Tim (Antok Six-Hearted) disses us for lunch, but makes up for it by telling incredibly painful stories about men with women's breast implants and the fetishes they feed. Chris (Gruul) concludes that stories like these are yet another reason why mankind should be shot in the head and left in a ditch by the side of the road. Chuck (Galen) and Paul (Marik) simply guffaw madly. Bruce ignores them all and transcribes this sordid incident for the world to read.
The curtain rises on the first day of the 3087th Stay. Yaggo has just arrived at the world of Eafa after a short Voyage of only 21 days. The characters immediately commence debating their plans. They initially agree to stay inside the Boat, for fear of being left behind, but then start to think better of this plan. Marik finds an old paurkend expert trader and pays him a consulting fee of 50 clavars to estimate the value of Sangorn pottery in Eafa. The paurkend makes some guesses that are far too low, but which point out that buyers in Firesky will probably be willing to spend about four times as much for the stuff as buyers in Eafa. He offers to buy the whole lot of it from Marik for 2500 clavars, sight unseen.
Marik relays this information on to the others, who decide that they'd much rather wait for the big score. Particularly since they don't currently need the money and have four Voyages' worth of storage time left with Ulgutulgun.
None of this stops the characters from looking for new, interesting rumors. Or stumbling upon them. Or just being handed them, as if on a small slip of paper from the hand of god. Some of the more interesting tidbits the characters decide to pass on to each other include:
Galen wants to learn something of the history and geography of Nircharstal before the thrux. He shows up and manages to make an impressive enough Savoir-Faire roll that the masters give him the necessary access to their library. In the course of his efforts he meets Ofen, a young Faian aristocrat and the eldest son of Holder Vane of Tueren. Ofen is quite impressed by the fact that Galen carries a thrux ear as a trophy. Though he is too young to actually remember Nircharstal in its days of glory, he does know how the city was laid out and proves more than willing to tell Galen all he knows.
Galen follows this success by trying to learn something of the names and skills of the thrux generals and magicians responsible for attacking Nircharstal. He is less successful in this, in part because the Ecularium doesn't know much about the thrux and in part because many of the thrux leaders died at the Augurn Plain, making it hard to tell who might still be in circulation. When Galen relates this to the other characters, Gruul starts up a long debate upon how exactly a bunch of naked hairy savages like the rushufarr were able to defeat the thrux, given that the characters had quite a time defeating only one of the creatures. A consensus builds that while the rushufarr might be naked and hairy, they are sophisticated enough to know about metal weapons and body armor. More important, several characters suspect that there were a lot more rushufarr than thrux on the field at Augurn Plain, and that most of the rushufarr didn't walk away.
Marik decides that if Galen is going to spend his time poking through libraries, he's going to look for some merchants who intend to visit Eafa. He also wants to find someone who can tell him something about the new Hall Warden. He and his furry, homicidal sidekick Gruul (who promises to extract appropriately-painful vengeance for the "sidekick" crack) manage to find two Venturer traders, a pair of paurkend brothers named Pilgren and Welgren.
The two paurkend explain that they intend to travel to the Boarding Ramps through Kupri territory at Venda's Fount, and then to pass Prince Gufteng's cordon by paying whatever taxes and bribes the guards demand. Marik has previously heard that these two have a reputation for political gutlessness, and that they very vocally supported Cull Yanag in both of his recent runs for Hall Warden. Speaking to them, Marik gets a very clear impression of a pair of Vichy France bureaucrats.
When he asks about the possibility of the characters accompanying them, the two merchants become rather nervous. Marik gathers that the two paurkend are worried that the characters might be politically questionable. They agree to let the characters travel with them if the characters can provide some guarantees that they won't be instantly arrested by Gufteng's men. They suggest that a letter of introduction from the Emissary Chuchen, Gufteng's one remaining representative in Doorway City, would be an excellent start.
Antok goes shopping. He wants magical items. Specifically, he wants elixirs. Because this is fabulous Doorway City, he is able to get whatever he wants from the normal list, except things that are clearly only useful for illegal purposes. Sadly, the war effort has doubled the prices on all combat and medical elixirs. Being flush with cash, Antok has no problem with this. He purchases four Ares elixirs, four Heracles elixirs, eight Orion elixirs, eight Chiron elixirs (because you can never have too many of those), and eight Argus elixirs. He is particularly enthusiastic about the discovery that using two Argus elixirs at the same time will grant the ability to see invisible things.
Marik and Gruul go to see Emissary Chuchen. His townhouse is large, well-marked, and located prominently upon the Electors' Plaza. It is clear from the traffic to the place that a fair number of folks still have business with Chuchen, though the characters notice that a good number of the people visiting prefer to enter through the servants' entrance, to avoid public scrutiny of their actions. Characteristically, the characters decide to go in through the front door. The doorman is a rather haggard-looking Sangorn human who acts like Emissary Chuchen will be unavailable until he sees the color of the characters' money. Gruul rather carelessly bribes the guy with a fistful of Yellows (10 of them, at 16 clavars each) then pushes past as the doorman goggles at the sum of money Gruul tossed his way.
