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The World of Teréth End - Chronicles - Jadthàri |
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"Too often days swiftly pass / Weeping in the evening grass / There just is not enough time / Forthings you dreamt you'd do / The hours still drift by. "Too many years, too high a cost / Too many lessons earned but lost / And still you complain all the time / Cursing the days before you / Lamentng the days gone by. "And finally laying in your bed / Staring skyward, nearly dead / It all floods back one last time, / The chances that you left behind / But alas there's little left to do / ... but cry." Dirimoran song  |
Secrets of the Sha'al
Vorén slipped down the rope into the dark and damp corridor below. The world here was dark and the air stale and quiet. Searching around, he found carved doors and roots bursting through the stone walls. One by one the group followed him down into the tunnels. Vorèn found some stairs leading downward to a deadend. Ferveo examined the many niche statues, identifying them as Sha'al holy figures, but not recognizing any of them. Others found a room with a long white stone inset into the floor's center, carved with more Sha'al letters. They searched the room further but found nothing, only the red mosaics of red Sha'al standing reverently along the walls. In an adjacent hallway a sixth statue was found. The statue had one polished-black eye cast heavenward while it clutched two ivory-colored spheres in its hands. Everyone who passed inspected the statue, but no one touched it. In the corridor opposite the statue lay the charred skeleton of a dead monkey. Vorén searched ahead and found another grate and some ajar stone doors. Vorén peered around an ajar door and found a chamber pulsing with a pale blue light. As he watched a monkey walked into view, looked at him and wandered back toward the light. Moving into the room he found piles of rotted vegetables and fruit. Around the corner, sat the silhouetted shapes of a dozen monkeys staring peacefully at a pulsing blue orb of light. The light sat in the cross-legged lap of a giant headless Sha'al statue. Soon the others made their way toward the shining light room. The monkeys seemed unconcerned until Silda attempted to touch the light. The monkeys grew agitated and started hopping and screaming. In response, an older monkey stepped into the room and started making noises that sounded something like speech. Ferveo spoke with the creature in Sha'ala and the monkey responded in kind. Though Ferveo could not understand most of what the monkey was saying he was able to ellict some important facts from the simian, most importantly that the orb-holding statue was bad and had something to do with sky-noises. The monkey also tried to explain that the areas below the grate were very bad, and that the badness dealt with two sharp noises. After speaking with the monkey Zuroolly and Ferveo found an altar room. At the base of the altar lay a pile of chipped Uren bones. Atop the altar, Zuroolly eyed a silver chalice inset with semi-precious stones. After much rubbing-of-the-chin, the bent man pulled a small stone from the fractured walls and deftly replaced the chalice with a like-weighted stone on the altar. Pocketing the chalice they left the altar room. Silda and Vorén returned to the first grate they encountered and began hacking at the mortar with a small sword. Soon the old mortar cracked and came loose and Silda was able to heave the metal grate from the floor. Silda loaded a crossbow and fired into the rats seen milling about below making them scatter. The coiled rope was lowered into the next layer and Vorén climbed down. When his feet touched the floor he was faced with three large rats bearing their yellow teeth. Thrusting with his torch, the pierced rat scampered away as the others raced forward to bite at the Neveren. Behind him Silda slid down the rope and drew her greatsword skewering one of the giant rats near Vorén. Vorén swung repeatedly at the low black creatures, but they deftly dodged his blows. Soon they were killed, but not before both Silda and Vorén had been bitten. With the rats dispatched, Ferveo and Zuroolly found their way down the rope and into the hallway beyond. As they searched, Silda and Vorén began chipping away at the mortar around the next grate which looked to lead into a lower layer yet. Zuroolly found the pierced rat around the next corner but the monk came forward and crushed it beneath his foot. The two found some stairs leading down into a recessed room with a cage but as soon as Zuroolly stepped into the room he heard a click, causing him to jump back onto the staircase. The group listened as doors throughout the level slammed shut and locked. Racing back toward Silda and Vorén they found that a locked door now separated them. Silda pushed against the