Sixth Session - Helping the Dead

Cast
Julius: Human male psychokinetic. Played by Dave. Speaks Balician and Tyrian.
Alaxander: Human male psychokinetic. Speaks Balician and Elf.
Kalino: Human male fighter/preserver. Played by DM. Speaks Rammin and Tyrian.
Vashti: Human female clairsentient/water cleric. Played by my wife. Speaks Nibnese, Gith, and Balician.
Grak (aka Guacamole): Pterran male ranger. Played by my 7 year old son, because Clyde could not make it. Speaks Pterran and Giant.
Demetrius: Human male. 25 years old. Shepherd. NPC. Speaks Nibnese.
Salvador: Human male. 41 years old. Mason. NPC. Speaks Nibnese.

Note: For those unfamiliar with Dark Sun, psionics are called the Will for wild talents and the Way for trained psionicists.

High sun passed in shade, but not in comfort. The rocks were far too warm to lounge on, so the group stood or squatted in the shade. When High Sun had passed, Grak took down his cloak, which caused all of the other cloaks to fall onto the hot stones below. The group grumbled at Grak's thoughtlessness, but said nothing.
The group continued down the road and were surprised by four strange crab-like creatures that popped up out of the dirt. The creatures had a hard round shell, two or three flat chitinous tails, nine pointed legs, large mandables, and no obvious sensory organs. The creatures teleported Vashti, Kalino, and Salvador away, but somehow left all of their inorganic material behind. Grak, Alaxander, Julius, and Demetrius began fighting the creatures, as the creatures began eating Vashti's dropped ceramic peices and the blades of Kalino's khopesh.
Meanwhile, Vashti, Kalino, and Demetrius could hear the sounds of battle in the distance. They began making their way back to their friends, while loudly shouting.
Grak was doing well against the beasts, but Julius, Alaxander, and Salvador were finding it difficult to get through the creatures tough shell. One teleported away when Grak wounded it badly. When Vashti, Kalino, and Salvador returned to the group, they were able to gang up on the remaining creatures and kill them.
Julius used the Way to cook one of the creatures and Vashti cooked another with a fire. The group ate one and enjoyed the taste. Alaxander and Kalino took some of the shells to use for crafts later. Pleased with their success, the party continued down the road.
An hour later, the group saw an armored caravan wagon coming toward them. The mekillots pulling it walked slowly down the road. The group decided to hide and avoid the wagon, just in case they were looking for slaves to capture. As the wagon and crodlu outriders passed, Grak stood up from his hiding place. The crodlu riders pointed their spears at him and the wagon's archers pointed their crossbows at him, but they did not strike. Once the wagon had passed, the crodlu riders lowered their spears and followed.

This is the way I roll.

Asthasian Monsters

Links to Dark Sun Monsters and their official Dark Sun approval location.

Desert Village Architecture

Too often desert villages in fantasy rpg settings don't look any different from forest villages. Usually, you get a lot of individual buildings with wide avenues between them and, most likely, a wall surrounding the entire thing.
Something like this:

Courtesy Wizards of the Coast

Fifth Session - Recovery and Loss

Cast
Julius: Human male psychokinetic. Played by Dave. Speaks Balician and Tyrian.
Alaxander: Human male psychokinetic. Played by my 7 year old son, because Ben could not make it. Speaks Balician and Elf.
Kalino: Human male fighter/preserver. Played by DM. Speaks Rammin and Tyrian.
Vashti: Human female clairsentient/water cleric. Played by my wife. Speaks Nibnese, Gith, and Balician.
Grak (aka Guacamole): Pterran male ranger. Played by Clyde. Speaks Pterran and Giant.
Emir: Human male. 42 years old. Rancher. NPC. Speaks Balician, Nibnese, and Tyrian.
Dilay: Human female. 38 years old. Rancher. NPC. Speaks Balician, Nibnese, and Tyrian.
Lutfi: Human male. 17 years old. Rancher. NPC. Speaks Balician, and Nibnese.
Fikri: Human male.  19 years old. Rancher. NPC. Speaks Balician and Nibnese.
Havva: Human female. 14 years old. Domestic worker. NPC. Speaks Balician and Nibnese.
Riza: Human male. 22 years old. Ranch hand. NPC. Speaks Nibnese.
Amir: Human male. 18 years old. Ranch hand. NPC. Speaks Nibnese.
Essa: Human male. 20 years old. Ranch hand. NPC. Speaks Nibnese.
Hanif: Human male. 16 years old. Ranch hand. NPC. Speaks Nibnese and Tyrian.
Demetrius: Human male. 25 years old. Shepherd. NPC. Speaks Nibnese.
Salvador: Human male. 41 years old. Mason. NPC. Speaks Nibnese.
Agathon: Human male. 17 years old. Shepherd. NPC. Speaks Balician.


Note: For those unfamiliar with Dark Sun, psionics are called the Will for wild talents and the Way for trained psionicists.

Vashti helped Grak into the small home on the property. Inside she saw Dilay, Lutfi, Riza, Amir, Essa, and Hanif tied up on the floor and Emir unconscious, with blood leaking from a wound on the back of his head. Vashti helped Grak into a sitting position and rushed to helped Emir. She patched up his head and moved him to a straw mattress on the floor. She then began untying Dilay. Grak's eagle hopped into the house and began pecking at the ropes on Hanif.
When Dilay was untied, Julius, Fikri and Havva arrived and dismounted. Fikri ran to his mother and hugged her. They both started helping to untie the others when Dilay explained what had happened. They had problems with gith before, but were always able to chase them off by showing their daggers and clubs. However, this time they had charged in without warning and engaged the men. They had knocked out Emir with the butt of a spear before he had time to react. The boys had put up a fight and sent Fikri to find help.
Although the boys were badly outnumbered, they fought as well as they could. However, when the gith threatened to kill Emir, the boys had to surrender. The gith tied them up and she believed they wanted to sell them into slavery.

Who wouldn't want to carry someone else for the rest of their life and not get paid?

She thanked them all for saving the ranch. Fikri told them that he promised them erdlu eggs for helping and Dilay said they could have all they could carry. Kalino looted the fallen gith and shared the spoils with Fikri. Vashti was patching up the men's wounds and asked if they could stay at the ranch and recover. Dilay saw the way Havva was looking at Julius and readily agreed.