Brumrumli, Haruki, and Thorondil meet in the middle of the arena and fight back-to-back. Haruki is saved from certain death from behind when Brum throws himself into the path of a mighty blow that cripples his arm through his shield.
Ismir cripples a spearman and leaves him to aid Aramis, but the spearman, from the ground, hurls his spear and strikes Ismir in the back, wounding him grievously.
Aramis duels an Elven swordsman, equally matched, until Aramis finally makes a mistake his foe can take for an advantage and is struck, passing out just as the others of the company arrive to his rescue.
Meanwhile, overhead, the giant, translucent figures of Zat Al-Dawahi and Farouk Ibn Said hurl spells at each other until Farouk is defeated, falling to the arena floor, while ZAD’s invaders defeat the city’s defenders, and spread throughout the city, looting and burning everything in their path.
Wherein the company delivers a message to the Half-Djinn…
The company spends a day at the oasis to allow the injured time to recover. Thorondil casts Minor Healing for the first time. Evidence suggesting the Yuan-Ti vampire is still “alive” is found in the vicinity.
The journey to the City of Ten Thousand Delights is resumed, taking another five days.
Zyanra waits outside the city, holding Ismir’s meteoric dagger, while the rest are taken to the palace for an audience with Farouk Ibn Said to deliver Zat Al-Dawahi’s message (under the name, Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad).
Farouk’s vizier opens the scroll on his behalf, revealing the image of ZAD, who “explains” in a language the company did not understand. In his anger, Farouk teleports the company to a fighting pit, to fight a selection of foes uniquely suited to their abilities.
Some moments after the fight begins, a freak lightning storm erupts, depositing the forces of ZAD, and herself, ready to attack…
On the way to the City of Ten Thousand Delights, as the Company camps for the night, they are ambushed, caught unarmored, by a band of gnolls led by Heroc, the minotaur Zistral fought at the Kelmarane Battle-Market, bent on revenge. Battle ensues, and the gnolls are no pushovers.
Again, a one-eyed eyeless Yuan-Ti (now pale, and stinking of death) sprang out of ambush to attack Aramis. Again, Aramis spit the creature’s skull on his sword. The creature dissipated into mist and floated away with the wind.
Ismir caught an unlucky blow and was greatly wounded, though he managed to spear his attacker before he could execute a coup de grace.
Zyanra fought off two gnolls on her own, but was wounded before Thorondil could come to her rescue.
Haruki took a blow from the minotaur’s axe that would have killed a lesser man, before smashing its skull with his testubo.
The loss of their leader broke the gnolls’ spirit, and a few managed to flee.
The company (minus Gestlin) found themselves teleported to the Citadel of Ten-Thousand Pearls, and the court of the djinn ruler, Zat al-Dawahi. They are made to explain their purpose, that being to seek her aid in the rescue of Finn Sardock
At dinner, Zat revealed that she believes she can, with much difficulty, rescue Finn, at the cost of three tasks the company must perform. Also, Ammerah is already present with him, which the djinn interpreted to mean she must send Ammerah to Finn’s location a week or two into the past.
The following morning, Ammerah was sent through a portal to Finn.
Exploring the city, Brumrumli encountered a familiar dwarf, Thráin Ironfist, in a cage, to be sold at market as a slave. Thorondil sneaked in and unlocked the cage, allowing him to escape. Believing Brum responsible, Thráin indicated he owes him a debt, before disappearing.
At evening dinner, Zat tasked the company with delivering a message to Farouq ibn Said, the half-djinn who previously enslaved Zyanra, and escaped death at the Kelmarane Battle-Market.
Ismir requested of Zat to be allowed to claim a knife left stuck in the hall floor, to be “used upon her enemies,” and it was granted.
With Zyanra as “advisor,” the company set out for the City of Ten Thousand Delights, Farouq’s domain, upon the following morning.
Wherein the company is confronted by a trapped djinn…
After the scouts reported no activity in Dulihiban, only the “glass statues,” the company entered the city to see what they could find.
They encountered a (not-glass) man calling himself al-Nur, sultan of this city, who asked for assistance releasing his “friend” from the treasury.
At the treasury, in a ruined tower of the city palace, the man revealed himself to be a djinn and prevented the company from leaving the chamber, cloaking them in magical darkness and provoking them to attack. Aramis was accidentally stabbed by Ismir in the darkness. Thorondil accused the sultan of being a bad host, and after a more-pleasant parley, agreed to free him from his prison, a man-sized crystal like those encountered in Yaqut min Alraml, in exchange for their release. After doing so, the tower collapsed.
At camp, Thorondil relented, and used Smil-Blam on Gestlin, though it turned him instead into a turtle.
The company traveled on to the Citadel of Ten-Thousand Pearls, to the border of the lands of Zat al-Dawahi, where they were stopped by a flash of bright light…
Post-battle, Ammerah tended the injured, with Gestlin’s help, while the caravan survivors prepared shelter from the incoming sandstorm.
