A Push of the Fates.... Zakhara... You Jewel!

Game Master Insnare

"Farewell my mighty friend, may you and your family be blessed" Frackit says bowing to the lion.

" May the Watchful Protector guide you back to your pride"he smiles and then turns to leave back with the group

"Oh what is your name?"

Nura watches with interest the exchange between the gnome and the lion, though she is unsure what the gnome does not translate for them.

The lion says, "Rakeesh" as he follows the river into the night.

'Rakeesh, I am Frackit, good bye my friend' He says then turns to the group.

"Rakeesh is taking his leave. The Hyena threatened his pride and to save them he lead them here. So if you think he can do it alone I will let him go if not we can guide him back to hhis pride to keep the Hyena at bay."

Frackit with reiterate it to Rakeesh.'Do you want us to Estcourt you back should the vile Hyena's try to jump you are track you back to the pride?"

"How cute, you named the lion! You're lucky it didn't eat your face with all of those noises you were making at it!"

Fadilah finally receives her spell, thanks her gen, and watches the interplay of Frackit and the lion (which, under other circumstances, would probably just be inclined to swallow the gnome whole) with some side-eye.

" I cast a spell, allowing me to talk to him. I also healed him. Though it was not as much as I hoped." He says looking at the elf.

"A spell? To talk with a lion?"

" Yes a spell, to talk to all animals from fish to falcons and everthinf inbetween. You do have that here right?" he says looking a little weird at such a query

Paritosh raises an eyebrow and shoots Frackit a playful grin. "Of course, falcons. We have *falcons* around here," he says with mock seriousness, adjusting his stance as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. "I’m surprised you didn’t already know that. Surely, you’ve seen them soaring through the skies with more grace than any other creature. I’m sure they’ve spoken to you, too, what with your little magic tricks."

He chuckles and shakes his head. "Next time, Frackit, just ask them to give us a heads-up on the hyenas, yes?"

Then, with a wink, he adds, "I’ll have to make sure to offer them a nice cup of tea. Who knows? They might prefer apricots."

"Ware, Paritosh, or some might believe that you are jealous of our gnome's ability to speak with the animals."

Paritosh laughs heartily, clearly enjoying the playful jab. "Jealous? Of course not, Nura," he replies, waving a hand in mock dismissal. "I’m more... skeptical, I suppose. It’s not every day I see a gnome chatting with lions and falcons like they’re old friends."

He raises an eyebrow, a look of curiosity replacing his usual flippant expression. "But if it’s true, well... I must admit, it’s impressive. Perhaps even a bit... magical."

He shrugs with a grin. "Still, I’ll reserve judgment. Let’s see if Frackit can get the hyenas to fetch us some water next, eh?"

With a wink, Paritosh adds, "I wouldn’t mind having that kind of 'conversation' myself—though I’d prefer to have a word with a nice camel, not a hyena!"

"I suppose it could be interesting to see the perspective of the world from an animal's point of view, which sometimes comes up in fanciful stories, but I would suspect that they have very narrow interests," comments Fadilah.

" No Hyenas are usually better for easy laughs" Frackit says then nods.

" Actually some are quite Wise. Many a Gnome can learn to naturally talk to Burrowing Mammals and have a variety of interests. Though usually about food and breeding" he says as he strokes his mustache.

I hope you do not mind me pushing this forward, but feel free to continue your convo

You make your way back to the campsite and continue sleeping that evening.

GM Rolls

...And the rest of the evening goes by without incident. You wake up the next morning mostly refreshed and You are glad you do not have to rely on your compasses as much as before with the river a bit fuller than the last time you travelled through this area. You see the gentle flow of the rive become more rapid, but you know you are coming closer to Sakina Falls, where you first crossed swords with Yodfah's and the Brotherhood of Flame and ultimately led to the death of Zairiah's friend Ayyam.

GM Rolls

About an hour after stopping for lunch you come upon the Sakina Falls complex and it seems as though it has been fully converted into a Shrine being built to a full blown monastery to the Goddess of Jisan.

'Pretty, as if a sparkling sapphire" he says seeing it and smiling.

" The Sparkling Wit be praised!"

"A waste of time and energy. Better to build wells, stables, and houses."

" We do alot of things like this in the north. Sacred pools here and there. Though its alot more greener than here" Frackit says as he strokes his mustache.

'What about your government would they allow for things like this with out issue"

Does anyone want to stop here, or should we move on?

I don't remember if there is any sidequest reason to stop here, so please let me know if there is... my priority right now is to make our deadline.

I mean you could check it out. But I just mention it because your caravan is passing by it. Nura and Fadilah fought there. Also to show how the things your party has done in the past have had an impact on the world.

Your group continues until dark. You know you should be in Muluk tomorrow.

GM Rolls

You wake up the next day with nothing of import happening in the evening. It is to be expected. The Calipha's soldiers do routine patrols along the river. During half of your guard shifts, you have seen said patrols on the road back to the city.

You make your way to the city of Muluk.

GM Rolls

As you travel closer to the city you start to see more and more farms using the water of the Al-Zalim River to help the farmers grow the crops that are the lifeblood of the city. As you get even closer, you see where the plantations that are used to grow the flowers that are combined to make the Regal Purple dyes that are so famous throughout Zahara and beyond.

About an hour after taking lunch you can see the large Gate of Eagles off in the distance with its pair of eagle crossing each other over the gate with its garrison stationed right next to it. You start to see people and the caravanserai. You also can see the Mount of Forgiveness just beyond. You put your camels in the caravanserai and off load the goods and treasures and historical items from it.

Now, that you are in Muluk it is ca. 3pm. Do you want to go directly to Mosque of Zann or check in to see about your ship or something else?

Nura would like to check on the ship, but if the others are in a hurry to get to the mosque, she will accompany them.

I'd like to go directly to the Mosque to report on our quest, so that I don't have to leave again after going to the ship. What are everyone else's thoughts?

'Where are we to go?" Frackit says as he looks about at the place with some amazement. Cities he had seen were nothing compared to this?

"I would love to get a bite to eat that isn't road-food," says Fadilah. "I still remember that camel fry feast we had. Amazing. My mouth waters at the thought of some honeycomb dripped over dates and rolled in crushed almonds, or a seared slice of goat on flatbead."

Paritosh has never been here before, and is just along for the ride! Lead on!

Should we stop in for our reward and then spend a little of it on a celebratory feast?

Nura motions in the direction of the mosque.

You make your way through the city of Muluk towards the Mosque of a Thousand Fountains. You walk through the streets of the Cloth bazaar and the covered bazaar. You take in all of the sights, the hustle and bustle of it all. The street vendors selling all things imaginable and for a Paritosh exotic foods and spices never before seen. Kebabs of all kinds of meat or shashlik. Dates, pomegranates, apricots, tangerines, star fruit all are on offer. It is hard not to get a snack but...

you come to the main gate of the Mosque of a Thousand Fountains (21) number is for you to reference the map in campaign tab is
dedicated to Zann, and sprawls over a large portion of
the walled city. In addition to its function as a place of
worship, the mosque contains a small, private
university that caters to Muluk’s rich elite. Part of the
mosque is occupied by a large public library (22)
which is open to city residents six days a week. The
library is best known for its detailed accounts of
Muluk’s thousand-year history. You recognize the attendant in the front of the mosque and he quickly recognizes Zairiah, Nura and Fadilah whereupon he asks you to wait a moment so that he can get Hanoushin.

In five minutes time you see a soft, pudgy man in his early
thirties, with skin as pale as a woman's from spending so much time
indoors at the public library in the Mosque of Zann. Haroushin's
clothes are disheveled, his beard unshaven, and his hair is in dire
need of a barber. He looks at your group and says, "It pleases me that the three of you have returned. Were you able to find out what happened to my first expedition?"

Yes. They were diligent and successfully made it to the tomb, but were unfortunately killed by one of the many traps, very close to the entrance. We buried their bodies. Here are the few personal possessions we were able to recover.

Zairiah hands over the few knick-knacks that she got from the bodies that they searched. As I remember, we did not search them all because of the smell, but there were a few items that clearly belonged to a specific person, so hopefully recognizable to Hanoushin/next of kin.

Hanoushin looks genuinely upset but relieved because he finally knows what actually happened to them. He takes the items and promises to forward the affects to the appropriate family members.

He then says, "Were you able to get your hands on the Eleven Baneful Gates?"

Frackit follows as he stands watching and looking about. To him he hadn't seen alot of temples in his years of life, but the few he did were nothing like this.

Well, yes, we passed through all the trials, but...

Zairiah explains the challenges in the tomb and then hands him the ancient scroll.

For the people that weren't there, the scroll says "Too late have I realized the Loregiver’s warnings. Immortality is a curse, not a treasure. No man nor woman should bear this burden, which I only shouldered through youthful pride. Rest assured that The Eleven Baneful Gates has been destroyed. It can tempt mortals no further."

Hanoushin hears Zairiah's words and sounds disappointed at the text given and then asks, "Do you have any other texts from Al-Anwahr, anything else of historical significance at all? Artifacts... something?"

Like the Kingdom of Lion tome you recovered

Yes, we have brought you some items from the area that might be interesting to you.

She shows him

--Feast hall silverware (poisons any food or drink)
--Feast hall carpet (self-cleaning)
--Golden Scarab Brooch of Deception

She explains the enchantments on each and where they found them in the dungeon, asking him to take care with the cursed items so he would not be harmed.

