The grand Blackfire halls were being cleaned and tidied up after the festivities of the night before. Many patrons had left, while some dwarves still snored on in their chairs, including King Ironbrow himself. Boris waited in the hall and was prepared to leave the underground any minute. A bad hangover that pounded on his head like a grumpy ogre did nothing to improve his mood. At his side was Alydrezea, who smiled and hummed to herself as he poked the beard of the sleeping dwarf king.

“How can you hum like that? Didn’t you drink as much as I did?”
“I don’t think anybody in the mountain drank as much as you did, Boris. Besides, I’ve never gotten a hangover.”
The minotaur grumbled under his breath. “First time I’ve been jealous of an elf.”
“You and me both.” Grukk grumbled, raising his head from its resting place on the wooden table before him. His ponytail frayed out to cover some of the shaved sides of the half orc’s head.
“Can’t you use giant runes to fix it?” Alydrezea asked her companion, her fingers now braiding the beard of the sleeping dwarf king.
“I’m fairly certain it doesn’t work like that.” Grukk gave the aftermath of the party a quick glancing over. “Where’s Kara?”
The other two shook their heads, unaware of the human thief’s whereabouts. “Probably the baths.”
The fighter nodded, and with a stretch of his arms, began to gather leftovers to use as rations on the next leg of their journey south. Then, back to Boris. “The baths are probably where you should be going, my friend.”
The minotaur raised a brow, looking to the drow woman, who gave a nod of affirmation at Grukk’s comment.
“Unless you’re afraid of water, as well?” The fighter jabbed. It earned a snicker from the druid, and a glare from the barbarian.

Kara hummed as her figure dipped deeper into the steaming bath water. “Aaah~. I’m going to miss this. If I ever buy land for myself, the first thing I’ll do is dig up a hot spring and make a bath.” The Rajan woman kicked her legs out of the water, smiling at the comfort of such a luxury. In her mind, she could see the whipping sands of the Living Desert, and the bustling streets of the city of Raja. “I think I’m going to stay here a bit longer.”

Hours had passed, and the party collected their promised rewards from the stewards of King Ironbrow. Alydrezea stifled a laugh as the King of the Obsidian Pass failed to notice the new braids in his glorious red beard. “Where will you all be headin’ now?”
“South. There’s something in Raja that we’re looking for.” Grukk answered. Kara wasn’t there to handle the talking, and the rune knight had to agree that leaving that task to Boris or Alydrezea was a bit on the risky side. King Ironbrow scoffed. “You be careful there. City of Thieves, what some call it. Why I’d bar them all from the pass, if they weren’t so good for trade.”
“We will…also be traveling a short distance across the Living Desert. We would be most grateful if you could grant us some extra supplies or means of travel?” Grukk was not the best at negotiations, so he played on the King’s good graces.
Ironbrow thought a moment, then nodded. “Afraid I don’t own any camels, and I can’t spare any men. Bah! Don’t you worry! I’ll hire some able-bodied folk to escort you. There are some Rajan mercenaries here that should work.”
“No!” Alydrezea suddenly cried out, much to everyone’s surprise.
“What?” The King asked, a bit insulted at the refusal of such a gracious offer.
Alydrezea, realizing the position she put herself in too late, chuckled to hide her nerves. “Aha…um…n-no. No Grukk! We, we don’t need any help. We’ll be fine! We just need something to travel with. Horses or something.” Her pale eyes were demanding that the half orc follow along. They party knew that someone from Raja was hunting Kara Marsh for her debts, and so wished to avoid anyone from Raja as best they could.
“Y-yes! My apologies, your majesty. Um, do you have any beasts that could help us?”
The king scoffed, and ran his hand through his beard. “What in the name Moradin happened to my beard?!” As he tried to undo the many braids in his red facial hair, he waved off the concerns of the party. “Aye. You’ll get your beasts of burden. When will you be setting out?”
“As soon as our last companion gets out of the baths.” Grukk commented, with a huff from Boris.
“By this time tomorrow night it seems.”
“That’s not a bad idea, buffalo-butt.” Kara’s voice came from the other end of the great hall, she was wearing a new set leather armor that not only offered her protection but also complimented her acrobatic figure. She was wearing the gloves she got from that drow priestess, something that did not go unnoticed by the party’s own dark elf woman. “Maybe I should go back?”
Grukk rolled his eyes, “Kara, you know we need you.”
“You’re right.” She approached the half orc and passed him with a wink from her hazel eyes. “You wouldn’t last a day with me.” With the party fully assembled once again, King Ironbrow saw them out of the Blackfire Halls with his best wishes. He granted them a letter of passage, should the city of Raja be hesitant to welcome them. In addition, they now had over 3,000 gold pieces between them. At the far end of the Obsidian Pass, the dwarf king had shown his final act of generosity. Though he had no camels or horses to spare, he gave each of them other means to traverse the sands of the Living Desert.

