Session #18: Teucer's Footsteps 2: Electric Tree Boogaloo

The newly chartered Survivors of the Tel gathered at their home-tavern, Cothon-Under-Star to plan another expedition into the Tel al Safina. One Bartholomew Pettibone, newest member of the group, also brought in his boon companion Heijo the sorcerous dyer.

After running through all of their "leads" into the Tel--such as Ravna's continued strange dreams of a waterfall and singing mushrooms in dark caves, or the mysterious goings-on in the Great Spire of the Attine Klackons--it was decided to follow up on an earlier expedition. For the treasure there was a sure thing, glimpsed by Sesel as it was covered by the fronds of a strange fleshy "tree"; the only problem was--how to get it out?

But surely if anyone could find a way, it would be such a group as left through the Gate of Mourners that morning, to follow the way east and north around the eastern slope of the Tel:

• Sesel (fighter 4)
  accompanied by Barabajagal
• Bartholomew Pettibone (magic-user 3)
  accompanied by Gan ad Din
• Ravna (magic-user 4)
  accompanied by Ix
• Avin (magic-user 4)
  accompanied by Vlana the Bard
• Heijo (magic-user 2)

This large party was seen to return later that day, largely unscathed and carrying a variety of interesting treasure, including an antique shield, a beautifully worked bag, and a couple of loaded sacks. Heijo alone bore strange burnlike scars upon his flesh, but only the sharp of eye would have noticed them on his already dye-stained skin.

Returning Under-Star to count their gains, the party was seen to have also acquired a handful of gems, pieces of jewelry, and a pair of ornate copper-chased scroll cases. After valuing everything, the retainers all gladly collect their winnings and (given the haul) all proceed to go out and drink to their own (and their employers') success!

Remaining at Cothon-Under-Star, Barabajagal proceeds to taste of every fermented, moldered, and fungal thing the Klackons have to offer, and gains quite a taste for same--"Not like I didn't already enjoy the wonders of the fungal kingdom, but this mold-beer is marvelous! Sesel, you must try it!" In the midst of this revel, he tells of the lair of the chnelh and how the place is thick with sagh, that most wondrous ingredient of many a cup of "cosmic truth".

Meanwhile, Gan the Goldbearer drinks his way to the Kantor Kabljauhof and is there seen cavorting with the dancing girls and handing out handsome tips in his inebriation. He tells of a strange growth in the depths of the Tel, with fleshy roots and swaying fronds, and of the heroism of Heijo, who sneaked in to collect the treasure, but was burned by the weird fronds. When he had to retreat, it was Avin who gathered the remainder of their haul (though there was more left behind!)--and yet she seemed to have grown deathly cold, and moved as one dead. Gan wonders if she is not some kind of vampire? ... but as the evening wears on he is seen to keep the company of one Istrid in particular, one of the girls employed for entertainment at the Kantor.

The Lucre

• 2010 gold from 6 gems (4x500, 1x10)
• 600 gold from a black (onyx?) statuette of a creature that resembles a lithe but strangely animal Kzinrett or Mrrshan, sitting on its haunches
• 1000 gold from a jewelled human (?) skull: its teeth are all silvered, a carbuncle is sconced in gold in its forehead, and the top of the skull has been trepanned and the rim chased with electrum
• 800 gold from an art-work of a geode with pink corals set into it in a kind of diorama, perhaps depicting a cavern filled with coral-like columns? It might have been worth more, but several of the corals were broken sometime in the past
• two slivers of crystal, one from the ape "idol", one from the "vein" on the cave wall
• an antique shield with a patinaed bronze face; the boss includes a strange boxy device of glass and gold in the grip (i.e. behind the shield)
• an odd half-circle of silver, its outer face chased with gold tines; it almost seems like a torc, but is too short to wear as such
• a bag of black-dyed Klackon silk, meshed with finest platinum threads; the ring that draws the bag closed is a mysterious piece that seems to telescope itself open or closed; this bag would be worth quite a fortune, but it is also magical
• a scroll containing several spells of intricate formula: levitate, disbelieve/dispel, and transmutation
• a cursed scroll! Torkol, having read it, is the target of whatever effect it produced ...

The Learning

• 800 xp from "getting around" the strange frond-thing
• 1000 xp from 2 encounters with chnelh and their masters (neither was "decisively" resolved, but I am in the school of "judiciously avoiding an encounter = xp", so this is a partial award for the choices made)

The Cut

• 872 gold per player-character (437 gold to Vlana and Ix, 88 gold to Gan and Barabajagal)
• 1242 xp per player-character (621 to Vlana and Ix)
• the crystal slivers
• the shield
• the "half" torc
• the bag
• the remaining spell-scroll

(as ever, players may "buy out" any gold-value item they find interesting for themselves, and any write-ups or other representations of what went down during the expedition and sent to me will be posted to the blog for 100 xp per player-character level)