Bruce announces that he's going to barbecue chicken for lunch, which is enough to persuade Chris (Gruul) to show up late and Tim (Antok Six-Hearted) to deliberately sabotage the alternator in his (newish) truck. In contrast, Mike (Kellin) is so enthusiastic he brings rice to augment the dining experience. And Paul (Marik) derails Tim's clever plan by picking him up. Chuck (Galen) just shows up and enjoys the food.
The session starts out on the 28th day of the 3088th Voyage. The plan for the session is to let time pass. Quite a lot of time, 400 days all told, in four 100-day segments.
Marik is able to predict what Yaggo will be doing across the next 400 days. Always the gentleman, he tells the others:
| 3088th Voyage | To Nauahl | 55 days |
| 3088th Stay | At Nauahl | 20 days |
| 3089th Voyage | To Firesky | 179 days |
| 3089th Stay | At Firesky | 166 days |
At the beginning of the first hundred-day segment there are 2000 Faian adults, 650 dugun and 20 bauskers living in and around Nircharstal. The community faces a number of problems, first among them a lack of food. Even worse, the majority of the buildings in the Old City are in terrible shape. Just to compound the situation, the city walls are in terrible shape. On the plus side, there aren't any demons anymore.
Antok Six-Hearted decides to travel to Parcyclus Castle to negotiate with the Sewn Men and the hurbauskings. He wants to arrange to provide the Sewn Men with a consistent supply of ore in exchange for worked items from the Maker-Thing. Realizing that he is probably the worst person to send on a trade mission in the group, he starts off by spending a lot of money on 10 Orpheus potions. After that, he spends one of his precious experience points to learn Diplomacy skill. Everyone else is tremendously impressed by his sacrifice, at least until they realize that he has a skill of only 8.
In spite of his personal failings, his efforts go quite well. The best he is able to do with the hurbauskings is to convince them to not kill visitors as long as they obey certain rules and make appropriate contributions. He does much better with the Sewn Men. For an investment of one Black clavar (4096 clavars), his agreement with them will bring in a 13% return every 100-day segment (532 clavars).
Galen spends his time creating a more permanent government for Nircharstal. He places the former Tyrant, Jelgen, in charge as First Seneschal. The dugun healer geth-Shugun Ches is installed as Second Seneschal, with a theoretically equal voice in government. He charges them with the administration and governance of the city. They are also responsible for appointing two Magistrates, one Faian and one dugun. Cases involving both Faian and dugun interests must be heard by both Magistrates together. Cases involving only Faians or duguns may be heard only by the appropriate Magistrate alone. The bauskers are given a voice in government, but no vote.
Galen gives the responsibility for enforcing order in the city to the former Sangorn First Pike Durell Trellmen as Chief of Militia. He insists that city guard be drawn from both the Faians and the dugun. The entire city government, including the guard and the administration, includes only 25 people, divided evenly between Faians and dugun.
Kellin's obsession is simple: he must see the city walls rebuilt. Along the way, he wants to set up a concrete manufactory, clean up the wreckage in the Old City, and move one of the magical fountains into the fields for irrigation. He assembles work crews of 250 Faians, 150 dugun and all 20 bauskers to do the actual heavy lifting. He even sweeps up the one former dugun moneychanger to act as his administrator.
His projects go fairly well, thanks in large part to his foresight in actually possessing skills in Architecture and Leadership. Things are going so well he brings up the idea of constructing a toll bridge over the Lower Juffey River. The other characters debate the idea, and a consensus is reached to embark upon this project somewhat later, after trade has increased to the point where there will be enough tolls to recoup the investment.
Marik skips town to go spy on the thrux, drawing equally upon his skills in Stealth, Diplomacy, and Magic Carpets. He starts by flying through the Augurn Plain and learning about all the settlements and villages in the area, then ends the first leg of his journey in Lin Vu Quo. At Lin Vu Quo, he is again reminded that the original Gua Far was a political movement dedicated to unseating the established aristocratic class of Lin Vu Quo. The current crop of aristocrats bear the Gua Far and the thrux no more love than their fathers did. He also discovers that at least a few merchants and traders in Lin Vu Quo have learned that there are no more demons in Nircharstal, and are thinking of traveling in that direction in the near future.
