Princess Farhat alUbasste of the Medina alTaht

 Some time ago adventurers set out on a quest from Princess Farhat in search of some Canopic jars. At the conclusion of that they spent some time researching these strange objects, before ultimately deciding to turn several in for the rewards. In particular one Najm ibm Marwan sought to cultivate a relationship with the princess of the Under City. And so it is that this custom relationship track is presented for those interested in what Princess Farhat, and her unknown patron might have to offer.

But first, some information about the princess, and some rumor mill about the goings on in alTaht (as some call the Undercity, for short). Months ago, when the original call to adventure was sent Princess Farhat was quite concerned about the encroaching bandits, undead, and Kzin. Since the party turned in their findings and collected their reward no small amount of rumor has circulated regarding the Medina alTaht. 

Most notably is that the Medina alTaht (or, as Princess Farhat and her followers have begun calling it, Cali'quwa) has, for perhaps the first time in more than an age, a largely unified organization. The central space (where Sesel had his wedding party) has been occupied and cleaned up into a sort of Great House court space which Princess Farhat now uses to hold court. While the very nature of the Medina alTaht prevents any kind of total dominion of the space, incidents of banditry and incursion into the city from below have all but ceased. Major corridors are patrolled by the Muharibun 'adnah, the guard force of Princess Farhat’s domain, the tell tale kchunk-kchunk of their armor marching through the stone halls creating a sense of dread for those that would threaten Cali'quwa. Those who have no relationship with Farhat are finding it increasingly difficult to move about unbothered in the Medina alTaht.

Along those same lines, perhaps somewhat obviously, is that the ranks of Princess Farhat’s "banu" have swelled, with nearly anyone welcome in their ranks and the promise of strength and vitality to those who excel. But the princess isn’t unreasonable. In fact, to waylay concerns she sent envoys to the Souffets. While the discussions and content of what might have been communicated are not made public, occasionally a member of the Muharibun 'adnah, in their distinctive silvery armor can be seen amongst the guards of Cothon.

(Scribes note for those familiar with the armor, similar to that previously found in the Facility, the warriors are not seen with the headpiece up, at least not in Cothon)

The Relationship Track

Those who may wish to cultivate a relationship with the one who commands Cali'quwa will need to prove themselves worthy of the princess’ attention, for she has many things to be about. So something more involved than the normal relationship-cultivation rules must be built.

Tick 1 - Visitor to Cali'quwa

(Already achieved for all those involved in delivering the canopic jars)

You have proven yourself able to move about the Medina alTaht without supervision, and so are granted leave to do so at your leisure.

Requirement: To attempt to initiate a relationship with Princess Farhat one must first perform some deed such as exploring a new location, recovering items for Princess Farhat, or other similar activity in the Medina alTaht. This is frequently requested by the princess as a general call to adventure, but she will also accept petitioners to explain how they have accomplished some deed that benefits her domain.

Tick 2 - Courtier of Cali'quwa

(Najm, having spent previous downtimes to build a relationship is already at this level)

You have been in somewhat regular attendance to Princess Farhat’s court, becoming known in Cali'quwa as a person who can be relied upon.

Requirement: To roll for this level you must spend one downtime out of each of three months visiting Princess Farhat, attending her court. After the third attendance you may begin rolling to attempt to advance the relationship by spending a further downtime at court.

• Princess Farhat knows you by name and is more likely to reach out with opportunities for adventure to you directly

• You have an open invitation to the inner camp and can enter at any time

Tick 3 - Investigator of Cali'quwa

You have spent significant time in Cali'quwa, and have proved to be well capable of discovering the secrets hidden deep within.

Requirement: To roll for this level you must explore the Medina alTaht and return to Princess Farhat with some unknown, valuable information or treasure, unprompted. It is not enough that you are sent on a quest, but that you seek and discover for yourself.

