Hamdi the Voyager

 Certain characters have recently had occasion to require more familiarity with the legendary Hamdi the Voyager, and so the Scribes now endeavor to give a short account of the man--no secret knowledge or mysteries, but the kind of legends a man on the street might remember having been told by the hearth when young, or as others might tell around the bar at the tavern.

HAMDI THE VOYAGER

Hamdi was a legendary sea-captain and leader of great expeditions of exploration to the far reaches of Dirac's Sea and beyond. Like certain other legendary—one might say mythic—voyagers, he is popularly understood to have taken seven great voyages, though legends and scant historic records do not agree so readily with this modern popular notion.

In fact, despite many efforts, scholars and poets have not been able to establish any kind of coherent single legend or history of Hamdi. Traditional stories are happy to mix elements anachronistically and with total abandon. Sometimes Hamdi is accounted a Tsurrian, sometimes a Denyan, or sometimes subservient to the early Souffets of Gadeed. There are even other tales that name him a native of Nous, or even of a northern city.

This confusion affords poets quite a bit of freedom when composing accounts of Hamdi for entertainment, but it makes it difficult to put together any kind of coherent account of his life. Some scholars even argue that there is obviously no one Hamdi, but many, separated by time but all called to the same love of the sea and of adventure. A few even maintain that “Hamdi” must be some kind of title of an especially secretive mystery cult, referencing the way certain Alkari tribes maintain a tradition of Hamdi hero-worship and insist that he will return. Other prophesies of heroic reincarnation or return can be seen in the myths of Saint Nerevar of the North, or of Samrahad Kaa of the ancient Viïs Empire.

What's more certain is that Hamdi is always said to be captain of the blue-painted galley 'Zourqa and accompanied by the golden kyni-falcon Nassr. He is always counted a friend of the Alkari, such that at least one such individual always joined his crew, and that he was romantically involved with Altayra bint Morwe, daughter of an island sorceress; and after her death, that he came into the company of another woman, of strange red-haired and blue-eyed beauty called Hanaïs. Some say that Hanaïs was magically formed for him by a powerful sorcerer-smith.

He is predominantly said to have sailed west, and both northwest and southwest along the distant coasts. Some stories also place him on the voyage into the great western ocean with Sinaboor, though some consider those tales to be spurious admixtures of separate legendaria.

NASSR

No story of Hamdi is complete without mention of his companion, the golden kyni Nassr. Though not all stories agree that Nassr is some kind of bird-ru'un, all stories agree that he is Hamdi's constant companion, and the reason for many of Hamdi's escapes from what could otherwise have been disastrous scrapes. Nassr is said to be an excellent scout, with eyes so keen he could fly miles high and then provide Hamdi with accurate estimations of coasts and reefs ahead.

Certain tales also associate Nassr with a ritual to summon up wraiths and images of the dead, as well as images of smoke provided by the dead. On the one hand, this seems morbid for a popular hero to engage in necromancy; on the other hand, such rituals are certainly well within the capability of modern magicians of power.

ALTAYRA BINT MORWE

According to legends, she was the daughter of Morwe, a magician who had hidden himself away on a secret island. Hamdi “found” the island only because the 'Zourqa was driven to its shores by a tempest, and that Hamdi and Altayra fell in love while Hamdi's crew was repairing their ship. Altayra escaped from her father's overbearing watch with Hamdi, and accompanied the Voyager on subsequent expeditions of exploration. She was later killed—it is generally agreed that this was inside the Tel al Safina—and that Hamdi grieved a long time after that.

Hamdi and Altayra departing

Much as Hamdi was accompanied by the loyal Nassr, Altayra was always accompanied by a strange familiar spirit called Imfawr. It was generally considered to be an invisible demon, like the qum'qum, and many storytellers simply describe it as one such demon caught and bound to service by the powerful Morwe. Though of inestimable use, due to both its invisibility and its strength, Imfawr was of course lost when Altayra was killed.

Imfawr

Many tales attest the friendship between Hamdi and the Alkari as originating from Altayra's own especial relationship with that avian people. Though many tales take Hamdi's friendship with the Alkari as a given, stories including Altayra almost universally acknowledge her influence on this relationship.

