Adventure 16: Nemburu, the Kaftar Stronghold

Nemburu used to be the old southern metropolis of Majirah, but ages ago the hyena-like Kaftar were bred by Buud and took over the southern deserts. From Nemburu they send out their raiding parties and scouts in the hopes of food and destroying the Majirahan Kingdom.

According to Shah Khalid and his advisors, the sandstorms ravaging the deserts and preventing caravans (and, for the party, travel to the Hanging Gardens ruins) are being caused by a Kaftar ritual to Buud, and the party traveled to Nemburu with the intentions of disrupting those rituals.

The cave system Failn discovered led into a small, buried ruin of the old outskirts of the city. The party wound through some old rooms and fought off an umberhulk. Encountering some sealed doors (and acidic resistance), they turned away from further exploration and headed to the surface, where they entered a quiet part of the city. Ardeshir, Anden, and Suha took the flying carpet up for some reconnaissance, finding which of the buildings was being used as the Kaftar wujen (priest) temple.

Using Anden's knowledge of the cities and through stealth the party avoided Kaftar patrols, managing to enter the old palace being used as the ritual space. They fought off several Kaftar quickly and made their way up the ritual space, where Arashino Maru unleashed a devastating lightning bolt. The lightning shattered the ritual area, creating a vacuous portal. Maru was almost dragged in, but Failn managed to reach out and, with effort, drag him away from the portal's effects.

As the skies began to clear, the party unfurled their flying carpet and flew away, the sounds of Kaftar alarms ringing in the early sunset. Back towards Majirah they flew, in the hopes of settling matters with Shah Khalid and Abanazar.

Adventure 15: The Kaftar Threat

Eventually in the wee hours of the morning Abanazar arrived to collect his due from the Vipers. Unfortunately, he meets with the adventurers instead, who immobilize him through magic and then capture him in the hopes of fixing his hypnosis from Shanya the Naga.

Through time and reasoning, the party managed to keep Abanazar from being a threat and get him to explain himself. He said that Shanya was after the location of the Hanging Gardens, and used Abanazar to employ the Vipers to find relics and maps of its location. The Hanging Gardens would allow the Naga to find the brass vessel containing the Air Djinn lord, one of the four Djinn lords the Naga have been seeking to gain dominance over the Middle World.

Returning to the Shah with Abanaazar, the party agreed to help protect or find the brass vessel first. Khalid explained that finding the Hanging Gardens would be difficult because of the raging sandstorms preventing travel through the desert. These sandstorms were caused by the rituals of the Kaftar, the hyena-like nomads and warriors besieging Majirah. To first find the ruins of the Gardens, the party must quell the Kaftar's storms.

Enlisting the help of Suha, the party ventured southward through the desert via camel, heading to the ruined city of NEMBURU, the Kaftar capital...

RECAP:

• The Kaftar base of operations is an old southern capital called Nemburu. (See "The Kaftar" post.)
• The Kaftar have rituals that honor Buud, the Hyena god of the hot desert, and have been controlling sandstorms in order to plague caravans and travelers.
• The Hanging Gardens and the Citadel of Winds are the location of one of the brass vessels sealed by Kazim the Abjurer.

Adventure 14: The Vizier and the Naga

With Ardeshir at the front of the argument of not needing to take the vizier's life, the group talked Shah Khalid into agreeing to pardon the vizier if they could break the Naga's influence over him. The Shah agreed with them that a Majirah with Abanazar would be stronger against the Naga threat.

It was agreed that Abanazar was meeting with someone in order to dictate orders to the VIPER tanzim, who were doing the dirty work in the streets of the city. Ichirou and Anden followed the vizier late at night to a secret meeting with a cloaked woman. When the two parted, Ichirou followed the woman and Anden pursued Abanazar.

Abanazar met with the Vipers in an abandoned building within the city. Anden watched for anything suspicious, while meanwhile Ichirou followed the cloaked woman into a residence. Ichirou followed and was hit with a hidden trap -- a poisoned needle -- and the woman attacked. Revealing herself to be a Naga, she threatened the halfling's life. Only the timely save by Maru, Elaria, and Failn prevented Ichirou's death, who was delirious from the poison. The Naga envoy, named SHANYA, escaped into the night.

