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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Matthan" data-source="post: 7079924" data-attributes="member: 20005">[ooc]I shifted gears from the idea of a caravan guard to serving the Sheik more directly.  Let me know if this works.[/ooc]    Husam grew up in the shadow of a father he never knew.  The story was one he knew by heart.  His father, Khalid, was a loyal guard to the exalted Sheik.  The Sheik leads his people with grace and wisdom, but there were those who rejected the wisdom of the Loregiver and denied their Fate.  These infidels sought to use dark magic to kill the Sheik and disrupt the land.  They attacked while the Sheik was among his people to learn their needs.  They cowards would not face the Sheik and his guards with honor.  Instead, they had managed to leash an efreet to their aid.      The Sheik was noble and brave as he ordered his soldiers to protect the people.  Many guards fought, but only one saved the Sheik’s life.  As the efreet swung his massive blade, the Sheik turned to shield a child from harm.  Khalid stepped into the path of the blade and took a blow that would kill an ordinary man.  With the last ounce of his strength, he killed the efreet and closed his eyes one final time.    The Sheik sought to honor the man who died for him.  He called for his family to be brought and found his wife pregnant with Khalid’s son.  He brought them into his home and promised to care for them to honor Khalid’s sacrifice.  Husam was raised and trained to be like his father, a loyal guard for the Sheik.     In his fourteenth year, Husam was permitted to walk in the way of his father and serve the Sheik.  He quickly began to distinguish himself among the guard.  It was he who apprehended the Desert Fox and ended her campaign of theft by removing her hands.  It was he who held back the stampede of giant scorpions when the faithless wizard, Al-Qadir, attacked the city.  It was he who descended into the depths of the city to battle the false god of the Serpent Brethren and proved their faith heresy by dragging its carcass through the city square.    It came about in the sixth year of his service to the Sheik, that the Sheik noticed the acts of Husam and remembered the sacrifice of Khalid.  He summoned Husam to his side and bestowed upon him the gifts that his father would have received had he survived the assault.  First, he was given armor, Riah’alssahra, made from the scales of a fiery salamander that would let Husam walk through the desert heat with no fear.  The second gift was Bariq, a javelin that crackled with the rage of a lightning storm.  The next gift was a cloak, Khaymaljism, that strengthened the body while protecting it.  The final gift was Ifritlissan, the very flaming sword that had struck down his father.      Humbled by the honor bestowed upon him, Husam bowed to his Sheikh yet was told to rise as the Sheikh had need of his talents.  Caravans had been found slaughtered in the desert.  The protection and wisdom of the Sheikh was being insulted by these acts.  Husam was to act as the sword of the Sheikh and silence those who would deny the laws of the Loregiver by committing these acts.  [ooc]The initial story of Khalid is written as the Sultan had it told to Husam.  It paints him in a good light.  That may not have been how it actually happened.  I’ll leave that to the DM’s pleasure.  Also, the attackers may have well been part of the Brotherhood of the True Flame.  I don’t know much about them, but that sounds like a group that would work for or with an Efreet (who may not have been enslaved at all, that could be a bit of political storytelling).    The Desert Fox, Al-Qadir (and his giant scorpion army), and the Serpent Brethren are all designed to give the DM something to use for plots if needed.    Would that work?  [MENTION=23]Ancalagon[/MENTION] : I’m not sure how Lal is being reworked, but if he still has the sense of truth seeking religious type then maybe he was around during the Serpent Brethren incident.  My thought was that it was some kind of cult that sprang up around some kind of intelligent snake monster and began to gather followers.  The Sheikh would not allow the heresy to stand and sent his guard to investigate.  Perhaps we ended up working together to take out the cult?[/ooc]</blockquote>

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