Hi Everyone,
Here is episode three of Mal-Shui's wanderings about Kal-Arath, the setting authored by Castle Grief. It does seem rather popular in YouTuber circles, and I can see why. Easy game mechanics and interesting story generation.
Exploring Kal-Arath - Episode 3 - The Red Mountain
At the sound of Yamil's voice, quiet as it was, the Eukarya's head swivels towards them, honey dribbling from its mouth, as its beak drops slightly to display an array of sharp teeth. It paused for a moment, displaying its dominance over us. Sensing our lack of threat and distance away from it, its head swivelled back to the bees. It had a few more slurps of honey, decided it had enough, gave us one more look and then gracefully moved away from us down the track.
(? I had rolled friendly for its mood.)
We breathed a sigh of relief, but did not move until it was out of sight.
Mel started, "So the stories the Yak folk told me around the campfire were true then. I thought they were just entertaining folk tales, but they were stern warnings being passed on down the years. I shall take more heed of those tales in the future. They called these the Red Mountains, and now we know why."
"Ya, they were sure real enough to kill skinny folk like us with little trouble and then chop us into bite-sized pieces. It must have eaten a substantial meal recently. We were blessed by the Gods today."
They started a small fire, and deflected the swarm of bees away from the hive nest with the smoke from a lit branch, then helped themselves to some of the remaining honey that the Eukarya had left behind. After warming themselves for a while and drying their furs, they put the fire out and set out again, being much more watchful of their surroundings this time.
The birds in the trees kept up a merry chorus, hooting and tweeting, flitting among the branches and twigs, but not too close as to be worth taking aim at. The honey had boosted their spirits a bit, but the newfound dangers were always lingering at the back of their minds. They always checked for creatures before breaking cover and going into the open. It was slower, but safer. At least the leaves were damp and muffled their movement sounds.
They were approaching the point where the trees died out due to the altitude, and decided this would be a good place to stop for the night, still having cover, and the woodland was a good source of food. Mal decided he would forage for a bit while Yamil prepared the fire and made a rough lean-to shelter to block the wind and keep the two of them off the wet ground; that way, they would be warmer than just with a fire going. Yamil started gathering dead wood so they would not need to use the bundles they had made earlier.
(I rolled a 3, so I called it half a ration for the short time of searching.)
Mal comes back to Yamil carrying some scruffy roots and tubers, "We struck lucky tonight".
Looking up, Yamil replied, "I don't think so, those won't go very far between the two of us."
"No, I don't mean these stringy things. I found a cave! "
(I rolled 4 on the Point of Interest table.)
"What did you say!"
"It's either a cave entrance, an old abandoned mine shaft or the sneaky back exit of something big the other side of the mountain. We could be rich, probably not, but we can hope. The entrance is all overgrown, about 8 feet high, with a gradual slope going down and then flat. I suppose there could be better, well-used entrances somewhere else. It was only because I saw some Tarnak berries that were growing through the other plants, and I bent down to pick them, that I found it. It's not far from here, come and have a look. If nothing else, we should be dry tonight."
"Unless it's already got something living in it."
"They might like some company."
"As long as we are not their next meal."
They walk over to the concealed entrance. "Here it is. We can get in it easy enough, just hack a few plants out of the way."
"It would be best if we let them do their job of hiding the entrance and just squeeze past them without disturbance, if we can. We may want to come back here at another time, and the less visible the entrance is, the better."
"Ya, that's true. But, I want to get in there now".
"We might need rope later, but at least we can make a few crude torches from some branches. At least we would know more about it than we do now. There is a little stream around the rock, too."
"Let's get at it."
They fashioned four torches out of what was available in the area, not wanting to take too much time on the task. They lit the first one and poked it into the entrance, listening for any reaction from inside. Nothing. The entrance was four feet wide and four to five feet high, mainly limestone but with white veins going through it.
"It seems fine and quiet," said Mel.
Yamil nodded, and Mel advanced into the opening. There was a small rodent nest at the entrance wall. Mel put the torch low to the ground, but he could not see any recent tracks or imprints of anything. They kept checking the ceiling with the staff for loose rocks or spiders, and movement on the ground for rats and the like.
The tunnel went straight forward into the mountain. They could only see about six feet in front of the torch. Yamil was using his staff as a probe on the floor, where there was room, but it was taking too long. "You go ahead with the staff and torch, if you see anything coming, you can either poke them or burn them, and I will have my sword ready".
"Ya, that makes sense".
They swapped positions when they reached a slightly wider spot and continued onward into the blackness. An occasional drip hit a puddle on the floor. They were coughing with the smoke, so if there was anything in there, it would know they were coming, the smoke would alert them too. "I should have brought my water bag with us. My throat is getting dry".
Mel looked back, and the entrance was no longer visible. He was not sure whether there was a faint breeze, as the cave's size kept changing.
Yamil pointed to the walls getting wider, "Maybe something up ahead".
They advanced cautiously towards the opening cavern in the rock, alert for any sound that might be a harbinger of something hostile that might spring out at them....
End of part three.
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| The black dotted line shows the route Mal Shui has taken. The cave is halfway up the mountain. |
I have not rolled to see what they are facing myself yet. We will find out in the next episode.
Ivor Cogdell
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