With one road dead, the party reconnected with Anden and went to see the Vipers. Within the Vipers' warehouse they found evidence of all the collected maps and information on the Hanging Gardens that the Vipers were searching for Abanazar. The party dispatched them and tried to keep them alive, but slips of the tongue led to them silencing all the Vipers, while they simply waited for Abanazar's arrival....

RECAP:

• Abanazar, under the control of the Naga, meets with the Vipers in order to sift through artifacts of the desert in order to find the Hanging Gardens.
• The Naga envoy controlling Abanazar is a woman named Shanya.

Adventure 13: Majirah, the City of Suns

MAJIRAH, the great desert capital, is a sprawling network of clay and stone buildings, towers with minarets and spires. People in flowing kaftans, turbans, and colored robes walk the lanes that spider through the desert. Its center is the beautiful blue oasis called El-Mir’sari, the Mirage Pool.

 Here the party sought an audience with the SHAH, KHALID, ruler of the desert kingdom. Unfortunately, beauracracy prevented the meeting from being timely, and the adventurers spent downtime in the markets.

While exploring the city, they rescued a woman from a kenku group of thugs. The woman turned out to be a djinn traveler named SUHA. While armed, she remained pacifistic, but thanked the party for their assistance in helping her. She explained that she was being targeted as a djinn for the whereabouts of a map that supposedly held the location of the ruins called the HANGING GARDENS. These ruins reportedly were the gateway to the lost CITADEL OF WINDS, where the wind Djinn lord once resided before being sealed away by KAZIM the Abjurer centuries ago.

Anden, using his street contacts, found a man who had come in possession of such a map from the Black Markets. The party went to find out more about the map from this man, named FIRAZ. Through bargaining and the sale of Failn's gyoubi nuts, Firaz parted with the map.

The party eventually was given access to see Shah Khalid. Upon first being vetted from the royal vizier, ABANAZAR, the group concluded that Abanazar was blocking their progress, but Ardeshir and Maru concluded through skill and spell that he was coerced, probably by Naga influence (like the Haritacandra bandits in Tahirah).

In private audience with the Shah, the party asked for help against the Nagas, and that Abanazar may be compromised. Shah Khalid agreed, being familiar and on guard against the Nagas already. He presumed his vizier to be under their influence and asked the party to investigate. He said if Abanazar was indeed working with the Nagas, the party was tasked with assassinating him. 

RECAP:

• Organized groups in Majirah are called tanzims. One of these is the VIPERS, a group of bandits and thieves looking for the Hanging Gardens.
• Suha is a djinn, a mortal race of fire and smoke humans who used to dwell in the desert before the Naga were exiled. They left when the desert was destroyed and live in a hidden city in the eastern deserts called Ubar.
• Abanazar is the vizier/advisor to Shah Khalid. They are generally respected by the people of Majirah.
• Majirah is home to a thriving Black Market of goods and services. Anden, a street rat, has connections with many of these groups and lowlifes.

Adventure 12: Garm and the Earth Sage

In possession of a new ride, the party took their flying carpet eastward. In order to convince Lord SHIVAN and Adanir that the Nagas were a threat to them as well as all the Middle World, the heroes would have to convince the other kingdoms that the Naga threat needed to be united against.

They started by heading to Majirah, the desert kindgom, and the first step was at the dwarf kingdom of GARM. There they met with LORD BAILSHAR, who welcomed them openly. Although Bailshar thought the dwarves' lives had been to easy simply protecting their borders from Kaftar and goblins.
He agreed to enlist aid against the Nagas if Majirah also pledged help. When asked about the ruins under Rhotas Barav (that the party discovered months ago in their first adventure), Bailshar said they had been excavated and the artifacts brought to Majirah for further study.

