Jewel of the Desert

Miscellaneous

The party has arrived in Calis, the Jewel of the Desert, a sprawling multi-tiered city where threats lurk around every corner...

The group arrived on a blistering day to the city of Calis, the capital of the Sembian Kingdom and home of the Grand Duke, with the cartographer Henk in tow. Seeing them off, Henk left the group with the name of a tavern and marks allowing them travel through the lower rings. Nymue, put on edge being back within the city walls warned the group that everyone in the place works from someone else and that they should be careful with who they talk to or do work for. The group moved quickly situating themselves at the Second Pegasus trying to figure out where to begin with the knowledge they have about the Shards, as well as the fact that Nym's former master was a minor Lord within the city and more than likely would be very interested in her return.   Opting to put up their feet for a bit before venturing into the city itself the group spent some time in the tavern resting and relaxing after days in the blistering sun. Seek and Tallulah took the evening regaling the packed tavern with tales from the desert, of which they were always the heroes of wonder, gaining the eye of a few runners for some of the noble houses. Meanwhile, in the back behind the tavern itself, Griz and Babbitt spent some time with the various laymen who visited to let off steam in the fighting pit. During their time however they realized that a few of the men, all friendly enough, bore strange black tattoos on their tongues which set the shifter and gnome on edge. Snarlsburg, on the other hand, opted to harass Nym to express his displeasure at her before growing antsy and lightening the pockets of a few of the patrons. Nym eventually grew weary with the crowded tavern and headed to the Giant's Footstool to find Creed, an old associate who help her escape the city and Lord Valeriano a few months prior, spinning him the tale of her exploits after her grand escape from the city.   Over the next few days the group seemed to catch the eye of the lower rings of the city, now referring to them as "Seek's Super Squad" after the tales him and Tallulah spun got out into the general populace. During a trip into the city to find a dealer, Snarlsburg seemed to have caught the eye of some group as another goblin staged an assassination attempt on his life. During the altercation SvG recognized the creature as Thurk, a member of his former tribe, carrying instructions on behalf of the Warchief to end Snalsburg if he was found...as well as bearing a black tattoo'd tongue. Tallulah, on the other hand, had spent the next two days restless as dreams of being watched by others through strange glass tubes plagued her each night. Each morning she woke confused and concerned considering that shes always known her whole life in Teuvanmanthaar amongst the arch druids and its trees...or has she? She then requested the aide of Babbitt for identifying some of what she saw and potentially seeing what he could research.   Hoping to get a lead into the Auction they knew was slated to happen for a Shard, the group entered into the arena nearby hoping to provide enough of a show to be noticed by a noble house to be invited to participate in the entertainment. Nym, not wanting to reveal herself more than necessary opted to stay in the stands and cheer the party on where she began marking and tracking a few spectators who seemed overly invested in her friends. The group managed to pull out win after win in the arena, but when the last round approached they were informed that there would be one more round with the monster furnished by an unknown benefactor to the arena. A large mechanical creature was launched out against the weary and tired party forcing a fight of their lives which also prompted Nym to dive into the arena to save some of her friends from certain doom. Both Babbitt and SvG managed to summon elementals to fight on their behalf, however Babbitt sent his elemental out of the pit after the organizer believing him to be related to nefarious factions aligning against the party. In the process of the fight Babbitt lost control of the now out-of-sight fire elemental leaving the group to discover the destroyed and burnt under rooms of the arena with various injured peoples around once the creature was vanquished. Echoing in the air was the words that escaped the mechanical creature before it was destroyed: “I hope you enjoyed my project...I can’t wait to show you the others..."   Their exploits in the arena, along with the destruction, did not go unnoticed. The Grand Duke summoned the group to her home in the upper ring under the Great Desert Tree to talk. During their meeting she revealed that Tallulah had the same look as her long missing sister, Leoba, and that Tallulah held the bracelet of a Guardian who are watchers of the pathways between Planes and revealing that she watches over one such pathway housed beneath the Tree. However, the Grand Duke found herself unable to answer many of the questions Tallulah had and left the group with the offer to join the gladiatorial combat on her behalf at the auction. On their way back to the Second Pegasus though the group found themselves beset by various attackers seeming looking for Nym specifically...