Rustam was a well-dressed Majirahan who said he was from Mismari, and he'd come to Al-Darum to find a giant-killing spear that was rumored to be in the ruins. He wanted to use this spear to kill a giant that had been plaguing one of the Emirs of Mismari in the hopes of winning the hand of the Emir's daughter, Yasmina.
Rather than continue quickly through to the temple of Pharat, the party assisted Rustam with looking through deeper levels of the ruined city. They fought off some more skeletons, dust mephits, and a grey ooze before arriving in a treasure chamber. There Rustam presumably found his spear, plucking it from a statue, and Steiger took the shield of another statue. Having helped Rustam, the patry continued through Al-Darum and into the norther Kuritak forest. With the help of Steiger's trail-blazing the group found the old temple of Pharat, which ages ago was once a pilgrimage spot dedicated to a nature spirit long gone.
In Pharat the group found the sage Rajasaru, an inquisitive and lonesome monkey humanoid. He did his best to answer questions the group had:
1. The box found deep below Rhotas contained a scale of Bahamut, the giant fish that supports the Middle World. Long ago mortals used to mine Bahamut for the powerful scales to craft armor and weapons, but this was seen as blasphemy by the Celestials/Gods and Nature spirits. This caused great enmity between the groups, and the gods and spirits mostly abandoned the Middle World to mortals.
2. Rajasaru didn't know about strange coins found on the goblins, claiming Nature spirits and the like had no need for money. He said asking one of the mortal kingdoms would yield better results.
3. He told Anden that his mysterious cube was definitely Elf magic. He did not know about Steiger's cameo.
4. The tomes found with the Bahamut scale were written in Auran, the language of the wind Djinn, although Rajasaru could not read it. He said that either one of the great libraries in the elf kingdom of Tahirah or the gnome Library of Feng far to the east would be able to help decipher them.
Anden and Ardeshir made the decision to give the Bahamut scale to Rajasaru for safekeeping, and the group decided to spend the night at Pharat. In the morning they would continue westward, being past the great mountains, and find out what they could from the wood-elf kingdom of Tahirah.
RECAP:
- The group first met Rustam, a young man from the Majirahan city of Mismari. He was after a giant-slaying spear to win the heart of his love, Yasmina. When Rustam was asked why he could see in the dark, he dodged the question.
- Below Al-Darum were old ruins. The group found the relic spear and a shield (and left a helmet) amidst statues and murals of the Second Age. While Steiger took the shield (and it has shown no magical properties), Rustam was confident the seemingly normal spear
- The old tomes discovered beneath Rhotas Barav are written in Auran, the Sky-Tongue.
- Rajisaru is one of the great Sages, an eccentric monkey. Ardeshir left the Scale of Bahamut in his keeping since it was often misused by mortals.
- Spirits and Guardians have no need for money.
