(Written by Phil, player of Bartholomew Pettibone, concerning a recent expedition and earning Bart 100 xp per level)
From
the Journals of Bartholomew Pettibone, of the House Pettibone
A Purveyor of Enchanting Sorcery
25
April 2021 – Behind The Green Doors (part 3)
The
Masquerade of the Immortal Dead is passed, and as is usual for this
time of year, sea-born storms have begun a steady assault on the
land. The skies are almost continually clouded now, and cold rain
falls in driving sheets as the storms assault the ancient city-state.
A number of us who call ourselves the 'Survivors', and our good
friend Durham of the Ringing Anvil, were gathered in the Under-star
tavern, amiably chatting about the state of affairs in the city,
while alternately downing rounds of ale and regaling each other with
stories of our past deeds.
As
a new round of drinks were brought to our table, a tall, striking man
of middle-age, and well-dressed in the attire of a well-to-do
man-at-arms, approached our group and inquired if we might be the
legendary 'Survivors'. He was obviously out of his league –
entreating with 'commoners' – and quite well-trained, He seemed
used to being in a position of great command. While he tried to hide
his association with the Great House of Khalid, his attempts were
useless, as he could not help himself from being over-boastful. He
also did not appear to be one to trifle with. However, he seemed to
want to keep his identity and affiliations with one of the Great
Houses somewhat secretive, so we played along with his amusing ruse.
He
introduced himself as Teleb, of the House al Khalid, the right-hand
man and former commander in league with Lord Dalinar al Khalid of the
Great House Khalid. Teleb brought us a proposal from Lord Dalinar –
he wished for us to attempt to gain an audience with a renegade Kzin
named Red-Cloud, and to initiate some form of 'diplomatic'
communications. Teleb seemed to be against this course of action, and
obviously believed his superior was entering into folly – both by
attempting to hire us (barbarians), and thinking that Red-Cloud could
be reasoned with. After some heated discussions, Sesel dismissed
Teleb with a counter proposal and a tentative acceptance of Lord
Dalinar's request. I must say here that Teleb was wholly unimpressed
with us, and seemed to regard us with contempt (being unclean
barbarians). We reminded Teleb that it was his Lord, Dalinar al
Khalid, who would make a final decision, and pointed out that, being
a highly regarded former military general, he likely had a better
understanding of our prowess and potential than did his foot soldier.
We made it clear that it was certainly unwise to antagonize a
potential ally. In the end, we accepted Lord Dalinar's proposal,
provided the reward was increased by a fair amount, and sent Teleb
away.
As
Teleb departed, and we began chuckling and jibing amongst ourselves
about his uppity-regal manner, a member of the city guard (in full,
ceremonial garb and regalia) entered the Under-star establishment.
Out of the pouring rain he appeared, bowed his way past Teleb as that
other was departing, strode up to our gathering, and inquired if he
were speaking to the 'Survivors of the Tel'. We seemed to be the
group of the day around Cothon.
Sesel
welcomed the guardsman, and answered that he was the speaker for our
humble group, and asked how we may be of service. The guard, who did
not appear terribly happy about his present task, retrieved a highly
decorated scroll from his side pouch and handed it to Sesel. As he
did this, his voice rang out clearly throughout the tavern as he
intoned, 'To the Survivors of the Tel, I serve you this edict. You
have been summoned to appear at the esteemed and just Court of the
Moon, to answer for – evasion – of toll-taxes levied against you
by the Most High House of the Barcedai'. It was obvious that the
fellow serving the summons believed it was a farce, but a legally
enforceable farce. After handing over the scroll, he was also
dismissed, and Sesel read to us the contents of the summons.
Indeed,
the Barcedai had accosted us lately, demanding a toll-tax, as we
passed by their holdings outside of the Fisherman's Gate (a thing we
and others had done countless times before). Apparently we had
slighted them, by refusing their nonsense, and so now they were suing
the 'Survivors' for a hefty and ludicrous sum of 10,000 gold
sovereigns!
Much
discussion ensued, and we were lucky enough to have a representative
of another great house (al Rashid) present to help provide insight
and ideas. Here is the catch: we are 'barbarians', and as such cannot
represent ourselves at the Court of the Moon – only citizens have
that right. So, we must either hire an advocate (likely to happen),
choose a 'trial by combat' in the arena, pay the absurd fine, or hand
ourselves over to the Barcedai as indentured servants (slaves). A
course of action was decided upon, including potentially stalling in
court while we investigated several avenues of corruption associated
with the Barcedai (to use as bargaining leverage against them),
before accepting a trial by combat. We also considered several
clandestine, but friendly 'raids' against the Barcedai stronghold and
their businesses – light, political harassment. After all, we are
'barbarians'.
With
our general business concluded, our little study-group broke apart,
with most of us heading out to various, individual engagements.
However, Ravna and I, with our good friend Durham, decided to hike
ourselves back to the Weirding caves, in order to glean more
information about the 'Green Doors'. Gan joined us, as did Pako, and
Ix (a klackon hireling, friendly with Ravna). We were not to be
disappointed in our adventure. And I must say, some of the
information we gleaned is both exciting and perhaps 'empire
changing'! Some of what we learned I will not write here, for public
consumption, and I have leaned upon my fellows to keep our learning
close to our vests.