From Lin Vu Quo, he heads down to Bao Lat and Bao Am, the two centers of Gua Far power. He barely has to work to learn that the Elders of the Gua Far run these places. Both cities are visibly wealthy and well-fortified, inhabited by a mix of Sangorn, Faian and mongrel humans. More notable, the odd thrux is visible on the streets or in the large public buildings. The military situation is also troubling. Many of the population appear to be armed, and the drill-grounds are well-used, though there do not appear to be signs of immanent military advance.
The slave markets of both Bao Lat and Bao Am are thriving. Caravans of slaves go down behind the Zhao Shan mountains along good highways. The returning caravans bear worked goods and other valuables. The slaves come from the raiding parties that head out into the Augurn Plains.
Alarmed by what he has seen so far, Marik flies on beyond the Zhao Shan mountains to see the lands of the thrux. He finds himself gazing down upon a land of well-irrigated lands and well-organized villages inhabited by a population of miserable thralls. He is surprised by the bounty of the thrux lands, though it is clear that most of the inhabitants benefit not at all from it. The thrux are not particularly fond of large cities, preferring to live in fortified strongpoints scattered through the land. Workshops and manufactories are typically located near the strongpoints.
It is clear that the thrux are actively preparing for war. Companies of armed and armored men march across the land. Most of the troops are human, of mixed race. Few of them are thrux, though the thrux warriors are clearly very impressive. Marik also sees several squadrons of golems moving from one stronghold to another. He sees both stone and clay golems.
Eager to learn more, he kidnaps a junior officer, a Faian human he learns is named Colin. He brings the man back to Nircharstal for interrogation. He flies into the city and immediately searches out Galen, explaining, "I need your help. The thrux are gearing up for war. They have soldiers and formations of golems and all sorts of things. I brought back a Faian officer for you, and I need you to work your interrogatory magic on him." Galen is easily able to subvert the fellow with the Saber and the Circlet. Colin tells the characters:
Galen listens to Marik's and the officer's descriptions. He estimates that the thrux military consists of three companies of thrux, two companies of golems, and twenty to fifty companies of humans (including the troops that the Gua Far can supply). He guesses that their initial attack will be directed towards setting up a logistical base at Dith Lun. From there, Nircharstal is their next obvious goal. Along the way, they will probably try to wipe out every rushufarr village they can find. Lin Vu Quo is obviously their final destination.
Enchanted with the value of information, Marik decides to head out once more. This time he takes lots of money with him. His goal is to recruit some spies and set up a network of informants through the thrux domain. Galen supplies 3000 clavars for this project. Gruul supplies 6000 more. Marik is able to contribute 3000 of his own. At a cost of 12,000 clavars, Marik is able to recruit three master spies. He places one in Bao Am, one in Bao Lat, and the last in the thrux lands beyond. The third spy is isolated enough from the outside world that he must use the two in the Gua Far cities as relays.
Gruul decides to assemble an expedition to clean out Dith Lun. His scavenging parties involve a total of 650 citizens, though many of them are employed in support roles that don't actually take them out to Dith Lun. His men bring back a total of 154,700 clavars worth of goods, plus the Dith Lun city gates. By the time he has finished, there is nothing movable left in Dith Lun. And most of the things that could have been pried up have been. He feels a sense of pride in his thoroughness.
Even with all of the demands the characters are making upon the labor pool of Nircharstal, 1500 of the city's population still work on agriculture and land reclamation. This is enough to ensure that the city is able to feed itself, and will eventually be able to enjoy an agricultural surplus.
