Back to Eugor

The morning after the ghoul score, Esme woke them all up with a note. It was from Lieutenant Chung: "GET HERE NOW!"

Lieutenant Anton Chung

So, most of the Budgie Smugglers headed to the Knives base: Tylin [Ian], Huilam [Jamie], Lammy [Kevin], Moonlight [Chris], Dee Dee [Steven]; but not Burrito [Darryl] and not the marmaladers: Argile [Richard], Ronnie [Deacon]; nor the two out in Scabport Prison: Sorrow [Jeff] and El Cid [Shane].

They had a new chap join the group, a cutter called Grey Wacke [Jeff's character while Sorrow languished on Prison Island].

They were shown into Lieutenant Chung's office. He was there in the conversation pit with two no-neck bully-boys. He did not look very pleased.

"Why did you lot start a damn war!" he shouted.

"but.. uh...war?" someone stammered.

"Between the REAL and the Graveyard! The bosses upstairs are furious. You specifically told me you weren't going to work for the temples. So, it wasn't even on my radar..."

"But we don't need to get your permission..." said Huilam indignantly.

Chung clicked his fingers, and pointed randomly at one of the group.

"That one."

The two bully-boys lurched forward and grabbed Moonlight. They pulled the druid to his knees, and started to lay into him with a brutal stream of savage full-force punches. They wore brass knuckle-dusters, so did their grim work with ruthless efficiency.

The rest of the group looked on in horror.

Chung watched coldly as Moonlight took his beating. After what seemed like ages, he gestured to the two and they stepped back, leaving the unconscious and battered Moonlight lying in a pool of blood.

Chung then calmed himself, his anger leaving him, and he continued as if he was observing the time of day.

"Because of this fiasco," he said. "All guard leave has been cancelled, and we have doubled all patrols in Skull. I am shielding you lot from the wrath of the big cheeses. Because you're useful to me, and you might make progress with the Stringfellow job. That's still in progress?"

"Oui, Monsieur" said Huilam.

Moonlight groaned and coughed up some blood.

"Now go," said Chung.

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Back at base, Moonlight came around enough that he could cast a Cure on himself. It didn't fix all the damage, but it was enough.

Esme returned with some jobs (the Luscious Pixie notice board): Meetings in the Drunken Imbecile in the Slavers District. And, in meetings in the Dock District, in The Four Ships Inn and The Gibbet and Grape.

At The Drunken Imbecile, they met half-elf Agnes Thames and two thugs. She represented Simon's Slaves (one of the major slave houses in Scabport). She wanted the party to track down and capture some runaways: two male slaves, one woman and a girl, all human. She would pay 2 COIN each (alive).

"Why don't you have your own slave hunters?" came the obvious question.

"We do,"she replied, "but we often sub-contract run-away retrieval to Scabport hunters, such as you lot."

Then came the scathing, and the mocking:

"You're not morally opposed to this?" she sneered. "Goody-two-shoes? Wusses? Big-girls' blouses?"

This brought up a lot of self-reflection and soul-searching in the group about the institution of slavery. Slavery was legal all over the Wild Coast. Scabport followed the medieval model of slavery where anyone could be captured and enslaved. Such a person was legally enslaved, and, from then on, had no rights and was treated as a possession. Manumission was also possible, and that would restored the slave to citizen status.

Unlike a lot of places, Scabport had a centralized slave register maintained by the Scabport council. Scabport slaves were identifiable by a brand on the left buttock, which was a unique serial number of "S-" plus four characters*.

The group said they would ponder this job, and they left the tavern with the mocking sounds of the voices of Agnes's guards ringing in their ears [Homer Simpson's mocking lady voice].

* = Four alpha-numeric letters; 10 digits plus 26 letters minus B I O S Z, so 31^4 is just under a million, and they recycle dead ones when they can.
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At the Four Ships Inn, they met Simon Palma of the Lampblacks (a thiefy organization). He wanted the party to reconnoitre Fort Eugor. He had heard things about the place, and he heard rumours that the TGP (Thieves Guild Police) and the Knives had fought there.