• Princess Farhat is willing to share with you information, on a limited basis, from her patron; those who have not yet reached this level can only speculate what that information might include, as Farhat is quite secretive about this patron

• Farhat is also willing to share information relating to their explorations of the Medina alTaht, and locations that might be of especial interest to adventurers

Tick 4 - Defender of Cali'quwa

You have proven to defend Cali'quwa and it’s denizens. Those in Cali'quwa, not just Farhat, know your name and face and (assuming they aren’t actively opposed to you) are likely to give you deference.

Requirement: To roll for this level you must perform some defensive act for Cali'quwa or its denizens. This could be as simple as clearing out a nest of bandits, or as complex as protecting some right in the courts of Cothon-Gadeed. Each petition is a case-by-case basis.

• You are given a personal token of Princess Farhat, some jewelry to show your station

• The princess is much more free with information requested from her patron, though the greatest secrets are still guarded

• Princess Farhat knows certain techniques, though the nature of those techniques are only learned upon reaching this level of relationship, and she can be petitioned to act as a teacher for these special techniques

• Those forces interested in wresting control of the Medina alTaht from Princess Farhat may take a special interest in you

Tick 5 - A lord/lady of Cali'quwa

You are a trusted confidant of Princess Farhat, and she has awarded you some domain of Cali'quwa as a result.

Requirement: Based upon information received from questions to the patron of Princess Farhat, your trustworthiness will be determined. Likewise, one must attend the court of the Princess once per month for six months. After the sixth month this step can be rolled once per month, assuming Farhat trusts you (a conversation with the DM to determine this fact).

• You can learn the deepest secrets of Princess Farhat’s patron

• You receive a modest dominion in Cali'quwa for which you are responsible

• You may requisition a small number of soldiers to help patrol your domain

• You are otherwise responsible for maintaining, defending, and improving your section of the great Under City

Complications (d8)

1. You have taken a misstep in some manner that has upset either Princess Farhat or her patron, or both. Your relationship decreases by 1 tick and cannot be advanced until you make amends.

2. You have been selected for some odd, specific mission. May that be anything from coordinating with representatives of the Dual Cities, clearing out some den of thieves in the Medina alTaht, or even simply delivering items, the task must be completed within a reasonable timeframe or suffer the loss of 1 tick of relationship.

3. The Princess’ patron is disappointed in your behavior. You must spend 1d3+1 downtimes taking lessons from her aids on how to behave in the presence of Princess Farhat.

4. A third party of the Dual Cities (or surrounding denizens) has decided you are a perfect opportunity to gain insight into the inner goings on in Cali'quwa. They will likely black mail, bribe, or otherwise coerce you to do as they require.

5. Your actions have upset several members of the Muharibun 'adnah. When interacting with them you are at -1 to reaction rolls, and even if you previously had free passage (or the right to use their forces) they are likely to harass you instead (anything less than a 9 reaction). This will continue for the next six months, unless reparations are made.

6. You are requested, through anonymous messenger, to take part in a secret ritual. You are sworn to secrecy, with little to no information about what might take place in the ritual. If you do not attend you move down 2 ticks, and cannot advance beyond tick 3 without significant proof that you can be trusted.

7. Members of the courts above take notice of your actions. Roll 1d6. On a 1-3 they are upset at your attentions to Cali'quwa, and you are at a -1 to improve relationships with the great houses of Gadeed for the next 6 months. On a 4-6 a representative of a great house begins bothering you with a request that absolutely must be taken to Princess Farhat, but none of the members of the house could stoop so low as to go themselves. They will continue to bother you until it is resolved.

8. Reroll on the table above, or some other circumstance has arisen in which the Referee will take a personal hand to develop.

