Call to Adventure: the Holiday Hunt!

[written by Joel, whose idea this adventure is; the Scribes admit there is a hint of a trip to it, and Barabajagal may be joining the Hunt as well]

A huge catamaran arrives in the port of Cothon, with its two red hulls, red and white sails. A large man departs the vessel dressed in red robes lined with fur, he walks with bare feet and a crown of holly around his head . He wears several chains of gold around his neck and rings set with jewels on each finger. He stands twice as tall as any man with the build of three men combined. Some in Cothon claim he is demi-god, others says he must a half-breed of man and giant, or perhaps dzor to be of such size.

He greets the people of Cothon with a booming voice. "Greeting to all, my name is Santana. I've come from far away land for my huntsmen to stalk the great Turducken. Unfortunately the beast caught them off guard in their camp, injuring all of my men and scaring off their mounts. I seek those who are brave enough to hunt the Turducken, for I must have it for my winter feast! No substitute will do. I will pay a high reward for those that bring me my prize!"

(this is just a fun holiday theme quest that I’ll be able to run, I’ll [Joel] be having family over the 20th & 21st so I won’t be able to run/play then but should be able to work around other time when people want to play)

The Feasts of Investiture

[the Scribes note that this post was supposed to go up at the end of November, which was the actual end of the lunar year in Cothon-Gadeed. Unfortunately, life got in the way; but the changing of the year is an important time and shouldn't go unnoted, as it is a time of feasting and important symbolic bindings ...]

The Lunar Year is over! Good luck to the new Lunar Year!

As the old year comes to a close, and the new year is sounded in by the clash of timbrels and the winding of horns, it is a time for feasting and celebrations, and for the renewal of the symbolic bonds that hold society together.

A great feast is to be held in Gadeed--the Feast of Investiture--whereat the Souffets will ceremonially reinvest the high officers of the state with their authority.

(technically, at this time they could also rescind offices from disfavored servitors, and invest the authority in new officers; and though that may have been done historically, it is not now the custom--rather, the current custom is to rescind offices at the time of a serious breach of trust or major failure, rather than to wait for this feast at the end of the year)

This is also the time for the selection of citizens to perform various offices for the city-state through the next year; many of these officers are selected from all citizens by lot, which ensures that though the Souffets are the executives of the city, they do not control all the levers of power, and must at times compromise with those selected for them by the will of fate. This too will be done at the great feasts.

Fortunately for Sesel, newly minted citizen of Gadeed, his status is too new for his name to have been entered into the lots, and so he will not be assigned any additional office beyond his iqta'; but, barring assignation before then, at the feasts of investiture next year his name may yet be drawn for the assumption of some city- or league-office. And who knows? Perhaps by then others among the barbarians will have attained citizenship for themselves.

And, as the highest officers of the land have their great feast, so all of society down to individual houses have their own, and perform their own smaller feasts of investiture. The Guilds call their members to their halls to perform again the mysteries that tell their myths and stories to themselves, so that everyone is again invested with the import of their Guild duties; and masters call their households together, and feast their servants and slaves, and reestablish the order that must exist within by again handing out the duties and "offices" of the household.

So this is a time of great feasting and celebration, from the top levels of society, all the way to the bottom rungs of the great ladder; even the Heroes and Demons above must too be feasting, in the halls of the Fortress Moon and beyond!

A traditional dish prepared in many households of the Dual-Cities is a dish of field pease slow cooked with morsels of hmelu-bacon, served alongside greens simmered in savory broth, all washed down by draughts of young wine, corked early to keep its effervescence. Though in the palaces of the mighty and the halls of the great guilds are to be found great hma roasted whole, and pickled ninenyelu, and shishu-fruits and sherbets, and all manner of delicacies, still nearly every kitchen will also provide at least a pot of humble field pease and savory greens--for good luck to the new year.

For Player-Characters

I had intended to supply another carousing table or something to go along with this feast, but I fear the moment has passed, as the new lunar year in Cothon-Gadeed began 4 December (with the sighting of the new moon, the Fortress Moon dimmed in its otherwise greenish glory).

