Two Heavens As One

 the Lesser Forms

A fechtbuch found while adventuring in Babilar.

This book is a study on a fighting style involving two bladed weapons, one long the other short. It describes several exercises, strikes, blocks, and the footwork involved, all of which culminates in a pair of maneuvers. One who spends four downtimes studying and practicing the various activities described herein may learn one of the two maneuvers. The other can be learned with a further 4 downtimes. However, until the ability is used 3 times in real battle it is not set……..

Heavenly Surge

Bringing both weapons to bear, moving rapidly as you strike at your opponent. If you hit with your attack you may choose to reduce your damage by 1d3 but grant yourself advantage on your next strike.

Heavenly Strike

This must be declared before rolling initiative. Two heavens as one, two blades as one, you strike, forcing your opponent to choose which to block. You roll this attack at disadvantage (canceled if you have advantage). If you hit you roll damage for both weapons. If you miss (but don’t roll a 1) you open yourself to attack resulting in a +2 to attacks against you until the end of the next round and then roll 1d6, 1-2 you still deal the damage of your primary weapon, 3-4 you deal the damage of your offhand, 5-6 you fully missed.

Regarding Najm: Some Housekeeping

A few items of note that Najm ibn Marwan and crew have been up to in the last year.

In a recent session, which was actually backdated to the beginning of this lunar year, Najm transported a company of individuals to the city of Ittiyqa, some of whom would partake in the Zihuitlani Games there. Overcome by the glint of dinars, Najm allowed himself to be talked into supporting Gan ad-Din's entrance into the Games with 1000 dinars towards Gan's entrance fees--despite Najm's personal reservations about the nature of the Games. Once the Games began, he remembered his scruples and was sick with giving money toward them, even if Gan and his fellows were gracious victors.

Najm received 1080 dinars (so far) in return for his support. Remembering his scruples, he has devoted all of that money to charitable donations. Five hundred and twenty dinars (520) were spent on manumission for slaves from the slave market of Cothon. This would free 13 slave laborers, the worst-treated of all slaves; any with an inclination for work on ships would be invited to join his crews for pay.

The remaining five hundred and sixty (560) dinars would be spent in a great fish-and-crab feed at Fahra's Hole-in-the-Wall down in the harbor, for the poor especially, but not turning anyone away.

Both of these actions would have occurred some time in February, probably, after the return to Cothon from Ittiyqa.

In August, the keel was laid for Najm's new ship, the Rihha, a fast-sailing vessel, with financial help from Sesel and with a bronze figurehead cast in the image of a rihha-sro that Najm and company defeated some time ago in a strange place.

The Rihha was finished in October and has been undergoing her sea trials in the intervening months. She will be ready for a maiden voyage seeking the strange lost city of Babilar by next week, as noted in Najm's call to adventure. With two mates and two ships, it's time to promote one to captain of Saint Iskameen; and Najm has elected Alianor Drake as captain of the Saint Iskameen, while retaining Fa Mei as his own first mate on the Rihha. Allie (Alianor) is therefore free to choose her own first mate for her ship (still owned by Najm, of course).

Fa Mei is no doubt disappointed that she has not been selected as captain; as consolation for not getting her own ship, Najm suggests that she get a sword enchanted at the Ringing Anvil (for if she's his first mate, there will no doubt be adventures for her yet!).

Fa Mei has a chromium khopesh (damage 1d8+1), of which the metal chromium was noted by Durham as especially good for enchanting. Najm will pay 1500 dinars for the sword to be rehilted with something more distinctive of Fa Mei--she elects a basket hilt designed after a nautilus' shell, allowing her to strike with less worry over her own hand (+1 to hit).

And once the rehilting is finished, Fa Mei will have the sword enchanted at her own expense (2000 dinars) and with a Bani Dawr psioinc potion (given by Najm). Fa Mei has a high intelligence (15), and between that and the psionic potion, her sessions with Zaynab the Enchantress will focus on Fa Mei being able to predict an opponent's defensive moves, thus neutralizing the protective bonus of an opponent's shield or defensive technique (yes, Fa Mei has also heard of Sesel's famed ability to parry nearly anything!); i.e. it would become a Khopesh +1, negates shield OR defensive technique and allows the wielder to strike an opponent as if they have no shield, or as if they are not using a defensive technique.