HANAÏS

Generally accepted as a “replacement” for Altayra, Hanaïs is treated differently according to the intent of the poet. Some regard her simply as another beauty for Hamdi to court after the tragic death of Altayra; some suppress Altayra in order to glorify the tales of Hamdi and Hanaïs; some call her a jealous rival who facilitated the events leading to the death of Altayra so that she might win Hamdi's attention to herself.

Regardless of the particulars of the timeline, many tales agree that Hanaïs was formed by magic. She is often counted as having skin enchanted to withstand the blows of swords, and to be preternaturally good at swordplay—as well, of course, as being enchantingly though foreignly beautiful, with hair of red and eyes of blue. Details differ—was she constructed by Morwe in an attempt to displace his daughter in Hamdi's affections, in a tragic bid to reel her back to his side? Some stories suggest it. Others tell that Hamdi was so distraught by the death of Altayra that his only solace was in his introduction to Hanaïs, who had been formed for him by his great friend Nguien Hua.

KIR-REIS

Sometimes considered a stock character—the Alkari chief of the season to join Hamdi's latest expedition—and sometimes written as a single recurring character, and Hamdi's trusted scout and navigator, Kir-Reis is the name generally given to the Alkari aboard Hamdi's galley 'Zourqa. He typically plays a role of adviser to the Voyager, as well as a dramatic foil when he can descend suddenly from the air on unsuspecting pirates or in other such scenes.

Regardless of the specifics of the saga, Kir-Reis is always counted an Alkari of the Denyan Islands, which is part of what grounds the Hamdi legends in the vicinity of said isles, and of Old Tsurr and early Gadeed. He is often picked up in the opening scenes of an epic, setting the stage for an exchange between himself and Hamdi to inform the listener (or reader) of the argument of the forthcoming tale.

HAMDI THE VOYAGER – A TALE

There was a certain woman who was cousin to the king of Tsurr where it lay in the shadow of the Tel al Safina, and she was heavy with child. But when the time came for her labor, the child would not come. For weeks she waited; finally, in desperation, she boarded a felucca bound for the isles of the Alkari where a great soothsayer lived, who might help her with her troubles. But she needed no soothsayer, for as soon as the felucca sailed out onto the broad waves, the child moved in her, and she was delivered of a fine son aboard ship.

She called him Hamdullilah—‘Thanks be to God!’ which is also ‘Ebxhariste’ in another tongue in which the Voyager is known—or ‘Hamdi’. This child had known, even in the womb, that those born aboard ship are destined for a life at sea, and he had heard the song of the ocean, and knew that fate must call him there.

So it was that he grew to be a fine lad who served aboard many a ship faring in the waters north of Gadeed, and when he had grown into manhood, he easily came into possession of a ship with the patronage of his royal cousin. Though he went on many trading jaunts along the near coast and to the Denyan Isles, he craved adventure and the unknown, and prayed the Lords of the Sea for a chance to prove his mettle. But when it came, it almost proved his match.

Sailing his blue galley, the Zourqa’ up into the Denyan Isles and going farther than his wont, his ship was set upon by a galley of fierce Shen Sakkra. The armored hides of the Shen, and their ability to swim across the gap to board the Zourqa’ almost allowed them to capture the ship, but before they could finish the job, a great storm welled up and drove both ships close against the islands. And a mist arose with the storm, so that none could see whither they were sped; and Hamdi’s Zourqa’ was beached on an unknown island when the storm finally cleared. What had become of the Shen, no one knows.

As the crew of the Zourqa’ assessed the damage to the ship, lookouts saw that they were being spied upon—but the spy turned out only to be a beautiful young woman. She warned them against doing any violence to her person, for fear of her invisible bodyguard Imfawr. Presenting herself to Hamdi after being discovered, she named herself Altayra and explained that this was a secret island, held invisible by the powers of her magician father Morwe—and that he would no doubt be displeased with the intrusion.

