KHAZUUL

Day 9, Watch 3
Wilderness Action: Make Camp
Location: Hex 6
Weather: Fair

As the stars are coming out, the company sets up camp behind the heavy timbers of the fort's walls. They deploy the shrinking sanctum and cook up a meal. The seeds and mangoes provide a nice change from the perpetual diet of dinosaur meat you've been on over the past few days. As you eat, you regard once again the alien nature of the sky - the stars don't match any you've every seen, even the sky in the Wastelands of the Old Empire as you approached Khazuul.

Freki enjoys the well earned meal of fruit, nuts and ... something like chicken as the strange night sky reveals itself one star at a time.

Before tucking in for the night, Freki check to make sure the main gate is solidly shut and asks his companions, "Should we take turns setting a watch from the towers?"

The sound of Sow snoring lightly is her answer...

"You’ve earned your rest, ain’t you?" Cutwell says, with a clap on the shoulder!

"Reckon you’re a natural for their lingo! I’ll take first watch! Can wake you if anything happens, can’t I?" he says, with a nod that says he’s sure!

He looks up at the night sky and can’t imagine anything ruining the quiet peace of the place tonight!

"Good idea, Freki. I can take second," Flint says as he gazes over at Sow sleeping soundly. Following Cutwell's examination of the stars, he too looks up, becoming perplexed at what he sees.

"Do the stars look different to you? The night sky looks completely foreign to me. Why is that?"

"How far d’you walk to get here?" Cutwell asks, realizing he didn’t know much about this Flint.

"Spose it might make sense. If we walk far enough down here, up there will look different too, won’t it?"

"Same as you, Cutwell," Flint says with a playful smirk. "What are you asking?"

"Never seen you about where I’m from, have I?" Cutwell laughs, thinking about the little hovel he grew up in.

"Place was much too mucky for someone like you!" he says, motioning to the hair on the man’s head.

"Old Madge would have had them cut and all! Needed it for her ailments, she did."

As the night progresses, the noise of the jungle slowly fades into the background, muffled by the stone walls of the sanctum. Despite the fire, the stone floors are cool and it isn't hard to find comfort in your bedrolls. This is probably compounded by knowing you are surrounded by sturdy walls that would keep most predators at bay! You take your watches from among the watchtowers under the foreign starlight without any signs trouble. But, in the wee hours, the air begins to fill with the smell of distant wood smoke.

Day 10, Watch 1
Wilderness Action: Travel Hex 6 --> Hex 3
Location: Hex 6
Weather: Fair

As the morning light begins to illuminate the canopy, you see you're in for another rainless day. However, the source of the smoke becomes clear, as you spy a column of black smoke rising from the jungle to the southwest, the direction toward Vanguard Bastion and the Black Skulls' fort.

You pack up your Sanctum, leave behind any gear you're not willing to haul across the jungle, and slip your way out of the abandoned fort, the smell of smoke still hanging in the air.

As the day goes on, the heat continues to rise. There are fewer mists today, yesterday's intense heat having already sucked much of the moisture back into the air.

As you make your way through the jungle, you encounter long swaths of barren forest floor, and soon discover a herd of a dozen adult Lorries and a half-dozen younglings trampling and devouring much of the undergrowth. With the smoke in the air, they do not detect your scent.

In addition to the herd, you are surprised to find that the snacking Lorries have laid bare the vegetation in a nearby hill, revealing the stone arch of doorway, the interior of which is pitch black dark.

When Cutwell offers to take first watch Freki gives him a thankful nod. He's relieved to be able to tuck in for some rest in what feels like a safe haven for the night. Before he does he overhears Flint's observation about the stars and Cutwell's reply. Freki add, "It's true, the stars have changed drastically as I've traveled south from Angland. Having said that, I agree with Flint, these ones seem odd even compared to the stars we saw on final days of our trek across the desert plains of the old empire as we approached Khazuul. I don't know why. It's almost like Khazuul is part of another world ..." He trails off in thought wondering if they passed through some sort of portal as they descended through the mists on the winches last week, eventually rolling over and falling asleep.