[if this ability is too much, the Scribes allow that perhaps Fa Mei needs to have spent more, or to reword the enchantment of her sword]

It will be up to Durham and his Ringing Anvil to determine how much time this takes, from the first week of October (2023).

Najm has not been idle as he awaits his new ship being finished. He has been developing new spells, partially inspired by his reading of the Queen of Winds, and partially by his own calling of Saint Iskameen at the Battle of the Hastati Gate.

This involves the commission of an excellent new spellbook (scroll) of the finest hmelu parchment, inked with the finest inks from Heijo the Dyer's inkshop, and copying the ballad that Gan ad-Din penned, "Najm at the Hastati Gate" as well as some paeans and prayers to Saint Iskameen and her battle prowess and lance of lightning (a cost of 2500 dinars). It will contain the spells Call Lightning and Saint Iskameen's Might.

The details of the spells are being worked out, but the results of his researches are as follows:

For Call Lightning 5 tick track (beginning week ending 9/9 to week ending 10/7):

1. 8 - success

2. 9 - success

3. 9 - success

4. 7 - success

5. 9 - success - 1500 dn altogether

For Saint Iskameen's Might a 6 tick track (beginning week ending 10/14 to week ending 12/9):

1. 6 – failure

2. 11 – success 1

3. 9 – success 2

4. 10 – success 3

5. 9 – success 4

6. 6 – failure

7. 8 – success 5

8. 6 – failure

9. 8 – success 6 – 2700 dn altogether

It has been noted that the second spell may be too weak as a fourth level spell, so negotiations over the particulars of that spell will continue, but Najm has successfully researched it, whatever the specifics, as well as having completed this spellbook, "Najm at the Hastati Gate".

Downtime: For Fun and Profit!

[Written by Jacob, with some revisions by the Scribes–thanks Jacob! Like most of the game, these are provisional rules and are subject to change as we learn better how they interact with everything]

or Institutions Expanded

Much like the expanded merchants (Piedrajoya Guild), these rules fall back on the basics presented by Ben L:

http://maziriansgarden.blogspot.com/2020/03/downtime-activities-building-institution.html

However, I wanted to expand upon institutions, the benefits, risks, and tools an institution might have. Granted, these could all be ignored, falling back to the original institutions, and working with the DM for whatever one might want to have happen. These are simply another tool in the world-engagement toolkit.

To start, first here are the various tiers of institution provided by Ben:

1. Inconsequential

2. Minor

3. Middling

4. Major

5. Influential

6. (In)Famous

7. Legendary

Advancement and expenses related therein will continue to use the existing rules.

What is not commented on much in Ben’s post, however, is the benefits, resources, or other features, tools, etc that owning an institution might confer. That is what I propose to expand upon here.

There are times when one has money, and wishes to invest in one's institution, but not necessarily to "build it up" to the next level (i.e. from Minor to Middling)--perhaps one would rather spend money on better infrastructure or certain assets, without necessarily increasing the "clout" of the institution as represented in the table above.

It is also possible that one wishes to utilize an institution to expand the scope of available actions–have your employees research something for you, or perhaps even engage in the takeover of another institution! These proposed rules provide a framework for undertaking such actions.

Those who do not wish to worry about minutiae need not worry–they can continue to build their institution in peace without reference to these rules, and NPC institutions won't take action against them, other than through the normal complication rolls. These rules are entirely voluntary.

Assets and Infrastructure
The core concept being proposed here is that institutions can be expanded or improved by the acquisition of assets or the building of infrastructure (physical or procedural). At the moment, assets generally refers to people and infrastructure to physical improvements, but these ideas could certainly be expanded.

An institution is limited to the number of assets or infrastructure improvements it can encompass at any particular level; once that number is reached, the institution must be improved by "Building an Institution" before any further improvements can be added.

Institutional Level	Cost per Asset*	No. Assets and       Infrastructure Allowed
Inconsequential	250 dinars (gp)	3
Minor	500 d.	6
Middling	1000 d.	10
Major	2000 d.	16
Influential	4000 d.	24
(In)Famous	8000 d.	32
Legendary	per negotiation with Referee	per negotiation with Referee

*this refers specifically to Assets; the prices of Infrastructure improvements are always subject to negotiation with the Referee

Assets
At the moment, this list of assets is almost entirely "human resources" based, i.e. trusted employees or a base of workers. This is not an exhaustive list, but a list of examples; other ideas are certainly welcome, especially regarding non-person based assets that might improve an institution's functions.

