The Tyrian outlaws, still seeking protection from the secret society known as the Veiled Alliance and having discovered Tellemon’s assassin, searched the mercantile city for the meeting place of the elusive guild. Quistine was driven to find the Alliance out of a righteous zeal to uncover the magical supporters of the mul assassin. Quistine even went as far as to employ Ulieth using her winnings from the arena to aid in the search for the presumed defilers. The outlaws, having previously collected knowledge of the Veiled Alliance’s meeting place, found themselves in front of a locked door with nobody behind it to answer their calls. Convinced that it had to be the secret meeting place, Korvin, Kindrok, and Ulieth scouted around the building looking for another entrance, while Quistine and Suldin stayed at the door. While the rest of the party was absent, Suldin leaned over the diminutive Quistine and knocked a particular rhythm upon the door, which opened for him. Suldin quickly entered, and left Quistine outside. Within what proved to indeed be the Veiled Alliance’s meeting place, Suldin informed the leader of the Altaruk cell, a dwarf named Birk, that he was a member of the Tyrian cell of the Veiled Alliance, and that he sought to join the Alliance in Altraruk. The Alliance was about to respond to Suldin’s petition when Kindrok, worried that his charge may have been captured, burst through the door to the meeting chambers headfirst, sending shrapnel from the former portcullis directly into Suldin’s back and shouting “I’m here to rescue you!”
Birk was not amused. Upset at the destruction of his door—a sentiment that Kindrok corrected, as it was doors, Birk demanded that Suldin explain the appearance of his accompaniment, and Suldin’s accompaniment demanded an explanation out of Suldin. Korvin especially was displeased at Suldin’s involvement with the people that hired Tellemon’s assassins. Suldin explained that he, along with the rest of the Veiled Alliance, were preservers, magic-users that found a way not to defile the land in order to use magical energies. Korvin did not believe that this was possible, and accused Suldin of lying and made several comments to Quistine pertaining to the murderous nature of the people that Suldin associated himself with. Suldin silenced Korvin’s rejection of the existence of preserving magic when he demonstrated it for all to see, conjuring a radiant sphere without ripping life-force from those around him. Suldin explained that the Veiled Alliance seeks to stamp out defiling and the sorcerer-kings, a notion which appealed to Quistine greatly. She wished to aid the Veiled Alliance along with Suldin, if just for the opportunity to silence a few defiling voices. Already motivated to avoid debt collectors and pressured by the possibility of a swift demise at the wrong end of eldritch fire, Korvin also asked to join the Veiled Alliance. With Suldin vouching for the outlaw and the outcast, as well as assuring Birk that Kindrok’s violent entrance was simply the product of the bodyguard’s professionalism , Birk agreed to give the group the chance to prove themselves worthy of joining the ranks of the secret society. Before Birk could proposition the crew however, Aristophaneles himself, the governor of Altaruk, entered the meeting and reprimanded Birk for the assassination of Tellemon. The party learned from the governor’s conversation with Birk that it was in fact the Alliance that hired the mul assassin, but not for entirely unjust reasons. Birk exposed to the party that Tellemon himself was plotting to have Aristophaneles killed, and that the assassination was a simple precautionary measure. Korvin, of course, voiced his disapproval of the barbaric methods, and Aristphaneles offered that he in fact knew nothing of the Alliance’s involvement when he hired the party to investigate the guard captain’s death. Birk apologized to Aristophaneles, and continued with the governor’s approval to explain to the party the conditions of their membership into the order. There had recently been a caravan that went missing outside the north gate of the city, and there was the simple matter of retrieving the lost goods—wood, cloth, and wine— and hopefully the caravaneers. Korvin was suspicious of what could possibly be in the caravan that garnered the Alliance’s attention, and did not fail to voice his suspicion to Birk, who steadfastly ignored him.
While the party prepared for a journey into the desert, Ulieth, having already collected enough money to go back to his wasteland home, said goodbye from the people he had come to care nothing about. He exited to the south gate, heading back home, while the outcast and outlaws went to the north gate accompanied by two members of the Veiled Alliance. One was Vistna, a gigantic creature in a long, concealing robe. A reptilian snout poked through the shadows of his hood, and he shared few words with the other members that did not carry an air of disdain. The other was a strange man that appeared to be knit with trinkets of bone, chitin, and stone who referred to himself as ‘The Will,’ but who Kindrok and Korvin called ‘Will’ or ‘Willy.’ He too was not much of an extrovert, and what proved to be a short walk to the site of the caravan’s ambush felt much longer for Korvin.
At the ambush site the party found the wagons ransacked. They had little time to investigate however before small, draconian creatures flitted out from the sand and attacked the Alliance’s investigators, bringing down the gigantic Kindrok within seconds. This feat terrified Korvin, who had come to view his half-giant companion about as vincible as an iron brick, and he reacted by unleashing psionic terror on the flitting foes. The new companion Vistna shouted out words in an archaic tongue at the beasts and launched lightning from his jaws while The Will conjured forth a spectral beast to harry the lizard-like ambushers. While Kindrok bled out on the ground, the party left standing dispatched the majority of the reptiles. When only one was left standing, Vistna roared something at him in the same language he had been using before and the creature fled, but Korvin, unwilling to let one of the bastards that had injured his friend go, ran after him and disintegrated the beast with a blast of necrotic energy.
After the fight, the group recuperated at the ambush site. Vistna gathered up some of the corpses of the bipedal lizards and butchered them, skewering a few over the fire with their rib cages splayed open. The party rested, with the scent of roasted sentient lizards wafting through the night air.
Posted By:
Anthony
Hunting Party: 500 XP
Outlaw Alliance: 500 XP
Outcast Debt: 100 XP
Session log for Bloodsand Arena, Session 1: 100 XP
Quests
New
Wavir Cargo (major quest): Return the wagon and drivers safely to Altaruk.
Ongoing
Wasteland Outcasts
Completed
Outlaw Alliance
Outcast Debt
After determining that the attack was in fact by house Tsalaxa, Kindrok’s limp body is placed onto a heap of treasure covered by canvas carried by a skiff. The caravan heads on towards Tyr with the hope that something can be done for Kindrok. The party is relieved to see that the sandy wastes start to give way to a different landscape. The sand along the road is finer, much like silica that gives with every step. The fine sand produces a cloud of dust that covers all who are not in front of the caravan. Scattered about are very large boulders, approximately 30 feet in height and various widths and lengths. Rhotan calls for the party to rest for the night, as they should be arriving the next day in Tyr.
