Editing Epic - Twenty-Four Years Later (section)

==The Hagral - Champions of Death==

We spent some weeks at New Minnerwe as Fulgar trained with them in the Way, and I learned something of their riding skills and how to sustain a fast pace for longer. Khat, who stayed in tigress form, and Grimbolt were also welcomed as we vouched for them and were trusted. In all it was fairly uneventful, even with the routine of raiding the Kharash, at least until Abuakhan came to visit. He bowed and touched the doorway as he entered, which was the custom here, before announcing that his scouts had seen strange riders encroaching on their territory. Their description was just that they were "like the Kharash but worse", all armoured in black and numbered about a dozen. I was keen to understand this new potential threat, but Fulgar was reluctant to put us at risk without good reason.

We decided to position ourselves on a point of high ground that would likely intercept their path but was defensible and hard for cavalry to reach, and just observe what they were up to. A young scout, Moncoyn, took us to a likely position on the Mesa with a steep side that the cavalry could not traverse. He had a bird of prey with him, which was interesting, and we positioned ourselves near the edge but amongst rocks so as not to be silhouetted. The riders came into view eventually, and not far from where we were waiting. They were particularly evil looking - with skull flails, blood red swords, various other nasty spiked weapons, spiked helms, and strange shadowy torsos from which it was difficult to make out a true form.

They stopped as we watched and one stood up in their saddle to make a strange haunting call, like a wolf in pain, that sent a shudder through Fulgar. To him it was as if one of the pack was badly wounded and needed help, and it was having a primal effect on him that he was struggling to control. He said quietly to me that he had to go immediately and slunk away from the edge, intending to distance himself as quickly and safely as possible. As he moved back, though, he saw a figure clad in black with skulls adorning his clothes stood behind us, but could also see through him! He barked a warning to us and then sprinted deeper into the mesa, seeking safety.

The horsemen wheeled towards us, alerted by the noise or their agent it wasn't clear, but as Fulgar was running we had little choice but to follow him. As usual he was faster, but as he pulled ahead he was confronted by undead wolves! He instinctively leapt at one, slashing at it and connecting well. It turned to dust and was gone in a moment, but Fulgar still had time to realise that these were former pack-mates brought back from death to hunt him! I was at the rear and the see-through figure that had been joined by another two caught up quickly so I had to turn and fight. I was shocked to find that I also recognised the shades - my own family were sent from the dead to haunt me, or worse... as I held back from attacking at the revelation one struck me and the pain shook me out of my reverie.

Garuk was closer to Fulgar and moved around to help him, conjuring a yellow orb that he threw at one of Fulgar's attackers, blinding it. Fulgar stood tall and opened his chest, roaring at the attackers in Hengeyokai; it certainly made an impression on one of them as it cowered back. He tried to attack the blinded one, but its erratic movements meant his attacks missed the mark. I started fighting back against my former kin, striking one twice at which it simply disappeared. Garuk swung a cleaving blow at the rear of an undead wolf and began to cut right through it before it too crumbled and was gone. Fulgar struck again, and another crumbled under his assault. That just left the cowering wolf on their flank, and Fulgar roared at it again to intimidate it further; it backed off, clearly unwilling to fight, and then it too crumbled to dust.

Fulgar didn't feel safe, though, and immediately continued his sprint towards what he hoped was safety. As he entered a fissure in the mesa top, though, he was faced by more foes from the realms of Death, and also a weird barrier that prevented the Minnerwe guards farther below him from seeing any of what was going on. Garuk was coming back to aid me, unaware of this new threat, and again circled around to attack from their rear. He struck one well, and I followed up from the front to cause that one to disappear too, leaving just one that I had deliberately left as they had been the closest relative in life. I tried pleading with him to stop, asking if he had his mind and whether he recognised me, but all I got in response was "you must die"!

One of the foes facing Fulgar looked like the riders we had seen - a dark shadow within armour that was slightly terrifying. It raised a crystal prism and chanted, clearly invoking some dark magic, but thankfully it didn't seem to have the effect he wanted so he drew a blade that promptly burst into flames instead. Fulgar ignored the other foes, focusing on this greater threat instead, and his claws flashed as he landed blow after blow... but he wasn't sure that the blows were having any effect on it! The wraith pointed at the floor, saying "Come!" and yet another undead warrior appeared as if rising from the ground. This new foe attacked at once and Fulgar was struck. He continued fighting against all odds, and did seem to land one good hit on their leader at least.

Meanwhile I paid the price for trying to reason with a shade that had no life in it - I was struck and suddenly found myself paralysed! Garuk was thankfully able to strike the shade twice before it could do anything more to me, and it disappeared like the others. Garuk realised that I couldn't move and picked me up, which was most undignified, before moving off after Fulgar. We had no idea at that point how much danger he was in, but we soon found out as we descended towards him. We saw him surrounded and fighting, deflecting one blow but struck by another. Garuk helpfully carried me towards the combat despite my being defenceless and unable to help, but at least puts me down with some care.