Instead, I offer a simple way to have had your player-characters participate in the feasts:

Characters may spend up to 100 dinars (gp) per level in attending or throwing a feast, and earn an amount of experience equal to the amount of gold spent. No need to roll saving throws,  complications, or the use of any downtime action--it would be unseemly to party so hard during this auspicious time, and surely it would incur bad luck when thus entering into the new year.

Additionally, if a player describes the nature of their character's contribution, or how they went about throwing their feast--in the comments below, or in the downtime thread on our Discord channel--then that character earns additional xp equal to 10% of what was spent. For example:

Najm ibn Marwan, owner of the small sailing dhow the Saint Iskameen, will throw a small feast of investiture for his own crew, which constitutes the (very) minor Confraternity of St. Iskameen. It will be held aboard ship, of course, and while it includes the customary field pease and greens, Najm spends 500 dinars (he is of 5th level) to put on a lavish spread that includes a variety of smoked fishes, fine cheeses, olives, and dark breads, all washed down with the aforementioned sparkling wine.

As part of the feast (and his expenditure), he will ceremonially install Fa Mei as his first mate and second-in-command, providing her with a fine cloak of dark blue hmelu-wool, pinned with a silver fishhook; and then ceremonially install Alianor Drake as his bosun and third-in-command, with a similarly fine cloak of grey hmelu-wool, pinned with a red-brass fishhook. And naturally, he gives his crew the next day off for liberty in the city and its taverns.

With that (overly long) description of Najm's involvement in the feasts, he thus earns 550 xp (500 from the gold, +10% from the account)

Alas for poor Kzin-Friend (the Referee's unlucky first character), he has but 2 dinars to his name, and cannot spend them. But he is content to remain outside the city in this case, eschewing the symbolic renewal of civilization for the living tradition in the tales he is sharing with the Fremen shaman Kynes.

A Final Note on the Solar Year

Though the Lunar Year has ended, and a new one begun (it is now year Khusra-Fadhlan 3, the last year of the office of Khusra and of Fadhlan as Souffets), the Solar Year has approximately 370 more days before it ends, and the next Solar Year begins. The feasts at that time will be of quite a different character--grander even than these!--for that is the time of the selection of two new Souffets to lead the Gadeed, Mother of Cities, and the Ten Cities League.

But that is something that can surely wait. Let us enjoy this Lunar Year as it begins, and whatever fate it holds for us unfolds in the coming months.

Adventurous Accounts from the Sixth House

Finding themselves in possession of a great collection of Klackon khipu-texts--strands of silk knotted in intricate patterns to form words and phrases--the Survivors of the Tel have directed their in-house researcher Razo, with the help of fellow Survivor Raoden (who can magically read languages) and friend of the Survivors Gan (no relation to Gan ad-Din) to translate and transcribe the collection. While that herculean effort will be detailed in a near-future addition to this chronicle, in light of the stated intent of the expedition expected on 4 December (tomorrow as of writing this) the Scribes thought that the particular details related here were of enough interest to post separately (and forthwith):

Amongst all the research notes, exploration accounts, and correspondences in the various texts collected by the Survivors and their companions--all the contemporary material, rather than the literary texts and histories, &c.--a certain strand (as it were) stands out as quite interesting, developed in a series of three semi-parallel accounts. In short,

1. A narrative account of the Sixth House's delvings deep into the Tel seeking a rich (rumored) zortrium vein, its discovery, and what transpired thereafter, kept by leading-dore Itzkatl Xhoa
2. A court document detailing the Princess Zaharxa's entertaining of a strange delegation of grey-men and their cloaked escorts
3. A separate narrative account of of the Sixth House's use of a "translation pad" to explore deep caverns found to contain domed "life manufactories" guarded by terrible demons, explorations led by natural-philosopher Xixitlatzali (a dore)

