Exploring Kal-Arath - Episode 2 - The Stranger - Updated

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                   Exploring Kal-Arath - Episode 2 - The Stranger

Mal-Shui - Strength = 1, Toughness = 2, Agility = 1, Intelligence = -1, Presence = 1

Male Human. Age =24. Brown eyes, 6'1" tall. Longsword, (Attack +1, Damage +1)

Hp. Max =7, Current =6.

Equipment

Longsword, Staff (Homebrew Item = Easy to find and make.) Dagger.

9 days' rations in a sack. Waterskin. Eggdhell cooking bowl, Rough blue tunic, an animal fur

cloak, Terradon Tooth necklace. Tinder and flint. Silver Coins = 4.

Day two - The weather is going to be stormy, with the wind coming from the south. Mel makes his farewells early after breakfast and is soon on his way. He enters a thick wooded area and loses the track. He has to hack his way through the brush, which is thick in places. Later, he is very pleased to come upon some more open ground that he can move through better and a small rocky stream, which gradually turns to the east and then back north again.

He sees a stout fellow emerge from the tree line, carrying a makeshift staff and a club. The figure comes towards him, limping slightly on his left leg. He stops a few paces to one side, "Can you spare some food ?"

Mal nods, "I am Mal-Shui,", he motioned towards a fallen tree lying among others that would shelter them slightly from the wind, "Let's get comfortable."

The stranger replies," Ya, I am Yamil-Torl, Chi...", he stutters, "Well," he paused, "I was chief of the Remiki clan, over in the hills.", pointing vaguely south-east.

Yamil-Torl - Strength = 1, Toughness = 1, Agility = -1, Intelligence = 2, Presence = 1

Male Human. Age =34. Brown eyes, 5'11" tall. Staff, Club, (Attack, Damage d6)

Hp. Max = 6, Current = 4.

Equipment

Club, sling, Staff (Homebrew Item = Easy to find and make.) 

Rough clothes. Silver Coins =0.

He continued over lunch, "I was challenged by one of the younger warriors of my tribe for leadership. He had some fancy new ideas about raiding other clans and gaining more power. I don't mind going raiding when there is a need for it, but not when the other clan has not done anything to deserve it. That's how your people and their people die for no reason. I am not a glory seeker who rushes headlong into battle just for the sake of it." 

Mal agreed, "You are a wise man, there are always hotheads who are only too willing to lead others into trouble. Let your mind be at peace, for that is not your worry now; you are free of them and their desires for riches and power. Others will see their folly in choosing a bad leader, and then they will depose him, or worse. For now, the Fates have decided to set you on another path, like myself", he drank from his waterskin and offered it to Yamil-Torl, "The saying is two are better than one when you are out on the grasslands, at least until we find another settlement? Agreed?"

"Ya, tis a good omen meeting you this day. Agreed. I will get wood for tonight."

They soon had two bundles of sticks tied with twigs and bushes. Mal topped up his waterskin, and they set off towards the rolling mountains about three miles away. The storm blew itself out, and the afternoon turned sunny, if not exactly warm, and their steady pace thawed them out. They did not make good time because of Yamil's wounded leg, slowing him down, but the staff helped.

Striding in the foothills of a nearby looming mountain, they came across a lone, large, mantis-like creature with yellow stripes on its abdomen and a smooth red skin on the rest of its body. The pair froze in their tracks.

 Yamil whispered, "Be very careful, it's an Eucarya, but I've never seen one that big before or marked like that. It can be deadly".

Photo by oktavianus mulyadi on Unsplash

It was eating some honey from a bee's nest formed in a large tree hollow, and the defending bee workers crawling over it and spraying acid at it did not seem to be bothering it in the least. Its slim, green tongue just kept whipping out and reaching deep into the honeycomb, searching out the syrupy liquid and occasionally changing its attack and caught a few more bees for variety.

      But at the sound of Yamil's voice, quiet as it had been, its large, pointed head swivels towards them, honey dribbling from its gaping mouth, as its beak drops slightly, to display a long double row of menacing, sharp teeth.

Mal-Shui - Str = 1, Tou = 2, Agi = 1, Int = -1, Pre =1.

Male Human. Age =24. Brown eyes, 6'1" tall. Longsword, (Attack +1, Damage +1)

Hp. Max =7, Current =6.

Equipment

Longsword, Staff (Homebrew Item = Easy to find and make.) Dagger.

9 days' rations in a sack. Waterskin. Rough blue tunic, an animal fur

cloak, Terradon Tooth necklace with Tribal Totem carving. Tinder and flint. 

Silver Coins = 4. Xp=0.

Story Threads

 1) Village Member,  2) Wizard - 3) Treasure seekers, 4)Ka Yak Folk. 5)Yamil-Torl.

End of part two.

(Apologies, the map is missing during edit.)

 

The villagers' tents are shown in black. SE from Mal's village is a river, fading into a marsh and further out, a long curving lake. The mountains are to the north-east of Mal's campsite in the hills. He got lost at the boundary and went NW when he thought he was going NE. The stream is curving to the right, between a few trees and then back north towards the plain to the north. He covered about six miles in eight hours, due to the storm's effects on him, before he met Yamil. 

Regards,

Ivor Cogdell

Kal-Arath (C) Copyright 2023 Castle Grief.

Permission to copy for personal use.

Mantis Photo by oktavianus mulyadi on Unsplash

Map 1a Artwork and Exploring Kal-Arath (C) Copyright 2026 Ivor Cogdell.

I am using "Wilderness Encounters" from drivethruRPG.com. No copyright visible.