*** Session 4 - Session Notes ***

These notes are for the session we had last week, so I'm all caught up. It was a really good session - not only was everyone there, but it was a fun bit of exploration into the first level of Salazar's tower (that was more dungeon exploration than hack and slash dungeoncrawl, which is what I was going for, not only for this particular adventure but the campaign style in general).

I knew that the Butrus player showing up would mean I'd need to come up with some way to get him with the others. Some GMs would just have him magically appear with them, but my style is always to preserve the integrity of the story so the immersive feel of being in a real fantasy world is not lost.

I came up with several different ideas based on how the player may handle things. Ultimately, I decided that Geer's men tracking down the companion of the people who Snarg ran off with made the most sense for the start.

But before that, I wanted to give him a chance to complete his side story about the Silent Starlings. The intimidation approach the player used was great and can lead to some follow-up plots later. I do have some more thoughts in mind for the boys - but that's a surprise for later.

Turnabout is fair play, so Geer's men naturally get to intimidate Butrus. I was glad the player recognized the genre convention and wisely played along until he had a chance to get free; I've had problems in the past with players who don't get the concept of tropes and approach any kind of "being forced into something" situation as an excuse to launch into a suicidal attack against the villain (or even non-villainous NPC authority figures), thus not only wasting the character but spoiling the fun of the plot for everyone.

I didn't want to do the day-by-day with Butrus and group retracing the first group's steps, so I resolved it as a sort of montage. It allowed the game to progress quickly to the more important part (catching up with his allies) while still giving the feel that it took time to get there and giving a somewhat shared experience of the original journey he missed out on. There is something of a question how Geer's men were able to track the others so easily, but I claim dramatic license.

Originally, I thought Butrus would lead the men into the trap with the manticore and use the battle to escape. But he thought that would be too risky, and felt it made more sense to make a run for the tower while it was feeding. Naturally, once the group leaves the tower they'll need to resolve the situation with the manticore (who has a cave o' treasure, btw - hence my mentioning the cave this session).

Once again, I'm using dramatic license to explain why the rest of the group stayed right next to the entrance door of the tower and didn't explore more before Butrus arrived.

I loved the way the group used teamwork to handle the magical trap in the hallway.

M'Balz's attempt to kill Snarg did get a role - Snarg doesn't have plot immunity or anything. That said, I'm hoping he survives through the tower until they find the treasure so I can use a joke I have planned.

The trap on the door was a great moment. The PCs know the door is likely trapped somehow, yet can't stop themselves from entering. The real funny moment is later where they realize if they would have just continued down the hall, they wouldn't have risked death from the trap (which is not only funny but proves that Salazar's original plan was a good one yet deviously simple).

Careful observers may notice that Butrus used one more spell than he should have been able to when he cast Detect Evil. Basically, neither I nor the player were paying close attention to spell limits when he cast it and I didn't think about it until after the fact. Given that it doesn't do anything but add flavor to the scene, I might have allowed it anyway.

The copper automaton was modified a bit from the out of the box rules - I didn't have him heat up at first (they are only 1st level PCs so I didn't want it to be too deadly) and gave him the ability to shoot fire. Between that and heating up to burn off the ropes, the battle had a very superhero feel to it. Except for all the misses; the guys rolled mostly 4s and 7s, causing everything to miss for a while.

The geomancy room is just there for atmosphere, though I loved luring in the sorcerer while everyone else insisted there was no reason to risk going into the room. I also liked how they handled the encounter with the centipedes - resolving it creatively rather than through brute force.

Finally, the hallway with the skeletons was hilarious because it unnerved the hell out of the players. There were sure something strange was going to happen, but really it was just meant to be atmosphere.

So, all in all a great session of dungeon exploration.

*** Session 5 - Cast of Characters ***

 M'Balz Al-Badassi: A human rogue from the city. M'Balz is the member of a noble family with political connections, but is bored with his wealthy lifestyle and instead performs as a masked scoundrel for hire know as Al-Caliph.

 Adanband: An elf scholar and sorcerer from the city of Huzaz.

 Butrus: A dwarf priest with a fervent faith and damaged memory.

*** Session 5 - Scene 1 (of 5) ***

To make sure their escape route stays clear, Gra'bir stays behind to guard the stairs while everyone else advances to the second level of the tower.

