This is the first in what will hopefully be a large number of Journey in Chaos sessions, and as such has been anticipated with more than a bit of eagerness. Appropriately, everyone shows up: Chris (Dojango Sangaree), Tim (Antok of the Storm Tribe), Dan (Mahees), Chuck (Arnoux Urag) and Paul (Marik). Bruce resumes gamemastering after something of a vacation.
Marik is paurkend, though he is a dwarfed, misshapen member of the species. His mind is extraordinarily sharp, much as his fingers are dull and clumsy. He is skilled as a magician, but he currently makes his living as a wine-seller and brewer in the courtyard of the Venturer Hall. He has lived on Yaggo's Boat all his life, most of that time around Venture Fount. Several years ago, he moved to the Garden after a time spent working for the Red Tower, and it was then that he developed most of his brewing skill. He still uses the Garden as a source for ingredients for alcoholic beverages. His current project is to find a way to ferment uru into a drinkable alcoholic beverage, and to support this task he has arranged for a wholesaler's contract to purchase uru from the Venturers.
One of the troubles that has prevented him from gaining greater wealth and influence is the fact that he has no ability to hold onto money: he spends it like water, never keeping ahold of more than a few clavars. This flaw has turned him into little more than a homeless refugee several times, during particularly dark Voyages.
His brewery is located in the Venturer Hall courtyard. It is surprisingly small, given his ability to use magic to artificially age his products. When he can afford it, he hires bauskers as servants, to help him with detail tasks and to serve his customers.
As a side business, he sublets spare tent space to ne'er-do-wells who appear to have some spare clavars.
Arnoux Urag is unique on Yaggo's Boat. He is a decadent albino punk elf, right up to the body piercings and the tattoos. He prefers to take the role of the swashbuckler, right to his blades, his swagger, and his preference for strong drink. At the moment, it is that preference that has caused him to rent some tent space from Marik.
Antok of the Storm Tribe is a recent arrival upon Yaggo's Boat, one of the few folk to fight their way past the flocks of Holy City humans who swarmed around the boarding ramps. He is from Dost, and was once a Dost human. Some years ago, his tribe made a compact with Dost out of desperation. To prevent them from perishing in the cold, Dost made the Storm Tribe cold as ice themselves. Unfortunately, he made them cold to each other as well. Freed of the limits of kinship bonds, the members of the Storm Tribe fragmented, dying of mischance, hunger and monsters. Antok was once of the few survivors when he granted hospitality to a stranger in the midst of a violent storm. Recognizing that the stranger was actually the Voice of Dost, he violated the oath of hospitality, slew him, and ate him. Ever since then, he has been on the run, fleeing from monsters sent by Dost in retribution.
He is a recent arrival to Yaggo's Boat, one of the few who managed to make their way past the masses of Holy City folk clustered around the boarding ramps. He currently rents tent space from Marik, after finding out that he cannot get a Red Pike's contract until near the end of the Voyage.
Mahees is a rushufarr scout from the Garden. Like all of his people, he is prone to fits of bestial rage and savagery. His family lives along the shore of the Yierdogiven Sea, and he hopes to return to them soon, after finishing his current errands. He is at the Venturer Hall to purchase a composite bow, though he is unfamiliar enough with the notions of trade that this is even more difficult than it might otherwise be. He has been in the courtyard since just before the Stay ended.
Dojango Sangaree is a free demek, part of the Grosh tribe. His people arrived as refugees many Voyages ago, and since then have dispersed all through the Galleries and the Garden. Though he is a stout warrior, he is currently working in the Venturer Hall courtyard as a tattoo artist.
The characters find themselves effectively trapped within the courtyard of the Venturer Hall by crowds of Holy City humans who pushed their way past the traitorous rearguard in the closing days of the 3085th Stay, at Abbatine. From their occasional vantage point on top of the walls, they can see the havoc the Folk are wreaking among the tent city and shantytown residents outside. Marik rather rhetorically asks: "Are the Holy City humans able to get cash and pay for services?" Concluding that the answer is most definitely NO, he becomes sulky and decides that he hates them with all of his being.
