The journal of Gelmuxi Yofahu (Escort commander)

[EvilGinger]

Last night a trio of unlikely wanderers approached the camp they where two women & man all seeming northerners by their colouring & seemingly barbarians of some sort. They had been out in the desert fro some time as they where all sunburned & dirty from travel & the man amongst them who they seemed reluctant to  allow to speak looked the worst for wear. They where dressed in dirty but outlandish clothes whose origin I could not place, topped off with gear I presume recovered form a hunting party lost further south a fine set of half plate in the style house Peleps captains favour, a giant sharkskin reinforced buff coat & a vest of fine mail being the most obvious. The weapons they carried where unremarkable perhaps they where not the first to loot the hunting party the local tribesmen are feral and twisted by the wyld & breeding with the fair folk, but they know the value of a good weapon even if they disdain to wear armour under their felted robes.

The three spoke no language I could understand & between them spoke a coarse unlovely & guttural tongue, They could only communicate by means of a thaumaturgic talisman which rendered their speech comprehensible to me and mine to them regardless of the tongue I spoke & I tried both the tongue of the Realm & the local dialects of fire speech. They passed it between themselves or rather the woman did, the man spoke but only to them so I presume their culture is some sort of extreme matriarchy. Their leader was the woman in the Peleps armour, she was older & by signs showed me that she was an aspect of water it was her that seemingly owned the token. She called herself Victory, the younger one scarce more than a child by her look seemed to be called Foreigner  perhaps the child of a rival tribe taken in a raid who knows, was an aspect of fire like myself & the man seemed to be called Famous though that might have been a cruel joke given the way he was treated. I wonder are Barbarians so sophisticated in their cruelty?

They seemed ill equipped to survive in the deep desert & indeed said that they had got their by some mysterious and unexpected means, which they did not explain & I believe did not understand. They wanted  to get home & seemed to recognise that they needed to get out of the desert to do that. Of course I am not able to do that directly though I allowed them to stay as they seemed to be little immediate threat & had my men feed them but keep them under watch. My sergeant later told me that thy seemed both tired & very hungry not to mention almost out of provisions, he added that all they had seemed to have been scavenged from the desert which he should know he has been out here longer than I.

In the morning I will have them talk to the hunting party & they can decide what to do as if we go north without any trophies that will be their choice not mine.



This might get interesting, Dragons know I detest interesting, he said to himself as he rolled the scroll & closed the case.


 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Blast it it did get interesting & it nearly got us all killed in the process, & now its over or may be just beginning as Mennemon Jaxut  damn him to the hells of the Yozi's has his Trophy  a blasted Anathemas head no less. That makes him a Bloody Hero & hero's are as Sergeant Nemin says more  likely to get you bloody killed than any enemy. What do I do do I want to be the companion of a bloody hero? No that's a rhetorical question of course I bloody dont, but that begs a question  how do I get out of it?

Then if I do how do I pay that bastard back for the lives of ten good men & the health of four more not to mention the beaters & the slaves that got killed & maimed to buy his glory? Of  course he wasn't about to write any of that down well not yet not safe even stupid & beter him making a piss poor job of protecting his men than the likes of Mennemon Jaxut  who would not even try.

He unrolled his journal scroll & with swift neat brush strokes began to write.

The Barbarians we encountered in the Wastes are an interesting trio they say that they are northerners & whist there is no direct corroboration for this tale they have the look of northerners. Not to mention being ignorant of all the southern tongues either I or my men who have long served in these parts used. They are however equally ignorant of the tongue of the Realm or any other language even the smattering of northern tongues  we tried. True Barbarians then, their native gear however gives the lie to this it seems of high quality if flimsy make & there weapons the ones not obviously acquired from a lost hunting party of which there have been several recently, something which I speculate may have had something to do with the Anathema we encountered, are of good quality but seem odd almost not weapons. The material they are made from is also unknown to me &  Ledaal Kayoba who is the nearest thing we have to a savant with us.


I will move to an assessment of the characters of the three of Barbarians. The one known to me best is the one whose name the their translation artefact renders as "Famous" he is a youthful seeming male initially relativity clean shaven though capable of growing a beard & unskilled in the use of the razor my sergeant lent him.  One wonders how he came to be clean shaven in the first place. He is a pleasant fellow & keen to help with some limited knowledge of the healers art  though unfortunately no healing charms to support it. he has fitted in with my soldiers & it its my opinion that he would be an asset to any legion he joined though I am not sure that he would be officer material despite his exaltation. He has proved to be a quick study however & has managed to learn at least the rudiments of realm speech though his grasp of grammar is poor however. My explanation for this is that his own Barbarian tongue, English, which I have managed to master through the use of my charms & am now teaching to   Ledaal Kayoba seems to lack all but the most rudimentary forms of it.