 M'Balz takes the lead in the group, followed by Adanband with Butrus acting as the rear guard. When they reach the top, they find the stairs enter the side of a hallway. To their left, the hallway curves around to the right after a short distance. To the right, the hallway leads to an arched doorway.

Believing the arch will lead to a room, M'Balz leads the group on. He can see the archway is indeed an open doorway into a very large room – his torch cannot illuminate all of the room at once. Butrus points out the torches along the walls and suggests M'Balz light them.

Once the room is illuminated, they can see it is one very large room indeed, filled with work benches and alchemical apparatuses. The northeast and southern walls of the room also have archways leading out.

Looking around, they see the room's floor has the strewn remains of organic flesh smeared in various spots; it looks relatively fresh.

M'Balz complains to Snarg that he said Salazar was dead. Snarg responds that it couldn't be Salazar, as he is dead.

The wealthy rogue then asks Snarg more details about Salazar's death. Snarg doesn't give many details, but says the evil sorcerer was killed many years ago in the Outlands by a group of allies of his master, Sa'lid. He also grumbles something about that group containing the pair of wretched elves who imprisoned him.

Butrus is curious about Salazar's family – if he had any children or siblings. But the goblin is unaware of any relatives the sorcerer may have.

M'Balz coordinates a careful search of the room. Right away, they notice one of the workbenches contains a set of three crystal bottles containing liquids – one with a green liquid, one with a purple liquid, and one with a red liquid.

None of the bottles are marked, nor do there appear to be any papers around with writing. Butrus can tell these are potions of alchemy, and not divine healing potions. He asks Snarg, but the goblin says he doesn't know what they might be, but does want one as the bottles are nice and shiny.

Butrus refuses to give him one of the potions, saying they don't constitute "treasure". Snarg agrees he will honor their original agreement, to split the treasure of Omar Dra'lah with them fifty-fifty.

The priest wants ideas from Snarg on how to determine what the potions are, but the goblin's only idea is to drink them. He then suggests perhaps the sorcerer may know. Butrus agrees, wondering aloud why the sorcerer hasn't spoken up yet.

Adanband laments he does not have a spell that can identify the potion. Butrus does find some remnants of herbs and other materials nearby, but the elf can only say for sure that the potions are magical. He also notes that there are likely papers hidden in the immediate area that contain the formulas for the potions, but a search of the room turns up empty.

M'Balz tells the others there is little else they can do, so he suggests Adanband carry the potions for now. Butrus uses some sealing wax to make sure the stoppers on the bottles stay in place.

*** Session 5 - Scene 2 (of 5) ***

M'Balz decides the best thing to do is investigate the archway exits. Butrus notes they have no writing or markings over them to say where they lead.

The group decides to approach the southern archway first. As they get closer, they can see it has hinges, with a door of rusty iron bars attached to it that is open. Beyond the archway appears to be a hallway immediately leading to the east. The floor of the hall appears to be filled with piles of humanoid bones.

M'Balz hears a rustling sound from inside the hall and tells the others to ready themselves. With the sounds coming towards them, Butrus calls out for whoever it is to halt and be recognized.

The rogue moves up to the cell-like door, using his might to pull it shut while Adanband readies his staff.

Just as the door shuts, the clawed hand of a ghoul reaches out from between the bars. M'Balz narrowly moves his hand back in time. He sees the undead creature staring out at him from behind the gate.

Taking a step back, M'Balz fires an arrow into the ghoul's shoulder. Adanband attempts to poke his staff at the creature through the bars, but finds the attack ineffective.

Butrus readies his mace to smash the ghoul's hand if it attempts to reach through the gate again. When it does, he makes his attack but misses. The ghoul, however, smashes open the gate door, knocking it to the floor.

M'Balz attempts to take another shot, but misses as he overcompensates for trying to not hit Butrus. The priest, for his part, calls on the power of the Loregiver to drive back the creature into the hall.

The group decides to pursue. They make their way into the hallway, but find it difficult and slow to move through with all of the bones. Butrus wonders where all the bones came from. M'Balz agrees, saying the ghoul is obviously responsible for the remains in the laboratory room and the bones in the hall, but wondering where the victims came from.

When they are about halfway down, they see the hall curves back to the north. They also see more pairs of ghoulish red eyes appear out of the darkness. M'Balz counts around nine of them.

