This one-shot was played in October 2024 at the SDMC TTRPG club IRL. It focuses on a group of people hired by Ranaji Jai Kawar Sahib to exterminate or negotiate with the Sand Chaser Orcs disrupting the construction of the railway between Ammba and Kasaaq.
It served as a playtest for the Sunless Dunes Campaign Setting book.
The characters hired by the Ranaji were:
Ishmirith Kaelashir - M Sand Elf Heretic Wizard (Abhineet)
Mir al Ghur / Mir Rethvil - M Desert Dwarf Profane Soul Rakshasa Blood Hunter (Kanishka)
Dravin 'Bahubaahu' - M Primal Vedavin Berserker Barbarian (Arya)
Dhulika Mala - F Fairy Swashbuckler Rogue (Jinee)
Mahar - M Variant Human Light Cleric (Noel)
In addition, they also had Ishmirith's hawk familiar Ashari as well Mir's mule Bob. Ishmirith was a court wizard of Ranaji and helped hire the other characters.
Ranaji Jai Kawar Sahib has been trying to build the Ammba-Kasaaq locomotive railline, but has been running into a lot of issues due to the Sand Chasers preventing the construction of the train tracks. There was a particularly deadly encounter between the dwarven artificers and the Sand Chasers a few days before the start of the story.
Ranaji hired four people to deal with this, including his chief arcane advisor, Ishmirith. He explained the situation to him and Mala, Dravin, Mahar, and Mir, and the Ranaji got heated up about the orc issue in his empty throne room. He promised them a thousand gold each, but Mir only demanded 250 and something from his treasury. Inspector Raktii led the party to the Chattan Market train station, where they met some dwarven artificers who told them the situation and gave them goggles to withstand the sandstorms. The party headed out into the desert following the rail line. Eventually, they sew a few cactus plants with fruits, only for Mir to get attacked by the cactids. Quickly taking care of the plants, they feasted on cactus fruits as they traveled onwards and reached the site of the battle.
Heading into a nearby sandstorm, they were ambushed by a party of Sand Chasers. Ishmirith blew up one of the chasers in a fireball, but the rest of them only got knocked out at best. In the midst of the fight, Mir and Ishmirith intimidated and convinced the Sand Chaser Captain to stand down and let them diplomatically talk to their leader. They were led to the Orc tribe, in which they learned about their issues and ways of life. Mir offered the captain some grapes as a sign of good will. They met the leader of the dune orcs here, Khatun Zashi, a barbarian chief who seemed to be blessed by Magrath. She refused to give up her power and raiding culture, despite at least half of her people just wanting some water and food. Eventually, it just came down to leaving it up to the gods, as she started to attack the party despite all their logical arguments seemingly winning most of the crowd over. Dravin even called her a ‘Saali Gawaar’. The Captain wasn’t convinced to stand aside, and helped Zashi in the fight. However, the party managed to barely survive the Khatun’s onslaught, Dravin finally cutting her down to size. The Captain stood down, and accepted their offer of diplomacy and plan to turn this settlement into an actual supported village with a well and everything. He even took one of Mir’s grapes as a sign of goodwill.
The party headed back to Ammba, and explained to Ranaji and his advisors what they finally accomplished. Ranaji was expecting or hoping for a violent end to this, but agreed to help the Orcs out now that the railway could finally resume construction.