Return to Raam

My father, Torvek Stonethew, had grown quiet again so I felt the need to prompt him, "Father was that the end of your tale of the assault on the mine?"

After a brief pause my father's shade continued, "I had thought so but I was wrong. We returned to Raam with the intention of selling the magical obsidian column to Nawab Nialha. On the way there we were betrayed and attacked by our thrikeen ally K'Liss. He ambushed us with a small horde of his kind and we were hard pressed.


But thanks to a nearby rock formation we found a defensive position and drove them off. Eventually we got back to Raam. Thanks to Rhogar and his slaver's haggling skill we got a good price for the magical column. It was enough money that I was able to afford some additional combat training from Nawab Urun-Mor. He was a dwarf, of course, and had a reputation for pulling the very best out of his gladiators. I was not happy because he insisted that the training take place under life and death conditions, and worse, with an audience. After I escaped I had promised myself that I would never step foot into an arena again but there I was anyway. The blood lust of the audience sickened me but I felt I needed the training so I went ahead with it. Urun-Mor set me up in a match against an unbeatable beast of the deep desert.


Fortunately I did not have to kill the beast to win. I just had to cut off some tentacles so that it was no longer a threat. I was only able to see the tentacles because the beast itself was buried deep in the sand below the arena. The battle could have gone either way but I managed to survive long enough to chop off down the tentacles. Urun-Mor told me that the circular tentacle scars were the secret to the training but I never believed it."

The spirit of my father had grown quiet again so I prompted him, "Where did you go next father?"

My father's tone seemed almost apologetic, "I still intended to return to Urik to look for you and your mother but Nialha offered to pay us even more if we returned to the mine and cleared it out of enemies so that it could be used again. The money she was paying us was more than I could make in years as a weapon smith so I justified the delay because I needed money to return to you. I insisted that we would only do this job for her with the help of 8 archers and to my surprise Nialha supplied them."