*** Session 9 - Scene 5 (of 10) ***

 When the ship docks in Wasat, Captain Rayyan heads off to get supplies. M'Balz relates to the others what he knows of Wasat, known as the Middle City. It is a rather quiet, sleepy city (despite its size of 90,000 people) considered to be a quaint waystation for travelers along the trade route. The ruler is Caliph Haroun Al-Raqqas, a distant relative of the Grand Caliph known for his benevolent rule.

 Butrus decides to go find a temple to talk to one of the local priests. Adanband decides to follow. Like Huzaz, Wasat contains a temple of the prophet Zann the Wise.

 The imam at the mosque greets Butrus and the dwarf begins asking questions. His first is to ask if the priest recognizes him, relating his story of amnesia. But the imam says he does not know him.

 He does warn Butrus to be careful with his memory loss, for pirates and their agents come through the town. He particularly warns against Zargar Quarterman, who Butrus is familiar with.

 Butrus then asks about the City of the Dead. The imam describes it as a scarred, unholy place and advises him to stay away from it. According to him, a great evil lurks there.

 The dwarf then asks what the imam knows about Ruhh. The imam says he knows it only as a large, uninhabited island but warns against getting too close to Roq Island.

 With the discussion drawing to a close, the imam asks for a donation but Butrus noncommittally says only that if he and his companions find treasure and make their way back to Wasat, he may be able to donate something.

 Meanwhile, Gra'bir has headed to the local bazaar to look for any women in need of help. He finds none, but does have a chance to chat with the locals. He hears a rumor about the previous caliph of Wasat not dying from an accident, as is the official story; but rather, the old caliph was assassinated by a holy slayer for crimes against the faith.

 M'Balz decides to spend his time checking out alternate travel options at the harbor. He spots a better, and yet familiar boat in port, the "Chameleon", Daria's ship. M'Balz makes sure to stay out of sight and keeps an eye on the ship.

 After a short while, Daria and her orc mate show up with some supplies and load them up on the ship. As they cast off, M'Balz notices they head due west.

 Everyone returns back to the ship and finds Captain Rayyan loading up supplies. In addition to goods for their travel, he has a couple of crates of sarsaparilla berries he plans to sell to the Sma'rufs when they get back. He once again starts rambling on about all the Sma'rufs he knows.

 M'Balz interrupts him to ask about the Chameleon and Daria. Rayyan doesn't recognize the name of the ship (though admits he's "not good with names") and asks if Daria is the one with the brown hair and the bad eyesight (clearly thinking of a different woman). M'Balz makes a comment about being overcome by the captain's great intellect.

 Butrus then asks about Roq Island. M'Balz, thinking of a different location, asks if it is the city that lies near the Four Cities but the dwarf explains he means the island next to Ruhh. The captain tells them there is a roc on Roq Island, so they don't want to go near there.

 When M'Balz has the captain clarify the "roc" he is referring to is one of the large birds, Rayyan calls it "the big chicken". M'Balz asks about defenses against the creature, but the captain says they are limited to trying to sail away. Given the slow speed of the ship, M'Balz is less than comforted.

 Before they head out, there is some discussion amongst the group about how to determine the exact location of the treasure since the instructions are written in a cipher. M'Balz believes Adanband could take it to a local sorcerer's guild to have it looked at, but the elf is not so sure. They spend too long discussing the matter when they realize the captain has already pushed off from the harbor and they are headed back out to sea.

*** Session 9 - Scene 6 (of 10) ***

 When they get near the island, Rayyan tells them they will need to let him know where they are headed soon.

 M'Balz tries to decipher the treasure map, but can't make sense of it. With no options left, they decide to show it to Captain Rayyan. He is not surprised to see the treasure map, saying he expected their journey was something like that.

 Butrus and M'Balz try to say it is not necessarily a treasure map. Butrus tells a tale of M'Balz being disgraced to his father and needing to find an artifact to get back in his good graces. Rayyan doesn't make much sense of the story, but does find some kinship in that his own father didn't believe in him either.

 Captain Rayyan studies the map for a bit then relates its contents to the group. M'Balz wonders if the cipher is something any sailor could understand, but the captain says only someone with his long experiences on the sea could do so. He then begins to relate a tale about the first time he saw a treasure map like this back in Sma'ruf Village, which may have led to the location of the magic flute.

