Session 9


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Continued from the last session...

The dusty road out of Westpit defines itself almost immediately as the party leaves the mining encampment. It follows the feet of the Amikil's to their right and the slope of the Kesh foothills to the left. They travel southeast, gradually peeling away from the mountains, which run a more east west route.

Just as they started on the road, one of Hesma's men came riding up. It was the scout who helped them so faithfully before. He carried a silken bag, filled with barbequed desert hens, cactus fruit and sweet syrup balls made from the Atwara root. He handed it to the party "for the road" and also gave his most explicit instructions for finding the entrance to the Old Salt Road.

"Travel another day and a half by foot until the road curves to the east. You know you've gone too far when you can see the even ruts of the wagon tracks. That's part of the construction of the new road. Before then, the foothills will harden and grow into rocky outcroppings. At some point, they become a wall, one barely climbable. You must look very carefully at the language of the rock, it becomes the ancient finger of Ak-Kallah, pointing to evasion."

He salutes and turns his horse around, it's nostrils flaring. "Move quickly. Reinforcements are on their way from Eastpit." And then he gallops away.

The party travels all day, walking hard even through the dark. Finally, the long long day (the battle was only that morning) catches up to them and they make a quick fireless camp off the side of the road. Nothing disturbs them in the night.

The next morning, with the aid of Linear's skilled hands, they wake up feeling much better.

That day, their travel continues unhindered. As they walk, the hills to the right turn to rocky outcroppings and then short walls. They begin to see what Hesma's man meant about the language of the rock, as it's cracks and fissures begin to make some desert sense to them.

Eventually, they spot a pattern that looks like the long thing finger of a hand, pointing over the rock. They follow it and see a narrow space between the rocks. They are able to wedge their body between the sandy outcroppings and pull themselves up. On the other side, a vague trail continues up and south. They could only see it because they were looking for it.


They follow it for an hour, never sure if they're really on a trail. Then the land drops down and small sprouts of grass reveal themselves. The slope continues down and south and then at the bottom the Old Salt Road becomes very apparent. There is a pile of boulders where it was closed down by El Wahafi's men. Behind them are the markings of camels and horses and dug into one of the boulders is the same symbol that each of these stalwart adventurers wear on their arm.

The party's wariness about El Wahafi's reinforcements abates, but they remain alert for other travellers on the road. Angry Pipe figures to have about five or six days at least to Irawaddy. After two days, the road widens and they can see the struggle of green life slowly claiming it's victory over the desert. Small trees sprout and more grass lines the road.

The adventurers make camp. Linear scouts the sands and skies until he sees a small kestrel flying high above them. He calls out to it, using the common "kee kee kee" of smaller birds of prey from his own forests. The small hawk recognizes his cry and warms to it, diving down in swooping stages of up to 200 miles per hour, until he alights on the druid's shoulder. His spoken name is Wyrmnock and he stays with the party for their journey along the Old Salt Road, keeping a bird's eye on any potential troubles.

For the rest of the Rainquarter (about 13 more days), the adventurers alternate between hiking along the road and spending a day at camp, resting, healing and in Mosholu's case, writing as ever into his precious spellbook. They spend some time identifying the items they have won in battle and find some potions of jumping and healing as well as other miscellaneous concoctions that may come in handy.

Day 90 is the last day of the Rainquarter and since they haven't seen rain since the Lido crashed, they figure it's about time for the Sunquarter to be upon them! Garfer makes an extra spicey stew out of the desert rabbit that Linear caught and they toast the new season, which would have begun the harvest back in the Civilized Lands.

Just before the end of the Old Salt Road, they meet a Salt Raider from a different tribe. His name was Geffen and he tells the partyt that the raid of Westpit has made itself known in Irawaddy and that they are searching anyone coming through the Salt Gate. He knows of an old trail that goes over Mont Kaseem, through the wealthy neighborhoods, but that is also dangerous as it is heavily patrolled.

After some deliberations, and despite that crowded lines they can see from their hiding place, they decide to take the trail over the top and avoid any inspection at the Salt Gate. The road is a rough one. At the top, they find dirt roads and then fancy houses. They narrowly avoid a patrol, with Bruno succesfully acting as a diversion, then hop a fence, go through a yard and climb out the other side only to be chased by a pack of wild dogs, some of them 6 feet tall and then across an open sewer culvert, narrowly missing the snapping jaws of giant crocodiles. On the other side, the south facing downward slope of Mont Kaseem, they scramble down, Mosholu slipping hard and further annoying Bruno and then come to smaller houses.