The situation is generally glum. Normally, Venturer merchants make great profits during a Stay, and have accumulated huge hoards of goods and food by the time the next Voyage starts. This time, very few merchants were able to get past the ranks of the Holy City humans. Most of those that tried found themselves stripped bare of goods, even of clothing, then forced to make their ignominious way back to the Red Pikes' ramparts. As a result, there is little money flowing through the hands of the traders and craftsmen of the Venturer Hall courtyard now. The presence of the Holy City humans outside only serves as a reminder of hard times.
The characters are finally granted some excitement. Even though the midday bell has rung and uru is available for sale in the Venturer Hall, they see people heading towards the walls. Joining them, they are able to see that the Holy City humans have become active out in the Safe Hearths shantytown, up against the Port Stacks. It is quickly obvious that the Folk have managed to locate and penetrate a food stash of significant size: great sacks of grain are being cast out from the second and third levels to the hands of the Folk below. Occasional violence breaks out between Living Weapons and gangs of shantytown dwellers angry at the devastation.
Mahees is deeply-affected by the sight, and decides to take matters into his own hands. Fixing his gaze upon the great leather pipe stretching from the Venture Fount uru well on the fifth level to the top of the Venturer Hall, he decides to try climbing across to the Stacks upon its Unbreakable Rope harness. Not pausing to plan, he rushes to the wall of the Venturer Hall and scales it. His efforts are briefly interrupted by an upset Red Pike who orders him to get down and tries jabbing at him when he refuses. He responds by climbing up further, out of reach of the man's pike. Up at the top of the Hall, he is about to start out to the Stack when he is intercepted by a pair of Red Pikes, one of them carrying a bow. He finally agrees to give up and go with them. They escort him back down to the courtyard.
A couple of hours after the disturbances, the characters find themselves sitting around drinking Marikbeer served by one of Marik's occasional bausker servants. A well-dressed bausker wearing the sash of an Archivist approaches them. Even before he is able to speak, one of the characters picks out that he is an Archivist and asks, "Do you know the Librarian Four-Gear? I hear that he has vanished, along with several bausker assistants." The Archivist, who appears somewhat surprised by the question, acknowledges that he knew Four-Gear, and that he was related to two of the bauskers who disappeared with him.
The characters finally allow the Archivist to tell them his message. He confirms that the characters include the magician Marik, the beast-man who tried scaling the Venturer Hall walls, and the frozen man who wanted work as a Red Pike, then explains that he bears a request from Hall Warden Tobrey asking to see them just after the evening bell. The Archivist points up to the balcony on the Venturer Hall, and mentions that the Hall Warden is up there, as is his habit, watching over the Hall. Mahees looks up at him and makes "shoot him now" motions, as though he were drawing an arrow upon his bow. The Archivist notices, and mentions that the balcony is protected by a Reverse Missiles spell, as one idiot with a crossbow discovered three days ago.
The Archivist departs, but not after leaving the characters with a pass to allow them entry into the Venturer Hall at the appointed time. Mahees spends the intervening time taking a series of short naps and playing with his catnip mouse.
The characters meet with Hall Warden Tobrey as promised. They find him waiting for them in a small, well-appointed room on the fourth floor of the Venturers Hall. They find him an unhappy man. As all Hall Wardens, he was elected from among the prominent traders of the Venturers early in the last Voyage, and he should even now be calling the assembly to select his successor for the next Stay. However, there are clauses within the Venturer Compact allowing the Hall Warden to extend his term in times of crisis or disaster. Even though there is certainly some justification for Tobrey to invoke these clauses, many Venturers think that Tobrey would prefer to simply give up his position no matter how bad the situation becomes. In part, this may be because Hall Wardens are normally able to substantially enrich themselves during their term, an opportunity that Tobrey did not have.
Tobrey is very direct. He explains that the food stash the characters saw raided belonged to an ally of his, a paurkend trader named Ogub. Tobrey is concerned that Ogub, his family, and his people might have come to a terrible fate. He wants the characters to go to Ogub's stash and find out what happened to the trader. If he and his people are still alive, then he wants them brought back to the Venturer Hall, or to another place of safety. For this, he will give the characters one Blue clavar (C256) each – one fragment in advance, and the remaining three fragments upon the characters return.