We have also brought you this precious tome.

Then she shows him the book that she thinks he will like most

--Book: The Kingdom of Lions: From the Founding to its Destruction

Numbers 5, 6, 10, and then 8 on loot list... we could also give him 7, 11, and 30-32, but they are not fully identified. ... I guess I think we should just give it all to him because we have no use for what we can't identify anyway, but open to your thoughts.

I agree that if it cannot be identified, it is of no use to us, but can we try again?

Once he looks at you after seeing the Kingdom of Lions tome his mood brightens considerably. He says, "This is a delight, a miraculous find. I must say, I cannot wait to read the history of our people that have been fogged up by the progress of time. By the Loregive..."

He says, "I will pay you in full for the Kingdom of Lions and a bonus for all of the other written texts and then I will give you a bonus for finishing early."

He then looks at Nura and asks, "Is that Zephyr? King Azaltin's sword. I will have your gold on the morrow. Please come back around 11am so I have enough time to retrieve it."

For the items recovered, Hanoushin is a priest of Zann and concentrated on literary works and suggests you sell the goods either to the museum or to Calipha herself.

Thank you, respected one. We will return around 11am tomorrow.'

To the ship?

I know Fadilah wanted to hit up a restaurant.

Yeah, but we can handwave that if it won't be a productive scene for RP or an adventure hook.

Restaurant is also good. :)

What do we know of this Zephyr sword, and were you going to answer his question about it?

You go to the main market where the best food is on offer and you sit a tea house which serves banquet style food and drink. There is honey glazed mutton chops served in a sweet date demiglace. There are apples, oranges, limes and lemons. Seasoned goat dripping cinnamon infused butter, hummus with the freshest olives both black and green.

Over the course of your meal, you hear some stories about what has been going on in the city since you have left and in the neighboring areas. A mad man from the Brotherhood of True Flame attempted to burn the Sultana and her entire palace to the ground in the city of Hiyal.

You also have heard people talking about The Brotherhood might have a castle in the desert and have captured the son of one of the tribes.

People are talking about the celebration of Princess Hadra, the Calipha's daughter is turning 25 in five days and it should be an amazing affair with things for the common folk as well.

Also, Zarastro, the famous sorcerer, did not meet with the Calipha this past week and people are starting to wonder if everything is alright on his island. His reputation took somewhat of a dip in high society when Yodfah was stripped of the Winery at Sakina Falls, and since the property was sold to Yodfah with the magic password, the average people thought that maybe Zarastro was also dealing in illicit alcohol. But most people think he just needed the money because his three daughters like lavish jewelry and clothing and since they are also magically gifted they can tell when their father conjures jewelry and it is not actually real.

Dessert is Znoud al-sit a syrup-soaked rolled pastry filled with clotted cream and garnished in typical fashion with nuts, orange peels and dates.

As Paritosh takes a bite of some honey-glazed mutton, he looks around the spread with an approving nod. "Ah, a fine feast indeed, without a single apricot in sight," he remarks with a playful grin. "A truly rare and wise decision. I must say, I’m rather pleased to see no cursed fruit on the table. I wouldn’t want any more mishaps, after all."

He takes another bite, savoring the rich flavors. "Not that I’m usually one to complain, but I do appreciate a meal free from the dangers of apricot-related disasters."

He chuckles to himself before looking at Zairiah, offering a wink. "A bit of tea and we’ll all be content. But I do wonder if the falcons might also prefer some of this feast—though I suspect they’re more partial to a good goat."

Nura eats greedily, as though she had not eaten in days. She takes a mutton chop and chews into it, the juices running down her chin.

"You know what would be nice a good pork steak or pork belly!" Frackit says as he eats in the manner of a man on the move, instead of at a peaceful cafe. His hands around a plate and eating like a solider or a mad tinker instead of a man of the cloth.

Zairiah asks the waitress if they have any apricots.

The waitress says, "Sure, sorry we do not have any pork."

She then comes back with a basket of apricots.

Fadilah is quite gratified by the opportunity to have a pleasant lunch experience, in the shade, in a cushioned seat, without being surrounded by endless sand that she must constantly brush off the salted camel jerky and dried fruit that constitute trail food.

She prods Frackit and says, "The Faith Moral does not permit pork in many places in Zakhara, but surely you can find something you enjoy!"

After taking a seat she heaps her platter with seasoned sliced goat, apples, and olives. She cuts some into small pieces to share with her gen and sips contentedly at tea while nibbling her way through a meal of surprising size.

"This is lovely," she says. "Perhaps next time... rice with saffron!"

As she settles in for dessert, meticulously cutting tiny slices and savoring them, she mentions to her companions, "What is next for us? So much is going on, the whole world is astir and perhaps we can go anywhere?"