The Death of Bexar

Autumn of 2423

It is believed that the Rios somehow brought a horrible doom to the Kingdom of Bexar. Nearly all of the Bexari contracted an affliction that destroyed the victims' humanity and turned them into walking corpses who shambled aimlessly during daylight and thirsted for blood in the night. People bitten or clawed by these grisly creatures would soon themselves transformed. These undead monsters are now called Bexari Dead.

Our Heroes were recruited to travel to to Bexar

On October 19 Year 6, a trader named Fayte approached Faolan, and recruited The Couriers to travel with him on a trip to investigate the mysterious sudden cessation of traffic and communication out of the Kingdom of Bexar.

We visited with Miss Macon prior to our departure, and she informed us that the current problems with the son of Lord Sadler, and the other 'second sons' were well under control. She also told us that Ahnah would be accompanying us to Bexar.

Prior to leaving, we met with Madame to check on the status of Arana and Bator, and while there Madame was very disappointed to find that we had confided the details of our trip to the Underworld to Miss Macon. Madame plans to continue working with Arana and Bator, in hopes of improving their ability to serve as translators.

On October 25, The Couriers meet up with Fayte and his bodyguard Andre at the Green Dragon Inn. They saddle up and head south from Brown's Ferry along the Tarstone Road.

On November 3, We arrived in Helena, and the Couriers visited with Lady Blue, who told Faolan that: 1) A toast he will make in the future will determine what happens to the Queen. 2) The events between now and then will determine how the Queen responds to Faolan's interest in her 3) Luck and fortune will be the primary forces shaping the final relationship between Faolan and Queen Anne 4) Queen Anne's appeal to Faolan is at least somewhat influenced by magic.

November 4, We ride Southwest towards Ralph.

Redlegs in Ralph and Sunshine

November 8, We arrive in Ralph to find that the Inn had been burned, and the bodies of the inkeep and the two whores we'd seen there previously have been hanged from a nearby tree. Faolan determined that the tracks were only a few hours old, and that they were from 6 heavily armored men ahorse, and the shoe-marks were compatible with those used by the Redlegs. Once the tracks returned to the tarstone road, we could not tell which direction that they had went. We continued towards Bexar, only to top a hill and see 5 mounted Redlegs attacking two men on a wagon. The men wore Frontier green. One Redleg, and three in green were down. We charged, and managed to rescue to the two men, though the Redlegs put up fierce resistance. Fayte managed to put arrows into the foes, though Andre did not fare well, as he had trouble fighting from horseback.

The two fellows we saved took us to the local guildhouse of the Order of the Green Dragon in nearby Sunshine, and we gave them a hefty share of the loot we gained. Faolan and Tanner each claimed one of the masterwork blades that the Redlegs had carried (Faolan christened his 'Sundown'), but gave the remainder, including the fine warhorses and armor, to the Sunshine Council. Faolan instructed the two men to use the warhorses to "strengthen" the local horse gene pool.

The fact that these Redlegs were obviously elite warriors made the Couriers very curious. The locals seemed to think that they had been part of a group that is thought to be building a stronghold somewhere close by (the locals claimed to have seen evidence that a lot of unexplained logging had been going on). We noted that there were several burned farms nearby, and the locals said that the Redlegs were thought to be responsible, but the inn at Ralph was the first time that they had been observed burning a place. Redlegs had been observed moving about in small groups, but no large force had been seen.

The Death of Bexar

November 21, We are now 3 days east of the Great River, and we started finding a series of mass funeral pyres. Over the next 3 days we found the remains of over 1,000 Bexari dead. The one non-cremated Bexari corpse we found wore the insignia of Princess Bexar's brother, though the body was decomposed to the point that we could not tell if it was he, or one of his followers. We see smoke in the distance, and at one point see a rider heading west along the road, though he is too far away for us to be able to tell much.

November 24, Just East of the Great River we approached the trade village and we could see tons of smoke in the air across the river in the direction of Bexari capital of Tallulah. The trading village was virtually destroyed, and we could see approximately 50 Bexari walking about aimlessly. These turned out to be the first of the Bexari Dead that we were to meet. As Faolan approached on horseback, these people were seen to have totally blank faces, and they began to move towards Faolan, groaning in a bizarre, horrible manner. Faolan rode back to the others, with the Bexari dead in a slow pursuit.

