![](http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y235/freesong_adoptables/acantha_ban2_2.png)
When Faris' water walls fall, the tide of the battle turns back in the Malaki's favour, but the advantages gained while trapped in their own little battlefields keep the vanguard's members from falling. After a harrowing battle, the bulls have been whittled down to just four.
Though accustomed to fighting for every breath they take, the Malaki have not met all that much resistance on this side of the portal, so their loss is astounding. The Warlord, injured and furious, sends the surviving brave back to their homeland to let others of their tribe know of the bounty to be found here, then commands the last of his war party to fight to the death.
When the battle is over, shockingly only one member of the vanguard is dead (Anatoli, having shoved the cartographer out of the way of a spear and gotten skewered himself instead), though several more are severely injured. At least the Malaki have finally fallen — all but the brave who grudgingly fled the scene.
Between the combined tracking and telepathic skills of the vanguard and Faris' story of "something shiny" out of place in the same direction the brave ran, the group make their way north-west to find a shimmering portal. With little time to assess their options or wait for back-up, they send one last message to the League and storm through.
The world that confronts them is every bit as hard as Jericho described: A red wasteland where jagged peaks spear the washed-out sky and the heat of the sun coats the rusty earth with a layer of diffused light, the Malaki's homeland is unforgiving and cruel.
The brave's tracks lead east, but are impossible to see from the air. Already clumsy on the ground, the arctic ankas are soon wilting in the heat, so the essentials (like water) are unloaded and the birds are sent back to the relative safety of the forest. These preparations take only a few minutes, but already the brave's hoofprints are being swept away by the gritty gusts of wind, so haste is paramount. Even so, water has to be rationed severely and the sun saps the strength from the party, forcing them to rest frequently.
Two days after entering the portal, the group realises they can no longer see it. Worse, their tracks have faded almost completely away behind them and the sun is so bright and diffused across the sky that using it for directional navigation is impossible.
Note: Don't forget to worldbuild as you plot! You can now also create/join side threads to explore events leading up to the battle with the Malaki.
PCs will be added to this list as they join. If NPCs (italics) do not already have profiles linked, you can make them up as you go and their listed vitals will be updated per chapter.
Aella Karakinos — Unaffiliated Ayad, blacksmith's apprentice
Aiden Roy — Therian
Aifric Ramsey — Therian Cartographer
Alain Gaston-Moreaux — Red Warden
Faris ibn Alsyad — Purifier rep attached to LoP
Ionia Essytia — Skotadi representative, League of Adventurers
Kiel Taskel — Rutilus, League of Protectors
Maaike Sullivan — Therian scout, LoP-attached mercenary
Mortimer Jericho — Peteulanus, supplies & logistics
Nimisha — Sidhe forest guide for unmapped areas
Captain Olympias Lysistrata — Apali, Varagoi, no-nonsense, stereotyper
Raphael — Djinn bodyguard and hunter attached to Ionia
Ninian Aedh — Therian enforcer attached to Jericho
Rusty Faelan — Therian enforcer attached to Jericho
Shane — Shadowkin attached to Kiel
- Find the Malaki brave before he can get word to his clan.
- Find a way back to the portal and home.
This chapter will end out of character at midnight (GMT) on the 28th of July. In-character, the events of this chapter will last one to two weeks.