Session Seventy-Three: Kes'trekels, Gith, and a Desert Owl

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

The gith returned to Alaxander and gave him a small necklace. The necklace had four beads, one glass, one ceramic, one obsidian, and one bone. The gith explained, and Vashti translated: the necklace was on the gith child and it did not belong to them. Alaxander took the necklace and the two of them walked away.
Meanwhile, Shade had inspected the two chests he had stolen. Both of the chests and copper locks and were trapped. He disabled the traps and picked the locks. Inside them was expensive cutlery and painted porcelain jars, wrapped in silk. In addition, there were some fruits, that the group suspected were magical potion fruits.
Shade, with the help of Julius, Kiara, and Kalino, dragged the barrels and the other stolen goods back to the the fort. Those goods were water, ale, wine, and various foodstuffs. A Fort Isus guard told them that they could not bring obviously stolen goods into the Fort. It was bad enough they attacked an armored wagon within view of the fort, but then selling the goods in that same fort would bring the wrath of House Tsalaxa down on them. The group understood and stayed outside.
Back in the Black Spine Mountain range, Alaxander and Vashti decided to rest, so Alaxander could regain his mental strength. While they were resting, a group of kes'trekels thought they were dead and swooped in to feast. Alaxander and Vashti chased them away, but decided to leave the area. Alaxander used the way to open a dimensional doorway and they stepped through. Far away from the kes'trekels, they laid down to rest again.
Meanwhile, they rest of the group was resting against the walls of Fort Isus. The night was cold, but it passed without any noteworthy problems.

Day 12, Week 1, Macro, Friend's Vengeance, 190th King's Age, Sun Descending

In the morning, Vashti preached her sermon to Alaxander and then Alaxander used the way to teleport the two of them back to Fort Isus. The rest of the group was glad to see that Alaxander and Vashti were okay. Alaxander then used the way to open a large dimension door back to Kuresh. They made sure to take all of their stolen goods with them.
Vashti explained to Kazim and Sharra, the village leaders, what had happened and presented them with the barrels and stolen food. Kazim and Sharra were thankful and said they would use the stolen goods to bribe the gith. The group thought that was a great idea.
The rest of the day was spent in relative comfort. Kalino continued to train Alaxander and Shade in the use of the spear. Julius used his bonesmithing skills to carve two functional, but not attractive, bone shortswords. Vashti helped in Kuresh's gardens, and Kiara kept to herself.

Day 13, Week 1, Macro, Friend's Vengeance, 190th King's Age, Sun Descending

The Black Spear gith arrived early the next morning. They had a large force of about seventy-five gith. Kazim and Sharra walked out of the protection of the village walls to parley with them. The group followed them, just in case things turned ugly.
Kazim explained to the gith leader that the man responsible for the kidnapping was caught and executed. He further apologized for the man's actions, as the gith were still convinced the man was from the village. He offered, in addition to their normal tribute, the stolen barrels and stolen foodstuffs.
The gith leader accepted their offering, but warned them against any future treachery. Kazim humbly agreed. The gith took the goods and departed into the mountains. The entire village breathed a sigh of relief.
Vashti talked to Kazim and asked him if he had a spell to identify the magic items they carried. Kazim confirmed he did, but the spell required one-hundred ceramic piece pearl dust, wine, and an owl feather. Kazim had neither the pearl dust or the owl feather. Vashti checked the group's supplies and found they had two pearls that, combined, equaled the required one-hundred ceramic piece value. However, they did not have an owl feather.

She explained the problem to the group and Shade volunteered to go owl hunting. He left the mountainous area, which was a two hour trek. He discovered a desert owl an hour later and was able to fell the bird with a well placed arrow. As he was gathering his kill, he caught a glimpse of someone, or something, watching him.
He saw a short, gray skinned, bipedal humanoid watching him. The humanoid had a large head for its body and did not look very friendly. Shade gathered his kill and ran behind a boulder. Using his thief skills, he sneaked away from the little humanoid.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group was lazing the day away. Kalino was training Alaxander to use the spear. Julius was refining his bone shortswords, to make them look more appealing. Vashti continued to help in the gardens and Kiara manned the village's walls, watching for Shade's return.
Upon returning to the village, Shade butchered the small owl. He gave the scant amount of meet to the village cooks and half of the feathers to Kazim. He kept the other half of the feathers for himself, for future use.
After spending the day with the items they wished to have identified, Kazim cast his spell and explained what the magical items were. Of note was the necklace, that the gith had given Alaxander. It was a necklace that allowed someone to always know where the necklace was. The group immediately  guessed that the undead being was tracking them. Alaxander put the necklace in his pouch, vowing to get rid of it far from Kuresh.
Being late in the day, the group slept within the walls of the village.

Day 14, Week 1, Macro, Friend's Vengeance, 190th King's Age, Sun Descending

In the morning, Vashti preached her sermon with Sharra. The group stayed in Kuresh long enough to eat their morning meal. Then, they asked the Lord of the Mind about the next closest gem. They linked minds and used Vashti's clairvoyance to scout the area. Rocky badlands, north of Raam and west of Draj. Alaxander used the way and the group appeared there.
They hiked through the canyons and things were relatively quiet for a few hours. Navigating the canyons was difficult and they kept running into dead ends. Suddenly, there was the sound of someone teleporting and standing before them was a monster they had never seen before.

The humanoid creature was savage looking. It was ten feet tall, with brown-green skin, and jagged yellow teeth. It had a pot belly and a greasy looking top knot. It was bipedal and carried a huge iron headed trident. It was clothed in furry hides and smelled like sour milk.
The group stared at it and it pointed its trident at them. It was yelling in a bizarre language. Through pantomime and savage grunts, the group figured out that the creature was attempting to get the group to surrender. The group refused and a fight ensued.
Alaxander used the way to open a dimension door and the group pushed the savage through, then the door was closed. The group patted themselves on the back and continued on their way, only slightly disappointed in losing the huge iron trident head.

Join us in two weeks for another exciting session of Adventures Under the Dark Sun. 
2nd edition AD&D Dark Sun Cast of Player Characters 
Julius: Human male psychokinetic. 22 years old. Played by Dave. Speaks Balican, Tyrian, and Giant. 
Alaxander: Human male psychokinetic. 18 years old. Played by Ben. Speaks Balican, Tyrian, and Elf. 
Vashti: Human female clairsentient/water cleric. 20 years old. Played by my wife. Speaks Nibnese, Gith, Tyrian, Balican, and Urikite. 
Shade: Half-Elf male ranger/thief, 18 years old. Played by Chad. Speaks Balican, Elf and Tyrian. 
Kalino: Human male fighter/preserver. 20 years old. NPC. Speaks Rammin, Tyrian, and Balican.
Kiara: Human female fighter/templar, 22 years old. NPC. Speaks Urikite, Raamin, and Tyrian.