M'Balz calls for the group to retreat. They quickly run out of the passage. Butrus notices the ghouls do not appear to follow them.

Back in the room, the party decides to try the other archway. As they get close, they see the second archway is another hallway that curves south and is filled with bones. Before they can react, two ghouls rush out and attack M'Balz.

The rogue manages to fend off the first attack, but the second claws him. As the claws dig in, he is paralyzed from their magical effect.

Adanband thinks quickly, throwing the bottle with the purple liquid in the middle of the ghouls. He hits his mark, but the splashed liquid does not seem to affect them and the potion's magical effects go away as it drips into the cracks of the floor.

Butrus once again calls on the Loregiver, causing one of the ghouls to run back into the hall. The other stands his ground.

The ghoul moves towards the paralyzed M'Balz, biting his face and ripping out a chunk of his cheek.

Butrus charges in to help his friend. He grazes it with his mace. Adanband scores a more solid hit with his staff.

In response, the ghoul claws Butrus. It slashes his arm, but the priest shrugs off the paralyzing touch of the creature. The attack still causes the dwarf to be shaken, and he misses with the swing of his mace. In the midst of the struggle, Adanband fails to find a good opening to attack with his staff.

Butrus shoves the creature back and brings down the full might of his mace. The creature's head smashes like a grape and it collapses to the ground.

Knowing the other ghouls could come out any minute, Adanband grabs the paralyzed M'Balz and they head back into the hallway.

*** Session 5 - Scene 3 (of 5) ***

Heading back to the stairs they came up, they stop to rest a moment and allow M'Balz to recover. Once he is mobile again, the three agree to leave the ghouls be and head down the other side of the hallway.

As they turn the corner, they see the hallway has a small alcove to the side then curves around another corner. After finding no secret doors hidden in the alcove, they proceed around the corner to find another set of stairs leading up. M'Balz is surprised to find this level of the tower contained only a single room.

Once they reach the third floor, they see it leads up into another hallway. The hallway continues straight ahead, but after a short distance has a side passage on the left.

Heading down the side passage, they continue to follow the hall as it rounds another corner and eventually leads to a place where there is a passage to the right with the hall also curving to the right after another ten feet.

Butrus tries to discern if either passage is more used than the other, but can't tell. After some consideration, they decide to head down the side passage.

The hall is very long. After some time, it finally curves to the right. The hall then continues only a short way before it ends in an archway with a side passage on the right shortly before it. All around this area of the hall are more skeletal remains manacled to the walls.

Wary of another room with an archway, they once again head down the side passage. After a couple more twists and turns, that hall eventually ends at a door.

Butrus heads over to the door and listens. In the room beyond, he can hear all sorts of noises – men toiling, whipping sounds, and the dripping of water.

He quietly tells the others, saying hearing whipping is not good. He once again points out the tower is not empty.

M'Balz whispers to Snarg, confronting him about the occupied tower. The goblin muses that someone must have moved in.

The rogue sarcastically says that of course, once again Snarg has no knowledge of who it could be. The goblin confirms, saying he did have suspicions which is why he needed adventurers to accompany him.

M'Balz demands Snarg tell him about his suspicions. Snarg explains that a remote tower of a sorcerer like this could attract other sorcerers, genies, or all sorts of evil creatures. Forced to take an educated guess, he suspects either a sorcerer or more likely a dao genie.

Butrus suggests they crack open the door and peek inside. M'Balz opens the door, spotting over a dozen slaves of various races working, overseen by four guards wearing padded jackets and armed with clubs and whips.

One of the guards spots the rogue and yells out. Butrus pulls M'Balz and leads the others back down the hallway to get ready to fight.

M'Balz decides to hide in the dark corner in the hallway and readies his dagger while Butrus and Adanband remain in plain sight around the corner.

The two guards come running down the hall just as they get into position. Butrus catches one of the guards with a glancing blow while M'Balz hurls himself on the back of the other. Stabbing wildly with his dagger, he kills the man before he can respond.

The other guard gets ready to strike when Adaband's staff smashes into his face, causing an explosion of teeth as his face is crushed.

*** Session 5 - Scene 4 (of 5) ***

Butrus looks through the bodies but finds nothing other than a ring of keys. He instructs Adanband and M'Balz to dress up like the guards.

