Eaters of Carrion
Upon returning to our boarding house we found a secluded
part of the communal living quarters and sat down to distribute the
treasure. All up we each got roughly 11K
each with the scroll tube being elected group property until such time as it
could be determined what it was. Upon
opening it we found it empty and it was only with the persistent investigation
by Qarras that it was discovered the inner lining was false and pulled out
leaving only the coloured glass exterior.
No amount of looking through the tube, placing the tube over the eyes or
such manner illicted any understanding of the object. With all avenues exhausted for the moment,
sleep called.
The next night we resumed our job and for the next few days
life was routine. Then one night when we
came in for our shift we were greeted with the sight of Captain Visan commander
of third district. He informed us that
it was the deadly mating season of the Kurgha and that patrols were to be
issued with Amulets of Granted Entrance, which he explained would open the
doors of any tomb in the necropolis.
Mridoch asked how we would know where the Kurgha would be? The withering look Visan gave Mridoch made
him no friends, until the Captain realised that the group were new guards and had
never been involved in a Kurgha infestation.
Visan explained that the smell a group of Kurghan expelled from their
body was strong enough to be smelt fifty feet away, even through doors. The smell was that of rotting meat or corpses
left too long in the sun. The guards
were all then reminded that the Amulets were City property, loss of the device
would cost the individual 100K and a trip to the interrogators, oh and
immediate loss of employment assuming you survived the interrogation. Seems the City takes an ill view on those who
decided to pilfer government property.
That night we encountered no Kurgha, though we could hear
clash of arms elsewhere in the normally quiet necropolis. Two night later we were involved in our first
clash. It was at one of the low clan
communal burial bits, simply a very deep hole in the ground that would be set
alight and the bodies burnt once the corpses reached a certain height. How we could tell the stench to be different
from the smell of the Kurgha was simple, corpse mounds generally don't
move. It was a lively fight, rather one
sided as the pit allowed us to throw oil in and light it, allowing the fire to
claim the Kurgha. We only needed to pick
of the half dead creatures that made it to the lip of the charnel pit. Our first glimpse of the Kurgha revealed they
were six-limbed furry beasts ranging up to four feet in length and three feet
height for the mature adults. They had
sharp, horny beaks and three eyes. They smelt like an open charnel pit, which was where we were. An easy nights work we
thought, the next day we received the thanks of the Red Moon Clan for cleansing
the pit of Kurgha and for sparing them the expense of cremating the dead. Thanks was good, but it didn't pay the
bills. Gamalu reminded us that a debt of
honour was ours to call upon from this Clan should the need arise, so it wasn't
a waste as Ashane thought.
The following night found us engaged with another
outbreak. This time we used our Amulet
of Granted Entrance to open the tomb doors of the Granite Lintel Clan. Inside was a swarm of twenty off Kurgha,
these were dispatched but we all were left with new scares and blood loss from
the encounter. The Clan sent the watch a
bill for damages inflicted by the defence of their dead. Qarras expected the Clans claims were
spurious and that they were milking the system for coin. Yet another example of how rotten and corrupt
certain sections of Jakalla were. Money
could be made from any source as long as it appeared as a noble action, none
could question the modus operandi.
The next three nights were uneventful however on the fourth
night, just before the start of our watch a wandering entertainer caught our
attention. The man had a magic lantern
which he used to tell the story which he was entertaining the crowd with. It was a lamp shade with images of coloured
glass, that cast coloured lights against the wall. Mridoch has excited as he explained he now
understood what needed to be done with the scroll tube we had. However, work called and the excitement of
our discovery had to wait until our shift finished.
That night puny Gamalu almost died. It was at the tomb of Clan Glory to the Worm
that disaster occured. The infestation
this time has great there being some thirty of these ghastly creatures. The ensuing fight was brutal and we had to
use every trick in our limited book of experience to deal with the creatures,
it was at the height of this engagement that a large group of people burst into
the tomb, went straight to a wall niche, smashed the stone marker and an object
was taken by one who appeared to be a priest.
The Kurgha had us pinned, and it was at this time that Gamalu fell
beneath the weight of numbers, distracted by his cry for help the invaders
ignored us and promptly left the tomb and us to the fate of the Kurgha. With
blood dripping from our exposed flesh the three of us fought on to rescue
Gamalu and eventually defeat the Kurgha.
Gamalu was near death when we pulled his inert body from
under the fallen Kurgha. Thankfully the
gods had blessed Qarras with the ability to heal and his ministrations were
enough to bring Gamalu back from the brink of death. Supporting each other we reported back to the
guard post, explaining the intruders and that they had taken something from the
tomb. Old Nelel made a note in the giant
ledger, then summoned a slave and dispatched him and a note to the central
command post.
It was while we cleaned ourselves up and prepared to return
to duty that a well armed and armoured group arrived at the post. The senior officer his plumes of fiery red
displayed proudly announced himself as Shemek and then promptly interrogated us
as to what occurred. Indifferent to our
wounds and discomfort we returned to the tomb and acted out the encounter.
The leader of the intruders appeared to be a priest of some
god, most likely Gruganu due to his black and purple robes, tall black felt hat
and the symbol of a splayed silver hand.
The others appeared to be guards subservient to the priest. We of course had no idea of what had been taken,
even after the tenth asking of that question which could only answer in the
negative. Clearly our superiors thought
we knew something that we clearly didn't.
Typical middle management, wanting as many answers as they could before
reporting to the next level of management in what was clearly a very long chain
of command. In the end dawn finally
came, the questioning ended and we were allowed to go off duty.
All we could do was return to our quarters and rest. The night had been our most gruelling to
date. What would we learn from the
scroll tube once we had rested and regained enough wit to remember it. Would the appearance of a messenger from the
Glory to the Worm clan mean a demand for damages of an invitation to
adventure.
Stay tuned for the next
installment....
Kurgha "Eaters of Carrion" (page 64)
NA:6-120
HD:1
AC:6
T:nil
M:12"
L:10:12-240
These scuttling six-limbed furry beasts rang up to some four
feet in length and three feet tall. They
have sharp, horny beaks and three eyes.
They live on refuse and carrion and will attack only when they outnumber
a party. If the party enters a room in which
there are dead bodies, a 6-sided die is rolled: 1-2 = Kurgha are there eating
it. Their terrible stench warns a party of their presence at a istance of 50
feet - even through doors!
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