The Book of Visitations of Glory

Issue Eight | May 2005

Ahoggyás Ahoy!

by Krista Donnelly

Author’s Introduction

This scenario is set somewhat before the events in A Death of Kings. Thus, the mad king Griggatsétsa is still on the throne, and Prince Zhurrilúgga is the power behind the throne. All depictions of Salarvyáni politics are completely non-canonical, inspired by the off-hand comment from the book that, “the Ahoggyá who dwell in the Sharúna Lowlands rise and massacre every human they can find.” Normally, Ahoggyá are depicted as loyal, if short-term, members of the various legions from the Five Empires. This scenario is a riff on what might have set them off.

Most of the Ahoggyá information is taken straight from the Swords and Glory Source Book, Volume 1 and from Blue Room posts. This includes the Eye of Absolute Depilation, the descriptions of Ahoggyá poetry and standard Ahoggyá behavior toward human visitors. The poetry slam, its connection to the ritual dances, and specifically identifying the dances as mating rituals are my additions.

Referee’s Introduction

The scenario is for 2-7 players. It’s divided into a series of sections. The first is the shipwreck itself, next is swamp travel and survival, and the last section deals with meeting the Salarvyáni soldiers and encountering the Ahoggyá village and its inhabitants.

A brief synopsis of events is as follows: The players are merchants, plus an Imperial envoy and his OAL bodyguard, who are on a ship bound for Tsatsayágga. (The character sheets detail their motivations for being on this trip.) The ship will never reach Tsatsayágga since it is attacked by an akhó at the start of the scenario. The players will have to flee the ship as it sinks and venture into the swamps of the Sharúna Lowlands. Unbeknownst to them, the Ahoggyá are being riled up by an unwise offer from the powerful Hrüchcháqsha Family. Meanwhile, the Khekhkhéssa Clan got wind of these goings-on, and secretly sent in some soldiers to snatch the Hrüchcháqsha agent. [See The Background and The Sniping]

In the swamp, the players will encounter the Khekhkhéssa soldiers and come out of the encounter as captives, partners or reluctant collaborators in their schemes against the Hrüchcháqsha agent who’s holed up in the Ahoggyá village. The Ahoggyá themselves have some exciting events of their own to attend to before they’re interested in dealing with all these annoying humans in their midst. The last scenes of the scenarios will probably be in the Ahoggyá village or just afterwards, as the players make their way out of the swamp.

The Background

Most of the characters have at least a tangential connection to the gathering political storm in eastern Salarvyá, though no one knows enough to piece together what’s going on. Western Salarvyá is divided politically between two of that country’s seven great feudal families: the Khekhkhéssa Clan, based in Héru, and the Hrüchcháqsha Family, hailing from Chame’él. The Khekhkhéssa Clan is one of the smaller of the Great Families. They have only 3 legions: the Nchésh of Lord Dreshú’uga Khekhkhéssa, underfunded and mainly used to protect Héru and the approaches to Tamkáde Bay; the Nchésh of Lord Zrelléshqya Khekhkhéssa, famed for its hlutrgú-hunting ability and frequently on patrol on the Tsolyáni border in the Gilráya Forest; and their small Ahoggyá force, the Nchésh of the Two-Pronged Spear, which is patrolling the dangerous nothern frontiers of Salarvyá. Dreshú’uga’s parsimonious side shows through in his dealings with Zhúrak, the ship captain and merchant. When his underlings first chanced upon this unexpected source of vrélq, he saw the chance to free himself from trading with the Hrüchcháqsha Family for the essential black dye derived from the vrélq which is preferred for most Salarvyáni clothing and armor. By buying every shipment and carefully cultivating the crustaceans, he’s building up colonies that he can exploit for himself. Eventually, he hopes to enter the larger market and break the Hrüchcháqsha Family’s monopoly. As far as Dreshú’uga and his son and heir Vindumákh know, no one is aware of their vrélq plans.

The Hrüchcháqsha Family is headed by Vrummíshsha Deddlaqa’â. Vrummíshsha is ably supported by his son Hu’úgga. It’s a sign of the ambition and ruthlessness of the Deddlaqa’â lineage that they have taken over control of the Family from the more senior Hrüchcháqsha lineage. Vrummíshsha aspires to complete domination of western Salarvyá. But, though stronger than the Khekhkhéssa Clan, his four legions are not enough to launch an attack. His somewhat theoretical interest in expansion was renewed as he watched vrélq black-dye sales to the Khekhkhéssa start a slow but steadily increasing decline. Turning ideas over furiously, he got to thinking about his Ahoggyá legion, the Nchésh of the Circle of Light. They were all mercenaries from the Flats of Gyógma, across the Straits. Yet they served as long (only several years) and as loyally (very) as the local Ahoggyá recruited by the other Great Families. His eye turned to the Sharúna Lowlands, located within his territories. A virtually autonomous Ahoggyá province, the nonhumans there had little interaction with the outside due to the inaccessibility of their swamp homeland. If he could reach them, he could recruit whole legions which could easily overwhelm the Khekhkhéssa forces. But how to pay so many? Ahoggyá wanted very little, but they did love the taste of human flesh which they got it so rarely. And battles were always so bloody. The solution was obvious. Send out a highly trusted subordinate to secure the loyalty of the wild Ahoggyá of the Sharúna Lowlands with a little gold and lots of promises of the flesh of those they defeated in battle. This is how Hu’úgga came to spend much of the last six months in the swamp.

Prince Zhurrilúgga, of the ruling Chruggilléshmu Family of Tsatsayágga, has heard rumors of this conflict, and is astute enough to recognize that civil war is on the verge of breaking out in his country. In the hopes of preserving Salarvyáni unity by drawing the Tsolyáni in as aggressors, he’s sent for an envoy from Tsolyánu (Achán). Once Achán arrives, he will spread rumors among all the families that the Tsolyáni Emperor has presented demands on Salarvyáni territory and will use this threat to call a levy of troops from each of the families. In theory, this will disrupt plans for an internal war.

The Sniping

An invasion is a fine idea, but it doesn’t solve the immediate trade crisis. Vrummíshsha decided on a two-pronged attack on Dreshú’uga. In the event that the source of his vrélq was external, he began paying Háida Pakálani pirates to risk attacking traffic in Támkade Bay itself. Zhurák’s ship, while not targeted specifically, did fall victim to this tactic. This line of attack was followed up by obtaining a supply of fake inspection certificates (some came from Bálesh), and sending “inspectors” out to search incoming ships for vrélq (whose actions shook Mottán’s confidence).

But Vrummíshsha also entertained the idea that Dreshú’uga had come up with something that didn’t involve an external supply, however unlikely that was. And so, through intermediaries, two years ago he hired an assassin to kill Dreshú’uga. The assassin attacked at a party, throwing Pa’íya’s Kiss (a glass object filled with the juice of the Food of the Ssú) but only succeeded in burning Dreshú’uga and alarming several by-standers (including Achán). The assassin subsequently used a letter (created by Bálesh) to join the Nchésh of Lord Zrelléshqya to investigate the Tsolyáni border.