They take a few moments to discuss different ideas – including calling the guards over, pretending to bring in a prisoner, heading into the other room as guards, disposing of the bodies using the ghouls...

Eventually, they decide to head in as guards dragging the bodies to get the drop on the other guards.

M'Balz fails to trick the guards however and they rush the rogue and sorcerer. The guards are not overly skilled, and the two manage to fend off their club attacks.

Reaching out with his dagger, M'Balz kills one quickly by stabbing him through the neck. Adanband strikes the other, breaking his nose but not downing him.

Butrus heads into the room just as M'Balz slashes at the other guard. The rogue misses, but the priest follows up with a mace strike that smashes in the side of his head.

With both remaining guards dead, they look around the room. It appears to be a large, square kitchen with three doors along the north wall. The slaves have stopped their work preparing food to stare at the dead guards.

Butrus tells the slaves he is a powerful priest who has come to free them. One of the men expresses surprise, asking if they are really there to free them from Alknar.

The priest reassures the men. He asks how many more slaves there are, but the men say all are in the room. The man explains Alknar keeps them toiling away during the day to feast himself and his servants.

M'Balz asks who "Alknar" is. The slave explains that Alknar is an evil Yak-Man who has taken control of the tower. All of slaves are men kidnapped from the surrounding lands by Alknar's forces.

When asked how long they have been imprisoned in the tower, the man says it varies. Some slaves have been there only weeks, others for many months or possibly years.

The man continues to explain that most were captured by Alknar's "creature", Jalil. When M'Balz asks, he says that Jalil is a powerful dao in service to Alknar.

The man then works with M'Balz to tell what he knows about the tower. Using M'Balz's partially-drawn map, he explains the arch room to the north is the dining hall while showing one of the other passages they didn't go down as being the living area.

Butrus wonders about the dining routine. He learns when the meals are scheduled, and how Jalil will come quickly if there is any trouble during one of them.

The man also points out where the opening of the snake's mouth is located, saying Alknar likes to throw slaves off of it who displease him. He also explains two of the doors lead to the cistern in the tower and that the guards often trapped one of them at random with a needle coated in with a substance causing paralysis. Apparently, he would randomly pick a man to open the door every once in a while; if the man became paralyzed, the guard would drown him in the cistern as an offering to their dark god.

The group then decides what to do next. Butrus very much wants to free the slaves, while M'Balz wants to use them more as cannon fodder.

M'Balz, however, does ultimately decide Jalil is likely too powerful for them to defeat, particularly after the man details his powers – creating walls of stone, assuming gaseous form, skin as hard as stone, and the strength to rip a man in two.

When he tells Snarg they will need to come back at a later point, Snarg makes a sarcastic remark but M'Balz reminds him they are more than capable of taking on a goblin.

Snarg finally agrees, saying he was not prepared to take on a yak-man. M'Balz isn't as worried about Alknar as he is Jalil, until Snarg reminds him the yak-man controls the genie so is likely even more powerful.

Feeling discretion is the wiser course of action, M'Balz tells the slaves they will lead them out of the tower and to the safety outside in the mountains. Butrus has them take a couple of the guards' bodies to throw to the ghouls. He also makes sure they gather enough food and water from the kitchen to survive once they get out.

When they reach Gra'bir, he asks what they are doing – confused that they are freeing the slaves instead of getting the treasure. M'Balz says it is not what he would normally do, but they will get the treasure of "feeling good about themselves". He also mentions the yak-man and the genie as being contributing factors. Gra'bir praises him for being so wise and compassionate.

*** Session 5 - Scene 5 (of 5) ***

When they reach the entrance door to the tower, the concern is about the manticore. M'Balz carefully opens the door to look outside.

He can see that it appears to be mid-afternoon and there is no danger outside. He leads the others out.

As they move towards the passage through the mountains, the manticore appears in the sky. It begins circling the group, preparing to attack.

M'Balz lets loose an arrow, but misses. He yells for Adanband to create cover. The sorcerer casts his wall of fog spell, covering the area in mists.

Butrus loses his way from the others in the obscuring fog. He finds himself heading up a path onto a peak, where he discovers a cave.