In Garm the party also met NAHRINA, the Dwarven High Cleric. While discussing events with her, the adventurers learned that she was concerned about Haozhu, the Earth Sage. She said herbs and other elements of the land were rotting. Haozhu dwelt in an old cavernous hall called the Road of Ruin, which could be accessible from the mountains or, more treacherously, through the Scar.

The party left Garm and traveled via magic carpet to the Scar. During their descent they were attacked by a demonic winged creature, a VROCK. While flying precariously down into the scar they battled the vrock, with Ardeshir eventually jumping off to slam it into the surface down below.

The party found HAOZHU, the Earth Sage, a giant hedgehog. They learned that the earth was being carved out by malevolent forces and that it was having a deteriorating effect on the spirits and creatures of the land. They left Haozhu and took the magic carpet to Majirah.

RECAP:

• Haozhu the Earth Sage is a giant hedgehog. Of all the sages, he is most connected to the land and its spirits.
• Garm is ruled by Bailshar, who pledged to help against the Naga if Majirah similarly joined the fight.
• The artifacts found in the ruins beneath Rhotas Barav were sent to Majirah for catalogue and study.

Tying Knots: The MIsison So Far

As we move into Phase 2 of the game, here's some clarifications/streamlines to illuminate the adventure so far and the party's objectives. (This shouldn't be ret-conning anything, just clarifying all the loose threads.)

The Naga Threat

The party has encountered evidence that the Nagas, pushed out of the deserts long ago, are somehow mustering power. This is manifested mainly in two ways:

1. Forces in the west, like the Haritacandra bandits, have been sowing discord among Tahirah and the border city of Cairona (see Adventures 3-6). You found strange silver coins among the Haritacandra (and the goblins beneath Rhotas Barav, and renegade Sirrusha around Kali) that were revealed to be  Naga currency: they're paying groups off (and using some form of hypnosis) to weaken Tahirah and Majirah.
2. In your first adventure you found old books, which were later revealed to be written in Auran (the language of the wind). These tomes recounted some of the power of the Djinn Lords, who were considered immensely powerful and sealed away by Kazim the Abjurer during the Second Age, causing the djinn to eventually migrate into the eastern wasteland deserts and hide. Scholars and arcanists believe that unlocking the power of the Djinn Lords can grant wishes or grant strength (physical and magical) that would make mortals nigh unstoppable. 

It is believed the Nagas are trying to uncover the brass vessels wherein the Djinn Lords are sealed and eventually strike back at the kingdoms of Majirah and Tahirah (mostly Majirah, who drove them out with the help of the djinn and Adanir). With the Djinn Lords beside them, they could easily take over the whole Middle Kingdom.

See the relevant posts here:

• http://dnd-middleworld.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-auran-tomes.html
• http://dnd-middleworld.blogspot.com/2015/06/adventure-5-elf-queen.html

Moving Forward

• The party's goals, then, are twofold, and this is why Shivan entrusted you with the carpet.
• Go to each of the main kingdoms (Majirah, Tahirah, and Taishan) and try to convince and recruit them against the Naga's impending invasion (it seems the Nagas have already begun infiltrating and affecting each region).
• Find out about the brass vessels containing the Djinn Lords and recover or destroy them. This may require finding out more about Kazim the Abjurer and the djinn, and since it often deals with languages outside your ken, will involve other historians/librarians/adventures to find someone who speaks whatever languages, etc. (Again, consult past adventures and texts.)

You have a wide array of options moving forward, and as you travel to all these new places, more opportunities for character adventures and stories will present themselves (and your heroes will come into their own, and drama will ensue!).

Majirah: The Land of the Suns

Majirah is the hub of the Astara Desert communities, the seat of power for the Shah of the Kingdom of Majirah, and a major power in the route between the eastern Empire of Taishan and the western elflands of Tahirah.

Characters looking to peruse the black market of magic goods, spices, and lost lore can find Majirah a welcoming place. It inhabits a realm of desert mysticism that lies mainly untouched by the Celestial Court.
 

