16. Inheritance of the Sulatar

Mythic GME Chaos Rank: 9
Scene setup: d10=9 (Altered scene)

This was going to be the scene of Sakhisli being interrogated, but instead we’ll start with Kyorlin.

Defy Danger(Con)(Arjen): 2D6(4 5) -1 = 8 Partial success.
Condition no worse, but no better.

No-one gets to heal, of course.

Defy Danger(Dex)(Kyorlin): 2D6(3 5) +2 = 10 Success!
You slip your bonds.

Kyorlin sat, slumped, against the wooden stake to which he had been tied, back to back with Arjen who was in the same predicament. The drow had secured them close to their campfire, and one Sulatar warrior was watching them while the others gathered firewood or fussed over Sakhisli.

Discern Realities(Kyorlin): 2D6(4 6) +1 = 11 Success!
What is about to happen?
What happened here recently?
What here is useful or valuable to me?

The dwarf was unconscious and badly hurt, Kyorlin could see, but the Sulatar were taking great interest in her. They had done nothing for his own wounds, but they were binding Sakhisli’s wounds. The Sulatar commander was standing over her, directing the work. The dwarf’s fire magic must have caught their interest; we would be dead already otherwise.

Kyorlin’s was in pain down his side, and he had lost a lot of blood from the wound there, inflicted by the Sulatar this morning. His head still ached from where one of the Sulatar had bashed him with her shield. But he knew that he needed to keep thinking and working on an escape: the Sulatar would show no mercy to a follower of Vulkoor. He worked furiously with his hands, pretending to be in a daze while actually looking around the camp. After a few minutes, he had slipped his hands out of the bonds; he remained in place, with his back to Arjen, waiting for the guard to be distracted.

The Sulatar had now bound Sakhisli’s hands and tied her to a tree with chains; having lost so many of their patrol to her fire magic, they were not taking any chances it seemed. Looking around the camp, Kyorlin could see his bow and hunting knife, lying in front of one of the tents that the Sulatar had erected.

“Wake her,” said the commander, in Giantish.

One of the warriors stepped forward, and backhanded Sakhisli across the face with their mailed gauntlet. After that failed to rouse the dwarf, they grabbed her hair and shook her until she groaned.

“It’s time to answer for your crimes, dwarf,” said the commander.

Sakhisli’s head hung forward, and she struggled weakly against the chains.

“Where are you from?” The commander spoke in Giantish, and one of the soldiers translated to Common.

“Sharn,” said Sakhisli.

“Why did you come here?”

Sakhisli was looking around now; she looked over and her eyes met Kyorlin’s. She bared her teeth, as if in anger; Kyorlin looked away. She tried to save me from them, and got caught herself; does she blame me?

The commander repeated the question, but before it was translated, Sakhisli replied—in Giantish. “That is in the past. I am here, and that is all that matters now.”

Kyorlin was stunned; Sakhisli had never spoken a word of his language before, but she spoke now as if the words came easily—albeit with an odd accent. The Sulatar exchanged glances, and there was some murmuring amongst the soldiers. The commander raised an eyebrow, and continued, “You speak our language?”

“I speak it.”

“Your friend told us that you seek Kappefesting. Know that the places of our forefathers and their benefactors belong to the Sulatar; we will kill any outsider that seeks them out. Do you know how to reach Kappefesting?”

Defy Danger(Int)(Kyorlin): 2D6(6 1) +1 = 8 Partial success.
You see what’s coming, but there’s so little time. Put someone in a spot

She doesn’t but I do. And she is going to tell them. The guard who was watching him was distracted, looking towards Sakhisli in surprise, so Kyorlin took his chance. He rose to a crouch and darted behind the guard, across to where his bow and dagger lay, grabbing them up as Sakhisli replied.

“No. Esinor had a map, and Kalina knew it—but she died. Now only the Vulkoorim scout knows it.”

Defy Danger(Dex)(Kyorlin): 2D6(4 2) +2+1 = 9 Partial success.
You have a head start.

Defy Danger(Con)(Kyorlin): 2D6(3 2) +1 = 6 Failure!
But falter due to your wounds

Kyorlin bolted into the trees as heads turned towards him. There were several shouts, and the commander yelled, “Stop him!”