The cave contains the fresh remains of outlander humanoids, with clothes very familiar to Butrus. He also sees a large pile of treasure in the back of the cave.

The priest looks over and inspects it. He sees three scrolls, a pile of thousands of silver coins, and a shiny lance.

Although he cannot use it with any skill, he grabs the lance. He also takes a quick look at the scrolls, discovering two of them are maps and the third is written in magic.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group realizes Butrus is missing. Gra'bir tells M'Balz they should go looking for Butrus and he can lead the slaves to safety. M'Balz convinces him to allow him to take half the slaves in the search "for safety".

They discover Butrus just as he is exiting the cave. He hands the scroll to Adanband and shows them the lance.

Feeling the Loregiver has given him the lance to defeat the manticore, he calls out for the beast to come at him.

M'Balz leads the slaves into the caves for safety. Once inside, one of the slaves points out the silver. M'Balz and the slaves all begin gathering up the treasure.

Butrus lowers his spear into position to set against the manticore's charge. The creature evades it, and slashes the priest's shoulder with one of his claws. As it passes by, Adanband lands a glancing blow with his staff.

The priest backs himself up against the cliff side to prevent the creature from doing more fly-back attacks. After yelling more insults at the creature, it moves in to attack. The manticore lands and slashes out with his claws, striking Butrus twice. Adanband tries to fight it off with his staff, but is ineffective.

Butrus wonders where his ally, M'Balz is, but the rogue can't hear the battle over the jingle of coins.

The priest then calls for Adanband to use his magic. The sorcerer casts his burning hands spell, lighting the creature on fire. Butrus follows it up by throwing his remaining lamp oil on it.

The manticore, on fire, flies off with a shrieking howl.

Hearing the shriek, M'Balz comes out to investigate. He asks Butrus what happened and how he got injured. The priest argues with him for being too stupid to come out and help his allies in the fight instead of focusing on sinful silver.

Once they are done arguing, the two go along with Adanaband and the slaves to reunite with Gra'bir and the others.

After they reach a safe location, they find a place to camp for the night. They agree to divide up the treasure and give some to the slaves for their troubles.

Away from the slaves, Butrus shows the maps to the others. Both appear to be treasure maps. One points to a cave very near their current location, about an hour's hike away. The other shows a cave around 8 miles away.

M'Balz looks over the maps for any writing. In the margins of the second one is written, "Pet the beast and say the password – INDO RAGI is mixed up and blind".

Not sure what to make of it, they go to sleep.

*** Session 5 - Session Notes ***

Our last previously-scheduled session got cancelled at the last minute due to some people being out sick.

Unfortunately, this session the Gra'bir player couldn't come because of other commitments, but we decided to continue on without him (though it was nearly canceled as I had yet another death in the family to contend with the previous weekend).

Still, it was nice to get (most) everyone back together and get another session in. I'm concerned the frequent interruptions are hurting the momentum of the game and will kill interest in it.

In particular, I'm concerned about my own interest. I'm already planning a street-level supers game using the Mayfair DC/Batman rules about local heroes having to contend with Chicago supervillains who are driven out by the heroes there (it's an analogue to our problems with Chicago gang bangers moving in to our city). I call it "Cedar Rapids Under Siege".

The other idea I have half-planned is for Palladium's After the Bomb game. It'd be about mutant animal bikers on the west coast. I call it "Sons of Hamarchy".

Anyway, the session went pretty good, but was short because we kept running into technical problems. The Adanband player connects in with Skype (which works OK most of the time, though he's not always the most engaged player). But for some reason, the house we were at kept tripping the circuit breaker for the outlet the computer was on, so we'd keep losing him (glad I don't have to be the one to call in an electrician to figure that one out).

There isn't too much to point out this session that didn't make it into the write-up.
* The potion that they wasted was a potion of strength. I don't know why they were expecting a "potion of grenade" or whatever.

* Alknar and Jalil will show up as villains later. I was glad the PCs recognized they would be outpowered by them.

* The manticore can be expected to be back soon, too.

* After this adventure, the PCs are all level 2 / 3 so hopefully they will be a little less fragile. But D&D does work better with 4-6 PCs, so doing it with 3 is always a challenge.

* The "INDO RAGI is mixed up and blind" clue is an homage to the movie Midnight Madness, a particular favorite of mine (for being a cheesy 80's comedy).

