It was a beautiful lake; I don't think that particular opinion will change, regardless of everything else. There were plenty of fish to catch, and drinking water from the stream was always reliably fresh. Of course, that kind of setting made for a pretty attractive place to spend time, regardless of weather you were a Teir'dal, an Iksar, a Sarnak, or a goblin for that matter. I knew when Kowe brought me to this place that I was going to have some trouble, but that it would be well worth it in rewards and in experience.
Early on, I encountered a rather rowdy young Iksar brawler that I would later come to know as Hurokku, at this time I knew him as "that guy trying to bash my face in with all five limbs". Apparently I had done something to slight the young, less than perfectly centered monk. Luckily for me, I had recently cast my Leatherskin spell, and had prepared for such an ambush, so was able to cast Shadow Step and move to a safe distance. After that I was able to root my assailant in place.
However, he did not seem fazed as I readied a spell that would surely cause him a good deal of harm, instead he seemed to smile; if something with a face like that could truly smile. Then I was struck, before I could complete my spell, from behind… it was a Sarnak, and it looked pretty angry with me, I thought that it must be a friend of the Iksar, but at that time I did not know much about these lands. Again, I shadow stepped to safety and moved to root my new attacker, but he closed ground too quickly. To make matters worse, the Iksar was now free, and charging.
To my shock though, he was coming to my rescue, and attacking the Sarnak. I was left with two choices, to let them fight and kill the victor, or to help the Iksar. Not sure of my decision, I went with helping the Iksar. In the end, he probably would have handled the Sarnak on his own. A flailing fury of fists, and tail he savaged the simple fighter.
Afterwords, we stared one another down, and I thought that perhaps I was going to die here, drained a bit, and without any magical protection this monstrous warrior with few wounds, which were closing as I watched would have made short work of me. He proffered a hand though, instead and tilted his head to the side, quizzically. I thought for a short time, before matching the gesture, which he then advanced forward and clasped my arm to his, which seemed somehow right. After the awkward moment, he bowed, and I returned the gesture, it was probably not quite a proper bow.
We quickly realized that we would have a good deal of trouble communicating, but that this would not make us any less brutal a force against the foes we would find. We spent time fighting, fishing and relaxing by the stream that led into The Lake of Ill Omen. Days passed before we really had any kind of a working dialogue with one another. Eventually though, I would have him speaking some semblance of common, and I would with a terrible accent speak the Iksar tongue.
This was the beginning, of a very powerful friendship. With his fungus covered scale tunic, he was nearly invincible to wounds that these creatures could cause. He also moved far faster than any of the other Iksar around, I think owing to his equipment as well.
I learned also, because of this Iksar, Hurokku of the other nearby races, more of the Sarnak and the local goblins, and their aggression with both Firiona Vie and Cabilis, and in time by our deeds we would both be thought of well in both cities. This for me, not accepted in either when we began, was quite an accomplishment. That was a concept that Hurokku had a hard time understanding. Iksar with all sorts of different scale patterns could get along, and to him a dark elf and a light skinned elf were no different. He later explained of course that both were something he would attack on sight normally, or at least would have before.
We would travel though through the Frontier Mountains later to The Overthere, and he would learn a lot about intolerance, and the fact that his people were
not the only ones that would attack people they did not know. We would have many adventures together though, as the brutish Ogres would take him for dead long
before he was actually so, it was a useful talent at many times.