 M'Balz interrupts his reverie to get things back on track. The captain navigates the ship to the correct small island and lays anchor off of it. He tells the group they'll need to take the small boat in from there.

 When Captain Rayyan tells them he'll be there when they get back, M'Balz is surprised the captain isn't planning to come with them. He tries to get the captain to come along, even offering a cut of the potential treasure. But Rayyan says he once ran into a lot of trouble with a treasure map from the notorious outlander pirate, One-Balled Billy, and wants no part of any more adventures looking for treasure.

 Butrus is more concerned with the captain leaving prematurely. He asks how long he plans to keep the ship around in case they run into trouble. Rayyan admits if they aren't back by nightfall, he'll assume they are dead and take off.

 Gra'bir suggests they could light a signal fire to let the captain know if they can't get back in time. He agrees to look for it, but Rayyan warns them others could see it as well.

*** Session 9 - Scene 7 (of 10) ***

 Landing on the shore, Butrus makes sure they drag it well up shore to make sure it doesn't float away with the tide.

 After making sure there are no footprints or other signs of anyone around, they head further into the island. Gra'bir takes the lead followed by Butrus (who thinks M'Balz should be in his place), Adanband, and M'Balz.

 As they get near the location of the treasure, Gra'bir spots a pack of six giant crabs up ahead.

 The crabs quickly advance on the group. M'Balz tries to use a lighted flask of oil to drive them back, but it harmlessly lands in the sand.

 Gra'bir lets loose an arrow, but it bounces off of the crab's hard shell.

 Growing concerned, Adanband casts his wall of fog spell. Butrus, annoyed by the fog, backs up slowly.

 The sea wind is dissipating the fog quickly. Adanband tells the others to run for it. M'Balz follows his advice as Gra'bir steps back but also manages to fire a shot into one of the crabs. Butrus steps back tactically as well.

 The crabs move forward through the fog, still pursuing them. The crabs strike with their pinchers, injuring Gra'bir. He tries to fight back with his lance, but the creatures fend him off.

 M'Balz is likewise struck. But with his poor health, the rogue is badly wounded by the attack. He turns and runs, hoping they will be stopped by Gra'bir.

 As the other crabs circle around towards Butrus and Adanband, Adanband creates a flaming sphere to stop the advance.

 Butrus takes a different tactic, calling upon the Loregiver to let him speak to the crabs. He tries telling the creatures they mean no harm while telling his companions to stop attacking. The tiny brains of the crabs can't fully understand him, but it does manage to confuse them.

 With the crabs stopped in confusion, M'Balz finds a tree on the island to climb. Gra'bir and Adanband like the tactic and find their own trees to climb.

 Butrus stays back to touch the lead crab and uses a remove fear spell to calm it. The crab then leaves, with the others following.

*** Session 9 - Scene 8 (of 10) ***

 After the crabs leave, everyone comes down the trees and Butrus uses the last of his healing abilities to mitigate the wounds of M'Balz and Gra'bir.

 They then resume their way back to the treasure. When they reach the spot, they realize they did not bring a shovel.

 M'Balz finds some fallen wood they can use as a makeshift shovel. It takes a long time, but eventually they dig down enough to hear a loud thunk.

 The rogue carefully digs around the object, which is revealed to be a medium-sized chest. He carefully brings it up.

 Gra'bir and M'Balz want to open it immediately, but Butrus warns them against it since they are still badly wounded. Gra'bir disagrees but M'Balz goes along with the dwarf's advice.

 Butrus also has them check to make sure nothing else was buried below the ship. By the time they verify that, they notice the sun is setting.

 Everyone rushes back to the boat. They manage to make it there just in time, with M'Balz firing a flaming arrow to make sure the captain doesn't leave before they get there.

 The captain greets them; noticing the box, he asks if they found their treasure. M'Balz downplays the situation by saying they found a box, buried on the island. Rayyan says that sounds like treasure.

 Butrus asks the captain if he has any healing potions, as M'Balz and Gra'bir are still injured from the crabs. Rayyan explains he does not, and he doesn't like magic. He also asks they not open the chest on his boat, just in case it is cursed.

