20 Leagues Under My Belt - Zakaar and The Moonstone Guardians

Hailing from mist-shrouded jungle in some hidden land beneath the Earth, comes the orphaned Atlantean boy Zakaar, his adopted mother Nabba "The Ghost Killer", the Trog Brothers - Roku and Doba, and M'wapi - the undying vengeful warrior prince of the Gtungi Worms.

This league was created from spare figures floating around my collection when I first picked up Pulp Alley. I really like the chemistry of this band of outcasts. They really feel like something out of an old pulp comic series. Zakaar is a miniature from Alternative Armies. Nabba is a Primaeval Designs saber-toothed cat. The Trog Brothers are converted Black Tree Viking Berserkers. M'wapi is a converted Games Workshop metal skink.

Zakaar is the leader. The orphaned son of one of the last remaining populations of Atlanteans in the Hollow Earth, he was found by the spectral sabertooth, Nabba - known to those in the jungle as The Ghost Killer. Zakaar wields great power drawn from the energies of the Moonstone, a relic of ancient Atlantis and a piece of the great crystal that once powered the island city-state (which he has unceremoniously turned into a club). Nabba is no mere albino, her fur casting an eerie glow, like moonlight and her eyes radiating the same blue energies as Zakaar's and the Moonstone.

Roku and Doba are "evolved" trogs, meaning they are roughly the equivalent of Neanderthals. Their advanced intellects drew the mistrust of their more bestial kin who drove them into exile where they were rescued, by Zakaar, from the jaws of Tokor the Terrible, a vicious, scarred, tyrannosaurus colored black as night. Ever since, they have joined The Boy Atlantean in his endeavors to defend the folk of the Hollow Earth.

When Kro-ak the Swamp God enslaved the Gtungi Worms and bent them to his evil will, M'wapi and the other tribal leaders and heroes fought valiantly to try to defend their people. Alas, they were no match for the evil of the bloodthirsty frog demon and all fell before him. M'wapi's fallen body was secreted away by what remained of his clan and buried in a hidden tomb like the warrior prince he was, but his rest would not be long.

In his adventures, Zakaar happened upon the tomb of the fallen Gtungi prince, the energies of the Moonstone stirring something in the angry dead warrior. M'wapi woke in a frenzy, thinking his tomb desecrated and a battle between he and Zakaar ensued. If not for the silent whispering of the Moonstone and the clarity it granted to M'wapi, their tale might have ended there. Instead, M'wapi found common ground with the Moonstone Guardians and joined the band. Still, his unliving nature distances him from his more vitalized companions and all will admit that there is something "off" about the G'tungi warrior.