Joined: Jan 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 309 Location: The Mighty City of Jakalla Karma: 5
[Adventure #1 - Making Money] « Thread Started on Mar 5, 2009, 12:12pm »
At the Palace of Ever-Glorious War in Jakalla
You have the feeling this might be the day...
For over a week someone of the group has been spending a large portion of the day at the Palace of Ever-Glorious War hoping to be hired for some nice paying job by a Tsolyani or at least an affluent denizen of the foreign quarter.
Prospective employers have indeed come into the halls of the palace, which is build more like a fortress than anything else, seeking muscle for whatever secret designs they hold. A few of you approached one of these on different occasions and extolled the virtues of your band. but so far the discerning customers have chosen to hire another party rather than your heterogeneous group.
It has become a familiar routine. There are cheap mats set in the corners of the great hall where the mercenaries may sit and wait for hours if need be. In the center stands the circular elevated Dias where the scribes and bureaucrats work, or doze during the long, hot afternoons of this summer.
Runners and messengers, mostly young boys from very low clans or none at all are also always present. As are peddlers of food and drink who keep bothering the assorted warriors with offers of their wares. Yes, even unemployed adventurers need to eat and drink but these lowborn merchants are a tad to eager and forceful.
And the hours go on...
* * * * * *
It is Hredarru of Haida Pakala who notices the man first. He is tall and gangly and dons only a pair of sandals and a colored loincloth. His hair is grown overly long for any of your standards and he has colorful swirling tattoos on his arms, chest and face.
Issa immediately recognizes the man has a Livyani. Of low class she suspects given the little time she spent among them.
He stops and scans the room with the eager gaze of someone who needs men-at-arms now and maybe more than most. Your group is the largest in the hall, most of the others are gathered in trios or pairs. For a disquieting moment you think he might approach the some of the other better equipped warriors, but when he notices the part he walks in your direction with a purposeful stride, studies you all for a moment and inquires:
"Ngangmuru! You are mercenaries looking for work are you not? My master has immediate need of the services of a band who is not afraid of danger. It is a fast job and perfectly within the boundaries of the law."
He reaches into a fold of his loincloth(!) and produces a small purse which he opens even as he continues talking. Inside it you see the unmistakable color of gold. "You will get this just for following me to meet my master Hritsekkash, I cannot tell you more about the mission he has for you because I have not been told more; but I do I believe he has some minor problem with one of his warehouses...what say you, foreigners?"
Hrahyosh and Teregash recognize the name of the man's master as Salarvyani, and Teregash has actually heard of of him personally. One of the wealthiest merchants in the foreigners quarter specializing in the buying and selling of odd artifacts and antiquities. (successful Knowledge rolls)
Joined: Mar 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 51 Location: Thousand Oaks, CA Karma: 0
Re: [Adventure #1 - Making Money] « Reply #2 on Mar 5, 2009, 4:10pm »
Taking in the size and complexity of the tattoos (ormuz), Do'olnar is immediately attentive. He gives the man a bow.
"By your ormuz, you bring honor and considerable skill to he whom you serve. You have chosen individuals who are most capable of performing the desired service."
Haida Pakalan Wildly-handsome 6' tall 180 pound sorcerer of Mretten, now Avanthe. Aside from a dagger, light blue thessun gauze robes appropriate to the heat, and a sack of possessions, he has nothing. His lack of clan insignia is noteworthy.
Joined: Mar 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 384 Location: Maryland, USA Karma: 26
Re: [Adventure #1 - Making Money] « Reply #4 on Mar 5, 2009, 7:37pm »
Hredarru nods, taking in the stranger's words.
Leaning a bit and speaking out of the corner of his mouth, he says to the others in a hushed tone:
"I've not been paid before to simply meet someone. Seems too good to be true. We'd be fools not to take his gold, even if we don't care to do anything but listen."
Hredarru is ready to follow the messenger once the others agree.
Re: [Adventure #1 - Making Money] « Reply #6 on Mar 5, 2009, 8:17pm »
Teregash nods, and curls his lip slightly. He's been called foreigner so many times in the past weeks that it's starting to grate - especially when it comes from some simpering merchant's lackey like this fellow.