Having taken a liking to Hamdi, Altayra suggested a way to soften her father’s inevitable anger. He should first obtain a certain secret herb that Altayra knew about that would make him immune to the mental dominations of her father. He should then also set out to befriend the Alkari refugee Reis who was a friend of Altayra’s and allowed to dwell on the island’s mountain in seclusion.

When Morwe arrives at the Zourqa’ then, Hamdi should flatter him, but challenge him to a duel of wizards for the right to remain and repair his vessel. The herb will render Hamdi immune to her father’s psychical powers, while Reis holds an amulet that will allow the Alkari to banish demons, so that when Morwe summons such creatures, the Alkari can send them away again.

All played out as Altayra had foreseen, and Morwe allowed Hamdi to remain—‘For the time it takes you to make seaworthy your vessel, and not a moment longer! And be ware that you touch not nor speak to my daughter, for she is more precious to me than all the wealth of Zalkyria!’ And with that, Morwe returned to his fortress of solitude. But he did not know, or suspect, that Altayra had already spoken at length with Hamdi, and had fallen in love.

All the while that Hamdi’s crew repaired his ship, Altayra slipped away from her father’s house to spend time with Hamdi and his men; and Reis too helped with the repairs, eager to be away from the island at last. Now, Hamdi had been wary of Altayra’s growing feelings for him, afraid of angering a powerful magician. But he couldn’t deny that he too felt a growing affection for her. Therefore, when it came time to cast off, he had her hidden in the bow of the ship.

But Morwe had guessed at all this in his secret heart, and he went to see the departure of the ship, and sensed his daughter’s presence aboard the fleeing vessel. He reached out with spells of wind and lightning to call the ship back; but because his daughter was aboard, he had little heart in damaging the galley, and with every spell he flung, his daughter answered with a word of power that further broke the magic. So Hamdi escaped from the secret island of Morwe, having stolen away his daughter Altayra, and they were guided back through the belt of mists by the keen senses of Reis.

They had many other adventures after this, for the storm that had driven Hamdi to the island had also driven him far off course into waters uncharted by him or the men of Tsurr at that time. They encountered an island with a tribe of flesh-eating dzor giants; drove off an akho with extract of the tsi’il’s glands; were feasted in the halls of Mn the Ancient, hidden deep within the fire mountain of an island with strange beasts; and many other such tales.

But suffice it to say that they did eventually return to the south. And when they did return, they found the land much changed! For Tsurr had been sacked (though not yet razed) by the armies of the Kzinti, and a New City was being built by a man calling himself Souffet—but the line of kings had been wiped out. As a cousin of the old king, the Souffet saw Hamdi as a rival and feared him. He would eventually send him away on a quest for a glittering cloak, far to the west, as a pretense to see this potential rival into exile, perhaps to be killed along the way. But that is yet another tale for another day. For now, let it be said that Hamdi and Altayra lived together happily in Gadeed for a time, before setting out once more on another fantastical voyage.

Session #89: The Return of Hamdi?

[a session that occurred toward the end of September]

Durham of the Ringing Anvil was at his haunt, the Gatehouse of the Kantor, and was heard to ask about the Colossian Oracle--what really goes on there? Why is it called an oracle? He received answers that piqued his interest--that the priesthood there truly are oracles, that they can perceive across the veils of reality and answer truth to questions posed to them (though the truths may seem oblique when observed from the present).

Upon listening to suggestions of appropriate sacrifices to offer to the Oracle, Durham set out to gather a company to venture with him to the Necropolis of the Tel to engage the Oracle. Fortunately for him, Bartholomew Pettibone was also looking for a company to venture to the Necropolis, himself interested in venerating at the tombs of certain heroes he has taken especial interest in.

Thus, with a couple of other friends and preparations for both sacrifice and veneration, the company set out toward the Necropolis of the Tel and the Colossian Oracle ... 

