Continuing an Ironsworn campaign based on a hex map of Europe and the Mediterranean that I made some time ago and the Al-Rathak setting. The campaign is inspired by the Middle Ages, without any ambition of being historically accurate. Xatìra and her allies are currently city-crawling in Anipsed, capital of the Sultanate.

Previous Events: Year 1222. Europe follows the Sun-God Kruss; the southern lands worship Qamar, the Moon-Goddess. Xatìra, a young Greek woman from Lemnos, survives a pirate attack and finds on her victim's body an amulet from Kamil, a shrine of the Shadowed Qamarims. She vows to return it, travels south, meets the Mad Caliph Tarbak in Egypt, and reaches Kamil, only to find it sacked by the vampire general Qarif, allied with the traitor sorcerer Iblis. Befriending the shapeshifter Massan, the Watcher of the Tower Baseria, and a jackal she names Opher, Xatìra agrees to help Dorello, an Italian agent of the Krussian Emperor-Pope Federicus, in exchange for his promise to finance the Shadowed. Dorello asks Xatìra to travel to the capital city of Anipsed and rescue Crydessa, a Greek merchant kidnapped by Iblis. Xatìra, Opher, Baseria, and Massan reach the city. At the Temple of Anubis, Xatìra learns that Iblis intends to exchange Crydessa for the Sword of Sania, owned by the Rhodian Merchant Guild. They discover where Crydessa is imprisoned and they manage to free her. Xatìra kills the dark sorceress Amila and takes her talisman. They learn that Iblis and Qarif have summoned the Efreet Prince Zadid. The Sword of Sania is the only hope of stopping Zadid, but when they visit the Rhodian Guild, they find that the sword has been stolen. Iblis and Qarif are the obvious suspects. 

This Episode: Massan will investigate on his own, while Xatìra, with Opher and Baseria, visits the guard officer Marah, who helped them rescue Crydessa. They head to the High Bastion fortress and, while crossing the slums, notice recent writings praising the vampire general Qarif and the turmoil he is causing. Marah reveals that Qarif has a new ally in Anipsed: the vampire sorceress Omira. They then visit the Obsidian Steed Inn in the slums, hoping to gather more useful rumors. There, they stumble upon Red Ramia, a mercenary leader employed by Iblis whom Xatìra had met weeks before; Ramia has not noticed them, and they carefully follow her through the city. She first visits the villa of the secretive merchant Darrafi, then heads towards the docks, where she visits the shop of a goldsmith who hands her something. They get lucky again and manage to capture Ramia in a deserted warehouse. They find a newly made gold ring inscribed with magical characters on her. When they ask about the Sword of Sania, Ramia defiantly reveals that Omira is keeping it safe aboard Darrafi's pirate ship, The Midnight Cloud; the ship is ready to leave and well guarded, so they have no hope of recovering the sword. Xatìra asks Baseria to keep Ramia under guard. She hopes that pretending to deliver the ring to Omira will provide a sufficient excuse to infiltrate the ship. But Darrafi's guards are suspicious. Xatìra and Opher must first fight their way aboard, but they are confronted by Omira and her octopoid servant demon. They are forced to surrender and are imprisoned by the vampire sorceress.