He wanted to find out three things: A map, guard positions and who last owned it. And would pay 4 COIN.

The group had almost all this info already from their previous exploits there, so it would be an easy job. They agreed to take it on. Tonight.

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At The Gibbet and Grape they met Marita Crain (& body guard) of the TGP wanted to find out about Michael Stringfellow and wanted him alive. 8 COIN.

The group withdrew a bit to talk this issue over among themselves. They had decided to "be professional" and to "stay out of politics".

Anton Chung wanted Michael Stringfellow dead, so they could not then keep him alive and deliver him to Marita, even though some heads were sorely tempted. Cooler heads prevailed. So, they had no option but to turn her job down.

On the way back from this meeting, Tylin and  Grey Wacke hung back. Sure enough, they were being followed. They intercepted a thiefy-looking woman. They sent her packing.


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Lady Falshot

That night, they all headed to the Falshot's place (Lady Falshot was the woman that Huilam befriended last time they did Eugor jobs.) She lived in  a mansion at the base of Eugor hill, and it was an excellent place from where to launch forays up to the fort.

Tylin and Huilam, both having infravision, went up to Eugor hill that night. As they walked up the road, they could see over in the direction of Scabport Graveyard, a few stades away, there was all manner of flashes and flares going off. They assumed that the REAL forces must be fighting in the graveyard. Taking on the Wraith King, perhaps?

Up at the fort, Tylin thought he saw a figure in the main gate's archway. But there was no heat. Could it be undead up here?

They carefully circled the old fort, and caught a glimpse of something else moving; another figure. Again, no heat.

So, they returned to the Falshot's and drew up a map of the outside of the ruins. They already had a detailed inside map of this place, when they had done previous jobs here.

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The next morning, they reported to Simon Palma. He was happy with the Fort Eugor information,  and paid the agreed 4 COIN.

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TP glass

Later that day, Lammy got a message from the Wizards' Guild (via Esme, through the 1G conch hanging in the Luscious Pixie) stating that the Teleport glass was now ready. So Lammy, Grey Wacke and Tylin took the party's wagon a la Carte, loaded with the six crates of silver (6 COIN), to the WG loading bay, and paid the remaining money owed to the Guild. Sly Dunbar presented Lammy with the newly-made magic TP glass, in a velour-lined box, and some instructions:

• Hold each end of the TP glass, in each hand, and break the central join. It will then teleport the breaker to the target location: room 5 of the Adventuress and Bugbear inn. 
• It will TP reasonable amount of his gear too. There will be no remnants of glass left at the scene.
• It requires skin to glass contact on both ends by the same person. If one end is not in skin contact with the same person, then malfunction. 
• If another person is in (skin) contact with the breaker or the glass, then malfunction. 
• If the glass of the two ends is broken before the central join, then malfunction. So dropping it, or squeezing too hard, or smashing it against something or the skin of the target, or biting it will fail, unless you can ensure that the central join breaks first, and there is skin contact on both ends.
• Malfunctions are fickle and dangerous, and result in wild magic effects ranging from explosions, to sandstorms, to pieces of the breaker's body being teleported to random locations in the Known World. 
• If you want the target location to be changed, you can take the TP glass to the Wizards' Guild and they can re-target it. The cost to do this is 1 COIN the first time, and it doubles each change after that.

Theoretically, you could hold each end of the TP glass with tongs and press the two halves, sideways, on to the target's skin, then then break the middle join. This would certainly TP the target, but this would require much care, because those tongs would be considered to be "part of the target's equipment" and so would be teleported with him. When the tongs vanish, the air rushes in to the spot with a lot of force (the familiar TP "bang!"*), so you'd need to be careful not to lose fingers or a hand.

