Attack in the Night

In the evening, as the sun was setting and they arrived at a suitable camping spot, they discovered the bodies of four red women.  Craven determined that they had been attacked by green men.  They buried the corpses and made camp.  Again the night was quiet.

On the fourth watch, Kallor noticed four green warriors approaching.  He shot and killed one.  They charged at him.  Niven and Ruhkgar joined Kallor.  The green warriors attacked Kallor and Niven and Kallor was wounded.  He was then hit again.  Niven was also hit, but not injured.  Kallor shot but missed.  Ruhkgar taunted the greens and the third attacked him.

The greens attacked but missed.  Kallor missed.  Ruhkgar then split his opponent in half.  Craven advanced to help Niven and hit his opponent.  Niven hit it as well and it was stunned.  Kallor retreated to bind his wounds.  Ruhkgar attacked but missed.  Niven hit and knocked the opponent down.  The greens missed.  Craven hit the down opponent but did no injury.

The green recovered and struck Niven down.  Craven killed it.  Kallor attempted to bind Niven’s wounds.  Ruhkgar hit the last one to no avail.  He attacked again and missed. Kallor defended Niven”s prone body.  Craven shot and killed the last green man.

Following the Trail

In the morning they broke camp and went in the direction indicated by the burial mounds. Kallor knew it was the logical way to go.  Along the way, they encountered a bachelor herd of eegar. The giant, gazelle-like creatures were hostile, so they gave them a wide berth and were not molested.  They travelled the rest of the day without incident.

Near sunset, they arrived at the small campsite, which looked abandoned. A number of tents had been blown over and there were no Red Martians about. Overall, the camp looked as if it should have held 50 people, which was far less than the 200 Kallor expected. Kallor did not believe that the Sardai have moved on.  Ruhkgar  noticed tracks in the sand, heading in and out of the camp. The tracks looked like Green and Red Martian tracks, but were over a day old.

Kallor and Niven noticed that most of the tents were spattered with blood. There were also slash marks. Ruhkgar concluded that most, if not all, of the slashes were not made by Green Martians. The cuts were too low and precise. Craven noticed some radium burns that were not recent, and had sand over them. This suggested that the Sardai had been previously attacked by someone else, which may have been the reason for their first move.

The corralled their gashants in the empty pen left by the Sardai and made camp.  While doing so, four green men attacked.  Ruhkgar moved up to engage.  Craven shot and killed one.  Niven and Kallor both shot and missed.  Greens attacked but missed with their swords.

Ruhkgar killed another one.  Kallor drew sword.  Craven moved up to engage.  Niven attacked with his sword and missed.  A green warrior mauled Kallor, but he shrugged it off the wounds.

Ruhkgar hit one but it bounced off its thick hide.  The greens attacks came up empty. Niven slashed with his sword, but missed again.  Kallor stabbed and stunned one.  Craven missed with his sword.

Ruhkgar knocked one down.  Niven slash was wide.  Kallor killed his opponent.  Craven Ruhkgar killed the last one.

After moving the corpses out of the camp, Kallor, Craven and Niven went to bed. Ruhkgar continued to make a helmet from the insectoid cazarn skull while keeping watch.  Some time after dark, two Chu’grahk attacked.  One of the six legged cats charged toward Ruhkgar.  The other went for the pen.

Kallor shot through the tent at the latter but missed.  Niven sprang out of bed, rolled out of the tent, and shot the one near him, but did not wound it.  It pounced on Ruhkgar.  The other pounced on a pack gashant and killed it.  Craven shot and killed it.  Ruhkgar slew the other.  They piled the corpses with the green men beyond a hill and then went  back to bed.

On the next watch, a large hawk with a scaly hide attacked Niven.  The chorak dove for his eyes, but Niven sliced it in two with one blow.  The rest of the night passed uneventfully.

The Green Camp

Craven insisted in following the green and red tracks.  They led to a green man camp in a dry riverbed, which they overlooked from the plain above around midday.  Among the many tents was a cage containing about 20 red captives.  The heroes planned to assault the camp after dark.  They reconnoitered down the riverbed to assess the terrain. Kallor discovered a path from the plan down to the riverbed about a mile further down that could be used for an escape route with the freed captives.

The plan was for Craven and Kallor to shoot from above while Niven took bows and rows from the trade goods to arme the captives,  and Ruhkgar would provide rear guard to cover their escape down the riverbed.  In the mean time, Kallor taught Niven some key phrases.

The Rescue

As the sun was setting, Niven spied two green men looking over the captives.  They selected to and dragged them to a central ring, where they were each handed a knife and prodded into fighting others.  The majority of greens gathered around to watch.

The heroes executed their plan even though it was not yet dark.  Ruhkgar and Niven scaled the cliff stealthily and hid among the tents.  Craven and Kallor shot and killed two of the greens in the crowd but the others around the contest did not notice.  The guards on watch below him saw Craven.

Craven shot his rifle and killed another one in the crowd.  Some guards started climbing up the cliff toward him.  Kallor shot another in the crowd with a radium rifle.  Niven and Ruhkgar moved to the cage.  Niven told the old men, women and children inside that Zak Arras had returned to save them.  He gave them swords and bows.

The guards continued climbing, and other guards started climbing up where Ruhkgar and Niven had climbed down.  Other guards ran down the riverbed toward their escape path. Kallor shot into the crowd but missed .  Craven shot another crowd member.  The crowd paniced.  The freed captive archers fired into them.

Ruhkgar charged into the cage and burst threw it.  Kallor tapped Craven to move and then killed another on in the crowd and scattered in all directions.  Some guards charged Ruhkgar, but missed.  Craven shot and killed another.  The archers fired another volley.

The guards had reached the top and attacked Craven and Kallor.  Craven hit one.  It struck back.  Kallor shot and killed another.  Craven shot the one attacking him, but had no apparent effect on it.  Ruhkgar scattered the captives and then killed another of the green warriors.

Ruhkgar directed the captives to flee and then killed the other.   He, Niven and the archers followed shortly thereafter.  Kallor killed the last warrior that had attacked them on the top, but more were coming.  Several were climbing the path from the riverbed, more were slaughtering the approaching captives, who others had almost climbed to the top.

The Team

  • Sir Lyton Niven, Gentleman Thief and Spy
  • Capt. Philip Harrison Craven, WWI Flying Ace
  • Kallor Muldane – Red Man Explorer
  • Ruhkgar – Red Man Swordsmen