As
we entered, we found the caverns quiet, dank, and dark – as always
– and with Pako's keen senses we had no difficulty arriving to the
Green Doors. The musky, not unpleasant, aroma of the erotic vampires
lingered. Aside from the doors being closed, we noted no obvious,
recent disturbances. During our previous sojourn here, we had left in
a great hurry, being pursued by a strange, floating, many-armed
creature. I was certain we had left the doors open, but as I
mentioned, we found them closed upon our return.
Expecting
more 'vampires', we impregnated face-cloths with foul smelling garum,
and wrapped them around our faces to deaden the scent of those foul
beasts. Durham and I availed ourselves to continue further studies of
the glyphs, sigils, and runes framing and on the massive panels of
the Green Doors. Ix, after consult with Ravna, attempted to open the
doors using force and determination, as the doors refused to open
when Durham laid his hands upon them.
We
gathered many new rubbings, etchings, and copies of the runes about
the door. Durham looked for direct story-lines attributed to Taharqu,
while I searched for more pointed information relating to the
construction of a specific watercraft associated with Taharqu. We
were not initially successful, but did come away with increased
information.
Ix
was able to slide the doors open, wide enough for us to pass through
with little difficulty. The entrance chamber was as we left it,
strewn with detritus and rotted corpses left by the vampires.
However, happily, there were no signs of those wretched foes. Our
small group searched through the mess, piling the refuse in a corner,
and cleaning the room as best we could. Initially, Gan and I
inspected the doors and their close surroundings in order to
determine how they might be worked open and closed. Unfortunately,
our research on that was unsuccessful. Afterward, he and I maintained
a watch on the only other exit, a hallway that led off to the east
and west, out of the northern side of the chamber.
It
was not long before Pako alerted us that creatures were approaching
down the hallway. Gan took a peek around the corner. As well, Durham
used his detecting device and was able to discern that three living
beings were moving toward us. As they came into view, I recognized
them as creatures I had seen with Sakkra in the past. They were human
in basic shape, their skin a uniform grey color, and only as tall as
young children. Their heads were almost comically large, and their
eyes were massive, dark pools as black as obsidian. They each had
short swords slung on baldrics, and wore odd-looking harnesses.
Something about them seemed very much out of the ordinary.
Having
seen us, the three grey men stopped, looked briefly at each other,
then one began to depart quickly back the way they had come. The
other two remained where they were, staring at us. I made a hasty
decision, and wrapped the arcane ether around them, attempting to
drop them into slumber, rendering them harmless. However, they were
mostly able to shrug off my arcane attack – fortunately the
retreating grey man crumpled to the floor in a deep sleep, but the
remaining two immediately defended themselves.
The
grey men stood perfectly still, and their eyes, even as impossibly
large as they were, widened further. A moment later I found myself
leaning against the wall, sweating, with my head feeling like all the
recent sea-storms were swirling inside of it. Durham was in a
frothing rage, attacking Ravna, and Ravna was defending with all of
her might – and losing! Pako was repeatedly imposing himself
between Durham and Ravna, trying to defuse Durham's odd berserker
rage without causing harm.
After
Durham was quieted, and the rest of us were nursed back to the
here-and-now, Ravna explained what had happened. The grey men are
apparently telepathic to some degree, and were able to shut our
mind's down – all except Ravna and Pako. Luckily, the grey men were
not that sturdy, and Ravna was able to distract them with her
superior mental abilities. Pako, recognizing that Durham was not
himself, nipped him on the shoulder, hoping to break him from his
trance. It worked – but not quite as expected. It was at that point
that Durham flew into a rage, attacking our aggressors. The grey
mentalists were easily subdued, but Durham raged on, and attacked
Ravna. You know the rest.
Having
had his mind completely ravaged three times now, here at the site of
the Green Doors, Durham declared that he was fit to leave, and never
return. I must say, at that moment I heartily agreed. However, he
made one final sweep of the area with his detection device, and we
were rewarded with a potential finding that I cannot fully write
about here. To be brief – near to our location was an amount of
metal that was almost inconceivable, and an apparent energy source
that was stronger than all of the lightning from a century of
sea-storms!
Pako
stealthily trundled down the hall to make a quick investigation and
returned post haste, unharmed and with very interesting information.
He had come into a very massive chamber, with two exits to it's
north, and an apparent egress in the southern portion to the oceans
beyond – a large part of the chamber was filled with seawater
sloshing in and out. There was also a dizzying array of metal cages
and structures (Pako could not reliably describe them). As well,
there was the floating, tentacled beast that had chased us out of the
caverns during our previous excursion.
I
reached within the arcane realm and was able to link my sight with
Pako, and then I made him vanish from our sight – adding increased
stealth to his unique abilities. Pako then returned to that large
chamber to make a more thorough investigation – and with me able to
observe all that Pako saw.
The
chamber was large, the beast was indeed present and patrolling, and
within the water was something I cannot fully describe. However, it
is of my opinion that the source of metal and energy that Durham
discovered lay there, before Pako, submerged. I beheld it through
Pako's eyes, and I am convinced that we must arrange a more concerted
effort to secure this location and it's holdings!
As
the four-limbed, floating beast seemed to be taking notice of Pako,
he departed, unseen or detected, and returned to us. We gathered all
we could find that appeared to be of value, and made our way out of
the caves. Upon returning to Cothon Under-star, I immediately
searched out Hey-Jo, explained all that had transpired that day, and
then sent a written missive to Sesel, via Gan. Based on this new
information, there is much that needs to be discussed and planned.
Perhaps the 'Survivors' might soon become a singular force to be
reckoned with.