Antok heads back to Parcyclus Castle to look up his old friend Joluth. He asks Joluth to provide Nircharstal with a fresh water supply. In return, he agrees to perform three tasks for the creature, each of which involves a Fright Check at a -2d penalty. Antok walks away from his tasks badly rattled, but not permanently harmed.
He returns to Nircharstal to find that another flute has sprouted out in the fields. Unlike most flutes, no monsters emerge from it. But a small stream does. Several caves along the base give access to a private grotto underneath the base of the flute. Most of the grotto is occupied by a subterranean lake with a small island in the center. Tumbled ruins and unfamiliar skeletons are scattered across the island. Strange blind fish swim slowly through the black water. There does not appear to be any way to go deeper into the Bilges from beneath the flute, except possibly by swimming.
The appearance of the flute causes no small concern among the locals, though they eventually become used to it.
Kellin wakes one morning and decides to do something new. Something different. Something that none of the characters has done before. He organizes a trading expedition to the Aft Gallery. He brings along the spiral-woven cloth the characters brought back from Eafa and an array of items from among the things Gruul brought back from Dith Lun. He hopes to make money, and to find a replenishable source of raw materials for the spiral looms.
He does fairly well in his negotiations. Starting with 5000 clavars' worth of spiral-woven cloth and 35,000 clavars worth of things from Dith Lun, he manages to organize a trade route with a return of 17% per 100 days. This works out to an actual return of 5950 clavars.
Marik joins Kellin in his travels to the Aft Gallery. He wants to learn about the political situation among the Gaurgast, and to try and obtain some commitment to fight against the thrux. A skillful Diplomacy roll plus 4000 clavars gets him an audience with a highly-ranked Gaurgast minister. He learns that the Gaurgast generally think quite well of the Venturers and Doorway City. They tolerate Prince Gufteng, regarding him as very much the trumped-up thug in charge of an army. In contrast, the Gaurgast minister does not know very much about the current status of the thrux. Marik gets the very clear impression that the minister regards most of what happens in the Garden as something of a sideshow. Considering that the only part of the Garden the Gaurgast can normally reach is totally overrun with monsters, it is not that hard to understand where this attitude comes from.
Marik does his best to rectify this situation. He tells the minister about the terrible social practices and aggressive politics of the thrux with every bit of eloquence he can muster. To add a carrot to the stick, he also describes the great wealth of the thrux lands. He manages to get a treaty of friendship for his troubles. He also gets an informal promise that the Gaurgast could send one or two thousand trained troops if the situation warranted it. Marik hints to the minister that the thrux might be moving as soon as 230 days from now.
Gruul goes to Doorway City to negotiate with the Red Tower mages and with Mournful Sara. He starts out by walking up to the Red Tower and asking to see someone more important than the doorman. Even with this tremendous introduction, he manages to arrange a meeting with one of the leaders of the Red Tower. It doesn't take him long to get to the point. He tells the deformed magician that he has very often heard that the Red Tower is spreading this or that horrible plague about. Even if these stories are nothing more than rumor and hearsay, there are so many of them that they must contain some grains of truth. Or, more exactly, some germs of truth. He asks the magician if he might be able to provide some diseases to spread among the thrux. The magician does his best to explain that the Red Tower exists to heal diseases, and that he can't possibly be expected to deliberately spread them. The Red Tower mage is polite enough that it takes Gruul several minutes to understand that the man is actually deeply shocked.
Gruul leaves the Red Tower in a bleak mood. Seeking a way to improve his spirits, he heads straight for Mournful Sara's demesne. He has the severed head of the thrux magician Kurf in a basket, and a cheery dirge on his lips. In contrast to the depressingly-moral Red Tower magicians, Mournful Sara and Abbek Choff are quite happy to see him, and even happier to raise up Kurf's spirit so Gruul can ask him some questions. Of course, they do ask for a lot of money in exchange for the service, but Gruul has plenty of the stuff.
