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

[Shayuri]

Amina looks down the hallway that Hadia, Lal and Akilah went down, feeling a knot of unease roil inside her. There was nothing here that was obviously out of place...even so, she felt something was wrong. Like a wooden puzzle where one of the tiles wasn't quite the right shape.

She lifted her voice a little and spoke to the eldest of the boys.

"After all the misfortune here, why did you stay? A monster in the pool, raiders attacking...all good reasons to leave it behind and seek help for your injured. Perhaps get help and return in force. Yet you stayed, even as the water dwindled."

"Why?"

 

[VLAD the Destroyer]

Salahuddin nods to Sinjin. The Sha'ir should have realized that Usqual was a Shakari but was distracted by his Gen. The House of Sihr is form the Genie's Anvil deep in the middle of the High Desert. Usqual was a long way from home. Salahuddin turns back to Usqual.

"You are a long way from the Genie's Anvil and your Sheikh. You have spoken of your stolen water. Perhaps I as s Sha'ir can assist you. Who stole them and for what purpose?"

The Jann where creatures born of all four elements. His phrasing could mean that someone actually stole a quarter of his elemental nature though Salahuddin had never heard of this before. If it could be done it would be an effective way to control one of the Jann.

 

[Ancalagon]

Lal answered the water bearer:

"It is but a minor singe, delivered by an impudent Hydra. Alas, the beast proved unable to learn a lesson. Thus, it will trouble travelers no more"

"How were you wounded exactly?"

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[Quickleaf]

Amina looks down the hallway that Hadia, Lal and Akilah went down, feeling a knot of unease roil inside her. There was nothing here that was obviously out of place...even so, she felt something was wrong. Like a wooden puzzle where one of the tiles wasn't quite the right shape.

She lifted her voice a little and spoke to the eldest of the boys.

"After all the misfortune here, why did you stay? A monster in the pool, raiders attacking...all good reasons to leave it behind and seek help for your injured. Perhaps get help and return in force. Yet you stayed, even as the water dwindled."

"Why?"

Thirteen year-old Na'im exchanges a look with his younger brother Naji, gnawing at his lower lip as he studies each toy given by Lal Qalandar. His eyes dart toward Usqual, as if he were expecting to be chastised for breaking trust of a kept secret. "The oasis is our home, but it's more too. Our family has protected it as long as...as...as long as I can remember, longer even!" Na'im declares as if a tradition older than him must be very old indeed. However, it's clear the boy is not revealing the whole truth.

To his credit, he is a poor liar. Nothing like the jann Usqual.

Salahuddin nods to Sinjin. The Sha'ir should have realized that Usqual was a Shakari but was distracted by his Gen. The House of Sihr is form the Genie's Anvil deep in the middle of the High Desert. Usqual was a long way from home. Salahuddin turns back to Usqual.

"You are a long way from the Genie's Anvil and your Sheikh. You have spoken of your stolen water. Perhaps I as s Sha'ir can assist you. Who stole them and for what purpose?"

The Jann where creatures born of all four elements. His phrasing could mean that someone actually stole a quarter of his elemental nature though Salahuddin had never heard of this before. If it could be done it would be an effective way to control one of the Jann.

[SECTION]Sitting with a straight back, Usqual listens to the boys talking with Amina attentively, his astute multi-hued eyed unwavering. "Ah, the Genie's Anvil. There is a true desert. It has been nearly two years since I had the pleasure," and here his wistful expression changes to one of ironic scorn, "of sitting at the court of His Resplendent Magnificence, Amir Bouladin. You see, sha'ir, my people have not forgotten – as some of our brethren have – that our place is to move as the winds and stars guide us. We were harvesting frankincense and following the southern herds when the Lost City returned..."

Eyes narrowing above his red veil, Usqual seems to recall some troubling event. "There is a tribe called the Khaldunis, jann who fled the Lost City long ago and settled in the southern oasis of Khaldun. You will not find it on your maps. It is hidden behind the Awâmîd at-Sharîr, the Pillars of Wickedness. They are jann who've lost their way. Their sahers (sorcerers) possess ancient powers to steal the waters from a jann and perform other unnatural feats. We fought mightily against them...raids exchanged back and forth as days bled into nights...until Sheikh Ja'afar al-Din al-Shakari led us against Khaldun in open battle." Glowering, his teacup steams in a swirling pattern as Usqual watches it before returning his eyes to Salahuddin. "We did not win."[/SECTION]

 

[Quickleaf]

Lal answered the water bearer:

"It is but a minor singe, delivered by an impudent Hydra. Alas, the beast proved unable to learn a lesson. Thus, it will trouble travelers no more"

"How were you wounded exactly?"

