Like other expeditions near the limes of the past and present lunar year [this one was originally meant--the Scribes], this expedition was little remarked by the inhabitants of the Dual-Cities, not least of which because, like the last one, the departure of the company was by boat from the harbor and thence along the north coast, rather than the traditional hikes cross-country to the Tel al Safina.
It is surmised in town that certain factions among the barbarian-adventurers now have vested interests somewhere inside the Tel--both the Survivors of the Tel and Durham of the Ringing Anvil are rumored to have such interests--and Sesel, Voice of the Survivors, was heard to be gathering his fellows with exhortations that something was amiss near the locale of the Survivors' interests. Rumors of some kind of spirit or wraith accosting his hired men-at-arms on their patrols, and of something menacing skittering in the shadows ... all of which sound rather more in the nature of the Necropolis, and yet seem to be emerging out of the Ocean's Throat sea-caves ...
And so to investigate these weird rumors, Sesel gathered together this company, and the lot embarked on his courier boat the Silver Qaqtla to sail north along the coast:
- Avin (magic-user 6)
- Sesel the Voice (fighting-man 7)
accompanied by Raoden (magic-user 4) - Gan ad-Din (fighting-man 5)
- Heijo (magic-user 6)
- Revna (magic-user 5)
- Lars Ghar-Rider (magic-user 4)
- Pako (renyu)--sent independently by Durham
The group returned to Cothon, disembarking from the Qaqtla along the commercial quays, and then watching her sail back on her way to Sesel's Iqta' al Saahil al Shamaliy. Sesel was not among those who returned to town, having elected to remain at his iqta' and to arrange affairs there in light of whatever was discovered.
It seems there was little recovered by way of treasure--though not quite nothing--and the talk implied that Sesel was more psychically drained than his begging off to see to affairs at home would indicate. Nevertheless, there was a certain joviality to the spirit of the after-action drinking, and certain cryptic comments stand out: "I wonder how long it'll take to boil out?" -- "Bob seemed to think it might take a while, but maybe the poison'll get to it first!" -- "If it's susceptible! I just hope the boiling does the job ..."
The Lucre
- 3000 dirhams (sp), 800 dinars (gp)
- 1260 dinars from 6 gems (2@500, 2@100, 1@50, 1@10)
- one large weirdstone--said by Sesel to contain the vestiges of an Erga!
- 2360 xp from treasure
- 444 xp from the strange "creature" (400 + hp)
- 200 xp per player-character for exploration into a new section of the Ocean's Throat
- 314 dinars, 6 dirhams, and 6 fals to each player-character, including Pako
157 dinars, 3 dirhams and 3 fals to Raoden - 387 xp to each player-character
193 xp to Raoden - the "occupied" weirdstone (claimed by Sesel*)
*as Referee, I have divided out the gold as I always have, with equal shares, but only Sesel has any claim to anything more interesting; I feel it incumbent on me to posit that perhaps Sesel forfeit his share of dinars for this claim--but it is not for the referee to decide, but for party members. Experience will remain as published, but dinar (gp) values can be adjusted if folks agree it is appropriate
As always, items without explicit value may be divvied by the company however is deemed fair, or may attempt to be sold "to the right buyer" with the use of downtime to increase shares of treasure (and xp). Explicitly valued items may be "bought out" at their gp-value by any player-character especially desiring them. And reports, drawings, etc. provided by player-characters to be published to this chronicle will earn the corresponding character 100 xp per level.
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