Hey Readers.
For the love of Lucineo, I have no idea why I can not get this updated on any kind of a schedule, but I am going to continue to try despite being swamped at work. One of these days (hopefully today or tomorrow) I am going to catch up from being a week behind, and I will also catch up from my lack of "extra" posts. I have some good ones waiting too… So let's get to the catching up shall we…
The Shaw, seeing that the whole fight had been a misunderstanding, invited the party into his chambers to discuss their possible beneficial alliance. Walking into the room the majority of the party was impressed with its finery. Tables of food lay scattered about the room, and harem girls were there serving drinks and performing tasks as needed. The party sat down to refreshment and discussion with the Shaw. Explaining fully all that they knew, the shaw thought long and hard about their story. In the end though we decided to believe them, even if their story seemed to be something weirder then fiction. But he knew that their assistance could be the very thing to help him pull off his plans. So the group discussed exactly what their plans should be, and how they should go about leading to their success. The Shaw informed them that starting tomorrow there would be coincil meetings between all of the Shaws, and that then is when he would try to employ his plan of making the four large city-states a true nation, with him at the head of course. Through their discussion, the party found that the toughest opponent to said plan would be the Shaw of Ergard. The ruler of the City of Ergard, located about four days travel by horse across the desert. The City itself sat flush and even built into the ridge line at its back, and was quite the defensible location if the city was ever attacked.
The next day as the party awaited the decisions of the council, various members went about other business. Most exciting was Tariel finding the Shaw's army training ground. There he came upon an archery range and he decided to keep up his skills with a bit of practice. As he was practicing, a crowd had gathered around another of the archers. The man was clothed in a brown robe, as were the rest but when Tariel watched him draw and fire, he saw a flash of green at the wrists of the man, showing the fact that he was wearing a second set of robes under the first. Not saying anything, he approached the man, and congratulated him on his prowess. During their talk of archery, a contest was mentioned, and soon all gathered were gladly cheering on the two marksman. Each would have theee arrows, and whomever brought their combined three arrows the closest to the bullseye would be the winner. Both men were great shots, and ALL of their arrows struck the center bullseye, but it was Tariel's final arrow that struck the pip in the center of the target granting him the victory.
Tariel coming back after his victory arrived at the palace with the rest of the party to see the Shaws coming out of the meeting room. There was a haze of happiness as all of the Shaws and even their majordomos were all smiling, well almost all of them were smiling. The Shaw of Oasis informed the group that a decision had been made, and in record time. The nation was to be formed, its name was to be "The Desert of Fire". THe party also learned that the Shaw's plan had been successful, and he was to be crowned the first Sultan of the Desert of Fire. The Coronation would be the next day, and he would be thrilled if they would be there. Namsuri, speaking for the party informed the new Sultan, that of course they would be there, and that they looked forward to what promised to be a grand event. That night the party went back to their rooms to get some sleep before the grand ceremony that would occur on the morrow.
When the next morning came, the party was out in front of the palace steps, in the throngs of onlookers who were all in shock of the immensity of what was about to happen to their city-state, and their new nation. As the speeches were being given, Namsuri was looking around, as always keeping his head on a swivel trying to find large, unwatched, purses that he could give a good home to. It was because of his vigilance that he saw the flash of the sun off of a piece of glass a block away from the new Sultan's palace. Making his way through the crowd and closer to the source of the glare he had made it to the back of the crowd when he saw the arrow already in the air shouting a warning the rest of the party sprang to action. Ulemon imposed himself between the shooter and the new Sultan, Raistlin turned and ready the might of his magic against any threats from the crowd, and Tariel tried desperateely to his a scorching ray to burn down the incoming arrow. Unfortuneately he was unable to hit the small fast moving target and the arrow struck the Shaw of Ergard on the Dais next to the Sultan who had just been crowned. The look of shock on the Shaw's face was only beaten out by the look of pain as he crumpled to the ground. Ulemon and now joined by Tariel on the Dais stood shoulder to shoulder prepared to protect the Sultan as palace guards as well as guards from the other shaws on the dais rushed forward. Namsuri took off down the street toward the building that the arrow was fired from, but was cut down as an arrow took him square in the chest. The arrow was the most painful thing he had ever felt, but it was the poison that was coating it that hurt him the most, as the round after he was shot it started to take its effect.
At this point Raistlin had joined the defenders on the dais, but the people in the crowd had started yelling about assassination, and some had even begun pointing fingers at the "Outsiders". As the crowd started getting rowdy, Tariel saw that it was black robed people in the crowd making the loudest of the accusations, and egging the crowd on more and more. Looking harder, he saw that it was members of the Black Army beneath the black robes. Drawing an arrow and putting it to string he was more ready now then ever, and that is when he heard it…
"The archers arrows match the arrow in the Shaw" was shouted from somewhere in the crowd, and as the party looked on, it was seen that the arrow in the Shaw was indeed a match to the arrow knocked on Tariel's bow, and the other 18 that were sitting in his quiver. Immediately all of the palace guards had surrounded the party, and not wanting to cause an incident the party surrendered to the new Sultan.
After retrieving and curing Namsuri the rest of the party went about trying to convince the Sultan and his men that they had absolutely nothing to do with the assassination. Finally it was Raistlin that realized that all of Tariel's arrows had been glimmered to appear to look like the one that had shot the Shaw. With this in mind, and a few dispel checks later the party had been cleared. As they walked out with the Sultan and his retinue, the Sultan was attacked. Thinking quickly the party put down the assassin and kept the Sultan from harm. But it was at this point that the Sultan realized that his Emerald of Arrow Blocking was missing. With the knowledge of the theft, the Sultan was about to ask the PC's to investigate, but it was then that a runner came in bearing news that a black robed army was attacking from the east…
That was where we left that session off for the evening. It had been a lot of mexican stand offs and roleplaying, and not a lot of fighting, but as you can see from the cliffhanger, all of that was about to change…
Until next time readers, may your halberds be sharp and your bowstrings taut…
-DM Eraser
