Editing Epic - Saving my People (section)

==Khat's Tale==

After a couple of hours we were nearing the original ambush site and then Fulgar raised his head and warned that he had caught scent of Kharash with horses nearby. We headed up the slope towards where he suspected them to be so that they could not ambush us with a height advantage, and as we drew near we could see some of them up ahead on the snowline on foot. One seemed to be inspecting the ground, perhaps tracking... the tigress? That had been our plan and it seemed we were not the only ones to consider it. They spotted us as we had got about halfway up the slope.

Fulgar was fast, though, having pulled ahead of us easily, so he engaged the first one before they could do anything to stop him. He raked him with his claws and then struck his head so hard I think I heard his neck snap. He fell to the rocky ground, but now there were four Kharash visible and moving to engage us. The snow did slow some of them down, which enabled us to at least get to Fulgar's level and support him. Fulgar slashed another one that had stood close to the first, and I stabbed another with my halberd as he came down to meet me to Fulgar's right. Garuk joined Fulgar and used his huge sword to cleave the injured foe's head off, sending it bouncing down the snowy slope with a crimson trail behind.

Fulgar moved on and up into deeper snow, mauling the Kharash that had been trying to track before he even lifted a weapon. Garuk joined me and cut deeply into my opponent with his sword; somehow the Kharash stayed on his feet for a moment, so I ran him through to finish him off. Another opponent attacked, though, and I suffered two powerful blows that left me in some pain. Fulgar took a moment to search the tracker's body and took a small sharp knife for skinning, a crude map, and a pot of ointment. Once he was satisfied he had not missed anything he came bounding back down to join us, striking my foe from the flank. Garuk joined as well, landing a killing blow, but was just a moment too late to stop me being hit once again.

I went to a knee, praying to Huang-Ti for guidance and to forgive me weakness as Fulgar called on Shang-Ti to aid me. Many of my wounds knitted as I felt the now familiar warmth from his blessing. Just then Fulgar heard a howl, which he answered, but when he did so he noticed a low growl from close by and warned us to be ready. He headed to our right at an incredible pace and almost jumped right over Khat as she hid between rocks. She was no longer just a tigress, though, but had taken a half-human form - she was Hengeyokai! I was surprise, slightly ashamed, but also glad that Fulgar had found Khat.

The sight of Garuk caused her to snarl powerfully, but Fulgar was able to reassure her that he was "with Shang-Ti" despite looking and smelling the same as the Githyanki. She also seemed a little more relaxed when she saw me, for which I was grateful. I sank to me knees and apologised for our misunderstanding - we would have sacrificed her in our ignorance! She did not reply but turned smoothly and quickly back into her tigress form as a young wolf approached us from up the slope. The wolf was bearing a message for Fulgar to join his father, but Fulgar was rather short with him and gave him a message to take back, sending him scurrying off. He basically updated him on the situation and what we were trying to do, and why it was too important to leave at the moment.

Once the young wolf had gone, Fulgar warned us (although from the growling I guessed that Khat had said something to him) of more Kharash approaching. We moved up quickly to crest the ridge, following Khat's lead as to where we might find Grelt and hopefully the runestone. As we gained sight of the other side of the ridge we could see that the Kharash were coming from two different directions, one lower than the other. Fulgar was fast enough to reach Grelt first, though. He had been captured and badly hurt, then left near their horses. Fulgar called on Shang-Ti, healing some of his wounds, but it seemed that his left arm was useless and beyond help. As soon as Fulgar freed him he dropped on top of a pouch on the floor - I prayed to Huang-Ti that it still contained the runestone!

Fulgar encouraged Grelt to head towards me for his own safety, and he fled in our direction with a look of terror in his eyes. He was just ahead of the Kharash, who spurred their horses forward to attack but were slowed by the steep slope so they couldn't reach a full charge. Fulgar was speared, but Garuk cut down the horse so the rider was forced to fight on foot and was immediately mauled by Khat. I was struck too, but I was also able to cut down the horse; the rider landed heavily and I ran him through before he could regain his feet.

The remaining Kharash wheeled around for another attack, and again Garuk and I were able to kill a horse each. Khat bit one of the dismounted riders nastily and mauled him to death whilst pinning another to the ground. Fulgar and I moved to defend Grelt, intercepting another Kharash, whilst Garuk finished off the one that Khat had pinned. I dodged the attack against us and ran the foe through. The fight was over almost as quickly as it had begun, and Grelt sank to his knees saying "Shang-Ti be praised, there are Kharash everywhere!"

We moved back to higher ground to take stock. It was clear that Chimeg was drawing power from the gateway to death that she had opened, so we sought to find a way of closing it if possible. We did not have the mechanism, but Grelt still had our people's runestone. I convinced him to give it to Fulgar, as the most devout follower of Shang-Ti that I knew and trusted, for safekeeping. Grelt seemed glad to be rid of it given all that he had been through. The only place we knew that might be safe for Grelt and Khat was the monestary near Cron, where Khat was raised. We decided that it was the best place to rally the forces of good while we tried to restore some balance to the forces of the Gods here, and started to do what we could. We left Grelt in Khat's safe keeping to travel north first of all, and they departed at once. We also spent some time dedicating the battlegrounds we had just fought on to the Gods - both Shang-Ti and Huang-Ti. I left a pile of burning Kharash heads as an offering and a marker to warn others that they would not escape the judgement of the Gods.

After this we climbed to the top of the ridge and Fulgar howled regularly until a younger wolf approached to answer him. Fulgar asked to be taken to his pack so that he could tell them to move north and join the human forces for good. We let him go, heading towards the Kondii where we would meet him above it. He later told us that he had followed "Lightning Claw" (the young wolf) to meet "Fang" and found many of his people to have been wounded in the hard fighting across their territory. Fulgar warned them again of the danger that the Githyanki posed, but also took a moment to offer Shang-Ti's blessing and heal some of the more serious wounds. He then urged them to gather ALL of the Hengeyokai and head north to Cron to join forces against the Kharash. Despite this he had been asked to speak to the fish Hengeyokai himself as they were unwilling to heed the pack's call, so he had diverted to the source of the river we had visited in what I suppose was an alternative future. They had received his message in good faith, although they made no promises, and had given him a blue gem to call on the power of water if it was required at Kondii, knowing what faced us there.

Meanwhile Garuk and I met a couple of Githzerai on our journey, standing amongst a pile of bodies. They had fought hard, but the rest of their raiding party had fallen. We offered them aid with what healing potions we had and then they departed with the bodies of their kin, wishing that Zerthimon be with Garuk. He pledged to take the battle forward on their behalf and defeat the foe. They did leave a sword for Garuk, though, which he seemed pleased with and he immediately discarded the one he had been using up until now. We continued on to the Kondii and waited for Fulgar, who joined us once his meeting with the fish folk was concluded.