Towards Ayesha
The Following Alexander Party arrives victorious from the City of Silence to Axum. Queen Yodit grants us custodianship of Miriam in exchange for avenging the wrong done to her ancestor the Queen of Sheba by the people of the City of Silence. We show the statue head we brought from the City as proof. When we ask about Ayesha we hear that she is really tough and scary, and Yodit also casually mentions that the interior is incredibly danerous. In fact, the air is so pestilential that the god of disease, Oe himself, lives there and infects everyone. Saiiq decides to use all his third level spells on Cure Disease. We thank Yodit and go. We also make a deal to help Adaraz take out some Ark-gaurding Angels when we return from the interior. Hadneya tells us there is a mongobongopongo in town, which is a kind of demon who takes the form of a mishappen man and spreads turmoil. We immediately think of Bab al-Nasr. Ailyll mentions that she used to work for him, and in fact that she traveled here from Cairo as his bodygaurd along with Ulf. Just then Bab's servant approaches us and mentions that his master has a text concerning Ayesha that we might want to by before we take off for her city. We rest some and then go to Bab's shop after auguring that it will be weal.
Ol' Bab is a pretty weird looking guy, face covered by a golden mask, twitching all the time, speaking in fits and starts. Ulf is guarding him, and Harald and he talk for a bit in Norse, revealing that they both know Ido. Harald mentions that she is aroung, and Ulf seems worried about her. Then we get down to buisness with Bab. He mentions that Jacob Ibn Killis bought all his magic books before he got here, but he does have some stuff we might want: a text concerning Amenartis and Kallikrates, a Koran with the Satanic Verses, and an odd book, literally unique, bought from a very worried looking man named {fill in later}. It is in Sanskrit. Afaf reads us the title: the Throknama. We trade a Koran and Hadith from the genie tower, as well as the book that contains the Riddling Contest between Solomon and a Dwarf, and pay him as well. Harald persuades Mamun that we shouldn't try to rob and murder Bab, as he has been very helpful so far.
On the second we take off from Axum in a Chariot of Sustarre summoned using Harald's Book of Infinite spells. After a long flight only briefly interupted by stupid giant confusion-causing moths (at he sight of which everyone but Adel failed a save, such that the subsequent combat was interrupted by characters attempting to "wander off" the back of the chariot, Adel and whoever was behaving normally that round preventing them, while others attacked people at random, etc.) we see an elegantly dressed black man standing in our path, 100 feet in the air. He is surrounded by nine-assed birds with one leg and a human torso, and he has his hand out in a "do not pass" sort of gesture. We fight, taking out most of the nine-assed birds while Oe (for it is he) comically fails again and again to dispel our chariot. He finally succeeds, but Harald feather falls everyone. Af-af uses the Chime of Crashing to bring down Oe before he can shop Harald with a flaming sword, or do something with his bejewlled cloak. Oe turns into a crow and flies away defeated, and we keep going on foot.
A week follows in which we travel by Harald leviating with eveyone strapped to himself then flying for impulse. We kill some giant ants, but no other monsters wander our way. We make good time, and then cast a new Chariot on the 8th. More moths are killed, but Oe knows what is good for him and stays out of sight. The Book of Infinite Spells changes to crap-o Illusionary Wall, and we are all sad. We travel more, and run into some Pygmys on the 14th. We make peace, and they want Ailyll to be their new God. She is thinking about it now.
