1222 AD: Death in the Desert

 1222 Adventure Oracle Rolls

Cabal Legacy—10% (13, no adventure)

Seeker—10% (9, adventure!)

Poverty—10% (28, no adventure)

Multiple Sites—10% (55, no adventure)

Road—10% (6, adventure!)

Tribunal Border—30% (57, no adventure)

Unsafe—10% (12, no adventure)

Unknown—30% (99 (hell yeah), no adventure) 

Our first year with two adventures. Let’s see if we like this one enough to do it. 

Seeker

Difficulty—rolled 4, finally, a lowish roll. Ease factor 12. 

Origin—rolled 67, supernatural! Neat. At this ease factor it’s recommended to be a ghost, but I don’t know that I’ll stick with that. 

Timing—rolled 5, autumn. 

Complexity—1, simple. One challenge only. 

Type of Challenge—rolled 75, Thriller/Wilderness. Yippie-ki-yay, motherfector. 

Honestly, this seems like a pretty low-key quest, I don’t know that I’d opt in if it wasn’t for the fact that Jabril is dangerously curious. I don’t think he has it in him to pass up all but the most truly impossible adventures. 

So, Omens—rolled a 10! Maybe I spoke too soon. 

Road

Difficulty—rolled a 4 again. Ease factor 12.

Origin—85, Hermetic 2, which deals with Hermetic crimes and punishment. This is potentially a very interesting development. At ease factor 12, it’s recommended that we’re asked to assist an investigation, which I quite like. 

Timing—rolled 9, my choice. Summer. 

Complexity—2, simple, 1 challenge again. Seems 1222 is the year of side quests. 

Type—50, Magic again. I do love magic. 

I really want to spend time studying, but I have an interesting idea for two interwoven stories here, so I’m taking it as well. 

Omens—10 again, Christ. This is the year Jabril dies.

Spring 1222

A quiet season after the hectic last two. Jabril spent his time reading his Magic Theory tractatus to help with the spells he planned to soon invent. 

Xp gain: 10,  increasing Magic Theory to 4. I have an idea for a CrAn ritual for an extra income source, but it’s level 25 and I want to at least reach 30 lab total before I start working on it. 

Summer 1222

Death Wears a Red Cap

Near the beginning of summer, Siwa Oasis received a usual visitor: the entire mobile covenant of Venti Rosa, the Mercer House of the Levant, situated entirely within a large caravan. The redcap covenant visited twice a year, but normally respected his eremitic nature and sent one of its number down. It was quite unusual for the covenant entire to arrive.

While Jabril was irritated to receive so many visitors, he remembered his invitation made at Tribunal, and provided what hospitality he can to the Redcaps. Over a simple but nourishing meal, their purpose in Siwa gradually became clear. 

Apparently, the one Gifted Mercere within the Tribunal, Simon, had traveled ahead to Siwa as part of his own Redcap duties, delivering basic missives to Jabril, planning to return to the caravan in a fortnight so as not to disturb Jabril. However, Jabril was able to confirm he had never arrived, and Venti Rosa had not seen hide nor hair of him in weeks. Simon had not returned to the caravan, but his camel had, some days before, and the Mercere feared the worst.

The Redcaps of Venti Rosa, not being Gifted themselves, had decided they needed someone skilled in magic to help to find their lost brother—literally in the case of Simon’s sister Sarah, leader of the caravan. With Scipio of Guernicus, lead Quaesitor of the Tribunal, being in Baghdad on business, the caravan chose Jabril, given his closeness to the case. He readily agrees to help, his curiosity quite stirred. 

The first thing to do, Jabril reasoned, was to question the only witness he had on hand: the camel. With some minor difficulty, as he was used to the lilting, serpentine tongue of the asps, Jabril was able to communicate with the beast. Over the course of an hour or so, the camel being an especially dim example of the breed, Jabril was able to establish that he and Simon had been attacked on the road near Siwa. And yet the attacker was hard for the camel to describe: tall and manlike, but with hunched back, sharp claws, and a leering, hideous visage. Simon had been torn from the camel’s back, and it had fled in terror. 

The next day, Jabril set out on that self-same camel to explore the site. It took most of the day to find the particular area—much of the desert outside the Siwa depression looked much the same, particularly to a dimwitted camel. At last, however, the pair came across a sudden dip in the road, overlooked by a rocky cliff: ideal for an ambush. There was little enough there. A patch of what could be dried blood here, perhaps the scrap of a robe there. Quickly growing frustrated by finding nothing, Jabril summoned a writhing mass of asps, and sternly commanded them to search the area within a half mile for any trace of his quarry. 

