WttSS session 23: 'The Desert Peoples'

General Summary

Souhaila's knowledge of mysticism and Ghodar is of great help to the party. As well as instructing the party's mystics on the ways of their talents, she also reveals more of the Seeker Sanctuary. Whilst looking for the items the Xinghur left in the Seekers' keeping, Murad and Kerman see the crossed-forearms over a harlberd symbol of the presumed-builders of the Sanctuary, in the time before the Abouelkassem. The symbol is said to represent the kharatuk.   Old Terran legends speak of the kharatuk being weilders of ancient knowledge at a time when the human race was still young. Over time these stories seem to have merged with local myths of 6-limbed humans who flew on fire and served as assistants to the predecessors. Such beings are said to have lived in high mountain homes with no staircases from the valley floors and no doorways, only landing platforms, much like the Seeker sanctuary. Picking out the truth of the kharatuk and any real connection to the Portal Builders is too difficult without actual archaeological evidence but such is as difficult to find as a reliable data on the predecessors themselves.  

The Orb of Ghodar

  Before leaving the Seeker Souhaila's company, the party makes one more use of her knowledge, trusting her with knowing that they possess a Portal Builder artefact. When Khalil reveals the orb they discovered in the Abouelkassem facility on Ghodar Souhaila is shocked to discover they possess the Orb of Ghodar.   The true history of this item remains unknown. Everyone seems to have a story of it but none are enlightening and some are demonstrably false. There are no real stories of the Portal Buidlers but some people on Ghodar speak of the orb being possessed by a Portal Builder who used it as a tool to bring its will into being, capable of creating and destroying in unlimited capacity. Most educated folk place the origin of most stories at the time of Khamzi's Long Walk, indicating perhaps the further influence of the Abouelkassem sorcerers. Whatever the truth, everyone on Ghodar knows the lost item is one of great power.   Under Souhaila's guidance, Khalil focuses his mystic talent and actively uses it to investigate the orb. He activates the second least powerful function of the orb's five options and his vision swims to provide a spiritual overlay on the real world that he can interact with in the briefest of moments. He is given four choices:

• All items and people become a selection - he chooses a simple flute in his possession
• He is asked for a number of repetitions - he chooses 2
• He is asked to choose between two feelings "seize!" and "hate!" - he chooses 'seize'
• He is asked for a duration - he chooses 1 second

  With all the choices made, the orb raises out of Khalil's hand and in turn 'seizes' two flutes for 1 second, encasing both in a Goldberg Polyhedron (a three-dimensional almost-spehere made mostly of hexagons) of dark purple energy, crackling like electricity. The flutes are drawn off the ground and table, suspended in the middle of the energy, unharmed by it but moving against gravity to hover at a height off the ground Khalil could easily reach.   The action of seizing both flutes occured in perceptible time, but only just. After capturing the first flute, placed safely outside the shuttle, the orb made a direct line to the second flute, still within the shuttle whose doors were shut. Without any adverse affect on the orb or any other person or item, it moved directly to the second flute, passing through Masruq, the shuttle hull, Zarzur sitting at the shuttle controls, scanning the experiment, and into the shuttle back compartment. The orb pulled Khalil's cursed flute out of its bag and encased it just as it did the first flute.   It's job done, the orb of Ghodar returns to Khalil's hand and settles. A Darkness comes over the area of the shuttle with the orb's activation. Without losing any of the sun's evening rays, the world for a moment still feels darker and the air heavy for the briefest of moments. Souhaila is unsettled and the party is happy to let her go round their campsite to bless and sanctify it. Souhaila's nekatra followers flee to the safety of the jungle below.
GM note: 3 Darkness Points gained for the activation   Other things that were noted at the time:

• The spiritual lodestone was attracted to the activated orb but the orb moved so fast that the stone was only just moved by the attraction
• The spirit glasses didn't show up the orb, they so far have only revealed djanna in the jungles - though no-one was wearing them at the time the orb moved...
• The orb is not intelligent - Khalil was interacting with it as he would a proxy helm (or tabula)

 

Into the desert

  The next morning, the party drop Souhaila off at a mountain village near a series of small waterfalls like those found near the Seeker Sanctuary. They travel in their shuttle, slowly enough for the nekatra to follow at a run though the jungle below. She can live here without a breather, revealing that these waterfalls somehow create breathable air in their vicinity. Though the villagers don't need this, it will allow her to live here freely. Though surprised and wary of a pack of nekatra showing up at their village, humans and nekatra here have always maintained a peace and the presence of Seeker will only fortify that.   Souhaila asks the PCs to pass word of her presence here to any other Seekers they might meet. She says she'll wait here a while, giving her fellows a chance to meet her if any of them escaped the Legion.   The party then uses their connections to arrange to meet with the Xinghur desert tribes. The party's admin (Khalil) speaks to Nuha Mifsud's admin through the Yazdan household admin and a meeting is arranged in the middle desert to the south of Juldizin Demalisi. The PCs politely decline the offer of a member of the Mifsud household to facilitate the meeting but welcome it's advice on dealing with the very raditional desert tribes: make sure they know you aren't off-world scientists come to plunder the planet and bring a gift befitting a traditional, desert pople so minded to hate such artefact stealing.   In the time it takes them to fly back out of the mountains they message Ghodar Station asking for scans of desert. The operators happily oblige, aided by Dana, who it seems has come up to the station. The station reveals:

• The co-ordinates for the Xinghur meeting place given to the party by Souhaila are of a rock formation in the middle desert
• And in passing they mention that their standard atmospheric scans show the valley containing the Abouelkassem research facility to be losing moisture

  Dana agrees to come back down to the planet and join the party in going out into the desert where her original mission was to take her, though first to meet the Xinghur. On the way, she'll pick up from Juldizin Demalisi the gift Masruq has decided on for his soon-to-be hosts: a portable set of Icon figures a display box with an accompanying prayer mat.
GM note: 750 birr taken from party kitty   Dana then gets lift out into the desert to meet with the party shuttle in a place no-one will be watching, and altogether they head out to the agreed meeting place.   The Xinghur have chosen a spot in the middle desert, a place well away from the city and its supporting farms but still a place of life, if you know where to look for the insects, plants and animals that can survive out here. The party gets a glimpse of the deep desert further south, where the sands are devoid of life and a large sandstorm has been looming since the party arrived at Juldizin Demalisi.   Settling down to wait the party uses the shuttles survival kit to create a shaded area where they can sit outside their shuttle and show a non-hostile presence... but the Xinghur do not arrive. In fact, it seems that the sandstorm is headed their way and will reach them before the appointed time. They leave it a fair time to make sure but when it becomes clear the storm is definitely going swallow anything left at the meeting place they pack up and fly safely away.   As the storm consumes the area with devastating wind, blasting sand and chain lightning that would each alone have seen the end of their shuttle, the party chooses to fly to the Xinghur meeting place. This catches the waiting Xinghur by surprise. Two have been watching from a rocky outcrop some kilometres away and use their grav-bikes to catch up.  

Meeting the Xinghur

  The party meets the two Xinghur within the Crossroads rock. Polite greetings are made and the two groups sit down to eat and talk.