Steward

Having a Steward allows the institution to take 1 “building a relationship” downtime action per month. Any consequences are suffered by the institution, not the steward. Likewise, the benefits of improved relations are with the entire institution. Any expectations of those relationships fall upon the leadership of the institution.

Slaves
Owning slaves grants an institution the ability to ‘work overtime’ during a month, as slaves cannot simply decline to work. This grants the institution 50% greater income for that month, but 25% reduced income for the following, as the slaves are all exhausted and continuing to work them overtime would inevitably result in several (if not all) of them dying.

Spy
Having a Spy allows an institution to take 1 “gather information” downtime action per month.

Ghilman
Above and beyond a normal ‘guard’ or ‘mercenary’ this individual is a permanent addition to your institution’s retinue. A ghilman is a level 1 Fighter, and comes equipped with mail, a sword, and shield. However, they are a member of the institution, and not a hireling. They do not go on adventures, but may be involved if ‘adventure’ comes to the institution. They are leveled using institutional upgrades, but cannot go higher than level 4 (unless they somehow earn experience from an adventure session). Their equipment does not upgrade, any such upgrades must be provided explicitly by the institution.

Merchant
A merchant has two options any given month, the institution may select either at the start of the month. The first is to simply increase the income of the institution by 5%, as they are highly skilled in wheeling and dealing. The second is to provide 1 “finding the right buyer” downtime.

Alchemist
An alchemist allows an institution to take 1 “Alchemical Pursuit” downtime action per month. They will still need to be provided with any relevant materials/etc.

Sage/Researcher
A sage allows an institution to take either 1 “magical research” or 1 “non-magical research” downtime action per month. They will still need access to any relevant library/knowledge/etc.

Infrastructure
This refers to either physical improvements to the institution, i.e. building a new structure or improving an existing one, commissioning a new ship, &c. OR investing in better business practices to allow the institution to work more efficiently.

Because these improvements could be pursued in a variety of ways, which involve radically different prices, infrastructure improvements must be proposed to the Referee, who will then provide quotes on prices, timeframes, &c. The only exception to this is that once per institutional level a proprietor may choose to improve his or her institution by streamlining business practices to insure an Income.

This process costs the same as an asset at the same level, but the income varies depending on the type of service an institution offers. For example, a fishing enterprise would receive a vastly different kind of monthly income than a whitesmith's shop. They're just very different business types. (the equivalent cost is mostly for ease of the game, but could perhaps be envisioned as e.g. a whitesmith needs very good tools that will last a long time; a fisherman needs to a large amount of lower cost tools and supplies, rations for his crews, caulking for his boats, &c. &c. … just to aid the imagination in what's going on)

Upgrading an Asset
After the first level of an institution the option to Upgrade your assets becomes available. Doing this grants a number of bonuses, depending on the type of bonus offered by the asset. An asset can be upgraded multiple times, but some benefits will have maximums.

The cost to upgrade an asset is half the price for an asset at the level the institution is at, i.e. a Minor institution with a Ghilman asset could upgrade the Ghilman with another level by paying 250 dinars.

• Assets that grant downtime actions gain a +1 to the roll (maximum +3)

• Assets with levels go up once in level (maximum level: 4)

  • The asset is unavailable for a number of weeks equal to the level they are increasing to, as they undergo training

• Assets that provide a bonus to income have that bonus increased by 2%

  • This does not impact reduced income

Institutional Actions
NOTE: None of these actions can be taken upon a Player institution which is -not- participating in the use of these rules. NPC Institutions are assumed to be taking these actions through the complications table, not rolled explicitly.

In addition to setting up new assets I also put forth actions that an institution may take, with their assets. Note that institutional actions take 1 month to complete (rather than 1 week), and during such time an asset does not provide their normal benefits. However, an institution is not restricted to a single action per month. They may take as many actions as are made available by their assets.

Like other downtime actions, 2d6 are rolled to determine the outcome. However, because an institution is performing these, and thus there is logistics, communication between several parties, and the organization of those things, they are inherently more difficult and prone to failure. A roll of 2-5 results in consequences, 6-8 is simply failure with no additional consequences, 9-15 are success, with anything above a 15 indicating remarkable success. Note that remarkable success is not possible without fully upgrading an agent, and even with that there is still some chance of consequences.

Circulate Rumors
The agents of the institution begin circulating rumors about another institution. This causes the target institution to risk losing a level if they don’t respond over the course of the next 2 months. If the rumors are true this roll is at +1.

