When last we left our heroes... The companions bravely engaged the four Gaunt Men in battle deep beneath the earth. Already wounded and weary from their encounter with the Arjagbori at the entrance, and with Feiala missing a weapon, they were in no shape for this battle, and the Gaunt Men quickly made short work of them. The last thing any of the heroes heard was: "Take the women... Kill the men." And then darkness fell.
---
[We fast-forwarded in time just a few months to the return of the Sleepers, who had reawakened in their own time back in Session 34. Session 46 marks the beginning of a new ruleset, as we begin to play a modified version of the CLASH system ported for Amboria.]
When last we left our heroes... After awakening, the heroes had headed south to to Kor-Gilin, where they found food and some small solace in the wayside inn there. In the nearly empty common room, they were accosted by a stranger who identified himself at first only as "a Wanderer," and then later as one "Peibo," and informed the Company that they had been gone for seven seasons. In their absence, Sir Ralus had been captured and rescued, war had crossed the river, and one of the Border Forts had fallen and been recaptured. During the distraction caused by this, the Nalshbori seemed to have gotten some kind of a beachhead on the western shore (though no-one had found it as yet), and the area had become increasingly dangerous due to Nalshbori raids.
After the heroes told their own story, Peibo explained that about two weeks ago, Cheykor had lost all contact with the village of Kor-Paurja. This, coupled with the rumors of Gaunt men in the area, warrants investigation. The Gaunt Men, according to Peibo, are looking for a "key" -- an item, or possibly a person -- that will open one of the lost Tombs of the Stone Kings. To prove his credentials, Peibo explained that they all had a mutual friend in Norkur the Scribe, who had sent the party back to the Marches of the Cheyth to investigate the activities of the Scarlet Sisterhood and the Gaunt Men. Norkur does not trust the Scarlet Sisterhood, but it seems that they recently lost a party of their own adventurers (see the previous session) who had been sent to the area around Kor-Paurja, and those people need to be found.
Reluctantly, the Company agree to go to Kor-Paurja before returning home to Cheykor (where Vanera has a wife waiting, and Tengelbur has a business he's worried about). The race is on: find the "key" before the Gaunt Men, or the Scarlet Sisterhood does, and prevent either of them from opening the the tomb of the Stone-king. Since Peibo was headed to Cheykor to follow up on some other leads based on the story the companions had told him about their friend Orusen, he offered to take messages on their behalf back to Cheykor, telling their loved ones and business associates that they yet lived.
The company traveled 5 days up the road towards Kor-Paurja before they were ambushed by a small band of Nalshbori--an ambush which, thanks to Tengelbur's watchfulness, they were prepared for. Though Anaris was gravely injured in the resulting fight, the Company cut all seven of the Nalshbori warriors down, and rescued their two prisoners: a young girl of twenty-five or so, and an old woman. The old woman claimed that they had been captured by Nalshbori on their way to Cheykor -- but Vanera intuited that there was much that the old woman was not telling them...
