27 Fyrmont 1000 AC - Tyger, tyger...

 Broneslav woke at dawn, primarily because the mosquitoes also awoke and breakfasted on him. He got up and carried on northwards. It was slow, heavy going and he was beginning to doubt that he would make it to the city and back within the two weeks he had allowed himself. His youthful optimism had done him a bad turn! Well, he had given the captain orders and would see how far he got before he needed to turn back.

He waded out of the swamps into the hills. The going became easier for him, although not by much. As he crested a hill, he saw in the distance smoke rising as from a camp fire. He pondered whether to approach. While he pondered, he looked around. a couple of hundred paces away, he saw a group of zombies shambling towards him. They had obviously spotted him. He knew that these tireless undead would never stop pursuing him, so he prepared for battle. He placed his sword in the ground in front of him so that he could quickly pick it up. He placed his shield beside it and readied his bow. He reckoned he could get half a dozen shots off before the six zombies reached him. His first shot wounded one zombie. His second shot missed but his third and fourth shots killed a zombie each. The fifth shot wounded a zombie. The remaining four zombies were now just forty paces away. He dropped his bow and grabbed his sword and shield. In the time he took to do this, they were nearly upon him.

Broneslav leapt to the attack. Two more zombies fell as his sword cleaved through them, taking away whatever force animated them to unlife. The remaining two attacked, their claws making shrieking noises as they dragged across his shield and armour, but they could not penetrate the steel. Broneslav responded, manfully slicing his sword across their heads and bodies. Both zombies fell still. He paused to catch his breath before cleaning his weapons and putting them away. He examined the undead corpses before him. The shabby, rotting bodies stank, but there was nothing remarkable about them. He recovered his arrows from the corpses and carried on towards the smoke.

By early evening, he could see an encampment ahead. Half a dozen brightly coloured tents lay in a flat area in front of him. Smoke rose from the open sides of a central tent whose sides were rolled up. Three pavilions had a one side rolled up, and he could see giant cat-like creatures with foot-long, dagger-like teeth. He had never even heard of sabre-toothed tigers before, but the name sprang instantly to mind when he gazed upon them. A couple of dozen cat-like warriors were gathered in the camp. They appeared to be cooking dinner and repairing their equipment.

Despite his careful approach, several of the warriors were standing looking towards him. He decided to approach openly in the hope of gaining their trust, or at least a less-than-hostile welcome. Stepping out into the open he neared the camp, his hands held away from his weapons. He stopped fifty paces short of the camp and called out to those who watched.

"Hello the camp. I come in peace. Will you let me approach?"

The warriors conferred. One who was larger and more decoratively attired nodded to the others.

"Come ahead," the warrior said in strange, almost sibilant Common, as if using a human language through the sharp teeth that filled his mouth was difficult. Broneslav took note of these teeth and also of the iron sheaths on the razor-sharp claws at the ends of the man's fingers. The pantherish grace with which these men moved was not a metaphor. Although humanoid, they definitely had the appearance of tigers too.

Broneslav approached them and introduced himself.

"Our scouts saw you fight a group of zombies. You are a good warrior," the leader hissed. He touched his hand to his head in a gesture that Broneslav took for respect.

Broneslav nodded in turn and was lead to the camp fire where dinner was almost ready. He offered up some of his fresh supplies for the pot and the group began to talk, warily at first but more relaxed after a little as Broneslav told of his adventures and they told of their lives.

They were Rakasta warriors, a nomadic people. Their group was scouting for food for their main group which was based elsewhere. They knew of the city and informed Broneslav that it would be many days before he could reach there. The going was difficult and the challenges many, but they respected his desire to challenge himself. They invited him to stay the night with them, and then he could go on his way. Broneslav gladly accepted the offer.

As they were getting ready to bed down for the night the guards reported crashing sounds in the undergrowth. The Rakasta warriors grouped themselves and prepared for whatever approached. As they did so, a group of three cave bears blundered into view. Surprised, all three reared up on their hind legs, towering over the group of warriors and roared a challenge.

Broneslav was the first to react. He charged the nearest bear, his sword carving huge gashes through its hide. The Rakasta warriors were quick to follow suit, laying into the bears with teeth and claws. In that first rush, the group of Rakasta that had followed Broneslav tore down the bear he had badly wounded, while other groups of Rakasta wounded the other two cave bears. As the first bear crashed to the ground, the wounded bears roared in fear and fled back through the undergrowth.

The leader of the Rakasta examined the dead bear's wounds, "You have sharp teeth and are fierce, Broneslav. Count yourself our friend and know that you are welcome in our camp again. Come, bear meat is not good to eat, but creatures larger than this would consider it a delicacy. We must take the pelt for ourselves and move the meat away from our camp so that we are not disturbed again."

The next two hours were spent doing just that, before all but the guards bedded down for the night. Fortunately, the rest of the night was peaceful.

Notes

I've started redoing the map slightly and decided to leave the hex grid in, because Broneslav's movements were confusing me. I also now wish that I had just created the full map for the Isle of Dread and blocked out the unexplored hexes, as I am now doing. When setting up these turns, I plan to try to get ahead by filling in whole terrain areas from now on. That should make the movement part of these turns easier for me to keep track.

Broneslav got a brilliant reaction roll from the Rakasta. His boyish charm worked well on them. I figure they were particularly impressed by his warlike attire and one of their scouts may have seen him take down the zombies with ease. As a warrior race, they appreciate other warriors. I can fully imagine that this encounter would have resulted in a bloody aftermath in my youth, and it seems that the module is written that way, because it tells you little about the Rakasta other than their hit points and treasure.

The zombies were no threat at all really. The only annoying thing was him missing a couple of them. I decided that he could recover arrows from those he hit, but that misses meant he would lose the arrow. This could become important later on in this exploration.