Khemia Occulta II: Seas of Sand

Talal expressed surprise at spiders being aggressive so close to the main caravan routes. He recommended that we burn the spiders or move away from them to avoid their corpses attracting further unwanted guests. He mentioned that there was a berry known to draw out the venom of the spiders, but had few details on what to look for in them. While burning things holds an appeal to most of La Compagina, the idea that the smoke would have given away our position did not and we agreed to move deeper into the desert before resuming our watch.

Theo cautiously approached the Rhenish barbarian with noted disdain for the Ouranic Church and its gods and sought his consent to call upon Maya and Lamos to heal him. He allowed Theo to lay his hands on him, but was disturbed by the rush of maternal care and a sense of mercy that pervaded every corner of his mind as he channeled the gods' powers.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully and the caravan made good time wending through the desert. Kegho decided to entertain himself by pointing out the Ashkuzi names for each of the constellations and telling fabulous tales to Alex , while Teleptyon tried to goad Asbjørn into an ill-advised fist fight by drilling in to ethno-centrisim and failing to notice their shared class struggles. As Aelos chased away another night, the caravan set up camp. The first watch passed without incident, but Asbjørn's keen senses noticed a party of six, no seven jackal-headed foes charging the caravan's position. Asbjørn roused the others and as the dogheads arrived and Theo successfully parlayed with themm but their demands that the party surrender their gold in exchange for their lives, was very steep. As Talal and the party quickly discussed this and settled on a strategic retreat, Teleptyon loosed a magic missile; the thick, purple and rippling mass of pure arcane energy flew true and struck the doghead that had spoken in the face. Rather than being intimidated, they became aroused, charging hard into battle.

Kegho loosed a heavy crossbow bolt into the leader. He was wounded but not slowed. Alex slipped toward a nearby tree and began climbing. Asbjorn and Kegho both charge into the fray attacking the leader and second in a flurry of blows. From his tree Alex begins firing arrows to great effect. Teleptyon continued jack-hammering the enemy with his missile. Theo and Jafi move in to attack and Jafi manages to behead one.

What had looked like a decisive victory began to reverse as Elissa and Miniho received two blows causing serious wounds and Theo was also struck. Alex began taking riskier shots which paid off, Asbjørn doubled back to cleave the doghead that had attacked Elissa in twain, and Kegho was driven into a rage by the harsh treatment Miniho had received. He split the closest doghead's head like a ripe melon and began dispatching anything he could get near. Some dogheads began to flee, and Theo managed to brain one of them with his trusty mace. He then brought Elissa back from the brink. As he rushed to help Miniho, he saw in horror that Kegho was still in a rage and was on track to attack Jafi. He called out soothing words and Kegho's mind became swaddled in the warmth and serenity of Maya's love. With Kegho calmed, Theo was able to also heal Miniho.

Alex, Asbjørn and Teleptyon stripped the fallen foes finding 23 copper, a sandstone great club, and various scimitars and spears. They packed these up as Talal, Kegho and Theo helped the wounded back to the caravan.

Soon after they arrived at Banu Sutra, an aescetic encampent of the Tariqa faith. They were granted permission to water and rest and were told that they would have access to the smith and some shops the next day. Their Khemite hosts had heard stories of the creatures of the desert being more inhospitable, but attributed it to their faith not having spread far enough yet.