Desert Storm III b: Embercity

Following the Sultana's mission, the party makes their way to Embercity to assist Daxter Hunt in dealing with some "suspicious matters." The suspicious matters, as it turns out, involves the suspect dragonborn whom the party has met once before, and a seemingly innocent nomad. The nomad, a young half-elf woman named Kaliyah, is delivering a stone tablet to Ghesh, unaware of his intentions with it.
Chasing down Ghesh, the party corners him at and abandoned dig site. There, he gives a monologue, accusing the party for supporting a legacy built on lies and genocide! Ghesh refuses to negotiate any further and attacks the party. Once he retreats, the party's objective is technically complete, and they can return to the Sultana, possibly with more questions than answers...

Plot points/Scenes

With their objective in mind, the party eventually should make their way to Embercity. It's about a day's journey from Bekilk. As they enter the Ember Fields, they will come across a few shiny things in the sand. These "Embers" are tiny amber-colored glass crystals that form in the sand in this region (see Osmad Desert). While they are very pretty, they are however, quite worthless due to how common they are. A full hour or two will usually result in only a single gold piece worth of embers, and they are most common during the hottest hours of the day - hardly worth the effort.

Embercity

Embercity is a smaller city than Bekilk, but it is still an impressive city in its own right. Everywhere in sight, the city has incorporated the shiny embers found outside into its construction. Once inside, the party can begin to search for Daxter Hunt.
Daxter, a.k.a. Jackal, can be found in a café called The Flying Carpet. Contrary to its name, there are no flying carpets within the café, however, they do serve delectable pastries and strong coffee. Jackal is fond of the place, and often jokes about his "addiction" to it. Another plus is the adorable waiter, a friendly basilisk named Dr. Snarls, Ph.D (in love), who happens to be wearing a Belt of Dwarvenkind which allows him to say one word in Dwarvish: "AYE!".
Jackal invites the characters to relax for a bit, since he is "waiting on some intel." He makes some small talk, generally curious about the party. The party might notice Jackal doesn't seem to be from the Osmad Desert, which is true. Jackal will be somewhat reluctant to talk about his past, especially to strangers. Jackal was also the leader of the Eclipse, and if this is brought up, he will mention how he stopped associating with them after the Revolution and that they went downhill since. As for business, Jackal will inform the party on the "suspicious matters" they were sent to help him with. He believes an ancient artifact will be exchanged to a sketchy looking group tonight, and he is waiting on the intel of where it will be.
When he is finished relaxing, Jackal will go outside and remark that his intel is here. Then, a brown eagle will land on his outstretched arm. The eagle is Jackal's companion, Lance, and after a few scratches, Lance will lead Jackal and the party to the meeting site for this exchange.

The Nomad and the Tablet

Leading the group through the city, Lance stops at a relatively quiet crossroads within a quiet residential district. Jackal instructs the party to get into a good vantage point and to "get comfy." After over an hour of waiting, just as the sun begins to set, the following scene unfolds:

The vacant crossroads sits empty and silent, with the exception of the muffled sounds of the city around you. You are almost ready to give up, when you see a lone figure walk into the crossroads. A petite individual, their body fully covered with baggy clothing and their head fully immersed in a headscarf and a mask that covers the whole face, anxiously walks towards the center, looking around at the nearby buildings, perhaps scanning for anything unusual, or perhaps just lost. You start to think its the latter when they pull out a map and start looking at it awkwardly, and remarking to themselves in a feminine and accented voice: "I could've sworn this was the place! Ugh, first time in a city and I'm already lost!" Jackal says: "A nomad? You almost never see them inside a city."
The wind begins to pick up as, seemingly from nowhere, a cloud of sand and dust begins to block out the darkening sky. Five individuals emerge from the east side of the crossroads; two of whom look like your average thug, two of whom you notice are actually sand that resembles a humanoid, or rather a dragonborn shape. The final figure you recognize. A lanky blue scaled dragonborn with a distinct silver spot around his left eye.
The nomad looks nervously at the approaching individuals. "Uhh, I was told I'm gonna meet some people here, are you them? We should probably get some shelter, this sandstorm came out of nowhere. Umm... are those guys made of sand?" The dragonborn ignores her question and says, "Do you have the tablet?" The nomad responds, "Oh so you are the people! Yes, I have it, but we should really go inside or something." The dragonborn holds out his hands, demanding the item. The nomad cautiously pulls out a sandstone tablet with some kind of illegible writing on it and naively offers it to the dragonborn. "That thing's been in my clan for generations. Just curious, what do you want it for? Oh yea, you're gonna give me something in exchange now, right? That's how this works, isn't it? I've never done this before." The dragonborn ignores the nomad as he takes and admires the tablet. "One step closer."