As Garuk ran forward to help, Fulgar managed to finish off the wraith - some of his punches were finally having an effect. As he landed the "killing" blow, the wraith's form became solid and it was a Batuhan noble in full battle dress. As he collapsed to the ground, though, he rapidly decayed into nothing but a skeleton. The other foes stood no chance with their leader gone; Fulgar smashed into one that disappeared instantly, then Garuk struck another and Fulgar finished it off.  The last one turned to flee, but Garuk struck it down from behind and that disappeared too.

Fulgar sank to his knees, panting heavily but also looking distraught. Garuk kicked the glowing prism out of the skeletal hand that still gripped it, but then noticed that there were tears on Fulgar's face. He went to offer support, but Fulgar growled angrily at him as he drew near. He spat out an accusation that Garuk had used his "filthy dweomer" on Fulgar's pack and demanding that he never do it again, or they would be "done". Garuk hastily backed away to leave him to his grief. Fulgar sat and stared, drained for a minute. Garuk instead came back to examine me, applying a healing ointment that worked on what few wounds I had, but did not seem able to free me.

Fulgar then noticed that the strange shimmering barrier had disappeared, although the guards had moved away when the scout had run through earlier in terror. He turned his attention on us for the first time, and grabbed the skeleton intending to drag it over; he had to leave it, though, as it started to fall apart. Garuk noticed him moving over and called out to him, saying that I was paralysed. Fulgar had no skill that could help me, though, saying: "perhaps the people in Minnerwe can help?" Garuk nodded and carried me as he followed Fulgar towards the valley.

Before they could get much farther, though, another shimmering barrier appeared. This one was silver, and it filled the canyon ahead of them from wall to wall. A shadowy figure wreathed in flame appeared, stepping out of the portal. It simply said "lead me to them" and an image of Khat and Grimbolt flashed into our minds. Fulgar said to Garuk "I don't know what that is, but I'm not fighting it, we must go!" backing away from it, but Garuk's response was: "I must go to town to find Khat and Grimbolt, he has told me." Clearly the thing had seized some control of his mind.

Fulgar struck him lightly across the cheek, saying "Idiot! Go! Now!" The only response he got from Garuk was that he was going - to the town to find Khat and Grimbolt! The fiery figure held out a flaming sword and shield saying "Show me" as the portal it had arrived through disappeared. Garuk obeyed at once and Fulgar stopped, looking back in confusion at Garuk. I had seen and heard the same compulsion in my mind, but I forced myself to focus on Huang-Ti's will and Fulgar's truth, and then suddenly I found that I was able to move again. The thing had probably freed me, expecting me to do its bidding. My muscles spasmed slightly as I fell to the ground with the unexpected release and took a few moments to get to my feet. The evil figure seemed to be watching me, unsure whether it had control of me, and a new command flashed into my mind: "kill the troublesome dog!" I looked at Fulgar, and he shouted "get away - Garuk has lost his mind!"

I was able to control myself, so I said to Fulgar "he wants you to die" but winked to show that I still had my mind. Then I realised that Fulgar probably didn't understand what such a human action meant! The thing turned its focus to Fulgar this time, saying "Come!" whilst pointing at him. Four skeletons started to rise from the ground in front of Fulgar, but he had already started calling on Shang-Ti's power and raised the runestone above his head. With a shout he invoked Shang-Ti's name and called on him to purge the creatures of death. The skeletons briefly flared with blue light from within, an orb expanding that instantly shattered as a shaft of light fell upon them sending shards of bone flying. The flaming creature looked as shocked as a fiery shadow could and promptly disappeared.

Fulgar was energised by Shang-Ti's blessing, looking excited for the first time since we encountered these things. He ran forward saying: "Friends, Shang-Ti is with us! Do you feel it?!" He was so happy, as he put it, that Shang-Ti was able to knock sense into Garuk in a way that he couldn't. I was more concerned that we were being hunted, and by champions of Death! Garuk was aware that his mind had been under control, although that had ended when the thing left this world. Fulgar headed into town to check on the people there, whilst I started stripping the armour from the foe that Fulgar had offered - a trophy that honoured me greatly, especially as the armour was resplendent as would be worn by a leader of one of Batuhan's clans. Garuk found the prism on the floor where he had kicked it, but when he touched it the power shocked him so he let it go immediately and left it where it had fallen.