---

When he wakes up in the morning he climbs the watch tower and gets his first look at where that smell of smoke is coming from. "That doesn't look good to me. An attack on the Black Skull base by the look of the direction. I wonder who would dare? The Dreadwings or Beastmen? It'd have to be a sizable force to attempt that and it looks like they've done some damage."

A tension that had subsided during the peaceful evening last night creeps back into his stomach. He's not keen to get involved in more fighting so soon. He's relatively quiet has they eat breakfast and pack up wondering what state they'll find the Black Skulls in when they arrive.

---

Freki's mood quickly brightens when they come across the herd of Lorries, "Man alive, look at that," he yell-whispers to the others, hoping not to disturb the giant lizards so he can get a closer look. He's mesmerized by the animals and tries to absorb as much information about their behavior. He even tries to pick some leaves and cautiously get close enough to see if one of them will eat from his hand so he can get a close look.

"Can we grab one of them?" Cutwell says, looking at the meaty beasts with a grimace. How would they manage that?

He had been wrinkling his nose the whole morning, with the stingy, smoky scent burrowing up his nose.

"Might be payback for our little bust up on the hill?" he offers, wondering who could have attacked.

"I'm pretty sure they won't take kindly to being grabbed, but maybe I can start by showing we're friendly," Freki whispers as he edges closer to one of the beasts with an outstretched hand full of foliage.

"If it's not raining it might as well be," Flint grumbles, complaining about the heat before listening to Freki's assessment of what he observed from the tower.

Later when they come across the Lorries, he watches in fascination as the beasts graze and wander as Freki attempts to approach them. Wouldn't they be useful as pack animals, he thinks.

Sow found the bruising from her fall almost healed in the morning when she woke — Cutwell’s steady ministrations and leeching had actually worked, and the girl was only mildly sore as they packed up the camp and their fresh rations before setting off towards the smoke.

The girl is pensive as they walk and talk; she too is worried about what they might find at the skull camp, and cannot help but think about those beast-men they saw riding their massive dinosaurs. What foes they would be! She does smile, though, when they come across the Lorry herd. Curious about the dinos, she intends to crowd in with Freki and Cutwell, gathering handfuls of plants to offer the animals — until she sees the opening in the hillside. Not just an opening… a doorway.

Shield and spear are out as she climbs up towards that beckoning dark portal, intending to look inside…

"Oi! Leave him to it!" Cutwell whisper-calls to Flint, becoming him away so that they don’t spoke to heard that Freki was working on.

He jerks his head towards Sow, showing Flint that the woman seemed ready to raid the dark doorway by herself. "Lets keep an eye up here!"

"Sow!" Flint hisses as quietly as he can. "Wait!" He mouths, shaking his head from side to side. Nodding at Cutwell, he backs off realizing he might spook the herd and also hopes that Sow takes heed. There was no rush that necessitated the woman going it alone.

The Lorry herd bristles at first as Freki approaches, and they begin to angle their spiked-tails in his direction. However, it seems his way with animals even extends to these strange lizards. Gradually, they begin to ignore him and go back to their vociferous consumption of vegetation, and one even extends its prehensile tongue to snag the leaves off the branch he has extended. It makes eye contact with him briefly before advancing on its next green victim.

Meanwhile, Sow explores the entrance the Lorries have revealed, while the Cutwell and the others keep watch. The stonework is a testament to the forgotten grandeur of the Old Empire, its surface etched with forgotten symbols. A cool, damp draft breathes out the doorway, heavy with moisture and rot.

Standing by the doorway, you can make out little before the immediate interior is consumed by darkness. There is a yawning, cavernous darkness of unknown size. Immediately ahead, a wooden catwalk clings to the cave wall at a precarious angle, the planks strewn with dust and dry rot.

---

A view from inside, looking out