Chuchen is an old paurkend with a thin rime of whitish hair around the back of his head. Straightaway he criticizes Marik for breaking his poor old mother's heart. Apparently, Marik never calls or writes. Especially now that he's become wealthy. She also wants him to find a nice paurkend girl and settle down. She has tremendous hopes that his children won't be like him. Marik grimaces and keeps quiet.
Gruul makes the case. He explains that the merchants the characters want to travel with are worried about the characters' good faith and political reliability. Gruul's military record and Marik's species persuade Chuchen to write a somewhat circumspect recommendation on behalf of the two of them. Gruul comments that Marik also has some servants, and will need to have authorization for their safe-passage as well. Marik, watching Chuchen write, chirps up, "My sidekick is right, I also have two servants... could this cover them as well?" Chuchen reluctantly agrees. Gruul explains to Marik sotto voce that the other characters need to be considered servants because Antok is a cannibal and Galen is Faian (and thus somewhat politically suspect).
Marik and Gruul leave Chuchen holding their letter of introduction.
The letter of introduction works wonders upon Pilgren and Welgren. The paurkend agree to let the characters go with them, but caution that depart in two days. Pilgren explains that he and his brother don't want to be the first traders off. They want to let someone else do the risky initial scouting. Their trade goods include: ghulkraw skulls, spices from the far Garden, local cloth, items dredged up from the deep Bilges, and some other items. They also have some large silver coins (actual value $2 each) that they're willing to sell for 3 clavars each. Marik and Gruul each spend 600 clavars buying 200 of them (400 total).
The characters discuss what they can bring as trade goods. Because Eafa is noted for manufactured goods, the variety of local goods from Yaggo's Boat that make good exports is limited. Antok suggests that at worlds like this, the locals might consider the arrival of Yaggo's Boat to be a bit like a Viking raid. The characters speculate that magical items are a good bet for sale, as they have heard that enchanted items are particularly rare in Eafa. They spend time thinking about what sort of items might appeal to the Eafan sense of style. The problem is that they have no idea what Eafan natives like.
The characters end up solving the debate in the simplest manner possible. Gruul fetches out three crates of pottery (roughly 9000 clavar nominal value, total weight is 150 kilograms). They hire some pack bauskers from Yachircuchek's clan to carry the pottery and their other supplies (Galen: "Plus, you can have sex with them!"). Antok, interested in traveling in absurd style, pays for a couple more bauskers to pull a rickshaw. They negotiate a rate of 5 clavars per day for bearers, with a maximum load of 50 kg each. They end up hiring twelve bauskers (3 to carry the pottery, 4 for the characters' supplies, 2 for Antok's rickshaw, and 3 more to carry six days' worth of food). Total cost is 60 clavars per day. The characters pay 600 clavars for ten days' service, plus another 400 clavars for various traveling supplies. Each character kicks in 250 clavars to cover the expense.
Pilgren and Welgren have a caravan of forty bauskers and six mule-drawn wagons. They are hiring their bauskers from a different family tree, so bickering between the two groups happens instantly. The bauskers end up singing their ancestor lists at each other. Marik groans under the assault of fifty high-pitched, chirping voices and groans, "Oh grief. This will go on all day."
The journey through Venda's Fount is efficient and impersonal. The Kupri and the traders have some kind of deal worked out already. The Kupri count things out in a vague sort of way, money changes hands, and everyone gets waved through without any trouble. Both the Kupri and the characters take pains to avoid interacting with each other.
Pilgren and Welgren pick up a half-dozen tough-looking gaurman guards at the ramps. All of them are mace-armed and carry big shields, but they only wear inexpensive leather armor. They look plenty tough, but not too bright except for Boss Gunk, the rather shifty-eyed leader. Gruul decides that they are not drawn from among Prince Gufteng's front-line men.
The letter of introduction greases all sorts of wheels with Thousand-Flag Gultel Chu's men at the ramps. No problem getting through Gufteng's men. Pilgren and Welgren slap each other on the back, "We now have the most dangerous psychopaths we could find, for free, and they got through the guards!"
The characters descend the Boarding Ramps to look upon the Eafan countryside. The first thing they notice is that it's cold. Quite cold. With a bone-cutting wind. The brown grasses are still visible through the snow in most places, but the ground is frozen hard. The characters notice that some of the bauskers were expecting this, and are busy wrapping up their feet in warm cloths. Others are less prepared, and look very miserable.
