Present: Mika, Anne, Gardan, Markku & Jani
Retrieving our money
After a small regrouping the gang decided to continue. Up front was a door. Shamir started to work on the lock and noticed that the door was unlocked! So the gang decided that Shamir would open the door and they would rush in. The ensuing fight was more like a massacre. Shamir slashed the guard posted at the door to the head. A deep and ugly wound. Mua'Dib slashed one of the two sitting thieves in the head so hard that the poor fool flew 1 meter back, quite dead. Ali beheaded the third one. Her at last Lamya found their own purse. Under the table were some games in a box. Efrael got interested and found a very well made game of Sah (similar to chess) amongst these. Having retrieved their money the group decided to return. But before they got even out of the door Efrael arranged the three dead thieves in terrible poses (using Shamir fo muscle), and cast a waiting illusion spell. The illusion showed the guards still moving (similar to being undead).
Returning to the tent
By the time they got back out it was already morning, and nobody noticed a few bloody and dirty Ayten in the busy marketplace, which was already teeming with people. In one of the narrow side-streets Sahil Salah Habal stepped in front of Mua'Dib looking for a fight. Despite Mua'Dib's best attempts he was unable to deter Sahil from a fight. And thus swords were drawn...
Mua'Dib half parried the first blow by Sahil. Another strike hits Mua'Dib on the left leg (only a flesh wound). Muad'Dib then made a long slash across the left thigh of Sahil. This slowed him down and Mua'Dib was able to dodge the next few cuts. Mua'Dib then delivered a nasty slash right above the right hip. To this the crowd responded by trying to grab or trip Mua'Dib. Efrael silently flew up to the rooftop to get a better view, and perhaps a chance to throw a rock or two at Sahil. Thanks to the distraction (or perhaps it was skill?) Sahil managed to slash Mua'Dib across his abdomen. He missed his next strike, and Mua'Dib finished him of by cutting him over his head. Bets were paid and the fight forgotten. Sahil was dragged to a waste dump, and stripped of his sword and armor. The rest of the journey went without incident.
Efrael went out to town to listen to tales and rumors. He heard
- Did you hear? The Vassagonian army is massing on the northern border.
-That is alarming... Those stinking Vassagonians are never up to any good.
- The Magicians of Dessi have infiltrated the palace, they control the Emir.
-Never trusted them wisaards...
- Anari declared war on Vassagonia.
- Now that is indeed interesting, perhaps we should go there to find our fortune...
Back to business
The rest of the day was spent selling camels in the caravan hall. In the afternoon Lamya struck a deal for 13 gold crowns and 5 half crowns for the lot (15 camels). At this point the gang split up. Efrael and Shamir went to look for the games crafter, while Lamya, Ali and Mua'Dib went to find an arms dealer (to sell all the weapons they had found, and to perhaps fix the armor that Mua'Dib took from Sahil. Efrael and Shamir were able to locate a man bone-crafter who claimed that he had made the game. Lamya struck a deal for repairing Mua'Dib's armor, while Ali got very interested in a certain flail.
A game, a book and an assassin
The next morning the party headed for the bone-crafter. Shamir and Efrael went in with the game, while Lamya waited to enter later. The crafter claimed that he had made the game for a local Sheik, called Ipecach, but he had not received pay for it. The game was stolen from his errand boy, when he was about to deliver it. He offered a Gold Crown in compensation for bringing it back. Lamya also casually measured the man, while ordering a set of bone-decorations for a camel-bridle. He seemed to be honest enough.