The characters pretty much accept this deal as given, with the one proviso that they may want to bring Ogub and his people to some other place, perhaps either Doorway City or Sayoch Bounty. Tobrey is willing to agree to this condition, though he points out that he will only pay them if they come back to the Venturer Hall, bearing at least a letter from Ogub saying that he is safe.
Marik suggests that the characters might want to approach Ogub's stash through the Stack, and asks if Tobrey can provide him with a map of the area. Tobrey tells him that he can get a new map of the Stacks from the Archivists.
Marik sets the basic theme of the plan when he says that he can create a Flying Carpet big enough to carry all of the characters as far as the Stacks. He suggests using it to fly into the Stacks to avoid having to walk through masses of Holy City Humans. The other characters agree that this is a good plan. Marik uses a section of tent canvas to make the carpet. He is forced to let Arnoux Urag actually fly the thing, as his own fingers are far too clumsy to keep him from crashing it into walls.
Antok of the Storm Tribe casts Continual Light on the tips of one of his spears and one of Dojango's spears, turning them into light sources as bright as campfires. He then uses Lend ST to give Marik three fatigue back. That task done with, he collapses in exhaustion.
Marik is disappointed to recognize that it is currently Yagsday, so he does not get bonuses to any of his spells (just Yaggo Theology).
The flight into the Stacks goes well. Arnoux sets down the carpet on a balcony at the third level. Arnoux, Dojango and Mahees stand guard (and face down a few rather tentative, poorly-armed locals) while Marik and Antok recover from their spellcasting. The Hall Warden's map proves accurate enough to lead the characters right to the back of Ogub's stash and a crowd of Holy City humans lurking about the place.
The characters make short work of the Holy City mob. Marik uses a Glue spell across a corridor to stop the Folk from advancing. This entraps a half-dozen of them, but doesn't even slow down two Living Weapons who jump across the sticky area. Arnoux and Dojango do slow the Living Weapons down, stabbing them even as they ready themselves to attack. Antok finds himself pressed on the characters right flank, faced with five Living Weapons come through a doorway. Two of them render him insensible with Daze spells, while a third makes a series of ineffective jabs that don't even manage to pierce through his icy skin. By the time they are ready to move against the other characters, Marik has finished transforming himself into a tiger, and the fight is over almost before it begins. Antok recovers in time to dispatch two Living Weapons (one of them with an aggressive leaping thrust as the man tries to escape through an overhead hatchway. Marik savages the rest, all save for one who escapes. The remainder of the Folk disperse into the depths of the Stacks.
Dojango surprises everyone when he scalps the one Living Weapon he killed. Antok asks, "Is there a bounty on these guys?" Dojango grunts and responds, "No. I just do this. It's important."
With the Holy City humans out of the way, the characters are quick to find the boundaries of Ogub's stash. They identify five different Doors, all of them sealed with either Green or Yellow clavars, except for one sealed with nothing more than a Red. Mahees impetuously decides that he will open this door, and is answered with two arrows for his trouble. He dodges to the side and escapes unharmed.
At this point, Antok sees an opportunity. Believing that the archers must be Ogub's men, he tells them not to shoot, and that he is a friend. One of them yells out that he should show himself. When he does, they shoot at him again, albeit to little effect. Antok acts upset, and tells them to stop. They respond with more arrows. Antok finally loses patience, and brings out his atlatl. A strange duel ensues, in which the archers exchange fire with Antok until he runs out of spears and the other characters run out of patience. They rush into the room, determining that there are three spearmen alongside the archers, and that all of them are Paturki humans, known for their aggressive natures. A brief but intense fight ensues. By the end of it, the characters have felled all five of the Paturki, and Dojango has collected an impressive red-haired scalp.
With the Paturki out of the way, the characters are easily able to locate Ogub, his mate, their three adult children, and their eight bausker servants, sealed off in a side chamber. They are able to convince Ogub that they are friendly, and provide them with an escort back to the Venturer Hall.
The session ends with the characters back in the Venturer Hall. Each character gains three experience points. Antok immediately spends his to improve his Spear Thrower, Spear, and Boxing skills (one point each).