Gruul sits impatiently through all of the ritual preparations and chanting. Finally, the thrux head on the pedestal opens its mouth and lets out a sound of terrible, rasping despair. Gruul is ready with his questions:
At this point Kurf's head falls silent. Gruul thanks Mournful Sara for her help and heads back to Nircharstal.
Galen goes shopping at the Zullkreftsskul. He brings quite a list along, including:
In exchange for all this, he trades out:
He complains a lot to the Zullkreftsskul enchanters about the amount of time his order takes. In part to shut him up, they agree to teach him the Mystic Mist spell as a freebie on the side.
Antok continues to do terrifying errands for Joluth, once again managing to avoid permanent mental and physical damage only through tremendous luck and a poor understanding of the rules. By the time he is done, the inhabitants of Nircharstal have already noticed the iron spiders creeping out from the shadows. They have bodies the size of a human palm. More important, they spin webs of thin iron filaments. It is quickly obvious that they spin them thick and fast enough that they can be gathered up and used as a supply of iron ore.
Marik once again takes to the flying carpet and travels the district. He visits every nearby settlement to warn them about the impending danger of the thrux. He persuades village elders and tribal leaders to create defenses, train militia and make other preparations for invasion. Antok observes Marik's activities after he returns from Parcyclus Castle and comments, "You know, trying to defend the villages against the thrux might be like trying to defend Baghdad against the Americans." Marik just shrugs and replies that he has gotten agreements from many of the closer villages to provide militia troops in a time of need.
Galen spends his time learning the Might spell from the Zullkreftsskul.
Kellin decides to do something tangible to prepare for the arrival of the thrux. He works with the bauskers to build some engines of destruction to mount up on the walls. After some debate on budget and design, he decides to construct scorpions (torsion-based direct-fire weapons that hurl massive arrows) and ballistae (torsion-based rock-throwers). His twenty bausker workers are able to produce 80,000 clavars' worth of weaponry, given 40,000 clavars' worth of tools and raw materials. He gets the money by picking through the items Gruul brought back from Dith Lun.
By the time he is done, he and his workers have produces eight scorpions and two large ballistae (18d damage) (use the stats from GURPS Low-Tech). The scorpions are light enough that a small crew of men can move one around fairly freely. The ballistae are much less wieldy, so Kellin has them outfitted with wheels so they can be moved along the walls without great trouble.
Kellin spends the rest of his time training artillerymen for the engines and supervising the reinforcement of selected points along the walls with metal rebar, a process made much easier by the fact that the characters have a magical Earth to Stone trowel.
Gruul goes to Firesky and sells pottery. He makes a 100,000 clavar profit. He uses the money to buy four 20-point Powerstones for 60,000 clavars. He also falls for a particularly persuasive con-man and forks over another 10,000 clavars for a useless Powerstone. He is more upset by the fact that he isn't able to kill the guy who rooked him than he is by the loss of the money.
He finds out that magical arrows are 10% cheaper than "list price" in Firesky. He takes advantage by spending another 10,000 clavars on 100 arrows enchanted with +1 Accuracy, +1 Puissance, and +2 Penetrating.
He finishes his trip by asking around for people able to sell the corpses of exotic and dangerous beasties. He finds that this is enough of a niche market that nobody serves it. On the other hand, he does learn that Gua Far agents have bee hiring large numbers of flelling mercenaries. There are four hiring agents, protected by a dozen bodyguards. They have managed to hire 200 troops. The flellings show every sign of wanting to head off in Yaggo's Boat for the duration, as they are bringing along 600 dependents (women and children). Gruul decides that the agents need to have a serious accident. He spends 10,000 clavars to retain some local player-character types, who make sure that the Gua Far agents don't make it back to the boat. To celebrate, he hires up twenty flelling mercenaries (and 80 camp followers) of his own. He comes back to Yaggo's boat whistling happily.
