Kill those Dragons, Make Nice With the Caliph
Leaving Ailyll and some thieves outside the dragon cave, Harald pops back to the boat to pick up the rest of the dragon attack squad. Just as he's about to leave some water elementals come roaring up out of the water and dump a bunch of crabs and sea urchins on the deck. This is not especially cool, but the thieves set to work cutting up the crabs while those of us who can injure the elementals face off against them. Meanwhile, from the Black Widow (former Trap) the Widows see something else coming up from the depths. A 50 foot tall Nautilis comes out beside them, waving its tentacles around and looking scary. Meanwhile Mamun feels a sudden urge to go check out the hold, which he does though slightly waylaid by Anu Niorei and Gnomomagico.
Up on deck, we get the better of the crabs while the various terrible monsters get the better of us. Knocked to a negative by those nasty tentacles, Harald flies up and heroically risks heart explosion to turn the tide of the battle. His heroism is ill-received as the demoness he summoned turns on the party and knocks Anu and Niorei to a negative, offering a post of servitude to one, conditional on the death of the other. General panic ensues, and Harald drops Zulfukar down to Abdulfatah for one last stand. His chaotic evil alignment allows him to make full use of the sword's potential and dispel Harald's summoning. It also means that he has no qualms about turning on TrapoII and declaring himself captain.
At that moment, Mamun comes running back on deck, yelling "He's not there! Really!". The Nautilis pulls back, and demands we deliver Barnacle Bashim to him at once. "Well why didn't you just say so!?" we cry, and promise to bring him as soon as we can. He keeps Rani and Picketypockety as security, and we ask him to please remember that they need air to breathe.
After a quick rest Harald, Mamun, TrapoII and some more thieves teleport back to where Ailyll Akim and Indira are patiently waiting. Filled with courage and only somewhat less prepared than we were planning on being, we set off to attack the dragons guarding Yaya sr . We drop the mouth of the cave on one of the dragons and hit him with a double lightning strike before he knows what happen, then we all leap down into the fray. The other dragon comes out from his hiding place in the back, and their combined breath weapons drop Harald and [[Ailyll] to a negative, and the thieves heroically hold the dragons off while they are bandaged and revived. Mamun scrolls us up a wall of thorns to cover our escape and a sandling opens a trapped box to set the whole thing on fire. Dolphin Ailyll tows the party away through the sea while Harald summons up a bunch of fish to cover our tracks. We find a nice underwater cave to hide in and catch our breaths. The remaining thieves sneak back to the cave and see that the uninjured dragon is still off looking for us. In a mad leap from above they are able to finish off the wounded one and quickly carry off Yaya sr. One harrowing rest cycle later we teleport back to Cairo and set up a meeting with the Fatimid Caliph.
Our success, combined with a potion of glibness, seem to improve our standing in his esteem. He makes all sorts of concessions and promised, and awards us the three spells we had agreed upon. The first is a commune and the second the resurrection of Sancho Mohammed. Harald gives him the magic necklace to offset the aging effects of the necklace, and all is well. We hang out swapping stories and making amends, and even get a nice shiny library pass out of the deal.