* = The Sigmoid Brothers (named after their controversial diverticulitis experiments with the sigmoid colon) studied this effect with their slow-motion drawing technique, where they could render twenty thousand frames-per-second drawn onto multiple chalk boards. They captured good views of in-rushing air into the vanish-void (where the teleported object was) where the wave front collides with itself and bounces back. It is this so-called "sigmoid effect" that actually causes the detonation.

The Sigmoid Brothers were also the ones who confirmed that a teleport is not actually instantaneous, but travels at the speed-of-magic, which is a finite speed, exactly twenty great-circles per second. There is a small period of time where the teleported object does not actually exist in the world.

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At the prison, El Cid and Sorrow kept their noses clean. El Cid was largely ignored by Second Lieutenant Sharples. Sorrow actively tried to avoid her, and he practiced climbing around the walls.

Ghoul Score

Sorrow

Out on Prison Island, in the Scabport Prison, Sorrow [Jeff] was summoned to 2nd Lieutenant Sharples' office.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" she snapped, and gestured to Sorrow's night-black eyes.

"I worked for IMAG a leettle and zis was a gift," said Sorrow.

"So, you're an IMAG fan-boy?"

"I would not say zat. But zey do help me see par excellence at nigh..." Sorrow didn't manage to finish. She punched him in the eye, with a right hook. It dropped him like a sack of potatoes, and left a bleeding brow. She threw him out of her office.

"Keep them outa my sight!"

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Later on in the evening, El Cid [Shane] was summoned to her office.

2nd Lt Sharples

2nd Lieutenant Sharples had a bath tub filled with steaming water and soapy bubbles, and she wanted him to wash her. He was warned by the other guards that this might happen, but rather than the disgusting job as he had been lead to believe, it wasn't bad at all. The lieutenant was not very pretty of the face: "homely" would be a good adjective, but she had a slender and fit body [ like Kate Beckinsale ].

So, El Cid actually enjoyed himself, and even had to force himself not to "stand at attention" as it were.

She was annoyed that he wasn't repulsed. She didn't go as far as trying to violate him, thinking he'd probably enjoy it, so just gave him a good beating; a few bruises only.

"That wasn't too bad," smiled El Cid as he returned to the barracks. And it was certainly better than spending two hours in the ballista tower in the wind, or marching up and down the courtyard, or cleaning the latrines with a toothbrush.
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The rest of the group (Huilam [Jamie], Tylin [Ian], Lammy [Kevin], Burrito [Darryl], Argile [Richard], Moonlight [Chris]; Dee Dee [Steven] and Ronnie [Deacon] were marmalading) was at the gates of the Graveyard.

The Knives patrol was there just closing the Necropolis gates for the night. One of them beckoned to Lammy.

"Stick your head inside," he whispered gesturing to an inviting hole in the gate.

So, Lammy blithely complied. When his head passed the threshold of the gate, he could hear whispering all around. Withdrawing his head, the whispering stopped and it was just the usual Scabport night noises. The whispering was just on the edge of hearing and he couldn't make out any words.

The Knives patrol wandered off, and the group experimented. It wasn't just the gate that this effect happened. At the many wall breaches, you could do the same trick: whispering on the inside and none on the outside.

The group then began the long trek to walk around the entire perimeter of the huge graveyard. They were too scared to venture inside, so walked the ring road. It was a three to four hour walk to circumnavigate the entire thing.

A few hours into the walk, about half-way, they could suddenly feel a throbbing. It was so low that they couldn't hear it, but could  feel it. It had probably started a while back, but only now was detectable. The throbbing sensation got strongest against one wall, so they ventured into the graveyard at that spot. There was a lot of suspicious unnatural (undead?) movement at this spot and they began to feel unease and dread.

Paladin of REAL

A REAL paladin patrol happened to wander past on the road at this time. They were happy to point out to the group that the throbbing was assumed to be some effect of the rumoured Wraith King, deep in the centre of the necropolis.

"Probably not a good idea for you to go there," one paladin said. "We would, of course! But we have been forbidden to. Politics."