Lord Dreshú’uga may be a cheapskate, but he’s not an idiot. After the attack at the party, he began investigating his enemies to find out the culprit. Being the head of a Salarvyáni family, this required an intensive investment of time. In the end, too many signs pointed to the Hrüchcháqsha Family to ignore them. One persistant rumor had the heir Hu’úgga off in the godsforsaken wilderness of the Sharúna Lowlands. On the chance that this was true, he directed one of his best units from the Nchésh of Lord Zrelléshqya to infiltrate Hrüchcháqsha territory, find Hu’úgga and smuggle him out. One way or another, Dreshú’uga would have his revenge.

It’s unfortunate for Dreshú’uga that Vrummíshsha’s assassin happened to be in the unit sent to hunt Hu’úgga down.

Events in the Sharúna Lowlands

Hu’úgga Deddlaqa’â has spent the last six months traveling through the swamp, visiting Ahoggyá villages and signing them up to join the Hrüchcháqsha legions. In each village, he’s offering an immediate payment of 5 sacks of the gold Nzúggesh coins (each sack contains 1,000 coins, the equivalent of 5,000 Káitars) and explaining about the payment in flesh after the battles. The Ahoggyá are illiterate but conform to human standards enough to place their mark on the treaty that Hu’úgga is carrying in a scroll-case at his side. They are also passing along primitive messages with Hu’úgga that he doesn’t understand. These messages are in the form of small leather bags filled with common objects (leaves, sticks, pebbles, bits of bone or rotting meat) which can be “read” by an Ahoggyá recipient. Hu’úgga is carrying dozens of such messages from the local “Beloved of Eight Sexes” which he shows at every opportunity to prove that others have agreed to the treaty. What he doesn’t understand is that the simplicity of the message that these bags can convey has greatly distorted his message. The Ahoggyá understand that they will be able to kill and eat all the humans that they desire for the duration of their service. In their excitement over this unprecedented offer, they’ve also passed along the news to the Ahoggyá who live across the Straits in the Flats of Gyógma. From there, the misconception has been filtering back to Ónmu Tlé Hléktis, the Ahoggyá nation to the far east. In another six months or so, a flotilla from Ónmu Tlé Hléktis will arrive to join in on the fun.

Yesterday, however, events took an unfortunate turn for Hu’úgga. While approaching the last Ahoggyá village he had to recruit, he ran into scouts from the Nchésh of Lord Zrelléshqya. He was being carried on a litter by his Ahoggyá [see Encountering Hu’úgga’s Boat for more information on his current situation], clutching each side with a death-grip. When they rounded a bend in the trail, they came across the scouts who immediately opened fire with a rain of arrows. While doing minimal damage to the Ahoggyá, Hu’úgga was wounded in the right foot and the abdomen. The Ahoggyá chased down two of the scouts and tore them apart limb from limb. The third scout successfully fled and warned the others. The Ahoggyá continued into the village, snacking on their human drumsticks as they went. Hu’úgga is now resting in the village, waiting impatiently for his business there to be concluded. The soldiers are planning an assault. The assassin is plotting how to keep Hu’úgga safe without revealing his identity.

A Brief Ahoggyá Primer

Ahoggyá stand 4 to 5 feet tall and have thick-barreled bodies topped by a domed armored carapace. Set just under the rim of the carapace are four equally spaced arms and four splayed legs. Between the arms are four pairs of independently moveable eyes and other organs.

Village
The village is typical of all Ahoggyá villages. The larger huts are gathered around a central dance ground, and the village as a whole is surrounded by quagmires and encircled by a fence of venomous hooked spines. Each hut is a single-story, 1-room wattle-and-daub structure built up on stilts above the bog with a pitched thatch roof. The center of the floor is open so that a stout ladder can be let down to permit entrance and exit. The floors of these huts are clean and bare with personal possessions being hung from the rafters in string bags. They sleep in a sitting position with their four legs tucked under their thick, cylindrical body. They don’t use equivalents of a bed or blankets.

Eating
Ahoggyá eat squatting on the floor, the ground or on a log, and devour their food with a delirious frenzy. They mostly eat smelly, unsavory vegetables. However, they will eat the corpses of other sentient species (but not their own corpses). Human flesh is considered a delicacy, one they don’t understand why it should be denied to them. They don’t drink alcohol since it’s mildly poisonous to them. If they should ingest any alcohol, it will produce severe cramps, nausea and diarrhea. They know about several narcotics but use them only as medicines.

Laws and Customs
No human is aware of the code of conduct in an Ahoggyá village. It is known that, in Ahoggyá lands, there’s no administration higher than the village level. Each village is ruled by one who’s called “Beloved of All Eight Sexes.” Records are kept by a system of knots in cords. Otherwise, most can’t read or write. Land is owned by the village as a whole, but there’s a complex code of individual ownership and business procedures. Violence and killing are not considered crimes. The mentally ill are routinely killed. Insults and slander are normal conversation. But theft, fraud, cheating and breaching a promise are serious offenses. If any of these events are witnessed, the witnesses may take violent action or impose punishments that seem bizarre to a human.

Ahoggyá are loyal to their village and the co-participants in the frenzied, hooting, screeching ritual dances that they perform. Their general attitude is one of rudeness, constant peevishness, and a lack of sophistication bordering on intolerable vulgarity. And their fur stinks of the swamp.

Ahoggyá toss the bodies of their dead out upon a refuse heap on the outskirts of their village.

All Ahoggyá names are unpronounceable to humans, given that humans lack the proper number of orifices and limbs to make the required noises. Ahoggyá also have 8 sexes though humans aren’t aware of their mating practices. They have no religion, and about 1 in 10 are psychic dampeners.

The Attack & Shipwreck

The merchant ship, Heart’s Delight, is a small Hrú-class ship. It’s single-masted with a triangular lateen sail. It’s 48 feet long, 20 feet across the beam and has a cargo capacity of 15 tons. The crew complement is 10 sailors and the captain. Up to six passengers and/or fighting men can be carried.

The player characters are awakened by an attack on the ship by a medium-sized akhó (20 feet long). This is normal behavior for the akhó. The captain unfortunately sailed into its home waters off the coast of the Sharúna Lowlands. The attack consists of it hitting the hull of the ship repeatedly with its 20 steel-hard tentacles. It snatched two of the crew off the deck and then started snatching at the barrels lashed there. The rest of the crew panicked and decided that they could escape by taking one of the boats and leaving while the akhó was still concentrating on the ship. This will leave the players with the 2nd boat and a ship that will sink within 10 minutes.

If the characters observe the water at all, trying to figure out what’s going on, they’ll see glimpses of long, gray things whipping around, churning the water. Anyone who remains standing still on the deck will become a target.

The boat will head out to sea. When it’s still within eyesight, the characters will see long, gray tentacles whip up high out of the water and come down on the boat, smashing it to bits. One by one, the sailors will be plucked out of the water and dragged under.

