They begin to head back to the Kasbah, and they lay in for the night one hour away from the shrine. Alzar uses the night to review the books and finds out that one is a diary of one of the chief priests of Nabilah. Xanathon is a servant of the Master of the Desert Nomads. He was sent to foment civil war in Ber-Gathy by turning the Sheikh Alzar against his second in command. He was never interested in a coup, just in a war.
By weakening Ber-Gathy with the civil war, the Master can send some of his tribesman over to capture the city, now denuded of most of its defenses, and then capture it, and use it as a base of operations for points north, east, and south. It’s not like Khaibar is in any condition to take it back. That would remove a thorn, take a major, vital outpost, and give his growing power another victory.
It’s a smart plan. Even if discovered and stopped, it’s not like the Master is out anything major. The traitors will still be ousted and that weakens things for the nonce.
As Alzar reads he also discovers that the spirit of Xanathon is in this diamond. If you bring it close to Xanathon, they should cancel each other out.
The next morning, as they make breakfast, a sound is heard from overhead. A Manticore is flying at them to attack them.
It fires a volley of tail spikes at the group targeting… Tolvar. It hits twice for 8 damage.
Tolvar 6/14
Battle begins. Tolvar casts Invisibility on himself. Alzar uses the Zoster and then throws a knife. It still misses. Even a certain Sling of Seeking does. The Manticore fires another spray, this time at Alzar – trying to take out the mages. Alzar takes 11 from a few hits.
Alzar 40/51
They launch another round of weapons at It as it flies above. It has 22 hit points, and fires a salvo at Alzar and hits just once for 3 damage. It is missed as well.
37/51
This time it pegs Alzar four times for 4d6 damage and deals another 11 damage. Meanwhile a sling nails it for 4 damage.
26/51
Since no one is dead, and it’s used all of its spikes, it flies up and heads away.
They gather their things and hit the road a half-hour later in case it returns or brings friends.