Session One Hundred One: One More for the Gray

Raco dragged and rolled himself toward the strange creature, that had just spoken, and punched it. It fell to the stony ground, unconscious. Cheet then spoke about how eating an intelligent creature was gross and wrong.
Yusef agreed with Cheet, but Dimitria disagreed. Her argument was that it wasn't an intelligent humanoid, so eating it was fine. Samsun and Raco did not fully agree with either side, but Dimitria refused to move on her position. Yusef called her a halfling, which did not offend her much. Cheet and Yusef thought entertaining any intelligent creature was akin to cannibalism.
Eventually, mostly to get them to stop arguing, Samsun and Raco agreed to not eat the creature. Dimitria reluctantly capitulated and agreed not to eat the creature as well.
So, they ate and drank from their stores and began hiking, as the sun was close to rising. Like many of the days traveling through the Ringing Mountains, the were forced to avoid ravines and climb up cliffs.
In mid afternoon, the group was forced to climb down, into a ravine, and then climb back up the other side. Kraah simply flew and he was quite surprised to find a man waiting on the opposite side of a ravine. The man looked Tyrian or Balican and wore a red robe. He introduced himself as Rahal, a rain cleric. He had been searching for the group, so he could get the eggs they carried to the Plane of Rain.

Kraah was skeptical, due to being fooled previously, and asked the man to prove it. The man waved his hand and, about ten feet behind him, a small rain cloud appeared and stared raining on the rocks below. Kraah was convinced and called out to the group, who were still climbing, that a rain cleric was there.

As everyone was reaching the top of the cliff, Cheet was very skeptical about the man. She saw the rain cloud, but she wanted to feel it, to make sure it was not an illusion. As she walked toward the cloud, Rahal followed and questioned why she did not believe her own eyes. Cheet reached out to touch the rain, but it passed right through her hand; she had been right, it was an illusion.
Rahal grabbed Cheet's arm and his hand glowed red, burning Cheet's arm badly. Cheet screamed in pain and called out that he was not a rain cleric. As she did, from behind two large boulders, giant two-headed, flaming eagles rose into the air.
Raco attempted to use the way, but fell to the ground, unconscious. The group rushed the cleric, but all of their strikes passed through him. He was an illusion. The group was very confused. They wondered, if he was an illusion, how had he touched Cheet? They had little time to ponder the mystery, as the flaming eagles attacked!
One of the eagles turned into a mini sun and exploded into a radiant burst, before reforming itself. This effect left Cheet, Samsun, and Yusef blind! Samsun quickly used his magic to cure his blindness and Dimitria used her magic to cure Cheet's blindness. Unfortunately, they did not have any other cure blindness spells prepared, so Yusef was out of luck.
Samsun attacked the flaming eagle with his iron spear and even though it was hit, it ignored the blow. Samsun yelled that normal weapons were useless against the creatures. Kraah had a magic obsidian broadsword, he drew it and poured poison on it. He gave it Samsun.
In the meantime, Cheet was using her combat magic against the creatures. Yusef found a large rock and was hiding near it, trying to stay out of the way. Samsun stabbed one of the flaming eagles, with the poisoned, magic broadsword and it exploded into a bright flash of light. This time, it did not reform. Luckily, only Kraah and Samsun were looking at it and neither was blinded. Dimitria was running around and using her healing magic on her companions.

Cheet grabbed Yusef and tried to lead him to safety. She saw a cave and lead Yusef toward it. She entered the cave and saw two men inside. One was Rahal, but there was a brown robed figure she did not recognize. They began casting magic at her, Rahal used priestly sun magic and the brown robed man used arcane magic. As he cast spells, the scant mountain plant life turned to ash. Cheet screamed.
Dimitria ran to help Cheet and Yusef, but was not much help against the men. Yusef tried to assist, by swinging wildly with his club. The men easily ducked his clumsy blows. Dimitria yelled for help.
Samsun ran to cave mouth and filled it with his bulk. He swung at the priest, but missed and accidentally sliced off Yusef's left hand. Yusef started screaming that they cut off his hand. Dimitria quickly healed Yusef's stump and stopped the bleeding.
Rahal told the defiler that they should call their master. The defiler cast a spell and Kalak appeared through a dimensional gateway. Kalak smiled evilly. Dimitria stabbed at Kalak and her spear passed into him. Kalak was an illusion.
Samsun cleaved Rahal's head in two, with his iron saber. The defiler knew he was in trouble now and, in an act of desperation, threw a fireball at the half-giant. Unfortunately for him, the defiler miscalculated and was caught in the fireball's blast radius. Unfortunately for Cheet, Dimitria, Yusef, and Smasun, they were also caught in the blast radius. Cheet collapsed, blackend and charred.
Kraah was fighting the flaming eagle all by himself, using the magic broadsword that Samsun had dropped. Kraah was an expert flyer and was staying ahead of the creature and then doubling back to strike at it. He was wearing it down, but it was a slow way to fight.
Samsun checked Cheet for signs of life, but found none. She was dead. He lead the badly wounded Dimitria and Yusef from the cave. He carried Cheet's broken body in his hands.
Kraah was finally able to kill the beast, as it swopped toward Samsun. It exploded and Kraah was blinded. He landed on the stony ground and told Samsun he could not see. Samsun told him that Cheet was dead.
Samsun used his magic to heal some of Dimitria's and Yusef's wounds. They were tired and badly wounded, but they still had the strength to mourn for Cheet. Yusef sat and covered his head, with his one good hand. Kraah dipped his head. Dimitria sighed heavily and asked the spirit of Athas to see her friend to the afterlife. Samsun wept.

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 
Dimitria: Human female druid. 20 years old. Played by Mary. Speaks Urikite, Raamin, and Tyrian.
Raco: Mul male psychometbolist. 20 years old. Played by Dave. Speaks Dwarf and Tyrian.
Samsun: Half-Giant water cleric/fighter. 37 years old. Played by Ben. Speaks Giant and Tyrian.
Kraah: Aarakocra air cleric.17 years old. Played by Chad. Speaks Aarakocra, Tyrian, Balician, and Gulgish.
Cheet: Human female preserver. 24 years old. Played by my wife. Speaks Drajish and Tyrian.
Yusef: Human male thief. 24 years old. NPC party member. Speaks Tyrian, Nibnese, and Urikite.