If, despite this example, the players try to take the second boat out to sea, have the akhó surface in that direction, one glaring red eye set atop a cucumber-shaped body. It’s rather full, having feasted on the crew, and will be more leisurely as it comes towards them, picking debris from the water and tossing it into its mouth (which is beneath the body).

The 2nd boat is large enough to hold all 6 characters and some personal baggage, and a few barrels of cargo. The ocean is filled with barrels floating everywhere.

If the players work together, they can get some supplies into the 2nd boat and head toward the ‘shore’. If anyone is left behind, they can grab some of the flotsam, and the current will carry them to the ‘shore’.

The Swamp

The entire coast of the Sharúna Lowlands is a swamp so no matter how far the players go up or down it, they’ll still encounter the swamp when they come to shore. Use the akhó to keep them out of the deeper waters of the open ocean.

Eventually, you’ll want the players in the swamp. Sane players will probably try to avoid the swamp as much as possible. Two options are to have the Lrí (see below) come out of the swamp and attack them. If it’s successful, it will be taking a character back to its lair in the swamp, hopefully drawing them in for a rescue attempt. Another option is to bring encounters out of the swamp. Specifically, they can encounter Ahoggyá salvaging in the ocean, or, if needed, they can be accosted by the Nchésh of Lord Zrelleshqyá while skirting the edge of the swamp.

Travel

Heart’s Delight was off the Sharúna Lowlands, a dense coastal swamp which is very similar to a mangrove swamp. The water here is very shallow, and once they get among the trees, the going becomes quite difficult. There are some channels of water between the trees where it’s deep enough for the boat to continue (about 3 feet deep), but more often it’s a shallow (1 to 2 feet) layer of water over deep, dark, sticky mud. The water is murky, stained with tannin from the mangrove trees, so it’s not possible to look at it and judge its depth. Even in the channels, the boat will get frequently stuck. If the players use the oars as poles, they can pole the boat loose and try other routes for a while. If they have bad luck doing this, they’ll lose the oar to the mud (though they can always try to recover it). Walking is almost impossible. The mud beneath the water is several feet deep so a person trying to walk will sink in up to their knees with water up to their waist. Unless they’re grabbing onto something for leverage, they won’t be able to pull their feet up out of the mud in order to move.

The channels twist and wind so it’s very easy to get lost. After they’ve spent a while trying to navigate things and survive in the swamp, they will encounter the Ahoggyá who are out foraging salvage from their ship.

Atmosphere

A swamp is a nasty place to be. It’s hot and very humid. A nasty, rotten egg smell permeates everywhere. The air is filled with biting midges and annoying insects, both small and large. It’s filled with dangerous vegetation (the Food of the Ssú) and dangerous creatures. Anyone lucky enough to be stuck here deserves to experience the full range of possibilities.

“Color” creatures include horóks, frog-like creatures. They have four limbs and soft, moist skin. They come in a variety of colors and some are quite beautiful. There’s also the chnáu, a black, segmented, snake-like creature, from one to three feet long. It has rows of tiny swimming limbs all along its tubular body and a long, needled-head. Its sharp fangs carry lethal poison but one won’t come near the players. Instead, they’ll see them periodically darting through the water or over the mud. If they are attacked, they’ll flee, if possible.

The Food of the Ssú

The swamp is threaded through with the Food of the Ssú. There are several species resident here: large, acid-filled bluish globes, purple tendrils, thick-leaved red-brown vines. Touching any of these burns like acid. The purple tendrils float in the water, intertwining themselves with the roots of the trees that stick up out of the water. The brown-leaved vines tend to twine around the trunks of the trees and the bluish globes hang overhead from the red-brown vines. Anyone walking will brush up against the purple tendrils soon enough. Grabbing for support or leverage at the tree trunks will eventually put you in contact with the thick-leaved red-brown vines. If anyone is so foolish as to eat any of the Food of the Ssú, it will be fatal. This is highly unlikely, however, as it burns on contact and if they don’t recognize it on sight, they’ll recognize it from its effects. The characters will all be familiar with the purple tendril variety. Use Intelligence checks (or any applicable Skill checks) to see whether they recognize the others or will have to learn from bitter experience.

Use a Dexterity check to avoid Food of the Ssú. Failure means suffering 1d10 damage per round (armor does reduce damage). Extended contact means that in additional to the damage suffered per round, a successful Strength check must be made every 3 minutes to avoid suffering a fatal heart attack.

Once the players have had contact with the Food of the Ssú, they should encounter the Lrí. The smallest person, or anyone who’s separated from the others, will be singled out for an attack. It will attack in the early morning, as the sun is rising, coming down from a tree. The first sign will be a loud whirring noise from its wings. Alighting on the victim’s shoulders, it will attempt to sting its victim in the back. If successful, it will wrap its six legs around the person’s body and take off again. Since this is a heavy victim for it, it will fly through the channels between the trees. It’s flying slowly enough that if the players make an effort, they can follow it to its nest. The nest was formed by piling up mud between two mangrove trees, using their roots as its support. It looks like a monstrous hornets’ nest.

Encountering the Ahoggyá

The players will hear the Ahoggyá before they see them. At intervals they will hear hooting calls in the distance and loud splashes. They will first see them in the distance. One of the barrels from the ship will be bobbing along in a channel of water in a purposeful manner. When they’ve all noticed this odd sight, they spot the Ahoggyá swimming behind it, using a kind of crazy breaststroke, propelling itself with a sort of frog kick, one opposed pair of legs kicking and then other pair, popping up its head at an angle every few strokes to look around and give the barrel another push. The Ahoggyá is moving considerably faster than the players and will pay no attention to them unless spoken to. It will respond with insults, such as “Foul-smelling idiots. Get out of the way, weaklings.”

If they move into a more open channel, an appropriate Skill check (e.g. Hunting, Observation, Tracking) will reveal that a stand of reeds up ahead is actually moving. If they close in on them., an Ahoggyá will break the surface of the murky water and overturn the boat unless everyone in it makes a Dexterity check. The Ahoggyá are walking in the mud, carrying barrels and breathing through the straws.

Keep in mind that Fíru has been given an Eye of Absolute Depilation. This is an example of the odd type of Eye created by the Lords of the Latter Times. Used on a human, it removes all body 10 hair except for that on the head. Used on an Ahoggyá, it strips the sentient of its outer skin layers and enrages it.

Hu’úgga’s Boat

If the players choose to follow the Ahoggyá, they’ll encounter Hu’úgga’s boat not far from the village. If they don’t follow them, they will encounter the Khekhkhéssa soldiers first. Hu’ugga has been travelling in the company of four Ahoggyá from their Nchésh of the Circle of Light. They have been using a typical flat-bottomed Ahoggyá boat with a tent set up in the middle of it. Within the tent, it’s as luxurious as Hu’úgga could make it. Supplies are in lashed down barrels which line the inside of the tent, forming a wall. The barrels contain such items as: drónu wine, food, water, soap, perfume, clothes, tablecloths, medical supplies, oil and oil lamps, paper, ink, reed pens, and so on. The center of the tent has layers of carpets. A mosquito net for sleeping is rolled and stored to one side. He’s also kept a desultory journal of his time on this hideous assignment.

