D&D 5E Al-Qadim Moving Through the Flame

[SBLOCK=Salahuddin]A study of all flying feathered things was made mandatory during Salahuddin's upbringing in the court of Calipha Fatima ibn Zaida. Cockatrice feathers are prized by mages for fabricating quills with which to pen spell scrolls. Some djinn and wind sorcerers are even known to seek unhatched cockatrice eggs to raise them as guardian pets.

Salahuddin can thank his father's penchant for practicing his lectures for the University of Sand Mages in front of the mirror for his knowledge of the roper. Ropers are unique because their internal anatomy holds myriad uses for an intrepid alchemist. The glue emitted by its tendrils can be used to create sovereign glue, while its digestive acid is so potent it must be stored in platinum vessels and can be used to create universal solvent. Moreover, a gizzard-like organ within the roper may accumulate undigested gems or platinum pieces.[/SBLOCK]

[SECTION]Nodding with no small bit of pride, Suelasta echoes as his fat fingers roll against his fur-lined jacket and he rises up on his toes momentarily, "Indeed. House Asad. Yes, in the very lands of The Lion, by foul raiders dressed in black as dark as the midnight sky and claws like iron swords."

It is only after he is well on his way to embellishing the tale that Suelasta picks up on Kaniel's incredulous tone and the implications thereof. "Well, it wasn't quite in the heart of Jamal Oasis, but on the southwestern route leaving those lands, at the approach of the Range of Marching Camels. True, his most auspicious host Sheikh Najib bin Kamal had lent my caravan several of his men to see us safely from his lands..." Suelasta clears his throat and pads a bit of sweat from his forehead with a kerchief. "Transporting such dangerous beasts – dangerous only in that they were yet untamed mind you – well, the Sheikh was quite adamant we not tarry in his lands. To have an accident while his guests were under the bond of salt would have broken his lion-like heart, I am quite certain. And it being the season for sandstorms, making haste was likewise in our favor."

Dabbing perspiration from his cheeks, Suelasta exclaims, "It's an unseasonably hot night isn't it?"[/SECTION]

[SBLOCK=Kaniel]Suelasta's description of how the Sheikh of House Asad might act while having a guest like Suelasta (and several dangerous beasts) under the bond of salt strikes Kaniel as quite true to al-Badia customs. Guest hospitality didn't mean all reason left the window, after all. While nothing Suelasta says is incriminating, in fact quite the opposite, his demeanor nevertheless is of a nervous man.[/SBLOCK]

With a whisper of movement, Amina puts an arm around the scout's neck and shoulder from behind. Her grip is not terribly strong, but the pinprick the man feels at his back is incentive not to struggle too hard.

She speaks quietly, almost in his ear. "If this blade breaks your skin even a little, you are dead."

After pausing a moment to give him a chance to react...and either accept his circumstance or invite disaster...she says, "You won't be seeing the men who sent you again, but you have a choice as to why. Tell me where they lie in wait, and they will not be there when you return to them. Speak anything else, or say nothing, and they will be waiting for you still long after I have departed."

"Choose."

Stiffening under Amina's grasp, the wiry man slowly eases his hand away from its habitual resting place on the hilt of a jambiya. Taking wheezing breaths, he is silent for longer than is wise, but at last makes the decision to speak, "They wait at the Rawun's Well near the western gate." He is good at following directions, offering no more information than was asked.

~ " I ... See." Kaniel breathed softly, his hackles lowering a bit, " Please forgive my impertinence if any was given: the very idea of what these Raiders are doing is enough to even make Selan, The Kind Goddess, forget her manners from time to time."

Kaniel mused on what the menagerie master had said. All of his explanations were easy enough to swallow: The Bond of Salt, the ritual that preserved hospitality between host and guest, the same that they had shared with the Sheikh and his Viziers, still had its limits. The Sheikh of House Asad, The Children of The Lion, may have been a powerful man, but even he would probably be wary of spending too much time and effort guarding a merchant that carried creatures whose bite could turn men to stone. Best to let the merchants worry about their own protection, then, and let the Gods write it as they willed.

Still, Kaniel al-Masafir could not help but notice the pools of sweat coming off Suelasta, and the comment about the heat. Hot? Here? Hah! If only this portly al-Hadhar knew of the way the sun burned in The High Desert, where his tribe, the noble House Nasr, The People of The Eagle, soared amongst its rays!

" The evening seems quite pleasant to this humble servant," Kaniel replied in kind, " Though when one grows accustomed to the scorch of the sands and the freeze of the winds at night, I suppose one finds comfort within the wonders the Gods have granted us in this Fated Land."

The Half-Orc was still not sure how to read Suelasta, and wondered exactly how far the man could be pushed. Everyone had their limits, of course. Perhaps the merchant's motives would become more clear if Kaniel ... gently nudged him in the right direction.