  

CITIES

Majirah: The capital and major urban point, the grand city of Majirah sits on an oasis. It is overseen by the Shah, KHALID.

The-Bin: A mid-sized town, linked to the city of Cairona via the underground RIGUN PASS. [See Adventure  7).

Rhotas:A small town that raises livestock in the hills of the mountains. The underground cistern was plagued by goblins before the arrival of the party (see Adventure 1).

Mohr-Mer: A temple-city devoted to the teachings of Annayur, the gold dragon (see Adventure 7).

Koso-Mehr: A temple-city devoted to the ways of the silver dragon AMUN-BAL. The party's paladin, ARDESHIR ROUHANI, is from Koso-Mehr.

Garm: The western dwarf citadel.

Adanir: The hidden city of the Elder Elves (see Adventure 11).

DANGEROUS PLACES

Al-Duram: An old trade-city now in ruins. Beneath it lay a spear that RUSTAM took (see Adventure 2).

Nemburu: An old fort-city, it is now the home of the hyena-like KAFTAR peoples. The Kaftar raid desert caravans. (See Creatures: KAFTAR)

Denkri Cataract: A ruin built around a waterfall from the eastern mountains.

Pharat: A temple in the Pharon Woods, Pharat is home to the monkey-sage RAJASARU (see Adventure 2).

GEOGRAPHY

The ASTARA DESERT is surrounded mostly by the tall SACANNO MOUNTAINS, which are fairly steep and treacherous (see adventures 8-11). 

The northern range, around Garm, houses an old citadel called GHABRIN, where AMUN-BAL, the silver dragon, reigns. Deep underdark caverns lead to ruins of the Second Age, and some go even into the SCAR, which was created when the best LEVIATHAN was killed.

POLITICS

SHAH KHALID rules over Majirah, taking council with the various sheiks of the tribes who subsist in the desert. Three Emirs also help run the districts of Majirah, acting as a city council of sorts.

Organized groups, called tanzims, act as guilds and organizations to oversee other elements of the city. Some tanzims are good or innocuous (like the Gardening tanzim, or the Librarian tanzim), while many more are gangs that work in the shadows of the city. These tanzims are often made up of bandits and thieves who operate organized crime and "down-to-earth" protection of the people and city.

RELIGION

Much of Majirah still follows its Old Ways, an animistic tradition around the life of the desert and unhindered by interference from the Celestial Court.

Temples to Phoenos, El-Ahrairah, and Zu are mainstays in the peoples' lives, who view prayers to each spirit as necessary depending on the situation. Most often the gods of the Fox and Tabin are seen as cults, operating in the darker corners of the city. Buud especially is seen as taboo, given his prominence with the Kaftar.

THE UNDERGROUND

Much of Majirah is in the shade: tanzims help coordinate and move goods to and from the city, and a black market has sprung from this. Called the SINDHURIS, the "Goods-River," the black market is a staple for those wishing to find rare or secretive items or works.

Rumor and bribery run amok among the tanzims who operate in this underground world, and it is said even the Shah has sources within the underworld to help maintain his stake in the information and secrecy that exists beneath Majirah's main streets.

ADANIR: Notable NPCs and Places

SHIVAN

Adanir is ruled by Lord SHIVAN, the Elder Elf King. The Kings of Adanir are infused with power by a pact with the gold dragon ANNAYUR. The elven society is strictly reclusive, a vast store of magic and might, but sworn by Annayur not to care about the Middle World.

After the destruction of Behemoth, Annayur saw that other mortals had a negative impact on the elves, and they locked themselves away to study life and its secrets in seclusion. Though they wield great magic, they are trapped in their own prison. It is forbidden to leave Adanir, by punishment of death.

Adanir is protected by the Order of Golden Disciples, monks sworn to uphold Annayur’s will (which is protecting his children, as he is bonded with the royal family).

The Golden Order is led by JAYAN, who inherited the position from his father. Jayan thought your party was being honest and noble in its quest to help the Middle World. He informed Anden of the young elf's noble birthright, and helped train Failn in some more monastic regimens.

