5th Of Rain: Godsday Tournament And Festival
Naturally, it was Diethan who brings us all together. Sometimes I think he knows everyone in the city of Ptolus.
The Godsday Festival is going on at the Tournament Field just north of the city wall, so decide to meet there. The seven of us want to discuss, of all things, a moneymaking scheme. We all have our reasons for wanting cash. The litorians, Tharn and Charnoth, want to free their captured tribemates from slavers—groups like the Ennin. Barbatos wants money for his lofty wizard’s lifestyle. The canny sibeccai Archinemus, a foundling like myself, seeks to avenge his father, who died in debtor’s prison. Calista, who practices song magic, is looking for a purpose to her life. Of course, I want to raise enough to pay for the only akashic in Ptolus to tell me about the word inscribed on my brooch: Hu-Charad. (Dad has always told me it must be my family name.) My job at the Delver’s Guild sure doesn’t pay enough for me to save up that much. I’m not sure what Diethan really wants out of all this, but he’s the one who found out about the opportunity.
After talking for some time about what we all are looking for and what we all have to offer, we agree to form a partnership. Our goal: to buy a magic-item shop in Delver’s Square called Myraeth’s Oddities. Apparently no one but Diethan even knows the owner wants to sell.
Of course, we have to find a way to raise the down payment on the shop. To do that, we decide to venture into the Halls of Cordaris, some Dungeon levels recently cleared of orcs by an unfortunate group of delvers. Just two days ago, their very large group went down into the orc-infested area. From the Guild’s records, I’ve learned that Cordaris was an underground complex created at least two hundred years ago by a fanatical order of monastic knights called the Order of the Legacy. They were dedicated to preserving and guarding some very old secret. The Order diminished over time, and the remnants were wiped out within the last year by orc mercenaries, who made Cordaris their base. These delvers decided to slay the orcs and secure Cordaris once again (and, of course, explore this long-forbidden place to look for treasure — and maybe even the Order’s secret). However, the orcs were a lot more numerous and capable than they’d suspected. While the group managed to slay all the orcs, the delvers suffered terrible losses, and the few survivors retreated. I can’t imagine they will ever return.
So, we have Cordaris—which would normally carry a danger rating of 4 by Guild standards—standing unguarded and unplundered. There ought to be a lot of unclaimed treasure down there within our reach. And, best of all, I’ve managed to convince the Guild to keep the area quarantined just a little longer, to give us the edge.
That decided, we join in the festival competitions. The litorians win the brawling match (despite a halfling’s attempt to poison them), and I manage to come out ahead in the hurling contest. Our other friends started their money-earning early by betting on the outcomes. I’m glad I didn’t fail them.
After the games, we retire to the Ghostly Minstrel tavern in Delver’s Square and meet a veteran adventurer named Sheva Callister. She shares with us some of the latest “adventurer’s news”: The slave trade is increasing in the Dark Market beneath the Undercity Market. (I never heard of a “dark” market!) In addition, she warned us to beware of the Balacazars. (Well, that much I knew! Who’d ever want to cross the biggest crime family in Ptolus?) We also learn that a dark elf, Shilukar, is gathering gnoll mercenaries to form a magical burglary force. He has a fence named Ammel Dar. Hmm. Not sure how this information could help us earn money for our store venture, but it’s worth knowing, I suppose.
All this sure is a change of pace from my normal routine. I guess that’s why I started keeping this journal. My life is really starting to take me somewhere, and I want to remember everything!
6th Of Rain
We equip ourselves for the foray into the underlevels—I now carry someone’s used great axe, which I bought at Rastor’s—and make for the Halls of Cordaris. I’ve learned the way into this area from Delver’s Guild records. We enter through an old building in the north part of Midtown, through an elderly man’s broken-down warehouse. We locate some old passages and eventually find our way to a pit. Inside it are a dead orc and a live otyugh. At least, that’s what I think it is. There are many dead bodies here, but before I can dwell on that fact too long, we’re attacked by an orc sniper and many vicious bats. I thought all the orcs down here were dead! We acquit ourselves well in our first battle: Well, the wizard Barbatos shrieks like a girl and flees, but not bad aside from that.
We find a book about the Legacy, which is supposed to involve knowledge of what the world is, within and without. It says the Order of the Legacy was formed hundreds of miles south of the city near a place called Mrathrach’s Pit. Supposedly an angel touched one Lord Timonius Creed and gave him a secret and power, knowledge of the Creator. “World and inhabitants, we are one,” the book says. He then bequeathed the secret to a woman named Cordaris, who locked it in a tower. Urulu, an orc shaman, heard of this secret, and his whole tribe fell on the tower and took it over. A monk named Sister Dirann hid with the Legacy in the wilderness. To test it, she found one of many chaos wells beneath Ptolus and tamed it with the Legacy. This Legacy, the fundamental essence of order and purity of the world, can neutralize chaos! (I wonder if we can find that?)
What we do find is a dwarf named Ulf Fireseeker. The Order of the Legacy captured him before the Ornu-Nom orcs came here. (Other recent invaders include an urloc leading some Toruk-Rul orcs. Those are scary creatures!) The Legacy monks asked Ulf what the dwarves knew about the Order and so forth. Not enough, apparently—he’s pretty banged up, been tortured pretty bad. We find another prisoner, Kanagi, who’s been held for fifty years! She looks like a satyr or tiefling, but she says she’s a forlaran: half fiend, half nymph. Whatever she is, she’s pretty foul tempered. We also find a little grey guy named Shim. He’s hard to focus on—he’s a skulk and can vanish easily. (The skulks watch everyone in the city, or so he claims. I thought his race was only a rumor until now.) He’d been sneaking around seeking the Legacy’s secret. He tells us, in fact, that the secret’s in a lower level. Plus, he thinks some monks are still alive down there. He shows us his sign (an X with a top bar and arc across it) and says we should use it if we ever need to find him again. Then Shim leads the other prisoners out.
We find a secret passage in a side room/library. There we locate a treasure room with a dozen chests! That’s more like it! We leave with two chests, the ones filled with gold and silver. I can use some of this money to pay off a Master Delver of the Guild to quarantine the area for another month, so we can have the Halls of Cordaris all to ourselves.
In one day of adventuring, I’ve already accomplished more than I have in my whole life up to now. Who’d have thought it would be this easy?