It was not long before one returned, speaking of scattered bones nearby, the remnants of robes and bags, and the scent of death. The serpent led Jabril to a hidden cleft in the rocky cliff, narrow but navigable with some discomfort. He squeezed his way through, and found that the cleft widened a few meters in, revealing a hideous scene. Bones were scattered everywhere, some fractured and broken, others gnawed by great teeth. Torn shreds of cloth and leather painted a brutal picture: but in their midst, Jabril spied a glittering. Brushing away sand, he found Simon’s sigil, half buried. 

It was at that moment that he felt a presence from the other side of the wider space, where the cleft narrowed again and descended into darkness. Twin eyes, like pools of lurid moonlight, shone out from that darkness, and he felt the impact of some great power on his Parma, like great storm-waves against a dyke. A fear he had not known clutched at his heart, and he turned to flee, caring not for the strands of his robes that caught and tore on the rocks around him. All the while, he was followed by a terrible roaring, and a clattering thud, as if of massive feet on bone. 

Reaching the road, he leapt atop the camel and urged it to run, to which it was more than happy to oblige. Turning behind, he tried to make out what manner of creature pursued them, but the sand kicked up by the camel left only those awful eyes visible—and growing distant by the moment. Yet he did not let up on the whip until at last he saw the safety of Aghurmi, to which he hastened. 

Once he had calmed, he relayed the whole story to the members of Venti Rosa, and returned Simon’s voting sigil to his sister. Though heartbroken, the Redcaps thanked him profusely for his efforts, and returned to the road the next day, leaving Jabril to ponder precisely what creature he had been sharing the oasis with. 

Challenge: Com+Animal Ken (rolled 1, 8 after doubling+1+3=12, success), Pre+Summon Animals (specialty, rolled 6+0+5=11, cast Momentary Command of the Harnessed Beast to add magnitude 5 for a success), Sta+Parma (rolled 6+2+1=9, spent confidence to succeed). 3 successes.

Result: Total success! 2 rewards + 2 xp, + 7 for challenge difficulty (for a total of 12 exp with independent study). 5 goes to Parma, raising it to 2, 5 to Animal, raising it to 13, and 2 to Rego. The rewards are banked for next season, and Jabril spends the rest of the season wondering about how safe he might be (the adventure took 12 days overall). 

Autumn 1222

In the Hill of the Dead

Jabril was still mulling over the events of the previous season when autumn began. That primal fear he had felt had ebbed slowly, and in its place had risen a powerful need to know precisely what that terrible thing had been. Indeed, his curiosity gnawed so deep into him that when he was visited by the ghost of Simon ex Mercere, he practically leapt at the chance to revisit the young man’s death. 

Simon had been not a handsome man in life: small and drawn into himself, evoking more the spirit of the weasel than the man. But as a spirit, he was positively hideous. His eyes, small and beady and nearly hidden under craggy eyebrows, were now ringed by savage claw marks digging through to reveal his teeth and tongue. Across his chest too was a horrid slash, which dripped spectral blood intermittently. 

Arriving in the Ides of September, he could not or chose not to breach the Aegis around Aghurmi, and simply waited at the boundary, saying to any who dared pass by that he sought audience with the master of the temple. Jabril came down from his laboratory as soon as he heard, and gazed at the specter with a curious dispassion quite different from the terror he had felt before. It was odd, he thought as he looked, that he could see the face of a man he once knew so mutilated and feel only a quiet sadness, muted further still by his booming curiosity. 

Even through the veil of death, the two spoke as colleagues. Jabril assured him that his sister and companions knew of his death and had his sigil. Simon acknowledged this, and thanked him for finding it, and apologized for never making it to Siwa. Then his face grew grim and serious, and he told Jabril that he could not rest, not until his skull was recovered and put to rest in the Mercurian way. He knew it lay somewhere within that deep cleft, beyond where he had died. But, he warned Jabril, in his last moments, the creature had begun to take him somewhere different: stone cut by hand, not wind and time, a place deep within the rock shaped by man

Intrigued and feeling sympathy for his fallen sodale, Jabril readily agreed, and gathered supplies to head out alone, not wishing to take the turb on such a personal expedition. Gathering his hyena pelt, Jabril set off by sky, following the trail of the small canyon from the air once he had found its beginning once more. It wound its way across the desert from the road and down into the Siwa depression, yet despite narrowing at the top to a handful of inches, it never quite became a sealed cave until it reached a large hill near Aghurmi. 

Jabril had not heard of this place from the Siwans, but there were many sites within the depression of interest that he had not yet uncovered. Descending into the cleft, he began to climb into the narrow tunnel within the hill, lighting a torch as he went. Gradually as he walked, the stone around him changed from rough, weathered sandstone to hewn blocks, shaped by ancient hands, marked here and there with small holes. Looking within them, he found that they widened into one or sometimes two large chambers, decorated with hieroglyphs and old, ornate coffins. He walked now between tombs, he realized, ancient and forgotten crypts of the Egyptians. 