• Durham (fighting-man 8)
  accompanied by Pako (renyu)
• Lord Althis (magic-user 5)
• Bartholomew Pettibone (magic-user 8)
  accompanied by Gan ad-Din (fighting-man 6)
• Heijo (magic-user 6)

Rumor goes through the city that something exceedingly strange must have transpired during this expedition. Bartholomew, normally a somewhat boisterous regular in the great tavern of Cothon-Under-Star, now has a new companion who follows him around--a woman of striking and singular beauty, her hair a wondrous copper-red, her eyes a strange pale blue, her skin a foreign milky white--and she calls herself Hanaïs.

Gan's girlfriend Istrid and fellow dancing-girl Clothildi are seen taking this Hanaïs through the city's souk, seeking fine dresses and robes of the current fashion. There is a strange air to the woman and her bearing--poised and graceful in all her moves. But something even stranger has come over Bart himself, whose aspect has changed. He often seems to be completely distracted, gazing off into the distance as if lost in memory; and there are times when he speaks and it seems the voice of someone else, even despite retaining the same timbre.

Well, surely whatever occurred will be shaken out or revealed at some time. In the meantime, the expedition was apparently quite fruitful--and it is said that they visited the Oracle as well, and received something of the wisdom there. Durham himself asked of how the Red Cloud, a kzin warlord threatening the Dual-Cities and all the realm around, might be defeated, and was told to, "Remember the helm of the furious star."

The Lucre

• dzor-blood, given to Durham by the priests of the Oracle✝
• an amulet in the shape of a gull, its wings spread (magic) *given to Althis
• a ring of gold and white gold twisted together, called by Bart "Ring of the Qomman Tong" (magic) *given to Heijo
• a lyre, built around a juvenile ghar shell, needs new strings (non-magic) *given to Gan ad-Din
• a cloak pin in the shape of a gilded intertwining serudla-dragon (non-magic) *given to Durham
• a cloak of fine grey thread that appears to melt away in the light, called by Bart a "Cloak of the Wealda" (magic) *given to Pako
• a collection of scrolls and codices *claimed by Bart
• an apparent hoard of treasure to be apportioned by Bart
• 4000 dinars (gp) and 4000 nufdinars (ep) divided with the party

The Learning

• 6000 xp from distributed treasure
• 1131 from 5 biridlu (60 +hp ea.)
• 1000 from the recovery of Hanaïs

The Cut

• 1000 dinars (gp) and 1000 nufdinars (ep) each to Durham, Heijo, Althis, and Gan ad-Din
• 2710 xp per player-character*
  1355 xp to Gan ad-Din
  *special--Bartholomew Pettibone gains no xp normally from this session, but rather directly receives enough xp to put him at level 9
• dzor blood (Durham)✝
• the gifts (detailed above)
• a collection of writings (Bart)
• additional treasure that needs to be inventoried**

**when inventoried, any sales or distributions will be noted in a further post along with further awards of experience and lucre

✝ EDIT 1/7/23 -- forgot to include this originally, but Durham did indeed collect some dzor blood from the Colossian Oracle, which has since been used to good effect

The Hamdi Codex in Full

(tagged as a "map" because as a periplus the Hamdi Codex is a kind of "literary map", an account of [literally] "a sailing around" which can be used by a navigator to successfully follow in the wake of the voyage described ...)

After much research, many callouses to pen-hands, and much candle-wax spilt, this codex, purportedly written by the legendary hero Hamdi the Voyager himself in some kind of cypher, has finally been translated in full by the antiquarian team of Razo the Researcher and Hry Haya Yehat (an Alkari).

A periplus following a western voyage from Cothon (? or another great harbor on the southern shore of Dirac's Sea?), the account includes many mildly interesting navigational details, broken up by quite interesting "adventures" had by Hamdi and/or his crew. There are six such "adventures", the first three of which have been previously translated:

1) the island Dar Breni and the hidden fortress Haut of the Bren Grewind. Grewind was purported to be a kind of sorceress pirate-queen with a device to hide her mind from the sorcerers who hunted her.

2) the island of the Sakkan Kukun (under the subtitle Razo), central island of a line of sea-kings (the Sakkans). This main island held the sacred mountain-temple Bey Kor, where the gods were said to dwell, alight with a weird orange glow. Great medicine-men would bathe in the to cleanse themselves, and die shortly afterward leading lives of strict asceticism ...