Fayte said that he wished to go on, so the group road around the trading village and across a Tarstone Road Bridge and on into Tallulah a couple of miles beyond. Everything was burned, and perhaps another hundred Bexari Dead were seen moving around aimlessly there. Atop the Great Mound, a flaming trench was noted, and beyond it stood a pavillion. The grass past the trench was not burned. Thinking that this was the most likely place to find survivors, the group rode up the mound, calling out to the King, Princess Bexar, and Samson. Apparently the group activated some wards, as fire exploded around them as they charged up the hill. We all were able to get our horses to jump the trench, though Andre ended up in a heap.

We found Samson, two other Bexari warriors, and four female healers within the circle of fire. Samson told us that a rapidly increasing number of the Bexari had fallen prey to the disease that made them into these creatures, and that somehow the Rios had caused this to happen. The King was dead, and with the Princess refusing to leave, Samson had taken to defending the top of the Great Mound, using fire to keep the Bexari Dead at bay. Samson told us that he had started with 50 men, and that they had been holding off the creatures for the past six nights. The losses had continued to mount, and now only the three remained. Samson went on to say that the Princess was inside the pavillion, and that, since he had not been able to convince her to leave, he found himself in a hopeless situation. He said that the Princess did not want to leave her people, and that he would never leave her. Samson was prepared to die.

Faolan entered the pavillion and found Princess Bexar crying unconsolably, being comforted by one of the Bexari healers. She hid her face and yelled at Faolan, "Leave me! You will not see me cry!" He replied in a harsh voice, "Then quit crying until I'm finished talking to you!". Princess Bexar reacted as if she had been slapped, stopped crying, and gave Faolan her best withering stare. Undeterrred, he passionately argued that those creatures outside were no longer her people and the she could only save the Bexari by leaving with the survivors in the morning. This brought the Princess to her feet. He then declared that she was leaving in the morning, "either riding on horseback or tied up in a bundle and stuffed in a sack" because he was riding out in the morning and he was not leaving without her. The Princess stood and declared to the Bexari who'd silently assembled outside the open door at the sound of Faolan's raised voice, "Strike the tent...I will fight."

There will surely be more to come from Faolan the Red.

A Quick Summary

• Samson revealed that they had been on the mound for a week and he had started the defense with fifty of their best warriors. Only a handful remained.
• For the last few days the fuel for the burning firepit that protected the moundtop had been the bodies of the Bexari Dead.
• Princess Bexar's family had succumbed and been killed (for a final time) during the onslaught.
• Expecting to die in this horrible place Ahnah revealed that she was indeed Miss Macon's granddaughter and furthermore that Queen Anne was in fact her mother. A revelation that she later had to deal with when Our Heroes survived.
• During the night the Ring of Fire on top of the Great Mound was swarmed by hundreds of the Bexari Dead.
• The monsters breached the circle at four points by distrurbingly coordinated, but slow-moving, actions, which included throwing themselves into the flames to create places to cross the circle.
• Samson defended the Queen who stood at the top while Faolan, Tanner, Ahnah, Fayte and Andre, and some Bexari warriors defended the breaches, supported by the brave but exhausted Bexari healers.
• The Queen supplied magical fire while the warriors slaughtered wave after wave of the Bexari Dead.
• Fayte, Andre, and all but one of the Bexari warriors were killed and reborn as Bexari Dead and then killed again by Our Heroes.
• Toomsuba was the name of the Bexari warrior who survived.
• At one point Tanner made a brave defense of the Princess/Queen that likely saved her.
• Faolan was badly injured enough to succumb to the madness of the dead, but overcame it long enough to be healed before he lost his humanity (later Ahnah eradicated the remnants of the infection from him).
• The horrific onslaught ended at dawn and the survivors rode out of Bexar (as it turns out, with a substantial amount of coin, both Bexari and the unfortunate Fayte's fortune).
• After more than a year and a half none of them had returned.
• As of spring 2434 there is little news from Bexar, only stories of a growing Rios presence.

Faolan composed a song and a saga about the tragedy that befell the Kingdom of Bexar, both called Valley of Tears.

Tags: Adventures