A3: Ch5: Through the Desert to Hasaab
General Summary
Making their way through the desert with Cal, they come upon a canyon they must enter in order to reach the city of Hasaab. A ways into the canyon, a few people could be seen at the top peering down at the party with weapons in hand. Without hesitation, Shen throw a fireball in their direction severely injuring one and causing the rest to disperse and leave the party alone.
Continuing the journey, Xar and Aire exchange pleasantries with Cal learning about his desert escorting business and about his fiancé he has back home in the Tilothan empire. After one of the night rest, Cal approaches Xar with a confession. He pulls rolled up pieces of parchment out of his bag and reveals them to be a bounty posters for the party. He explains that he is a bounty hunter, he hunts down fugitives and deserters in the Arruce Kingdom and Tova Naa, typically sticking to the desert area as to hide his magic abilities. His nickname of Crimson coming from the fact that most of his bounties do not get turned in alive, often with Cal covered in their blood. However, from their journey together and the stories shared, he believes it would be wrong to claim their bounties and wants to help them instead, assuming they pay as he needs enough money for him and his fiance Tilly to leave the Tilothan Empire. The group agrees to continue traveling with Cal to Hasaab.
In Hasaab, Cal brings them to his place he has in the city. Shen and Xar want to find disguises. Seeing lizardfolk in the city, Xar asks Cal to find enough dye to hide the color of his scales while Shen asks for a mask. Meanwhile, Bink goes to the palace and grand library where he finds that nobles can make appointments to tour palace area. Bink asks to see the library where he is told only scholars and archaeologists can access it and he would have to have something of value to exchange. He donates some of the rare books he has picked up through his travels and enters Library. After searching for a few hours he manages to find an old text that mentions an ancient city in the desert which Bink was not familiar with. Going to the maps in the library he cross referenced the texts description of the location with the map to find there to be nothing marked. His hunch being that the vision Aire had must be in that location. Bink took his findings back to the team and they planned to set out the next day and asked Cal to guide them as he knew this desert well. He agrees as long as they split any treasure they find along the way.
Wanting to help Cal leave Northern Vithrin and pay him for guiding them through the desert, they concoct a plan to turn in Xar to the Arruce embassy and collect the bounty, then bust him out. They scope out the embassy to find how many guards and get a general idea of the layout. Finding that there is a storeroom with a couple large chests they decide to conduct a heist instead. They map out their finding and plan to conduct the heist upon their return from the desert. That night however, the group decided to go tavern hopping as a last hurrah before being out of the road again. Shen, Bink, Xar, and Cal went out while Aire stayed behind to meditate. Many hours later, Bink stumbles back to Cal's place and passes out while the other are nowhere to be seen. Shen and Xar come to and find that they are with a group of bandits whom are about to rob a nobles house. They blast open the door and head inside with Xar and Shen. Realizing what's happening and seeing the fear in the nobles eyes, Xar takes out his weapon and kills one of the bandits and Shen follow suit. Making quick work of the group they are profusely thanked by the family and asked their names and if they need anything. Xar tells them they are the heroes of Galren and they he would like them to get a tour of the palace appointment set up for them and they stumble off home. The next morning Cal runs inside in a hurry as the city alarm bells ringing and they are searching for the heroes of Galren whom are said to be in the city. They hurriedly get there stuff together and Cal manages to convince the guard to let them through the gates.
Back in the desert Cal takes them to a small village he knows on the the way where they can refill their water. After the village and after a run in with some giant scorpions, they make it to the area Bink marked on the map. The area seems to just be more desert, but Aire spots something glistening in the distance. Moving to the object, Shen uses mold earth to reveal it to be the golden topping to a pyramid. Bink tries to decipher the hieroglyphics and from what he can gather is this is the ancient civilization he read about and this pyramid is both a prison and a monument to warn those who would oppose the gods.
They decide to dig out the pyramid (mostly meaning Shen using mold earth) and after most the day had passed they manage to uncover one side of the pyramid, which was luckily the entrance.
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments