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Tamrik the King!

Page history last edited by Tak Jomru 4 years, 3 months ago

And so it came to pass that the kingdom of Shinaka, having been conquered by the great Checheg Khan, was passed by him to be ruled by those who no longer rode with his horde. These were those proven loyal to him, those who had earned reward by great deeds in battle but whose injuries barred them from fresh glory, and those who he wished far from him for they were ignoble. The rule of such men, few of them suited to rulership, led Shinaka swiftly to corruption, injustice and poverty.

 

The Great Khan moved on to fresh conquests and battles, not all of which went to his advantage. In his absence the old nobility of Shinaka grew restless, desiring sovereignty restored. For this however they needed a king, one behind whom all could unite. It was the sorcerer-Priest Bharam, servant of the goddess Rawah, who first discovered that Tamrik the Wanderer who was descended from a long line of kings yet lived.

 

Bharam trusted few, not knowing which of the nobles was secretly loyal to the Khan and his men. He therefore made a most cunning plan, so cunning that none understood it, so dangerous in its implementation that it tested Tamrik's fitness to be king just as it brought him to his kingship.

 

Bharam took himself to the city of Qular, ruled by Bhelag the Cripple and his chief administrator Chancellor Shapour born of an ancient Shinakan lineage. Bharam whispered in their ears of Tamrik, and persuaded them he had a plan to slay him. The Chancellor therefore sent for Tamrik who was brought to him by the great hero Fernandez d'Blatter and pretending to be a secret foe of his master Bhelag sent Tamrik to the fabled Caves of Adnazar there to find the long-lost Leopard-Crown of Shinaka.

 

The Chancellor however gave secret orders to Bharam to cause an explosion when the heroes entered the cave and so slay them, and had them followed by a company of soldiers in case this was not successful. So, Bharam posing as a simple peasant led Tamrik and Fernandez to the caves and lured them within, whereupon he fell back and collapsed the cave mouth upon them! So cunning was he that he gave no warning nor any sign he was on their side.

 

Tamrik and Fernandez were trapped and forced to defeat a terrible cave-demon, a tribe of degenerate half-men, and an enchanted statue from which they won the Glorious Shield. Finally, by following an image of a mountain-leopard bearing a goat they found an exit. Of the leopard there was then no sign, surely an apparition of Rawah herself!

 

The heroes faced many dangers on their return to Qular. Bharam sent a company of bandits upon them intent on their destruction, confident that the heroes would triumph and so gain the bandits' horses. A great djinn was called forth and destroyed the soldiers sent by Bhelag, as well as near-slaying the heroes once again.

 

Finally, the heroes arrived at the gates of Qular where they were greeted by the beauteous Lajani, niece to Shapour and ally to Bharam. She smuggled the heroes and their surviving entourage into the palace, where they crept into the great feast chamber. There they discovered that Chancellor Shapour had betrayed the Shinakan rebels who were being executed without. Enraged, Tamrik threw off his disguise and using a potion levitated above the guests at the banquet stunning them and letting himself be witnessed through the windows by the crowds of loyal Shinakans without.

 

Battle ensued and Tamrik and Fernandez showed no mercy. Bhelag the Cripple, surprisingly fierce given his title, was slain as was his bodyguard the Carnifex Jamshid. Many palace guards too were slain, until finally the nobles rose out and overthrew the remaining guards. Tamrik was crowned king to the adulation of his people. He married Lajani and Bharam was appointed by her as his vizier. Word went out, Shinaka rose up, and today is once more free!

 

Shapour himself was captured and now languishes in a dungeon. However, during the feast one Mazdak the Merciless escaped by throwing some enchanted dust at his feet which caused a flash of light and his disappearance from view. Whether he fled to tell the Khan or simply to save his own life is unknown...

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