"Very well," he says. "Though you might rue calling it 'too good to be true', Hredarru. If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is." To that end he pointedly hefts his axe, as if to say - be on your guard.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 37 Karma: 0
Re: [Adventure #1 - Making Money] « Reply #7 on Mar 5, 2009, 10:32pm »
Issa is silent but she stands and shoulders her spear. She gives the messenger a scathing inspection as if she expects the man to suddenly pull a poisoned dagger from his brief garment and attack. She nods in agreement. She will follow the others.
EPT: Issa - in leather sandals and kilt, scale, with pale green shawl wrapped around her shoulders and draped over her head like a hood. A large bag beaded with small shells is slung by a strap over her shoulder to rest on her hip. Wielding a Chlen-hide spear, sling, and dagger.
Joined: Mar 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 51 Location: Thousand Oaks, CA Karma: 0
Re: [Adventure #1 - Making Money] « Reply #8 on Mar 6, 2009, 11:11am »
"I am Do'olnar Pretast'ta." Pointing at each member of the party, he introduces them. "How should we address you noble Livyani? While your ormuz indicate status, are you also a sorcerer?"
Normally, in polite conversation, he would have also added everyone's clan and temple affiliation. That he could not do that speaks to our being nakome. Given the nature of our party and our prospective employer's wealth, Do'olnar has some real concerns about the likelihood of taking The High Ride (i.e., impalement on a stake before the Palace of the Realm). Clearly, it's not manual labor for which we are being employed.
Haida Pakalan Wildly-handsome 6' tall 180 pound sorcerer of Mretten, now Avanthe. Aside from a dagger, light blue thessun gauze robes appropriate to the heat, and a sack of possessions, he has nothing. His lack of clan insignia is noteworthy.
Joined: Jan 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 309 Location: The Mighty City of Jakalla Karma: 5
Re: [Adventure #1 - Making Money] « Reply #9 on Mar 6, 2009, 1:03pm »
The Livyani seems taken aback by something when Do’olnar addresses him, but when the Haida Pakalyani asks him about his ormuz tattoos he seems to be stifling laughter as he answers.
"Your domain of the local tongue is remarkable. It is not often one meets inhabitants of the quarter speaking Tsolyani as fluently as yourself."
"You may call me Timhuvaz, I am no enchanter and whatever status you have read in my omuz...let us say it is outdated now. There is no need for overly punctilious etiquette among ourselves; we get enough of that from the locals do we not?"
"Now, since you agree to accompany me please follow, we have quite a way to go."
Timhuvaz hands the small purse to Do'olnar, which he seems to have assumed to be the leader of the party and turns to leave the halls of the Palace of Ever-Glorious War.
* * * * *
Outside the warm orb of Tuleng is in the west, lazily descending. It is mid-afternoon. Timhuvaz leads you east and as you exit the Palace of Ever-Glorious War you go by the massive walled form of the Temple of Karakan the God of War, to the south.
You look with some envy at the warrior-priests keeping guard or milling about in the majestic stair way that climbs the raised pyramid-shaped platform where the temple proper stands. Maybe one day you will be able to afford high-quality decorated armor equitable to their own.
Timhuvaz leads you ever eastwards into the winding, thigh passages of the foreign quarter and you realize you are headed to a region of the quarter you've never visited before but have heard about and mostly got told to avoid. It does not have one name but many: "the waste", "shantytown", "the underpeople block", etc.
Except for the main square near the Gate of the Black Stair (where you came from) the foreign quarter was never known as an example of efficient city planning, but at least the houses lining its chaotic streets and alleys are colorful, solid and usable. Not here however...
The further you walk east the more visual proof you get that Jakalla's Ditlana (urban renewal) is indeed centuries overdue; in fact you are unsure this particular bit if the city received any attention in the last one. Here and there a collapsed dwelling or a pile of rubble attest to the abandonment and poverty this section of the quarter as been a victim of, and the few people you meet on the streets look more like refugees than immigrants.