SAMOUJIROU

Shivan's councilor is a crow-headed Tengu named SAMOUJIROU. Samoujirou is distrustful of the

party, believing you may be spies or assassins. The Tengu live on the slopes of Mt. Ara, the tallest peak around the valley, where Annayur dwells.

The court librarian and chief scholar is TABARI. Tabari is a green-scaled Dragonborn, a creature whose presence is unique among the kingdoms. Dragonborn are not known to exist, and Tabari is something of a curiosity. He's rather grateful that Adanir is so used to him and shut off from the Middle World, so that he does not draw unwanted attention.

Adanir's people are still master craftsmen and enchanters, and magical items can be bargained for there more easily that some of the other kingdoms.

Its people are devoted to the Celestials, who were a notable part of Adanir's court before the city closed its gates. Many priests (called shugenja) still maintain these temples because it is important to the functioning of the city. Of notable concern are the temples devoted to:

• Ashnan, the Farmer, whose shugenja oversee the valley's crops and sustenance. Maru's childhood friend Chou is a shugenja for Ashnan.
• Nidaba, the Scholar, who entrusted the royal library to Tabari. The library houses any number of divine spells.
•  Kujaku, the Peacock-King's protege was the seeress Uhr-Mina. Kujaku helped created the time distortion surrounding the valley.
• The temple to Kui, Celestial of rain and storms, is where your party's cleric, Arashino Maru, was trained. His father, ARASHINO ROUKU, is a respected head of the order.

Adanir has access to the outside world via a special trade route to the peninsula south of the mountains.

It should be noted that Shivan's sister, ENILA, was killed pleading against Shivan's isolationist movement. Enila was revealed to Anden to be his mother, so Anden (birthname of Namtar) is a prince of Adanir, and Shivan's nephew. According to Jayan, Shivan (and possibly the city) would not react well to this news, and so Anden keeps his true identity secret.

Congratulations on your new purchase! FLYING CARPET USER'S MANUAL

After bringing Uhr-Mina back to the court if Adanir, Shivan entrusted you with a flying carpet. He hoped it would expedite your mission as envoys to the other Kingdoms of the Middle World, in the hopes you can stop the threat of a Naga invasion.

Here's some information about your sweet new ride:

 

History
The elves of Adanir are masters of enchantment. During the Second Age, in their alliance with Majirah, they controlled a special unit of battle-mages that employed flying carpets. Adanir also used the carpets as a means of transportation for their nobles, when they still dealt with the Middle World.

The carpets are made of sheep wool (some raised in Adanir, others in Taishan) and silk (that is secretly imported from Taishan, even now), and dyed from various natural dyes. The carpets are then enchanted by a select group of Adanir wizards.

While the carpets were very common to see when Adanir interacted with the outside, now they are kept under strict supervision by the court. You've been given a very honorable investment.

Using Your New Carpet for Fun and Profit
The carpet is larger and slower than many other kinds you may see or encounter, and other mounts like horses (and ponies). This is because it had to be large enough to fit your party, as well as to carry the bulk of your weight (including armor).

Size: 6 ft by 9 ft.
Capacity: 900 lbs.
Speed: 30 ft per round (24 miles in 8 hours). It moves half this rate if you overload it.
Weight: 100 lbs (when rolled and carried).

The main benefit of the carpet is that you don't have to stop and feed it, rest, etc. So you can travel longer without the need for long rests. So you could travel up to 16 hours or so a day without really tiring or suffering the effects of exhaustion.
Generally, we'll assume after each four hours you are grounding the carpet and walking about for a short rest period. Otherwise you'd all cramp up and such, right? 

Command
The carpet has a command word that must be spoken as an action to make it hover and fly. It moves according to your spoken directions, provided you are within 30 feet of it.
You all have control of the carpet.
The current command word is banana-pop. (You can change this if you all agree.)

Defenses & Damage
The flying carpet is enchanted to withstand the wear-and-tear of travel, but it is not invulnerable. It can be cut, burned, and ruined if you're careless with it. While the carpet can function with damage, it's up to a case-by-case basis if the carpet gets so badly damaged it's unusable. You can repair the carpet by returning to Adanir (with certain caveats...).

