Safe and Sand
After discussing Marius' predicament with him, the group decided to join the sisters of the Shifting Sands at their monastery to plan their next move. While there Amérre was invited to speak with Sabia, the head of the order. She is an ancient Loxodon who once visited the monastery of the Cobalt Soul centuries ago. She invites the group to make themselves at home in the monastery. She also informs Amérre that she isn't the only Genasi to visit recently.
Retracing Their Steps
Having finished up repairs on the Dawn's Promise, Arbin set out into the city to find the rest of the group. He started by visiting Aziza at the Church of the Blind Wanderer who directed him to the home of The General. After having a conversation with Marius and getting brought up to speed on his situation, Arbin received a sending from Bluud who directed him to meet the group at the monastery.
New Toys
Her new weapons in hand and some unpleasant memories revisited, Amérre decided to spar in the monastery's training room. Lorelei agreed to step up as her opponent and the two had a spirited match which impressed several onlookers, including Carna Aphari, the fire Genasi ranger who was also visiting the monastery.
An Ancient Map to a New Opportunity
At dinner the group spends some time talking over their plans to get Marius out of his debt to the Silent Strike. Carna joins them at their table and offers some information about the Yuan-Ti. She lets them know that she has been avoiding a high ranking member of the gang, Sandat Sha. She let's the group know that Sandat was also looking for an artifact that she managed to get a hold of first. Turns out he wants to take out the Kaicho and become the new leader of the Silent Strike and believes this artifact will help him do that. As the conversation continues she reveals that the artifact in question is a map to Kakura, the lost capital of the former Yuan-Ti empire. This city succumb to some unknown catalysm centuries ago and its location was lost to time. Legend says that the Crown of the Kasan Emperor is still somewhere in the city. This crown is said to be incredibly powerful as it is believed it is what gave the Emperors the power to build their empire.
I Love It When a Plan Comes Together
Carna lets the group know that she is intending to follow the map to Kakura and would like to hire them to be her crew for this dangerous mission. Knowing that a high ranking member of the Silent Strike wants this map, the group decided to negotiate the map as their payment, along with potentially any artifacts they may find in the city. As her mission is specifically the crown (and anything deemed incredibly dangerous) she agrees to let them copy the map after their mission is completed so they can use the copy to negotiate for Marius' freedom.
The following morning the group sets out, after procuring some coffee for the trip, taking a circuitous route out of the city to avoid the Silent Strike and heading out into the desert. As they leave the city behind the group is attacked by a group of giant scorpions. Fortunately, they are able to dispatch the creatures and make good progress due to Myrnin's new found knowledge of desert survival.