Her alchemical researches disturbed by strange dreams of a waterfall echoing through deep caverns and what lies beyond--or so she has mentioned now and again to others at Cothon-Under-Star in a private moment--Ravna, one of the Survivors of the Tel, now seeks out adventure to take her mind off her weird dreams and research difficulties.
Unable to find anyone immediately at Cothon-Under-Star, Ravna arrives at one of the lesser watering holes around the harbor where she finds Durham, new-come adventurer to the city, trying to talk Tassel (and the scribes remind "Tassel" that he can correct the spelling of his name, or whatever needs correcting), another new face come seeking wealth and success in the Mother of Cities, into a delve into the Necropolis of the Tel, whence he has heard the Survivors of the Tel discovered the strange mechanical kyni-bird, Nassr.
Acquiescing to Durham's lead, both Ravna and Tassel made preparations to enter into the Necropolis; Ravna sought fighting-Klackon "Ix" to hire again, while Durham secured the services of one Bridne Murcada, a "bloodbelt" of the open-hand style of the Three Shapes Fighting School. Tassel, lacking funds, trusted in his own bow.
So the company set out for the Tel al Safina, leaving through the Gate of Mourners to follow the Pallbearers' Way after the news has come to town that the Kzinti Great Moot has broken up, and the tribes have moved away from their erstwhile camp at the mouth of the Colossian Temenos.
- Ravna (magic-user 1), accompanied by Ix (Thri-Kreen 1)
- Durham (fighter 1), accompanied by Bridne Murcada (likely lass)
- Tassel (fighter 1)
The five return largely unscathed; Ix alone sports some sign of injury with her cracked carapace, with the fibrous filaments of bacta bacterio-fungi binding together the splintered chitin of her exoskeleton.
Ravna hauls an ichor-soaked sack into the back rooms of Cothon-Under-Star, where lie the alchemical laboratories, while her compatriots seek out merchants and fences to liquidate the treasures taken from the catacombs of the Necropolis.
Taking her small cut of 25 gold to save up for her dream of becoming a master-swordswoman, Bridne returns to the Fighting-School eager to relate a tale of being attacked by strange statues in the depths of the Tel, and how when Durham called her to battle, she rose eagerly to it--and personally struck down one of the weird guardians!
Meanwhile, as the stars begin their swift coursing in the night sky above, Ix is already well into her cups under the Mother Whelk of Cothon-Under-Star, drinking deep of the moldy yeast-thickened beer preferred by her kind, buying rounds of the like for other Klackons, and in a pique of humor, insisting that her human associates of the Survivors of the Tel also take a sip. Through the translations of Torkol and others familiar with Klackon communication, a story emerges: the party sought through many tombs of solder-sailors of old, finding little here or there, until the placement of a certain stone into an altar opened a secret vestibule. Further on, a stair led to further darkness below, and after short a short exploration therein, two statues were discovered, which came to life and attacked! Yet when slain, they transformed into bundles of ropy tentacles.
Her descriptions match certain things observed by a previous expedition into the Necropolis; surely other mysteries await those who would delve deeper into the Tel ...
Treasure
- 23 silver pieces
- 2 gems (100 ea.) = 200 gp
- gilded sacrificial service (1100 gp)
- 7 "eye" gems (anyone wishing to get full value from these must use downtime Finding the Right Buyer)
- ornate jeweled scimitar (300 gp)
- body of strange ganglion-and-tentacle creature
- 2902 from treasure
- 529 from ganglion-creatures x2 (250 + hp ea.)
- 200 xp to each character for exploring a level II area
- 1344 xp per character (572 for Ix)
- 806 gp, 1 sp, 1 cp per character (403 gp, 5 cp for Ix, 80 gp, 6 sp for Bridne Murcada)
- gold earned can be increased by "finding the right buyer" for those 7 gems; xp is already accounted for
In-character play reports (or art or maps or such artefacts) will earn 100 xp per level for any player-character who provides them, and will be posted to this blog to be read or seen by others.
Please let me know in the comments on this blog, or via Discord or some other method of communication as to what Downtime Activities your characters are interested in pursuing.
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