Back to the world of Romans and magic and strange goblin boys with funny haircuts.
The Characters (so far)
- Aržak – A Parthian (modern day Iran) Scholar enslaved by the Romans
- Sigeberht – A warrior of the Anglii (modern day Denmark)
- Meleke – A merchant from beyond the deserts south of Mauretania (modern day Guinea/Mali)
- Chobo – A goblin with a crystal obsession.
- Zarl – The “chief” of a tribe from another world.
- Running Dog – Elder of the Hattacii, possibly gifted in the magical arts.
- Kym Motarfingar – A burnt up bald dwarf from “the other side of the portal”
Chapter 8
After finding some scraps of clothing to protect his dignity, Kym informed the group that every night a group of bugbears and orcs would arrive to retrieve the newly forged weapons to bring back to their larger encampment to the north. That didn’t give them much time to create a means to cart the Hattacii dead back and take what they could from the forge.
Curiously, scattered around the forge, were exotic weapons and armor that didn’t match any culture the group had yet encountered. They appeared to be carelessly thrown into a pile, some of them having already been stripped of nonmetallic parts, perhaps in preparation to melt them down.
While they quickly sorted through the arms and armor for equipment they could use, Chobo emerged from the center of the pile with a small jingling bag.
“Crystals!” he shouted with glee then leaped forth from the pile.
“It would be nice if we could bring all of this back, including the forge.” Aržak said with a hint of dismay. “Having proper metal tools would go a long way to improving our camp.”
“We could send our people back to secure it.” Sigeberht suggested.
Meleke shook her head. “To what end? It’s too far away from our base. With no beasts of burden, it would take us days just to bring back what we make here. And no doubt the monsters will be back to reclaim it.”
Sigeberht nodded. “You’re probably right. It might be best if we cave this place in. At least limit their ability to use it for a while.”
“We should consider it.” Aržak began, “But we likely don’t have time now. Maybe we come back with a larger group, assuming we’ll encounter resistance, and so we can haul more equipment back. Then we collapse the place.”
Chobo began jumping up and down and flexing his muscles. “No! Chobo bring back everything.”
Sigeberht laughed and patted Chobo on the head. “You do that, little guy. We’re counting on you.”
Chobo then darted off, his bag of crystals in hand.
“Wait!” Sigeberht called after him. “I was joking. Come back.”
“He’ll be fine.” Meleke chuckled. “He knows how to find his way back. Let’s get out of here.”
The return trip was going to take twice as long, now that they were carrying three bodies and a load of extra equipment. It gave them plenty of time to question Kym Motarfingar, who offered to assist them in exchange for someplace to stay once they return to their home base.
“Kym, you mentioned a portal.” Meleke began. “I don’t know what this means. It means an opening, but to what?”
“Geeze. You humans really are dense.” Kym scoffed. “It’s a magic door. A pathway inta other worlds, like the one I’m from. As soon as these Roman boobs discovered magic they started toying with spells they didn’t understand. They opened a portal ta my world and brought through a bunch ‘a stuff that doesn’t belong here. Like me.”
“And Zarl?” Aržak asked.
“Yeah, that clown too.” Kym spat. “The Romans brought him first, but not on purpose, because the Romans don’t know how ta control the portals. Zarl’s a warlock or necromancer, or somethin’. Said he could help them make more portals, stable portals, sos they could bring more ‘a their own kind from across the sea. He’s a liar. He just wanted the crystals so he could bring his own filthy kind here.”
“Why?” Sigeberht questioned. “What’s wrong with the world you’re from?”
“Nothin’!” Kym protested. “It’s a great place. I wish I was still there, not in this awful wilderness.”
“Tell us something about your world.” Meleke began. “Is it so much different from here?”
“Yeah, it’s different, but kinda the same. Everyone in my world has magic and it gets used for everything. Men, dwarves, elves, gnomes, everyone builds giant cities and carves out little kingdoms. And everyone’s always fightin’. It’s wonderful.”
“That does sound wonderful.” Sigeberht said, wistfully.