 The dwarf settles for the healer's kit on the ship to bandage everyone up. Rayyan explains they will stay anchored off of the island over the night and head back to Star's Hollow in the morning.

 Before they settle for the night, Butrus suggests they set a watch. Captain Rayyan laments he no longer has a crew. Butrus asks him what happened, and the captain explains there was a disagreement, remarking how some people can be ill tempered. Wistfully, the captain talks about how he used to be able to just get a couple of you boys, make them swabbies, then beat them until they became seamen. Rayyan laments those days are long gone and it is hard to find good help these days as the group exchange looks with each other.

*** Session 9 - Scene 9 (of 10) ***

 The next day, they head back out on the open sea. Gra'bir is designated lookout, but he fails to notice an approaching pirate ship until Captain Rayyan points it out.

 The captain says he can try to get around them, but it will require heading towards the City of the Dead. M'Balz tells them to ready the plague flag; they can make towards the city but head back if the pirates are turned away by the plague flag.

 As the ship gets closer, they can see the black flag with the white shark on it; the flag of the Shark of Suq Bay. The ship is smaller than the one of Zargar Quarterman, appearing to have only a dozen men on it.

 The pirate ship lets loose a flight of arrows, with Gra'bir and Butrus hit by arrows. Gra'bir and M'Balz fire back with flaming arrows aimed at the sails of the ship, but their attack proves ineffective.

 The ship continues to close in and the pirates ready their grapples. Gra'bir manages to score a solid hit on the sails but M'Balz does not.

 Adanband wants to help with a spell but his flaming sphere does not have enough range and he is unsure if his acid arrow would be effective. Butrus helps him light a flask of oil, but his throw is off and misses the other ship.

 With the grapples in place, the pirates pull the ships together. Six of them and their commander board the Wanderer.

 Butrus uses a prayer to heal himself while Gra'bir decides to board the pirate ship, taking the last flask of oil with him.

 M'Balz fires an arrow at the pirate commander, wounding him. Adanband rushes towards the pirate crew but they fight off his staff attack.

 The pirate commander and two of his men advance on M'Balz. His heavy armor protects him from their attacks.

 Two more attack Adanband and the other two on Butrus, both sets score hits. On the other ship, two of the pirates also score wounds on Gra'bir.

 Butrus attacks with his mace, but the pirate parries with his cutlass. Adanband has better luck with his staff, crushing the skull of one of the pirates.

 M'Balz is forced to drop his bow and slice out with his dagger. He scores a deep stab, but the commander stays up. Behind them, Captain Rayyan approaches with his sword to help M'Balz out.

 On the other ship, Gra'bir uses his lance to quickly cut down the two pirates fighting him. He presses the attack, charging the men putting out the fire on the sails. He runs one of them through with his lance.

 Butrus takes down one of his attackers with his mace, while Adanband caves in the face of the pirate with the end of his staff.

 M'Balz tries to take out the commander but is fended off. Captain Rayyan does no better.

 Two of the pirates hack into Captain Rayyan, injuring him badly. The commander scores a flesh wound on M'Balz.

 With a second attack, the commander slices M'Balz across the chest. Behind them, the two pirates hack Captain Rayyan to pieces.

 Across the way, one of the pirates manages to score a hit on Gra'bir as the two other pirates onboard rush at him.

 M'Balz stabs the commander again, but the man manages to stay up. Adanband casts an acid arrow at the commander; he screams as he melts into a pile of goo.

 Butrus tries to kill the pirate on him, but fails. Gra'bir has much better luck on the pirates surrounding him, killing all three of them.

 M'Balz stabs out at one of the last pirates, but is once again fended off. A second stab finds its target, cutting the pirate's jugular vein. Adanband tries to assist with the other pirate attacking the rogue, but misses.

 Butrus, however, is able to break the neck of his target with his mace. Gra'bir, seeing his companions have the situation in hand, spends his time trying to separate the ships.

 M'Balz and the remaining pirate fence back and forth, neither scoring a hit. Adanband looks for an opening to attack, but finds none.

 The dwarf sighs and moves over to finish the job. He kills the last pirate with his mace.

*** Session 9 - Scene 10 (of 10) ***

 As soon as the battle is over, Butrus rushes over to help Captain Rayyan but the man has bled out some time ago. With all of the pirates dead, they realize they are now stuck on a ship without anyone who can sail.

