Desert Storm III: The Ivory Palace

Once enough time has passed since informing Captain Kabir of the events at Messan, the news of the villagers' unfortunate fate reaches the Sultana herself. As the only witnesses to the event, the party receives a summons to the Ivory Palace to meet with her in person.

Plot points/Scenes

After about four days after speaking with Captain Jeremiah Kabir, scouts will return to Bekilk with the news of what happened in Messan. Word reaches Kabir, who then forwards the news up until it reaches Sultana Nala Al-Sharaf. The news is alarming to her, as any threat to her people would be, but also that this appears to be part of something greater, and all of this happening only weeks before her daughter's wedding! With her attention now set on this, she calls forth the only witnesses to the event: the party.
Assuming the party is still within Bekilk, a guard will exhaustively search for them in the city.

"Excuse me!" you hear as you see a guard running towards you, sweat dripping down his forehead, clearly out of breath. He stops in front of you for a moment and bends over to catch his breath. "You are the travelers who were at Messan, correct? The Sultana wishes to speak to you about what happened, immediately!"

Alternatively, the party might evade capture or make themselves difficult to find. In that case, it is not a guard, but instead a Wraith - one of the Sultana's elite agents - who will find them and inform them.

"Pardon my interruption, but if my information is correct, you are the individuals from Messan?" says a voice from seemingly nowhere. You turn your attention to a person in the shadows you didn't notice. He wears a dark green cloak and armor that covers almost his entire body except his face - like some kind of assassin. "We would have reached out another way but you've made yourself somewhat difficult to approach. The Sultana would like to speak with you. It would be impolite to keep her waiting."

In either case, the party is directed to the Ivory Palace, where the Sultana awaits their presence.

The Sultana

When the party arrives at the Ivory Palace, read this description:

After climbing maybe a hundred steps to reach the palace, you see that it was all worth it. The white and gold Ivory Palace is a majestic site up close. As you cross the threshold of the outer walls, you are met with a large, beautiful courtyard - a stone mosaic path down the center, flanked by two pristine pools of water, and perhaps the greenest grass you've seen in a while. The main structure is before you, and above it you see the minarets that reach out towards the heavens.

The party is expected and when they approach the front door, a guard will attend to them and escort them inside. He informs them that they may keep their weapons - a custom that has made its way into tradition at the Palace - so long as there is "no funny business." The Sultana, her court, and all her guards are highly skilled in combat, and blood has been spilled in the throne room many times in the past. The main chamber of the Ivory Palace is a square room with two sets of stairs on both sides that lead up to a balcony overlooking the room. Continuing straight leads down a hallway to the double doors of the throne room. Once the party is ready to enter, read the following.

The double doors open revealing a pristine throne room. A red and gold carpet lead up to a pair of magnificent brass chairs with velvet cushions. Behind the chairs is a beautiful stained glass window depicting the Osmad Crest. You see Captain Kabir, though his presence is overshadowed by a regal figure in the room. An elegant woman, perhaps in her early 40's, caramel skin, long wavy black hair that comes down over her shoulders, wearing a long and alluring red and gold dress, a simple gold crown that peaks in the front and has little beads dangling from it, and a necklace, inlaid in which appears to be an emerald that has seemingly shattered from the inside. At her waist rest two shimmering scimitars; she casually rests her hand on one of them. She adjusts her posture with authority as her emerald green eyes perk up towards you with a look of curiosity and intrigue, as this band of weirdos enter her throne room.
"Now I see what Kabir meant when he said you all are... unique. Regardless, allow me to welcome you to my home, the Ivory Palace. I am Sultana Nala Al-Sharaf. Would you like a date?" she bows respectfully and gestures to a freestanding table hosting a bowl of foreign fruit.
In addition to a handful of guards, also in the room is a well dressed woman, perhaps a servant or advisor of some kind, and a heavily armored dragonborn with blue scales, broad shoulders, and a silver spot around his right eye.

Sultana Nala Al-Sharaf and Captain Kabir are in the room, as well as the blue dragonborn Master General Arjhan Bahar and the human servant Zaina Yamin. Nala will present herself properly yet casually and will get straight down to business, asking the characters to recite what they witnessed. Nala and her advisors will respond to the following accordingly:

• "Wahum? There is no such town within the Sultanate."
• "Kobolds have always avoided settlements, living in caves far from civilization. Why would they attack all of a sudden?"
• "A blue dragonborn? There's a number of dragonborn of all colors living within the Sultanate. Arjhan, perhaps you can gather some suspects."
• "Ryna? Sounds familiar, though it is not a place that I know of within the Sultanate."
• "There have been reports of an unusually high number of sandstorms lately, including dangerous Flaywinds. We are unsure if this is natural or not."

It's possible the party accuse Arjhan because they recognize a blue dragonborn with a silver spot on his eye as who they saw in Messan. They are in fact different people, and this is easily explained by the fact that Arjhan was in Bekilk the whole time when the events in Messan happened. Arjhan is also more muscular than the other dragonborn. However, if the dragonborn is brought up, this will trouble Arjhan, who realizes they may be referring to his brother, Ghesh, though he will not mention this in front of the Sultana.
The party is welcome to ask any other questions they deem necessary, as Nala is very knowledgeable about her country and its history (as expected of such a leader). See her article and the Osmad Sultanate for more info.
Once Nala has enough information, she will think for a moment and propose three options for moving forward:

• "It is believed the Flaywinds originate in the Badlands to the southwest. Perhaps something is happening there that has been causing the storms with such frequency"
• "My intelligence reports a possible activity of the Cult of the Sun in some ruins near the village of Turri. Whatever they are up to can't be good, and there is a good chance it's connected to this. It wouldn't surprise me if they were connected in some way."
• "Go to Embercity and find my scout, a man named Daxter Hunt. Goes by the alias 'Jackal.' He's investigating something suspicious."

Nala asks the party to pursue these leads and report back once they are done. In the meantime she will continue to look into the information the party presented. She encourages the party to work quickly, since her daughter's wedding is coming up in a few weeks, and if this is part of a bigger picture, then it worries her.
Nala thanks the characters for the information and wishes them luck as they leave. But before they exit the palace (outside the throne room), they will be approached by Master General Arjhan Bahar. Assuming the players brought up the blue dragonborn with a silver eye, Arjhan is concerned that this may be his brother. He humbly asks the players if they are certain what they saw and admits that it may be his brother, Ghesh, though he could never imagine his brother doing something like this. In the event that it is, he begs the party to try and capture him alive.

Plot type

Rising Action

Subplots

• Desert Storm III a: Vandu, Servant of Rhenos
• Desert Storm III b: Embercity
• Desert Storm III c: The Badlands