*** Session 6 - Cast of Characters ***

M'Balz Al-Badassi: A human rogue from the city. M'Balz is the member of a noble family with political connections, but is bored with his wealthy lifestyle and instead performs as a masked scoundrel for hire know as Al-Caliph.

Gra'bir Boubi: A human warrior from the desert tribe of the Wah'na Poq-yah tribe of the Haunted Lands. A superb hunter, Gra'bir has come to the city of Huzaz to look for a quest to prove himself a great warrior.

Adanband: An elf scholar and sorcerer from the city of Huzaz.

Butrus: A dwarf priest with a fervent faith and damaged memory.

*** Session 6 - Scene 1 (of 9) ***

Before bedding down for the night, Gra'bir wants to take a closer look at the two treasure maps Butrus found. He notices that M'Balz had misread the maps – the closer cave is still around 25 miles (or three days travel) away, and the further one a bit over 100 miles away (or nearly two weeks of travel through the mountains).

They also take a minute to review all of the treasure everyone was able to carry out. Between everyone at the cave, they were able to take all of the dirham, a total of 6300 silver coins. Gra'bir, Butrus, M'Balz, and Adanband carry as much as they can and divide the rest among the slaves to carry.

M'Balz notices the total treasure does not seem to be as much as it appeared in the cave. Around the same time, Butrus wonders if Snarg will want a cut as well. M'Balz realizes Snarg is not among them, nor can anyone recall the last time anyone saw him. Gra'bir believes the goblin absconded with some of the treasure.

Butrus wonders if they can locate Snarg's trail, but no one is even sure when he left; Gra'bir notes it would be difficult to track him through the mountains, particularly if he took the opportunity of the manticore attack to sneak off.

As they discuss what to do in the morning, they are approached by the leader of the slaves. He formally introduces himself as Nazmi abu Qadi. He thanks them again for freeing him and the others, and explains his town is only a few days' journey to the south. Nazmi suggests they escort the slaves back to his town, called Zayir, which he describes as a quiet farming and fishing town. He offers to join up with them afterwards, should they succeed.

While M'Balz would prefer to investigate the closer of the caves indicated on the treasure maps, he realizes they would have no way to take any more treasure anyway. He wonders about getting a cart in Zayir, but Butrus is skeptical about the risk that would bring.

Butrus is more interested in how often the area is attacked by Jalil, wondering if it might give the group an opportunity to attack the genie without having to deal with the yak-man as well. M'Balz wonders if the town could assist, but Nazmi warns his people are ill-equipped to deal with a dao. The group ultimately decides the trip back to Zayir is the more logical and they head out the next morning.

*** Session 6 - Scene 2 (of 9) ***

The next day, the group heads out. Gra'bir and Butrus take the lead, followed by the slaves, with Adanband and M'Balz acting as the rear guard.

At the rear of the group, M'Balz and Adanband feel a sense of unease but shrug it off while six of the slaves scatter in different directions, yelling in abject fear.

Emerging from the mountains around them are a pack of debbi, predatory creatures that appear like a cross between a hyena (with their head, back legs, and jaws) and a baboon (with their front hand-like paws and nimble bodies). The debbi quickly pounce on the terrified slaves and begin tearing into them.

Gra'bir takes the lance Butrus gave him and plunges it into the creature nearest him. He is surprised how easily it slides into the beast and how grievous of an injury it causes; truly it is a remarkable magic weapon.

M'Balz decides to keep his distance and lets loose an arrow, but it fails to find its mark. Butrus has better luck charging at one of the creatures with his mace, but strikes only a glancing blow.

Adanband has better luck attacking another of the debbi with his staff, crushing its skull. Even Nazmi attempts to help out with his club, but the beast fights him off.

Gra'bir quickly moves into position to attack another of the creatures, stabbing it through the back of the head as M'Balz misses with another of his shots.

Nazmi still has no luck with his club, nor does Butrus or Adanband. The beasts stop tearing into the corpses of the slaves and fight back. One of them bites into Nazmi's arm, badly injuring him. Adanband is likewise injured in his leg, while Butrus fights off the one attacking him.

Eventually, the creature breaks through the priest's defenses, biting hard into his shoulder. The other again tears into the leg of Adanband. Nazmi manages to fend off another bite by swinging his club wildly.