 Butrus heals M'Balz while everyone discusses what to do next. Before unhooking the ships, they decide to search the other ship.

 The pirate ship has no treasure on it, but does have some food and water. They decide to move the supplies back over to their ship while moving all of the bodies to the pirate ship.

 Following Butrus' idea, they then put out the plague flag then releasing the pirate ship to float away.

 Butrus then believes they should try opening the treasure chest to see what it contains. M'Balz is more wary because of his injuries.

 M'Balz decides to go ahead and try to open the chest. Unable to pick the lock, he tries to pry it open with his dagger but only manages to break the weapon. He decides to give up.

 The men attempt to sail the ship east, but have challenges not being experienced sailors. The next day finds them dealing with becalmed winds, adrift in the middle of the ocean and hoping they can eventually make it back to shore.

*** Session 9 - Session Notes ***

 This session went really well; we actually got started on time and didn't have any technical issues with our Skype player until 2/3rds into it. It got to be a nice mix of character interaction and action for the session; the main goal of the party got advanced and some side plots were brought up (whether the PCs noticed them or not).

 Random notes about the session:
 * I purposely made Captain Rayyan rambling and obnoxious, and had to do a lot of prep to make sure he had enough to say before the PCs would try and get him to shut up.

 * Nearly everything the captain says about the Sma'rufs is based on established Smurf stories.

 * Balthazar will show up in time, I'm sure.

 * The captain not remembering the profession of the guy named Ta'lur is a joke because the name is so obvious.

 * The jungles between Star's Hollow and Zill are a location I have planned for my campaign sandbox. Should the PCs ever go there (or to Zill), there is a story there (and no, it has nothing to do with Wild Smurf).

 * Rayyan talking about the pirates is clear foreshadowing. The Reaver and the Shark of Suq Bay come from the TSR setting material (for the City of Huzaz), but Zargar Quarterman is my own developed NPC.

 * Originally, I conceived this campaign as being pirate-based, with Sid Meir's Pirates! my inspiration (and originally it was going to be a slightly more modernized Palladium Fantasy setting about colonies being established off of the Yin-Sloth region). While the player preferences had me ultimately switch to Al-Qadim / D&D, I converted a lot of my pirate notes.

 * The transition between scene 1 and scene 2 was intentionally a "Gilligan Cut", even during the game (the instant I got done having the captain say they wouldn't have any trouble with pirates, the pirate encounter started).

 * Again, note that I had rolled out the random encounters for the trip to Ruhh Island ahead of time. This pirate attack was one of those encounters.

 * The plague ship idea was quick thinking, though it is too bad; that pirate treasure had a fair amount of treasure on it as well as a hostage who had knowledge of Butrus before he met the group.

 * The name "Whack-a-Dwarf" is a play on that favorite arcade game of kids, Whack-A-Mole.

 * The PCs were smart not to attack that turtle; that would have gone bad.

 * Captain Rayyan's ramblings about the City of the Dead are clear exposition. Some of it is to set up the locations of it and Ber-Gethay as potential adventure sites (I have dungeons for both of them). Some of it was to drop some clues related to previous things the group was told (though they did not catch it, and instead confused the Al-Fayeed family with the Al-Kamari family).

 * The Al-Fayeeds are taken from the FX show, Tyrant. I originally conceived of them when planning the campaign last summer (though the role they take here is actually of the Rashid family in the show).

 * Daria being in Wasat is part of a storyline the PCs would have discovered if they had either followed her or gone to the City of the Dead.

 * The pirate M'Balz mentions, One-Balled Billy, is a joke name inspired by One-Eyed Willy from the movie The Goonies.

 * The giant crab encounter ended up being far more brutal than I intended, so I let Butrus have some latitude with his speak to animals and remove fear spells (particularly since it was a pretty innovative way to deal with the situation).

 * Captain Rayyan's joke about beating the boys until they became seamen (a version of a joke I remember a friend using back in my middle-school days) stopped the game cold for a moment with exasperated laughter because I caught them so off-guard.

 * The pirate fight seemed to take forever; like the previous session, it was comical how roll after roll would be terrible.

 * I found it hilarious the whole session was around finding a treasure chest the group never manages to open.

