Outside the hold, look-outs sound the alarm. An instant later, a loud voice can be heard from outside the wagon: “The Jura Dai are not slaves your king must release our people or all his caravans will perish in the desert.” Shortly after the events detailed above occur, a loud explosion sounds at the front of the wagon. It stops amid astonished cries of “You can’t stop a mekillot wagon!” “They stopped us!” and “_We’re doomed!” (The attackers’s defiler used a fireball to sever the shaft by which the wagon is pulled.) The booming voice sounds again: “_Leave now—taking nothing with you or we will burn you out!”
The psionicist hands you crossbows and 20 obsidian bolts each and tells you to defend the caravan.
A: Cargo Hold.
B: Crew Quarters. Twelve sleeping hammocks. Obsidian Bastard sword
C: Psionicist.s Quarters. 25 cp (hidden in bunk). +2 wand
D: Captain Avarm’s Quarters.
E: Kitchen. Gruel. 500 gallons of water in a barrel. 20 one-quart vessels (PCs can carry two per hand).
Two rounds after the party is freed, three dozen elves board the wagon, slaying the psionicist and half-a-dozen guards who remained behind. After the adventurers (slaves) abandon the wagon, they start setting fire to it.
Outside, the wagon is surrounded by three hundred elves. They don’t bother the now-freed slaves, but, offer no help either. Korek suffers a deluge of insults (the elves are well aware of the thri-kreen.s taste for elf-meat). The elves drive the slaves off with arrows that fall uncomfortably close but do not intentionally hit the group.
Burned Wreck. When the group returns to the wagon they discover that it has been completely burned and looted. The cargo is now missing
Not much survived the fire, but, here is a list of what G’tok Dra finds:
1. Charcoal (the wagon was made of wood), for all practical purposes an unlimited supply.
2. Dozens of obsidian shards (broken weapons) as long as four feet and razor sharp.
3. Burn leather (straps and clothing).
4. Burnt bone (human).
5. Burnt cloth (hammocks. clothing. etc.).
6. Sheets of glass under wagon where sand melted.
7. Captain Avram’s burnt remains. He died when the fire ball freed the mekillots.
8. Bone case with map
As the group is searching the burnt caravan they are surrounded by 12 guards. The guards demand any water the party has. Battle ensues when G’tok Dra refuse to hand over their precious water supply.
Following this Illikan spies a thicket of vegetation a mile distant. The thicket is silhouetted by Athas twin moons, Ral and Guthay. The thicket is nearly a half-mile across. From its center glistens a scintillating, silver reflection—the unmistakable gleam of water?
As Illikan, Korek and their fellow freed-slave Akar proceed to enter the seeming oasis, they are set upon by a green slime and several oozes. G’tok Dra struggles against the vicious pricker bushes and disgusting monsters, enduring lethal damage from both. Akar, the kenku who joined the party when freed from the caravan, is the first to be killed, while trying to escape the “oasis.” He is pummeled by damage from the slime and oozes and is finally finished off by the prickers.
Illikan and Korek soon turn the tables on their assailants with a few well-placed attacks. After defeating the slimy monsters, they discover the “water” is actually a shallow pool of viscous liquid, but, none of it water. The harsh cruelties of Athas’s environment become more evident as the group continues on, in search of the town of Kled.