The Accounting of Itzkatl Xhoa on the Zortrium Vein and What Lay Behind

This set of khipus comprise an ongoing set of reports sent to the Princess Zaharxa over the course of Itzkatl Xhoa's explorations. It begins with an overview of rumors of a rich vein of zortrium being located at a certain stratum of the Tel al Safina, and of his use of diggers to mine deep into the mountain in hopes of finding it. When they do, they cannot cut it, and so turn to the Barcidae, and elsewhere, seeking tools to help cut into the vein for usable ingots. Finally securing efficacious tools, they begin the work of mining it:

... When we had thus secured the torches from the Zoq-Fot-Pik, we had already dug down and under the vein, and so we started to cut there, because it was easier. And right away, the torches told against the zortrium, and we cleaved off a huge slab in a watch or so. But our enthusiasm was too much, and we had to halve that slab even to get it out of the hole, and cut it down again to form ingots.

After that, the workers got into a rhythm, and we had a holdful of ingots in a few shakes of a glowglobe--except that was when we cut through the outer layer and found that the vein was hollow! Like the carapace of some huge and desiccated dlakolel, so that once broken through there was much room on the other side. Strange passages carved through the vein, almost like through a worm-riddled fruit, except the passages were obviously built--but I'm getting ahead of myself.

When once we heard there was a space within, I sent Kilik with some her scouts to look inside, and to report to me what lay within. She reported as I have described, strange passageways riddling the metal veins. So much metal lay beyond that we are rich beyond our wildest imaginings--the Sixth House could outspend the Ten Cities League with all that lies buried here!--but it is not unguarded. Several ru'un came up out of the darkness therein and would have destroyed the scouts entirely if Kilik had not broken the red eye of their leader with her estoc. Even still, only half the scouts returned. ...

And later:

... and as you commanded, so we have obeyed, and though many scouts were lost, still they have found many treasures. In one place, strangely unguarded and lit as if waiting for someone, Kilik did discover a sheet of strange metal attached by metallic spinal-column to a pair of smallish boxes. All could be moved, and so Kilik and her scouts lifted it all up and hauled it out of the place without incident from ru'un, and now it is in our possession. I will send sketches to the Princess and her advisers, while I and my apprentices look into the nature of the thing. ...

A number of other episodes follow, detailing especially the heroism of Kilik and her scouts in facing off against ru'un, and other strange things, some perhaps demonic in nature, others frankly bizarre. Not all come from inside the vein of zortrium, as the deep caverns are home to strange worms and other malevolent creatures.

All the while, Itzkatl Xhoa has his workers cut off thinner slabs of zortrium to be shaped into ingots, to be sent up to the workshops above, while he tinkers with the strange sheet of metal and its boxes, and finally discovers that it can dematerialize objects placed onto the pad when a certain combination is pressed into the studs of one of the boxes.

Later, Itzkatl Xhoa comes to the realization that the objects are not dematerialized so much as "translated" elsewhere, and can be brought back. This then, is the "translation pad" ...

The Princess Zaharxa Entertains the Grey Envoy of the Erga

 At about the same time that Itzkatl Xhoa has figured out that his strange device is a "translation pad" that can send and receive objects, a strange delegation arrives in the market of the Great Spire, seeking an audience with Zaharxa of the Sixth House. It is said that they have come up from the tunnels and caves below, rather than entering by the outer doors; and they are a peculiar sort, of such a like as thought only to appear in old stories and hero songs:

... As they entered the audience hall, a great murmur passed through Zaharxa's entourage. "See, it's only a child!" ... "But the color--so grey, so unhealthy. And not human at all." ... "The cloaked ones walk with warriors' gaits." ... &c. &c.

The envoy was indeed the stature of a human child, but its skin an unhealthy grey pallor, its eyes large, black, and terrifying. It was escorted by tall cloaked figures that stank of meat, all broad of stature, except the one closest the envoy, which was tall and narrow, and silent as it walked.

