The Light of a Dark Sun

Whispered voices echoed down the dank hallway, although no enemies were in sight yet. Raina gripped her craghammer tightly and adjusted her shield. More of these outlaws were on their way, and she intended to protect her team from them. Behind her, Klik was administering healing to Perint, calling upon the primal spirits to infuse his ministrations. It was only moments before more enemies came rushing down the twisting passages.

Klik was the first to see the rogues, and a deep clacking growl came up from his throat. Sandkicker knew what his friends gutteral noise meant – “Here they come!” he shouted in alarm.

Battle was joined yet again. Though they had experienced rough lives, these desert renegades had rarely experienced so much fighting in such a short time. True war was rare in Athas, but this assault by the rogues mirrored such an experience.

Up close, the enemies were a strange bunch. An elf, his flesh twisted, came into the breach and fired deadly electricity from his mouth, burning the heroes badly.  It was a tough battle, but the new team responded.

Although Klik’s spirit companion was banished twice by deadly blows, his will remained strong. His healing powers kept his allies standing. Meanwhile, with his deadly hexblade flashing through the stale air of the tunnels, Titus dealt deep wounds to the thieves. Raina called upon the spirits of earth to take the power of the mountains. Her rocky skin prevented harm from coming to her. From the shadows, Imir, the “Old Sandkicker,” showed no sign of slowing down from aging. His deft strikes with his mace rattled the rogues and weakened their resolve.

It was not the last fight against the rogues. Once the second group was defeated, a third group was encountered further down the tunnels. Despite the strange powers of a drunken man’s shouts, the arcane powers of Perint and Titus laid these rogues low in no time.

As the last enemy fell to their combat skills, a deep voice echoed down the underground chambers. “Damn you! Damn you all! I’ve had enough! Now you die!” Suddenly, a hissing sound erupted from all around them. Poison gas was pumping into the tunnels!

It was the quick work of Sandkicker’s thieving hands, along with the endurance and strength of the rest of the party, which saw them through those poisoned hallways. Before long, they found themselves emerging from the rocky landscape outside of Rham. Fresh air filling their lungs, the party turned back towards their home city to find their leaders in the Veiled Alliance once more.

Alazed entered the decrepit room the group called a home with a slight look of disgust. Even after a month, he was not quite used to the lower end of town. He straightened his robes and dusted himself off. “No practice today,” he said. “You ladies and gentlemen have your first assignment from the Veiled Alliance.” He smiled, a hint of pride in his eyes.

“Gather your things and come with me.”

When the new team arrived at their destination, they found it to be a well-appointed home at the other edge of town. The walled home had a small garden in front, although the group was brought around to an entrance at the rear. Inside, they found the leader of the local Veiled Alliance, Emilia, with Nuanar and her bodyguard, Storm.

Emilia stopped mid-sentence and noted her new guests. “Here they are now!” She rose from her seat and walked to meet the newcomers. “Please, sit my friends,” she said to them.

“Nuanar has valuable information for us,” Emilia told them. “One of the local thief gangs has old maps of the cave systems beneath Raam. They don’t realize it, but these maps may reveal a weak point in Abalach-Re’s defenses. We might be able to enter her keep through these tunnels and attack from within.”

Nuanar nodded and continued where Emilia left off. “The thieves think they’re selling the map to some unauthorized miners. But we need someone to make the pickup – someone who they would not recognize.”

In the corner of the room, Storm snorted with amusement. “And that’s where you come in, greenhorns.”

“Indeed,” Emilia continued. “We’re sending you in to do retrieve the item. Payment has already been arranged – all that’s left is to get the maps. Now, they’re thieves, so there’s no reason to trust them. Be prepared. Storm will supply you with the time and place. Any questions?”

The party had no questions, so they set off to find their contact – a man in a maroon mask – in the streets of Raam. Down an alley, he beckoned them to a secret entrance in a well. At the bottom of the well, another masked man met them, and lead them through tunnels and passages, finally coming to a large room where a group of the criminals awaited them anxiously.

“Ah, welcome guests!” said the apparent leader of the thieves. “We’re so glad we could do business.” He set down a quill pen and stood to greet them. “By the way,” he added slyly, “We found out who you’re really working for – a wanted revolutionary leader. Don’t worry – we’re not normally the type to turn folks in… but I do want to tell you that we are only having this conversation so that my fellow thieves could get in position to jump you.” The leader smiled widely, adding, “Get `em, boys!”