" My people have a saying: to be uncomfortable beneath your own robes is to be uncomfortable within your heart. As Hakiyah The Honest tells us, though, 'Truth will always win out'. Are you sure that this is all to your story?"

Kaniel made his implication clear, especially in evoking Hakiyah, The Great Goddess of Truth: Suelasta looked very uncomfortable, and in the Half-Orc's experience, sometimes people needed to be reminded that honesty was a very, very comfortable option. ~

Quickleaf said:

Stiffening under Amina's grasp, the wiry man slowly eases his hand away from its habitual resting place on the hilt of a jambiya. Taking wheezing breaths, he is silent for longer than is wise, but at last makes the decision to speak, "They wait at the Rawun's Well near the western gate." He is good at following directions, offering no more information than was asked.

Click to expand...

Ankabut absorbed that, then slipped the black-bladed sword back into its sheathe and with a quick twist of her wrist poked the man at two points over his sacrum, then three behind his kidneys, then one along his back...all in rapid, well-practiced succession. As he reeled from that, she cuffed him hard across the back of the skull...carefully judging each strike to render him dazed and perhaps unconscious. She had not promised him release, after all...only that she would not kill him.

(Attacking with Flurry of Blows for 1 ki, nonlethal melee attacks. First is a Stunning Blow, for an additional ki; Con save DC 15 or be stunned until the start of her next turn. If he drops from damage, she will of course stop hitting him. )

[roll0] for [roll1]
[roll2] for [roll3]
[roll4] for [roll5]
[roll6] for [roll7]

(And crit damage, if it becomes necessary to determine if he stands: [roll0])

(43 nonlethal damage done, or less if he drops quicker...and DC15 Con save if he doesn't drop)

The points Ankabut strikes cause the wiry man to seize up and then topple over unconscious, his body draped against the railing of the overlook like a drunk who should have made it home to bed hours ago.



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[SECTION]Shrugging off the heat with a wave of his hand, Suelasta looks about for something to busy himself with. Finding no work within reach, he motions with his kerchief to the giant scorpion, wagging his finger at it, and offering a disarming smile to Akilah for preventing disaster. "It's always the quiet ones I have to look out for..."

Taken aback at Kaniel's directness, Suelasta is clearly flustered, his already flush cheeks turning a shade of crimson. "Well, that is, well, hmph! So fortunate are we that the Grand Caliph's mamluks are best put to the task of quoting aphorisms, rather than protecting merchants! There may have been some dealings that stretched the law, yes, but show me a merchant with clean hands and I'll show you a liar or a fool going out of business. Why, half the regulations on conduct of zookeepers in Tajar I've penned with my own hand because there were no regulations before! And now everyone and his house monkey is a critic! Leave the beasts be, they say, it's safer for everyone. Should the First Caliph then have left the Scrolls of the Loregiver in the cave where he found them? No! We are explorers! Pioneers! I provide a service, I say, a service!" Wheezing terribly in his excitement, Suelasta nearly forgets to breath and must muffle his coughs with his kerchief.[/SECTION]

[SBLOCK=Salahuddin]Easifa returns to Salahuddin's side, a subtle trail of oats and dried apples trailing from where the invisible djinnling was snacking upon animal feed. Telepathically: Nothing out of the ordinary, master, save for bottles of marked poison in the house. May I suggest not accepting any food or drink from this pompous poisoner who surely intends treachery? The brazen fool thinks so much of himself he *marks* his poison for all the world to see. Suddenly realizing that he'd been contradicting his own advice, Easifa spits out a bit of dried apples distastefully between Sinjin' feet.[/SBLOCK]

(Mysterious Insight Roll of Mysteriousness! I can't recall if I have any Inspiration to start with, but if I do, I will use it nao if the roll is below, say, 15...if not, disregard the second roll. [roll0] and [roll1])

(WELP, I used inspiration if it's available, but the 14 is the better roll. Also, I don't think it was Amina who prevented scorpion-related disasters.)

Ankabut takes his weapons and secures them on her person, then ducks down to loop his arm around her shoulder...as she might if helping that drunk man along the street. His weight bears heavily on her, but fortunately the distance to where the viziers and the others hold parley isn't great...

Akilah clears her throat, as she closes the distance on Suelasta. Her gait non-threatening, her facial features relaxed, but her within her eye's a seriousness that expected from one as graceful as she. She stops just shy of his protruding midsection and then leans forward before whispering in the most serious tone she had taken in a while, "If you don't have that scorpion clipped by mid-day tomorrow a fine for an escaped python will be the least of your problems." The fire in Akilah's eye's went away and she spun around and began to rejoin the group. She stopped and looked over her shoulder before she spoke again at a normal tone, "You may return to your duties, our meeting is done!"

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