They steal some laundry and leave 4 gp, a mighty sum in this part of town and scramble down to the now empty fruit market. It is four in the morning and the only sign of life are the sleeping bodies of itinerant labourers on the periphery of the market and some merchants sleeping under their own carts. The party does likewise, getting a few hours of sleep before the sun comes up.

An early morning fruit seller stares
at the adventurers as they climb out
from under a neighboring stall.



They wander around the market as it comes to life. Most of the people that work there are elves, but a little taller than they are used to and with long blond hair. They run the stands, carry fruit in carts, baskets, sacks. There seems to be a constant flow of them from the west, between the two mountains. Mosholu approaches one middle-aged woman and the party buys some limes and bananas from her. The bananas have a richness in flavor that they have never tasted before.
They get a recommendation to eat at Al Hadoun, a restuarant along the Boulevard Frontenac in Rafiq's Lap. It's still early and it's not yet open, but the proprietor sees them leave and bids them wait while he gets the kitchen open. He serves them a sumptuous meal for a few coppers

Angry Pipe, seeing the numerous smoking parlors, where robed men lay on pillows and puff on houka stems, decides to investigate immediately. Garfer goes with him. We don't see either of them for days!

The restaurant owner recommends them the Hotel Cabra, just around the corner. They go there and find a narrow hallway into an open courtyard and Homan, the chubby, robed owner of the hotel. The hotel is empty and they rent the two rooms on the upper floor that overlook Rupeen street.

They nap to make up for their lack of sleep from the night's crossing of Mont Kaseem. In the early evening they do a bit of shopping. Mosholu tries to get a job scribing accounts for a shipping company near the main docks. But he gets nervous and breaks the quill during his skill test and doesn't get the job.

That night, the evening of the 4th day of the Sunquarter, at around 4:00 am, Linear awakens to the gold and ruby bracelet from Miro tightening on his wrist.

The next day Mosholu decides to stay in and work on adding spells to his spellbook. Linear goes to the fruit market to see if he can get a job and winds up digging a ditch all day, up on Mont Kaseem. Wat finds more luck, hiring himself out as a guard. He gets the late shift at a scrip exchange near the Salt Market. It's where the merchants bring cash to exchange for receipts that can be traded for salt.

So go the next couple of days for our heroes. Linear begins to work regularily for a wealthy lady, using his gardening skills to help her with her greenhouse. She is Lady Grandisse, the widow of (as Linear soon ), Lord Threnoble Grandisse, a leader of the slave traders.

Wat learns more about how the Scrip Exchange work and also spends a lot of time in the open air arms & armor market, learning a bit about bartering.

Mosholu continues to write.

On Day 7, they come back to their hotel and Homar tells them that some salt guards had been in the neighborhood, asking around if any miners or people who'd been in the pits recently had come in to town in the last couple of days.

The next day, they work their jobs and come back to the hotel. Wat also began to volunteer at a soup kitchen for destitute sailors near the Main Docks.

On day 8, just after dinner, Garfer and Angry Pipe come running in. Their eyes are bleary. Garfer is wearing a fez with "Irawaddy!" scribed in gold on the front. Angry Pipe has a tunic that says "My mind went to Irawaddy and all I got was the munchies!"

"Dudes!" they cry out. "We totally forgot! We're supposed to go meet that dude Najif at the Old Salt. It was bugging us, man. We knew there was something we forgot. Anyways, great to see you guys. We've got to get back to Hamjan's. They're having a Nagoni wine sampling tonight!"

They realize that they should go make the contact suggested to them by Hesma, so they decide to find the Old Salt that moment. They walk over to the Lower Docks and find the Old Salt. It's a crowded sailors and travellers bar. They see a darker, desertified man talking with another man at a table. They approach him and using some innuendo, discover him to be Najif.

He recognizes the party immediately and tells them to meet him in the alley outside. They do so, cautiously. He expresses shock at seeing them, saying that the news of the raid on Westpit was all over Irawaddy now and the El Wahafi was desperately searching for culprits in Irawaddy. "He must be looking for something more than his salt, for he must know that to be deep in the desert."

He tells them to return and meet with him at the same time tomorrow. They go back to the hotel. Homar tells them that another man was snooping around, asking if anyone who'd been deep in the desert or working the mines, but not from around here had been around. He was thin, vague, grey and wearing a cowl over his head.



To be continued...