Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 10

May 31, 2022

The events below happened at the same time as events described in session 7.

Adventurers

Character	Class	Description
Gabriel Faria	Elf level 1	Cravatted silk shirt and a gold-encrusted rapier are all this 7th son of a duke needs to carve his own empire.
Taaaz	Fighter level 1	Tall figure whose skinny frame is hidden behind plate armour he never takes off—including the helmet.

Taaaz's report linked at the end of the post.

Dewsnap 10th, Spiritday

Romilion sea was gentle to Slim Whale, a caravel boarded by Gabriel Faria and his squire Taaaz. What choice did Gabriel have but to steal his father's treasured weapon once he'd learn that his brother would be the future king? That went as expected, so he boarded the fastest ship in town—no questions asked. Little did he know that he would sail to most barbarian lands in the whole world...

The colossal eagle-like statue entered their sight much before the port did. “Aye lads, yer in the landz of the sky god now!” the blind captain giggled. And so the duo landed in Antil, the largest bastion of civilisation in the Barbarian Altanis.

It wasn't long until they've been accosted by a group of suspiciously looking men. “Till, at your service newcomer! Pardon my directness, but you do seem a bit disoirnted. Would you like us to escort you to a fine establishment worthy of your rank?”

What seemed like a good offer at first, quickly fell through for logistical reasons. Till insisted that he'd lead with Gabriel, while his three “associates” would walk behind with Taaaz. Few harsh words later, and our dynamic duo was off on their own.

“Can't go wrong with following the gigantic statue!”

The main street was wide and littered with loud men and women manning their small booths. All kinds of fruits, vegetables, and meats were sold. There were also bands of urchins crawling between all the stalls—and Taaaz, in his infinite wisdom, decided that best course of action is to interrogate one of the dirty orphans.

He dragged one into the dark alley and pinned him to the wall. “Speak!” he growled. Spit in the face and kick into the shin is all he got, to which he responded by tossing the kid into the wall. From now on, several gangs of urchins followed the magic duo.

In flash of inspiration, Gabriel tried to frame urchins for stealing from one of the local merchants. That also went as expected, so now they had gangs of orphans and an angry merchant chasing after them. The duo took a sharp turn to one of the many alleyways, cutting a booth canopy in an attempt to slow down their pursuers. Straight, right, down, no, let's go back, pause!

Alas, their break was not meant to be. A familiar figure stepped from around the corner, blocking off their route forward. It was Till and one of his “associates.”

“Gentlemen, this doesn't have to be violent!” unfortunately for Till, Taaaz woke up desiring nothing but violence. He swung his massive sword downwards, cleaving Till in half. Adding insult to injury, he splashed the associate with Till's remains. Without missing a beat, he swung upwards, cutting him open from chest to face. The remaining associates fled in terror, whilst Gabriel was making “Uh! Ah! En garde!” sounds.

And then they took a casual stroll through the alleys, ending up beneath the Sky God's temple surrounded by many acolytes. One of them, presenting himself as Theo, was more than delighted to tell Gabriel everything about the Temple of Shang Ta, the sky god, their ceremonies, beliefs, and such.

Gabriel listened—or pretended to—whilst waiting for an opportunity to offer his services. After all, the coins won't make themselves, and temples are usually full of the, are they not? Naive Theo was happy to take them to Sister Silente, a chaplain of his section. Perhaps he wasn't wrong, for she had also trusted the ambitious duo with her worry.

Several of the pilgrims went missing, and so did the sacred regalia they carried with them. She needed that investigated—covertly—because there is a big religious event coming up, and this would be most inconvenient. She agreed to equip the party with all the adventuring stuff they might need.

Drunken Whore tavern was their next destination. Gabriel promptly jumped on the table and made a display of his swordsmanship. “Who wishes to join us and get rich?” Talent attracts talent! Tarwick and Wolgos, two burly looking men, approached the boisterous elf. Negotiations went quite well, resulting in Tarwick getting stabbed through the head by Gabriel, and Wolgos jabbed in stomach by Taaaz. Our brave duo was quick to loot their bodies, and even quicker to leave the tavern. “This is Drunken Whore, not Bloody Whore, you gits!”

At least one of the patrons had been impressed with their unadulterated display of self-control and fine diplomacy. An elf named Nutriel followed them out, expressing his desire to join such talented individuals. He was warmly welcomed.

“Gabriel, you won't believe this. We're rich! One of this bloody bastards has some coin stored with the jeweler!”

Naturally, that was the next best place to go to. A small store with numerous colourful gems at display was headed by stout dwarf. He inspected the blood drenched note for few seconds, before disappearing behind thick wooden doors. Ten minutes later he was back with a small pouch.

“There are some coin missing... Have you counted them right?” Gabriel inquired.

“Cleaning fee.” the dwarf replied.

Taaaz was quick to swing, but dwarf was faster, hitting him with a battleaxe he always keeps under the counter. Elf managed to charm him before he'd have a chance for the second strike. Nutriel stared in disbelief, as the party dragged him outside.

A celebration was to be had! Gabriel got himself a fine courtesan (or at least that's the story he kept telling himself), while Taaaz went for the cheapest street rat. The duo burned through their coin in two days. As an added bonus, Taaaz managed to contract gonorrhoea and who knows what else.

Attronarch's Athenaeum