A Steward asset provides a +1 (increasing by +1 per upgrade to a maximum of +3).

Covert Assault
Covert, in that it would obviously be illegal to take any overt hostile actions against any institutions of Cothon-Gadeed. Add a +1 to this roll for each level of any soldiers or spies participating. Taking this action has an increased difficulty, in that your roll is additionally reduced by 1 for every level of ghilman in the target institution.

Successfully completing an assault allows you to select one of the following:

• Steal an asset of the target institution (only if you have previously gotten enough intel to identify a specific asset)

  • It does not automatically work for you, but you can begin to convert it (DM’s discretion, likely a custom clock)

• Assault an asset

  • Destroying notes, infrastructure, or otherwise wreaking havoc around an asset to reduce its level, and ultimately remove it from play.

  • This brings an asset down 1 level, if the asset is already at level 0 (ie: has no upgrades) then it is removed from the institution.

Gather Intel
Similar to the normal downtime activity, this has an additional benefit of informing you to one of the following, chosen before rolling:

• The types of assets an institution owns (but not the count)

• The number of a specific kind of asset

  • Can be done without knowing which assets an institution owns, but the result may return 0 if they do not own any.

• The identities of key players of an institution (excluding fully secret individuals)

• The identity of a single secret individual associated with an institution

A Spy asset provides a +1 (increasing by +1 per upgrade to a maximum of +3).

Rebuild
This is the process of rebuilding, retraining, or otherwise recovering after a successful assault, and so cannot be taken if the institution does not have lost or damaged assets. This downtime does not require any rolls, but it does require investment of dinars. Rebuilding a damaged asset only ‘rebuilds’ a single level per use.

Any number of assets can be rebuilt during a single downtime. The cost to take the ‘rebuild’ action scales with the number of assets being rebuilt. The cost is 250 x (the number of assets being rebuilt, squared). So the first asset is 500 dinars, the second 1000, the third 2250, and so on. This represents the additional labor, materials, etc that are required to organize and manage increasingly larger efforts.

Hostile Takeover
For when you’re so wealthy and powerful you can just walk over to the next guy and say “I own you now”. A hostile takeover actually requires several Institutional Downtimes, and is a custom clock. During a hostile takeover neither institution may increase their rank.

To progress the clock you must first expect dinars equal to 35% of the cost to attain whatever level of institution the target is currently on. Then roll the Institutional Downtime normally. On a remarkable success the cost is reduced to 25%.

Hostile Takeover Clock:

1. First, you have to begin buying up resources and redirecting customers to yourself. This is a slow process, but begins putting the pressure on the target institution.

2. Next you start leaning on the members and assets of the institution. Making them wish they were in your institution instead.

3. Finally, before you fully take over the institution, you have to put pressure on the leadership. Make them feel like there is literally no other option but to accept your buy out.

4. And, at last, the pay off. Your institution absorbs the target, taking over all their assets, any explicit resources. Their members may choose to leave, rather than join the new institution. Any relationships the target institution had transferred to you at -2 levels (minimum 1)

Consequences and Complications
If your Institutional Downtime resulted in a complication, roll 1d8 on the table below.

1. Blackballed. You have been blackballed by (roll 1d6: 1: Guild of Stewards, 2: The slave merchants of Cothon, 3: The fighting institutions, 4: Merchants guild, 5: Guild of alchemists, 6: Sage’s guild) and until reparations are made worth 1d30x100 dinars you cannot hire any new assets of that type, and any downtimes relating to those actions are at a -1.

2. Retaliation! The target institution will take an Assault action upon you at their next possible chance.

3. Rumor mongering… The target institution discovers your plots, and begins rumor mongering against you.

4. Pay offs… In order to keep the authorities out of your business, you have to pay 3d100 dinars, ensuring the silence of the parties involved. If you do not, your activities will be alerted to the authorities.

5. Damaged Asset… A random asset involved in the action becomes damaged 1 step.

6. Hostile Takeover! If possible, the target institution increases 1 step on a Hostile Takeover track against you. They will not increase it manually, but if this result is rolled too many times it may cause you to become a subsidiary of another institution.

7. Overextended. Your attempts to complete your task at any cost have overextended the institution. Your institution functionally drops down 1 level, though you do not lose any assets associated with your previous level. In order to return you must pay 75% of the cost, and redo the Building and Institution roll.