With the start of the thrux offensive on the horizon, Antok takes advantage of his impressive Traps skills. He organizes teams of local youths to dig golem traps all around the walls. Each trap is a deep pit covered over with enough of a cover that a golem will fall through, but which a man can walk over. He speeds the digging process by borrowing the magic Air-Golem shovel from Kellin's construction crews.
Galen picks out the most skilled dugun weaver he can find and hires him to make the biggest Nircharstal city flag he can. He intends to fly it from the city walls. He also hires a dugun jeweler to make signet rings for all of the characters. The sigil on the ring combines the traditional seal of Nircharstal and a severed demon head. All of this costs him 6000 clavars.
He then goes on a public relations campaign in Nircharstal. He travels around the city kissing babies, talking to people, and hiring soldiers. He also hires several local bards to travel through all of Nircharoon to spread the word. Gruul and Kellin hire a Smithers-style lickspittle for Galen.
After fifty days of publicity, Galen travels to Shochunstal on a diplomatic mission. Though his goal is to speak to the Steadsman, he first talks to some of the locals and learns that their loyalty to the Steadsman is none too impressive, though the citizenry do not appear to be actively looking for any alternatives.
The Steadsman eventually agrees to see Galen. He greets him in front of his great hall with a warm, enthusiastic handshake, then immediately follows up by commenting, "You're a nice enough fellow, you should just second all your men to me." Wine shoots out of Galen's nose. Several minutes later, Galen picks himself up off the floor to respond, "Thanks! I've never laughed so hard in my life. So, you're the one who's done nothing for the last twenty Voyages." The rest of the conversation goes downhill amazingly quickly.
Galen eventually determines that the Steadsman is interested in Shochunstal alone, but is honest in his own way. The Steadsman's main lieutenant is the Castellan, who is thoroughly corrupt. Galen isn't sure if the Castellan is taking Gua Far money, but he wouldn't put it past him.
Before he leaves Shochunstal, Galen spends some time walking around and pressing the flesh. Thanks in part to his keen fashion sense (he is wearing the Circlet and Saber of Nircha) he ends up surrounded by a group of young men interested in knowing how they can help save the Faian nation. From very far away, Marik mutters, "I hope you get a group rate." Galen ignores Marik's disembodied comments and organizes a pilgrimage to the Nircharstal Temple for them. He makes sure that they all have an opportunity to commune with Otanan before they return to Shochunstal. Galen smiles at the notion that he has just made the Steadsman's government slightly less stable. He develops an ambition to use the city of Shochunstal as thrux-bait.
Gruul spends 100 days training 100 men to fight in the gaurman style with axe and shield. He makes a point of choosing only strong (ST 12+) men from among the Faian population. Because none of them are even close to his strength, he teaches them to fight with hand-axes, rather than the battle-axes he favors.
Kellin organizes a light riverine raiding force. He divides his men up into ten ten-man teams, each able to operate independently. He recruits from among the river folk, fishermen and hunters. His troops are not the most skilled at arms, but they all know how to handle themselves on a boat. Many of them are also deeply familiar with the local waterways.
Confident that the raiding force can take care of itself, he turns to training archers. He is not very choosy about his trainees, on the theory that the more archers he can put up on the walls the less it will matter how poorly they shoot. The twenty best students are seconded off to the riverine troops, two to a team.
Finally, he decides that he needs to stiffen his archers with some professionals. He takes a field trip to Doorway City to hire a family of 60 bausker crossbowmen for 6000 clavars. In addition, he picks up another 60 bauskers who are willing to work on spec. And as a final incentive, he puts a 1000 clavar bounty on thrux heads.
Marik goes on a massive fire-spell learning spree. He picks up Rain of Fire, Extinguish Fire, Slow Fire, Fast Fire, Shape Fire, Smoke, Summon Fire Elemental, Control Fire Elemental, and Create Fire Elemental. Plus he hires the archer Joven away from the Doorway City militia. And for good measure he sends a message to the Gaurgast requesting soldiers.
Each character gains three experience points. At the end of the session, the military of Nircharstal consists of: