After 10 years of struggle against the Pelai invaders and their leader the tyrant Marghash, the rebellion is in its most desperate hour. The party is sent by their leader the mystic Venakro to retrieve some vital documents from Mestal, the Blind Beggar. From the beginning of their journey events go wrong, as if they were being deliberately led by fate onto another destiny. They were to rendezvous with a caravan, but the caravan was attacked and destroyed before you reached it. After a strange sojourn through the Zholith (Jholith) desert, and then along Greater Salamwardu River through the Utsu jungle. They spot some ruins, and decide to return to these when their mission has been accomplished. The party arrives at the town of Junjoli, the gateway to the fertile belt of land known simply as The Delta. The city is garrisoned by unruly Uruk-khoz (Orcs) and has become a sad unhappy place. Traveling on from Junjoli they have a nervous encounter with a procession containing the mage Marsovios, a turncoat mage who has been allied with Marghash and the Pelai from the very beginning. Later in a village near Ronju, they learn that Marghash is planning new military campaigns and is mustering an army and fleet of Pelai flying ships in Ronju. At this point in the expedition, things really begin to unravel as they learn through Syrinen's spirit contacts that their beggar contact has been captured and killed. At Ronju they travel on a boat to Ebbendjor, but they get off halfway to investigate a Pelai wreck near the village of Mundkha.

At Mundkha, they have an encounter with the goddess Astarte,who offers to aid the party aid if they can pass some tests. After a mysterious encounter back in time, the party comes to their original goal: The Tavern of the Seven Boars, where they were to meet with Mestal. There is trouble there, and a fight breaks out in the tavern. There they are attacked with fearsome magic and all but one of the group (Xantippe) make it out barely with their lives, thanks to the intervention of a strange Haz (desert lizardman) with remarkable magical powers. The entire building was destroyed in an explosion. A Pelai fleet arrives, and is attacked by wizards and dragonriders in a fearsome battle.

>In the confusion the party escapes and makes it to a friend of Lelaine's in the Tangled Web district of Kyroz. She is a Kypros (Halfling) fortune teller named Tranyi. She seems to be a mix of true talent and charlatan. While the group is hiding out with Tranyi, there is an announcement that the tyrant Marghash has fallen from power in a civil war among the Pelai. The New leader of the Pelai, an individual called Gharash, promises to restore Kiresh rule to the Delta. Ostensively the war is over, and the rebels have "won", but the party has their suspicions.

North of Kyroz, travelling North out from the Kypros settlements they eventually reach a ferry that takes you across the river. Around the city of Kyroz they notice pikes have been set up and hundreds of orcs have been impaled on them. It is a frightening sight. Traveling East along the Muluk road they come to the Rezik river. Across the Rezik River lies the fabulous city of Muluk. Muluk lies between the Rezik and Al-Zalim rivers. North of the city is the Taltho hills , and beyond that the Fetid Marshes and The Endless Sea. Muluk until the conquest was ruled by for a thousand years by one ruler: the Ishandeshee sultan, Aswiyah Milfahir. While Ishandeshee have been known to live up to 1200 years, few live beyond 250 years. The elven flux or violence typically claims most sea-elves before they see the end of their third century. Most Sea-elves are less than 150 years old. Sea-elves become adults at about 35 years of age. Thus an eleven hundred year old sea-elf like Aswiyah was a rarity. He is the last Sea-elf who was alive at the time of the Ishandeshee Conquest. He was perhaps the greatest of the Ishandeshee warriors. The old Sultan is said to have survived the conquest, and presumably still lives in exile.

Muluk is famous for its textiles particularly its linens and silks. It s textile industries compete with those of Kyroz. A wonderful green dye Taltho grows in the hills near the city. Muluk green is famous throughout H'kartha. Other exotic dyes and fabrics are imported into Muluk. Muluk is also know for its glasswork, lapidary work,and its ceramics. Muluk porcelain is quite exquisite. Muluk is slightly more than half the size of Kyroz, but it is clearly more prosperous. The deprivations of the Hegemony of Marghash have not been as severe there. Muluk did not put up much of a fight against the Pelai, but turned on its Ishandeshee rulers after the first Pelai raids. The region around Muluk with some 100,0000 Kiresh (about a third of whom live in the city itself) is rich farmland unscarred by war, in sharp contrast to the countryside around Kyroz which still has many reminders ofthe last decade of Pelai rule, including some recent destruction.

Muluk under the Pelai has been ruled by the Grand Vizier Zeenab, a mysterious figure about which little is known. Shortly before the ascension of Gharash, a Kiresh who styles herself Princess Hadra Sorceress-General of Muluk emerged as a powerful player. It is unclear whether she has replaced Zeenab. She commands the Palace Guard and led the Pelai reduction of the mutinous orc garrison in Muluk. The only Kiresh that rivals Hadra for power in Muluk is the former Moorish corsair: who Admiral Oman abid-Hazim commands the 30 ship blue-water navy of Muluk. He has led many raids on the Ishandeshee over the last decade.

Muluk is an ancient, cosmopolitan city, with many impressive commercial, public, and religious places of interest. The first the first the party encounters is the huge caravansary, just outside the city The party travels throught this on a paved road lined with an arabesque colonnade of archways leading to the bridge of Seven Rainbows. Over this bridge, across the river from the Caravansary, lies the Grand Bazaar. The bazaar is built in what must have been the ruins of an older portion of Muluk, which with the currents of history have come to lie outside the current walls of the city.

The only soldiers the party encounters in the Grand Bazaar are Kiresh wearing the Palace livery. Thei reyes and skin have a rather sallow, jaundice look, and they seem to be forever drooling repulsive yellow slime, like the Ghurl chewers of Sorenso, save that the spittle is more unsavory in appearance. They are clearly Janissaries,slave soldiers. There is a deadness in their expressions, as if they are without souls, without a trace of their former humanity. Several of the flying Pelai ships can be seen flying over the City of Muluk. The city of Muluk is a fantastic Arabian Nights looking city of minarets, domes, tiles and plastered mudbrick. The city is bejeweled with impossible architecture that can only be built and maintained by magic. The city is more beautiful than Kyroz, and is perhaps a reflection of what Kyroz used to look like before the devastating bombardment during the Pelai conquest a decade before.

A strange Kypros is running toward the party, wild fright in his eyes. He is clutching a scroll and is being chased by three Atyri. The Atyri have the appearance of gargoyles, and arealso called Githyanki, which is from a Haz phrase meaning demon-warriors.The party assists the Kypros against the Githyanki. There is chaos and confusion, with the running and flying Githyanki are caught in several magical pitfalls laid out by various party members. The beleaguered Atyri crash into stalls toppling some of the tents and canopies. The mysterious fleeing Kypros smacks into Kersh thrusting the scroll into the High Priests baggy sleeves and then running on vanishing in the uproar that has beset this portion of the Grand Bazaar.

The scroll later turns out to be some sort of enchanted map. The Githyanki recover and look angrily about them. Looking about at the crowd that is throwing angry epithets and curses at the Githyanki, each other and the party, depending whom they see as being "at fault" for the spilled goods, the demon-warriors shake their heads in frustration. One yells something to his companions in a strange tongue and they head off. Obviously unwilling to cause more of a scene or engage in any confrontation. However the party as a group also decide to move on as some of the merchants and customers who decided that they were a party to the chaos are becoming irritating in their verbal assaults and castigations.

The party adventures on and enters into a mysterious underground city of unknown origin. It seems deserted and ancient, and seems built of strange materials. Discovering a magical portal, the party is transported to the Grotto of Wonders. There they encounter a strange demon similar to those they saw summoned in the battle around the Tavern of the Seven Boars. The demon bars their entry to some sort of ruined temple complex. The party engages in the demon in a desperate battle.

The party defeats the demon recovering an amulet and its gem-like heart. They then investigates the temple where they find more items The party does some preliminary investigations of the items they have found. They then set about trying to find a way out. Foiled in these efforts, they decide to rest up for a renewed effort. The party sets watches, sleeping in turn without incident. Each party member has a strange and interesting dream of which they have partial memories.

The party is still faced with the dilemma of escaping the Grotto of Wonders. There is an inspection of the magic items for help . Lelaine's inspection discovers there are more glyphs on the Polygon than Renadis had discovered. The 12 sided polygon has four different glyphs discernible by Read magic. Each glyph is found on three sides. No side has more than one glyph.

Lelaine and Syrinen figure out the magic of the polygon and create a vortex. The party enters the vortex and finds itself in the middle of a desert region. Around them are scattered bones of humans and animals and pieces of wheels, carts, tents, etc. The area has been scavenged by animals and probably desert tribes, little is left, but the surroundings are familiar enough. This is the site of the massacre in the Zholith desert that the party had previously encountered.

The group wanders to a nearby stand of palms, probably where the caravan had camped before setting off on its last journey. The group drinks at the local watering whole, leaving an offering in a stone basin for the owners of the oasis. They then refreshed themselves with a light snack. Skooter seems to dine the best as he seems to have the most delightful array of dates and other delectables on his person, while the others must mostly make do with hard tack and similar fare. There are several envious glances towards Skooter and some pleading eyes, but a hungry halfling has eyes only for his food, and he fails to notice the agitation of his companions. He then produces some chocolate which he shares, and all is forgiven.

The group sets off across the desert. A flying galley can be seen in the distance heading north. The group travels on, but suddenly notices a dust cloud heading toward them-from the size of the cloud they can guestimate that a half-dozen to a dozen mounted riders are approaching, but you cannot see more than the cloud as yet.

Syrinen returns from a scouting mission and reports a dozen creatures with animal heads. One had the head of a jackal,another a dog, and another a goat, riding strange and fearsome beasts with claws and teeth meant for rending flesh. The creatures look like warriors.

Syrinen, Andreos, Kersh and Ganthanor head for the higher more defensible ground. Renadis, Skooter and Lelaine maintain positions to act in support of the rest party. Lelaine and Skooter are invisible, Renadis lies flat on the ground behind a slight slope and some debris hoping this cover and the distraction of the visible party members on the move will keep him from being noticed.

The party has encountered Rahjak bal Hassani a Khakwazuli-the strange class of Necromancers found in the Moorish realms. They are feared and their company avoided by virtue of their arts. On the other cheek ,the tattoo marks him as being a Vizier of the city of Arabella, a minor Emirate of Coastal Kingdoms the Moors. His skin is cold and clammy and he smelled of strange and disturbing spices. Rahjak explains he had encountered some Pelai flying ships over the Zholith desert, and there was a strange band of outlaws passing through al-Ghadzul-Maraqhash (Dragon's Jaw) towards the Seedif-Khazoum (Crimson Mesas). Also he reports great activity in the vicinity of Junjoli. The Uruk-khoz garrison rebelled and declared for the rebel army led by the mad mystic. Forces of the Hegemon arrived from Ronju and laid siege. A week ago they stormed the city and sacked it killing the garrison and many of the civilians. The New Hegemon however has recently agreed to trade control over the ruined town and several other border towns to the desert rebels in exchange for a truce. He also reports there has been a serious of magical fluxes in the area over the last month, and these bespeak powerful rites. Some of these have occurred here in the al-Ghadzul-Maraqhash (Dragon's Jaw), where the party encountered the Necromancer, but there has been strange occurrences in the Seddif-Khazom of late. The necromancer explains to the group that they have something he wants.

A struggle ensues, and the Necromancer is made a prisoner. Rahjak calls the party of the Knights of Wands, and after some fast talking, the Necromancer is allowed to go his own way, promising they will meet again. The group travels through the desert without incident. Eventually entering the Utsu Jungle and following a well worn caravan track through otherwise nearly impenetrable growth. It is humid, and the bugs plague the group insufferably. he party continues its travel along the Salamwardu. Off to their left they spot the ruins of a city obscured mostly by the jungle. It is several miles off the path. It is one of the Cities of the Ancients, now the haunt perhaps of Ophidians (serpent-men) or one of the other mysterious "Dreaming Folk".

Suddenly the party sees Venakro standing before them gesturing to the city. The party is happy to see their old leader again. They ask him about the Knights of Wands reference. Venakro tells them that there is an ancient legend about the Knights of Wands called the Tarot Tales. It is from the old days, when the Al-Jholith was not a desert, but a rich green land. The party loses interest and asks Venakro about the ruins. That city was once called Anawahr, the fabulous capital of an empire that once stretched over this entire continent. Anawahr the Shining Jewel of Gondwana, now it it ruins, Tel-al-Anawahr, city of woe. It is a city of 11 gates, which fulfills a prophesy the party had encountered earlier. Venakro explains to them the story of Anawahr and how it came to be the in its unfortunate accursed state. The party approaches the city and is challenged by a Jann whos serves the great Sheyisha-Lord of the Eleven Baleful Gates of Al-Anawahr. The party introduces itself and some are known to the Jann. However, the Jann recoil from Venakro stating that "his kind are not welcome.". They learn that the creature travelling as Venakro was an efreet. Either the efreet was an imposter, or Venakro is not what they imagined him to be.

Accepting the hospitality of the Jann sheik Sheyisha, the party encounters Rahjak again and finds he has beaten them to the punch and negotiated an exclusive agreement with the Jann allowing exploration of the ruins for thirty days. The party is forced into an uneasy alliance with the Necromancer.

The party finds a magical way into the city, and ends up in what were the sewers. Climbing out of the sewers they encounter a dying homunculus. The creature transforms before them into an Ishandeshee. He is Abal'nazar the Windweaver and belongs to a race called the Siderthe, whom Syrinen has heard of, but always thought were myths. The party continues on and has some strange adventures in some magical murals. They encounter a mystical and cosmic chess game between two entities Jil-al and and Yall-Jhaak in which they are pieces. The party adventures on through the ruins, and there is increasing friction with the necromancer Rahjak. Just as the party encounters the very odd being Lathrain, whom Rahjak describes as a vhampyre, the bastard offspring of a vampire. The friction with Rahjak breaks into an open battle. Rahjak is forced to flee. The party gets to know Lathrain, who suddenly wants to be known by the appellation Latcharid Dark for some obscure reason. He seems pleasant enough, and tags along with the party, but they do not completely trust the stranger. The party adventures on, and encounters Rahjak again. Rahjak has attempted to summon a powerful demon to attack them, but has fallen victim to his own spell, the demon has slain him and absorbed him. For Rahjak foolishly summoned Kharanduresh: The Thief of Body and Soul thinking he could control such a being. Kersh invokes the power of Marduk and banishes the creature back into the nether planes. The party rests and recovers from their epic battles. Later Latharid shares with the party some of his history, how he was an exile from his homeland and made his living as a bounty-hunter. He is suspiciously vague on how he entered the city, but seems more of a creature in search of treasure than a threat.

The party adventures on in the ruins, and by means of a magic mirror, Syrinen encounters a Mnemoghz˙l, a memory-vampire. This demon doppleganger attempts to steal her memories, and replace them with memories of horror. The victim of such an attck if successful is left in a state of paralytic dementia, while the fiend attempts to assume the victim's place in life, from which it can cause further mischief. Renadis casts Dismissal and rids the party of this menace. The party adventures on and encounters the sarcophagus of Taljika al-Jamal tor-Uriannib ,the High Priestress of the goddess Hatrak.

This sarcophagus contains the remains of a High Priestess of the goddess Hatrak, among the Zarzhanjah she is known also as Lokatha, the name means "Trickster" and this appellation is also used by Ishandeshee. The Priestess is called "The First One" and the "Immortal One who Commands the Powers of Beyond Nature.". The party opens the standing sarcophagus and discover a portal. There they encounter a great mummy, slay the infernal thing and in retribution for killing her avatar, Lokatha exiles the group to the far western shores of the continent of Gondwana to the land of Dreghkhu. There they encounter the Batrachi and their Slaad "gods", in particular Tonantzinzil and Xipe Totec. The party clashes with the Slaadi and a standoff ensues, the party is given parole if they agree to leave.

The party is taken to what Abal'nazar calls a Hjeral-keshki (a.k.a. Quizathek) and is transported to the Dorn (Mountain Dwarf) kingdom of Tavrekreig. They are alarmed to learned that the Dwarves have made a devil's bargain with the Pelai, providing the Illithid led reavers with starstone and other precious metals in return for being left alone. The Great Rift traverses this Tavrekreig, and the party joins a caravan through the Rift into the Howling Jungle that lies beyond the Dorn realm. The jungle true to its name keens with an unearthly ululation. The caravan leader, Cheswin, explains that according to legends these shrieks are the death cries of Hjemanu, the Dying God of Lost Jakar. He tells the party a marvelous tale about Jakar, city of Marvels, whose tutelary god Hjemanu was a master of enchantments and illusions that protected the city from discovery by enemies. Jakar on account of its alliance with the Monkey King of the Howling Forest was said to contain vast riches. The blessed Gondwana himself had once discovered the city, but when he came back with an army to conquer it, it was missing. He tells of backwards fountains, whose water rose from ponds into spouts from statuary, rather than the other way around, of one legged creatures, with jaws in their bellies who hopped about vast gardens tending them, of menageries, and ebon-hued women dressed in the finest silks and jewels. Then he tells of Dark Jouwabie, who seized control of Jakar and overthrew Hjemanu condemning him to his eternal death. It is said that Dark Jouwabie sits on a magic throne, made of the bones of heroes and feeding off the lifeforces of the unfortunate people of Jakar. Dark Jouwabie has become a terrible god himself. However, a great hero Kyprosi named Janseef the Acrobat, stole into the city and stole the jewel of Hathuk, the means by which Dark Jouwabie can leave his city, trapping this evil fiend in the city of the damned.

The party makes it through the Jungle, without harassment by the minions of the Monkey King, which Cheswin remarks as a true blessing. His caravan had to scatter many a coin on the way in, to end the attacks of fruit, excrement and occasionally a more deadly missile. The party now arrived at a large dismal desert that Cheswin informs you is called the Dervish Barrens. There immediate destination is the Oasis of Eamu ruled by Emir Ibhanir. They are immediately set upon by a windstorm, and it takes the efforts of all the folk of the caravan to form a protective ring and wade out the storm.

Cheswin introduces the party to a desert mystic named Jarabala. Old and blind, he immediately turns toward your group and begins to quiver and fall into a trance, from which he proclaims:

"And I stood upon the sand of the Northern sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having eight tentacles, and each of these tentacles held a staff, set with a blasphemy. And from the Fel Marshes, I say a beast which I saw was like unto a puma, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and his great authority. And I a spied Deltan deer, with three heads and one body, and one of her heads as it were wounded to death; and this deadly wound was healed: and all the world was healed as well. And In the City of Qaarna, in their despair, they worshipped a demon dragon which gave power unto its minions, and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who can resist, the Dagon, the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And all that dwell in Kyroz shall once again worship him, whose name have been rubbed out from the monuments of the great city, and his High Priest shall read the great spell,written in the book beneath the golden tree on the isle distant, having said the words, unspoken since the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword. Here is the circle that stands unbroken. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a goat, and he looketh elsewise and spaketh as a dragon. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a purple mark on their right arm or in their foreheads; And he or she who had the mark was maddened with sickness, those who would not succumb to the spirit of this demon and its spawn, perished, and the others became wild beasts, slaying in his name. I saw darkness and evil such as has not been seen in this world for long a day and night, I saw a mighty hammer and an anvil, between which all the darkness was confounded. I saw the sky grow dark, and storm clouds rise over the shores of the Delta, and skies grow dark over the Deserts, and the wind blow a cloud of dust over the sands, and then the faces of your company-and I know that if I stand near you I stand in the Eye of the Storm."