3) the island of the wizard-lord Morwe and his daughter Altayra and their qumqum servitor Imfawr (the Eye of Morwe). A tempest almost wrecked Hamdi's galley Zourqa' there, and much adventure followed, including a descent into "Forbidden Caverns" with strange ru'un (there is some, *ahem* disagreement by the translators as to how metaphorical this may be), followed by Altayra's escape from her tyrannical father by joining Hamdi on his subsequent Voyages ...

The remaining three "adventures" have been puzzled out by Razo and Hry Haya after much consternation; alas, some of the final pages are damaged, and the language toward the end grows more complex as it describes ever stranger things. It is clear, too, that it breaks off in the middle of things--surely there is another codex to be found? Perhaps somewhere near this first was discovered?

4) a strange pinnacle, standing like a spire out of the middle of an unquiet sea. Strange mists lay upon the water far out in the middle of the sea, "... but I feared to seek them, because they were far out of sight of any land but this strange pillar, and to sail so far thus is to invite Death into your crew."
Nevertheless, anchors were dropped near the pinnacle, and a preliminary exploration was made of it with the ship's boat. They were wary, as the place seemed perfect for sro, and yet something worse seemed to dwell within; for there were old caves wending down into the heart of the rock-pillar, but the air in them smelt of death; and though many gemstones gleamed in the dark glass walls, something else moved in those caves, and at least one crewmen was lost to the unknown creature's depredations. Many teeth of dindin (large carnivorous fish) were found throughout, and rumors of dindin-wraiths were fashionable for weeks after we weighed anchor from that place.

5) off the coast of ancient Viisymel, where the Sakkra once held sway, there is an island temple-fortress. Going quickly through those waters (because the threat of the Yrojen hunter-Sakkra still haunted then), Hamdi and his crew nevertheless sailed near the temple-fortress. From local humans they gathered tales of ritual-sacrifice--of tribes required to give up their seven healthiest youths and maidens every year to be sent to the island labyrinth, there to face either a terrible serudla-like dragon, or to face the Yrogen-hunters in their prime.
But the galley Zourqa' could not come near enough the edifice of this terrible island-temple, as its corners were mounted by dreadful ballistae that hurled thunderbolts at anything that approached too close upon the waves--or anything that moved upon the blasted black stones of the shore underneath the temple's blooded steps!
And so Hamdi moved on without investigating the stepped-temples that rose like mountains upon the island's heights ...

6) far out at the edge of old Viisymel, a temple-city stands in the tide, washed by the eternally turning waters of Ocean. Legends differ as to its construction--carved out of a solid headland? built by successive moles and piles? or did the Demons themselves pluck the stuff out of the Broken Moon above and place it directly into the sea??
Yet more interesting than the sea-washed temple-city is the moon that hangs above it--the "Broken Moon", a curious kind of "mountain in the sky" much unlike the Fortress Moon's great circular shape ... and too, the Broken Moon never wavers from its place above the Sunken City, as the place was sometimes called (even then), unlike the Fortress Moon which orbits regularly over the face of the world ...
Local legends recorded by Hamdi of course describe contradictory reports: the Demons dwell there, just as they do in the Fortress Moon, causing madness as they will; or the Giants (or reptilian Naga-Sakkra) who built the city, watching over it even now; or one of the great sri-Kaas of the Viis was raised there by his heroes to sleep without dying, ready to return when Viisymel fades (or, Viisymel being long faded, a Yrogen hunter-leader, with the same mythic import of a sleeping-king)

Given a fine ship, a good navigator, an accurately recorded account, and the will to seek, these "places of adventure" would all be accessible "adventures" for a player to take up. None are close to Cothon, of course, and so a great deal of time would be spent seeking them out; yet no doubt such locales are just the sort of high danger/high reward kind of places that barbarian-adventurers thrive in!

Power in Knowledge ...