Given his Architect/Engineer expertise it is clear to Do’olnar most of the buildings that are still standing should be condemned, yet there are people living there!
As you cross this scene of dilapidation and hungry eyes Timhuvaz, speaks again. He has kept a brisk pace ever since you left the palace and is not even sweating. It is obvious he is used to walking.
"Worry not, there is a lot of indigent scum in this area but they know who I am and whom I serve as well as what would befall them were they to raise a hand against me. We are quite safe."
Indeed why would you not be safe? The inhabitant's here are unarmed, appear starved and are composed mostly of children, women and elderly. The Livyani's reassurances are welcome but seem odd...
Not so. Teregash and Do’olnar have heard rumors that most of the populace in this section actually lives below ground. If the tales where to be believed there are whole gangs of cutthroats hiding in the subterranean passages under the streets and houses. (successful Knowledge rolls)
Finally you seem to arrive at your objective. Near what passes for a crossroad that has been better preserved than most other things here, stands what you think might once have been a clanhouse. It shares certain similarities with the few you saw when you crossed the city of Jackal proper on your way to be dumped in the foreign quarter.
There is the customary wall enclosing the large patio but it is such a state! You think a young Chlen-beast could fit in a few of the holes on it. You cross the wall's arched entryway (which lacks a gate) into the patio and see several crude 1-story adobe structures which are clearly slave dwellings
The clanhouse building itself stands opposite to the wall entrance. It is a 3-storied structure which has very obviously seen better days. You notice all of the windows of can see from this angle appear to have been closed off by bricks.
But the oddest sight on the patio stands toward the right end. A large blackish tent! Not majestic, but certainly belonging to some person of means.
To Oippuo the tent reminds him of the ones used by itinerant merchants in his homeland. Trinesh and Hrahyosh clearly recognize it to be of Salarvyani make, having seen several like it before in Pechano.
Timhuvaz makes for the tent as as you draw near the sound of womens' wailing and crying reaches you. Indeed, at a respectable distance from the tent's entrance stands a gaggle of females crouching around something, they are obviously slaves given their nakedness, lack of adornments (except for a copper or bronze collar around the neck) and the sameness of their bodies, short-cropped hair, etc.
The slaves are crying, wailing, pulling at their hair and reaching their hands to the sky shouting despairingly in some language you have never heard.
Timhuvaz makes for them at a half run and the wretches part for him almost unconsciously, but at the same time seem oblivious to your presence and continue their mourning. They are surrounding something on the ground covered by coarse blanket. Timhuvaz hurriedly pulls it back and reveals the body of a young dead woman, from the same ethnicity as the ones around her and clearly a slave herself. A knife, probably a kitchen implement, is buried almost to the hilt in the space between her small breasts.
The wailing of the women increases in pitch and intensity as this gruesome sight is revealed.
Timhuvaz lets out an angry expletive you can't make out and lets the blanket fall upon the dead woman.
Issa and Hrahyosh who are both fluent in Livyani understand Timhuvaz' words: "By the fires of Ru'ungkano! I told those idiots to watch over her!"
He takes you to the tent entrance even as he says: "This will complicate matters...let us haste to my master."
Joined: Jan 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 309 Location: The Mighty City of Jakalla Karma: 5
Re: [Adventure #1 - Making Money] « Reply #10 on Mar 6, 2009, 3:15pm »
The Tent
Timhuvaz pulls open the black tent-flap and motions you inside. The sounds of the wailing slaves accompany you even as from the inside comes the sound of raised voices having a heated argument.
The tent is spacious, cool, decorated in an eastern manner and smells quite nicely of incense. The source of the raised voices are two men in the center of it. Both look Salarvyani but could not be more different among them selves.
One is quite tall for a Salarvyani and dresses in clear white garb, unlike most of his countrymen who manifest a predilection for the darker spectra of colors. He is the one speaking (well...shouting) right now and his body language is so threatening you would think he is ready to strike the other.
