Readying 18, Drago above ground, again

Mammalian player characters should not read below. However… if you do, you will have a clear understanding of Drago’s heart.

Trakoadon ushers Drago out of G’ruk’s tent after their conversation.

He is given a tent to share with three other warriors, one of whom is Trakoadon. It is comfortable enough for an animal hide tent on the gravelly bank of an underground river.

“Please stay in or by the tent Drago,” warns Trakoadon. “In any case, do not go too far down the bank of the river. There are darkmantles down there that will fall upon and consume the unwary. If you’ve never heard of them and I can see from your expression that you haven’t, they’re a kind of octopoid  thing that disguises itself as a stalactite and then falls upon anyone walking below it. Then they wrap themselves around their victims, crush them, and feed. There’s a whole colony of them down there, so we just swim past them if we ever need to go down river. There really isn’t anything of interest down there anyway. Anyway, wait here until Igusadon comes for you.”

Trakoadon then leaves Drago to himself for a few minutes, but it isn’t long before Igusadon, Iguanosuth, and Kopusuth come for him. They introduce themselves and Drago learns that Igusadon and Iguanosuth are both  trackers (the lizardfolk equivalent of rangers) who have become particularly adept at spying upon, hunting, and fighting against the human scourge. Both are larger, stronger, and more agile than the average warrior. They are dressed in enchanted scale armor made of some boiled hide and armed with masterwork composite longbows, morningstars, two-handed flails, and daggers. Kopusuth is one of the tribal shamans who accompanied G’ruk to Thracia. He is also dressed in enchanted leather scale. He, however, is only armed with a masterwork shortbow, spear, and dagger, but he does have a pouch of healing herbs, balms, splints, and bandages if they are needed. They have four cure moderate wound potions between the three of them (not, however, taken from Drago’s bandoleer they assure him). Once introductions have been made, Igusadon leads them all back to the surface, once more exchanging passwords with the gnolls. Drago is informed that these passwords do change from time to time, as the gnolls see fit.

On the surface, Drago sees that it is mid-afternoon. Igusadon leads them stealthily through the ruins back to the branch of the canal that trails off into the swamp. They are all careful to wrap their bows, quivers and other equipment in treated alligator stomachs to protect them from the water. Once they are in and swimming back to the main canal that bisects the city, Igusadon asks, “So, Drago, tell us, where are these unscaled ones are. Shaman G’ruk said that you left them in the southwest part of the city. Are they near the arena then?”

Drago breathes deep the fresh air. He can almost forget his cares swimming in the creek, but the danger he is putting his friends into brings him back to reality.

Picking up Igusadon’s lead, Drago replies, “Actually, they’ve been using the arena itself. We killed the assassin vines living there and use it as an advantage spot to spy upon the city. They were talking of finding another location. Don’t know if they have. But as of this morning, they were planning to set a trap to kill some Deathwalkers around this time of day in the southeast quadrant. Don’t know where exactly.”

Igusadon nods and thinks this over. “We had better not swim down the canal any further then. Head for the west bank and we’ll get in among the ruins. I know a route that will take us near the arena without exposing us to anyone watching from the stands. Stay close to me. There are buildings in this city haunted by ghosts and wights.” He snorts and then continues, “Maybe if we’re lucky they’ll run into some of those and that will be the end of them. No need for us to do anything.” He swims on.

Igusadon leads them west into the ruins and then turns south again. They stick to the shadows of the buildings and the trees. At one point they cross plaza with a pool now filled with viscous green goo. In the center of the pool are large marble statues of two human deities (one wreathed in grape vines and the other holding a trident) surrounded by smaller statues of frolicking fey and sea creatures. There was once a fountain in the center of it all but that has long since stopped working.

To Drago’s relief they don’t go down the street where the Wight House is, but follow a line of trees and marble blocks facing the western side of the arena so they can look into the stands. They see no one.  The three of them all take out their bows and string them, ready for anything. They indicate to Drago that he should do the same. Once their bows are strung and ready, Igusadon signals for Drago and Kopusuth to stay put. He and Iguanosuth carefully creep up and down the street in order to see the arena from as many hidden vantage points as they can. Drago is reminded of the ways that Indranil and
Lorindel would operate. Finally they return.

