Return to Adventure!

 Durham, master of the Ringing Anvil, has not only been inducted into the Hanse himself, but he has also been spending long nights at the Kantor Kabljauhof feasting his friends and acquaintances there--and most particularly, one Telman of Tsipa, commander of the Hanse's forces against the Luwian Pirates over the last years.

This pair, Durham and Telman, first became friends first during the Hunt for the Denyan Akho on an adventure that seems so long ago now. Then, not long after, the Hanse had spun up its campaign contra-pirates to deal with piratical troubles in the east of Dirac's Sea, and Telman had been selected as a promising candidate to lead this great venture. Some say he was picked over and above even Captain-General Zaytar! But surely Zaytar had a hand in recommending Telman to the powers-that-be among the Hanse.

Nevertheless, Telman sailed away to oversee the campaign--and ultimately to great successes, such that he returned a conquering hero just before the winter really set in. And, now that winter's icy claws are finally retracting again, her cold breath retreating from the land, Telman must look east, to the final vanquishing of the Luwians this next year-cycle ...

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But ... Durham has noticed that Telman seems somewhat listless at present. Even on his return in triumph, he was not wonted to speak overlong of the battles at sea in which he led the Hanseatic galleys to victory, or the island forts his armies stormed, or of the cities his men laid waste, their citizens sold into slavery at the public markets to finance the Hanse's war.

He has taken much to drink, and especially to the attentions of the dancing girls of the Kantor--one in particular, the new girl Mai'in Khoresha, especially catching his eye--and he seems to have also taken up a habit of other substances.

But on certain nights, when Telman is less bleary and sharper eyed, and drink is flowing well and the craic, as he says, is good, Telman will call Durham over. 'Let us go hunting again, my friend!' he cries. 'Like when we tracked down that Denyan beast, and you and your fellows proved so bold and resourceful. There is no akho that I know of currently threatening shipping--but let us run up the coast a ways toward Ittiyqa. I have heard that a pack of dindins are threatening the fishing boats of the villages south there, and in the straits between the city and the island harbor!

'Let us take your pirate-prize, the Darkwing, swift over the waves! Come, Durham, what say you? Gather up some of your companions, and let us hunt the sea waves like of old, against monsters that threaten human life. For old times' sake, let's sail, Durham! What say you?'

map section, for reference