With that, the thieves rushed in. However, the five allies rolled instinctively into defensive positions. But they were not quick enough – one of the rogues slipped past Imir and quickly slashed Perint’s arm with his dagger. She recoiled in pain, but immediately readied a spell in retaliation.

Sliding past Perint, Imir deftly cracked a thief across the face with his mace. Seemingly rattled by the blow, the thief tried to fight back, but found no purchase with his blade. Klik lashed out in fury with his claws, landing several blows on the two nearest enemies.

In short order, Perint’s spell completed, spraying flame in an arc in front of her. Not satisfied with the damage she wrought, Perint let loose a gout of flame from her throat, the gift of her dragonborn blood. Nearby, Titus struck at the rogues’ leader, disappearing from sight and attacking from the shadows.

The battle was joined, and Raina slammed her hefty stone hammer into her enemies. With the power of the primal spirits, her blows smashed ribs and broke arms, the wicked craghammer finding her foes’ weakest points. Quickly, the team found their places on the battlefield, playing off each others’ strengths. It did not take long before their enemies lay defeated, a few of them dead from the party’s ferocity.

As the others caught their breath, Titus snatched the maps from the table in the room. Once the heavy breaths of their overexertion quieted, the party heard noises coming from the hallway. It seemed more enemies were on the way.

After a month of living together, the renegades hiding in Raam had begun to become comfortable with each other. There was still tension between them, but each of the compatriots knew they were in better straights than they had been in ages. The Veiled Alliance had brought them together, and the relief of knowing each of their allies had the same vision of a renewed Athas allowed them to quietly accept one another.

The mul, who they had been introduced to as Raina, had barely spoken in the weeks since the five of them began living together in a hovel at the edge of town. Still, her scars told another story – a story common among the mul, a story of slavery or gladiator combat or both, a story of violence and beatings at the hands of malicious masters.

On the other hand, the halfling Imir, who was called “Old Sandkicker” by the others in the Veiled Alliance, was more talkative. It didn’t seem to the rest that Imir was a social butterfly, but rather that he covered up uncomfortable silences with stories about bar fights, narrow escapes and strange visions in the desert. He was alone among them in that he had faith – the belief that the gods were real, and his goddess Anyanna wished to protect the people of Athas. The others listened out of politeness – or what passes for politeness under the Dark Sun, which is the willingness to be quiet as to not waste breath arguing pointless matters.

Klik, the thri-kreen, also possessed a sort of faith, although his was a faith in himself and the primal spirits of Athas. The shaman seemed to prefer the company of the spiritual centipede that was his constant companion to the company of other humanoids, but he was not rude to his new friends. In fact, given tales of the thri-kreen, the other four had been surprised that he showed such a deep interest and compassion for other races.

Perhaps it was the presence of two preservers that helped glue the party together in those early days. After all, there were few preservers to be found anywhere, and the safety of the human warlock Titus and the dragonborn sorceror Perint was entrusted to the other three. It was both an honor and a great responsibility, although these two young spellcasters had yet to prove their worth to the greater cause.

For her part, Perint was distant and distracted in those first few weeks, staring out the broken window of the hovel. She had not told the others the story of her betrayal and escape, but though she was possessed of great skill at deception, she didn’t attempt to hide the outward signs of her trauma. The others knew that she had been a great deal lately, although they didn’t know what it was exactly. Perhaps out of kindness or fear, they did not ask.

The warlock Titus was similarly distracted, but was much more vocal about the source of his anxiety. He had told the others as much as he could remember of his capture by strange folk, his escape and his newfound powers. Regardless of his position as a preserver, Titus already had another goal in his heart – a return to Balic, his home, and a hopeful reunion with his noble family, his parents especially. When he will actually be able to pursue this goal is anyone’s guess.

Every day, the wizard Alazed came to the hovel to train the party, especially teaching Perint and Titus how to disguise their abilities and to preserve life on Athas. The others watched in awe, seeing before them both the power that had destroyed Athas and the only path that could hope to preserve it. The party discussed strategies and possible tactics, knowing it would not be very long before they found themselves in life-or-death combat. Athas was not a safe place for anyone.

Occasionally, they would meet other members of the Veiled Alliance in Raam. On two occasions, they heard the sermons of Nuanar, the priestess of the Chapel of Light and staunch ally of the Veiled Alliance. However, on no occasion were they ever apart – they went to market as a group, they fetched water from the city wells as a group, and they slept within arm’s reach of one another.

Finally, as boredom was beginning to set in, Alazed came to them with a mission from their superiors.