Session Eleven
Whilst recuperating in Al-Danya, the adventurers came to meet a venturer named Jamal bin Saladin [a new PC]. Jamal was reputed to “never get lost,” which was a highly attractive skill set to the oft-misdirected adventurers. Jamal, in turn, had heard of the adventurers: “You’re the ones who got an entire caravan killed!” “Fate has not always been kind,” explained Senef. “We’ve made errors,” acknowledged Mahmud.
Jamal was undeterred by the risk of adventuring. “Where others see risks, Jamal sees opportunity! But Jamal has one simple rule. Jamal cannot do business when he is dead.” The party agreed that this was a valuable business lesson. Ethlyn and Zoya then arrived at the meeting, and Jamal turned his charms towards them. “Who are these desert roses?” Ethlyn raised her dagger. “Oh…the rose has thorns!”
A few days more rest served to get Rakh back on his feet, and the party headed towards Alakyrum, arriving there on the 22nd of Vinethelen. Alakyrum was a breathtaking site, a city of 100,000 souls centered in a lush oasis. Salt from the south-east, silk from the west, and gold from the south all trafficked through the Pearl of the Desert. The party paid the exorbitant 20gp toll to do business in the city and entered the great bazaar just past the gates.
They had come to Alakyrum hoping to learn more about the Howling Emptiness and the Well of Shadows, so the party split up to seek out different venues of learning.
· From Imam Mahdi al-Idam, of the Great Mosque of the Way of Eternal Truth, the party learned of the ruined remains of a pyramid rising from the Howling Emptiness. It must have been built by giants, for no surely men could have moved the titanic blocks of basalt it was made with.
· From Damanos, an antiquities dealer, the party learned that the Well of Shadows is a gateway to another dimension. He also warned that a great centipede, with the power to mesmerize those who gaze at it, haunts the Howling Emptiness. And he spoke of a great statue brooding in the Howling Emptiness, beneath which bubbles a magical pool; the pool can salve the soul, but is guarded by a skeleton legion.
· From Urabi al-Chukri, great alchemist of Alakyrum, the party was able to purchase an enchanted bottle, magically sealed, that could stopper up the shadow-stuff of the Well of Shadows. But Urabi warned them not to go after the Carnelian Idol. It was created by the Zaharan sorcerer-priestess Navana at the height of the Zaharan Empire, and the Zaharans, he explained, had powers undreamt of in this sad days. Worse, Navana was merely vanished, not dead and Urabi warned she would one day return for her Idol, and that he would never lay hands on it for that reason.
While the rest of the party was gathering this information, Ethlyn fell into the company of a gladiatorial promoter named Ommador. Ommador had seen Ethlyn in the company of masked Mahmud and mighty Rakh, and surmised that these were her slave-soldiers. He offered valuable prizes should she be willing to have her warriors fight in the arena, which had “unfortunate scheduling gaps”. Ethlyn quickly agreed to have “her slaves” fight. Mahmud was set to battle Orestes the Swordmaster, while Rakh was to battle a black panther from the jungles of the Ivory Kingdoms.
After some additional commerce by Jamal bin Saladin – including selling many treasures to Lazar the jeweler, and purchasing extravagant clothing from Bassida the mercer – the party traveled to the Arena, which was a sunken amphitheatre constructed outside of the city’s walls. Its red sands were stained crimson, and the warriors fought under the baking sun. Of course the Exarch, Caiaphas ibn Süroman, the Butcher of Ber-Gathy, enjoyed a shaded pavilion, as did the high ranking sheiks and patricians of the city. All of the party laid large wagers on Mahmud and Rakh as the fighting began.
“The masked Mahmud, servant of Imran, faces Orestes the Swordmaster, the Krysean conqueror…” The gates clanged open and the fight began. Mahmud fared poorly: Imran turned his eye away from his paladin, and Mahmud was cut down with a bloody wound to his eye. He had fought valiantly enough that the Exarch gave him a thumbs up to live, at least.