Sylvanie Toussaint of the Conférencière

 [written up by Max for the scholar NPC he introduced to the milieu--thanks Max! Any purchases made by characters (in the comments or on Discord) must be annotated with a week-ending (Saturday) so that per-week, &c. items can be properly tracked; "purchases" without a week-ending will be considered invalid. ~the Scribes]

A foreign sorceress woman with hair of gold, fair skin, and blue eyes. Sylvaine claims to hail from a land not of this world, but of one called Terre. Her blue robes and white sash mark her a member of the Conférencière. She professes her order to be seekers and record keepers of knowledge. Sylvaine herself has a particular interest in knowledge of restless dead and of creatures she calls ‘Suceurdesang’, or in the local tongue a drinker of blood.

Sylvaine can often be found maintaining a small shop in Gadeed. Selling medicines, potions, and other tools for fighting the restless dead while also buying books or other information related to her interests.

Magic-users and others seeking knowledge should be able to cultivate a relationship with Sylvaine. When rolling to advance the relationship, complications must be rolled for on a dice result of 6-9.

Tick 1 - Inconnue

At this level, Sylvaine will offer any common knowledge she knows and will sell the below items:

Item	Cost	Availability
Medicine, Common	3s	25 available per week
Medicine, Uncommon	1g	10 available per week
Holy Water	20g	4 available per day
Antitoxin	40g	10 available per week

Sylvaine may refuse selling her whole stock to those who buy her out too often, citing others may need what she has to offer. Sylvaine will buy the following items without you having to spend a downtime to find a buyer:

• Books, scrolls, etc.

• Spellbooks

• Spell Scrolls

• Magic items

• Anything relating to the restless dead

Items sold to her in this fashion may end up for resale in her shop.

Tick 2 - Connaissance

At this level, Sylvaine considers you an acquaintance and will offer any uncommon knowledge she has for sale and sell the below items:

Item	Cost	Availability
Scroll, Cure Light Wounds	50g	1 available per two weeks
Scroll, Light	50g	1 available per two weeks
Scroll, Mage Armor	100g	1 available per two weeks
Scroll, Shield	100g	1 available per two weeks
Scroll, Invisibility	200g	1 available per two weeks
Scroll, Bless	150g	1 available per two weeks
Scroll, Dispel Magic	300g	1 available per month
Scroll, Daylight	250g	1 available per month
Scroll, Remove Curse	200g	1 available per month

In addition she is willing to help with research involving books, scrolls, other written forms of knowledge, the restless dead, magic items, and curses. This includes assisting in translating texts from one language to another. She is also willing to be hired for a negotiable amount to adventure as a hireling.

Tick 3 - Ami / Amie

At this level Sylvaine considers you a friend and will offer her knowledge free of charge and offer a 10% discount on items she has for sale. She offers to teach the following spells:

1. Cure Light Wounds, Light, Mage Armor, Shield

2. Bless, Continual Light, Invisibility

3. Dispel Magic, Daylight, Remove Curse

You may ask Sylvaine for favors, though they may come at some cost. Sylvaine also now offers her ability to create custom magic items. She may also mention you are a good fit to join her order, the Conférencière.

Requirement: To roll to this level, you must have demonstrated interest in knowledge, record keeping, or otherwise impressed Sylvaine in some manner. This can be done by donating large amounts of books or scrolls to Sylvaine, detailed knowledge on the restless dead, or other negotiable means.

Tick 4 - Nouveau Venu

At this level Sylvaine offers to train you to join her order, the Conférencière. Sylvaine trusts you and is able to offer her secret knowledge and spell list for training.

Requirement: To roll to this level, you must have shown interest in joining Sylvaine’s order, the Conférencière. Further requirements are dependent on your past interactions with Sylvaine.

Tick 5 - Conférencière

At this level you become a member of the Conférencière and all that entails. The details of how to advance to this level are secret. Those who are at “Tick 4” may request information about this next level from the referee, and pursue it as they desire.

Complications in befriending Sylvaine (d8)

1. You have offended Sylvaines order in some fashion. Your relationship decreases by one tick and cannot be advanced until you make amends.

