Most of March passed while Paradoxides and Ubaron closetted themselves away in the former’s pad in Basi. They eventually appear in Sequarl with what appears to be a black silk tent and a rolled up carpet. This, they proudly announce to their comrades, is a Meditation Carpet. It will greatly enhance the range of any divination, especially below the ground. The warriors look up briefly but then go back to sharpening their weapons – they know that this simply presages a lot of sitting around doing nothing while the magicians make their prognostications. It might prove useful but it will certainly be dull.
They think that taking a dwarf along would be a good idea but they don’t have one to hand. However, they do have a gnome. It’s been a while since they called on Filir, but he pronounces himself keen. Girindor has also reappeared after an absence of many weeks. He has nothing to say about where he has been. Grettir wonders whether he has been to the elven homelands to report on the real identity of the “orc traders”, a mystery they had been futilely exploring for nigh on two decades. They also try to find Amonsil, the young priest of Ptah who accompanied them to Uskedir, but have no luck there.
They spend much time quizzing Gunnar about what they might find there. He paints a picture of many rival bands – mostly led by magicians – exploring the ruins for treasure, while fending off each other and the orcs, along with the ghouls and other undead that infest the place at night. In theory the whole city is still claimed by the Empire, who issue permits to explore and periodically try to enforce them. Gunnar’s ex-boss, Lecutus, was one of those with a permit, though many did not bother. He mentions that there seems to be something in the city that contra-indicates flying over it. Certainly Lecutus never did so, though it was certainly within his compass so to do – nor did any of his rivals.
When all is in readiness, Paradoxides and Ubaron teleport the party once more to the ancient ruins of Byzantos, arriving in a room above one of the broken acqueducts leading into the city. They begin their exploration and once more find themselves ambushed by roughly a score of orcs, who in turn find that they have bitten off more than they can chew. Once more these are well organised (by orcish standards) and some are well equipped with ancient but good quality brightsteel weapons and armour. On one they find a bag containing a dead crow. It has a gold pin embedded in its head and a silver ring on its on its foot – both magic. The crow had been clubbed to death.
Gunnar guides the party to a sprawling area covered with pieces of broken statuary. Nearly all pieces are religious and derive from the many cults of the Pantheon to which Osiris, Isis and Ptah belong. It seemed that they were in some sort of analogue of Chittagong’s Street of the Temples, but it was plainly somewhat less ecumenical in flavour. Picking over this for most of the day, the warriors are proved right in their dismal predictions, as the magicians frequently pitch their tent and spend long hours casting their divinations. This they say is to confuse any observers as to their real intention – to discover the temple of Ptah. There is certainly no shortage of potential observers. Crows, many equipped with the same gold pins observed on the corpse of the bird the orc was carrying, lurk everywhere. There are ravens too, although these do not have the pins. Girindor swears that one of the latter croaked “Nevermore!” as it flew off.
On the sixth pitching of the tent the magicians emerge looking smug, saying that they think they’ve found what they are looking for. However, they insist they must stake out another pitch, in order to obfuscate their observers. By the time this is done, it is getting late. As they leave the city they have a distinct impression of forces being mustered against them to strike once the sun goes down.
G-15a
OE Date: Late March 695
Characters: Grettir, Paradoxides, Ubaron, Wilf, Girindor NPCs: Kolgrim, Filir, Gunnar
Real World: February 2009; Where: Maisemoor
See also Ubaron’s Diaries