Anoria Campaign / The Rose of Jumlat pt. 3 / Galen the 29th through Nulen the 1st, 3592 CE / 8-30-20

Cyla, Tenere, and Anwar the dwarf find themselves in the middle of an ambush by masked raiders as they attempt to track the peddler Waqari, who they suspect of having stolen the fabled Rose of Jumlat from the caravan that Cyla and her companion, the false djinn Thesk, were tasked with guarding. As arrows and then blades rain down on the party, Tenere is struck down and sent back to his plane of origin, but Cyla calls forth Thesk from the Ring of False Djinn to aid in their defense. Thesk in turn summons a hell hound to harry the raiders, but the tide of battle truly turns when a mysterious ghostly figure rises from the ruins of a nearby shrine and begins picking off the raiders one by one, turning them to dust with its mere touch. Soon, despite some grievous wounds, the battle is won, and Thesk and Cyla must now decide how to deal with their new and unlikely ally, while Anwar searches for clues to the whereabouts of the still missing Waqari. The ghostly sand figure introduces itself as Mustafar, which just happens to be the surname of the caravan's benefactor, and then uses its powers to create a tableau in which it depicts the murder of its mortal form by a scarred villain it calls "Akbar." The party are momentarily confused by its continued motioning, until they realize it wishes to them to bring it with them in the form of a sack full of sand from the site of its murder. Cyla obliges and the figure crumbles away, replaced by the face of its mortal form which appears in the sand in Cyla's sack. Anwar meanwhile has found a hidden trail leading out of the basin. At the top of the ridge they discover the six camels of the raiders they vanquished along with a corpse that Anwar identifies as Fahtan, one of the caravan's hired hands. Anwar curses the man for apparently having participated n the theft of the Rose of Jumlat. He tells the others that one camel appears to have been taken, but it will be impossible to follow before the desert eats away the tracks, and he recommends they meet the rest of the caravan at the rendezvous point to reconnoiter and plan next steps, to which Cyla agrees. After several hours catching up with the caravan, they discover to their horror that it has been ambushed, and most of the caravaners murdered, including the Dalmud Hiyali the caravan master. They discover one of the surviving merchants, Djuhla, picking through the belongings of the other merchants, but Cyla sends him scurrying away. Thesk also discovers the fallen form of Umar, who tells her they were attacked by Akbar the Sea Mage, and asks her to swear to recover someone named "Samia," before passing into unconsciousness from the magical poison running through his veins. Anwar tells the party that the Zann Monastery, a monastery of Cabrael, lies just ahead on the caravan's trail, and asks them to help him carry Umar there in the hopes of curing him. Just then the skies open up. Monsoon season has arrived! The party hurriedly makes their way through the rapidly flooding wadi until they finally reach the hill on which rests the Zann Monastery, an oasis in the midst of the harsh desert. They are welcomed inside by the monks, who take Umar away to tend his wounds. Cyla is shown upstairs to the tower room of the monastery's Imam and his advocate, an aged female monk named Sister Gunayya. The Sister confers with both Cyla and Thesk, who is once more trapped in the Ring of False Djinn. She reveals the caravan's secret, that there are in fact two Roses of Jumlat: the fabled jewel and Samia Mustafar, daughter of Kamal Mustafar, whose beauty is so great that she was coveted by Agat Doth, the Emir of Jumlat. Emir Doth's hedonistic ways are so legendary that even Cyla has heard of him. Kamal Mustafar had arranged for his daughter to be transported to the Zann Monastery under the guise of a caravan purported to be in fact transporting the other Rose of Jumlat to the temple of Ishtalar in Ganara. However when Cyla indicates that Akbar the Sea Mage was involved in the caravan's ambush, Sister Ghunayya explains the age old rivalry between Akbar and the Mustafar clan. She is also startled to discover that Mustafa Mustafar's spirit is apparently being carried around in Cyla's satchel! Cyla decides that she wishes to help this spirit of vengeance find peace by finding the missing Samia and avenging Mustafa's death. Sister Ghunayya tells her that none know the location of Akbar's coastal fortress but an old hermit of the desert named Birali. After resting and recovering at the monastery, the party sets out, with Cyla and Anwar riding the flying carpet across the Karakett Desert towards Birali's cave dwelling. After one day of uneventful travel, their luck runs out when a manticore descends upon them Cyla quickly lands the flying carpet and summons Thesk in preparation for the coming battle.