D&D 5E (2014) Al-Qadim Moving Through the Flame

[Matthan]

Husam turned from the map as the new recruit began to speak. He shot the recruit a withering glance that was summarily ignored. This whelp needed to be taught to respect the honor of his sheikh. Without a word, he quickly moved towards the guard to silence him. His hand had just grabbed the man's sleeve when he heard Akilah's words and he realized what was going on.

His hand released as he struggled to quickly regain his composure and decorum. His mind raced as the implications of the past week threatened to overwhelm him so he fell back onto the tenets of protocol that had been drilled into him from birth. Honor those of higher station. Remember your place. "Prince Harun, you honor us with your presence. Please forgive our failure to welcome you properly." He steps back with a respectful bow and hopes that he has not dishonored his Sheikh.

 

[tglassy]

Harun grinned at Husam, but couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Humility? An apology? That would make it a lot harder to continue making his life miserable. Harun much preferred when the mamluk was beating on him and making him run in the desert heat.

He clapped Husam on the shoulder. "No apology needed, my friend. I was simply testing the Sheik's security. You have my praise. I have found few places as well guarded as here. I had to pull out every trick I had!"

Not exactly the truth, but sometimes flattery goes a long way. And it's not like anyone will be able to tell he was lying, he thought as he fingered the ring on his right ring finger.

He winked at Husam before walking past him to the map. When he got there, he winked at Akilah and grinned.

"I made my entrance a week ago," he said. "But I prefer a little anonymity. If I'd come the usual way, there'd have been a feast and all sorts of things I just have little interest in. Better that few know I am here. Now if someone could be so kind as to give me a brief explanation as to why my father sent me here?"

 

[Shayuri]

Amina's eyes flick from Harun, to Husam, and back, though she remains silent standing behind Akilah. The interplay between the two is not lost on her. Harun's disguise had been maintained for some time, without detection. The mischief of an idle royal son, or something else? He would bear watching.

 

[Thateous]

Akilah rolled her eye's at the wink from the young Prince. "I see you've learned a few new tricks, but perhaps we could get reacquainted later." she returns her attention to her father. "Our investigation took an interesting turn this evening as I met with an interesting family that clings to the shadows of Tajar. They were cursed with a second mouth because their ancestors mocked the misfortunes of a great saher." she pauses trying to give her father time to process what she's suggesting. "Perhaps you know of them, they served as the Haras al-Sirri for the previous leader of Tajar. They seek redemption and offer their aid and knowledge of this region." she says, pointing to the inhospitable land mentioned earlier.

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[Shayuri]

Now Amina speaks up, in a quiet voice, eyes downcast.

"Forgive my interruption, but I would add that they served as the previous Sultan's secret police...and that their curse is more than just second mouths. They are much tougher than ordinary humans, and at least one of them has a magic power in his eyes as well."

 

[Quickleaf]

[SECTION]His bushy eyebrows raising in bewilderment, Sheikh Ali regains his composure with all the surety of a man accustomed to ruling, though his lips remain somewhere between being pursed in anger and curling upward in wry amusement. "Prince Harun al-Assad, you took the very words from my mouth," Sheikh Ali quips upon Harun asking why his father sent him here. While Harun was barely a legitimate heir, and the younger and less respectable of Prince Tannous' sons, he was still the son of a Prince. And that made him a Prince, at least in any court that he traveled to. "Surely Prince Tannous had some reason in sending you here, besides playing pranks on my guards?"

Yet the boisterous Prince could probably get away with more, as he reminds Sheikh Ali of himself in his younger years. Headstrong. Sharp-witted. Finding a way to belong, whether in the city, among desert tribes, or whatever situation he found himself in. "Black-robed raiders have devastated the overland trade routes, driving caravans to a trickle of what they once were. Many whisper they are more than mere men, jann perhaps, though it isn't known for certain. Ambush, deceit, and viciousness are their weapons. As I understand it, three years have passed since the House of Sihr (Jann of the High Desert) sent a representative bearing tribute to our Grand Caliph, praise on his name. Though I've no evidence, I believe there must be a connection. Nothing trespasses in the High Desert without the knowledge of the jann." Though the Sheikh has the decorum not to state it outright, it becomes clear why Prince Tannous sent Harun here – besides keeping him from making an embarrassment of courtly politics – to discover why tribute of the jann has not been reaching the Grand Caliph, and to rectify the situation.

Returning his attention to the map and those gathered around it, Sheikh Ali listens to his daughter's account, brows furrowing as she mentions the Haras al-Sirri, the secret police which once served the wicked Sultan of Tajar. "The Haras al-Sirri? These are dangerous men, Akilah, barely controlled even in the days of the Sultan. Why now? It has been nigh 30 years since my father and his coalition overthrew the Sultan. What have these men been doing in that time? What makes you think they can be trusted?"[/SECTION]

 

[Quickleaf]

[SECTION]Upon hearing mention of the Haras al-Sirri and the handmaiden "Amina's" description of them, Dulcet Riqqiyah, the court rawuna (bard), pauses on her oud. Before, she expertly blended into the background, but the sudden lack of music makes her presence more conspicuous. "The way you describe these men...in my travels I've heard of cursed men and women, who must take the form of a hyena under the moon's light, and are driven to lead travelers to their doom with false voices. Though I've never met one myself...only heard stories..."[/SECTION]

 

[Shayuri]

"We did not see them take another form," Amina comments. "But their cursed mouths did laugh as hyena are known to."

 

[Thateous]

"I don't think they can be trusted, however, I only seek to use them as far as they seek to use me. These raiders successfully attack fully guarded caravans and I'm curious how they'd fair against a caravan full of their own kind." turning to the rawuna, Akilah asks, "Could you share a tale or two?"

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[Ancalagon]

Lal stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"I know little of these "Haras al-Sirri", although in our lands we have men cursed with deformities for past misdeed as well. But this I can see oh Sheikh - their offer, their quests for redemption, is either true, or it is false. If the offer is true and you accept it, you will gain an ally. If you turn it down, you will make a foe. If the offer is false and you accept, you invite betrayal. If you turn it down... well they were your foes anyway and you lose nothing.

As both acceptance and refusal carry risk... my council is to delay. Learn more. To decide is premature."