The party meets Dax Thorn, a sand-elf and the Ishandeshee mage Keryth, and the priestess Gjera who are members of the caravan,and encounters a bad sandstorm, out of which comes a half-crazed Kiresh hermit whom they come to call the Wild Man. He tells them of a flying ship that has crashed in the desert. The party joined by Keryth, Dax, Gjera and the Wildman,goes to investigate.

The party gathers some camels, shovels, pick-axes, sacks and rope. They set off away from the well-trodden route of a thousand caravans, and move into the harsh and unremitting wastelands beyond. After an hour they come to a deep wadi (dry river bed). Across the wadi is a hillside around which is the wreckage of a ship. There is wreckage lying in the wadi as well. It appears that fragments of the stern half of the ship seems to be lying in the wadi. The wreckage down there is burnt, and there appears to have been a massive explosion. Debris is scattered everywhere in the wadi sand. Across the ravine, lies the wreckage of the forecastle, the bow ( a mermaid intwined in a squid) and other forward elements of the ship. This wreckage is buried in a landslide from the hill that appears to have been triggered by the crash. It is obvious at once why the two strangers enlisted help in the salvage operations. There are number of burnt bodies in the ravine, and there are bodies across the ravine at the hillside as well.

Several of the bodies on the hillside have been lined up and decapitated. In front of this line is a line of makeshift stakes on which various heads have been impaled. One is a head that is part octopus and part human-an Illithid head. The others are not unlike the wild baboons of the Plateau of Leng. The bodies lying in front of these latter heads are naturally armored, a number of boney plates form a protective carapace that would be difficult to pierce with weapons. The headless body lying in front of the Illithid head is human in appearance and is garbed in purple robes. All seven of these bodies are caked in blood, as if they were wounded severely before they were decapitated and arranged. There are also several mounds nearby, each topped with a cairn of rocks, carefully placed, all indicating freshly dug graves. There is also a broken shovel nearby which evidently was used to dig the graves. Some of those who died on the ship were evidently treated with reverence, while others were treated with scorn.

The party encounters Rasheed, who at first appears to be a handsome Kiresh, but is soon revealed to be a winged-gargoyle, a member of the dread Atyri race, the so called demon-warriors, or Githyanki. He explains that the Atyri are in revolt against the Illithids, and the rebellion had spread to the crew of the crashed ship. As the party scavanges the ship with Rasheed, they suddenly find themselves under attack by Jharghaz-Haz!!! (The term means 'Black Lizardmen") These Jharghaz-haz in particular are the most feared of their race, Shaddiss-Jaskaeli, the Shadow Killers . They wear magical cloaks that make them virtually invisible. In the battle, the priestess Gjera is killed. The group returns to their salvage efforts, with Rasheed only asking that he be allowed one item from the wreck, the magical navigational helm.

The party is engaged in a second battle, this time with the dreaded "demon-bugs" the Yzarn. The party is victorious and Rasheed recovers the treasure he seeks, and the party gains as well, including the demonstone. Rasheed after mumbling some arcane phrases, manages to at a run keep pace with the party on their camels as return to the caravan to find the rest of the caravan waiting. As the party rejoins the caravan, a sound not unlike thunder or the roar of some magical explosive blast can be heard in the distance, the party suspects that it set by Rasheed to obscure their salvage efforts. Rasheed makes farewell as he goes off to help his people fight for their freedom against the Illithids. The party makes it back home to the Delta and travel on to Flage the home city of Ganthanor. Ganthanor has not been in Flage for five years.