Kyorlin ducked under some hanging vines and ran. The pain in his side made him stumble, but he stayed on his feet and kept moving, moving fast through the treacherous roots and creepers of the jungle floor. A glance back showed him that several Sulatar were in pursuit, spread out to try to encircle him, but they were slower than him and he stayed ahead of them at first.

But his strength faded quickly. The wound in his side was bleeding again, the pain jarring with his every step. He slowed and stumbled, grabbing at a tree and leaning there for a moment. He tried to set off again, but could only stagger a few paces before falling to his knees. The Sulatar quickly surrounded him, grabbing his arms and dragging him back to the camp.

---

“Your friend has spirit—for a vermin.”

Several drow had set off in pursuit of Kyorlin, but the commander and several guards remained facing Sakhisli. The dwarf met the commander’s gaze with disdain.

After a moment, the commander continued. “How did you learn to control fire?”

Discern Realities(Sakhisli): 2D6(4 1) +0 = 5 Failure!
Put someone in a spot

“At the forge. Perhaps if your channellers had done the same, they wouldn’t have died so easily.”

The commander gestured, and one of the warriors jabbed the tip of their sword into Sakhisli’s side, through one of the rends in her hauberk. The pain got her attention, though.

“Watch your tongue, dwarf, or we’ll cut it out.”

Defy Danger(Cha)(Sakhisli): 2D6(4 2) +0 = 6 Failure!
Oh dear

Sakhisli is just really bad at social stuff. This isn’t going at all in the direction that I expected.

“Release me, servant. My power is beyond your comprehension.”

The commander turned to the soldiers and nodded. One drew a dagger, and they stepped forward; went to grab Sakhisli’s head.

Channel(Sakhisli): 2D6(6 5) +2 = 13 Success!
Deals d8+d4=4 damage, 2 piercing; takes 2 damage.

And the tree is on fire.

Sakhisli didn’t let them reach her. Fire poured between her fingers, engulfing the base of the tree and the ground around her. The flames drove back the drow, but the tree caught fire from the intense heat.

“The dwarf is mad!” said one of the Sulatar.

“Do that again and you are dead,” said the commander.

Defy Danger(Int)(Sakhisli): 2D6(4 3) -1 = 6 Failure!
Sadly, she just isn’t very smart

But Sakhisli was too angry to heed them. She twisted, struggling against the chains; she released another burst of fire as if the flames could cut through the tree trunk and free her.

“Fernia’s wrath! Kill her!” yelled the commander. One of the drow lunged at Sakhisli; she felt the pain drive through her chest. She slumped, still chained to the burning tree, as consciousness slipped away.

Last Breath(Sakhisli): 2D6(2 4) +0 = 6 Failure!
You die

---

As Kyorlin was dragged back into the camp, he saw Sakhisli still tied to the burning tree. She was clearly dead; the drow turned away, unwilling to look at the gruesome sight as her body was consumed by the flames.

The commander came over and stood before him.

“You will not escape us so easily, vermin,” she said. She glanced over her shoulder at the still burning tree, then back to Kyorlin. “Your kind infesting the jungle is bad enough, but now you bring these outsiders to our lands—this one was little better than a mad dog.”

Kyorlin was too weak to offer a reply; he was hanging between the two Sulatar that carried him back to the camp. He was starting to drift off into unconsciousness.

The commander grabbed his chin, lifting his head up to face her. “Yes, I think you are going to be very useful to us.” She let his head fall and turned to her soldiers. “Patch this one up—and bind him properly this time. Kill the other prisoner; we have no use for outsiders here.

“Tomorrow we return to the Obsidian City. Praetor Shadan will richly reward us I think—at last, we will inherit the greatest of the fortresses of our benefactors, the citadel of Kappefesting.”

And that’s it for the campaign; there’s no adventuring party anymore.

I hadn’t expected the final chapter to go that way at all—Sakhisli could have persuaded the drow to accept her, perhaps by sacrificing her companions to prove her allegiance. But she just failed every roll, so I went with her being too obsessed or mad to cut a deal. Poor Kyorlin is going to have a long imprisonment, and he probably dies in captivity.