8. The authorities are alerted! Whatever the reason, they are certain your institution is to blame for some major crime. They will remain ‘alerted’ for 6 months, unless you find some way to dissuade them or otherwise distract them.

The Authorities
For the purposes of these mechanics, if the authorities become ‘involved’ in your institution, it is NOT a good thing. Your institution becomes under heavy watch, routinely audited by the relevant Kataba, and your ability to execute Assaults is entirely removed. Circulating Rumors and Gathering Intel are both rolled at -3.

Beyond that, however, it is up to the DM how this otherwise impacts your institution and the members therein. Perhaps it leads to a legal (or regular) battle in the arena? Perhaps it leads to government raids on your assets, increased taxes, or even mercenaries contracted to ‘deal with the problem’. If an institution either remains with the authorities ‘alerted’ for more than 6 consecutive months, or gains a consequence that alerts the authorities while they are already alerted, then the DM should determine some grander result of “the law” coming down upon the institution.

Teaching an Old Renyu New Skills

 or "The Musical Training Of Gan ad-Din"

Gan ad-Din, bearer of all things and constant companion and retainer of Bartholomew Pettibone, has recently sought out a musician, one Anataynus, to learn from him the singing of songs and the playing of the oud. A worthy endeavor! And an opportunity for the Scribes to outline another possible use of downtime for player-characters in the Dual-Cities of Cothon-Gadeed.

When setting out to learn new skills--or "professions", as they are deemed in the page on Creating a Character--there are several steps to follow to set one well on one's path of "professional development":

1. Seeking a tutor
2. Retaining a tutor
3. Initial intensive training
4. Practice makes proficient
5. Continued development

The first three steps are necessary to achieving nominal proficiency in any skill; the last is "optional" though of course anyone who specifically cares for their craft will want to work to master that craft through continued devotion.

Because Gan has already set his feet on the path toward learning to be a musician, we can use him as an example in developing the framework for this downtime process.

Seeking a Tutor

In order to learn, one must have a teacher. To find a teacher, a character must either already know someone proficient in the skill they wish to learn--and perhaps cultivate a relationship such that the person would be a willing mentor--or advertise their interest in learning.

Gan ad-Din, not directly knowing anyone of musical dint, spent a downtime buying drinks around the taverns to the cost of 200 dinars, asking after musicians who might be willing to teach their craft, and rolled 2d6 for a 7 on the dice, plus bonuses. Simple success--he learned the name of a musician willing to teach him (Anataynus). If he'd rolled a 10+ he might have been pointed toward a true master, or really won over and befriended a local musician.

Anataynus

In short, a character looking for a tutor can either

1. cultivate a relationship with a known master to learn from them, OR
2. spend money (at least 100 dinars) on advertising one's interest in a learning from a tutor, 7-9 is a success in finding someone, 10+ the tutor is a master or the referee will adjudicate something

Retaining a Tutor

Having found someone to teach them, the player-character will need to establish the tutor-learner relationship. Unless they've leveraged some kind of connection or obligation to learn for free, the player-character will have to negotiate a price for tutelage.

This price will vary according to the skill to be learned. It may even be leveraged in favor of certain skillsets--a character who wishes to learn baking might apprentice himself to a baker and earn a (plebeian) wage working and learning in the bakery. But for most skills of interest, the learner will have to pay the tutor.

In the case of Gan ad-Din, he has offered to pay Anataynus 200 dinars per month to learn the oud from him. This is suitable to Anataynus, and so the contract is easily established. But other such contracts might require rounds of negotiation--entirely up to what the character is willing to spend to win the loyalty of the would-be mentor.

Intensive Training

In anything I've learned--strumming guitar, dabbling in languages--it simply is the case that to begin to learn requires an initial extended time of intensive effort, just to get the forms straight. After this initial effort, in order to really learn, one must continue practicing, but continuing practice doesn't require the same intense focus and effort as the initial entrance to learning.

To reflect this, characters who wish to learn a new profession or skill should set aside a period of downtimes to devote to their new hobby, in order just to learn the basics. Inevitably, different skillsets will require different amounts of time--one can learn the basics of baking (probably) in a couple of weeks, whereas even to learn the fundamentals of shipwrighting will probably take many months. These will have to be worked out on an individual basis at first between referee and player-character--and then if/as other players take interest in learning new skills, a body of reference material will become available.

