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"I see" Babushka seems to be thinking hard. "And if he learned the Khan wanted to have you killed so soon, would he still want to be close to the Khan, telling himself - and you - that it must have been your fault?"

She shakes her head. "I have no idea," she admits. "I do not know him well enough to guess."

Babushka sighs. Then she turns to all of the group.

"If we were back in our home country, with forests and mountains and valleys and meadows, I would say that Ulster's plan is a good one, because I would be able to hide us from view and to get us food. But here in the desert, we're constantly close to death. Even if our ruse succeeds and we get Malik and Wittchen out of the Khan's clutches, we run a very high risk of either being caught by the next group the Khan sends out or simply dying from the desert conditions. We need allies. There must be people in the Khan's realm that are dissatisfied with him. Even if they don't dare open rebellion, they might find it delightful to help us."

Babushka's spirits seem to have lifted considerably now, there's something like a twinkle in her blue eyes again.

"So we find someone to help? Can we do that, I mean I like the idea, and new people are always great!" Locky grins, slumping in a corner.

"Let me ask Fizban for aid, to heal us all."

Before she does she checks everyones wounds, healing check: 8.

"Your story is interesting, The Khan may not even know anything of this, although meeting him I find that hard to believe." Jerrard says with a concerned look at the girl. "Babuskha is correct, we need Allies, I am thinking Imani may be able to help us there." He gives the elder Princess a smile.

"Syriana, we are trying to help, but your Land and Customs are new to us, if I say things that seem strange it is because I simply do not know there is a problem. Please remember that too Imani."

Imani thinks about her options for a few moments before she actually answers. "I would offer my own tribe, but they live too far away for us to hide out there," she explains.

"There are a couple of villages near the coast. One is actually under the Khan's rule, so that one is out. The other way is under the rule of the Khur, a tribe much more powerful than our Khan's. Mehmet wouldn't be likely to go to war with them. Though, conditions with the Khur aren't really all that much better than they are with Mehmet," she explains.

"There is also a mine up to the north where a colony of dwarves live. They are friendly, but impartial and try to stay out of tribe affairs, although they openly trade with them all. There are also some abandoned ruins down to the south where we could hide."

"Hmmm." Jerrard mutters quietly, "One person cannot do what we are proposing, it would not be possible, I am thinking we will need more spells." He rubs his head, "If I had the right tools, I could make scrolls so I could make more of us invisible at the same time, plus your son does not know us, he would need someone he knows to convince him to go."

"The nearby City, that opposes the Khan, is it large? After all we simply need a place to stay, somewhere we can plan. No one needs to know who we are." he looks straight at Imani. "What do you think? Or would the Dwarves be better?"

"Oooo another City." Locky beams. "Shame we have to go out there to get to it?" She shrugs, "Let me heal you all as best as I can, and then pray to protect who I can from the heat."

"Village," Imani corrects. "So no, it is not large. I really wouldn't call it a safe haven either," she admits. "Our best bet would be the dwarves, or the abandon ruins," she says. "As for the getting into the palace, you are going to need someone that knows Malik and knows the lay out. I'm really the best person to go in there."

"I think we should go to the dwarves first" Babushka says. "If they trade with all groups, they are unlikely to tell anybody what we've bought, and they will not ask questions. There are a lot of things we need. And, Locky, is there a way to protect more of us from the heat in a way similar to what Jerrard plans to do with the invisibility?"

"Then that is where we go, I will need parchment, time and a map of the City." Jerrard says in response to Imani and Babuskha.

"Well, I am not that powerful, so I can only protect four of us." She lowers her head, a sad look crossing her face, "But I need to rest first."

"Let's rest then," Thuskar suggests.

A watch is set, the party eats and drinks and discusses their plans further, and the rest of the night passes without incident.

===========

4AM - 10AM
No encounters.
Dekker heals 3 HP of heat exhaustion damage.
Jerrard heals 6 HP of heat exhaustion damage.
Thuskar heals 1 HP of heat exhaustion damage.
Imani heals 4 HP of heat exhaustion damage.

Everyone consumes a day's worth of food and water. (Ulster shares his food and water with Syriana and his water with Imani.) Dekker and Artemis both consume 4 days of food and water.

XP is as follows:

Locky
Casting Cure Moderate Wounds (x2) - 400 XP
Casting Cure Light Wounds (x3) - 300 XP
Casting Detect Evil - 100 XP
Defeating Clockwork Spider - 54 XP
Freeing Dala - 250 XP
Defeating Vermin Dogs - 65 XP
Finding Syriana - 500 XP
Good Roleplaying - 100 XP
TOTAL: 1,769 XP

Babushka
DefeatingClockwork Spider - 254 XP
Freeing Dala - 250 XP
Defeating Vermin Dogs - 565 XP
Finding Syriana - 500 XP
Good Roleplaying - 100 XP
TOTAL: 1,669 XP

Ulster
Defeating Clockwork Spider - 67 XP
Defeating Vermin Dogs - 232 XP
Freeing Dala - 250 XP
Finding Syriana - 500 XP
TOTAL: 1,049 XP

Jerrard
Casting Magic Missile - 50 XP
Defeating Clockwork Spider - 54 XP
Freeing Dala - 250 XP
Casting Web - 100 XP
Defeating Vermin Dogs - 65 XP
Finding Syriana - 500 XP
Idea to use barrels for fire - 50 XP
Good Roleplaying - 100 XP
Bonus +10%
TOTAL: 1,286 XP

Thuskar
Defeating Clockwork Spider - 87 XP
Defeating Vermin Dogs - 332 XP
Freeing Dala - 250 XP
Finding Syriana - 500 XP
Bonus +10%
TOTAL: 1,286 XP

Imani
Defeating Clockwork Spider - 154 XP
Freeing Dala - 250 XP
Defeating Vermin Dogs - 565 XP
Finding Syriana - 500 XP
Good Roleplaying - 100 XP
TOTAL: 1,569 XP