They continued their patrol. The party quietly withdrew back on to the road.

Further on, they rounded a corner and stopped. There was a group of suspicious creatures congregating 50 paces ahead on the road, and they then darted into the nearby houses and alleys. They gave off no heat to the party members with infravision, so that was good enough evidence for Huilam. He pointed the REAL flare skyward and yanked the draw string. A silent flame erupted upwards, followed by a bright explosion a way overhead, bursting like a firework, but with no sound.

ghoul

Burrito and Lammy strode up to the alley where the creatures had vanished. One leapt from above. Lammy had his magical shield up to block it, and Burrito threw a vial of holy water at it. It screamed and scurried off. A second creature approached. Burrito hit it with a vial too, and Lammy cast a Light spell upon it. That give Burrito a clear target to shoot at. And he managed to drop it.

Argile and the rest of the group were right behind and they joined the two. And Argile and Lammy stood fast to block the alley, as two more creatures struck. Both Lammy and Argile were brutally raked by the long claws. Argile managed to twist his damage onto his armour. But not Lammy, who took the severe damage and was paralyzed. Burrito's vials of holy water managed to burn these two, and they scurried off hissing voicelessly. Huilam and Tylin had vials too, but Huilam threw his one onto the ground. Tylin drank his.

Huilam fired off another flare, and then the frightened group stayed huddled together and waited.

Eventually, the REAL paladins arrived. They were very pleased. The creatures were identified as ghouls, and the paladins now had the evidence that they sought. They swept up the ghoul body, and the party picked up the paralyzed wounded Lammy, and all withdrew to the REAL temple.

In the temple, Colleen Sanford was awoken and she cured Lammy.

The next morning, the party was paid the promised 9 COIN, and they withdrew to their secret base to do Downtime Activities.

Foray into Skull District

[Ronnie (Deacon) marmalading.]

That night, continuing their surveillance of Daisy Crown, Huilam [Jamie], Tylin [Ian], and Lammy [Kevin] went to the Tower Lookout on the off-chance that Daisy would turn up. Sure enough, around midnight, Daisy and her four wizard chaperones arrived. She knew the three Budgie Smugglers now, so invited them over to her table, and ordered some elvin wine. They settled down to drinking and chatting.

About an hour passed. A group of five figures entered the tavern. They were dressed in flowing beige robes with dark green trim, and each with a large dove with an olive branch; priests of Olive (Goddess of Peace). Four had tambourines and one had a descant recorder, and they proceeded to sing and dance:

Olive Olive, we love Olive,
Olive Olive, we love Olive,
Olive Olive, we love Olive,
Olive Olive, we love Olive,
Olive Olive, we love Olive.

Booker Dobbs

Tylin glanced at the leader of the group, and their eyes met. Instant mutual recognition. He was Booker Dobbs, of the Insular Rogues. Booker briefly paused, then carried on dancing and playing.

Tylin hissed to Daisy "I know zat lot. Zey are after you!"

Daisy raised her hand as if to cast a spell. Her four wizard chaperones moved in front of her to form some protection. But, instead of casting, she gestured to the barkeep and mouthed something authoritative to him. He strode out of the bar area, fetched two no-necks, and confronted the dancers.

"You lot. Out! Now!" he bellowed.

Booker cast a stony glance at Tylin, and then the five sheepishly withdrew.

Burrito [Darryl] arrived a bit later and searched the surrounding streets for other suspicious malcontents, but there were none. Daisy and co headed back to the safety of the Wizards' Tower.

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At the prison, trainee guards Sorrow [Jeff] and El Cid [Shane] were being on their best behaviour.  They tried to avoid 2nd Lieutenant Sharples best they could. They were only cornered a few times by the belligerent Lieutenant, and so managed to avoid too much of a severe beating.

"The beatings will only stop when morale increases," was her catch-phrase.

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The next morning, Tylin and Lammy went to the Adventuress and Bugbear (in the Dock district) and hired a long-term room (room 5).