Adventure 11: Senganji & Uhr-Mina

After waking in Adanir, the members of the party were separated from the others in various ways. They were each questioned about their being in Adanir, about carrying Naga silver, and why they were journeying.

After three days in various states of isolation, the party was reunited and brought before Lord Shivan's court in Adanir. In Shivan's court was also Jayan, an elven monk and head of the Golden Order who protect Shivan and the city, and also Samoujirou, a winged Tengu: a crow-headed creature who is Shivan's advisor. While Jayan praised the adventurers and thought they were envoys of the Middle World who could break Adanir's isolationism, Samoujirou was still suspicious that they were not all they claimed and possibly after the Elder Elves' leader (or some other power).

Uhr-Mina, the Seeress of Adanir

The group convinced Shivan to listen to the council of Uhr-Mina, a seeress who had been respected by Shivan's father. When Shivan took the throne, he had Uhr-Mina banished to the Temple of Senganji, in the northeast of the valley. The party offered to go and bring her back so that her wisdom may help Shivan's decision. The court allowed this.

Senganji was built in honor of Kujaku, the Celestial of Time and Fate. Sometime around three hundred years ago, an earthquake struck the valley, and a chasm split most of the temple from the mainland, leaving the temple in ruins.

The party ventured through Senganji, learning that the temple controlled a time- bubble that was created by Kujaku around the valley. This bubble was supposed to keep Adanir suspended in glory, but the quake's destruction ruined this, and now time leaked around the valley, and in the temple particularly. The party learned that the monks had been attacked by a draconic beast that Annayur (the Gold Dragon) tried to drive away, as well as a crafted Guardian of the Cloister, a samurai-armor Helmed Horror.

A tougher, winged Ryujin

The party managed to pass the Horror through various encounters thanks to Ardeshir's and Anden's quick-thinking, eventually ending it. As they continued on they also met ryujin, who were squatting in the temple's ruins, loyal to the beast they called "their mistress."

When the party reached the uppermost areas of the temple, past the quake-fissure, they encountered a wyvern, a dragon-like beast with a poisonous barbed tail.  Maru and Elaria summoned forth terrible storms, and with the aide of Failn miraculously stunning the creature, the party made quick work of the wyvern.
In a shrine, Uhr-Mina awaited the party's arrival. She said, "Master Kujaku told me that one day you would arrive, and that Adanir would have to step from the shadows into the light."

The party brought Uhr-Mina back to Shivan's court, where eventually she helped sway the troubled King to see that the adventurers were interested only in saving the Middle World from the threat of a Naga invasion, not assassinating the Elf king. The court claimed that the adventurers must live true to their mission: they must recruit the other kingdoms to their cause, to stand together, and eventually travel into the unknown regions of Lost Khandar, where the Nagas dwelled. To aid in their travels, the court bestowed upon the party a flying carpet, a magical mount of Adanir, and wished them well on their journey.

With the Middle World now widely open to them, the party discussed where to go next. It was decided the first stop should be the Dwarven citadel of Garm, to check on any progress made with the ruins underneath Rhotas. From there, they would travel to the desert capital of Majirah.

RECAP:

• Kujaku created a time distortion around the valley of Adanir. While this time-distortion was supposed to prevent the passage of time altogether, the quake eventually cracked this. Time passes slowly in Adanir: one day in Adanir represents a week going by outside the valley. 
• Uhr-Mina is a seeress and protege of Kujaku, the Celestial of Time and Fate.
• Ryujin are small draconic humanoids who served larger draconic beasts. They are mostly annoying and not terribly dangerous, although over time they can build interesting traps.
• The party received a Flying Carpet from Shivan, in the hopes of traveling the Middle World to recruit the Kingdoms to the fight against the Nagas of Lost Khandar.

It's Dangerous to Go Alone.

Courtesy of oglaf. (again.)

Makes you think twice about going out into the world.