Gra'bir moves in to protect the sorcerer. He stabs hard into the creature, causing a critical injury but not quite killing it. Adanband finishes it off with his staff.

M'Balz fires an arrow into the back of the creature attacking Nazmi. It shrugs off the injury as it fends off Nazmi's club. Butrus moves in to heal Nazmi with his divine touch, completely removing all traces of his injury.

One of the debbi circles around and goes after M'Balz. Using its lightning speed, it charges into him before he realizes the danger. It tears into his chest, badly injuring him. The other claws out at Butrus, scratching into his arm.

Adanband starts heading over to help the dwarf as Butrus scores a solid hit on the creature attacking him. Nazmi assists with his club, killing the beast.

M'Balz quickly takes out his dagger to stab at the debbi, thrusting into its chest. As it bleeds, Gra'bir throws his lance at the beast, finishing it off when it impales the creature in the side.

*** Session 6 - Scene 3 (of 9) ***

M'Balz is less than thrilled the nomad could have inadvertently injured him, but Gra'bir insists he was well-trained by his people and is an accurate hunter. Butrus believes M'Balz should be more grateful for the warrior saving him.

Butrus then heals M'Balz and Adanband with his remaining healing spells while Nazmi and Gra'bir gather up the surviving seven other slaves.

The dwarf inquires about local practices dealing with the dead, and Nazmi explains the people in his area observe the practice of leaving the dead to be feasted on by birds before their bones are buried. M'Balz, more used to the modern customs, calls the practice disgusting but agrees to abide by local custom.

M'Balz then eyes the debbi carefully as Butrus asks about using the debbi for food. Nazmi explains they are not typically eaten, but their fur could be quite valuable in a major city (though not his fishing village).

Once they realize the hides are more valuable than the silver, M'Balz and Butrus broker a deal with Nazmi to let the slaves keep almost all of the silver in exchange for assisting in skinning the hides and letting the group keep them.

After an hour of skinning and preparing the hides, the group moves on. The rest of the day is long and hard, as the group moves through the mountains and down into the foothills. M'Balz notices how much slower the group moves with Butrus, as the smaller man has a slower pace due to his short legs.

As the day draws near an end, Butrus has them look for a cave in the foothills where they can safely spend the night and sets up a series of shifts, while also being careful to make sure the hides do not give off too strong a scent that could attract predators.

*** Session 6 - Scene 4 (of 9) ***

During the first watch, as darkness settles over the hills, Gra'bir spots a flame in the sky. As it moves around in the sky and gets closer, he can see it is actually four flames moving in unison.

Unsure what the source of the flames is, and unable to see much with his human eyes, the warrior awakens Adanband and asks him what his elvish eyes can see.

Looking out, the sorcerer sees the flames are the flaming hooves of an equine-shaped creature. Gra'bir realizes the creature is likely a nightmare – a demon in the shape of a horse. Adanband warns him he believes the beast has noticed them.

With the monster flying quickly in their direction, Gra'bir and Adanband wake the others. Nazmi warns the demon can kill them all. M'Balz slinks off in the darkness to the side of the cave to get into striking position, but Butrus assumes he has ran off to safety.

With their leader gone, Butrus takes charge and suggests they get into a wedge formation in the back of the cave, with Gra'bir in the front to hold off the monster with his lance.

The flaming-hooved creature makes his way towards the cave, landing at the entrance. As it steps in, the beast lets out a loud snort, and a cloud of hot gas emerges from his nostrils. Adanband, Gra'bir, Butrus, and Nazmi ignore the effects of the fumes, while the other slaves and M'Balz become violently ill.

Gra'bir attempts to give the creature a greeting, but the beast does not appear to be very intelligent and moves forward aggressively.

Jutting out with his lance, Gra'bir is surprised by the speed of the demon having been lulled into complacence by its horse-like appearance. Nazmi calls out to the warrior that he needs another weapon, and Gra'bir points to his scimitar lying next to his backpack.

Meanwhile, Butrus covers himself with his blanket and covers it with water. He tries to smack the beast with his mace, but finds that it has no effect.

Adanband decides to use his usual tactic, calling forth a wall of fog that fills the cave, after Butrus cautions him against using the burning hands spell he started to cast.