All bowed before Zaharxa, and the envoy intoned a greeting in a strange burbling tongue that none recognized--and yet we all understood it implicitly, as if we did. "We are but tools of the Erga Chondrias, yet we bear greeting from them to thee, great Princess. The Erga is a great sorcerer, and they have seen the depths to which thy Sixth House has plumbed, and the greatness to which thee and thine aspire. Yet they fear that in thy ascendency that the old terror will be renewed--the terror of the Doulii and their Immortal Columns! They ask us to ask thee, great Princess--how might we find Accord, as was found between thy Xholda cousins, and the humans of the Cities?"

I looked to the Princess as this was said, and I saw that a fire had been lighted inside her, to be so likened to the Immortal Doulii, but she was rightly chary about it, deigning not to show how she gloried in it to these strange delegates. "We are Attines," she said, antennae waving coyly. "Our ways are not Doulii ways." And though I stepped forward to translate, I found it unnecessary--the Erga's envoy already was nodding. The Princess continued, "Stranger-guests, be welcome in our abode, drink mold-beer with us and be at ease. And let your Erga know of this munificence of the Princess Zaharxa, that all who come humbly to her will be treated likewise, however great she may become."

This speech we all felt was good and dissembling, true regardless of our ambitions, and the delegation seemed to take it well. ... 

Many speeches and counter-speeches follow, promising mutual friendship and aid, and goodwill all around. Izlutzl, the author of the account and the main translator-dore for the Princess Zaharxa in her audiences, maintains that the Princess was exceedingly crafty in her exchanges with the envoys, and was able to glean more about their purposes than reveal about her own--though both seem to amount to little in his telling of events.

The most significant item in the exchange, in light of the other accounts, was a set of "navigation coordinates" given by the envoy to the Princess. According to Izlutzl, this was gained by most devious diplomacy on the Princess' behalf (aided by Izlutzl, of course), in which, using the discoveries of Itzkatl Xhoa she feigned mastery over the "translation pad" and its uses.

... "So of course you have explored [coordinates redacted], then," the envoy declared. "As that is most easily discovered. But perhaps we could exchange knowledge of other places, if the Princess deigns it to her liking."

At this, the illustrious Zaharxa breezily dissembled. "It is no account to me what else you have found, as I'm sure my dores have already found the same, or gone beyond your Erga's own dores."

It was shortly after this that the Princess began to show signs of weariness, and called for her slaves to come and bear her out of the audience hall. She bade the delegation remain as long as they wished, enjoining them to the mutual hospitality that they had all harped on for so long; but the envoy admitted exhaustion as well, and declared that the entourage of Erga Chondrias would return to the Erga that night for rejuvenation. So the audience was broken with little ado ...

The Accounting of Xixitlatzali on the Exploration of the Life Manufactories

After the audience with the strange grey envoy of the Erga Chondrias, Princess Zaharxa ordered her natural-philosopher Xixitlatzali to gather scouts for exploration across the "translation pad", and to convene with Itzkatl Xhoa for briefings on the use of the device.

Despite Itzkatl Xhoa's natural jealousy--his crew had found the device, why should he not be the one to first explore "through" it?--the Princess' orders were of course to be followed, and Itzkatl Xhoa duly showed Xixitlatzali its use; and Xixitlatzali entered the coordinates inadvertently supplied by the envoy into the device and thus "sent" and "received" the same object without incident. After that, a scout was sent through and retrieved, and she returned without any obvious injury. A period of cautious experiments and explorations followed (all while Itzkatl Xhoa's crew continued cutting zortrium and sending scouts into the interior).

What was ultimately discovered was a great cavern-complex far below the surface of Ardha, with strange dome-structures built into the space:

... They found huge domes in the cavern, built up with what seemed to be metals of strange alloys--seemingly translucent? There was no obvious ingress.

A stair found carved into the cliffs to the west led down into narrow caverns, and though these at first seemed promising, they only issued ultimately onto another large cavern with equally inaccessible domes.

At last, after much exploration, the first cave on the right hand side was found to contain a similar translation pad--though only activated by a curious medallion found on the husked corpse of an ancient creature. By this device we were finally able to penetrate into the secrets of the domes.

What we discovered is a cornucopia of lost knowledge! ...

The text goes on in rapturous language about the wonders that Xixitlatzali will bring forth from the ancient lore, and all the secrets stored in the domes. They are found to be some kind of "life manufactories" where life can be created in various vats, and stored in magical sarcophagi, &c. &c. Untranslatable glyphs cover everything, and there are strange magic mirrors abounding. Signs associated with the demons of the Fortress Moon are also everywhere, and some of Xixitlatzali's scouts encounter strange shadow creatures that seem demonic.

So Xixitlatzali has a demon-codex brought to him, and dubiously identifies the "shadow-demons" as "notules", flying shadows that seek living-warmth, and has ember-fires built to attract them away from the Klackon explorers.

Then, discovered within the depths of the strange domes:

... Klackosn and Hlyss of ancient stock, suspended in strange not-death. I see the likeness of the ancient Doulii in them, great warriors who swept all before them!

This must be the place where they were originally created--bred? built? nurtured? But all those in the sarcophagi we open putrefy shortly after their release. The magic here is strange. Difficult to parse. So I have sent my scouts and apprentices to look for other clues.

Fortunately, one Droxa has returned with other reports--smaller creatures, fellow arthropods, in eggs that are yet well preserved. I am certain--this must be where the ancient Heroes devised our glorious ancestors, as well as their fleshy counterparts, and from here they set them on Ardha to walk in glory. But we have degenerated, as is obvious--and so we must begin again with the smallest of our fellows, and see how the Heroes (the Gods themselves?) devised our glorious ancestors.

The work begins forthwith. Droxa and her scouts are already hauling the great eggs up to the laboratory, along with other specimens and materiel. As soon as all is ready, I shall put knife to flesh and look behind the veil of mere materiality ...

Some of Xixitlatzali's research is already known to the Survivors, in the spellbook The Pale Beetle Under the Knife, and the many biological notes that were translated along with it. And, of course, the fate of the Sixth House is now known to all--cursed by a strange parasitical plague, brought on by these delvings into ancient secrets better left unknown, which brought utter devastation to the House and almost could have destroyed the rest of the Spire-Klackons if not checked as it was.

But there's still so much to puzzle out! Surely our heroes won't succumb to the same hubris as Xixitlatzali and the rest of the Sixth House. Surely not! ...

Fort Doghouse

About two months ago, a company of barbarian-adventurers (though including citizen Sesel in their midst) entered into the Ocean's Throat sea-caves and thence returned to Cothon on the decks of the captured pirate galley Darkwing, to much admiring excitement by the Cothoni crowds and the Hansemänner of the Kantor Kabljauhof.

Immediately following his interview with the Hansemänner that very evening, Durham of the Ringing Anvil, accompanied by his renyu servant Pako, gathered several boatloads of supplies into the Darkwing and (with its skeleton crew of about 10 rugged seamen pulling the oars) returned to the Ocean's Throat. What he later reported was that he had secured the secret fort out of which the pirates had been operating--a fort carved into the living rock of the caverns themselves!

How had he secured it? With the assistance of the Wasgo Tribe, a group of renyu he and others had freed not long ago from the tyrannical leadership of the rogue alchemist Yramrag. The Wasgo continue to dwell in the Ocean's Throat, not far from the fort, and so rallying them to garrison the secret fort--now christened "the Doghouse"--was not difficult.

Not exactly accurate, but this gets the general layout of the place; there
should actually be room for two ships, one one either side, and the loading
beach on the left hand side (which would be north) is bigger ...

Holding onto Fort Doghouse may be another matter, however ...

Durham and Pako have both reported, on their return to Cothon, that the Sakkra of the Hsi-Hsiyya tribe who dwell in the caverns nearby came sneaking into the caves around the Fort to see if they might claim it for themselves.

