By the way, the wizard has reverted to his normal form that of a balding, middle-aged man with a bulbous nose and nervous, darting eyes.
Zairiah
'So I assume with the whole death of that guy we made these Wizards put a target on our back?" Frackit says as he strokes his mustache.
We've run into these wizards before, and they already do not like us. Remember, they are in league with Yodfah. We will have to confront many if we are to put him down.
... I believe that we can report this to the authorities because this man is likely the one that tried to set fire to the Sultana of Hiyal's palace about a month ago. We have caught him and foiled his plans, so it is likely that we will be seen as heroes for this rather than as murderers. What say you all? Shall we take the carpet back and then report the incident?
Zairiah searches the desk for evidence and any other valuables.
Zairiah
Zairiah puts the toothpick in the loot pile and shares the plan with the others.
Wow, he was going to blow up the entire palace.
Zairiah is surprised that he was living here with no bed or spare clothing, so she looks around a little more to make sure they didn't miss anything.
"I see, so we could place them in here and have the evidence and turn it over to the authorities?" Frackit suggested.
"When you say 'blow up,' do you mean like the puffer frogs of the desert oasis does when calling their mates?"
"More like trying to boil water in a clay pot with a sealed lid" Frackit says using his hands to mimic the violent explosion.
Zairiah responds to Paritosh.
Similar, but imagine the puffer frog continuing to expand until its skin was too weak to hold it anymore, and so all of its insides were suddenly and forcibly outside.
"Ok, so what is our plan now friends?"
I think we should return the carpet first, then alert the authorities.
"Well that depends, do we think he was working alone. I assume he wasn't so maybe we send someone, the fastest to alert the authorities to get back here. Someone can send the carpet and the rest of us wait here just in case they decide to come back?" Frackit suggests stroking his mustache.
Nura looks nervous at the mention of the authorities. Justified or not, they had just murdered someone. Would the constabulary take the crimes of the victim into account? Could they claim self-defense, having ambushed the individual? Were there any witnesses who could betray them?
"Who would we send? Who can control the carpet? I am of the mind that such things require magical phrases to activate them. Do we know the activation phrase? If not, we will have to carry the heavy carpet back to its owner."
We were told the magical phrase. We should be able to control it. And if he wasn't working alone, all the more reason to get out of here and report it when we are safe.
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"Agreed! And we stopped this fiend from exploding the palace! That should count for a little credit."
Your group get on the flying carpet named Alawan and one of you say its name and you say up, it moves much faster than a carpet should. After a short while you get the hang of the flying carpet and you finally steer it towards Keraji's home.
Nura looks over the body, taking care to note anything they might have missed when searching it earlier, then neatly cuts the body's throat wth her jambiya.
After some getting used to the carpet and how to give it directions and acclimating to being above the city and not in it, you eventually navigate the carpet to Keraji's shop. You then tell the carpet to land in front of his shop and you knock on his door.
His wife wearing a purple chador invites you into his shop and home and she brings tea and sets a fairly ornate shisha on a small coffee table at the foot of some ornate pillows which your group sits upon.
Keraji says, "You have definitely saved my head from a date with the executioner for sure. By the Loregiver, please tell me was it the young man I had told you about?"
"The thief seems to have used magic to change appearance, so it is possible, though we cannot say with certainty."
Zairiah tells a little more of the story, including that the thief seemed to have a plan to burn down the palace, and that the authorities should probably be told about the warehouse, since there was so much extremely flammable liquid there.
From the paperwork we found, it seems to be the one that tried to set fire to the Sultana of Hiyal's palace about a month ago.
"If I had another speak with animals I could verify it with you r dog. I doubt it changes scent" Frackit says wondering if anyone knew if anyone knew other party members knew of somewhere to look into the spell.
Keraji says, "I do not have a dog. The Caliph will most definitely want to hear about this."
He then says, "I will give your group 4,000 dinars as a rewards plus I will weave for you a carpet of fighting because you seem to be handy at making enemies and you may need some help."
"Your generosity honors us, Keraji. Truly, you will be blessed."
Zairiah bows in thanks and nods in agreement at what Nura said.
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Keraji moves into the other room and grabs a bag of dinars and as he walks back into the room he says, "You have definitely done me a service but I think it best for me to introduce you to the Calipha, may she rule for one thousand and one years, she would definitely want to hear about your exploits and how you were able to thwart such a dastardly plot."
Frackit bows "You honor me. I do hope its in enough time to grab my priestly grab. I can't meet a dignitary without the Watchful Protectors' reginments"The gnomes says having worn the garb of the local area.
Keraji says, "Well, it should take some time, I will go see her in the morning and then I shall have news for you in the afternoon."
He tells you that he should have the carpet of fighting prepared in about two weeks time and he will have word sent to your ship for when you can meet the Caliph.
Zariah says Thank you with respect, and makes sure she gets the bag of dinars before they leave. Once they are outside, she packs the bag with the rest of their loot, and then goes to find the authorities and show them the evidence. Their meeting with the Calipha will hopefully provide an excuse for keeping the evidence after they have seen it, so that they have someone that can secure the scene and the dangerous liquid but they still have something to show the Calipha.
You make your way to the night shift office of the city militia to report your findings. The night guard sits behind a desk and says, "Greetings, what kind of complaint would you like to have processed?"
Paritosh looks to one of the ladies to make the report.
We were looking for a thief and when we found him, we found evidence that he was the person who attacked the Sultana of Hiyal's palace.
She gives him the evidence, and the location where they found it.
There is a lot of really dangerous flammable liquid there, and the site should be secured as soon as possible.
The clerk writes down the information and says, "What is the address of the warehouse. Where is the thief currently?"
It's that same location I just gave you.
She repeats it if necessary.
The thief is at that location. His body should be intact as long as you get there soon. I don't know what wards were placed on the door, but the skylight entrance should be clear of traps. That's how I went in. He was a member of the "brotherhood of flame" so you might want to take someone who can pick apart magical traps, just in case.
The clerk jots down all of the information and then says, "May I have your address, in the case that we need further information regarding this situation?"
She explains that they don't have a physical address, but that they can leave a message under her name with the dockmaster, and they will get the message when they are in town again.
Nura remains silent, looking nervously at the clerk.
The city guard's clerk takes down all of the information you give him and asks, "Are the doors locked? Do you have a key? If so and not, are they magically locked?"
He then reads through the plans you discovered.
As I mentioned, the skylight entrance should be free of traps, but I can't vouch for any other entrance, and I am guessing there are probably deadly traps as there used to be on the skylight.
It is likely that the clerk can still see the results of my getting caught in that trap, since we haven't changed.
The clerk says, "I will send a patrol to the address to verify your story. The Sultana of Hiyal, Hiyal is a bit of a trek. This sorcerer was definitely eating the wrong dates."
"Define Trek?" Frackit says piping in now. His clothes shiny and new.
The clerk says, "Well, Outlander, by caravan you are looking at probably two months. If you were to take a ship to Qudra about three days there and then add another two weeks most likely by caravan, however if you were somewhat lucky you could do another three days by caravan and if you get lucky pick up a ship in Adhal but that is infrequent. Maybe a charismatic person could get passage with a fisherman."
Zairiah steps away as Frackit is talking so she can check in the bag they got from the wizard. She pulls out one of the pots that is similar to the one that Paritosh put out and gives it to the clerk, saying
This is one of the things he was carrying. He tried to kill us with a different one, but we were able to put it out in time.