The nomad is a naïve half-elf young woman named Kaliyah who traveled to Embercity alone on a sort of pilgrimage. She willingly hands over a seemingly unimportant stone tablet to Ghesh. Ghesh, however, has no interest in honoring a deal, and prepares to leave while the thugs he brought with him load their crossbows to eliminate Kaliyah. The party can intervene at any point of the interaction. If this happens, Ghesh will teleport away but only if he has the tablet in hand. If not, he targets Kaliyah until she drops it. Once he leaves, he summons a Dust Devil to attack the party, along with the two thugs and two sand soldiers. The minor sandstorm makes it so that ranged weapon attacks automatically miss beyond their normal range.
Assuming she is unharmed, Kaliyah will thank her saviors and reflect on what a mistake she just made. She could never return to her family after this. Fortunately, there is hope, as Lance seems to have picked up on Ghesh's trail, and takes off.

The Pursuit

The party, along with Jackal and Kaliyah, follow Lance outside Embercity and into the desert. They end up in what appears to be an abandoned excavation site that has uncovered what can be described as a large Sphinx, with large 15 ft tall ember crystals adorning it like palisades or pillars. A wall of swirling sand surrounds site. In the center of this site is a small pyramid device, which is where Ghesh can be found. Once he notices the party, he turns around and prepares his monologue.

As you arrive, you see the dragonborn place the tablet in a device in the center of the pit. Once he notices your presence, the dragonborn stands to face you, undaunted by your presence.
"I suppose it was inevitable that our activities would be noticed. Let me guess, it was the Sultana who sent you?" the dragonborn monologues. "How could anyone support a legacy built on lies and genocide? I was once like you, ignorant to the true nature of the humans that rule this land, before my eyes were opened. This land was once home to my people. We achieved greatness while the rest of the world warred over which dragon should rule. Our ruler, Rhenos, was just in his ways, and he was going to guide our people into greatness, before the humans from the north came and slew him! They assimilated our people, believing themselves to be liberators, erasing our culture and evidence of our great society that came before, and building their empire on top of ours! I don't expect you to understand. As far as you are concerned, you care not for the history behind this place. If you don't believe me, ask the Sultana herself! Though I doubt she will tell you the truth! She has already brainwashed my brother, who is so blinded by his loyalty that he fails to see that he serves his oppressor. That is why Rhenos will return, to extract his vengeance on this world, and right the wrongs committed by the Sultanate. We shall rebuild Ryna on the ruins of their capital, just as they did to us over a millennia ago! And I will watch at Rhenos' side for the whole thing."
As he finishes his speech, he draws a magical staff and points it towards you. "But first, I will turn you to dust!"

The party, along with Jackal and Kali, must battle Ghesh and three mummies which burst out of the ground. Ghesh will teleport away using the device in the center (only he knows how to use it) once he has less than half his hp left. The center of the battlefield has a lower elevation than the rest. The north, east, and west sides of the pit are 20 ft tall.
Once all hostiles are gone, combat ends and the sandstorm around the site abates. The tablet is now affixed into the the device in the center of the site (which now has an ominous yellow pulsing light) and cannot be removed. Both Jackal and Kali have no idea what this means, but a high arcana check can ascertain that this must be some kind of focal point or an anchor that can be utilized by high-level magic (for instance, a long distance teleport).
Kali admits this is all her fault (once again) and that she cannot return to her nomadic tribe until she has redeemed herself somehow. Jackal decides that Kali must be brought in for questioning, since she was involved in this. This, however, doesn't involve the party, and Jackal instructs them to report back to the Sultana when they can.

Parent Plot

Desert Storm III: The Ivory Palace

Embercity Services
The city has most basic services available if the party needs them, including lodging, merchants, and temple services. One service that might interest the party is a local half-orc smith named Dellath. She provides all the services of a normal blacksmith, but also a special method of infusing weapons with the embers found in the Ember Fields. For 150 gp and a large flawless ember, Dellath can give the weapon the benefits of a silver weapon as well as an extra 1 fire damage in half the time it takes to silver a weapon (for a total of two days). A large flawless ember is about the size of a tennis ball and requires a full day of foraging and a successful DC 20 survival or perception check. One can be found easily within the excavation site detailed at the end of this section. If one is not found, the service can be done with 5 gp worth of regular embers, but this only adds the +1 fire damage and does not make the weapon magical. The party can encounter an advert flier with this service advertised.