Chapter 3-12 - To the Verani
The next morning, Quiaketh and a young looking copper dragonborn woke the party just before dawn. The young dragonborn shook each of their hands,
"Good morning. I am Khalyd. Quiaketh tells me I'm to guide you to the Kanaalden Mort?"
"Is that the Verani outpost?"
"Yes. It is built into the western escarpment of the Issati Peaks. It should only take us just a little over a day and a half to reach it, if we move quickly"
The party quickly collected the rest of their belongings, and Khalyd led them into the jungles towards the sun as it began to peer over the mountains. As they walked, a bleary eyed Clootie distributed the apparel she had created the night before. She handed Aetilius a snug looking fur hat. Ryoko received a small fur lined leather pouch, and Miaug a fur lined scarf. She handed Ramas a little leather wallet, and draped a heavy fur cloak around her own shoulders.
Hours later, Clootie regretted the fur cloak decision. The humid air felt like it was smothering her, and the heat combined with Khalyd's unwittingly punishing place made her limbs feel heavy and sluggish. As the group forced their way through a particularly dense thicket, suddenly they found themselves standing in the midst of a wide, flat clearing. In the centre two figures sat around a small fire pit, talking and laughing. As they looked up, Clootie was shocked to recognise one of the figures. Reidoth the druid. The other figure was a slender, silver furred Tabaxi. Reidoth raised his mug and beckoned the group over,
"Come. Sit my friends"
As he spoke, thick vines erupted from the ground on the opposite side of the fire, coiling themselves into six stools. Khayld looked at Ryoko,
"Do you know them?" he asked, incredulously,
"Yeah…" Ryoko sighed, "Don't worry about it"
The party sat down, surprised by how comfortable the vine-stools felt. Reidoth handed around beautifully carved wooden mugs, filled with a delicately fruity and incredibly refreshing cordial.
The Tabaxi looked over at Miaug and smiled gently,
"It is good to see you again child. Although I don't imagine you recognise me. I am Arava, one of the Archdruids. I knew you and your parents when you were younger."
Miaug spat out her mouthful of cordial, spluttering in surprise,
"My parents? How? Who? What?"
Arava smiled again,
"Don't worry. I'll explain. After your parents escaped the Quaggoths at the monastery, they fled north. Storm without Rain was still recovering and they were unable to keep up their previous pace, so the Quaggoths had managed to catch up with you all by the edge of Neverwinter Forest. I had never seen another Tabaxi who had managed to free themselves from the Verani before, so I intervened and drove the Quaggoths off. Your parents both looked exhausted and frightened. I brought you all to my friends among the elves in the Andidean. I hoped that being a whole world away would be sufficient to deter the Verani. I left you all in the care of the elves, but I did stop by to check on you every month or so."
Arava's expression drifted off, his whole demeanour growing melancholy,
"After only eight months, I heard news of another Tabaxi asking questions at the information markets in Duhn Turais. I immediately warned your parents. They didn't want to place you in jeopardy, so they left you in the care of the elves and returned to Verani to join the uprising against the council. I promised them I would keep an eye on you. I've observed you from a distance for so long, I almost forget you don’t actually know me."
Miaug was stunned. As she struggled to come to terms with this new information, an uncomfortable silence descended over the camp. In an attempt to break the stillness, Aetilius asked bluntly,
"Do you guys know anything about the Verani? Before we get ourselves into trouble…"
Reidoth nodded,
"Aye we do. The Verani are one of the only cultures in Lanath we have had no luck engaging with against the Primordials. They have always been adversaries to the Empire and it's precursors. The Verani call themselves a republic. Although that is a lie. They have a strict caste system, with the society controlled by a small group of elites called the Council of the Verani. The republic places a great emphasis on the arcane arts. The populace are divided into classes based on their magical potential, those with less arcane inclination being exploited for menial tasks and labour. The Verani have a history of performing unethical magical and alchemical experiments on living creatures. Most often, the Verani raid the nearby lands of the Empire to capture slaves for use in these experiments."