Rakh found himself cast as a villain. “A Thrassian monster, from the dark days of man, captured! A savage beast, fit only to be slain by another savage beast!” It was unlikely Rakh would have received mercy from the Exarch had he lost, but he tore the black panther apart in seconds. As gold coin in the thousands changed hands, the dark grip of greed seized the adventurers. It was clear that there was money to be made in the arena, and glory to be earned…
Mahmud needed a week to recover, and the party spent the time carousing in the Patrician’s Rest, an upscale tavern catering to arena patrons. The party gathered several more rumors:
· In the western foothills of the Al-Baki, between Ber-Gathy and Khaibar, stands the wreckage of Krak al-Shidda, a remainder of the bygone wars between Kemesh and Opelenea. Adventurers who have visited the ruins claim that the castle’s dungeons glitter with gold, but none have lived to claim it.
· Some of the most fabulous treasures lost in the fall of Zahar were the three Star Gems. With them, the Zaharans ruled Opelenea, but all have been lost in the sands of time.
· Al-Sindor knew that a time would come when the ancient evils he had defeated would rise again. He entrusted to the sheiks of a sacred oasis the means by which the powers of Law could be summoned when the time came
Soon a week had flown by, and Mahmud and Rakh were ready to test their blades again in the arena. Mahmud fought first. “Mahmud, the masked man, who fears no death because he is already dead, faces Malyn the Merciless, fresh from the wars...” Mahmud and Malyn’s bout last for minutes as they sweated and bled on the sands. Both warriors were near exhaustion when Mahmud saw an opening and cut open Malyn’s belly. As the warrior fell, the Exarch rose and presented a thumb’s up: A good fight. Chirugeons rushed to the sands and saved Malyn, and Mahmud strode off to the acclaim of the crowd.
Then it was Rakh’s turn. “The vicious beast, Rakh, having escaped death, returns to the arena to face the undefeated Orestes the Swordmaster, the Krysean killer…” The crowd roared Orestes’ name. Trumpets blew when Orestes entered the field. Rakh cut him down like wheat before the scythe. Stunned silence fell on the arena. In disgust, the Exarch held his thumb down, and Rakh finished off Orestes with his own blade.
The adventurers had placed large bets and won almost 4,500gp in the games. They suspected the odds would be less favorable going forward, so it seemed a timely moment to leave Alakyrum. Jamal loaded up their camels with crates of porcelain purchased in the bazaar, which he hoped to sell during their adventures, and they departed.
They reached Kirkuk on the 3rd Genethelen. Here they were momentarily paralyzed with indecision. Investigate the Watchtower? Go to the Howling Emptiness? Descend into the tombs below the city? Explore the Desert of Desolation to the south? Finally they decided to trek towards Cynidicea.
On the 8th of Genethelen they encountered a tribe of camel-centaurs in the desert. The desert dwellers attacked, shouting “Death to the Zargonites!” Eventually the party realized that Mahmud’s mask and pale complexion had misled the centaurs as to their nature, and they were able to stop the fighting. Abaddon, the centaur chieftain, confirmed the party’s fears that the Zargonites had continued their raiding of the surface world.
The lost city was almost in sight when Fate turned her evil eye on the party. A wyvern - the very same wyvern they had seen in the skies above weeks ago – swooped upon the band. Rakh leaped at it as it swept down, and its mighty talons tore into him, and bore him aloft. A moment later, the wyvern spun out of control as Sharik choked it to death with his dark magic. The impact of the crash sent Rakh tumbling onto the sands. Miraculously the lizardman was alive, but his right hand was a gory ruin.
With their ablest fighter so injured, the party had no choice but to return to Kirkuk. There they called on the services of Daood the Wide to restore Rakh. Daood cautioned them that between Rakh’s injuries and his many ill effects from past efforts, there was great risk, but Rakh was not willing to adventure one-handed.
Daood’s cautions proved well-merited: Rakh’s restoration was an awful affair. The Thrassian was made whole, but he complained of terrible headaches from bright sounds and loud noises – the cry of a camel disturbed him, the brightness of a spell blinded him. In the darkness of dungeons he could still fight, but it was clear his days of battle before the cheering crowds in the suns of the Arena were over.
Rakh wept.