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[SECTION]Adjusting the scarf about his neck uncomfortably, Malsoor chuckles in a quiet rasping voice at Lal's nonchalance, "A multi-headed serpent of devastation? Is that all?...ack...ack..." Suppressing a cough, Malsoor nods to the empty cots in the makeshift infirmary, "I made it out of the fighting without going to meet my makers. Others were not so fortunate. A neck wound from a blade wielded by one of the attackers. Several were armed with accursed blades, the likes of which I've never seen. Those afflicted were reduced to naught but ash by dawn."

Struggling to undo the scarf, Malsoor beckons Hadia. Just who is the master of the caravanserai seems ambiguous, as Hadia quietly tends to the wounded man as a servant would a great sheikh. "Hadia, help me with the bindings?" Once the wrappings are undone, you behold a grim wound laced with blackened necrotic veins and a purplish hue around a wound delivered by a slashing weapon of some kind. It slowly leaks a trickle of blood. The water-bearer watches you from the corner of his eyes. "You see? Unlike any wound I've seen before."[/SECTION]

 

[VLAD the Destroyer]

OOC: Just to make sure the Lost City is another name for Qaybar correct?

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[Matthan]

Husam gives an approving nod and slight smile at the young man, "Defending your home is an honorable calling. There is no shame in fighting to preserve your family's legacy. However, a guardian must be able to see past today. Imagine if we had not come. Your cistern was quickly going dry. You would soon have been at a point where you would not have even had the resources to send someone for help. A good man defends his home with everything he has. This is true, but a wise man knows that he is stronger when he can rely on his neighbors and they on him. Seek wisdom, young men, so that you do not find yourself in such dire straits again and the good legacy of your family can continue for many generations to come."

 

[Ancalagon]

Lal takes a half step forward, eyes focusing on the strange wound... was the necrotic aspect the result of the blade, or of the patient?

Medecine check to get first glance impression of wound of water bearer : 1D20+5 = [8]+5 = 13


"Accursed blade... to ashes you say? ... blazing like the light of the sun?"

 

[Quickleaf]

GM: Yes [MENTION=6803188]VLAD the Destroyer[/MENTION]. The Lost City goes by many names, depending on who you ask. "Qaybar" to most peoples of Zakhara, "Ubar" to the jann, some tribes call it "Wabir", to long-lived races like the elves it is known as "Iram of the Pillars", to the desert giants it is known as "Dayya", and to those beyond Zakhara it may be known as the "Atlantis of the Sands." You can decide how many of these names Salahudding know / which he refers to it by.

 

[Quickleaf]

Husam gives an approving nod and slight smile at the young man, "Defending your home is an honorable calling. There is no shame in fighting to preserve your family's legacy. However, a guardian must be able to see past today. Imagine if we had not come. Your cistern was quickly going dry. You would soon have been at a point where you would not have even had the resources to send someone for help. A good man defends his home with everything he has. This is true, but a wise man knows that he is stronger when he can rely on his neighbors and they on him. Seek wisdom, young men, so that you do not find yourself in such dire straits again and the good legacy of your family can continue for many generations to come."

Na'im stills his tongue and bows his head at the mamluk's wisdom, but his younger brother Naji is quick to speak in their defense. "But the water bearer promised he wouldn't fail us. We've always had enough, even when it was drought. We–"

Jabbing his younger brother in the ribs with an elbow, Na'im gives him a meaningful look. "The Loregiver says we must receive wisdom as we eat fruit of the tree. Quietly. Forgive my brother, he is young and he thinks as he fires a bow – shoot first, think later."

Huffing, Naji chews on some anise seeds angrily.

Lal takes a half step forward, eyes focusing on the strange wound... was the necrotic aspect the result of the blade, or of the patient?

Medecine check to get first glance impression of wound of water bearer : 1D20+5 = [8]+5 = 13


"Accursed blade... to ashes you say? ... blazing like the light of the sun?"

The wound is unlike any Lal has seen before. Determining whether the necrosis is a result of the nature of the blade used or a reaction unique to the water bearer would require comparing a wound delivered to another creature by such a blade. With no basis for comparison, there is no way to be sure. Despite this, Lal is able to maintain his medical detachment to sufficiently avoid revealing any of his growing suspicions from Malsoor.

[SECTION]A frown forms across the water bearer's face as Malsoor arches a brow at Lal's offhand comment. "A great scimitar with weighted blade and tip. If it had shone bright like you say, I would have remembered it. By the dawn after the raid, I saw three men cut by such a blade turn to ash. The wound began thus," he gestures to his own neck, "but progressed rapidly till their skin turned grey and cracked."

Pausing, he regards Lal Qalandar closely, "Where did you receive your medical training, traveler?"[/SECTION]