Oathring of the Wreccae

One of the items returned from the seabed during the hunt for the Denyan akho was a great silver arm-ring, generally in the possession of Ravna of the Survivors of the Tel. Having identified something of the strange philters retrieved during the same expedition, she turned her attentions to research the ring. First, with the help of Torkol and Gan, inscriptions around the ring were identified as a series of solemn oaths in an old northern tongue, but imbued with a power to bend the will's of men. Armed with this knowledge, Ravna was then able to roust up some old legends of the north from the sailors frequenting the harbor-side taverns. To wit:

One of the grimmer and more famous of the oath-ring cycles involves Scarred-Wala, whose single-minded quest ultimately led to the doom of himself and all his companions. The tales of his early heroism are many--a warrior who inspired awe and respect, and could have been a great king of the Solamnite tribes he walked amongst. But a twist of fate on one of his voyages brought him to a glimpse of the Greyjewel, a weirdstone so wondrous as said to contain a psychic impression of Magician himself.

Knowing he must have it, Wala returned to his tribes and worked in secret to forge an oath-ring of power; and when it was finished, he had six of his finest companions swear great oaths on it, and so bent their minds to his will, and with them as captains, he gathered a great host of Solamnite sea-reivers (wreccae in that tongue) to fall on the great city Sark-on-Solwe, where the Greyjewel was then purported to be, on the famous Street of Gems.

A bloodbath ensued as the city was put to sword and fire, but the Greyjewel was nowhere to be found. Thus began Wala's long doom-quest in seek of it, chasing after every scrap of rumor, squandering the lives of his friends and boon companions until, as it is said, he died alone, crushed by the falling timbers of his rotting ship as dwelt under it on a beach.

But the ring had passed out of the story before then, along with all his companions; and word is that such an one had recently resurfaced somewhere in the East. It certainly could have been on one of the vessels embraced by the Denyan akho, perhaps carried by another would-be hero who perished to the sea ...

------

The Eye of Morwe and the Hamdi Codex
A Happy Coincidence

Two separate research projects came together in an unexpected way as Razo's continued work deciphering the periplus of the ancient Voyager (with the help of Hry-Haya Yehat, of course) suddenly helped shed some light on the strange eye-like orb that Gan was experimenting with, attempting to divine its purpose.

Though the current section is incompletely deciphered (Razo rolled a shaky 8 for research), its description involves Hamdi and his crew befouled by a tempest and run aground on the island of the strange wizard Morwe where he dwelt with his daughter Altayra and their servant Imfawr. A reference to the salvation of one of Hamdi's crewmen, drowned in the storm but returned to life mystically by Altayra's use of "her father's eye" might have gone by unremarked, as a part of an already fantastical story, except that Hry-Haya indicated a tradition among his own people that Altayra had come with Hamdi on the return-voyage, carrying copies of her father's spellbooks, and that she had ventured with an Alkari companion (whose life she had also saved) into the Tel al Safina, and there battled ancient fungal horrors, amongst other adventures.

At talk over wine in the common room later, Gan hears this and suddenly leaps up to go and retrieve the orb--excited by the sudden possibility lit in his mind. He calls for Althalos to go and slaughter a djeja-bird for him, and to bring it hence, and when the bird's body is brought in, its throat slit skillfully by the innkeeper (somewhat perturbed to be slaughtering an egg-laying bird for nothing!), Gan stands over the body, points the orb's iris at it, and presses the stud--and the bird leaps up in a flurry of feathers, cackling mad to be surrounded by people!

The episode is the talk of Cothon-Under-Star for the rest of the week, and certainly makes the rounds to the other taverns that same night ...

------

Bartholomew and Ilasha

It has been just over a week since a group of merchant vessels came in from the east, escorted by Hanseatic ships, with word about the campaign against the pirates among their other wares. One of their number was Captain Ilasha, whose ship carried alongside its break-bulk goods a smaller selection of wares the captain intended to sell separately for her private enrichment.

Among those items was a scroll case and scroll, purported by the captain to be of magical origin, and which immediately caught the eye of Bartholomew Pettibone, newest member of the now-public Survivors of the Tel. Immediately evincing interest, Bartholomew ultimately purchased the scroll from her on the promise of it being arcane, and invited her to supper and ale at the tavern, if she would regale him with just how she came into possession of it.