“It does not.” Aržak interjected. “What of Zarl’s people, the orcs? Do they also have big cities and kingdoms?”
“Nah. They’re all scattered.” Kym said dismissively. “Civilized people and orcs don’t get along. They’re mindless brutes. Whenever we encounter ’em, we beat the crap outta ’em, and scatter ’em before they can cause mischief.”
Meleke raised an eyebrow. “Mindless brutes, and yet Zarl was a partner to the Romans, who think nothing of enslaving anyone they deem lesser.”
“Maybe we’re reading too much into that.” Aržak protested. “The Romans aren’t stupid. He had secret knowledge they needed. The Romans know when to offer honey and when to apply the whip.”
During the evening watch on the first night, Aržak was awakened by Sigeberht.
“Do you feel that?” he asked.
The ground was trembling slightly, but it was growing weaker.
“It’s just an earthquake.” Aržak said, sleepily. “I suppose they don’t have those in Germania?”
“No.” Sigeberht said, cautiously. “Such a strange sensation. It felt so distant, then grew louder, closer, and then went distant again. I could swear I heard trees snapping as it went past.”
Aržak sat up. “You’re imagining things. I’ve suffered through many tremors, and that’s not how they go.”
Sigeberht shook his head. “Then maybe I am delirious. Perhaps it is time for you to take over?”
Near dawn Aržak was still on watch when he, too, heard, and then felt, a rumbling. It was exactly as Sigeberht described. It started low, to the west, in the direction they were heading, then got louder, passing to the south of where they were camped, and then trailed off in the distance to the east. And though he heard what sounded like some trees being toppled, it was less severe than Sigeberht suggested.
As the group was preparing to leave camp, Chobo emerged from the woods. “All done! Chobo brought back everything.”
“You did?” Meleke humored him. “Great job, Chobo.”
Chobo grinned, and pointed south. “Easy way back too. No more trees!”
Against their better judgement, they decided to head south, at Chobo’s suggestion, and discovered he was telling them the truth. A wide swath of trees had been toppled, as if a massive bolder, fifteen feet wide, had rolled through.
Sigeberht examined the ground closely. “Notice these holes?”
Aržak looked around. “Yes. What of them?”
“They’re footprints.” Sigeberht said, unable to hide the concern in his voice.
Meleke stood over one of the holes. “They can’t be. These are at least three feet across and ten feet long. There’s no beast on Earth that large.”
“Maybe not here.” Kym interjected. “But where I come from, there’s loads of crap that big. Dragons, for instance. Maybe a dragon came through ‘a the portals. Or some kind of storm giant. They get pretty big.”
“No! It was Chobo!” Chobo said angrily.
“Ok, Chobo. We believe you.” Sigeberht consented, then looked to the others with doubt.
The large strip of cleared forest was not the final surprise of the day. Upon their return home, the next morning, they found the residents of their camp sorting through the giant pile of metalworks they had left at the bugbear forge. And next to that pile was the anvil, bellows, and other parts of the forge, some in worse condition than others.
Upon seeing the returning group, one of the camp members ran up to them. “We heard a loud crash in the night yesterday, and ran here to find this pile, and saw trees falling in that direction.”
The group looked to each other confused.
“Could Chobo have really brought this here?” Aržak asked. “How?”
Chobo had already wandered away to hide in Sigeberht’s tent from the sun.
“He did have that bag of crystals.” Meleke added. “And he is always saying that eating them would make him big. Is it possible he ate them and turned into some kind of giant?”
Kym waved away the suggestion. “I’ve seen all kinds of goblins. I ain’t never seen nothin’ like that. There’s some crazy explanation here, but it ain’t your filthy little pal, Chobo.”
Among the camp members were several who knew their way around a forge. It would take them weeks to turn what had been dropped there into a working smithy once again, but it was a head start none of them could have dreamed of.
While that work began, Aržak, Meleke, and Sigeberht left to return the Hattacii dead, as promised to Running Dog.
Armchair Screenwriter 