A Tunnels and Trolls® play-by-post adventure run by khara_khang
Wrinkling her eyes at you upon hearing the "old woman" comment, Madame Toubow says, "Why yes Jax, we do have a plan on returning you to Khazan, just like we did when we saved you from the swamp, lest you forget so easily. You will of course take the Dax. I estimate it will take you only a few hours to return to Khazan if you leave immediately."
"We of the swamp would call ya' 'bait' my overly Orcish accomplice. When ya' fishin' for crawdads ya' don't need a club. A toothpick and some dinky rope do just fine."
Suddenly frowning, Martek leaves the room. He returns a moment later dragging Shipy the Hobbit by the back of his coat. Tossing him on the floor in front of you, Martek puts one foot on the squirming Hobbit's neck to hold him in place, as one would a freshly caught fish.
"Look what pilfering rat I found, Jax!"
Shipy smiles innocently as only a Hobbit under someone's boot can. "<Ack!> I'm much <Ack!> better now thank you! <Ack!> So, what's up?"
What do you do next?
Jax frowns at Shipy, then sighs at Martek, "Just so long as you can wield that toothpick ably in a fight, Swamp Rat: I want you to survive long enough to work that Dragon Hat for us. Oh, and be a good hu-mann and let Shipy go before he starts squealing like a Hobbit schoolgirl." Jax bared his tusks, then forced a broad smile.
Turning back to the wrinkly fortune teller, Jax notices Desuma casting her deadly gaze downward... at Martek's rope? He wonders why.
Facing Madame Toubow, he addresses her impatiently, "I'm all for leaving as soon as my head stops spinning! But what's 'the Dax'? And do you really expect us to run the Lizardmen gauntlet in the swamp again? Only half of us made it last time!"
Jack makes a deep bow. He finds it disturbing that the saurian wretch should have such an encyclopedic knowledge of his C.V., but plays it cool regardless.
"I'm honoured sir that you've noted my humble achievements in your positively stellar intellect, sir, and even more honoured that you should note my patron, Shrugg. Slumming? Of course I'm slumming sir, as always. It's in my nature to do as much. A slumming soul still has to pay his way though, doesn't he? I come looking for work with this band. I'm attracted by the rumours of your power, your vitality, the sheer force of life teeming in your minions. I would play for your entertainment, with nothing expected in return but experience."
"Axjay, ixnay on the estchay umpingthay, or you'll etgay us illedkay. Okay?"
"Now, Martek, surely you can find something better than Shipy with which to wipe the swamp muck off your feet? Besides, I hold first claim to him as a garden gnome---he's much too roly-poly to make a good doormat."
Taking his foot off Shipy's neck, Martek grabs Shipy and uprights him as one would a fallen child. But before he can help dust off the Hobbit, Shipy is already gone, rushing behind Desuma's long and most elegant leather clad leg.
"Sorry Shipy, I would never unintentionally hurt you." Martek turns to Jax. "The Dax are our transportation Jax, to keep us from running the Lizardmen gauntlet, as you put it." Martek looks at Desuma for a brief moment and then says, "Come on people, lets go!"
Madame Toubow watches but says nothing else as Martek leads all of you out the side entrance of the temple.
You are almost certain one of the 20 ton black stone sculptured panthers blinked its eyes as you walked passed it. No one but you saw it.
Once outside you see the strangest thing you have ever seen before. You see a fancy black and gold sleigh carriage floating a few feet off the ground. It is pulled by two fifteen foot tall brown Emu-like creatures with glowing orange eyes.
"Those are the Dax. They and anything they touch have the ability to travel the Ethereal plane of existence. By doing so, they can pass through trees and over water without ever really touching anything. It's quite fantastic actually. Come, let us be off... there may be fliers about," says Martek looking up into the dark night sky.
The three of you climb inside the very comfortable and blush carriage while Martek climbs up on top to drive. With a snap of the reins, you speed away, leaving the isle. As the Dax increase their speed you can look out the carriage doors and see that you are passing through trees and over swamp at an incredible speed.
"Thanks for your help Suma!" climbing up beside Desuma, I lean over next to her, and like all males after the action, I quickly fall asleep.
"Jack, please come and have a seat and rest your bones." Ralathor leads you across the room to a bench where you both sit down across from one another.
"I suppose I should tell you the story as I see it before you or your friends arrive and slay me (in the dramatic sense). This trouble all started several months ago when the cities Tally, Granre, Tavia, and Stonemin issued a 10 gold lion bounty on Lizardmen hides. Faced with genocide we had no choice but to react, as I suspected they knew we would. These four small cities have always had close ties with Khazan, but in the last few years, as they have grown in strength they have become troublesome for Khazan."
"I suspect we are being played off against each other. With us and the four cities crippled it only strengthens Khazan position, allowing them to do with us as they please. But if the heavily walled city of Tally were to fall into our hands, then we would have a base of power on our own border. Such a point of power could help us in many ways for years to come."
"This is all theory, of course. I'm also in possession of the 'Dagger Of Time'," says Ralathor, tapping a dagger on his hip lightly. "I suspect that is the real reason you are here, right Jack?"
"Toubow.... Two bow." Taran glances at his double crossbow while Baron Volroth explains the situation, and smiles at the irony.
"Our mission, as you perhaps know, since you seem to have the low-down on our plans, has always been to stop Ralathor's lizardman army. Despite the circumstances, that much still holds." Taran glances at Domina briefly to somehow read her thoughts. "If sending us to Ralathor's camp is the speediest way to end the struggle, so be it." Taran snarls at the thought of more travel by means of magic. "Domina, what do you think?"