The nightmare reaches its head over the top of Butrus and grabs one of the slaves by his clothes with its teeth. It then turns and flies away into the night.

Concerned the beast may come back for more, M'Balz and Gra'bir suggest they move out while Butrus is concerned about attempting to travel through the mountains in the middle of the night. Butrus also harangues M'Balz for "taking off" during the fight, suspicious he is in league with Snarg. The thief rejects the notion, explaining he was trying to get into a concealed position where he could make a flanking attack.

Eventually, they decide to move out. After some time, they find a cave with a narrower opening and decide to spend the night inside. M'Balz suggests they cover the entrance as best they can with larger rocks so as to keep out any unwanted predators.

*** Session 6 - Scene 5 (of 9) ***

After getting through the harrowing night with no more incidents, the group emerges from the cave into the bright, shining light.

As they get out and stretch under the sun, Gra'bir notices they have made a deadly mistake – the cave they chose was near the nest of a trio of giant scorpions.

The scorpions bury their stingers into three of the slaves, causing them all to die painfully as the poison is injected into them.

Gra'bir stabs out at one of the monsters with his mace, but it is deflected by the hard carapace of the scorpion. M'Balz has no better luck with his bow.

Nazmi strikes a blow against one of the scorpion's claws, carving off a small piece. Butrus tries to follow it up with his mace, but is fended off trying to avoid a stinger.

Adanband decides the best thing to do is make a run for it, employing his usual fog.

The next few days pass uneventfully, and near the end of the fourth day the group can see farms off in the distance. Nazmi explains they are getting into the area of the outlying farms soon, and should be able to reach Zayir by nightfall.

*** Session 6 - Scene 6 (of 9) ***

The fishing town of Zayir does not have much, but Nazmi explains they do have a small palace for the local qadi and should head there. M'Balz likes the idea of that, saying he has slept in enough caves. The other three surviving slaves agree, happy to return to some kind of civilization.

The local overseer and judge of the town, the qadi, is a young woman named Asami bint Nazmi. In greeting Nazmi, she reveals to the others she is his daughter.

She asks the rest of the group to introduce themselves and M'Balz takes the liberty to give him name first. Asami explains she recognizes his family name, having studied at the Grand University in Huzaz.

Asami tells M'Balz he is honorable for saving her father, and assumes the others are his servants. M'Balz doesn't exactly disagree, but does introduce each in turn.

She is particularly intrigued by Adanband, whom M'Balz describes as a "powerful sorcerer who can create puffs of smoke and sometimes light things on fire". She explains the town has no sorcerers pass through, and the last magic-user she saw was back in her university days.

Asami offers the group the hospitality of the palace to allow them to rest up. M'Balz agrees to her offer, planning to stay the full three days considered customary.

M'Balz does want to visit a weaponsmith or armorer, but Nazmi explains their town is too small for such things and they will need to go to a city for that. Still, they decide to visit the local bazaar to resupply all they lost since leaving from Huzaz.

He also asks about somewhere he could buy a cart. She explains finding a draft horse or mule with a cart would be possible, but offers a free mule with saddlebags if they wish since her father is planning to join them on their next expedition. M'Balz mulls over the possibilities, trying to think of how much treasure they could haul.

Butrus asks Asami about the raids by the dao in the area. She explains it has only happened a couple of times in the past and their town has too weak of forces to fight off genies. He feels the town may be due for another visit by Jalil, but not everyone is so sure.

M'Balz is more interested if Asami is familiar with "Indo Ragi". When he explains it, she is delighted at the idea of a riddle but has no idea what it means. She does point out that the "blind" part of the phrase is probably the key. Gra'bir believes it means to take out the "I"s, but M'Balz ignores him.

With that, they take their leave and plan to meet back up with Asami and Nazmi later that evening at the palace, where a banquet is planned in their honor.

While the others shop, Butrus decides to go visit the local shrine. Having been some time since a priest was in town, many of the locals come to pray with him.

M'Balz also talks to some local fisherman, and arranges for passage out to the main shipping lanes where they could find a ship on its way to Huzaz.

The noble rogue also talks around to the townspeople to try and get an idea of anything of interest in the area. He hears little except for one man who mentions that a temple called the Mosque of the Thirsty Jann lies far to the east, saying that priests from there sometimes lead pilgrims to the town on their way north.