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Or a Caravan to Agrabah.
These are the tales of the brave adventurers who delved beyond the World's Edge and into Casmaron.
Maka and Arsaya had come to Bordertown looking to escape Chelaxian law. Maka is an escaped half-giant slave who lives in fear of being caught again. Arsaya is a sylph oracle who deigned to teach Maka the art of smithing and to help the poor man find a place in the world. The pair have been together ever since Arsaya found Maka living in an alley with nothing but the clothes on his back.
Ahri is a kitsune from a small tribe in the Verduran Forest. Her past is filled with Vague prophecy, all she knows is she must find her destiny and cannot return until it is filled.
Ruielas the half-elf came to Bordertown looking to make some money and to procure a specific item. This cheerful bard attempts to liven up every day with song and music, but gold has it's hold even over him and his familiar Angel. A small songbird of great courage.
Panchito the human pistolero came to Bordertown looking for clues about the gold medallion left to him when his father and mother died. Convinced the answer must be out there he walked to the edge of the world itself in search of clues.
It is these five individuals that answered the Wonderworker's call for carvan guards. The job was simple. A one month travel time to the City of Agrabah in the continent of Casmaron. Three thousand gold coins would be paid to each guard who completed the trip. The first day could not have gone worse. As the sun was high in the sky the Caravan made good time as The Illustrious Wonderworker has many strange and wonderful tools at his disposal and found a large path through the mountains that would accommodate the 25 carts in the train. They had already made it past several valleys before the attack occurred. An explosion rocked the front of the caravan and several spell-casters struggled to put out the fire. Once those were doused the Caravan drivers urged their beasts into a stampede. Unfortunately for our heroes, they were the rear guards and a burning tree was placed in the road ahead. Gnolls and hyenas set upon them attacking their only two horses first. The hyenas were apparently trained to only attack the beasts as once they fell they fed upon the carcasses instead of attacking the guards. Panchito, ever daring, first used his cart as cover to line up a shot with his pistol, then charged the cliff the gnolls were firing bows from. He was able to drop one of them with great skill. Despite trading fire with the second gnoll, Ruielas and Arsaya were unable to drop the beast before he escaped. Maka made quick work of the hyenas with her warhammer and pick.
After the chaos of battle, the party realized that without the horses they would never catch up with the caravan. After looting the Gnoll that Panchito dropped, they found a few supplies and a magical medallion that produced the Gnolls battle-plans for the entire mountain region. Many raids were planned and the whole place was a virtual fortress. Only one pass wasn't guarded. A pass known to have constant sand storms. Unwilling to fight past the Gnoll forces for now the party attempted the Storm Pass. After being swarmed by locusts, and cleverly using smoke arrows, torches and alchemical items, were able to drive the insects away from themselves and their equipment. However, a sand storm began raging and the party struggled to find shelter. Thankfully due to his large size, Maka was able to press against the first stage of the wind without issue and saw a cave they could take shelter in. After a tense battle against the elements the party found themselves in a temple of some sort that had been almost converted to a full-service inn. A bald man stood behind a bar to greet them.
Will the party find the caravan and get their gold? Who is the strange bald man that might be desecrating a temple? FIND OUT NEXT WEEK ON BLOOD, SAND, AND CINNAMON!
Who is the strange bald man that might be desecrating a temple?
I KNOW THIS ONE! IT'S SPARTACUS!
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Once inside the small cave, the Bald Man placed out a bowl of salt and tried speaking to the caravan guards. He tried several languages before finally settling on Giant, which Maka and Panchito understood. His dialect was off and he misused a few terms, but he found out the party actually spoke Taldane. He disappeared into the kitchen and came out speaking common.
After a bit they realized he was one of the rarest beings on Golarion, an Honest Thief, so honest, he admitted outright many of his goods were stolen or acquired from gnolls who constantly raided caravans. He also stiffed them, charging them 20gp per night to stay in his cave which also doubled as an Inn. He also told them the sand storm would last about three days. The party panicked, until they remembered they had roughly 23 gemstones that had been pulled off of the dead gnoll that had been correctly valued at 100 gp per gem.
Handing over three of the Gems, Hakim inspected the treasures himself, pushed two of them back and came back out with a bag of platinum coins. He had incorrectly valued each gem at 150 pp per gem. Realizing his error instantly the party began using this advantage to buy magical provisions such as potions and new weapons. After shopping, Hakim prepared dinner and they all gathered around the fire.
Ahri the sorceror was already asleep, exhausted from the battle with the sandstorm. Arsaya, Maka, Panchito and Ruielas stayed awake to eat and talk with this thief. He revealed he was once part of a larger band that had been wiped out by Sultan Ta'lab of Agrabah. He also revealed that the last four rules of Agrabah have been bloody tyrants. However, he had to do this through lies. Using light divination, Ruielas determined that Hakim had been cursed to proclaim the greatness of Agrabah and could not speak of it's dark side. Hakim also told the party of a way to remove his curse. He needed a magic pearl buried with Ta'lab. The party has decided to help this man in exchange for some minor magical treasures.