2. Sylvaine is unavailable. Either she’s off assisting others, has her nose buried in a book, or is creating an item. You may not advance your relationship with her during this downtime.

3. A religious sect has noticed your dealings with Sylvaine and in their eyes, heretical teachings. You now have a rival, who takes every opportunity to make your life hell.

4. Sylvaine has given you a special task that must be completed before you may advance a relationship tick.

5. Sylvaine has been treating a sick, diseased, or cursed patient and now you’ve got it! Roll on the chart below:

   1. Sickness: You’ve caught a cold and roll with a -1 on all rolls until it is resolved, typically with 1 week's rest.

   2. Diseased: You’ve picked up some disease. The effects of the disease vary and are up to the Referee's decision. The disease can be removed by spending two weeks in Sylvaine or some other doctor’s care.

   3. Cursed: Some curse Sylvaine was working with is now moved to you. The effects of the curse vary and are up to the Referee’s decision. This curse may or may not be removable with the Remove Curse spell.

6. Sylvaine is low on the supplies needed to run her shop and sends you to buy them. Spend 500g resupplying her shop.

7. You have caught the eye of some restless dead assassin, which may appear at any point during your downtimes or adventures to claim your life.

8. Roll again on the table above, unless the Referee takes a personal hand in developing some other complication.

The Moon Maid

 As mentioned (and forgotten by the referee) long ago under the section "Lady Khadra Qamari -- A Patroness", the eponymous lady could be approached as more than merely a patroness willing to buy gems and jewelry, artefacts from the Tel al Safina, and especially anything relating to the Fortress Moon--she could also be courted as someone of interest with whom one might cultivate a relationship. Given that I've been having fun writing other examples up, I thought I'd follow up here as well.

Lady Khadra al Qamariya

An eccentric woman of Cothon, presenting herself as a noblewoman, though not a citizen of Gadeed, and curiously dwelling in a tower that had been built by the Xolda Klackons but abandoned, or perhaps sold some time past and ultimately come into her hands. Her servants go about liveried in green and silver, with sheer green veils of silk, while she is a woman of a beauty as eccentric as herself, with blue-black hair, a pale round face, and eyes of shining smaragdine green.

Her tower-home is a kind of wunderkammern, filled with curios and artefacts of stupefying variety. Many seem merely decorative--if that!--and few have any obvious use. Whispers swirl around her that she is a demon-worshipper, no little reason being her epithet ("the moon-woman"), though better-attested rumors suggest that she worships foreign entities, be they hero, saint, or demon. She is clearly no native of the Ten Cities, and yet also quite clearly interested in the kind of artefacts that might be retrieved out of the depths of places such as the Tel al Safina.

The Lady Khadra is tight-lipped about her origins, but is quite happy to engage in local gossip relevant in Cothon-Gadeed in particular, or the Ten Cities in general, as well as happy to speculate about all manner of theories concerning the Tel and the Fortress Moon and things "beyond". She seems skeptical of the "received tradition" about much of myth and history, though she always stops well short of outright heterodoxy. She even believes that "the Wanderers" (stars that seem comparatively fixed, but are known to "wander" the night sky night after night) are other inhabited worlds!

Cultivating a relationship with her shouldn't be difficult for anyone interested in similar topics--which certainly seem like the kind of the especial interests of other barbarians of a more adventurous bent. When rolling to advance the relationship, complications must be rolled for on a dice result of 6-9.

Tick 1 - Purveyor of Curios

(Revna has already achieved this level of relationship, though seems to be generally inactive at this time)

• You have access to Lady Khadra as a patron willing to buy certain items without your having to spend downtime finding a buyer, specifically:
  - gems and jewelry in general
  - artefacts from the Tel al Safina or other location, even if seemingly useless
  - anything related to the Fortress Moon

Requirement: In order to roll for this first level of acquaintance, one must present for sale (or gift) an interesting artefact taken out of the Tel al Safina or other similar place. It need not be especially useful, as Lady Khadra is fond of commenting on the strange items of the Ancients taken out of such places that she has in her collection.

