Session Ninety-Six: Mountain Inhabitants.

Kraah slept lightly and was awoken by the sounds of wailing below. He asked Raco what he thought it was and Raco said it might be the undead on the plateau. Kraah decided to fly down and investigate.
Kraah heard the wailing and saw the glowing red eyes of the banshees below. He estimated there were a dozen or more. Before he could study them further, he was filled with irrational rage.
Kraah flew back up to Raco and began viciously attacking him. Raco punched and kicked Kraah in return. Being a hand to hand master, Kraah was no match for the mul and was quickly knocked unconscious. Raco then tied him up, with some giant hair rope.

Day 4, Week 1, Dessalia, Friend's Vengeance, 190th King's Age, Sun Descending

The morning was cold. More cold than any of them could remember. Cheet had a blanket, which was normally warm enough, but she shivered as the cold breeze glided over her skin. Yusef was wearing two sets of clothes, along with a blanket and cloak. Everyone else in the group, besides Raco, was dressed in a similar fashion. Raco had a light robe and Cheet was wearing a skirt and shirt, which left her arms bare. They were both very cold.

Kraah awoke and asked what happened. He asked why he was tied up. Raco told him the story and Kraah said he did not remember it at all, but apologized. Raco could see that Kraah had regained his senses and untied him. They planned to depart before nightfall.
Dimitria and Yusef had extra clothes, which fit Cheet, but nothing they had would fit the tall, heavily muscled Raco. Cheet thanked them and Raco told them that he would endure. As they climbed and hiked through the mountain, they all warmed up and the extra clothing was removed.
In order to save time, the group used a combination of magic and the way to fly between two mountain tops and avoid a ravine. Raco used the way to turn into an aarokocra and Samsun had levitate cast on him. Being virtually weightless, Raco was able to carry him and Dimitria across the ravine. Kraah carried Cheet, then they both carried Yusef. Kraah was exhausted after the flight and needed to rest for an hour.
They started climbing again. While scouting ahead, Kraah had arrows shot at him by some dwarves. He returned to the group and told them that there were some dwarves up ahead. Raco, who spoke dwarven, climbed ahead to speak with them.
Raco put his hands up, to show that he was unarmed, and began talking to them. The dwarves said that the aarokocra and his companions would not be allowed to steal their water. Raco showed the dwarves his full waterskin and told them that they were travelers, passing through the mountains, and had no desire to steal their water.
The dwarves explained that aarokocra were always flying into their village and trying to steal their water. Raco explained that Kraah was not from the Ringing Mountains, hence the blue plumage, and he was not associated with the thieving aarokocra of these mountains. The dwarves were convinced and lowered their bows.

Raco told the dwarves that the group would like to trade, so the dwarves, with some reluctance, lead the group back to their village. The village was small, with only about six huts total. All of the huts were made of stone, had animal skin doors, and all, but one, had animal skins for roofs. One hut was larger than the rest and had a stone roof.
As the group was lead through the village, they could see very little farming taking place. Here and there, on outcroppings, hardy tubers were being cultivated. Small herds of goats were being lead through narrow mountain passages and grazing on tough weeds.
The group was lead to the large stone hut, where an ancient, wrinkled dwarf greeted them. Raco introduced the group and offered to trade an iron broadsword for clothing and food. The aged dwarf looked the sword over and was excited to trade goat skins, goat meat, and tubers for the valuable weapon.
Raco asked if there was a path that lead through the mountains and the dwarf said that there was not. He was an a extremely friendly dwarf and invited the group to stay in the village for the night. The group agreed. Sunset was only a few hours away and they needed time to sew the goat skins into useful garments.
A group of dwarves displaced themselves, from their stone hut, and went into goat hide tents for the night. They seemed happy to do so and not upset at being uprooted. The stone hut for the group was cramped, but it had a fit pit in the middle. They burned dried goat dung, at night, to stay warm.

Day 5, Week 1, Dessalia, Friend's Vengeance, 190th King's Age, Sun Descending

The group slept comfortably in the warm hut. Raco only slept for a couple of hours and then kept watch. He busied himself by practicing his fighting moves and working out.
Suddenly, screams were heard outside. Raco rushed from the hut to see what all the commotion was about. He saw brown feathered aarokocra circling the village and swooping down to attack the dwarves. Yusef, Dimitria, and Kraah woke up and ran outside.

Raco waited patiently for an aarokocra to swoop down and then he attacked him, knocking him out. Yusef used his bow to harass the aarokocra with arrows. Dimitria used her iron tipped spear and magic to ward the aarokocra away from any dwarven children she could see. Kraah engaged the bird men in the air, using his advanced flying abilities to attack the more clumsy fliers.
Cheet took longer to awaken, but she too rushed outside. She disguised her spellcasting as the way and attacked the dark feathered aarokocra. Samsun was extremely groggy and was waking slowly. The aarokocra started avoiding Raco, learning quickly how dangerous he was, so Raco use the way to grow to giant proportions. He began swatting the aarokocra from the air.
Not wanting to engage with this new threat, the aarokocra fled into the early dawn. Raco ceased concentrating on the way and reduced to his normal size. Just then Samsun came out of the hut, rubbing his eyes. Not seeing anything of note he asked what was going on.

Join us in two weeks for another exciting session of Adventures Under the Dark Sun. 
2nd edition AD&D Dark Sun Cast of Player Characters 
Dimitria: Human female druid. 20 years old. Played by Mary. Speaks Urikite, Raamin, and Tyrian.
Raco: Mul male psychometbolist. 20 years old. Played by Dave. Speaks Dwarf and Tyrian.
Samsun: Half-Giant water cleric/fighter. 37 years old. Played by Ben. Speaks Giant and Tyrian.
Kraah: Aarakocra air cleric.17 years old. Played by Chad. Speaks Aarakocra, Tyrian, Balician, and Gulgish.
Cheet: Human female preserver. 24 years old. Played by my wife. Speaks Drajish and Tyrian.
Yusef: Human male thief. 24 years old. NPC party member. Speaks Tyrian, Nibnese, and Urikite.