Moving onwards, he finally came to a larger chamber within the hill marked by cobra-headed cornices and a great skull, perhaps of some giant or monster, set atop an altar. A palpable feeling of power washed over this place, and it so distracted Jabril he almost failed to see the beast that occupied this place. It was tall, towering over him, nearly eight feet at the shoulder, and humanoid, with long arms descending to the knee and ending in sharp claws. Dripping tusks jutted from malformed lips, and scraggly hair covered vicious eyes. He realized he knew what this was, and the danger it posed: this was a ghul, an eater of the dead, a terrible creature often found lairing in the tombs of the ancients. But it had not yet noticed him, occupied seemingly with dragging a handful of dessicated corpses from a pile towards an entryway at the end of the room. 

He quieted his breath, stole into a corner, and watched, observing the thing in silence for what felt like hours. As it dragged the corpses beyond the gateway, it seemed to disappear momentarily, as though stepping outside this world, and he realized that entryway was the door to a regio. After a long time, it passed beyond and did not return. Still, he waited for some time before stepping forward again, and examining the room, finding in the corner a cracked, polished human skull. Hopefully, it was Simon’s. 

Collecting it, he took a moment to study the larger skull on the altar and realized it contained vis: useful despite its dangerous surroundings. Not wanting to remain longer, he gathered it and rushed back through the cleft to Aghurmi, planning to hire diggers to clear out the entryway that he might return. That night, he had Simon put to rest with appropriate rites, and, to his mixed sadness and satisfaction, never saw the ghost again. 

Challenge: Per+Hunt (specialty, rolled 6+0+3=9, cast Woolen Steed of Araby to add magnitude 3 and succeed), Int+Area Lore (Egypt) (rolled 4+2+2=8, spent two confidence to succeed), Sta+Stealth (specialty, rolled 9+2+3=14 for a success). 3 successes.

Result: Total success! 2 rewards + 2 xp, +7 for challenge difficulty (becomes 12). 5 exp goes to Animal, 5 to Stealth, 2 to Rego, raising it to 11. Jabril uses all 24 BP from this year, plus 1 mythic pound, to unlock the Jabal al-Mawta, a new vis source of 5 Corpus yearly. If he wants to study it, though, he’ll need to set up a laboratory around the tombs, which might be quite dangerous, so we’ll need to start by putting an Aegis in the larger chamber. He has also discovered our unknown hook: a regio!

Winter 1222

Jabril really needs to work on solving that poverty hook if he’s going to keep up his staff and now 3 sites to keep an eye on. Boundless Wealth is a great spell, and in a vacuum should be enough, given that it creates about 144,000 Mythic Pounds’ worth of pearls. Hell, I technically shouldn’t have to cast it again for decades. But—despite having picked up the spell—I find spells like this a bit boring unless they’re used for gaining unusual materials or negotiating. Plus, medieval economies are as fragile as glass, and I argue couldn’t support more than a few pearls sold a season. This is why I downgraded the income source to Lesser last year, to represent that the covenant was selling fewer. 

With all this being said, I do think my best bet for money making is just another Animal ritual, in this case creating an inexpensive necessity that can be traded to caravans or used at the covenant and shouldn’t affect the economy too much or draw overt interest. Thus, I am planning a spell to craft jameed. If you don’t know what jameed is, it’s essentially dried, strained yogurt balls made from buttermilk. It can last for months or even years if stored properly, and has a huge variety of culinary uses, from thickening soups and sauces to being a no-prep source of sustenance to enhancing the flavor of other dishes. It’s an excellent food for caravaneers, and could also be sold in the markets of Alexandria. 

A group target should create about 3000 pounds of jameed (which I’ll say is worth 1 Mythic Pound per 3 pounds), exactly like Boundless Wealth, but unlike that spell, requires a Finesse check to make the finished product, probably ease factor 6 since making jameed is not terribly complex, just takes time. Because it can be sold more frequently than the pearls, I reason it can function as a Typical source of income. As it costs 3 Animal a year to cast with his Mercurian Magic and his personal source provides 4 pawns yearly, I should be able to cast it one year, then cast both it and Boundless Wealth the next year, which I reason would give me a fluctuating source: typical on off years, greater on good years. 

So, Base 10 (processed animal product) + 2 for Group +1 for touch = level 25 CrAn. Lab Total is Cr 7 + An 13 + aura 3 + Int 2 + Magic Theory (specialty) 5 = 30, meaning it will take 5 seasons to invent the spell if Jabril starts this season. I should have taken inventive genius, but even without it, I’m still going to experiment. Rolled 7 on experimental bonus die, increasing progress to 12 points this season, and 4 on the extraordinary results table, meaning we avoid any strange results this season. 

So, winter is spent in his Aghurmi lab, working on making yogurt. He spends all of the vis from the Stele of Alexander warding the three sites that Siwa Oasis now occupies. He also trades his used Magic Theory tractatus for an equivalent Finesse one, which should arrive next year via the Redcap network.

2 exposure xp to Magic Theory