The second man is much more in line with the perceived Salarvyani cliche in both dress and body. Short, stout (potbellied actually) and with a voluminous black beard cascading from his chin to rest in his chest. He is obviously on the defensive of the argument and has fallen back the typical Salarvyani merchant attitude of raising arms in excuse, rolling eyes, etc. You almost expect the smaller man to say "Sir I would be robbing myself if I sold my wares at such low prices...", or something in that vein.
The Salarvyani are so enthralled in their discussion they completely missed your entrance. Timhuvaz takes a step forward and clears his throat to call attention and bows his head as both men turn toward you.
"Greetings my Master Hritsekkash! As you commanded I journeyed into the Palace of War and have brought a band of able-bodied sell-swords to aid you with your problem."
The men immediately turn and the tallest approaches your group, scanning you with the eyes of someone used to appraise both wares and people.
"Ah! Welcome back Timhuvaz, it appears someone around here can properly accomplish the tasks I ensure them with. Did you notice the slaves outside? Can you believe those dumb beasts I call clan-cousins allowed that she-dog to kill herself?! I am still wanting to know how she managed to get her hands on that knife..."
Timhuvaz: "Master, I did warn those southern continent barbarians sometimes traditionally slay themselves when their mate dies. My people have known..."
"Yes, yes, yes! No fault of yours Timhuvaz. Good Timhuvaz who never fails either be keeping the books straight or getting me what or whom I need...Now lets take a look at your pickings."
Hritsekkash gaze fall full upon the group and you can't help but feeling like cattle in a pen under the scrutiny of the meat-merchant. Meanwhile, the smaller Salarvyani ambles to the side of Hritsekkash and imitates him in studying you. He mentions something and Hritsekkash replies.
Oippuo and Hrahyosh, knowing the Salarvyani language, understand their exchange of words. The smaller man does not seem very impressed with you and complains Timhuvaz brought a bunch of street-magicians and their escorts when he was asked for warriors. Hritsekkash however is not entirely convinced you are totally useless and mentions "the ugly one" (Hredarru) seems to have seen more than his share of fighting.
A smile adorns Hritsekkash' face, a strange and sudden transformation as the man seemed to be so pissed-off just a moment ago; and he switches into merchant-mode:
"I am Hritsekkash hiFshur of the Clan of the White Garment, out of Tsatsayagga. I don't suppose that means anything to people like you but let me say we are old, honest merchant folk dealing mostly in clothing. Not me however. I hate the stuff! My lineage buys and sells antiquities and the like, curios, old artifacts, coins...the kind of baubles that effete nobles waste their stipends so they can impress their friends at parties."
The small round man emits a sound somewhere between a polite cough and a whimper. Hritsekkash snaps back at him.
"Oh lay off it Addatheng! We don't have time for niceties or euphemisms. These mercenaries aren't here to trade." then turning back to you he continues. "That building you saw outside is one of my clan's warehouses in this city, my lineage ancestors bought the place ages ago. It's stuffed to the brim and I was sent here to sort it out and make an inventory of its contents. You are here because there is someone inside and I want them out! I don't know who or how many; the "why" would obviously be purloining our wares. Whoever it is has shown a willingness to commit violence. I had two slaves, a couple, sent to and area that has not been dealt with in over 3 generations. The male did not return and the woman ran out totally out of her wits screaming that he had been killed. I gracefully allowed her some time to compose herself even as Timhuvaz was sent for you. But since she took her own life on account of whatever barbarous nonsense passed for her traditions I have lost my only source of information on what precisely took place inside."
Addatheng pipes in at this moment.
"We also have no idea how the thieves penetrated the warehouse. The building has only one entrance, a strong wood door, that is watched at all times and all the windows are barred by masonry and cement. We even had the servants check the full perimeter in the last hour to verify if there was any sign or method of how entry was gained...nothing!"
Hritsekkash: "Addatheng speaks true. Whoever is in has not come out, that much we can tell. It is your job to flush them out. If possible keep one of the dastards alive for questioning, I would like to know who is reckless enough to try to rob from the Clan of the White Garment."
Timhuvaz then asks the question prominent in everyones mind:
"Master, mayhap this would be a good time to speak of the remuneration you shall reward these mercenaries with?..."
