Irbuk has changed from a down at heels caravan town to a temporary seat of government. Administrators, soldiers, supplies and all their camp followers have transformed the place cavalry and Camelry patrols come and go, companies of soldiers expand out, clearing the area and helping locals secure villages, the next big advance will be to retake the fort at Isimun, reported by Sakah warriors that the group met as having been overrun by Urtak.
Not only must the fort be secured from the Urtak, but the Haraxans don’t want neglect to be used as an excuse by the Sakah to bring the border to the river.\n\nThe advisor to the civil magistrate,Harvan, will accompany the troops retaking the fort, to ensure that if there are any changes to the situation then the magistrate can be informed, but thereafter has a mission of his own to the north, technically in Sakah lands, to a forgotten tomb on a desolate plateau. As this is in foreign lands and the Sakah and the Haraxans are at peace, he cannot take Haraxans soldiery.
The group are therefore the perfect people to protect and assist Harvan. They are a mixed group, with no Haraxans, they have no ties to the magistrate, in effect they are deniable and expendable. They are joined by the footloose son of a Haraxan noble family, Utana, skilled in navigating caravan routes and survinging in the wilderness.
Harvan gives as his reasons to reach this tomb the valuable magic items therein, of value to the magicians of Haraxa as well as Harlan’s own studies. He will pay a daily allowance in silver plus as much gold and non magical treasures the group can carry off. The tomb is of a culture that had invaded the plains and become one of the many empires in the history of this world, worshippers of some ancient and unpleasant gods.
There is a week of preparation before the new garrison sets out, giving Jose time to learn the rudiments of camel handling, Farshad the time to gamble, busk and generally carouse. He breaks even, which is better than might be expected, and gains new friends in both the permanent and temporary inhabitants.
Utana acquires a string of camels from the army quartermaster, perhaps abusing the names of Harvan and Niralha, the magistrate, and a camel driver, but perhaps not the best one.
Gunion firstly spends time in enchantments, with what success she is not saying, but then goes out to seek what knowledge of her destination might be gleaned from the assembled scribes, priests and functionaries gathered around the temporary provincial capital.
In setting forth she is approached by a man in much reduced circumstances, bearing a tablet that he had hoped to sell to Harvan, believing it related to other tablets Harvan had been buying. However Harvan, busy in his duties, is beyond the beggar’s ability to reach, and he seeks to sell it to Gunion. Gunion, seeing his desperation, beats him down to under a third of the asking price, intrigued by the similarity to the cuneiform and language in the archway of the shadow moss caves. He is sure that there is a connection, though centuries apart, the cuneiform is very similar, but the language is more archaic, and hard to decipher.
From this he finds three words that, but the surrounding lines, are names, one repeated four times, Khoram. Another, Alkasus, he had seen before in a fragment of his research that Harvan had shown her, the third, was Gathpaxpes. Rather than seek to have the whole thing translated, she noted the names and sought less savoury scribes among the camp followers, to see if any recognised the names. She spoke to many, of whom half turned her away because she was not paying for services,, others knew nothing, but two described a similar half forgotten legend of the Ilkaihurid, of a master architect, Khoram, who built for many of the nobles of the Ilkaihurid, but who is most associated with Gathpaxpes. Both disappeared, about the same time it is said.
The expedition travels, at the end of the week, to the fort, the group resting there while Harvan checked that all would be well with the commander and that a plan for communicating progress was set up, then the group set forth, Dhran and Jushuur spent time with the camels, learning their ways.\n\nClimbing up to the plateau by an easy route found by Utana, a fire spotted in the distanced proved to be three pilgrims, robbed of supplies by bandits holed up in their holy city. Sharing their fire with our heroes, they were given supplies and a letter of introduction by Harvan in the morning.
Set ting off, Utana found a road, making the going easier, until Farshad spotted a scuttling figure in the distance,, the figure was oblivious to them and they thought it would pass by, for they knew it as a Scorpionman, but they were seen, and the figure approached. They took its raising of shield and axe as a gesture of peace, and some pleasantries, wine and spice dried marmot were exchanged. The scorpion man did give them a warning of an oasis outside the ruined city mound that is their destination.
The rest of the journey was uneventful, save for a giant bat like thing flying over Farshad, seemingly coming from their destination, but that was all.
Eventually, with a good amount of water used, they are now camped at the base of the mound of ruined mud bricks that is the city they are aiming for.
And there we left it.