Nomen Infernale XLXIV: Some Have Entertained Angels Unawares
General Summary
As the party prepared to leave they debated following the tracks of the large humanoid or following the tug of the staff. They ultimately decided that they must find the staff and end the threat of the plague god, but Asbjørn suggested they leave some of the melons for whatever giant or giantess had left the tracks. Alex chalked out a depiction of the party offering melons and being comically well endowed and they set off into the southwest following Riven's intuitions about the staff. They passed near the rim of a blackened crater and Asbjørn wondered if there might be metal from a fallen star in it. Alex tried to convince them to explore the gap, but Theo and Teleptyon's marks made them irritable and they prevailed on the rest of the party to leave the blasted land be.
After travelling some distance, Riven realized that the stone field they trod looked familiar and she surmised they were just south of their previous camp. Kegho began to set up camp early as it was no use to try to travel in the pre-dawn hours. After setting up camp he took the first watch which was blissfully quiet. Riven took the next watch and was startled when I bedraggled batch of men in robes nearly stumbled into the camp. They were equally surprised and jabbered at her in a language she did not understand, but she could understand they were urging her to go with them. She backed slowly with her hands raised and woke the party. The Barbarians and Theo led with Alex and Elissa filtering out behind. Alex left his staff and sickle by the door but hoped to wrong-foot the party by being buck naked. Elissa quirked her head and said "asalamalakim" in the manner of the Bani Satra. The leader of the travelers exhaled exasperatedly and then began to jabber at her. She relayed that he kept asking if they were followers of "the way" and Alex rolled his eyes and said "oh, zealots" before slipping back into the tent to dress and retrieve Yahi. Yahi diplomatically responded that they were followers of many gods, but respected that the al Tariq saw them as unified in the Ar and that they had a priest of Ator with them. Theo used his honeyed words to make the leader more amenable to the idea that a priest of order and rules was an ally rather than an enemy and the elder Tariqite zealot concurred. He told them that they were at heightened awareness because of the activities of the necromancer and the corruption of the tribes that made the Yafwad Wastes their home. He noted that the necromancer and his master engaged in slave capturing to supply the great city beyond the sea, which the party grumbled about their familiarity with Eknopolis's hunger for slave labor. They assured the leader that they had deep enmity with the necromancer and were concerned of his active presence in the Wastes. The leader told them that his people had heard the necromancer was waiting for two special victims that would be drawn into the wastes. Teleptyon and Theo quirked at this. The leader agreed to let them travel through the desert provided they swore to give no aid to the necromancer which they easily did. When asked if he knew where the Rusati city was, he laughed and gathered his men to leave "The Rusati are only a legend, something caravaneers tell stories about to enliven long nights away from their loved ones."
The party traveled southwest following the pull of the rod and found a field with shiny rocks. Theo was livid when the party stopped to look and nearly lost his composure when Alex and Teleptyon retrieved their scale and loupe, and alchemy kit respectively. An hour later Teleptyon stated emphatically that it was ore though he knew not which type and Alex confidently stated that it was worth more than sand. Everyone but Riven and Theo shoveled a lump or two of it into their camel bags, shrugged and indicated they were ready to travel on again. As they moved into the open barren wastes of the southwest they found tracks crossing to the south east. Theo had become gravely concerned with the contents of the barrels and Elissa gently urged him to consider that "where there are tracks there are people, and where there are people there is food and water." He relented and they followed the trail to the south east where they found a building made of white stone that glowed like the silver moon in the night. Teleptyon touched Riven between her shoulder blades while whispering an incantation and she became invisible. She stalked up to the building, less quietly than she would prefer and found the windows darkened and a well in the courtyard beyond the wall. She led the party to the gate and Kegho attempted to open it, but it was barred and the rattling made noise. A light appeared in a window and moved through the halls to the entrance. The scraggly zealot and the party surprised each other once again.
The leader introduced himself as Alim and asked how they'd found their sanctum. "Tracks, glow house." Kegho responded though Yahi seemed to talk much longer when he translated. Theo mentioned they were in a bad way with water and Alim unbarred the door and invited them in, offering them a ritual sip of water. He let them stay in the common hall provided they not go further into the sanctuary and allowed them to refill their water casks. The Tariqites dined with the party with Alim making polite small talk before retiring for the night. Alex borrowed ink and papyrus from Riven and made as faithful a copy of the prayers they were saying phonetically. Claiming it might save their neck to be able to parrot back the prayers of the Tariqites in the future. He longed to explore the forbidden sections of the compound, but had a strong personal interest in not being skewered in the night by zealots.
