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Tariq of the Kaldun Majid Chris Waltrip cwaltrip@gmail.com

Fighter, Cousin of Djinn

Kaldun Majid: This militaristic clan has been heavily influenced by Fist. Many of their members have moved to Qatrun cities. Their warriors serve as scouts and merchanar amoung the armies of Fist. They live by hunting, herding, and raiding other clans.

Their tribal garb includes a red turban with black trim.

Pregame: Traveled with cousin west through the Ma’Basht mtn pass to the trade city of Kahta(many Babrem, Humans of the Old Kingdom, other peoples. It was once a province/colony of the Old Kingdom). From there got passage with a “fleet” of three Darsian trade ships going south along the coast to Patrae and Beroea(both Pelosian Empire controlled).

Along the way one of the ships was lost to Utbah(orc) pirate raiders. Your and your cousin’s bows greatly aided the escape of the other two vessels. In thanks captain, Tita Vopisca, of your ship, the “Laughing Siren”, said that to find the beasts you hunt as well as adventure and fame you must “get to the frontier”. These days Scupi province(a colony of Peols Minor) is the place to go. Only trading North-South between Darsis and Beroea she couldn’t take you there. Instead she helped you find a ship in Beroea going that way(which is uncommon) and convince the Pelosian captain/crew that there are advantages to having barbarians from the Dune Seas on board.

Killing time waiting for the ship to be loaded you run into a Babrem from the Thukiri tribe(guardians of the oasises across the Dune Seas). Stunned and happy to find someone from “home” you tell him of your trip and plans to continue towards Scupi. He asks to to come along and it would be an insult to refuse. He spends much time meditating or praying and interacts rarely with anyone.

The trip was uneventful. After arriving you wasted no time leaving the claustrophobic caves of Scupi. Tarrying only long enough to buy camels, supplies and find a caravan heading east to Silvertown. Around cooking fires the first couple days you heard old miner’s tales of a terrible beast that lives in stone and eats metals and gems. Also descriptions of creatures never hunted or even heard of in the Dune Seas; Ashworm, Giant Desert Tortoises, and the fabled Sphinx. The last caused ridicule of the the Ka’im who mentioned it as the others know it’s nothing but a myth used to scare children into behaving.

1st session “Deadly Desert part1” The caravan is escorted by nine Pelosian soldiers on horses who are dressed in black with sandy yellow cloaks and black and yellow crested helmets. You are more comfortable around the Ka’im(orcs) laborers than the elitist and sneering Pelosians. Still you and your cousin keep mostly to yourselves.

Travel is fast at first along a road of stone the likes of which you have never seen. Early the 4th night you pass a large crew of Pelosian and Ka’im building the road. Beyond this the barely visible track is rough and filled with stones. The caravan’s speed is cut in half. Late on the 7th night the caravan is ambushed by ??? You never see the attackers.

You are tracked and attacked by “sand hunters”, some sort of pack carnivore. Vicious on the attack but easily killed or driven away. The Thukiri (Qazir) plucks out one of their eyeballs and eats it.

2nd session “Deadly Desert part2” You stumble on a “forest” of limbless, leafless, trees made of stone. Many of which are toppled and broken. You didn’t have time to figure out if they had been carved or were the result of some sorcery before being ambushed by hyena men. You are badly injured and expect to be reclaimed by the sands.

Then you have a bizarre dream. All the people you’ve been leading across the wasts are there, in some sort of oasis. The ground is covered with green grass and surrounded by tall leafy woods. The oasis was crawling with Pelosians, flying, appearing out of nowhere, and performing other foul arcane acts(Fist/Babrem are slightly against arcane magic). Stranger still were the many magical beasts and constructs flying, crawling, rolling and walking everywhere.

Inexplicity you can now read the words carved into the pillars of this building. Although little of it is more than nonsense. After solving the riddles a human(a Pelosian?) dressed in unusual green cloths (like nothing you have heard of, pants, shirt, many pockets) appears*, looks at each of you and then says “Don’t open the Flakarg, argh! The seal, don’t open the seal.” Then looks over his shoulder and disappears. [* he doesn’t actually appear, he’s sort of glowing and a bit transparent. It’s what you always thought the Statue of Light that the Fist and your cousin are always talking about would look like. Hlark god of Fist appeared long ago as a statue of light and told the Qatrun the law,science,etc of Hlark]

You awake to find yourself fully healed but surrounded by Pelosian soldiers dressed like the caravan guards. They demand your surrender. The manacles the clamp on your wrists are enchanted to prevent you from talking or seeing, but you can hear. Transported on horse back for two and half days to some camp or town. After spending the night the next day you travel by wagon to what sounds like a large town.