Jax does indeed look outside and flinches a few times as the carriage plows harmlessly through thick cypress boughs. "What acceleration! I've gotta get me one o' these!"
He looks across at Shipy, fast asleep against Desuma's side, and wonders if the sticky-fingered Hobbit had pilfered anything from the Temple. Though he can't see the gorgon's shrouded eyes (never has, never will!) Jax repeats his earlier words to Desuma, spoken what seemed like an eternity ago at the Blue Frog Tavern. "Harmless!" he mouths, pointing a meaty forefinger at the Hobbit.
"Shoulda never left T behind," Jax broods silently. Our unusually introspective Orc wonders if he really thinks Taran is dead. Can this ambiguity explain the cloud that seems to darken his mood? The Haroouugh part of him, used to certainty, votes "yes." On the other hand, his native Orc part feels it is his gut mistrust of Martek and Toubow, and all things and beings magical, which reminds him of a hunch.
"Say, Desuma," Jax speaks softly, "what's with Martek's rope? I noticed your stare back there."
(Tinky Winky™'s interlude)
He wrings his head and nods his hands pouring over Ralathor's every word with great, great sympathy, thankful for the keen insight into lizardman psychology.
"Oh, too true, wise one, too true. How I have suffered in my own right at the bigoted hands of mortal men, abused sorely and solely for the palour of my 'skin.' Curse upon all I once was and thankful that I've risen a shade away from my disgustingly simian ancestry, clean, white and indefatigable...or whatever. As for your dagger of time though, holy one, I've never heard of it. Sounds dangerous and wouldn't want it even if you wrapped it up in cellophane and stuck it under a pine tree with my name on it. Still out of curiosity, what is it?"
"My dear Baron", Domina purrs, "Of course my companion is correct. It was our mission to stop Ralathor,and if we can help each other to do so, we will. In any case, we are most grateful to you for our timely rescue."
See, Domina can butt-kiss, er...be diplomatic too, Taran!
She pauses briefly to stare boldly at this imposing figure. "But I have a few questions also, if you will indulge me. I am gratified to discover that all but one of our companions escaped the Lizardmen, and that you are retriving them. May we wait until our party has been reunited before continuing? And could you kindly tell us a little of this mysterious Madame Toubow? Apparantly she and this 'damned Martek' did us the favor of rescuing our comrades in arms, yet you speak of her as an enemy. What is her part in this struggle---for Ralathor or against him?"
"Or for the Baron or against him," Domina thinks to herself, hoping the Orc's occasional apparant telepathy kicks in. She will smile sweetly and resume her seat. Whatever the Baron replies, I will request a brief moment to confer alone with my compatriot.
"Tell that to the residents of the part of Khazan that he burned to the ground!" [Desuma is referring to Shipy's part in the Goblins in the Mist adventure. --ed.]
Desuma looks around to see if anything else, like a magic rope, might be listening. "I'm not too sure of the details, but I think that Martek's rope has a will of its own and may not be controllable---I'm getting some very bad 'vibes' from it."
The Hobbit wakes up suddenly from a bad Beezer dream involving chicken choking [a reference to Tinky Winky™'s interlude --ed.], and notices Jax and Desuma looking at him. "What? I didn't do anything!" Calming himself he says, "When I went to pee I saw something in the temple. Remember Wizard Grutoss's apprentice Cobalt Darkwater? Well, his coat was hanging in one of Madame Toubow rooms that I... uh, observed."
The Dax ride takes many hours before it eventually reaches Khazan. In the pre-daylight hours of the morning your carriage comes to a stop in an alley of Khazan. Martek climbs off the carriage and points towards the Temple Dragonkopf a block away as you exit the carriage.
"We gotsta' break in there. The item we seek is on the third floor... or so I am told," adds the strange human.
"Sending you to Ralathor is the only way Mr. Taran."
The Baron nods at Domina's comment. "Sorry, but there is no guarantee I will be able to reunite you two with your friends. I will simply attempt to accomplish it for you. Time is something we don't have to waste."
"Madame Toubow is not an enemy, just a disruptive nuisance. She works for Khazan, and as you know Khazan seldom cares what happens to us. If they did, they would end this by sending us some of their army."
Taking two plain beaded necklaces from his pocket Baron Volroth gives them to a nearby officer who in turn gives each of you one of them. "Those will take you into the Ralathor's camp. Wearing them you will appear, speak, and understand as would any normal Lizardman. I must admit it is a one-way trip. I have no way of retrieving you." The Baron sighs, wondering if you can accomplish this mission with only two of you.
"I can imagine your harassment Jack. Of course you could always join us. We Lizardmen could only benefit from being around someone so skilled and insightful as yourself. I could teach you many things involving magic and its use. At least consider it, Jack."
"The Dagger Of Time was given to me about a year ago by a human named Martek. He is a longtime friend. We grew up in the same village together. The dagger allows the wielder to go back or forward in time or create something called a time storm. So far I have only used it to help us with the genocidal war. Once the war is over I will return it to Martek. I would think you already knew this, Jack. Or were you told a little less than the full truth, Jack?"
"I claim no moral high ground, I'm simply doing what needs to be done!"
"I'm liking this situation even less and less. Was there any other signs of habitation in that room, or do you think it could have been left from a previous visit?"
Any thoughts, hunches, etc. that Jax or Shipy have on the situation would be appreciated right about here. :)
"OK, then it's time to investigate our options. Martek, just what can you do with that rope of yours?"
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