In Gan's case, he set aside four weeks of downtime as intensive training to learn the oud. This makes sense to me as the referee, as I remember when I was learning to finger chords on the guitar. So Gan will have to spend at least four weeks of downtime learning the basics of the oud before he can really begin to play (he's actually already been doing so--you might have heard him strumming idly along in the background over at the Kantor while Istrid was dancing to far livelier tunes up on the dance-stage). But he may have to spend more than those four weeks--for Gan needs to roll at least 4 successes, i.e. 7+ on the dice, and to keep studying until he has achieved those 4 successes--or else forfeit everything and start over from scratch. There are no "remarkable" successes here--you can't cheat practice.

In short,

1. Referee and player negotiate time of intensive training and number of requisite successes
2. Player-character spends that downtime training--and nothing else--until the requisite successes are achieved
3. Stopping at any point during intensive training resets the success "clock" to 0

Practice Makes Proficient

Having learned the basics, one must continue practicing and learning if one is to become proficient. And again, the time required for this will vary from skillset to skillset. But at least this next period of learning will be, in a way, less intensive than the first. Having learned the basic forms, one now practices putting them together into a cohesive whole, or a proficient practice ... and at some point, after enough practicing, one will simply know how to do the job--how to play a piece of music, how to bake various breads well, how to build a piece of furniture, &c., &c.

This takes time, of course, and many iterations. This is essentially the time of apprenticeship, at the end of which one is a journeyman, knowledgeable enough to journey away from the master and practice the skill on one's own.

In order to be considered proficient at a new skill, a character must both spend the minimum time practicing, AND succeed at a requisite number of downtime rolls. During this "apprenticeship", a character must also spend at least one downtime every month pursuing their new skill.

By way of example, when once Gan has spent an additional six months and succeeded in six downtime rolls (7+ and again, no remarkable successes), he will be considered proficient. He could approach this in different ways. On the one hand, he could practice intensively in the first couple months and probably earn all the successes he needs then. After that, he would just have to devote downtime to playing the oud for one week out of each of the succeeding months.

On the other hand, Gan could devote the minimum one week per month on oud-practice. If he didn't succeed every time, he would have to extend the apprenticeship past the minimum six months in order to get the requisite six successes.

At the end of this time--whichever way a character chooses to approach it--having spent their time and earned their successes, a character is considered proficient, and need no longer pay their mentor. They are now able to pursue their craft for themselves.

Continued Development

But there may be those who want to become masters of their craft--exceptional musicians, orators able to bring people to tears with their words, shipwrights whose vessels cut through wind and wave like a sword ...

Such excellence can only be achieved by continuing to hone one's craft through constant practice. At this level, a character would have to work on projects expressing their master--masterworks, as it were!--and so continued development would be a continual negotiation between player and referee, based especially on concrete examples of a character's mastery of their art.

Durham's Ringing Anvil comes to mind, given that Durham is continually producing artefacts as an engineer/architect ... or, continuing with the example of Gan ad-Din, if Gan were to compose an especial song, a ballad or epic, on the oud, that would be an example of his continuing development of his craft and a masterwork. As the scribes hear it, he is already at work on composing songs, though he is not yet even a "journeyman" musician--still, it is good to have ambition!

What's Happened in the Interim? A Downtime Update

As readers of this chronicle know, there was a gap of coverage/activity from much of January of this year to much of March of this year--and February was completely devoid of updates. At the same time, the pace of expeditions slowed markedly, even as the pace of life within the Dual-Cities likewise slowed.

There are a variety of reasons for this; mainly, the Scribes were busy with projects mandated them by the Souffets; but also, the Cities of Cothon-Gadeed have been set upon more viciously by the Kzin warlord the Red Cloud than previously expected; and not only the trouble of the Kzinti, but also some dread danger comes marching out of the ruins of Tsur al Qadim of nights (set loose, as some say, by the meddling barbarian adventurers of Cothon ...).

All of which is to say, the Scribes beg forbearance!

But as was perhaps mentioned in an earlier plea, life did not stop in Cothon-Gadeed during that time, and likewise the populace continued pursuing their own lives. Just so the barbarians! And so here is related the means by which barbarian-adventurers can set to record the works they pursued during those three months:

Any player-character who did not specifically set aside time for downtime activities during the months January, February and/or March, may avail themselves of either 1) generic downtime OR 2) special downtime for each free month.

