Storm clouds rolled in from the east of Dirac's Sea, covering the Denyan Islands and sending rain slanting down the streets of Cothon, wind howling through the dark air as if presaging some dire news. Many in the harbor city looked to the Kantor Kabljauhof and Captain-General Zaytar's mustering of Hanseatic galley-crews for his planned feting of the Colossian Oracle; but for one group of residents, the presaged evil came from a different avenue:
Gathered at their tavern-base, Cothon-Under-Star, the barbarian-adventurer Survivors of the Tel and their sometime-companion Durham were interrupted in the midst of their ale-drinking and planning their next expedition by the appearance of a man in the garb of a lesser official from Gadeed, Mother of Cities. As he pulled down his rain-soaked cowl and peered through the tavern, he called out for the Survivors of the Tel. When Sesel, the "Voice" of the company, stepped forward, he was rewarded with a scroll from the hands of the official, and a request that he acknowledge that, "The Survivors of the Tel have received a summons to the Court of the Moon, where the Barciade are suing them for taxes owed and diya for injury to their honor."
Glancing at the scroll, which did indeed contain such a summons, Sesel nodded and gave verbal acknowledgment, and the bored official swept once more out into the rain, leaving the Survivors to their own devices to figure out how to respond to this legal attack on their company. The group retired to a private wine-chamber in the back of the tavern to discuss their response; over the next week, rumors would fly widely that they had been accompanied by a member of their patron-house, Banu al Rashid, given how adroitly they would ultimately respond in court.
But regardless, as the company finished this initial business, it was left to Sesel, as Voice of the Survivors, to work with the House al Rashid in developing a counter-argument against the Barcidae.
Meanwhile, certain others of the company felt themselves itching to get out of the city and address things more directly--enemies that could be met directly with sword and spell, rather than the intricacies of politics and law:
- Bartholomew Pettibone (magic-user 5)
accompanied by Gan ad-Din (fighter 1) - Ravna (magic-user 4)
accompanied by Ix (Klackon 2) - Durham (fighting-man 5)
accompanied by Pako (renyu)
Wishing to avoid further entanglements with the Barcidae, masters of the Migdol of the Dyers that overlooks the coast to the north of Cothon, the party made their way through the city to the Gate of Mourners and thence along the road to the Necropolis in order to enter the Tel al Safina. It was surmised that they may have been taking the long way 'round to the sea-caves, given that Durham and Bart were discussing the mysterious Green Doors therein as they departed Cothon-Under-Star.
They returned with Ravna somewhat worse for wear, Durham looking shaken and emotionally drained, and Bartholomew agitated with excitement--such that immediately they returned to the tavern, he left the dividing of lucre to his companions while he sought for Sesel.
Ix exchanged a short conversation in Klackon with some of the insectile creatures on their side of the tavern, which ultimately, through Tki'it and Althalos the Klackon and human bartenders, made its way around to the human patrons--they had indeed sought the sea caves and the Green Doors, they had followed up on an earlier group's success in penetrating the portal, and had done battle with a group of small grey creatures inside. Moreover, they had discovered something of great interest, but what it was, Ix could not easily describe, and the rest of the party were little interested in elucidating any further. It would be left to later expeditions for more to be revealed ...
The Lucre
- a small ceramic jar containing dark paste like kohl (similar to a substance found previously)
- a bottle holding an unknown liquid
- a gilded chlen-headed mace, clearly a kind of rod of office (500 gp)
- a black cloak, lined with the black fur of a dlakolel; it is ruined, but the fur is worth 300 gp
- a jeweled gold ring (110 gp)
- a vial of blood collected from one of the "greylings"
- further notes on the Green Doors
- 910 xp from treasure
- 482 xp from "greylings" x3 (150 xp + hp ea.)
- 464 xp per player-character
232 xp to Ix and Gan - 227 gp, 5 sp per player-character
113 gp, 7 sp to Ix and Gan - the vial of "greyling" blood
- the other two "potions"
- the notes in Bart's and Durham's journals/sketchbooks
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