Victory the older of the two women also initially helped with the wounded & seemed to have  a very similar knowledge of the healing arts to her male companion but again no healing charms, has a pet Jedrt which sleeps in the collar of her armour & has been spotted about the camp at night hunting insects it has after some initial consternation about it being a common mouse or small rat something of a mascot & several of the men have tried to feed it bugs they have caught. Tough I have warned them not to as I am sure it prefers to hunt itself & Jedrts even tame ones have teeth & are fierce little creatures. Victory has spent a most of her time with the hunting party & Ledaal Kayoba is trying to teach her High realm though I am sure she will never catch onto the complex grammar of it if her companion can not  master the simpler structure of low realm


to be continued........

 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Finished the report to his commander & rolled it up before sealing the scroll & passing it to the one man in his command he could not trust to stay loyal to him & not the legion. Take that directly to Sessus Antanabe he said & the soldier saluted in the manner of the legion before walking off the the livery stables to requisition a mount.

at his camp table Gelmuxi Yofahu moved to the other scroll his journal & unrolled it & began to write


We have arrived at the small town of Ifonaris a Shayanti tribal settlement amidst the villiages and corals of the semi nomadic  southern Totikari  here Mennemon Jaxut has arranged for the hunting party to take over the towns leading caravansary an act which may not prove wise but from which I greatly doubt he can be dissuaded as he has decided that he alone slew the Anathema which lead the deep desert tribes as us & is therefore some hero. Leaving aside that others struck blows at the thing & it was an avoidable fight & good men died for his glory. Though I am very much not one for involving myself with politics even the petty sort that spring up wherever a handful of dynasts are to be found I am of the understanding that this has not made him popular with the others either. Even if my source for most of this is the barbarian Famous as neither myself nor my troops have been deemed worthy enough to enjoy the luxuries of the caravansary that we have been forced to camp outside the walls may prove to be a good thing for being surrounded by the walls of an unfriendly town is newer a good thing. Famous seems to be a reliable and so far non involved source more over Darish Nemin has a high opinion of him & I value my sergeants wisdom  

to Be continued........




 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Gelmuxi Yofahu  awoke, it was night and he could here the sound of warrior moving past his camp there where several hundred of them as far as he could see & they where marching in lose, nay ragged order away from the town & his men's encampment  he wondered what they might be about & the possible consequences. Then considered it wise to order the guard on the camp doubled even if his forty men could not stand against that many it was worth giving them as much chance as possible should the worst happen

 
To be continued

 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Gelmuxi Yofahu considered the change of events & how it was not so unexpected since the harbourhead was a troubled land much  given to revolt at the best of times and the five years since the Empress had been gone  where not the best of times by any means. He cursed the situation under his breath which had forced him to send all of his men north as escort to the silly Nellens woman he cursed the loss of Darish Nemin in particular as he had come to trust and rely on the man. Idly wondered if the barbarian Famous could not be manoeuvred into that position after all they seemed to be cut form the same cloth & Darish Nemin himself trusted the man.

Still he would do his duty if only he could work out quite what that was in these circumstances. His duty certainly was not to get himself killed needlessly there had been far to much needless death of late and he wondered if they had seen the end of it



To be continued

 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Gelmuxi Yofahu  thought grimly that every time he thought it was as bad as it was going to get well it got worse after three days & only one successfully attempt at reconnoitring Ifonaris when they had met the man who said he was form Lookshy and discovered what the damned fool Mennemon Jaxut had done in leading a direct attack on the Temple of Ahlat there as if he was the hero of legend he obviously thought he was. Which no doubt got him killed as he deserved for didn't "the correct actions of the upright soldier" opine that death at the hands of the enemy was the proper destined reward for both the foolish officer & his soldiers.

They had been driven off twice trying to confirm this or perhaps perform a rescue if the damned fool was not dead when the binging of a third attempt revealed there was now an army camped around the walls of Ifonaris apparently composed of most of the tribes of the Harbourhead including those from the coast, something Sessus Antanabe defiantly needed to know.


Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Gelmuxi Yofahu mused to himself  it was nice to sleep in a bed again though he knew that they where very much not out of the woods and wondered as he slid into sleep if the fool of a young Carthak would prove to be as big a fool here as the Mennemon one at Ifonaris. he hoped not but at least in a guild trading town like Ruethna there was enough diversity of people that it was less likely they would all be stirred up into open revolt by one faction, and in any event the Guild liked its peace quite as much as the Realm most of the time as insurrection interrupted trade just as much as tribute. Still the place was full of unemployed soldiers and he knew only to well what trouble soldiery with time on its hands could cause.

A thought came to him, quite possibly a mad one it might be possible given that they had enough jade or guild silver or could raise a line of credit, to raise an army here of mercenaries and crush the revolt after all hadn't the Roseblack done something like that in the west why shouldn't they do it in the harbour head.