 * The PCs lost at sea is going to be pretty serious. One of the players thinks they should be able to easily sail back to land, but I don't agree (this is the same player who believes it is almost impossible to get lost in the wilderness). Next session should be interesting.

*** Session 10 - Cast of Characters ***

M'Balz Al-Badassi: A human rogue from the city. M'Balz is the member of a noble family with political connections, but is bored with his wealthy lifestyle and instead performs as a masked scoundrel for hire know as Al-Caliph.

Gra'bir Boubi: A human warrior from the desert tribe of the Wah'na Poq-yah tribe of the Haunted Lands. A superb hunter, Gra'bir has come to the city of Huzaz to look for a quest to prove himself a great warrior.

Adanband: An elf scholar and sorcerer from the city of Huzaz.

Butrus: A dwarf priest with a fervent faith and damaged memory.

*** Session 10 - Scene 1 (of 7) ***

Out in the great Suq Bay, the Wanderer sits waiting for wind. Butrus uses the time to fish and heal the others, but there is little else to do.

By the second day, everyone is getting bored. They decide to look through Captain Rayyan's possessions, but find nothing of value except a spare eyepatch, an outlandish-colored shirt, a terrible poem he was attempting to write, some old mementos, and a few copper coins.

Butrus decides they should search the ship for any hidden compartments. They manage to locate a shallow berth useful for smuggling things.

At the end of the third day of no wind, Butrus prays long and hard to the Loregiver. His prayers appear to be answered the next day, as a light wind from the west. Using the sails, they catch the wind enough to begin moving east.

Gra'bir keeps a lookout as they move along. He spots a lot of movement in the water about 50 yards out. He yells out to the others to warn them.

Butrus looks where the fighter points, and sees the forms of great beasts under the waters. He can tell it is a large pack of killer whales. While the others start to panic, the priest convinces them to stay calm and the whales will ignore the ship.

Gra'bir, not fully convinced, ropes himself to the deck. Butrus sees the foolish act but it does remind him to tell the others to brace for impact, should the ship accidentally hit one of the animals. But the whales move out the way, and the ship sails through easily.

The next morning, the wind picks up speed and shifts to the north. Adanband adjusts the sails and the ship begins quickly moving along.

Near twilight, Butrus spots some birds in the sky. Gra'bir looks off in the distance, and sees what might be land but it is difficult to see in the dimming light. M'Balz would prefer to move in while there is still wind, but Butrus is concerned about steering the ship into a rocky shoal in the dark.

The group decides to drop anchor for the night. Butrus keeps an eye out for light in the distance, but none is seen; he surmises they are along an uninhabited section of the coast.

*** Session 10 - Scene 2 (of 7) ***

The night passes without incident and the next morning the land can be clearly seen far off in the distance. Around the ship, a large patch of floating seaweed has formed and extends in to the coastline.

M'Balz sees the seaweed as a bad omen, but Butrus wants to take the dunij to shore to scout around. Adanband and Gra'bir decide to accompany the priest, leaving M'Balz on board by himself.

Adanband and Gra'bir row the small launch boat while Butrus directs them. Rowing in the seaweed is relatively slow and difficult as it wraps around the oars.

Butrus looks out for any trouble ahead. About halfway to shore, he spots something in the water moving under the seaweed. As one of the movements gets closer, he can see they are sea lions.

Gra'bir and Adanband pull their oars into the ship to avoid having them damaged. The three then ready their weapons as one of the sea lions emerges on the side of the boat and prepares to attack.

The lion lashes out at Adanband, badly mauling him with its claws. Butrus, acting quickly, casts an entanglement spell to cause the seaweed in the water to wrap itself around the creature and drag it back into the water.

Grabbing the oars, they quickly start to make their way to the shore. Another of the sea lions approaches to Gra'bir's side.

Gra'bir grabs his lance and stabs out at the beast. He manages to injure it and it growls in pain.

Adanband follows up with a jet of flame from his burning hands spell.

Butrus tries to use another entanglement spell to grab this monster as well, but the lion manages to claw his way out of the seaweed quickly.

The sea lion lashes Gra'bir across the chest, carving out some of his flesh. Butrus once again attempts to entangle it, but fails.

