of Mogadishu. However, these ambitious plans were thrown out the war chamber when King Badlay died during the invasion of Dawaro. He was succeeded by his son Muhammad ibn Badlay, who sent envoys to the Sultan of Mamluk Egypt to gather support and arms in the continuing war against the Christian empire. The Adalite ruler Muhammad and the Solomonic ruler Baeda Maryam agreed to a truce and both states in the following decades saw an unprecedented period of peace and stability. Early modern Sultan Muhammad was succeeded by his son Shams ad Din, while Emperor Baeda Maryam was succeeded by his son Eskender. During this time, period warfare broke out again between the two states and Emperor Eskender invaded Dakkar, where he was stopped by a large Adalite army, which destroyed the Solomonic army to such an extent that no further expeditions were carried out for the remainder of Eskender's reign. Adal, however, continued to raid the Christian empire unabated under the leadership of General Mahfuz, the leader of the Adalite war machine, who annually invaded the Christian territories. Eskender was succeeded by Emperor Na'od, who tried to defend the Christians from General Mahfuz but he too was also killed in battle by the Adalite army in Ifat. At the turn of the 16th century, Adal regrouped and, around 1527, under the charismatic leadership of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Gurey in Somali, Gragn in Amharic, both meaning "left-handed"), invaded Abyssinia. Adalite armies, with Ottoman arms and support, marched into Ethiopia and caused considerable damage on the highland state. Many historic churches, manuscripts and settlements were looted and burned during the campaigns. Adal's use of firearms, still only rarely used in Ethiopia, allowed the conquest of well over half of Ethiopia, reaching as far north as Tigray. The complete conquest of Ethiopia was averted by the timely arrival of a Portuguese expedition led by Cristóvão da Gama, son of the famed navigator Vasco da Gama. The Portuguese had been in the area earlier – in the early 16th century, in search of the legendary priest-king Prester John – and, although a diplomatic mission from Portugal, led by Rodrigo de Lima, had failed to improve relations between the countries, they responded to the Ethiopian pleas for help and sent a military expedition to their fellow Christians. A Portuguese fleet under the command of Estêvão da Gama was sent from Portuguese India