Long haunted by strange dreams of a waterfall in the depths of a cavern, and of an eerie song echoing weirdly through the stone and the bones of the earth itself, Ravna of the Survivors of the Tel finally decided to follow these visions; for they seem almost to be memories, remembered through dreams, and as Ravna tells it, sometimes it is not herself who walks in the dark, but herself as Itra the Swift, warrior of old.
Gathering to her three of her Survivor-companions, Ravna and company also sought out and hired a couple of their favored retainers from among those offering their services to adventurers: Ix the Free Klackon, and Barabajagal the wunderman. Without need for anything further, this group of six departed through the Gate of Mourners, continuing the trend of the week to follow the Pallbearers' Way:
- Ravna (magic-user 4)
accompanied by Ix (Thri-Kreen 2) - Sesel (fighting-man 4)
accompanied by Barabajagal (psychic) - Avin (magic-user 4)
accompanied by fellow Survivor Vlana the Bard (magic-user 2)
The group returned with a handful of interesting items recovered from within the Tel al Safina, and with Ravna wearing a belt of rope. In the common-room Under-Star, the purpose the "belt" had served in the caverns quickly became obvious, as Ravna, apparently high out of her mind, wandered the breadth of the tavern without any real regard for anything or anyone, humming tunelessly to herself and muttering about "the fire within," and other oddities--without such attachment, she might just have wandered off into the dark alone!
Other than the items--a strange knife, a spool of metallic wire, a vial of venom, and some other curios--only a handful of 34 gold was recovered, and this was divided between Ix and Barabajagal, and their loyalty was further rewarded by supplemental coinage from their respective employers.
Sesel offered to Barabajagal to join the Survivors, but the wunderman declared that he had been his own man for so long, he didn't know how well he would take to any formal organization--he'd think on it. With their pay in hand, he and Ix then proceeded to enjoy themselves--going together to the other side of the tavern Under-Star, Barabajagal continued his experimentation with Klackon cuisine, guided by the suggestions of Ix, meanwhile talking up the exploits of the delve.
According to the wunderman, Ravna's high was the result of breathing in the spores of an especially strange growth of mushrooms, growing out of an ancient corpse in a strange coffin--"Now, I've done some wild things, but I'm not sure even I would have done that!" This, in the midst of the party infiltrating into the lair of a large number of Sakkra, which he and Sesel mostly laid low with the combined powers of their minds. But when it came time to escape, there was one strange warrior, clad cap-a-pie in strange armor, who stood immune to their psionic blasts, and whom Sesel detained with his fantastic swordsmanship while the rest of the party effected their escape.
"And so here we are, alive and well and able to enjoy this--what did you call it? Kh'pa'lk ticks? Delicious crunch!"
The Lucre
- 34 gold
- a heavy knife with a strangely shaped blade of unknown metal or alloy
- spool of metallic thread and possible grappling hook
- small metal "matchbox"
- folder-sized packet of shiny material
- vial of venom
- small cylinder of glowing orange crystal
- 34 xp from gold
- 1233 xp from Sakkra x22 (50 + hp ea.)
- 115 xp from Sakkra "guard captain" (100 + hp)
- 221 xp from Sakkra leader (200 + hp)
- 546 xp from mysterious warrior (500 + hp)
- 25 gold to Barabajagal (+75 from Sesel's pocket)
9 gold to Ix (+100 from Ravna's pocket) - 716 xp per player-character
358 xp to Ix and Vlana - the various items listed above
Player reports, artwork, etc. representing the events of this expedition will earn 100 xp per level to the character corresponding to the player who sends them in.
No comments:
Post a Comment