Episode 5: The Thousand Swords

You journey back to Pradesh and find it bustling as before, although now that the festival is over, it's much quieter than you remember.

Sashvar and the Golden Child are overjoyed to receive you at Skandrana Varhu temple (music) and listen intently as you tell of your adventures in northern Pradesh and in Bimar. The turtle-monks have already reported about the portal they destroyed in the sewers. Now they learn of the destruction of two others by the PHULES.

"I have troubling news of a different sort," Sashvar says. "Remember when we first met, I warned you of Cysegian spies in Pradesh? Well, some of them actually entered the temple grounds, snooping around and asking questions about you. An unpleasant woman named Grizel led them. Be careful out there, my friends!"

You know Grizel very well. She's the commander of the Cysegrian knights, the king's elite bodyguard. A righteous woman. A straight arrow. She was the one who arrested you when the warrant was issued. If she's here, then getting out of the city is a good idea indeed!

In the courtyard, you find Gaurav, who grins toothlessly when he learns you are taking him up on his offer to lead you to the Thousand Swords.



Do you set out immediately, or is there anything you'd like to do in the city first?

Music

You pile into your team's wagon and head southeast from the city. The dusty road meanders across rolling plans lush with tobacco, while wagon trains laden with sugarcane head in the opposite direction.

Past midday, you're in the center of the fertile Pradeshi valley, bordered on all sides but the northeast by the imposing Q'sulth mountains. Gaurav is in high spirits, recounting exploits from his time with the Thousand Swords. Pradesh hasn't waged actual war since capitulating to Cysegr more than 200 years ago, but the elite unit has continued in its role as guardians of Pradesh, defending the common country folk against raids by wild mountain tribes, the occasional rampaging monster, or wandering asura.

Late afternoon finds you deep in southeastern Pradesh, far from any human settlements. The Q'sulth foothills are just a few miles ahead. You crest a rise, and see the encampment spread out below you. But somethings wrong.

"There should've been lookouts posted on this ridge," Gaurav says. "We should've been challenged long before now. And look, there are no cook fires."

The camp appears to be deserted. There's not one soldier, nor even a horse.

You check a few tents and finds the same thing: a couple of bedrolls and neatly-bundled personal belongings. No weapons, armor, or any sort of fighting gear. Whatever happened here, the Thousand Swords were armed to the teeth when it happened. Probably mounted, too, as there isn't a single piece of horse tack to be found. The freshest horse tracks, maybe a day old, indicate the unit charged off southward en masse. The tracks end only a bowshot away. Here, the sawgrass has been flattened by the riders galloping in a circle. There's no blood, or any other sign of a fight.