"Indeed" Arava nodded in agreement, "Our race were created, as were many others, by the foul magics of the Verani. They have experimented for centuries on slaves and creatures drawn from the so called "lesser races". The Tabaxi, the Kenku, the Orcs, the Quaggoth, the Yuan Ti - they are all results of Verani magic. The Tabaxi were created as the Verani's spies and agents in the world. The Kenku act as scribes or assistants The Orcs were created as the Verani soldier class, but after their liberation by the druids the Verani opted to culture a new, more violent and bestial soldier, which led to the creation of the Quaggoth. And finally the Yuan Ti act as lieutenants or slave masters. They are sadistic creatures by nature and Verani service suits them."
"Well they sound lovely" Ryoko said sarcastically. Miaug looked even more depressed,
"What's wrong child?" Arava asked gently,
"My fox, Badger, was taken to the Verani. What will they do to him?"
"I don't know. But if it's any comfort, if anyone can find him, it would be you"
The group spent the evening in the Archdruid's encampment. The following morning, when they awoke, the druids were gone. A large pitcher of the same refreshing cordial was set out on a simple stone table alongside six more carved mugs. Khalyd took a long drink, then said,
"Your friends are certainly odd, but this stuff is delicious. Get your stuff packed up, if we push we can make it to the Kanaalden Mort early afternoon"
The journeyed south east from the encampment, moving quickly through the undergrowth. Before long the jungle started to thin, the trees gave way to rocky plains and a few miles ahead the ground rose sharply into jagged peaks. To the south, a massive stone structure jutted out abruptly from an overhanging cliff face,
"That's the outpost" Khalyd said, motioning to the party to stick to the treeline as they followed the edge of the jungle south.
As the party drew closer, more details of the structure became visible. A massive semi-circular wall, forty foot high, flowed smoothly out from the cliff face. The wall didn't appear to be constructed in the normal sense. It's surface was smooth, like a single unbroken slab of polished granite. Almost as though it had been carved from the solid rock. A large archway burrowed through the wall, and a huge, perfectly rectangular cavern had been carved into the cliff face at the height of the wall, plunging backward into the mountain. A handful of figures marched around inside the cave mouth, while others patrolled the top of the walls. Khalyd led them back into the jungle a short distance to keep them obscured from sight, and turned to look at them,
"So that's the Kanaalden Mort. Any ideas how you'll get inside? It's pretty well guarded as you can see"
Ramas looked thoughtful for a moment,
"How do you normally do your slave exchanges?" he asked
"We just walk in through the arch. There's guards stationed down there, they'll check out what we're bringing, and then they'll wave us in. Inside the wall is a big ramp up to that cavern - that's the real entrance. Inside the wall the ground is some sort of strange black tar stuff. Anything that falls in that basically melts" Khayd shivered,
"Up the top, the cavern is full of guards. But at the back is the entrance into the fortress. We get waved through there, into a room, and then the chief guardsmen come out and we hand over the captives. Then we leave. Never seen any further inside than that"
"Thanks Khalyd. Ok - so we just need to disguise a couple of ourselves as Thal'Ahd, and pretend the rest are captives. Ryoko - obviously you'll be a Thal'Ahd. I can do this"
Ramas's face shifted and warped into a pretty good resemblance of Khalyd,
"Whoa! That's weird" Khalyd muttered. Miaug piped up,
"Tabaxi are Verani aren't they? I could pretend I'm coming in with these slaves"
"Good plan. That might work - if Ryoko, myself and Miaug pretend to be slavers, and the rest of you can get tied up as captives."
"We'll need to hide our weapons obviously." Clootie said, "And you'll need to take your armour off Big Red - too obvious."
"Yeah. But, in the likely event everything goes wrong, we'll need to be able to get your weapons back quickly" Ramas pondered
"We could have it in bags, as other offerings?" Ryoko suggested, looking at Khalyd. Khalyd shrugged and nodded,
"Great. Lets get ready"
Next: Chapter 3-13 - Breaching the Kanaalden Mort
Previous: Chapter 3-11 - Chaiphut
"Good morning. I am Khalyd. Quiaketh tells me I'm to guide you to the Kanaalden Mort?"