The Scribes know in particular that Bartholomew Pettibone scheduled out his downtime pretty particularly for much of these months (or perhaps all). By way of example, let us assume he scheduled all of January and part of February. In that case, he would be free to use option (1) or (2) for March only. Having scheduled through January into February makes him ineligible for either of those months. Contrariwise, if Revna didn't schedule any downtime in the same set of months, she may elect option (1) or (2) for each of those three months.

1) Generic Downtime

Unlike the normal course of downtime, a character may spend one of the stipulated months automatically advancing a generic clock, rather than rolling. This automatic advancement applies only to specific activities, and only to a certain extent. The stricture that a player-character describe how they're advancing the clock with at least a sentence of detail still applies. The allowed activities (and maximum advancement) are noted hence:

• Non-magical research (limit 1 success)*
• Spiritual Exercises (limit negotiated with referee, according to goal)
• Martial Training (limit 3 successes)
• Alchemical Pursuits (limit negotiated with referee)
• Cultivating a Relationship (limit 3 successes)
• Magical Research (limit 1 success)*
• Professional Pursuits (limit 3 successes, only gp may be earned)--dinars according to one's skill:
  Plebeian -- earn 60 dinars (gp) per month selected
  Skilled -- earn 120 dinars per month selected
  Noble -- earn 225 dinars per month selected

2) Special Downtime

Instead of using a month for a generic downtime, a character may instead elect to have spent time involved in the "life" of the cities in that particular month.

For, though the game has been in a bit of a stall, the life of the cities has continued apace, with new developments, some noted (the Red Cloud), some hinted at (the strange goings-on in Tsur al Qadim). Characters who choose to involve themselves thus in the life of the city during any one of these months selects the month and rolls a d6 against the table below:

Special Downtimes

Month	Roll (d6)	Effect
	1-2	Hoarder – gain d6x250 dinars, -2 on reactions in Cothon for a year
January	3-5	Friend in Need – spend d6x100 dinars, +1 on reactions for a year
	6	Too Generous! – earn 1 xp per 1 gp donated; cannot increase in level
	1-2	Haunted – hair whitens, and lose 1d10 years of life
February	3-5	I will not fear – +1 on saves v. undead/fear for a year
	6	Fearless – cannot be paralyzed by undead, permanently
	1-2	Panicked – roll at -1 on reaction rolls in Cothon-Gadeed for a year
March	3-5	Held fast – AC at -1 bonus when facing Kzinti for a year
	6	Kzin-killer – +1 to hit when rolling against Kzinti, permanently

During the month of January, rumors of danger began to circulate through the Dual-Cities (and the Ten Cities' League at large). The Red Cloud and his Kzinti were at that point threatening, and though they had not yet done anything specifically, the air was thick with tension. And too, winter is on its way, long months of cold that will cause fields to lay long fallow, and supplies of grain and foodstuffs to grow thin.
Given this, characters with their "ears to the ground" may elect to have spent January preparing against the rumors of danger circulating in January, either by speculating and hoarding supplies, to be sold at profit; or by securing supplies to be donated to friends or associates. 

During the month of February, something of the true danger in Tsur al Qadim was revealed: shadows and spirits were seen to walk through the Cities at night, and Poor Brothers of the Dead who defend the Pallbearers' Way to the Necropolis reported constant skirmishes with restless corpses marching out of the Old Ruins. A terrible fear crept through the Cities, a palpable terror ...
Some stayed in their houses and apartments during this terror, but others chose to rise and meet it. Those who were unafraid, or who wished to master their fear, volunteered to assist the Poor Brothers, or to assist those who patrolled the streets at night in Cothon or Gadeed, to ward back the shadows with extra torch- and lantern-light. Even some of these could not meet their fear without blanching, and more than a few volunteers returned with whited hair and faces lined with terror and premature age.

During the month of March, the Red Cloud showed his hand. The Iqta' al Zaytun was plundered and burned, and Kzinti and their tribal human auxiliaries raided the hinterlands hither and yon. Not long ago, a band of Kzinti even attacked and burned the hillfort in the Tukayyat Hills, on the headland between Cothon and Ittiyqa!
Too late, much too late, the Souffets called for patrols to go forth from the Dual-Cities, to attempt to stave off these brazen attacks. Men-at-arms of various families and bands from the various Fighting Societies went forth, and volunteers who wished to test their mettle went with them (not a few having learned courage the month before) ...