The emperor

You are Calder, a ranger roaming through the desert kingdom of Xalatu. Your alignment is true neutral and you have a hunting bow, a quiver of arrows and a zweihander strapped to your back. You are outlawed from Sirka, Whch is Xalatus capital city and therefore you have been avoiding the fine cobbled main roads Incase guardmen would patrol them. You are currently climbing up a large sand dune while sweating bullets and cursing the duchess of Sirka for not being able to take a joke.

You are about to reach the top of the dune when you hear a noise in the distance.

You quickly lay down flat as you slowly peek over the peak of the dune.

Your green brown eyes nearly pop out of their sockets at what you see. You rub your eyes, as you look down upon the small but beautiful and picturesque oasis. The life-filled oasis seems almost too good to be true but your parched lips and sunburnt skin has you racing down the other side of the dune in to get to it. You almost stumble as you half-slide half-run down the dune in your haste. You quickly brush past the small green undergrowth and palm trees surrounding the verdant oasis as you make it to the edge of the waters. You crouch down before the huge clear pool of water before you as you form a cup with your hands and start drinkingl. You kneel there on the waters edge for a good while as you take drink after drink of the fresh life giving waters. Your hazy mind clears as you dip your entire head in the oasis as you are cooled from the inside and out.

When you've finished drinking, you sigh blissfully and survey the oasis.

The large pool of water is surrounded by green verdant bushes and long healthy palmtrees swaying in the wind. You decide that this is the perfect spot for camp.

You walk up to one of the palmtrees and look up into its crown.

You smile and say "Easy living!" as you spot a cluster of Cortable fruit resting high atop the palm tree.

You take out your bow and nock an arrow. You aim carefully at the bunch holding the Cortable fruit and fire.

You throw your bow aside as the cluster of Cortable fruit comes falling out of the tree and you position yourself so they will just fall straight into your open arms.

The cluster of Cortable fruit is larger than you think and they slam into your open arms with a thud as you fall backwards.

The air is knocked out you for a second before you gasp loudly as you try and catch your breath.

A little bit dazed, you pull yourself to your feet as you inspect the fruits.

The Cortable fruit has a thick, red, inedible gummylike shell which you cut open to reveal its blonde core.

You bite into the spherical blonde core and as you chew through its tender flesh, a sweet and salty taste gushes forth into your mouth which is not entirely unpleasant.

You drag the whole bunch of Cortable fruit over to a pleasantly shaped rock sitting right next to the oasis before you sit down on it.

You sit there staring at the blue waters as you chow down on the cortable fruit and when you have finished off the last of them, you pull out your rolled up tent from your pack. You start setting up camp as the sun starts dropping towards the horizon.

When you are done, you enter your tent which is nestled between two palms and a large fern. You lay down and sleep like a baby.

You are awoken by a ray of light shining in through the gap in the tent flap as it sways in the dusty wind.

You exit your tent and gaze over to the east as the sun and its light, slowly climbs over the sand dunes. You start packing up camp as the daily sun warms up the cold from the past night.

When you've finished packing, you expertly shoot down another cluster of Cortable fruit and devour it, before you drink your fill of the oasis again. Finally when the sun is halfway to high noon, you take one gracious look back at the bountiful oasis before you start trekking into the desert once more.

After a good few miles struggling through the hot desert, you finally spot what you have been looking for... the grand city of Evettalii!

The design of the massive city is wonderful. Its essentially just a massive multi leveled tubular hole in the ground but it has high sandstone walls surrounding its rim to keep the massive dunes of sand from gushing into the sandbowl and killing everyone.

Evettalii has five distinct levels that are divided by their depth. At the bottom of the pit lies the first level, the poor district, where crime and poverty flow like sand. There used to be more levels but they have long since been buried beneath the sands after an earthquake shattered the wall keeping the sands out.

The second level is where all the traders and merchants reside and make their living, Evettalii is renowned for its exotic spice and fruit trade and the massive markets on its second level is the best place to get them.

The third level is where all the government officials and military forces reside, it holds all the barracks and official buildings.

The forth level is where all of the nobles reside, Evettalii nobles are famous for their greed and their arrogant ways.

And last but definitely not least, is the fifth level which is entirely reserved by the emperor Po'qal, his concubines and his undyingly loyal royal guard.

You move past the long line of caravans, traders and wagonloads of people that are waiting to be let in to the city.

Because you didn't arrive with a wagon or other kind of cart, you are subject to a much less extensive wait. You tiredly walk up to the large magical gate carved out of Evettalii's outer wall, which magically keeps sand out and you are approached by two mages dressed in white robes.