door, but it wouldn't budge. Finally, Vorén climbed from the hole they'd opened and unlocked the door while Silda pushed it open. The pale rogue climbed down the last length of rope into a damp corridor rustling with life. To one side he found a slippery slope leading down into the darkness. In the opposite direction he found a corridor whose walls were covered with rust-brown colored bat-winged creatures. Losing interest, he climbed back up the rope and told Silda to put the grate back in place. When asked if he had found a place the Ring of Lokor might have gone, he said "maybe" but that he wasn't going back down there just yet. He briefly described what he'd seen and it was agreed that they should all return to Zuroolly's before dawn and get some much needed rest before continuing. Climbing out the Old City tunnels, they dropped the flagstone back into place and began again the long climb and walk back to Akazjir. While everyone retired for the morning, Vorén slipped out of the house and found his way to the Sharm Thojir where Aren had given them the job to find the ring. He told Aren that the job was more dangerous than they'd been led to believe, and explained that he wouldn't continue the work unless the reward was tripled. Aren could promise nothing, but said that the word would be forwarded to the Lokors. Satisfied, Vorén returned to Zuroolly's as dawn creeped through the city streets. After some sleep, Zuroolly awakened and wandered into Thojir to sell the trident he'd lifted from one of Naztu's thugs days before. He found weaponsmith named Kurjka who after much haggling bought the trident for 180 Aurala. Satisfied with this, Zuroolly returned home to rest. That evening a storm rose and the group walked to the Daluj Malar where they had a good dinner. Ferveo and Vorén watched outdoors at the pier as lightning strikes lit up the river and the islands beyond. In one strike, Ferveo noticed a figure standing at the pier's end. In a second strike another shape appeared with a curved blade before everything went dark. Vorén stood from the table and made his way to the tavern's porch. There he could make out a crumpled form at the pier's end. Ferveo followed to the porch but did not continue into the rain. The Neveren however cautiously made his way to the pier, and as he approached the scene, eight black tentacles raised at the end of the pier, claiming the woman's body for the river. Vorén raced forward in time to see her legs and feet disappear off the pier's end. Searching among the bloody planks he found an odd red coin with a hole in it's center. Pocketing this he returned to the tavern. Before leaving for home, Vorén stopped to ask the tavernkeeper about the coin. Lzar only glanced at the item before telling him to keep it hidden and to come back to the tavern later that night. In the early Nightsdeep Vorén returned to the Daluj Malar and Lzar sat with him at a balcony table above the tavern floor. He explained that the coin was an "Assasin's Token", one of very few known to exist in the City of Jadth. Lzar guessed at how the token might be used but wasn't entirely clear on the matter having never seen one until this night. Vorén thanked Lzar for his help and left. 28 Dec 2000
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Navigation People Aahl (Adp3) Introducing Assassin's Token: A small perforated red-jade coin with strange sigils that radiate from its center. A handful of the coins were crafted in the second century DR by the Hand of Kazdar Azk. The Hand (as they are more commonly called) is a religious group of killers who target anyone whose death has been purchased with an Assassin's Token. When the "purchase" is made the Hand hunts the target for three days, starting at the dusk of the purchase day. If the mark is not killed in that time, the Hand will not target them again, ever. When a target is marked, the entire group hunts the mark, with the token being left near the scene of the job. Possession of the coin is almost as dangerous as being marked by one. Jarjadi Rugs: Dyed silk and wool rugs made in the style of local weavers that are mostly used by monks and priests for meditation. The tightly woven rectangular prayer rugs are worked with intricate monochromatic patterns and often edged with fringe or elaborate knots and tassels. Most of the rugs have a dowel fitted through one end on which they can be tightly rolled, and a loop of cord or cloth to bind them with. A good quality Jarjadi Rug can cost between 50 and 75 Tala, whereas imitations can be had for a fraction of the cost. The quality of the weave and balance/effect of the pattern drives the price. A well compositioned rug is thought to help with meditation. |
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| Ref. PHB (Player's Handbook), © Wizards of the Coast  |
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