Since the boat can’t go everywhere, Hu’úgga also originally brought along a palanquin for the Ahoggyá to carry, but they promptly broke it. Now when he has to leave the boat (as he has now), they carry him in a makeshift litter created from the remains of the palanquin. In the tightest of situations, they simply carry him. He never walks unless they’re on one of the infrequent islands within the swamp.

The boat is currently abandoned because Hu’úgga and all the Ahoggyá are in the village.

Not long after the players find the boat, they will be found by the Khekhkhéssa soldiers.

Encountering the Nchésh of Lord Zrelléshqya Khekhkhéssa

The unit of approximately 20 soldiers from this Nchésh is a group of hardened veterans, used to hunting and fighting the vicious Hlutrgú. Skilled swamp fighters, they are armed with curved short swords, short spears and light bows. After only a month in the Sharúna Lowlands they’ve hone in on Hu’úgga’s party through the simple expedient of seeking out the Ahoggyá and inquiring about the human. Yesterday, three scouts caught up with him with disastrous consequences for two of them. Their orders are to capture Hu’úgga alive and bring him back to Héru. Speculation has been running high about what Hu’úgga is doing here. Some feel he’s plotting out an invasion route to their lands and secreting caches of weapons and supplies with the Ahoggyá. Others think he’s spreading propaganda to try and persuade them not to serve in the Khekhkhéssa Ahoggyá legion any longer. Whatever it is, it’s obviously highly sensitive politically or such a high-ranking person wouldn’t be involved. They’re in a bad humor at having been forced into this swamp due to his actions.

When they find the players, they will surround them and demand their surrender. Their first suspicion will be that the players are working with Hu’úgga, and their leader, Lt. Triggumarékku, will demand their cooperation in drawing Hu’úgga out of the village. (They do not want a pitched battle with the Ahoggyá. They know they would lose.)

What if the players try to run or fight?
The soldiers will fight to subdue. They’re experienced fighters, so anyone except Qiláin really doesn’t stand a chance. Triggumarékku will promise Achán that, at the worst, he can be ransomed later.

What if the players simply refuse to cooperate?
Triggumárekku will plan an assault in the night, jumping the fence, hoping to run in, capture Huúgga and escape before the Ahoggyá know what’s happening. He does not want to do this because he knows he will lose some men. The players will be left on the outskirts of the village, lightly guarded. In this instance, they will encounter Hu’úgga as he flees the village, aided by the confusion of the assault.

What if Achán reveals his identity and throws his diplomatic weight around?
This is a workable strategy. Neither the Khekhkhéssa or the Hrüchcháqsha family want trouble with the Tsolyáni. Triggumarékku will offer to take them out of the swamp after they’ve finished their business here. He will hint that the business would go much quicker if they were to help. In no case will he now allow the players to leave; Achán is too valuable.

What if Zhúrak overcomes his bitterness towards the Khekhkhéssa Clan, reveals his identity as the vrélq trader and demands special treatment?
This will be a somewhat less successful strategy. Triggumarékku is an intelligent man, but not aware of sensitive political information. He knows his Duke has found a new supply, but doesn’t know the source. He will require some proof from Zhurák. If he is convinced, he will not allow the players to leave, and will protect Zhurák. He’s too valuable to simply let him die.

Bálesh recognizes Dággala
Bálesh, of course, doesn’t know Dággala is an assassin. He simply knows he works for the Hrüchcháqsha Family. If the player doesn’t catch on that something is odd here, have him make an Intelligence Stat check to realize he doesn’t work for this family.

Triggumarékku won’t believe this about Dággala without proof. He’ll point out that he was recommended by Lord Dreshú’uga himself. If Bálesh can recite the recommendation letter (Intelligence check), that will be proof enough for Triggumarékku.

Dággala has a chance at recognizing Bálesh (Intelligence Stat check). He’ll decide that Bálesh needs to die before he can ruin his cover. Whenever there’s an opportunity, he’ll try to create a fatal accident for Bálesh – shoving him into Food of the Ssú, tossing a chnáu his way, accidentally shooting him, etc.

Mottán recognizes Dággala
Mottán will recognize Dággala as the inspector on his last trip who tore the ship apart looking for something. His “merchandise” only escaped because they concentrated on the holds of the ship and didn’t search the cabins. Mottán was simply grateful at the time, but now realizes this was suspicious. It meant they were looking for something in particular and knew it wouldn’t be found in the cabins. Dággala will not recognize Mottán.

The assassin is a posing as a common soldier, Daggála. He knows that Hu’úgga isn’t supposed to spend any extended length of time in any particular village. He’s surprised that he hasn’t moved on already. If his identity isn’t revealed by Bálesh or Mottán, he’ll try to recruit either Fíru or Mottán to work for him. He’ll ask them to simply talk with Hu’úgga, finding out if he needs any help. He’ll give them a token by which Hu’úgga will know him. The token is a small scrap of paper with something scrawled on it in an Old Bednálljan script. In return for help, he’ll promise large amounts of money and his personal protection to get them out of there.

One way or another, whether working with the soldiers or as their captive, the players should end up at the village.

Approaching the Ahoggyá village

As they approach it, they will have a close encounter with a qásu bird. It’s the largest and most vicious of the scavenger birds. It’s 3 feet tall with a wingspan of 15 feet. It’s purple and black and will be swooping down outside the village, feeding off the pile of dead bodies that the Ahoggyá have left there. The qásu is a carrion-eater and will not attack. In addition to a couple Ahoggyá bodies, there will be a few human body parts: heads, feet and hands mainly. If counted, they came from two bodies. These are the casualties of yesterday’s fighting. The rest of the bodies are being eaten (arms, legs, thighs and breasts).

The dead body pile is about 50 feet from the outer stilt-huts that make up the village. The water’s only about a few inches deep here and is sludgy, mixed with mud. It’s possible to walk through it with difficulty, but it’s too shallow to take the boat in any further. Drawing nearer to the village, they will come upon orange vegatation that’s been torn up and tossed into ragged piles. It was torn up recently (within the last day) as it’s still withering away.

The center of the village (the dance ground) is solid ground, built up around the massed roots of mangrove trees that are growing close together. The atmosphere of the village is raucous – Ahoggyá wandering around, stacking and smashing barrels. Some are being hauled up the ladders into the huts whole. Others are being smashed open and having their contents picked over. In general, the Ahoggyá are disappointed in the contents; they’re trying the food and tossing it around. Bolts of cloth are thrown disdainfully away. The mushrooms and the fruit are a hit though. They’ll be added to the (human) shish-ka-bobs being cooked.

The Ahoggyá are preparing for their poetry slam and mating dance by eating huge amounts of food and then defecating in huge piles at various locations about the village. This is creating a soothing aroma for them which inspires their creativity. The fruit is thus very popular. They’re eating it in large quantities and appreciating its effect on their system.

Exploring the Village

Communicating
The Ahoggyá will tend to ignore the players, even if directly addressed. None of them speak Tsolyáni, so to be understood the players must use Salarvyáni. Most attempts at communication will only elicite statements such as: “It’s the time of [guttural sounds, hoot, sharp fart],” or “It will be time for [more guttural sounds, three hoots and a clap with both pairs of hands] later.” (Translation: It’s time for the poetry slam and sex right now. We’ll get around to killing and eating humans afterwards.)

If the Ahoggyá are offered bribes, they may respond, “Preparing for the feast, for the [hooting and clapping and jumping – i.e. orgy]. Need to choose before it begins.”

Provoking
The Ahoggyá are currently obsessed with the color blue. If they see a blue object, they’ll approach and seize it. The village grounds and huts are draped in blue plants which have been torn up and thrown everywhere. If the players have anything blue visible, the Ahoggyá will take it from them. If the player is very quick to negotiate, he may get something in return for it.

Conversely, the Ahoggyá are irritated by the color orange. They’ve removed any orange vegetation within eyesight of the village (and thrown it away outside the confines of the village). If the players have any orange objects or clothing, Ahoggyá will snatch it from them and destroy it, stomping it thoroughly into mud. They will not negotiate any trades.

The penalty for provoking them in other matters is to slather the offender in mud and shit and demand that he hop around the circumference of the village on his right foot.

The Ahoggyá don’t care if the players salvage any of their goods that the Ahoggyá didn’t want. They will punish anyone who tries to take an unopened barrel.

They don’t care if anyone enters a hut, but if they carry something out of one, it will anger them.

The Ahoggyá aren’t interested in fighting right now and won’t attack unless attacked first. Even then they’re simply brushing away annoyances.

Hu’úgga is lying on a makeshift litter, under a large, central hut in the village. There are some particularly large piles of shit near him. He’s trying to tend to his wounds and is close to hysteria. He doesn’t want to die here and doesn’t understand why the Ahoggyá are refusing to negotiate with him, and why his Ahoggyá are ignoring him. Usually he’s good at playing along with them but his injuries have made him desperate. He tried to force the issue yesterday, thrusting the treaty at them to get the Beloved of Eight Sexes’ ‘signature’ and then leave. The Ahoggyá, Stinky Fur, wouldn’t sign. “Wait. Not now; later.” He’s surrounded by his 5 heavyduty leather bearer packs, each stuffed with 1,000 Nzúggesh (the Salarvyáni gold coin, worth 5 káitars each). There is also an sixth pack filled with the small “message” leather bags. But he had only a small amount of food with him which he consumed last night. He’s unsuccessfully begged for food and water from the village Ahoggyá.

When the players approach, they will hear him calling out, begging for some of the fruit. He still has the scroll-case containing the treaty hanging from his belt.

If Hu’úgga is touched or attacked, any nearby Ahoggyá will start hooting, and his Ahoggyá will stop their eating and fraternizing to run over to protect him (will treat the players as if provoked). His Ahoggyá are eager to participate in the mating dance, and will refuse to allow him to be moved until they’re done. This way, they can have their fun and still fulfill their agreement of guiding him safely.

Hu’úgga will be excited to see the players and will ask for help in getting out of there. He’ll plead with them to stay, saying that his Ahoggyá will come to their senses soon. He’ll mention his boat and supplies and the fact that his Ahoggyá can guide them out of the swamp, offering to take the players along and share supplies with them. All he wants in exchange is their help (with his wounds) and their company. He’ll guess, judging from their appearance, that they were shipwrecked.

If asked why he’s here, or how he became wounded, he’ll say that he was attacked by Khekhkhéssa soldiers. His family had heard that the Khekhkhéssa Clan was stirring up the Ahoggyá against the Hrüchcháqsha Family to disrupt their legion recruiting. He was sent out to refute their lies. His policy is to lie by retaining as much of the truth as possible, simply reversing the roles of the two families. It’s much easier to remember your story that way.

If he finds out that they’re working (however reluctantly) for the Nchésh, he’ll try to talk them out of it, offering them huge amounts of money and warning them of Khekhkhéssa treachery.

Despite his desperation, he will try and talk them into waiting out this odd behavior and only leaving the village after he gets his signature from Stinky Fur, which won’t happen until after the poetry slam. The poetry slam will begin shortly after the players arrive.

Ahoggyá

The leader of the village, the Beloved of Eight Sexes, is an Ahoggyá that Hu’úgga has named Stinky Fur (for obvious reasons). Other Ahoggyá, who’ve served in the military, will call themselves Big Belly, Mud Splasher and Ole Three Arms.

The Big Delay: Poetry, Dancing and Sex

The Ahoggyá are quite excited about the Hrüchcháqshsha treaty. They regard it as already agreed to, and are impatient to start the fighting and the feasting. They simply haven’t left yet because it’s almost time for the Great Dance. They feel that it was kind of the humans to offer them a tasty morsel before the Great Dance began.

The Great Dance is the height of the mating cycle for them. The Ahoggyá have eight sexes, and each sex has a different time of fertility. Sex for Ahoggyás is done in the frenzied dances held in the solid dance ground around which each of their villages is gathered. While the dances happen all the time, only during the Great Dance are all the sexes fertile and able to procreate.

The Poetry Slam
The Great Dance begins with a display by which the Ahoggyá choose their partners. This display is one of poetical skill. The Ahoggyá will be gathered on the dance ground and restlessly moving around. One will make a great hooting noise and began to recite. Ahoggyá poetry is loud, and uses bodily sounds as an integral part of the piece: vocalizations are combined with the slapping of hands, snorting, loud reports from various orifices, whistling and wheezing from other orifices and so on. A proper performance is combined with wild dancing movements.

Once one begins, another will take it up. To the human eye, it will look like chaos. But gradually they’ll group off into sets of eight, and the dance proper will begin.

If the humans don’t keep their distance, they could be accidentally injured. Plenty of insults will be thrown their way if they get in the way.

The Great Dance will last through the night until the participants drop of exhaustion and sleep on the dance ground. While the dance is going on, they are oblivious to anything the characters do (even removing Hu’úgga) as long as it doesn’t interfere.

The Aftermath

The next day Stinky Fur will approach Hu’úgga, demand the treaty and sign it. They will then assure him the Hrüchcháqshsha family’s generous offer has been shared; that the armada’s on its way but that they’ve decided not to wait for it. They bid him goodbye and the entire village leaves. As long as the players don’t try to interfere or follow them, they’ll make it out alive.

The armada from Omnú Tlé Hléktis is still far enough away that the players will have time to get home and warn their government.

Meanwhile, as the Great Dance has been completed, the Ahoggyá all across the Sharúna Lowlands are rising up and leaving the swamp to indiscriminately kill and eat the humans.

Possible Conclusions

If they try to get home by sea, either with the long boat from the ship, or Hu’úgga’s boat and supplies, they have a fighting chance. If they can appropriate Hu’úgga’s payment to the Ahoggyá, Zhurák and the merchants can recoup the losses from the shipwreck.

Achán will learn enough from Hu’úgga’s treaty to justify to the Palace of Foreign Lands and the Emperor his early return. It provides indisputable proof of the Hrüchcháqsha family’s role, and will be a powerful political tool for the Imperium to use in manipulating the Salarvyáni. In hands other than Achán’s, it can be sold for large amounts of money to many possible buyers.

If the players stay long enough to learn about the armada, and still manage to escape, it’s an overwhelming success.

Characters

The adventure and risk of international trade always appealed to you. Long before you ever reached the age of majority, you shipped out, participating in your clan’s mercantile trips to the Tsolyáni islands and the Salarvyáni coastal cities. It took years of work, trading and investing, but you finally made enough profit to buy your own ship, Heart’s Delight. It would have been safer to buy a share in one of the clan’s ships, but you weren’t interested in safety. For the last five years, you’ve made regular runs from your home port of Jakálla to Tléku, then Petrís Layóda and ending in Héru.

It was when you took shelter from a storm in a cove along the southern coast of Gánga Island that you made your great discovery. A strange crustacean was swarming over the rocks and in the shallow water. One of your sailors, Gámalu, excitedly identified it as the vrélq that was so prized by the Salarvyáni for its black dye. On impulse, you captured some and offered them for sale in Héru. An agent of the Khekhkhéssa family quickly bought them and asked for more, and for you to keep a lower profile. You now earn fantastic amounts of money by stopping at the cove to harvest vrélq on every trip. You’ve told no one of your new trade goods. Partly, it’s to spare the clan trouble with the Hrüchcháqsha family of Salarvyá who currently hold the vrélq monopoly. And partly, it’s to keep your discovery to yourself. If no one learns of it, no one can share in your booty. In addition to the vrélq, you transport exotic foodstuffs: spices, unusual herbs, succulent mushrooms, hybrids of fruits and so forth.

Everything had gone so well for so long that you forgot about the risk. That is, until your last voyage when a Háida Pakálan pirate ship swooped down on you in the midst of Tamkáde Bay. In the fighting, you were maimed by a vicious clubbing to your knee, and your left hand and arm were scarred, but you bought the lives of your crew by divulging the location of your hidden safe, and losing all your cash and valuables. In one swift blow, you were brought to the brink of financial ruin. You ground your teeth in fury at the incompetence of the Nchésh [Legion] of Lord Dreshú’uga Khekhkhéssa, which is charged with guarding the bay. If only Lord Dreshú’uga weren’t such a skinflint, his troops might be properly equipped, and the artillery might actually defend the approaches of the bay from marauders.

The more you pondered your ill fortune, the more you felt the Hrüchcháqsha family must have set the pirates on you. Why else would they bother with such a small ship? You weren’t going to let them intimidate you out of the vrélq trade, but you also weren’t going to reward the Khekhkhéssa family that couldn’t keep you safe. When the Palace of Foreign Lands came to Green Malachite looking for an inconspicuous way to transport an Imperial envoy to the Salarvyáni king in Tsatsayágga, you jumped at the chance. Here was a way to guarantee a profit on a trip where you could seek out new trading partners in the ruling Chruggilléshmu family. Undoubtedly, they would be just as eager to get out from under the Hrüchcháqsha’s vrélq monopoly.

The only downside is that your clan master required you to help some fellow clan members by allowing them to accompany you. They’re from your lineage, but you’ve been away enough that you don’t know them. Mottán is quite charming, the better to sell his fine thésun cloth to the ladies, no doubt. Bálesh, the grain trader, seems uptight and tends to keep to himself. Fíru, the youngest member, is quite talkative. In fact, he’s in danger of embarrassing the clan by attempting to be too familiar with the high clan Imperial envoy.

Goals
1. Deliver the Imperial envoy safely to Tsatsayágga.
2. Get revenge (discreetly) on the Khekhkéssa and the Hrüchcháqsha families.

You have a statue of the goddess Avánthe in her Aspect as Keréna “The Wind” on your ship. This talisman ensures fair winds on land and sea (+1 to Sailing check), but the maintenance superstition to keep this bonus is that no creature of the air may be harmed or imprisoned in your presence.

You stopped and harvested some vrélq in the Gánga cove at night, with the help of Gámalu. It’s just enough to prove your point when you negotiate in Tsatsayágga.

Gámalu loves to drink. You keep him supplied with alcohol and bonuses with which to buy more alcohol, and he’s happy to keep his mouth shut and work with you.

Heart’s Delight
Single-masted with a triangular lateen sail, 48 feet long, 20 feet across the beam, cargo capacity of 15 tons, crew complement of 10 sailors, and able to carry up to six passengers. There’s a long boat kept on the deck of the ship, and a dingy floating behind, on a tow rope.

What can you say? With your looks and your personality, you’ve never had to work hard for what you want. But what you get is never enough. There’s something about the good life that always leaves you wanting more. Fittingly enough, living the good life showed you the way to enjoying it more easily. While lounging in your lover’s chambers, sipping wine, you heard a most interesting business proposal: accompany a certain package to Salarvyá, keep it off the official manifests and earn a profit. After a large sum of money changed hands, you did just that. Once you saw how easy it was, and how good you were at bribing your way out of dicey situations, you realized the potential in this line of work. While you occasionally still transport items for your lover, you mainly work for yourself.

You are a specialist. You smuggle the high-end liquor tsuhóridu into Salarvyá. With the taxes on this luxury item often tripling its price, you make out like a bandit. But to the world, you’re only a cloth dealer, taking thésun gauze to Salarvyá and bringing back the favored silky güdru cloth. Your modus operandi is to rent space on someone else’s ship and carry your real cargo in your personal baggage. This trip you have five finely cut glass bottles hidden away, each filled with thousands of káitars of tsuhóridu. You chose Heart’s Delight because the captain was sailing for Tsatsayágga. Normally you sail for Héru, the closest major Salarvyáni city. Less travel time means more trips which equals more money. But Héru is becoming an unfriendly place. The last two times you traveled there, the ships were inspected twice. On each trip, the first time the inspectors met the ship far out from shore and searched the ship from top to bottom, refusing all bribes. Clearly something was very wrong. And when the ship was stopped again, the second set of inspectors denied that they were repeating the inspection process, though they could be easily bribed. Suddenly, it seemed like a wise idea to spend more time on a trip to Tsatsayágga. Maybe things will have calmed down by the time you return.

In the meantime, this trip has presented another opportunity. An Imperial envoy from the Palace of Foreign Lands, Achán hiHlissána, of the high status Purple Gem clan, is accompanying you. In the close quarters of this small ship, you hope to be able to make his acquaintance and perhaps gain access to his wealthy social circle once you reach Tsatsayágga. Who knows, even if you don’t gain any new clients, maybe you get yourself invited to some fancy parties.

Goals
1. Become friendly with Achán, the Purple Gem Imperial envoy.
2. Make a profit on the trip.
3. Keep your smuggling a secret. (You really don’t want to have to pay back taxes to the clan or end up in prison.)

Can you help it that you fall in love so easily? Is it your fault that your feelings are constant, not wafted away on the next breeze sent by gentle Lady Avánthe? And who could complain about the blessings of fertility that the goddess chooses to bestow?

It’s just that, sometimes, you feel under a lot of pressure. When you married the first time at 14, you were already working in addition to studying at the temple school. Your successful balancing act encouraged you to marry your second love at 16, and your third at 19. By the time you were 24, you had 4 wives. Now at the age of 31, your wives have borne you 16 children, and your first wife is pregnant again.

It’s not that you fear there won’t be enough food on the table or a roof over their heads. The clan will always take care of that. And when all the children grow up, you’ll be well set. It’s just that you can’t stand those little talks from the clan elders about giving as much as you receive, and the gentle reminders that each person should ask themselves not what their clan can do for them, but what they can do for their clan. You keep careful track of where you’re seated during the festivals and how many mats your wives are given to sit upon at mealtimes. It’s quite clear that if you don’t contribute more than enough for your family’s upkeep, your status will fall within the clan.

But how can you bring in that kind of income? Certainly not from your trade in grain, dependent as it is on the vagaries of weather and the market. Far more steady and profitable is the forgery business. You stumbled on this lucrative field one day as a young man when your first wife sighed wistfully over a party she hadn’t been invited to. You hated to see her disappointed. Knowing the guest list was large, you decided to add one more and drew up an invitation for her. It worked like a charm. Gradually, you expanded your business from party invitations to tax receipts, ship’s manifests, inspection certificates, letters of introduction, and so forth. The key is quality. Fine, thick firyá-paper, well-cut seals, the best inks and flawless calligraphy. Your documents often look better than the originals. You quietly work for many people. In fact, many people think you work only for them and their close circle of friends. You choose your customers carefully, looking for mostly honest folk.

But sometimes you can’t turn down a client. Two years ago, you were brought into the presence of Hu’úgga Deddlaqa’â himself, scion of the Hrüchcháqsha Family of Salarvyá. He informed you that you were now on retainer, answering to Daggála Jaggäsh. Daggála was a man of few words, tall, muscular and swarthy. At first he required an invitation to a party hosted by Dreshú’uga Khekhkhéssa, the head of the Khekhkhéssa family. Then he required dozens of writs from the Ebon Palace itself authorizing ship inspections. Then it was a letter of recommendation from Dreshú’uga for service in the Nchésh [Legion] of Lord Zrelléshqya Khekhkhéssa. Salarvyáni politics scares you to death, and you wanted out of this situation. So you leaped at the chance to travel to far-off Tsatsayágga. But you’re still not away from politics. For some reason an envoy from the Palace of Foreign Realms is traveling on this small, obscure ship. You’ve simply kept your distance from him, and hidden all your equipment and supplies carefully, but if anyone should choose to search your baggage, your secret will be out.

Goals
1. Don’t get arrested by Achán, the Imperial envoy.
2. Keep up your good reputation by helping your fellow clan members out.

Clan business is the dná-grain of life; it nourishes the body but deadens the soul. Everything changed the night of the festival. Who would have guessed that you were having sex with an attaché of General Tlanéno himself? When she invited you to visit her at the legion headquarters the next day, you went with some trepidation. After all, the tedium of a soldier’s life was not for you. However, she had other plans in mind for you. It seems that the general was keen to learn about the Salarvyáni political situation, but as the commander of a legion of “river police” he lacked legitimate methods of gathering information on his own. Since your clan traveled regularly to Salarvyá, you could easily ask a few questions and keep your eyes open. She promised that the general would recompense you for your troubles, in direct relation to the value of the information you brought back.

You turned the offer over in your mind. You were being recruited as a spy. But spying for the emperor was noble. And if it wasn’t precisely for the emperor, it was pretty close. Sure, General Tlanéno had favored Prince Eselné in the civil war, but so had many loyal citizens. And you would be spying on a foreign power. It didn’t seem ignoble to you, and the money was very tempting. So you left the headquarters pledged to Tlanéno’s service. You decided not to test your logic by informing your clan elders of your new position. Instead, you simply asked to travel to Salarvyá.

Zhurák’s trip seemed the most intriguing. His destination was the capital, Tsatsayágga, which was promising. And you found it curious that although Zhurák and the other merchants, Bálesh and Mottán, are all old Salarvyáni hands, none had gone to Tsatsayágga before. You wondered if it had anything to do with the rumor that you heard when you studied up on the ruling families and legions of eastern Salarvyá: A power struggle is going on within the Khekhkhéssa family which rules in Héru. The son Zrelléshqya tried to assassinate his father Dreshú’uga at a party two years ago. He also seems to be recruiting factions within the bureaucracy that answer to him.

To justify the trip, you need to have trade goods. So you lobbied all your closest relatives and came up with a few barrels of disparate goods. If you can sell them at market price and not be gouged too badly by customs, you should break even.

You’re not sure if it was a joke or not, but before you left, the attaché pulled an eye out of her pouch and handed it to you. “If you ever need to get out of a situation with Ahoggyá, use this to buy yourself a little time. And then run away as fast as you can.”

Goals
1. Gather interesting political information to pass on to General Tlanéno hiVoródlaya’s attaché.
2. Try to break even financially.

Your Knowledge
Khekhkhéssa Clan
Rules Héru
Headed by Dreshú’uga Middláqsha Khekhkhéssa
Son is Vindumákh Khekhkhéssa.

3 legions:

• Nchésh of Lord Dreshú’uga Khekhkhéssa. Under-funded. Guards Tamkáde Bay (the approach to Héru) and Héru.
• Nchésh of Lord Zrelléshqya Khekhkhéssa. Mighty fighters who patrol the Gilráya Forest and fight the vicious Hlutrgú in their home swamps.
• Nchésh of the Two-Pronged Spear. Dreshú’uga reluctantly sent this legion off to patrol the dangerous northern border.

Hrüchcháqsha Family
Rules Chame’él. Headed by Vrummíshsha Deddlaqa’â. Son is Hu’úgga Deddlaqa’â.

4 legions:

• Nchésh of Power Upon the Land. Their traditional defense. Stays mostly at Chame’él, and used as marines to guard shipping and the vrélq trade.
• Nchésh of the Sable Sea. Sent off to guard the northern borders against the Tsolyáni & Ssú.
• Nchésh of Sóngyal Isle. Oddly, devoted solely to defending this island. Nchésh of the Circle of Light. Ahoggyá mercenaries who come from the Flats of Gyógma, across the Straits.

You’ve been sailing forever on Green Malachite ships. You’ve shipped out to every port in western Salarvyá, gambled and boozed your way across the southern islands of Tsolyánu, and had a fist fight with lowlife nakomé from every nation from Háida Pakála on down. You’ve been swept overboard twice in storms, stood stock-still with fear once as the humming of a Hlüss ship grew in the distance and survived three pirate attacks. The last pirate attack was the closest call. You were serving on the same ship you are now, Heart’s Delight, when they came up out of nowhere in the middle of Tamkáde Bay. They were Háida Pakálan, mean and vicious. You could understand the shouts they called and realized they meant to kill you all. Zhurák, the ship’s captain, seemed to instinctively understand this, and quit fighting, throwing down his dagger and calling out that he would buy their lives, but if he died, they’d never find the money. You prayed they wouldn’t just take the money and kill you all afterwards, and thankfully, they didn’t. Zhurák must have lost a great deal to them to improve their mood so mightily. From that day onward, you swore you would always ship out with him.

You’ve known Zhurák for a long time actually, but never thought much about him one way or another. He always seemed to like you though. Once, years ago, the ship was taking shelter from a storm in a cove along the isle of Gánga’s southern shore when you saw a strange sight. Vrélq, the small ugly crustaceans that the Salarvyáni treasure so highly because of their black dye, were swarming over the rocky shore. You’d never seen them this far north before and pointed it out to your companions. No one was interested except Zhurák, who’d overheard your comment. He went out with you in one of the ship’s boats and had you catch a bunch of them. He wanted to keep them alive for some reason, so you thought about it and improvised cages in water for them in the ship’s hold. At the next port, Héru, Zhurák was really pleased and gave you a big bonus. He’d obviously found something to do with those ugly buggers because every trip he stops in that cove and harvests more. You’ve had to remind him about not taking the breeding females and the young so that this odd colony won’t die out. Surprisingly, he listens to you.

Overall, life is good. Zhurák pays you well, even slips you some bottles of drónu wine occasionally. You like what you do, and you’re good at it. The only thing you dislike is that Zhurák doesn’t want you to drink except when you’re in port. You’re pretty certain he doesn’t hold himself to that standard, though, and has got something stashed away in his cabin.

Goals
1. Get drunk at least once.
2. Defend Zhurák.

You’re a tirrikámu in the Omnipotent Azure Legion. Given that you’re from a medium status clan, this is a very prestigious position. It took a lot to get here, both natural talent and money. You’re prepared to work as hard as you must to make good on the clan’s investment in you. Assignment as a bodyguard is tricky. If your charge dies, you look bad. If nothing threatens your charge, your value is unknown. So you spend your days hoping that something will happen to Achán, but not something that you can’t handle.

The trip hasn’t offered many opportunities yet. The ship is small, and you’ve managed to intimidate everyone, merchants and sailors alike. But the destination is promising. It’s never safe to conduct politics in Salarvyá, and Achán is headed straight for the capital. You also heard whispered over morning chumétl that Achán survived an assassination attempt at a party two years ago. That’s sliding over into the too dangerous category, so you’ve vowed to keep a very close eye on him once he’s in the presence of Salarvyáni.

Achán himself isn’t unreasonable. For one thing, he doesn’t expect you to be his servant, which is surprising since he doesn’t have any servants on board the ship. He must be expecting to pick up a retinue from the embassy in Tsatsayágga.

The ship itself is unremarkable. It’s smallish and not too clean. It belongs to the Green Malachite clan and everyone, other than yourself and Achán, belongs to Green Malachite. You think Green Malachite is a medium status clan like Golden Sheaf, but you’ve heard that down in the south, it’s considered high status. This has helped you maintain a professional distance from the others. Your assessment of them is as follows:

Zhurák—A dedicated businessman, but maybe not the wisest of men
Mottán—Seems a little too friendly with Achán. You’re keeping an eye on him.
Bálesh—Seems skittish. Could just be nervousness about being around his betters.
Fíru—Friendly. Likes to chat with everyone. A little too friendly with Achán.
The crew—unremarkable, careful to keep their distance from you and Achán.

Goals
1. Keep Achán safe.
2. Be noticed for a job well done.

You come from a long line of courtiers and were born and raised in Avanthár. Fortunately you spent the civil war abroad, accompanying the ambassador to Tsatsayágga when you were only a youth. Consequently, you speak Salarvyáni fluently, and have as good a grip on Salarvyáni politics as a foreigner can, which is to say, rather shaky. The political situation is very complex and constantly changing. The great families are constantly plotting against each other, and the families themselves are each riven with factions. To wit, the last time you were in country, you nearly died. You were attending a party two years ago, and just as you greeted Lord Dreshú’uga Khekhkhéssa, ruler of the city of Héru, a small object whirled over your shoulder and shattered against the wall just above the man. Droplets of purple liquid flew everywhere. Fortunately, you flung your arm over your face and dropped to the floor in time to avoid most of Food of the Ssú juice. Dreshú’uga was badly burned, but survived. It was clearly the assassin’s weapon known as “Pa’íya’s Kiss,” but perhaps wielded by a less-than-professional assassin. Shaken and angered, you investigated the best you could. All you could come up with were two possibilites: Dreshú’uga’s son Vindumákh may have been hurrying along his father’s inevitable death, or the Hrüchcháqsha Family may have been expressing its displeasure. Relations between the two families are at a low point, some say due to the Khekhkhéssa family breaking the Hrüchcháqsha family’s monopoly on the vrélq trade; others say due to the Hrüchcháqsha’s designs on the territory of the Khekhkhéssa family. Either way, you want revenge.

But on to your present business. The God-Emperor Mirusíya has sent you to Tsatsayágga after receiving a communiqué from Prince Zhurrilúga of the Chruggilléshmu family (the power behind the mad old king Griggatsétsa) urging a meeting involving a “matter of utmost urgency to both our nations.” Mirusíya is privately doubtful that the matter is so important to the Petal Throne, but he’s also interested in getting a feel for what’s going on in the court around the Ebon Throne. And so you’ve been sent. Your orders are to uncover any immediate threats to the Petal Throne, and to avoid entering into any agreements.

You suspect you’ve been sent not only because of your qualifications, but also because you lack a sponsor at the court who’s looking out for your best interests. It’s the age-old drawback of spending too much time abroad. Making matters worse, you must travel inconspicuously, and so can retain only one bodyguard. You will not even have any servants until you procure some at the embassy in Tsatsayágga. Thus you find yourself aboard this small, cramped ship, surrounded by common merchants from the medium-status Green Malachite clan.

Goals
1. Discover what, if anything, is brewing in this hellhole of a country.
2. Make a name for yourself, so you can avoid assignments like these in the future.

Information You’ve Gathered Lately
1. Hu’úga Deddlaqa’â, scion of the Hrüchcháqsha family, hasn’t been seen all year out in society.
2. Vrélq prices have dropped due to a lessening in demand on the part of the Khekhkhéssa family. (Vrélq are crustaceans from which black dye is obtained.)
3. Religious fanatics are running wild in eastern Salarvyá.
4. The Temple of Shirringgáyi has quietly been gathering some very strange materials, fueling rumors of preparations for a historic demon summoning.
5. The Nchésh [Legion] of Sóngyal Isle (run by the Hrüchcháqsha family) has greatly expanded the perimeter that they defend around Sóngyal Isle. It’s rumored that they’ve even started sinking ships.

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• Updates from the Palace of the Priesthoods of the Gods
• The Shadows of the Gods
• Ahoggyás Ahoy!
• Backplate
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• The Eye of
  All-Seeing Wonder
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