Well, that question still needs to be answered ;-)
But anyhow, the game has progressed as the group has travelled into the Ar?l no-mans land, helped by a corrupt Lankani Trader.
They had a run-in with the new Jhyan Tarn, but that turned out better than they feared (I made up a tradition that the son of a slain father must confront the killer, even if it's mostly for show, on account of honour. Some tense moments there until they figured it out and _didn't_ kill the new Tarn ;-)). It came out rather friendly in the end, and they gained some insight into the internal Nuyani conflicts between the traditionalist/purist/facist Jhyan clan and the cosmopolitan Hutarn.
Then they travelled some ways inland. The trader had a quite outlandish payment to extract. He wanted them to enter a weird dungeonlike place that had unveiled itself below a now drained oasis - but on that had functioned just days/weeks before. Much weirdness ensued as they ventured down into an aaaaaaancient K'taaavir bio-research station that had lain semi-functional but buried for countless milennia until a powerful Earth-demon han materialized in the vicinity and burrowed into it. No match for the diamondoid robot caretaker, the demon summoned minions that tunnneled the area looking fo a way out - and they found it through the bottom of the oasis, while furthermore disrupting a delicate water flow system that contributed to the water prescence (yeah, hogwash - it's fantasy, ok
)
The research station was also inhabited by a powerful AI, actually the mind of a K'taavir that had been uploaded at the time of his death. It was a battered mind in many ways, confused and memories in disarray, but it had magical powers, and went on to learn the earth magic needed to reestablish the area around the station and awaken the oasis again. Then it vowed to take the station "out of time and place" again. They did learn some things about the world of old, but not in a way that made much sense to either players or PC's. They did know they had encountered something very significant though. They also came away with a handful of diamond repair rods that the AI and the robot gifted them with. Half of these went to the Lankani trader in payment for his services.
Then they travelled further opting to turn south and leave the trader as they came down from the Ar?l highlands, on the northern side of the region. The travelled to the oasis to the south, and found serious Lankani troop buildups, and further travelled back into Ar?l to find a new temple complex that seemed to serve as a forward base also.
Next they travelled further south, towards K?ru Kal. This is where they will take off next time.
