Tales Under a Burning Sun

As the sandstorm raged on outside the headsman’s mud hut the population of the small village beside the muddy oasis sheltered inside. The smaller children had drifted off to sleep in the arms of their parents, but the parents themselves were still listening closely to the old ashik’s tale. When Arthur questions the remaining pair of captives he discovers that the wrecked wagon was not their wagon but the wagon that they had been sent to search for by Merchant House Shrom, which Arthur realises means that the dust devil must be the entrance to the Face in the Stone. He also discovers that the raiders have been here for two days throwing captives into the dust devil, and that they have tossed in fifteen of the House Shrom searchers in order to try and find a way in. It is at that point that the captives tell Arthur about the rest of the raiders. The rest of the group arrive just in time to hear the captives tell Arthur that half of the raiders left a couple of days previously. ...

The wind continued to howl outside of the headsman's hut, and the sand in that wind was scouring everything that it came in contact with. It was powerful enough to strip the meat from a dead body and it was only the hard exoskeleton of the domesticated kank that allowed them to survive the harshness of the sandstorm. Sheltered inside the headsman’s hut was the entire population of the small village beside the muddy oasis, and everyone of them were tuning out the sound of the sandstorm and focusing on the words flowing from the old ashik. Having clashed with more cyclops during the night the group of friends awoke in the morning and agreed to continue their search. Arthur and Miloch once again forage while the others search for the Face in the Stone. Midway through the day Scar spots what she believes to be the group of Templar’s who are also searching for the temple, they are a long way in the distance and Scar is hidden by the deep shadows of the canyon that they are current...

The sky was darkening as the sandstorm swept in across the desert. The people of the small village beside the muddy oasis were making sure that the kank herd were sheltered down between the few small huts. As the storm got closer every member of the village gathered in the headsman hut and settled themselves down as the last few remaining holes in the walls were plugged with fresh mud. The old ashik looked out of the door, his wise old eyes scanning the horizon, he muttered to himself about it being the worst he had seen in years and then shuffled inside and took his place within the circle of villagers. He cleared his throat and continued his tale. With only two of the cyclops still alive the balance of the fight tips towards the freed slaves. Scar slashes at the injured female with the Sword of Kemalok but misses her target. The female cyclops only has an eye for Arthur, as he was the one who killed her mate, and she swipes at him with her bone club but it whistles over his head....

The children of the small village next to the muddy water hole that they called an oasis rushed around to finish their chores. Some swept out the mud brick huts, others collected dead branches and dried kank dung for use on the fire, and the lucky few helped the older herders gather the kank nectar from the herd. Each and every one of them wanted to get the jobs done before the old ashik started to spin his tale again, they all wanted to know what happened next. Still coming to terms with the fact that the diminutive feral halfling had casually said that he could hook him up with a crooked Templar to regrow his missing leg, Kank dumbly accepted the false paperwork to get them out of the city from Fleck. He sat down on one of the beds and was surprised when Fleck jumped up and sat next to him and started to explain that the papers contained information on enemy numbers and disposition but he also said that if the Templars managed to obtain the artefact then they would be too powerful ...