Gelmuxi Yofahu  decided he should talk to his fellows about that plan.....

to be continued ....


 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Gelmuxi Yofahu was content as he sat down to write his journal on the first day of the march back to Ifonaris a day when he had rode at the head of an army nearly six thousand strong. He would have been happier if they had been realm legions & not a rag bag of Guild mercenaries  but a man could not in this life have every thing could he.

I have this day at my command the following forces, two companies of Horse archers from the desert tribes south of Chiaroscuro, a company of eastern light horse experienced caravan scouts who fight with darts and long handled crescent axes, with particularly fine horses  several companies of medium infantry & archers armed in the manner of the Legions, but all mounted on nags as speed is of the essence to this operation. A warband of north eastern barbarians lead by a man they call Valan all huge & armoured in yedrim hide and likely all berserks & at Bobs suggestion two hundred head of the local cattle as I like the ruse he sugested, just the sort of thing Darish would have sugested


to be continued.....

 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

The march continues to go well and the supply situation  remains under control according to Miyoxi Tiholu  though as to be expected the Margin for error is narrow especially for water which is almost as valuable as jade here in the southern Veldt. I am not forcing the pace as much of my army is made of central easterners and borderline northerners who are vulnerable to the searing heat of summer here in the south and likely therefore to suffer more than usual form forced marching. I however believe we do have  the  time to do this  as our enemies even thought they are southern natives are reluctant to take to the field in the hottest months of summer.


to be continued......


 ginger

[EvilGinger]

Dragons be praised the day is done and we are mostly victorious, we have seen off the majority of the Rebels save for a few including their coxcomb of a leader we have safely bottled up in Ifonaris a problem Perfect Jade my siege engineer and Bob whose talents never cease to surprise have well in hand our losses are relatively slight as the line held despite heavy if disjointed attacks all day the most dire of which was the flank and rear attack by an army lead by King Akled which if not for the proper actions of Fran Laura and Alixdar could have been far worse, the former two of whom are only alive because of some unexpected allies the spirit court called the Court of the Empty Oasis.

These are  lead by a Jedrat god with the strange name Evocative thought,  who have a goddess called mist who is capable of incredible acts of healing for which I have rewarded her as is appropriate. All of the spirit court seem to be friends of the English barbarians and rather favouring of the concept of the perfected hierarchy as I understand it, though few of them are at all powerful and only Evocative thought speaks all that much. With them they bought very many of their creatures and as a result we are overrun with Jedrts and other small desert fauna  but these give us very little trouble being I gather commanded not to by their overseeing spirits.  I note that  Ledaal Kayoba  is attempting to talk to all the spirits and to catalogue all of the desert Fauna that they oversee




 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Gelmuxi Yofahu fairly bounced out of the briefing room he was tired and had been in the field far to long but he had done some good both to the realm and to his own career which he thought was well ensconced in the doldrums when he was given the frankly rubbish job of baby sitting a hunting party a little over a year ago. He needed a proper bath and a massage from one of the infirmary orderlies and some sleep in a good bed the rocks on the veldt where to hard and those southerners couldn't make a proper mattress if they tried either they where so soft as to half smother you or harder than the bloody Veldt if he would grant less dusty.  He would have to track down his friends and give them Cathak Voper's message.

Later rested, refreshed  aching much less Gelmuxi Yofahu sat down at his writing desk in his small new office in the Satraps palace, unrolled a short scroll of silk paper and inking his brush wrote

Esteemed friends, I would wish to invite you to a private party at the Satrap's palace called in my honour for putting down the recent revolt in the south. I unlike others recognise that I was very definitely not the only one who did this deed & would like to invite my comrades in arms to share it with me. For without your presence all the glory would leave a bitter taste in my mouth. I look forward to sharing a good time with my friends as we have shared so many hard ones

The scroll written Gelmuxi Yofahu got up ran it through the duplication machine whose ancient mechanism cracked and buzzed before dropping half a dozen perfect copies of the scroll in the receiving basket. He picked them up checked them lay them on his new desk  before walking accross the office and ringing  the call bell to fetch the Courier


 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Gelmuxi Yofahu had not really enjoyed the party even though he supposed he was the guest of honour, he was still new at this side of soldiering and unused to frankly as Darish Nemin would have put it hobnobbing with high ups.  Its interruption and the subsequent Anathema hunt had come as something of a relief some sport to lighten a wearisome night even if he of all the  would be hunters knew that the end of any such hunt should have been bloody. Gelmuxi Yofahu was relived that it had not been even if a little disappointed that it had been quite such an anticlimax the corpse of a middle aged servant dead in the street slain by a single common hunting arrow shot by a master archer as it had broken the man's neck so powerful had the impact been as it had driven between the Vertebrae and emerged undamaged not even snapped by the fall of the corpse.





 Ginger