Marik very triumphantly tells the other characters, "Luckily I already have both a cloak and a fine embroidered robe!" The other characters notice that a Kupri merchant at a nearby stall is selling cloaks for 50 clavars and boots for 40 clavars. Gruul buys a cloak. Suitably fortified against the chill, he tells Welgren, "Some of your guys look like they're gonna freeze to death..." Welgren responds, "We'll find them something local. Plus I've got brandy." Antok interjects, "So you can be warm for all of them?"
The characters are able to see that the land slopes downward towards a river. A couple of disused-looking stone buildings are visible on the riverbanks. Pilgren tells them that the city of Eohel is some distance upriver, and sounds like quite a substantial place. They will be making their way there.
By the time the caravan approaches the stone buildings, it is obvious that they have been recently reoccupied. There is a group of Faians camped out there, selling stew and tea at a price of 1 clavar a bowl. Galen examines the size of the bowls and buys a half-serving for each of the 52 bauskers. The Faians give him a 20% discount, charging only 20 clavars for the lot, and throw in hot tea and butter for everyone else. The characters can see that several more Faians are bringing in cut wood from the nearby forest to feed the fire and to provide materials for the primitive dock another group is constructing. The Faians also have a substantial herd of pandith penned up out behind the buildings, obviously stew ingredients on the hoof.
The caravan progresses along the river until nightfall, seeing little sign of habitation along the way. Welgren draws up next to them and asks for their opinion. He thinks that Eohel is still three or four hours' travel away, though there are probably outlying settlements that are closer. He wants to stop in a copse just ahead and camp outside. He wants to know what the characters think. The characters suggest that he could end up with a crowd of frostbitten bauskers by morning if he camps outdoors in the cold. They offer to scout ahead and look for a village. Marik fires up a flying carpet to expedite the matter.
The characters fly about ten meters up at a speed of about 30 kph. Marik pilots and everyone else keeps out a sharp eye for signs of life, or for sudden rises or tall trees that could bring their trip to a painful end. The terrain slopes slightly upwards, with occasional steeper hills reaching down close to the river. Trees tend to grown densely along the trailing edges of the hills. The riverbanks are lined with grasses, marsh rushes and small undergrowth.
It doesn't take long for the characters to spot four lights, apparently suspended high above the ground, and a fifth light among the trees far from the river. The characters head first for the four lights. They find a small village of about twenty buildings (two of them made of stone), flanked by two watchtowers. The light they saw came from the watchtower lamps. Unfortunately, the watchman in the first tower can only speak durvien (the local language). Galen rather hopefully looks at the fellow's spear and suggests, "He speaks the universal language: violence!" Marik rather more realistically offers, "Maybe he can do gestures!" Gruul cautions, "Not while you're flying…" Antok just admires the watchman's wide straw hat and heavily-bundled clothing.
The characters debate upon the chances of getting him to wear one of the Tongue-Twisting Circlets. They decide to come back later, once the appropriate authorities have been roused. Almost as if on cue, the watchman knocks on the watchtower side with the haft of his spear, making a sharp tock! sound. A much louder tock! from the base of the tower answers him.
On the way back the characters fly by the campfire. They reason that watchtowers around a village only make sense if the villagers think there is a need to watch for something. The thing they are watching for might even now be warming itself at the distant campfire.
The characters float up slowly, trying to avoid drawing attention. Night-seein' Antok with Argus in his eyes peers out to see what is around the campfire. He spots fifteen shortish fellows sleeping around the fire. Some of them are bundled in crappy clothing. Antok sees that some of the nearer ones are still wearing broken ankle-chains The characters simply fly away, though Gruul debates the value of dropping a bucket of tar on their fire. The characters deduce that they are probably escaped slaves.
Pilgren and Welgren are happy to hear that there is a village nearby, and drive the caravan on to reach it. By the time they arrive at the outskirts there are four figures waiting for them. Three of them are wearing cloaks stuffed with straw and oval straw hats and carry spears in their hands. The fourth villager is much more substantial-looking: he wears a similar oval hat, but is dressed in several layered cloaks of nice quality. Gruul is obscurely depressed that the boss' hat is the same size as the villagers' hats. All four of them have fine facial features, though the leader is noticeably more attractive than his escort.
The characters manage to hold a conversation with the leader using the Tongue-Twisting Circlets. He welcomes them to the village of Jat and asks a price of twenty large silver coins to let the characters and their fifty or so bauskers stay the night inside a local barn. The characters, already not very impressed with the moral rectitude of their companions, don't negotiate very hard. They manage to get the leader to throw in some of the local flatbread in the dead. Marik removes his circlet and explains to Pilgren and Welgren, "They wouldn't go down on price, but they threw in some free bread." Pilgren is absolutely overwhelmed, "They threw in free bread!" He instantly agree to pay. Gruul moans, "These guys are Nick..."
The session ends on the morning of the 5th day of the 3087th Stay. The characters wake in time to see several dugun laborers bringing in animal feed for the other creatures living in the stable.
Each character gains three experience points.