Five giant lizards. They were as large as draft horses, and each one with rough, scaly skin to protect them from the buffeting sands of the desert. They were a sandy white with brow blotches and looked very much like the common horny toad lizard. The druid woman smiled and went to pet her own lizard mount immediately. “Oh, look at you~! You’re so handsome!”
Kara grimaced a bit, looking at her own reptilian mount that stared back at her with a blank expression. “I don’t think ‘handsome’ is the right word…”
Sitting atop the fifth giant lizard, was a human man. He had a skin color and facial features like any Rajan man, but his hair was too light a color. And his eyes were blue. Both features more common to the people of Iroas than the desert dwelling Rajans. “Greetings! The King said I’m supposed to escort you lot to Oasis City. My name is Garret, and these beauties are mine!” He petted the neck of one of the giant horny toads. “We’ll get you lot across the desert in no time.”

Despite his mixed heritage, Kara was still a bit nervous to travel with anyone from Raja. It was only with a reassuring pat on the back from Grukk, did she relent and mount up on her giant lizard. Alydrezea and Grukk made getting the beasts to behave look easy. Even Boris managed to get up on the reptile without much effort. Kara, on the other hand, “Whoa! Easy! Stop! Stoop it!” Upon the leather saddle, the pickpocket bounced up and down as her scaly mounted raced back and forth in that bow-legged stride common to lizards. The rest of the party could not help but laugh at her predicament.
“Calm down! You’re makin’ her nervous!” Garret called out, watching as the woman fumbled to keep the beast in check.
“I’m making her nervous?!” Unable to get the creature to calm down, Alydrezea reached out her hand. Her eyes glimmered like the stars for a moment, beneath her purple hood. The eyes of the giant horny toad that Kara road upon had that same glimmer in them for a moment, and it stopped. Now perfectly calm. After the rogue took a few deep breaths, she smiled at her druidic ally. “Drezea, I promise to never make fun of druids again.”
As the drow woman straightened her posture with a proud smile, Garret clapped his hands to get their attention. “Alright everybody, listen up! We’re going to have to travel through the Living Desert to get to Raja. Say goodbye to the rosy travels you’ve know till now. There is no true road to the Oasis City from here on out, so always follow me. The sands hide all kinds of nasty surprises, so keep your guard up! Gods willing, and with a little luck, we’ll all make it there in one piece! Oh, and whatever you do…” The voice of their guide got low and very, very serious. “We do not travel at night.”

Boris scoffed. “Afraid of the dark?”
“If you’ve spent as many nights out there as I have, bull-man…you would be too.” With Garret’s final words, he whipped the reins and the party set off on their journey south. Leaving the lava flows and great black mountains of the Obsidian Pass behind them. Over the hours of the day, the land turned from rocky outcrop to rolling dunes of golden sands as far as the eyes could see. The fierce winds from the East never stopped, buffeting them all with tiny shards of sand. Garret and Kara wore face wrappings common to the desert peoples. The other three all wore bandanas around their faces to keep from breathing in the whirling sands. The heat was was beating down upon them like a blacksmith’s hammer unto an anvil. Grukk reached down a curious hand down the side of his reptilian mount, tracing his greyish fingers through the golden sands. The heat was such that it felt like touching a hot stove! “Am I thankful for these beasts.”
“Aye!” Garret called out from the head of this caravan. “You wouldn’t make it far on foot.”