She agreed, and later that evening the two were seen supping together at Cothon-Under-Star. This is the tale she told, in short:

"Well, Bar-tolmai, know that in my country, which lies to the east, is a river, al Nahr al Tur. It bends around an ancient motte within which lies a mysterious and dangerous underworld, much as I understand the Tel al Safina here to be. That mound--we call it Beit al Nadhir, House of the Doom, and there are riches in its depths, but also ru'un and other such dangers.

"Bayn the White, Karagoth, al عador, and Chhrr Poliorketes are just a few of the names of those who delved seeking glory, and never returned.

"Even I have set foot across that threshold of darkness, as you do now in that Tel. I ... found that my mettle was not equal to the strangenesses within. Better for me the open air, the swell of the sea, and the taste of salt on the air--with the sun shining. I do not envy the dead their place in the dust.

"As to the scroll--as I said, I have worked with wizards before, and I think I can recognize something of their work. I dis-covered it within the Beit--whoever carried it in was not so lucky to carry it out--and though I know not the magic, I know it is of some value!"

... Several days later, convening with his associates before a further adventure, a read magic spell was cast over the scroll, and it was found to hold the formulae for three spells, of strange and intricate nature: seeing other planes, locate gold and gems, and withering.

------

Shining Avin's Sword

Having deciphered the strange script on one of the two eye-like spheres recovered from the seabed on the hunt for the akho, Avin of the Survivors set about attempting to divine its use. Fortuitously, the inscribed verse suggested something about "shining weapons" and so Avin aimed the "iris" of the orb at her sword and pressed the stud opposite. Nothing seemed to change, and frustrated, she set the orb aside and went about other business.

But later, when drawing her sword for a bit of practice to keep in form, it seemed to Avin that the blade "cut" through the air cleaner than it ever had, and fairly sang in her hand as she went through her practice cuts. And indeed, thumbing the edge, the already keen blade seemed somehow finer, though she had not put it to a whetstone for some time.

It seems the orb has somehow caused Avin's sword to strike at +1 to hit! (but not to damage)

Armed with this knowledge, and the fact that the orbs were found as a pair and on the Peregrine Kyni treasure galley, sunk as it came from the east, Avin is able to roust up possibly helpful rumors concerning their identity. There was word that a pair of Eyes were included in the tribute sent from one of the lesser cities to the east, one of those protected by the Decapolis; in the mountains near that city stands a ziggurat or temple said to have once contained a kind of "gate" to the Fortress Moon, and that the pair of Eyes were recovered by a sortie there, and that the use of one made weapons majestic, while the other made men mad. ...

Research & Investigations (2/2)

 The Disappearance of Teucer Ultho

Seeking rumors of further strange items and artefacts such as the Survivors of the Tel and others of the new adventuring-class have discovered in the Tel and its surroundings, Gan the physician despaired of hearing anything more credible than that the Old Pale Worm in the Weirding Caves was hoarding such wonders as the panoply of Stephen the Rock, or the dreaded Norrock-Kai.

Then finally, fortune: Althalos, the human barkeep of the common room Under-Star, hearing of Gan's inquiries (and aware of Gan's friendship with Torkol, whom Althalos holds in high regard), mentions an old account he'd heard, reported by a torchbearer who was the only survivor on a bad expedition into the Weirding Caves. With the further help of the librarian Kenawi, Gan is able to locate a written report of this account by the torchbearer Kalb of the disappearance of Teucer Ultho.

Why should this interest Gan? Teucer, a former alchemist-apprentice Under-Star was known to carry a strange weapon, a kind of cylindrical hilts from one end of which could be projected a beam of light, to be used either as a weapon or as a source of light. Where he had discovered it he would not tell, but he wore it proudly, as one might wear a sword, and trusted in it--perhaps too much!

Kalb's account is sketchy at best--given by a torchbearing slave who had just witnessed the destruction of a party of hired men-at-arms led by his own master--but there are enough details that one might be able to discover the site of the disaster for oneself. Perhaps the hilts might even remain ...