Gra'bir scores another solid hit with his lance. Adanband tries to finish the creature off with his staff, but fails.

The fighter, reacting quickly, jabs his lance into the beast again. It slumps over, dead.

Knowing there are still several sea lions out in the seaweed, they get back to their oars and quickly make their way to shore before any more can attack.

Once the boat is brought up on shore, the group decides what to do next. They elect to follow the coastline south.

The day's travel is uneventful along the quiet coast. They decide to make camp for the night when it gets dark.

*** Session 10 - Scene 3 (of 7) ***

Despite the odds, M'Balz also has a quiet day on the ship but stays paranoid as darkness falls at night.

By the next day, his paranoia gets the best of him. With his companions not returned, he decides to pull anchor and sail to the shore.

As the ship picks up speed, M'Balz spots a coral reef sticking out of the seaweed. He tries to adjust the sails to go around it, but doesn't quite make it enough. The ships shudders as the hull scrapes against the reef.

The Wanderer begins taking on water. M'Balz tries desperately to make it to shore in time. He rams the beach hard with the ship, wedging it into the sand.

M'Balz then makes his way onto the shore with all of his belongings and looks around. He does not spot his friends.

Fearing being alone, he works to light the ship to make a signal fire in the hopes his companions can find him.

*** Session 10 - Scene 4 (of 7) ***

Meanwhile, many miles to the south, Butrus, Adanband, and Gra'bir continue along the coast, eventually coming to a section of farmlands. Greeting a passing farmer, they discover they are on the outskirts of the city of Wasat.

Butrus expresses his joy they have discovered their location, which should allow them to return to their ship to sail it into the city harbor. The farmer agrees it should be a quiet journey.

The farmer asks Butrus for news from far-off lands. The priest defers to Gra'bir, who only mentions being lonely from being at sea for too long. The farmer noncommittally suggests they find some companionship in the city.

Before they leave, the farmer does warn them about dangerous plots afoot in the city. He begins talking about the previous caliph's death not being an accident as commonly believed, which Gra'bir recalls being said to be the result of a holy slayer. The farmer, however, has heard a different story; he attributes the murder to one of the caliph's courtier.

The three companions then head back north to get back to their ship.

*** Session 10 - Scene 5 (of 7) ***

As night falls, the ship continues to burn along the beach. The winds blowing to the southwest carry the smoke out to sea. M'Balz tries to stay nearby, but out of immediate sight.

A couple of miles away, Butrus and the others observe a light up the beach. Not sure what the light source could be, they decide to go investigate. The priest does warn that only a fool would light such a large fire in a deserted area and not expect someone to show up, so it could be a trap.

Meanwhile, M'Balz sees that other creatures have observed the light. Three hideous female creatures, clearly sea hags, emerge from the seaweed-filled water. M'Balz finds them terrifying, and hopes they don't come anywhere near him. He starts to slip away quietly.

As the sea hags investigate the area, they form together to cast a spell. Once the spell is completed, one of the hags looks straight at M'Balz – her eyes piercing through the darkness. She calls out to the others, "There!"

M'Balz starts making a run for it. The hags follow after.

After running for some time, M'Balz spots three travelers along the beach. He runs right past them, yelling "Sea hags!"

Butrus, Gra'bir, and Adanband look and spot the three hags coming up quickly. Each of the creatures casts a magical gaze at the three adventurers. Butrus and Adanband shake off the effects, but Gra'bir suddenly becomes paralyzed.

Adanband quickly grabs Gra'bir to get him out of danger. Butrus casts his flaming blade spell then stabs into one of the creatures, wounding her.

Stopping to recover his breath, M'Balz realizes his friends are the ones he ran past. Behind him, M'Balz fires an arrow into the hag Butrus wounded to finish her off.

Butrus tries to attack one of the other hags, but she fends him off with her dagger. Adanband tries to cast his wall of fog spell, but the creatures of the sea easily see through it.

As the fog rolls in, M'Balz fires an arrow into one of the hags, wounding her. In retaliation, she lashes out with a dagger but misses.

The other hag slashes at Butrus, cutting across his face. He slashes back with his flame blade, but misses.

M'Balz fends off another dagger attack by the hag, slashing her back with his own blade.