Tick 2 - Fellow Enthusiast

At this level, one is an actual acquaintance of Lady Khadra as a person; she has recognized a mutual interest in the strange artefacts of the Ancients, and perhaps in curiosity about the Fortress Moon and legends thereof.

• Lady Khadra will help with research into strange and unknown artefacts, though she will still expect some remuneration for such aid
• You may ask Lady Khadra about the curios in her wunderkammern and about her interests, and you may well learn something interesting

Tick 3 - Intimates

Because of your mutual interest in the Fortress Moon and "beyond", Khadra has opened up to you in particular. You are free to call on her socially, and she is happy to speak at length with you on what she knows and what she suspects. She expects you to be discrete with this information, of course.

• Khadra will share information with you, esp. about the Fortress Moon, that is little known or perhaps secret
• You may ask favors of Khadra other than help in researching strange artefacts, though favors may come at a cost
• Khadra may reveal rumors of an adventure location that she has heard about, but not been able to seek out herself

Requirement: To roll to advance to this level, you must be able to provide Lady Khadra with some especial piece of information pertaining to the Fortress Moon (and which is not hearsay), or some artefact that is definitely connected to it or to the skies "beyond".

Tick 4 - Co-Conspirators

Having long shared interest in the Fortress Moon and "beyond", and having shown yourself to be a discrete friend who isn't going to blather all her secrets to the world, Khadra is now willing to let you into the inner shrine of her tower. The contents are secret, of course--you'd have to reach this level of acquaintance with the lady to know what lies within.

• Khadra will open up with you about certain secrets she has access to
• You may ask a major favor of Khadra, though it may come at a cost
  - in particular, you may ask to borrow artefacts from her wunderkammern, which no doubt include certain eyes
• Khadra will support (financially and otherwise) expeditions seeking hidden sites she is aware of

Requirement: To roll to advance to this level, you must have been told one of Khadra's secrets and kept it in confidence for at least three months. You must also have pursued at least one of the "leads" that Khadra has suggested, and reported back to her with information and/or artefacts from that expedition.

Tick 5 - Moonies

There is a level of relationship possible to cultivate beyond the fourth, but the how and what of it are as secretive as the Lady herself. Those who are at "Tick 4" may request information about this next level from the referee, and pursue it as they desire.

Complications in Pursuing a Mooncalf (d8)

1. Your association with Lady Khadra has been noted publicly, and rumors begin to swirl, speculating that you have swallowed her heterodox opinions whole. Religious conservatives take affront at this; you are not welcome at the Confraternity of 'Issa or certain other associations, and you must spend an extra 1d6 x 100 dinars when spending money to take part in any religious festival for the next six months (including, e.g. the Tripartite Games)
2. Some presence in the Lady's tower was deeply unsettling, though secret or hidden. Save v. paralysis against these "heebie-jeebies" or fight at -1 to hit, damage, and saves on your next adventure.
3. Learn one of Lady Khadra's secrets. Do with it what you will, remembering that it will influence ability to cultivate the relationship further.
4. Lady Khadra has heard of a specific artefact or site in connection with her obsession with the Fortress Moon. She asks that you look into it. You must follow up on this "lead" to advance the relationship any further, including if this roll was technically a "success"
5. Someone of power or influence who has an interest in Lady Khadra sees your increasing esteem with her, and gamble that you are their means of learning more. They may bribe or blackmail you for information, or try to use you for a formal introduction, &c.
6. Something has followed you out of Lady Khadra's tower. The Referee will develop what this means.
7. An item has gone missing from Lady Khadra's wunderkammern. She (probably) doesn't suspect you, instead asking that you help her find out where it has gone/who has taken it.
8. Roll again on this table, unless the Referee develops some diabolical complication for you to handle ...