According to Kalb, Teucer led the party into the caves intending to rediscover a rich bed of certain alchemically and psychically useful fungi that grow prolifically in the presence of frollock colonies. But when they found the colony, and had begun to gather the fungus, Teucer glimpsed something intriguing at the back of the cavern--a crack that opened into a narrow passage that led to unknowns beyond. Apparently unable to resist the adventurous call, Teucer summoned his men to explore the passage; but their way was blocked by a growth of organic material and twisted reaching fronds. It seemed to react to the party's approach, and Teucer stabbed into it with his light-beam--and the thing began to glow, and then suddenly reacted by blasting Teucer and his men-at-arms with something like a stroke of lightning! Only Kalb survived ...

The Hamdi Codex

Razo, meanwhile, was engaged in attempting to break the cypher of the codex recovered on a recent expedition to certain caves further north along the headlands than Ocean's Throat. Assisted by the Alkari Hry-Haya Yehat, whose single-minded interest helped focus the deciphering-effort, the first elements of the cypher soon yielded, and after a week the pair were able to ascertain much of the first section of the codex.

It quickly became clear that the codex was a kind of periplus, an account of "sailing around" with its starting place near to Cothon, and further entries describing places farther and farther away from Cothon as the text continues. Razo and Hry-Haya feel that they are able to identify six major entries--more interesting locations, presumably?--connected by linking-sections describing perhaps the distances and directions sailed.

Though the fulness of the text remains occluded behind its cypher, the pair of researchers are confident that the initial entry has yielded up its secrets to them. Briefly:

After a list of coastal and geographical features by which to navigate west from Cothon, Hamdi the Voyager, at the helm of his blue-painted galley Zourqa' , came upon the island Dar Breni within which was secreted the hidden fortress Haut of the warrior-sorceress Bren Grewind. A kind of pirate queen who had gone reaving all through the northern seas, ultimately Grewind had fled south and established a new stronghold within the island, hiding her fastness behind veils of enchantment. But Hamdi was able to penetrate the veil, and being an amorous adventurer, he was feted for some time by the Bren (a foreign title claimed by the lovely Grewind) and feasted, and wondered by the great stores of riches Grewind and her followers had acquired on their own adventures. One item of particular note to Hamdi was the device that Grewind claimed allowed her to hide and to shield her mind from the probes and far-castings of other sorcerers--and by its use was she secure against those who would hunt her ...

Mormaera Yrasi, Sorceress of the Azure Veil

Interested in the possibility of expanding his repertoire of arcane skills and knowledge, Bartholomew Pettibone asked around the local taverns about the masters of sorcerous traditions local to the Dual-Cities. Several names were offered, chiefly Rjak of the Grey Hand, or Zaynab the Enchantress, but the one who stood out as perhaps more accessible to him at the moment was that of Mormaera Yrasi, an enchantress somewhat associated with the Hanse and the Kantor Kabljauhof, though she maintains a household in Cothon rather separate from the Kantor.

There she maintains a minor court as if she is some kind of princess or sultana, feasting her friends and sycophants in symposia where conversations fly from the heights of philosophical discourse, to courtly poetry of love or romance, to mere witty banter--all while masked, for the Mormaera herself never reveals her face, but keeps it hidden behind a veil of azure silk, while she commands that all in her presence also wear masques or veils.

A number of individuals at the Kantor have attended these symposia, including Stahlkor of Reywind, the captain of mercenaries employed to defend the Kantor.

Undoubtedly, the Mormaera possesses a great library of arcane knowledge, though she is also undoubtedly jealous of her secrets. Nevertheless, she is known sometimes to take on an apprentice, or even allow one who has piqued her interest the favor of perusing her libraries.

 It is understood that the quickest way to catch her attention, were one to secure an invitation into her "court", would be to spend lavishly on a unique mask or cowl, and work it thematically into an entire costume. Though once her attention is caught by the mask, one must prove to her that the person behind the mask is all the more interesting ...