Admittedly, the Sakkras' case was not entirely without merit ... the Sakkra Kaa having assisted in the defeat of the pirates before succumbing to the fortunes (the misfortunes) of battle. And their appearance not unwarranted for subjects wishing to know what had become of their fallen Kaa.

Well, according to Durham, he gave them a stern warning that the Kaa had fallen in battle with his warriors--to a lizard!--and that such was the fate of those who did such evil to supplicants they hold at their mercy. For, when they had had their initial dealings with the Kaa, a company had left Kalon, a proselyte of the Sakkra prophet Zh'kar the Blind, in the court of the Kaa--and when they returned to seek the Kaa's aid in defeating the pirates, they found that Kalon had been imprisoned!

And so Durham pointed out that indignity to the Sakkra scout-envoys, and enjoined them to consider that perhaps Zh'kar had indeed laid up vengeance against them in his stores, and that perhaps they had better look to their own house before attempting to expand into others--or something to the effects of those words. Who remembers what exactly is said in such a heated moment?

Well, it has been two months since the Sakkra came sneaking around the outskirts of the new Fort Doghouse, and word among the renyu is that some kind of internal disturbance continues to distract the reptilian creatures. But such cannot last forever--and the Sakkra are decidedly not the only ones with eyes on the Ocean's Throat caves ... a base so close to major lines of trade will surely have been a sore thing to lose for the Luwian Pirates; might they not also be mustering a force to reclaim their former holding?

Time will surely tell ...

Claws and Armor

But Durham has not been idle in the meantime. He has sent his servants out for supplies--some to the Souk in Cothon for suitable metals, some to the Great Spire of the Attine Klackons for the true-black carapaces of the dlakolel-beetles they sell in the market there.

Between these purchases, Durham has embarked on a mission to arm the renyu of the Wasgo well, with "claws" or "tines" to augment their own natural weapons, alongside dark "chitinothorax" armor of dlakolel-black to aid in their natural tendencies of stealth.

These arms are just beginning to be completed en masse at the Anvil, and to be delivered to the Wasgo, so it is not yet clear just how effective they may be, but they certainly promise much!

The Darkwing

Not quite two months ago, a company of barbarians (with citizen-Sesel in their midst) managed to seize the pirate galley Darkwing from the hidden fortress carved into the living rock of the Ocean's Throat caves. As to the fate of the fort, that will be dealt with in a subsequent post; suffice it to say that Durham of the Ringing Anvil has invested it with renyu of the Wasgo Tribe.

This post however is about the Darkwing and about the cargo that was secured in her hold at the same time:

Registration and Wharfage

As noted by Bartholomew Pettibone when he and his companions captured her, the Darkwing must be registered at a particular harbor in order to take part in any kind of official trade. Though it need not be the harbor of Cothon, that would seem the most convenient, as it is the base of operations of those who now possess the galley.

To register a ship in Cothon costs 75 dinars (gp), which is an annual fee (and so would not need to be paid again until next year (month depending on when exactly the fee is paid).

Furthermore, holding a ship in the harbor costs wharfage fees, assessed per foot of ship's length. In Cothon, wharfage costs 7 dirhams (sp) per foot of shiplength per day, which for the Darkwing, on the lighter side at 60 feet, would cost 420 dirhams, i.e. 42 dinars, per day.

Fortunately regarding wharfage, however, the party decided to dock the Darkwing at the quays of the Kantor Kabljauhof, and they are happy to waive the normal wharfage fees for six months in gratitude for help in seizing the pirate ship--and the Ocean's Throat fort as well! Which is to say, at the beginning of April next year the Darkwing will be assessed normal wharfage fees per day, so long as she remains docked there; and Cothon will assess the same, if she chooses to dock in the public harbor.

The Cargo

Meanwhile, seized at the same time as the galley was her cargo of pirated goods, which came with her into Cothon, to be offloaded and inventoried there. In this case--again, seeking to win goodwill from the company and from Durham particularly--the Kantor agreed to hold the cargo in their warehouses without fee, while someone from the adventuring-company looked through registrations, cargo manifests, and lading histories to attempt to find the former owners of the various goods, presumably so that they could be returned.