Well on to the book lender. This time they all entered "Muhammed's books". Muhammed was an elderly, polite man. After Lamya stated their business he said that he would go get the book from the back. A few seconds later They heard Muhammed yell in alarm, but the yell was suddenly cut off. The party ran for the back room, and saw a person dressed in black run out. As Ali, Shamir and Mua'Dib ran after him Lamya tried to tend to his wounds. They were however grave and Muhammed died in her arms, but not before he managed to point to a book. Lamya soon saw their book. Bestiary of the world
The assassin dashed into an abandoned looking warehouse. The gang followed him, but by the time they entered there was no sign of the assassin. The ware house was simply just a large chamber, entry was through what seemed to be the upper parts of the room. Most of the room was some 4 meters below ground level. A weak looking bridge crossed over to the other side. Mua'Dib climbed up to the rafters, and found that one had recently broken. Underneath it was some broken boxes. The trio decided to climb down to investigate further. Mua'Dib could easily read the tracks leading towards a door in the corner.
Following the tracks they came to a haunted room, and all of them got spooked... Shamir decided to cast a spell on Ali's sword to make it magical, since magical weapons can probably kill ghosts, but unfortunately the magical energies didn't want to co-operate, and the effect was that Ali's sword started to beep, and if yo moved it the beeps became more frequent. The three brave warriors fell down in laughter.
Meanwhile Efrael had called some city guards, and a small company arrived and practically threw Lamya and Efrael out. A few moments later the City coroner came and declared that the book trader had been killed by some-one had slit his throat. That was the end of the inquest, and the troop left. At this time Ali came to Fetch the two magic wielders.
Efrael stepped bravely into the haunted room prepared to vanquish the ghosts, but he quickly saw through that this was a magical illusion, and demonstrated this by animating the focus of the spell, a skeleton. The others soon accepted this too. There was a flimsy door that led into the next area. This area was filled with what seemed to be a thundercloud. Proceeding carefully they crossed the area, and found 2 doors, one to the left, one going forward and another passage going forward. They decided to enter the room on the left first. As they were entering they saw a fiery flash further down the corridor. This room contained some weapons, and some pillows. One of the weapons were a shortsword with a hidden compartment in the handle. Going down the corridor they came to an area where some semi-rotten couches were placed. They noticed that the couches had been scorched, and in fact were still burning a little at places. On the floor was a ruby. The gang decided to hug the walls to be as far away from the ruby as possible. In the next area they found a door with a riddle on it:Feline hunter and feline prey,
joined in an unending fray.
Fiercely chasing, runs away,
wildest battle seen as play
Try though they might they did not seem to get the riddle right... They decided to explore the area to the left of the door. There they found a room with filthy beds and clothes. Under one of the cots they found a sack of leather. The sack contained a carefully coiled rope and a grappling hook (+6 (m)). One of the cabinets contained a sack with 95 half moons (bronze coins). Still baffled by the door Efrael decided to start investigating the ruby. Taking a long stick, Efrael pushed the ruby out of its hole. Nothing special happened. Efrael commanded the skeleton to pick it up. Nothing. Efrael noticed that the hands of the skeleton started to smoke, so he commanded the skeleton to put the ruby next to the door. Nothing. The gang headed back into the thundercloud to go to the last unexplored room. This room had a nice surprise. in the furthest corner there was a glittering suit of armor, an open chest filled with silver and a golden throne. Shamir started to look for traps, and amidst the cobwebs on the floor he found some trip-wires, and then he simply cut the wire, and six bolts crossed the room. Declaring the room safe they all went to look at the treasure. Just as Ali
reached out to touch the plate, it vanished and the treasure illusion was broken. All that was left was a broken desk, a broken chair and an old coat. Ali found one half-crown in one of the pockets. Seeing that there is no way but to get through the door the gang decided to have an other go at it. This time Mua'Dib got the answer. "A cat chasing it's tail" he said aloud. And the door slid up. The next second the assassin appeared out of nowhere and leaped through the opening, but as he did so an explosion erupted from the ruby which lay in the opening. Mua'Dib lept after the assassin who had collapsed at what seemed to be the foot of the stair. Another explosion singed Mua'Dib, but he was not killed. The assassin was still alive, but unconscious and his hands seemed to be in a pretty bad shape. The gang stripped everything from the assassin, and then they dressed him in rags, bound him and put him in a sack to transport him back to the camp. The skeleton was returned to it's original place, to keep any trespassers away.