“It looks empty. I’m going to go in and see if I can find any tracks. Cover me.” Igusadon swifly runs over to the arena, keeping as low as he can. He looks around and then climbs down into the pit.

When he returns he says, “I found tracks, but no sign of any camp.” He gives Drago a hard look. “We’ll follow the tracks now.” Then they begin following the tracks, which of course lead back to the Wight House.

Drago shrugs. “They must have moved today after they kicked me out.”

Drago keeps his eyes peeled for his comrades, both inside the house and on the rooftop. He has an idea….

Igusadon leads them past the rubble and overgrown foundations surrounding the arena and then holds up his hand to bring them to a halt in the shadows of a wall. Across the streets Drago sees the Wight House. Igusadon motions for the others to keep hidden and to cover him. He apparently has missed Lorindel, who Drago sees is on the roof wearing the elven cloak that had been given to Newt. Drago realizes that he only noticed Lorindel because he knew he would be there. He also sees that Lorindel has seen Igusadon as he moves out of the cover to follow the tracks into the street. Before Drago can say anything Lorindel fires a shot that hits Igusadon in the chest and then he scuttles out of sight, probably to shout a warning to Indranil and the others.

Igusadon runs back to the cover of the ruined building. “I think we found them. Let’s get out of here.”

Drago runs like hell with the others, trying to keep to the shadows so that the Keolanders won’t know he is among them. As he runs he thinks to himself, “Good. Now they know they have been spotted. Hopefully they will find a new secret base.”

Fortunately, no one gives chase. Before getting back into the canal the small group takes cover behind some fallen blocks of marble. Iguanosuth keeps watch while Kopusuth pulls out the arrow from Igusadon and calls upon his spirit allies to heal his comrade. Once healed, Igusadon rises and tells them to quickly pack their bows and gear back into the alligator stomach bags and head into the water to return to the lizardfolk encampment.

They have no trouble returning, but on the way Igusadon asks Drago, “Your former allies are strong. I never saw whoever it was that shot me. How many of them are there? Tell me about them.”

Drago ponders Igusadon’s question for a moment before responding, “They are all great warriors, all human and half elf Keolander nobles, and one powerful sorcerer. Tonight reinforcements will arrive from Melkot as well. Another twenty dwarves have agreed to help kill Deathwalkers. So maybe 30 or so, in all. Most of the Keolanders are friends of the Malarat. There is only one among them who is the enemy of all reptiles. His name is Indranil and he’s their half-breed warlord. You can identify him because he has a wolf companion. The dog’s name is Aatu. If you kill both, the others could become our willing allies, even though I know we will have to kill them all one day. But for now, G’ruk has agreed to let them cause confusion amongst the other mammalian factions, pitting one against the other to thin their herds above ground while we seek the Immortal King below. Indranil is a very cautious sort of fellow. All his actions are based on fear. Stir their fear and they will make stupid mistakes.” Drago laughs. “Indranil wants me dead. I want him dead. We are mortal enemies. This is why I was cast out. Half breed humans!” Drago hisses and spits into the water.

Igusadon says, “Any alliance they may have with Chief Rahk will makes no difference to us. Shaman G’ruk is showing us that we need no longer live depending on the sufferance of humans, nor do we need to bow to them or try to curry their favor or beg their assistance in anything. He is showing us the way to true pride in our ancient heritage. It sounds to me like your grievance with this Indranil is personal. That is beneath you. We should care not at all what the unscaled think of us. Perhaps he is just more wise than the others for he knows that our time is coming and so he futiley does all he can to keep it at bay.” Igusadon laughs. “But it is too late for all of them. I shall report this to Shaman G’ruk. It may be as you say. He may leave the humans to fight each other – Deathwalker against Keolander. We shall see.”

They arrive back at the ruined temple and as before passwords are exchanged and they desend into the depths of the earth.