
he wanted. (One of the Groratorans strung his bow for added emphasis). The
flyer landed and introduced himself as one Simon some sort of sorceror. We spoke for
a while and exchanged superficialities. I told them of the recent goings on in the
citadel and mentioned Merodach's presence. The Praxian seemed a bit upset at
this news but I might have imagined that. They told me that they and their friends
were travelling east and asked whether I would be interested in accompanying them. I
said we would (misery does love company after all) but I told them flat out that I would
not get involved with any fights they might have with Empire forces. I may be in
exile but I am not a traitor! The companions of the pair I had already met
turned out to be a Yemalian in gold plate baron something or another, another scruffy
Praxian whose name escapes me, a absolutely stunning local with gorgeous red hair named
Burning Willow, and one of those accursed Pentan horsemen that has caused the Empire such
grief in the past. They had two horses with them, one of which was bearing a burden
that looked suspiciously like a corpse on it. Obviously these were the barbarians
that had murdered Halcyon var whatever, not that I cared aught for that.
We travelled cross country (not an easy task considering it was
winter and the terrain was hilly) southeast from where we had met avoiding the trail back
to Elkoi with the intent of finding the path that led eastward to Trilus (another
Balazaring citadel - not allied with us) and on to Dykene, the destination of these
barbarians. I had agreed to accompany them as far as Trilus where I had decided to
visit awhile. We had travelled for a day or so when my new companions noticed that
we were being followed by a file of Lunar peltasts. There were nine foot soldiers
accompanied by an officer on horseback and their numbers caused my friends some concern.
It seemed clear from their actions that the peltasts were in no hurry to engage the
barbarians but would rather follow them wherever they were going. They decided that
they would try and lose their followers. The terrain wasn't rough enough for that
but they did decide to make a stand and see if they could scare the Lunars off.
While they prepared themselves at the bottom of a dip in the land my aides and I settled
down for a nice picnic lunch of ham and some horrible dried vegetables and grains that the
locals eat. The four warriors on foot (the sorceror, the Praxians and the beautiful
Burning Willow) prepared themselves for battle, readying their javelins (in the case of
all but the sorceror who had a heavy cross bow instead and had risen into the air a bit to
prevent his being attacked in melee). They made sure that they were just far enough
away from the top of the ridge so as to be out of javelin range. The Yemalian and
the Pentan meanwhile had mounted their horses (minus poor Halcyon's body which they
stashed) and both armed with bows they moved closer to the top of the ridge.
The mounted Lunar officer popped over the ridge to be met by missile
fire from the mounted barbarians, the Praxian Greystone who had a bow as well as his
javelins and the sorceror. Yanafil must have smiled on the warrior as he took but a
slight arm wound from this barrage. He quickly rode his horse back over the ridge
and soon thereafter the peltasts came over the ridge and moved in to attack the foot
soldiers. They rushed forward while the officer rode to battle the horsemen.
He managed to befuddle the Pentan and exchanged blows with the Yemalian to no
effect. The peltasts meanwhile had moved forward all except one who had been shot in
the leg by the Pentan before he was befuddled. He stopped to heal himself (ah, but
it was a pleasure to see well trained Lunar troops in action!) The javelins of the
barbarians had no great effect (the peltast's using their namesake shields to good effect)
but the peltasts' javelins took out the beauteous Burning Willow! She stood there as
first one, then another javelin sprouted from her beautiful body, first in the chest and
then the head. She toppled over obviously dead from this last wound. The
barbarians all shouted in dismay at this and then attempted to get their god's to
intercede for them. The Praxian whose name I cannot recall told me latter that he
was almost swept up into his god's presence but fortunately he didn't have quite enough
favour in his god's eyes! [Editor's note : missed his POW by one!] The others
called in vain until the Pentan managed to get his god's attention and a mighty wind swept
through the battlefield healing all the barbarian combatants! [Editor's note : down
to 4 POW]
The peltasts retreated at this point back over the ridge to regroup
as they no longer had any javelins (other than the one who had been wounded earlier in the
leg - this fact will prove significant later on in this account). The barbarians let
them go for the time being while they collected javelins. Meanwhile the Yemalian had
chased the peltasts' officer off with his lance until the officer turned in his saddle and
befuddled him! He then returned to the battle while the Praxian Geystone raced off
to dispell his friends befuddlement. The officer returned and charged the Pentan
trading blows from lances until the officer befuddled the Pentan. He then charged
killing his mount turning him into a footman. Another exchange of blows crippled the
Pentan's arm and he lacked the magic needed to heal himself. At this point the
officer moved to attack the Yemalian.
The peltasts meanwhile had regrouped and charged back over the slope
wielding scimitars and peltas and casting magic at their enemies. Six of them
attacked the three standing there (the sorceror, Burning Willow and the other Praxian)
while the other three moved to pursue Greystone. The sorceror had reloaded his
crossbow and was preparing to fire when the peltast who still had a javelin threw it at
him. Unfortunately this peltast was much gifted by the goddess and was both quicker
than the sorceror and possessed of a large multimissile spell. Three magical and one
mundane missile hurtled at the sorceror and killed him! [Editor's Note : he bought a
critical to the chest]. The nameless Praxian and the beauteous Burning Willow were
left facing six opponents by themselves until the Pentan moved to join them. A
scimitar blow to the head knocked the Praxian down and the Pentan was killed by a scimitar
blow through the chest while battling three of the peltasts. Greystone managed to
hold off the three he was fighting until the Yemalian managed to kill one of them with his
lance from horseback. The Yemalian killed the officer's horse and at this point
things looked grim for the barbarians. Only two of their number were still standing
(the beauteous Burning Willow having been knocked down by a blow to the leg - and the
peltasts promising her the "fate worse than death", while the Praxian was
unconscious and the other two were dead).
The Yemalian moved out of spell range after being subjected to a
barrage of spells from the peltasts and Greystone was moving to join him when the Yemalian
tried to make a deal for his comrades who still survived. He offered to swap a black
iron bastard sword for his live friends and the bodies of his dead friends. The
officer said he would consider this but he would have to examine the sword first.
Greystone moved forward and tossed the sword down. The officer moved over and picked
it up. As soon as he touched it he tossed it to the ground in alarm and cried
treachery! The peltasts moved forward to finish the fight but he waved them back.
He stooped and picked the sword up and it seemed to my trained eye to be in
communication with some spirit residing within the sword. He foolishly opened
himself to attack and the spirit within the sword attacked him. The peltasts moved
forward to aid him. After a brief spirit combat which allowed the peltasts to move
past him towards the surviving barbarians the spirit now residing in the officer's body
attacked two of his own peltasts from behind with the black sword killing one! The
spirit in the body seemed to be a mite unsteady in its new home and the peltasts managed
to kill their own commander's body in a very short fight. The Praxian having had his
head wound healed a bit by Burning Willow (who had been lying beside him) had gotten up
and joined the fight as did the other two barbarians but when the officer fell the
fighting stopped again.
The senior most of the peltasts and the Yemalian negotiated and the
two groups picked up their dead and went their separate ways. Greystone picked up
the black sword and allowed the spirit within to possess (temporarily) his body. The
spirit asked that he be allowed to stay in someone's body so that he could recover all the
magic he had expended battling the officer and someone agreed to do so.
I haven't seen such an epic battle for a long time. It was
almost worthy of a ballad and if my talents were in that area I might compose one. A
pity that such doughty (and lucky!) fighters are not allied with the Empire.
Yours as always,
Fresser
This page last modified December 16, 1999
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