Desert Sands III: Refiners' Fire

A Joyous Reunion

The barbarians Asbjørn and Kegho continued calling out for Mercy. They heard a response from the camel, but also something else. Kegho found a caravan of nomads dressed similarly to the Bani Satra with Mercy in tow and approached them showing no intent to harm. They offered to return Mercy and Kegho invited them back to camp for hospitality, sharing food and water with the nomads, who gladly accepted.

The party asks what the nomads know of Adza and they are surprised that Ouranic faithful would ask Tariqites for information, as the nomads and the monastics kept respectful distance from one another, but they did note there was a hostel and the party could find healing there. When Alexandru asked if they knew where they might find creeping fern, but they said Adza would be the surest bet. Teleptyon expressed worry about the changing weather and nomads confirmed that rain and strong winds were coming. Alex relayed any gossip about dogmen and dust storms that they had heard at the Arafi Caravanserai and Kegho told of their encounters with dogmen and the dust storm.

Kegho begged them to refill their water-skins before departing and they gladly accepted.

The trek was tiring, trudging through deep and powdery sand in hopes of reaching Adza quickly, but the weather was cold, but otherwise mild. Telepton insisted that they trench the camp that night and Kegho passed out from exhaustion when they were done. Teleptyon, Asbjørn and Alex’s watches were all quiet.

The next morning the winds shifted and began blowing hard from the North and the company struggled against both soft sand under foot and winds whipping sand into their faces head-on. They stumbled across the remains of a camp, the tattered remains of a grey, oil-cloth tent partially buried and flapping in the breeze. It was unfortunately unusable, but they found desiccated corpses, a saddle, four wineskins and a whetstone. As they continued on they heard the caw of an enormous bird and looked up to see it flying with a camel bellowing in its talons as it’s carried into the sky. Energized by fear the party force marched toward Adza for safety.

They did not have the endurance to make it there. They prepare camp knowing that without a tent they will be exposed to the storm. After trenching yet again, Teleptyon collapsed and the barbarians gathered all of the firewood they could find and lit it under a cloak to build a fire large enough to withstand the downpour. While the night was miserable, they survived.

At the Oasis

The sodden and tired party finally crested a hill to see Adza not far off. Riven's pathfinding had been true! Their joy was quickly tempered by caution as they noticed pillars of acrid black smoke rising from the monastery. Theo, still sickly from his poisoning, led the approach along a path strewn with fresh corpses of dogmen and paladins. He poured his heart out to the Paladin guarding the main entryway and the party was taken to see Grand-master Andronicus Prodromus. Theo retold the contents of his dream (link to Interlude III) to the Grand-master, and the Grand-master related his own dream that a penitent brother would, in his quest for atonement, save the monastery from financial ruin by returning the relics of the Adza Monastery founder from his place of internment so that he might be venerated by the people. After the unusually aggressive behavior of the dogmen, the Grand-master did not have men to spare for this task. Asbjørn was chuffed by the idea that this quest of spiritual import was to turn the monastery into a ferðamannagildru, or tourist trap. The Grand-master was not amused at his amusement, and detailed the location and untouched condition of the tomb to the south where the founder had been buried.

“But first,” he continued, “Brother Theo must be brought back into the good graces of the Church.” He explained that Theo must be prepared to have his flesh mortified by the Aelos and the flame. He was healed and washed and stripped bare before the brutal heat of the desert at daybreak. As the fire of Aelos burned away his iniquity the fog that had rested upon his spirit was lifted and he heard the voice of Maya once more.

While the rest of the company waited for Theo, they assisted in clearing bodies, rested, and studied. Alex asked the Grand-master about the Khemian script on the armor and developed some proficiency in reading the text. Teleptyon hovered nearby during these lessons hoping to glean some insight into the working of the Ar as understood by the Djeti.

Asbjørn was greeted joyfully by a fellow Rhenlander wearing armor indicating he was a guardsman of the monastery and a follower of the Ouranic church. Asbjørn’s response was more tense and when asked from which duchy he came, he merely said “North” and smiled to indicate that he still followed the old ways and was no friend to this apostate kinsman.

As the new year—115 After Refugium—dawned, Brother Theophilus Chandler returned to the party with skin the color of baked red brick, tender and blistered over the entirety of his anterior aspect, but so full of the fervor of the newly re-converted that he did not mind and begged for them to set off at once to assist the Grand-master.

Once More, Into the Breach

They made the short trek south to the tomb, which they had been told had been sealed since the time of the founder’s burial and found it crawling with dog-faced bipedal lizard creatures. Riven suggested caution, but in Theo’s rekindled fervor he attempted to parlay with them, many ran back into the tombs but some turned to defend their territory from the party.