Fulgar, some distance away now, found the sentries dead with their necks cut. He shouted "to arms!" and kept looking for someone who was still alive. He did find that, in a way, as he spied Khat walking towards him with an undead creature keeping pace beside her. Fulgar shouted back: "Batu, I need you, enemy in sight!" I left the armour and sprinted towards his voice as Fulgar engaged the undead, slashing at its face. It drew a dagger from the pommel of its sword and attacked with both. A swampy, dank smell emanated from it, and it had a disquieting greenish tinge to its form, armour and weapons. Fulgar was hit by its sword blow and collapsed immediately! From the look of the sword I guessed some kind of poison might be at work.

Garuk was running past me, but stopped to pull out something from a pouch. Khat loped forward to intercept me, but she must have been ensorcelled as Garuk was because she attacked! I shrugged off her blows and escaped her jaws, trying to focus on the undead creature that was probably controlling her. Garuk tried some dweomer of some kind, but was just out of its range. I did land a hit on the undead creature which seemed to make an impact. I was worried about Fulgar, though, not knowing what would happen if we couldn't treat him in some way.

Khat had followed me and now attacked from my rear, although I managed to dodge the worst of it. I used the dweomer of my halberd to attack unnaturally faster, seeking to end the undead control before I was overwhelmed. Thankfully this worked and I struck two heavy blows that caused the sickly undead thing to collapse, decaying quickly. Khat also collapsed, alive but unconscious. Garuk attended to Fulgar, smearing Keotoghms on his wound. This healed the worst of it, but better was that he coughed and spluttered, coming back to life with a start. Garuk quickly backed off, not knowing whether he was any danger, but he need not have worried. Instead Fulgar's first thought was to offer me healing for my wounds; I told him to think of himself for once for he had suffered more that I.

Garuk took a look at Khat, stroking her fur cautiously, but there was no response to his touch. Fulgar used the runestone to heal some of his wounds, but still looked sorely hurt. He was worried that he had been judged and found not worthy, but I insisted that there were none more worthy than he in Shang-Ti's eyes! I used some of my own keoghtoms on Fulgar's wounds and that certainly helped, but already he was thinking of others and wondered whether the runestone might help Khat. Once I was done he placed it against her (there was some... discussion between Garuk and Fulgar on where it should be placed) and once more invoked Shang-Ti's name to provide his healing. There was an immediate response as Khat leapt to her feet with recognition in her face. There was a moment of joy as I met her in a warm nuzzle, but it was cut short as the others noticed the undead creature was coming back to life!

I was unprepared and got stabbed in my side, Fulgar's warning coming just a little too late. He attacked, though, and struck good blows just before Khat slashed it with her claws. Fulgar was struck with another blow, and once more collapsed unconscious! I was also stabbed deeply, a nasty wound, but kept my feet. Khat bit it, holding it in place as Garuk flanked to strike a power blow that caused it to collapse again. I had previously asked an apothecary in town to distill a potion we had found, creating a powerful viscous liquid that could dissolve most things. Now I used it on the head of the creature, hoping that it would prevent it from rising again, and it seemed to work as the head fizzed and spluttered angrily but melted away into nothing. Garuk went straight back to Fulgar, using the keoghtom ointment on him again, and thankfully Fulgar was once again brought back to us. 

Khat called these champions of death "The Hagral", and said that they had taken Grimbolt. The one we just destroyed had an amulet with three circles centred on the sides of a triangle, and Khat thought that it was a means of travel that they might have used to reach us in some way. Fulgar wanted nothing to do with anything they had carried, but Garuk lifted it away with his sword and then picked it up with no ill effects. There was a pattern of stars on the rear with a line beneath them that Khat recognised as the outline of the landscape in a place not far from Cron. Garuk kept the amulet as it seemed we might have to use it; it might lead to another temple.

Fulgar had walked away while we examined the amulet, looking for any other survivors. He found remains of people that bore the claw marks of Khat, clearly she had been forced to attack them whilst under the control of the Hagral. Fulgar returned to us and said that he feared death was in the village and that we needed to leave. They had found us somehow, although we did not know how, so we could not stay. We elected to head to old Cron, but to approach such that new Cron was behind us so that we had somewhere to withdraw to if needed.

I changed into the ceremonial armour from the first of the Hagral, which made me feel much more impressive but did have the slight disadvantage of slowing me down if we couldn't find a horse to ride. Khat would not go back into the village knowing what she had done there, so we went back to the edge of the mesa where we had first seen the riders. Fulgar started to climb down, and Khat changed into her half-human form to do the same. Garuk offered to levitate me with his mind again, which was good because I had no other way of climbing down. When he used his mental power, though, a voice in his head (apparently the others heard it too, but I did not) said: "there you are"! An undead warrior suddenly appeared just below us.