Hritsekkash: "Ah, yes. Does a 100 gold Kaitars each sound appropriate? And before you ask, the reason we are hiring you instead of true licensed professionals is that I have no clear idea of the danger you will be facing and do not wish to be bothered with Shamtla payments for any injuries or bereavements of life. Now, do we have a deal?"
Joined: Aug 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 65 Location: St. Louis, MO Karma: 0
Re: [Adventure #1 - Making Money] « Reply #11 on Mar 6, 2009, 4:21pm »
Hrahyosh says, "Your rats are obviously crawling in and out of the larder from below. There must be tunnels upon tunnels beneath your warehouse and other holdings here. I am not afraid to enter your warehouse and hunt down these rats."
Hrahyosh's eyes would be carefully observing those in attendance when he called the thieves "rats". Wondering if it's an inside job. Of course he wouldn't let on that he was even considering it...
Joined: Mar 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 51 Location: Thousand Oaks, CA Karma: 0
Re: [Adventure #1 - Making Money] « Reply #12 on Mar 6, 2009, 5:19pm »
Do'olnar looks at his own inadequate dagger and the swords at the waists of some of his companions with a sigh. Scrutinizing the two before him with the same experienced eye, he then responds, "Noble Hritsekkash hiFshur, it is an honor to meet one whose name and virtues ride the lips of all. My noble companion Hrahyosh is correct. This area is a warren of underground passages. Jakalla's tsuru'um (i.e., underworld) is renowned as one of the most vast on all Tekumel. Portions of the city are rumored to extend in all directions for hundreds of tsan. The river itself has changed course many times and there is even rumored to be an underground river even more vast than the Equinoyal. For every man, woman, and child that you see basking in the sun, there may be two or more living beneath our feet."
"The fee you suggest is very fair for going in and, if the robbers are still within, dealing with them. Noble Hritsekkash hiFshur, pursuing them into the tsuru'um is not in that fee. Time is of the essence though; every moment, your goods are likely disappearing."
Do'olnar looks at his companions for confirmation/agreement.
Haida Pakalan Wildly-handsome 6' tall 180 pound sorcerer of Mretten, now Avanthe. Aside from a dagger, light blue thessun gauze robes appropriate to the heat, and a sack of possessions, he has nothing. His lack of clan insignia is noteworthy.
Joined: Jan 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 309 Location: The Mighty City of Jakalla Karma: 5
Re: [Adventure #1 - Making Money] « Reply #13 on Mar 6, 2009, 6:34pm »
Hritsekkash frowns his brow has he answers Do'olnar.
"My ancestors were no fools! They knew very well of the renowned honeycomb that lies underneath Jakalla. That is precisely why this building was selected and adapted into a place of storage."
"It is said it belong to a once-wealthy clan who has since vanished. For whatever reason they designed it to be as safe from any depredation from below as possible. That is why it still stands today, the foundations where made out of adamantine and the floors over them covered in the same substance. It must surely have cost a fortune and I would not be surprised if it was the cause of their ruin."
"The fact is it would take an army of workers to dig an entry from bellow. Still, if by some miracle someone has managed to penetrate our warehouse from below and you must follow them into the Tsuru'um for capture or the return of anything they might have taken, I will generously double my offer...but only if you have to set foot on the underworld to make good the task."
(Note: adamantine is not in any way the typical D&D metal stuff. It is a form of cement that gets bloody hard and nigh-unbreakable when it dries.)
Joined: Mar 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 99 Location: East Texas Karma: 4
Re: [Adventure #1 - Making Money] « Reply #14 on Mar 6, 2009, 7:26pm »
Trinesh says "Most noble merchant prince, 100 kaitars per person is indeed a very fair price for entering you warehouse and determining the nature of beings that have killed your male slave and determining how they got in. The fee for entering into the Tsuru'um most be based on what we determine happened in your warehouse. 200 kaitars for each of use would be fair for dealing with local inhabitants or even with Mru'r, however it would not be enough for the more dangerous creatures rumored to dwell beneath Jakalla. Lt us find out what we face, then determine the feeto enter the Tsuru'um if we must."
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