Obherak's FaneThe heroes sail their brass galley to the desert island of Khandelwal, then transfer to a lighter, wooden craft capable of traversing the moving sand currents that criss-cross that place. They make for the Golden Bowl, where Obherak of the shaitan has made his lair. After enduring hours beneath the midday sun and fending off an attack of sand drakes, the heroes reach the crater. They are escorted underground into an enormous octohedron-shaped chamber, in the center of which floats a perfectly formed cube of elemental earth, 50 feet to an edge, slowly rotating. Trapped within the cube is the serpentine form of a protean. Obherak greets the heroes and explains that the earth cube, due to its mystically irreducible essence, still retains a connection to the universe outside Kakishon, and can thus be used to open a conduit to escape. However, it is also the last lynch pin holding the dimension together, and opening a conduit would leave the cube vulnerable to the proteans. Only if the protean threat were completely eliminated would Obherak risk sending the heroes home. Naturally, the heroes offer to take on the proteans. To test their mettle, he releases the imprisoned protean watches as Ayham Rami, Sharif al'Farouk, Morgiana, and Ibn Abadar battle it to the death. Satisfied with the performance, Obherak observes that the protean stronghold on the Isles of Not is heavily defended, and will not be so easy a fight. The shaitan had planned to use a device called the "stability matrix" to weaken the proteans' defenses; however, the ship transporting it was attacked by the great dragon turtle Kurshok, and the device was lost. Obherak promises that if the heroes can recover the stability matrix and use it to destroy the proteans, he will send them home. |
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