Session #9: Damn Dirty Apes! *Updated With Veda's Short Recap*

June, masked newcomer to the Mother of Cities, hiding her face behind a porcelain theater mask, found herself in the raucous tavern Herm & Stone following rumor of an easy-to-collect bounty--namely, 5 gold offered per hand of ape-men to be cut off and collected in the Weirding Caves. Her previous endeavor netting her little profit, she thought perhaps that this would be an easier way to weigh down her pockets with coin ...

Marked from the street by its eponymous herm, a great pillar of stone carved with the bust of an heroic ancient and his great erect phallus at appropriate height, the Herm & Stone is known as the more raucous of the great taverns, frequented by Kzin Heroes, and associated with the adventurous Guild of Miners and Prospectors. Inside its common room, in a slightly darkened corner, a huge crystalline pillar looms in the shadow, lending the tavern's secondary appellation.

Avoiding the musk-scented side where several Heroes lounged on great cushions, attended by subservient Kzinretti and human slave-women, June rather sought information near the bar, and found some luck in the presence of another adventurous newcomer to Cothon-Gadeed, one Veda, a fellow adept in the psychical and magical arts. After confirming with the barkeep that the Guild would honor the return of any hand of a chnelh ape-man with 5 gold (10 for a pair); and that the bounty was pursuant to a recent increase in the population of the troops that haunt the Weirding Caves on the north-east side of the Tel al Safina; the pair endeavoured to secure the services of a hireling each from among the hangers-on around the taverns.

So it was that this small party of four ventured forth from the Gate of Fishermen up the coast to climb the stair of the headland, and then make their way around the northern slope of Tel to its north-eastern side:

• June (magic-user 1)
  accompanied by Kogus the Bodyguard (Bulrathi 1)
• Veda (magic-user 1)
  accompanied by Abu Kuruku (a beggar, replacing Mad Matho on the list of hirelings)

The four returned later in the day, as the great red sun was just touching the western horizon and lighting Dirac's Sea ablaze. They proffered a bloodied sack of 10-pair of hands at the bar, receiving a toast from those patrons familiar with the bounty, and were paid out equitably for their somewhat gruesome trophies.

Kogus, his great ursine visage laconic as ever, took his portion of the earnings perfunctorily, grunted approval of his service with June, and then departed (with a wary eye at the lounging Kzinti Heroes). 

Abu Kuruku, meanwhile, was more than happy to take his beggar's pittance and then hang around to milk the good will of the regular patrons, spinning yarns about running into "dozens of bandits" encamped north of the Tel, and of how "Kogus' presence and Veda's artful offerings" assuaged their mercenary hunger. Also, he speaks of how the group narrowly avoided a run-in with a draconic serudla in the great depths of the Weirding Caves, and then ambushed a troop of chattering chnelh even as the ape-men were preparing to ambush them!

(Per Veda's Player Renee, earning Veda 100 xp per level):

Veda was very proud of Abu and his torch carrying. The road back was filled with talk not of their battle, but of how skillfully Abu held the torch. "Did you see the way he tilted the torch right when we needed it?!" (I also assume that his torch skills were not actually all that amazing, Veda just really wanted him to feel special)

(the scribes take this moment to point out that small personalizing details of an expedition are happily worthy of xp, even if the scribes tend to be "long on ink" and write too much themselves!)

Treasure

• 100 gold from the bounty (5 gp x 20 hands)
• 6 gold from the chnelh
• a quartz-like stone cut onto a leathern thong taken from one of the chnelh (10 gold)

Experience

• 116 from treasure
• 648 from bandits x 12 (50+hp ea.)
• 306 from Chnelh x 11 (25+hp ea.)
• 100 to each character for exploring a new "upper level" of the Tel

The Cut

• 43 gold per character (25 to Kogus, 5 to Abu Kuruku)
• 635 xp per character (317 to Kogus)

As always, anything representing what was done during the session, e.g write-ups, art, etc., will earn a character 100 xp per level, send it to me and I will post it here for all to read; and I will try to touch base with everyone about downtime activities for this last week and this upcoming week.