All present sheltered in tents as the sandstorm arrived; the unconscious and/or injured were dragged inside. During the storm, all were affected magically:
Aramis’ left arm turned to copper
Brumrumli’s beard and hair are enveloped in flames that don’t burn
Haruki grew 5 inches taller
Ismir seemed unaffected, though he was unconscious from his wounds
Thorondil’s wing-harness disappeared, but the wings became permanent
Of the other survivors: One turned to sand, one killed by plants growing out of him, one grew 5 inches shorter, one grew 10 years younger, one’s tongue became that of a serpent
In the morning, the survivor with the serpent’s tongue, believing himself cursed by Allah, had gone into the desert to die. Thorondil and Gestlin flew to find him, but were unable to save him from a buried, giant desert creature (AKA Deserthulhu).
The company traveled to Dulihiban with the remaining caravaners and their dozen-or-so camels, hoping to purchase some of the camels there for their own use.
Dulihiban was found by Thorondil to be deserted, but Ismir entered and found the population turned to glass.
Wherein the company is reunited, and sets out to find Finn…
A few days after the collapse of Yaqut min Alraml, the company is still looking for survivors while evading occasional Yuan-Ti ambushes.
With a bright flash, Haruki, Aramis, Ismir, and Gestlin the Unpredictable appear, displacing Lan-Fan back to Defiant; Gestlin is transformed into a talking goat in the process. Gestlin is informed of the company’s fate, and believing Finn still lives, is determined to travel to the Citadel of Ten-Thousand Pearls to speak with the djinn, Zat al-Dawahi, Mistress of Misfortunes, regarding Finn’s potential rescue.
Aramis narrowly dodges a crossbow bolt from a hidden shooter
Thorondil refuses to wield Smil-Blam to restore Gestlin’s proper form; too dangerous.
Zistral, and the Leashed-One rescued by the company, part ways to be with their people.
The company, along with Ammerah (under Ismir’s careful protection) and Zyanra, sets out across the desert, a trip expected to take over a month, while the other Fa’iel head to the Cave of Winds to rejoin their tribe.
The company experiences many “strange events” during their travels, including a dragon, Vermithor Rex, who mistakenly eats one of the company’s pack-camels, thinking it a stray. Ismir pulls a magic spear from the dragon’s side.
Several days in, just across the border into the Djinn Lands, the company hears the din of battle ahead, and encounters a local caravan beset by centaurs, likely the forces of Atah Keth, and decide to charge to the rescue…
Player Notes:
Due to an unexpected internet outage, we ended the session mid-fight, to be continued next week.
Aramis de Sauvons is the last remaining fighting-man in Proximo’s caravan, inbound to Castle Defiant, bringing many freed slaves from the Djinn Lands.
The Defiant scouting party finds the caravan under attack by Gnollish thugs, believed to be under Kardswann’s orders to slay them all. The Gnolls are defeated and scattered, at the cost of several of the freed-slaves, and Proximo himself; Ismir is also injured.
Aramis is gifted a ring by a dying friend, one of the freed-slaves who was felled.
The combined parties return to Defiant to find a giant raven speaking with Gestlin the Unpredictable in the courtyard. The master-wizard is here to find Finn Sardock, who is not present, having been lost to the sands of the Djinn Lands—though only Haruki has any idea of this, from a dream.
Gestlin discusses with the PCs, deciding the symbol from Haruki’s dream is a symbol of a djinn, and suddenly casts a great spell…
Midday, 7 Mar Riga, Latvia Operation: ASGARD BLACK CHECKMATE
The team follows Andris Milic, Brooks’ contact in Medvedev’s organization, to a place where they can discuss the situation in private. They tell him they are looking for Breznikov (C/S Loki), whom he admits he helped smuggle into the country, and that he knows his current whereabouts. He says he will give up the location for $1M euros. The team dips into the funds seized from C/S Heimdall’s accounts, probably for the last time, and pays the requested amount. Milic then reveals, as promised, that Breznikov is in the custody of a large, probably-Russian team, on a research vessel, the Azov, just offshore at an anchorage in the Gulf of Riga. It is expected to depart around 07:00 tomorrow for parts unknown.
With Milic’s aid, the team kits up for a fight. They include night-vision, plus an inflatable electric motorboat and cold-weather swim gear for their insertion onto the boat. Brooks researches deck plans and specs for the boat, and Mahoney looks them over for the most-likely placement of explosives to sink the ship, while Lynch and Baum brave the winter weather to get eyes-on the objective. They wait until around 02:00 the next morning to make their approach.
Despite (or because of) the rough weather, the team’s motorboat slips up alongside the ship, unseen and unheard. They climb aboard quietly, and split up. Baum garrotes the officer on the bridge, and gets set to cut the power. Brooks and Lynch take down the two roving sentries at opposite ends of the ship. Mahoney immediately heads for the ship’s hold, avoiding being seen by the late-shift, and finds charges set at the location he had previously identified; he immediately starts working to defuse the bomb. Lynch, Baum and Brooks regroup on the main deck and start toward the cabins on the next deck up when they surprise Delacroix (C/S Bragi). He bolts back into the research lab he had emerged from, and triggers an alarm. The ship erupts with activity, and the team fights off several Russian operators, while giving chase. They find Breznikov in the lab, shot in the stomach by Dealcroix and left to die. Baum and Brooks run down and corner Delacroix, who was clearly looking for an escape. They gun him down, about the same time Mahoney successfully disarms the bomb below. None of the team aboard see the incoming anti-ship missile until it’s too late…
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