"Is that the Verani outpost?"
"Yes. It is built into the western escarpment of the Issati Peaks. It should only take us just a little over a day and a half to reach it, if we move quickly"
The party quickly collected the rest of their belongings, and Khalyd led them into the jungles towards the sun as it began to peer over the mountains. As they walked, a bleary eyed Clootie distributed the apparel she had created the night before. She handed Aetilius a snug looking fur hat. Ryoko received a small fur lined leather pouch, and Miaug a fur lined scarf. She handed Ramas a little leather wallet, and draped a heavy fur cloak around her own shoulders.
Hours later, Clootie regretted the fur cloak decision. The humid air felt like it was smothering her, and the heat combined with Khalyd's unwittingly punishing place made her limbs feel heavy and sluggish. As the group forced their way through a particularly dense thicket, suddenly they found themselves standing in the midst of a wide, flat clearing. In the centre two figures sat around a small fire pit, talking and laughing. As they looked up, Clootie was shocked to recognise one of the figures. Reidoth the druid. The other figure was a slender, silver furred Tabaxi. Reidoth raised his mug and beckoned the group over,
"Come. Sit my friends"
As he spoke, thick vines erupted from the ground on the opposite side of the fire, coiling themselves into six stools. Khayld looked at Ryoko,
"Do you know them?" he asked, incredulously,
"Yeah…" Ryoko sighed, "Don't worry about it"
The party sat down, surprised by how comfortable the vine-stools felt. Reidoth handed around beautifully carved wooden mugs, filled with a delicately fruity and incredibly refreshing cordial.
The Tabaxi looked over at Miaug and smiled gently,
"It is good to see you again child. Although I don't imagine you recognise me. I am Arava, one of the Archdruids. I knew you and your parents when you were younger."
Miaug spat out her mouthful of cordial, spluttering in surprise,
"My parents? How? Who? What?"
Arava smiled again,
"Don't worry. I'll explain. After your parents escaped the Quaggoths at the monastery, they fled north. Storm without Rain was still recovering and they were unable to keep up their previous pace, so the Quaggoths had managed to catch up with you all by the edge of Neverwinter Forest. I had never seen another Tabaxi who had managed to free themselves from the Verani before, so I intervened and drove the Quaggoths off. Your parents both looked exhausted and frightened. I brought you all to my friends among the elves in the Andidean. I hoped that being a whole world away would be sufficient to deter the Verani. I left you all in the care of the elves, but I did stop by to check on you every month or so."
Arava's expression drifted off, his whole demeanour growing melancholy,
"After only eight months, I heard news of another Tabaxi asking questions at the information markets in Duhn Turais. I immediately warned your parents. They didn't want to place you in jeopardy, so they left you in the care of the elves and returned to Verani to join the uprising against the council. I promised them I would keep an eye on you. I've observed you from a distance for so long, I almost forget you don’t actually know me."
Miaug was stunned. As she struggled to come to terms with this new information, an uncomfortable silence descended over the camp. In an attempt to break the stillness, Aetilius asked bluntly,
"Do you guys know anything about the Verani? Before we get ourselves into trouble…"
Reidoth nodded,
"Aye we do. The Verani are one of the only cultures in Lanath we have had no luck engaging with against the Primordials. They have always been adversaries to the Empire and it's precursors. The Verani call themselves a republic. Although that is a lie. They have a strict caste system, with the society controlled by a small group of elites called the Council of the Verani. The republic places a great emphasis on the arcane arts. The populace are divided into classes based on their magical potential, those with less arcane inclination being exploited for menial tasks and labour. The Verani have a history of performing unethical magical and alchemical experiments on living creatures. Most often, the Verani raid the nearby lands of the Empire to capture slaves for use in these experiments."
