City of Almazur.
Akbar and Fiamma work with their master Jafar in perfecting their advancement in the arts of magic. Akbar, however, finds himself somewhat frustrated: he has developed a taste for Necromantic Magics and Jafar does not specialize in such.
Shadya and Orlando practice rapier and chess. Shadya brings up the subject of his quest and Orlando muses about sneaking into harems to checkout the possibility that his Lady is hidden in this country. He regrets the absence of Roberto (who, apparently, was perfectly willing to risk women's guise is search of whatever) but Shadya firmly warns him against such attempts. As he seems to continue to nurse the hope, the desert warrior reacts in some alarm and agrees to send word into the harems to search via the grapevine if Orlando can give her a good enough description. Orlando admits that he does not believe his Lady is of Shadya's race. Dainty, 5-ft tall, dark eyes, long dark hair - and pale in comparison. He cannot describe her by her dress as all at the ball wherein he met her wore fanciful attire. Orlando expresses some - skepticism - at the warrior's having such high connections but Shadya laughs him off with an offer to tell him someday of how she became a caravan guard. He returns that he hopes it is not as uncomfortable a tale as how he became a sailor, and good fellowship is restored.
The Party is disturbed by a messenger from the vizier who invites them to the palace. Shadya accepts for them all with no hesitation and the group proceeds immediately thence. En route, Akbar attempts to gather more information from the messenger, utilizing the ESP spell he cast earlier. Nothing significant is learned.
Izz al Dalwah, the vizier, keeps them waiting for a couple of hours during which time Akbar explores the herbs and resists the temptation to add to his collection. During the audience, however, the vizier is all attention, requesting stories of the Party's adventures. Fiamma obliges, being careful not to mention the Well or the related tale of Akbar the All-Knowing. The vizier seems to be comparing her words to other tales and, eventually, asks for Fahd to be identified, thus revealing that he had some acquaintance with the quest of the Well of Al Arzum. He commends the Party for its achievements and its discretion.
The vizier reveals that he wishes the Party to take on a task for him. There is a diplomatic/trade-treaty delegation heading from here to a kingdom on the other side of the mountain passes. It is know that there are powerful elements in that other kingdom that are opposed to such a treaty. These will be setting up an ambush with the intent to wipe the delegation out to a man. The vizier wishes the Party to thwart this by locating the ambush and pre-warning the delegation. It is thought that the fact of being warned at the right time will give the delegation enough of an edge that the attack will never happen.
To achieve this, the Party is to join a different caravan (as partial owners - payment for this task) leaving earlier. That caravan is to journey to the treaty-able kingdom and transact its business. The Party is to leave the caravan at that point and journey back through a different pass - the one wherein the ambush is to be set. It is to take note of any identifiable names and/or devices, querying the people of that route on the previous passage of troop(s) of armed men, and then it is to take note of the ambush itself. It is then to pass on and - discretely, without detection - notify the on-coming delegation. Shadya accepts the commission on her own behalf. Fiamma also accepts.
Back at their usual tavern, Shadya - with her customary careful courtesy - invites Orlando to accompany them and he agrees. It is clear that Fahd chooses to come as well, but Shadya - again with careful courtesy - reminds him of his obligation to his sister. The Party decides to leave the balance of their extra horses in Fahd's keeping, to assuage his need for usefulness. Akbar and Fiamma explore the possibilities of long-distance communication spells for possible use in transmission of the required information to the diplomatic delegation. Shadya writes her message and sends it on to the harem.
Shadya makes arrangements with the specified caravan. Shadya, Orlando and Fiamma will hire on as guards; Nasir is, of course, Shadya's servant; Akbar will ride as a paying passenger.
Desert Storm.
The journey commences. Shadya makes particular mental notes of the route as it relates to the route the vizier pointed out on his map for their return, just to keep her innate direction sense adjusted. Some days into the travel, a dust storm is noted coming up, and the caravan battens down to wait it out. As the edge approaches, a ship - sailing in the air! - can be seen running before the storm. Amazement. Then the sands hit. While waiting, Fiamma, Orlando and Shadya can hear something somewhere outside their tent that sounds like combat. Telling the others to stay put, Shadya heads out relying on her direction sense to find her way to the storm; the others, of course, follow along. They find two of the caravan guards - one already down - fighting skeletons! Our trio wades in and the skeletons are dispatched with both Shadya and the other guard taking some damage.
Shadya picks up the downed guard and leads the way back to the tents where Nasir and Akbar take over healing. Then, with Akbar using "detect undead", Shadya and Fiamma venture back into the storm to patrol the perimeter. It is clear from the spell that a great many undead are marching in the storm, but only one more actually violates the borders of the camp. As the storm abates so does Akbar's spell say the numbers of undead are diminishing. Shadya takes her companions back to the safety of the tent (but refuses to bring in a skeleton for Akbar; he must content himself with the bones he himself picked up.
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