Teleport Glass

In the room, Lammy used his Wizards' equipment (chronometer, slide-rule, protractor and octant) to calculate the WGPS (Wizards' Guild Positioning System) coordinates of the exact centre of the room. This yielded a 30-digit number which he wrote onto a piece of parchment.

"This will be where Jack Sparrow will arrive when he teleports," he boldly proclaimed.

Lammy then took the parchment to the Wizards' Guild and delivered it to Sly Dunbar. This paper would be burned and the ashes placed inside the Teleport Glass during its ensorcelling. When the glass was broken, it would trigger the Teleport spell, and would thus teleport the breaker to that location.

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Sonny Bowens (Bronze Studs) contacted the group again. REAL had the Skull district job still active, and were still nagging for takers. The group Huilam, Tylin, Burrito, Lammy, Moonlight [Chris], Dee Dee [Steven], Argile [Richard] (Sorrow and El Cid were at the prison) decided to do the score. It would at least earn them 9 COIN.

"Why don't we pay them for us to do the job," muttered Burrito sarcastically. He was still bitter about
losing money on the TP glass.

Priestess Rita

At the REAL temple, Priestess Coleen Sanford was their contact. She explained the score. And then brought forth former party-member Priestess Rita, and asked her take them to the Skull district.

The huge Scabport graveyard (or "necropolis") filled most of the Skull district. The graveyard had been there ever since the city was founded, more than a thousand years ago, and was now bulging at the seams. The graveyard was safe during the day, but one would not want to venture in there at night.  The REAL priests claimed that undead creatures were leaving the graveyard and terrorizing the surrounding streets. This was what the score was to do: locate some evidence of these creatures and call in martial and cleansing support.

Rita took them to one of the sites of where the creatures of dark had allegedly caused mischief, and

REAL Flare stick

here they met two REAL paladins. The paladins gave the group two flare sticks. These flares looked very much like WG Summoners, and the paladins explained how to activate them.

"Point the stick vertically," said the paladin. "Then unscrew the cap on the base, and yank it. A flare will shoot skyward. And we will see this, and we will run."

The paladins also told them that REAL followers may not enter the graveyard after dark (some edict from the Scabport Council). So, if the group activated the flare sticks within, no help would come.

"But don't let that stop you going into the graveyard," one paladin commented wryly.

Rita took them back to the REAL temple, and Colleen had prepared for them a bandolier of ten holy water glass vials.

"This will burn creatures of evil," she said. "Oh, and it doesn't keep. A few days tops."

They also bought ten ceramic vials of lamp oil on the way back.

It was a few hours before dark when they got back to the graveyard. The enormity of the necropolis's size finally sunk in to them as they wandered about the huge place, several kilometres a side.
There were three small pyramids, hundreds of mausoleums, catafalques, sepulchers and vaults, thousands of tombs, and tens of thousands statues and graves. There were lots of signs of recent activity, but then, it still was a functioning graveyard; the poor still interred their dead here. It was just the rich that avoided the place.

At the base of one weeping angel, there were signs of suspicious scratching. Moonlight cast a Detect Evil and sure enough, there was something evil below. They pushed and prodded the angel, and it could be tipped over. There was a dark crawl-tunnel going below. No-one was brave enough to venture down.

A cloud passed over the sun, and it got cold for a moment.

A squad of Knives was patrolling nearby, so the group quickly righted the angel before it arrived.

The Corporal confronted them.

"You lot," he said. "make sure you're out before dark."

"Yes, sir."

Scabport Necropolis gate

They headed back to the gate.

Right on dark, the gate was closed by the soldiers. It was a gate in name only. It was huge and metal and unwieldy, and so full of holes that you could drive a wagon through the gaps. Not that this would have helped keep things inside anyway. The graveyard originally had stone walls, taller than two men, surrounding the whole place. Over the centuries, these walls had not been maintained, and, in many places, large sections had been entirely demolished, and the stones pilfered to be used as building material.