Garuk moved back up, as we were still near the top, and deposited me on the edge of the mesa again. Fulgar let go and fell gently towards the ground, but there was the sound of chanting from below and he was struck by a bolt of lightning the thing had conjured. Khat climbed down rapidly and both she and Fulgar struck the thing as they engaged in melee. Garuk tried dweomer, hoping to irritate and distract it, but it seemed unaffected. Fulgar and Khat seemed to be landing their blows, and as frustrating as it was to watch and be unable to help I forced myself to look away and check for other threats. I didn't notice, then, that it pulled out a prism like the other Hagral; the prism glowed with green light but then it seemed there was a divine intervention by Shang-Ti and it was struck through with a yellow light, forcing the Hagral to throw it to the floor.

As I scanned the part of the mesa where Garuk and I were stood I saw more deathlike things approaching - a warrior and a very large wolf. There was something solid and glowing inside the warrior, but it didn't look like one of the Hagral. As I alerted Garuk they were joined by another skeleton. The wolf bounded towards me and the other two headed for Garuk, who called on his dweomer again to blind the skeleton. I was bitten by the huge wolf, which was really hard to hit anywhere that mattered to it. The others were faring better, and Fulgar finished off the Hagral on the ground with two strong punches. He shouted up that it was clear and we could come down now, not knowing that we were engaged. When he didn't get an immediate response he inspected the foe, noting that its armour was black but not metal, which was strange. The prism had broken in half and whatever purpose it had once served it now seemed useless.

I finally managed to land a hit on the wolf's head, so I kept striking there until it disappeared, presumably banished back to the land of death. Garuk struck a glancing blow on the skeleton, but then stones started to rain down from the sky, absolutely battering me to the ground and I was unable to move. Garuk seemed unaffected, thankfully. Once the unnatural hail of stones finally stopped, I was just able to smear ointment on my wounds and recover enough to regain my feet. After a moment I took up my halberd again and moved to assist Garuk.

Khat was doing the same, finishing the climb back up to us remarkably quickly, and clawed at Garuk's attacker. Just then lightning forked around us on the mesa, although weirdly it didn't seem to affect me, but the bolt struck Khat and killed her outright! Garuk was hurt, but kept his feet, and the skeleton we had been fighting shattered into pieces. I cried out in agony at seeing Khat fall, especially to such a cowardly attack, but there was nothing I could do. Fulgar meanwhile had seen another Hagral appear out of nowhere, this time on horseback. He was forced to engage it, as it could have easily ridden him down if he had tried to withdraw. His first punch passed right through the skeletal horse, though, and the rider's flaming sword hit him as his mount reared up. The horse was spurred away, and Fulgar managed to strike at its rear, connecting this time.

We weren't expecting what happened next; Fulgar saw the Hagral lift its hands above its head and bring them together, then both it and the skeletal warrior we were engaged with on the mesa disappeared. Their target must have been Khat rather than us, or at least it seemed that way. I cried out to Fulgar, who climbed up to join us. He let out a howl of anguish when he saw what had happened to Khat. After a few minutes of grief we discussed what should be done with her body; it seemed too symbolic to ignore the opportunity for a female tiger to be placed in the correct place, perhaps within an iron casket in the water temple?

We returned slowly to the village with her body. It was empty of course, those that had not been killed had evacuated the place. Fulgar left to find help, being the best tracker, and Garuk and I stayed with Khat's body in the funeral parlour. When Fulgar returned with the people that had escaped, they helped to wrap Khat's body in flax linen with a waterproofing solution to help prevent any decay. As they did this Fulgar took a few minutes to heal the wounds we had suffered with Shang-Ti's blessing. As he used Shang-Ti's power the following verse came into all of our heads at the same time, as if Khat were speaking to us:

Cracked, crawling, carrying the load,<br>
Light, lifted, ego to flight.<br>
Seared, scorched, subdued, and burnt,<br>
Uplifted, upheld, soul of might.<br>
Highest of all, the power of light,<br>
Revere, reverent, ravin, knight.

We were nervous but elated - she was with Shang-Ti! We were more determined than ever to take her to the water temple, which we thought was near Cron.

We resupplied our provisions and equipment and were given some horses for the journey. In return we gifted the people some of our possessions; in particular I gave the war leader my old Githzerai armour, which he was very happy with even though he was unlikely to wear it into combat, being unused to the restriction. I'm fairly sure that the horse I was given was one of the best as a result of this gift, though.

We rode north as soon as we could, wary of Khat's body deteriorating if we lingered, and headed towards old Cron. Fulgar was up ahead of us, loping easily through the grass, Garuk was to my right, and I was closer to the river. Garuk also guided the horse with Khat slung across it. We made good progress, but it couldn't last forever. Eventually we encountered a party of Githyanki riding upriver at a lazy pace, about half a dozen, and they approached us following the river. I peeled towards Garuk and got his attention before dismounting and moving into the long grass.

We tethered the horses using a spike pushed into the ground to stop them being driven off. After a minute it was clear what they were doing - they rode near to a longboat that was making its way upriver, with both oars and sail working against the slow current. Unusually we heard a lyre playing to keep time for the oarsmen.