"Indeed" Arava nodded in agreement, "Our race were created, as were many others, by the foul magics of the Verani. They have experimented for centuries on slaves and creatures drawn from the so called "lesser races". The Tabaxi, the Kenku, the Orcs, the Quaggoth, the Yuan Ti - they are all results of Verani magic. The Tabaxi were created as the Verani's spies and agents in the world. The Kenku act as scribes or assistants The Orcs were created as the Verani soldier class, but after their liberation by the druids the Verani opted to culture a new, more violent and bestial soldier, which led to the creation of the Quaggoth. And finally the Yuan Ti act as lieutenants or slave masters. They are sadistic creatures by nature and Verani service suits them."
"Well they sound lovely" Ryoko said sarcastically. Miaug looked even more depressed,
"What's wrong child?" Arava asked gently,
"My fox, Badger, was taken to the Verani. What will they do to him?"
"I don't know. But if it's any comfort, if anyone can find him, it would be you"
The group spent the evening in the Archdruid's encampment. The following morning, when they awoke, the druids were gone. A large pitcher of the same refreshing cordial was set out on a simple stone table alongside six more carved mugs. Khalyd took a long drink, then said,
"Your friends are certainly odd, but this stuff is delicious. Get your stuff packed up, if we push we can make it to the Kanaalden Mort early afternoon"
The journeyed south east from the encampment, moving quickly through the undergrowth. Before long the jungle started to thin, the trees gave way to rocky plains and a few miles ahead the ground rose sharply into jagged peaks. To the south, a massive stone structure jutted out abruptly from an overhanging cliff face,
"That's the outpost" Khalyd said, motioning to the party to stick to the treeline as they followed the edge of the jungle south.
As the party drew closer, more details of the structure became visible. A massive semi-circular wall, forty foot high, flowed smoothly out from the cliff face. The wall didn't appear to be constructed in the normal sense. It's surface was smooth, like a single unbroken slab of polished granite. Almost as though it had been carved from the solid rock. A large archway burrowed through the wall, and a huge, perfectly rectangular cavern had been carved into the cliff face at the height of the wall, plunging backward into the mountain. A handful of figures marched around inside the cave mouth, while others patrolled the top of the walls. Khalyd led them back into the jungle a short distance to keep them obscured from sight, and turned to look at them,
"So that's the Kanaalden Mort. Any ideas how you'll get inside? It's pretty well guarded as you can see"
Ramas looked thoughtful for a moment,
"How do you normally do your slave exchanges?" he asked
"We just walk in through the arch. There's guards stationed down there, they'll check out what we're bringing, and then they'll wave us in. Inside the wall is a big ramp up to that cavern - that's the real entrance. Inside the wall the ground is some sort of strange black tar stuff. Anything that falls in that basically melts" Khayd shivered,
"Up the top, the cavern is full of guards. But at the back is the entrance into the fortress. We get waved through there, into a room, and then the chief guardsmen come out and we hand over the captives. Then we leave. Never seen any further inside than that"
"Thanks Khalyd. Ok - so we just need to disguise a couple of ourselves as Thal'Ahd, and pretend the rest are captives. Ryoko - obviously you'll be a Thal'Ahd. I can do this"
Ramas's face shifted and warped into a pretty good resemblance of Khalyd,
"Whoa! That's weird" Khalyd muttered. Miaug piped up,
"Tabaxi are Verani aren't they? I could pretend I'm coming in with these slaves"
"Good plan. That might work - if Ryoko, myself and Miaug pretend to be slavers, and the rest of you can get tied up as captives."
"We'll need to hide our weapons obviously." Clootie said, "And you'll need to take your armour off Big Red - too obvious."
"Yeah. But, in the likely event everything goes wrong, we'll need to be able to get your weapons back quickly" Ramas pondered
"We could have it in bags, as other offerings?" Ryoko suggested, looking at Khalyd. Khalyd shrugged and nodded,
"Great. Lets get ready"
Next: Chapter 3-13 - Breaching the Kanaalden Mort
Previous: Chapter 3-11 - Chaiphut
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