Adanband calls forth a flaming sphere. He sends it towards the hag attacking M'Balz but she moves out of the way in time. M'Balz barely resists the heat of the flames himself.

Seizing the weakness of M'Balz in the face of the heat, the hag slashes out at M'Balz. The attack slices through his throat; blood sprays everywhere as he collapses. But the creature spends too long gloating in its victory, allowing Adanband to move his flaming sphere in to finish her off.

The sorcerer then moves the sphere towards the remaining hag, but she moves out of the way. Butrus likewise makes sure to avoid the flame.

Using his own flame, the priest stabs the hag in the side. The hag attacks back, but misses.

Butrus stabs the creature again, wounding her badly. Adanband's flaming sphere finishes her off.

*** Session 10 - Scene 6 (of 7) ***

With the battle over, Butrus looks at M'Balz wounds. Unfortunately, he has bled out and is dead.

Gra'bir, for his part, is still paralyzed. Adanband recalls the gaze of a hag can paralyze for up to three days.

Butrus feels their best bet is to get M'Balz back to Wasat and see if a high priest can be found to raise him from the dead. He tells Adanband they need to get everyone back to the ship so they can sail to Wasat.

When they reach the site of the ship, however, they realize the light source was the flames of their ship. Butrus says the hags must have lit the ship on fire, causing M'Balz to flee.

The priest does spot the tracks in the sand from where the hags came. Knowing such creatures may have large amounts of treasure, he feels it is worth the risk to investigate as it will cost a great deal to raise M'Balz.

Shedding his belongings, Butrus dives in. Near the spot the hags emerged, he spots an underground cave.

The priest swims up into the cave. There he discovers the treasure the hags have stolen from their victims – several chests containing a large amount of silver and gold coins, several gems, a couple pieces of jewelry, a bottle containing a liquid (labeled "oil of horridness"), and three fine-looking javelins.

After several trips, Butrus manages to get all of the treasure up to the surface. Luckily, he encounters no sea lions on his trips.

Adanband and Butrus move the bodies and treasure away to a safe location for the night. The next day, he sends Adanband off to head back south and see if he can rent a mule and cart to bring the bodies and treasure back.

*** Session 10 - Scene 7 (of 7) ***

For a small fee, the farmer agrees. By the time everyone is back in Wasat, the paralyzing effect on Gra'bir begins to wear off.

The group immediately heads over to the temple of Zann the Wise, with Butrus again speaking with the imam. Imam Kafeel explains they will need to see the high priest of the temple of Kor the Venerable, High Priest Waqar.

Waqar agrees to raise M'Balz from the dead for a fee of 4000 dinar. He also agrees to identify the magic potion and javelins for a lesser fee.

To pay for the resurrection, Butrus hands over all the treasure from the hags except for the magic items. He and the others must also dip into their personal wealth to cover the balance. To pay for the identification of the magic items, he uses money from M'Balz treasure collection.

M'Balz's body is washed and prepared. The high priest spends most of the day performing the ceremony, with M'Balz finally raised. Waqar warns him he will be weakened by the experience, and that returning from the dead gets progressively more difficult so he should be careful.

M'Balz, for his part, seems confused. According to him, he remembers nothing after the group found the chest on Ruhh Island. Butrus catches him back up on what occurred.

As for the magic items, the high priest identifies the potion as mislabeled and actually being a potion of delusion. He also identifies the javelins as powerfully deadly weapons.

The group still has the locked chest from Ruhh Island. They drop it off with a local locksmith to get it opened and plan to pick it up the next day.

As they leave, they notice the "Whack-A-Dwarf" is docked at the harbor. A group of pirates, including a large ogre, are locked in chains and being led away by mamluk soldiers.

A flamboyantly-dressed man is talking with some city officials, apparently being given some kind of reward. By what they overhear, the group can tell the man is quite arrogant; apparently he is a pirate hunter by the name of Sidi Haji.

As Haji leaves, a man is brought out of the ship, apparently a prisoner. He appears to be a rather disheveled-looking nobleman. They can hear him give his name to the officials as Evhad Al-Ajami.

Butrus notices Evhad catches sight of him and stops to stare for a moment. Then a flash of recognition comes across the eyes of the man. Evhad tells the authorities to arrest Butrus, claiming he is a con man named Duha Al-Meha.