Through the excitement still brimming in the streets during the closing days of the Coreguyi Games, one newcomer to the city Bartholomew Pettibone sought for a tavern in which to establish himself for a time securely, thence to strike out and make his fortune. Briefly considering the Confraternity of Issa the Baptist, it seemed he was turned off by the more religious character of the cloister, and he found himself ultimately paying for association under the shell of the Mother Whelk at Cothon-Under-Star.
From thence, he wished to gather a party for further investigations in the great Tel al Safina, but as the most adventuresome members of the Survivors of the Tel (also Under-Star) had already departed on the galleys of Telman of Tsipa, Bartholomew had to seek elsewhere for companions.
Ultimately, Bartholomew was able to secure the interest of Kantoner Persephone, and the two picked up a third accomplice for adventure in the person of one Heijo, a dyer and magic-user fresh off the boat in the harbor and ready to attain new wealth.
Following rumor that the Herm & Stone tavern was offering a bounty of 5 gold per hand of chnelh ape-man returned to the tavern from the Weirding Caverns, Heijo asked around about the chnelh--do they have any society? any culture? elders? To which most answers received were mere scoffs--the ape-men have no culture other than their strange obsession with their crystalline idols.
Armed with this sketchy intelligence, the three departed Cothon through the Gate of Mourners, reportedly to follow the road east past the Temenos and then to seek along the north-eastern slopes of the Tel to observe the Weirding Caverns there.
- Bartholomew Pettibone (magic-user 1)
- Heijo (magic-user 1)
- Persephone (fighter 1)
accompanied by her renyu companion Finbar
After the group failed to return that evening, let alone the next morning, talk in the tavern circled around their potential demise; were they victims of the chnelh? Did they stumble into the midst of a pack of gadhars? Perhaps they grew too bold at the sight of the Old Pale Worm's accumulated treasures, and end as the serudla's feast?
It was thus a great surprise when the party returned the next day, alive! though with Bartholomew savaged by some beast's serried teeth. Setting their injured companion in his room with strict admonishment to rest and recuperate, Heijo and Persephone then went out to seek further information, especially from the prospectors at the Herm & Stone. (Meanwhile, Bartholomew tippled enthusiastically at the bar, and regaled not a few fellow patrons with an account of a daring night-battle against flying six-eyed reptiles)
Over several days, Bartholomew's wounds were sufficiently healed; and Heijo felt secure with certain better information gotten at some difficulty from "hero-type" Akin the Beautiful at the Herm & Stone regarding what he claims might be a secretive cult within the caves. Hoping to use this new information to better ends than their last attempt, the three companions now also hired help from the local taverns:
- Warda the Rose (likely lass), hired by Persephone
- Uthia of Tarth (footwoman), hired by Bartholomew
The strengthened company then set out once more from the Gate of Mourners, presumably to follow the same route as before, hopefully to greater success.
And lo! come night, there was no morbid speculation as to their demise, for the company returned, though by circuitous route (they returned through the Gate of Fishermen, having traversed down the beach past the Dyers' Migdol), and missing one member--poor Uthia of Tarth was laid low in the depths of the Tel, and they were apparently unable to recover her body from the lair of the Sakkra where she had fallen.
Paid her "pittance" of 25 gold by Persephone after the lucre-less adventure, Warda went her way while the other companions set about wondering what to do with the strange clay pot they recovered, and wondering to themselves about the strange laws of the Dual-Cities--"What does it mean to be 'protected' by the Kantor Kabljauhof?"
Treasure
- 12 flasks of viscous black liquid
- a clay pot of infused sekeker wax
- 900 from treasure
- 961 from flying-reptiles x 6 (150 + hp ea.)
- 611 from Sakkra x 11 (50 + hp ea.)
- 200 xp to each character for discovering the Sakkra-lair in the Weirding Caverns
- 25 gold to Warda the Rose
- 1024 xp to each character
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