(The "bonding fees" that the Kantor is waiving would amount to 1% of the declared dinar-value of the goods being stored per month)

Sesel, Voice of the Survivors, asked his friend Gan (no relation to Gan ad-Din) to assist in this task, and this is what Gan was able to discover:

• the case of fine ivory was identified as being imported by the Banu Hanbal, a merchant-house
• the two cords of tiu wood was likewise being imported by Banu al Saddiyas, one of the greater houses
• half of the ingots of common metal--20 altogether--were being exported to the city of Ittiyqa (another in the Ten Cities League) by the Banu Baraqi (commonly called Barcidae)
• the 5 "ingots" of chlen-hide were being exported by the Guild of Alchemists (associated with the tavern Cothon-Under-Star), also to Ittiyqa
• and the 3 crates of weapons were being imported by the Banu al Dawr--possibly to replace those lost by their servitors on expeditions into "the Facility"?

The rest of the cargo was perhaps moving to and from ports other than Cothon, and no relevant records seem to exist here to point out where or to whom they might belong. Given that this is the case, with the permission of the harbormaster and the city's market-officers, is agreed that the party can dispose of the remaining goods as if they were the party's own. If within the next year, someone comes forward with a reasonable claim that they really were the original owners--something that can be shown in court--then the party must surrender to them the goods, or half of any money they got from the sale (though this last eventuality is highly unlikely at this point).

To sell the cargo in the market will require hiring the Guild of Longshoremen to transport it, and then a fee paid to the assessors of the market on behalf of the Souffets. The remaining cargo (12 bundles of furs, 20 bags of textiles, 20 ingots of common metals, 10 barrels of ale, 40 sacks of hops, 15 barrels of fish) would require an unlading fee of 42 dirhams (3 dirhams per "tun" ... the Scribes admit to fudging on the precise amount of "tunnage" here). Then to sell it, the fee paid to the assessors (the "hawking fee") would be 9% of the total value of the goods (the idea being that you declare the value of the goods at the price you bought them--or lower?--and then negotiate for higher sale prices). Altogether, as inventoried by Gan, the value would be 4450 dinars if everything were to be sold, which would be assessed a hawking fee of 401 dinars.

These fees would all change assessment according to just what was taken to market by the company--if anything--and that is up to their discretion.

Assuming that the company elects to sell something in the market, it will require someone to use their downtime for the week essentially to find the right buyer--with the goods divided according to their nature, and requiring a roll per "type" (i.e. fish and beer could be sold together as "foodstuffs", the furs could be sold as a lot, &c.).

Of course, the cargo doesn't have to be sold. It could be disposed of in other ways--supplies for the Wasgo, metals used by the workshops at the Ringing Anvil or Crag Keep, &c. &c. It's up to the company to decide how to proceed.

A note--future cargos will probably be handled a bit differently, especially on their breakdown into lots and goods, but I worked this cargo up before getting The Pilot's Almanac (from Columbia Games). The hawking, lading/unlading, and bonding fees will all remain, however.

And What's Next??

If registered, the Darkwing could be used by her owners as a source of income--cargos could be bought to fill her holds, destined for nearby ports, and thus to ply the trade routes to Nous, Ittiyqa, or elsewhere. They would only need to hire a crew, a captain, and a pilot (or some one of them could captain the ship himself or herself), and then spend downtime securing a cargo--and off she would sail, hopefully to bring in a reasonable income!

Otherwise, she would also make a fine platform to adventure to parts distant from Cothon--to the Denyan Isles, for instance, or west following the codices of Hamdi the Voyager!

Or if strapped for cash, they could sell the ship--she would certainly fetch a price exceeding 30,000 dinars, which is nothing to laugh at ... though the Scribes suspect somehow that this will not be the final decision.

Ultimately, it's up to the company to decide just what to do with their prize ...