1224 AD: The Other Side

I’ll be honest, this is probably the worst written year so far, at least in my opinion. The adventure had an interesting setup but I ended up feeling far less inspired than usual. 

1224 Adventure Oracle

Cabal Legacy—10% (56, no adventure)

Seeker—10% (69 (nice), no adventure)

Regional Produce—10% (15, no adventure)

Multiple Sites—10% (54, no adventure)

Road—10% (74, no adventure)

Tribunal Border—30% (73 (damn, again), no adventure) 

Unsafe—10% (63, no adventure) 

Regio—30% (21, adventure!)

I suppose it makes sense since we only recently discovered the Hill. 

Difficulty—3, average, another EF 12

Origin—1! I haven’t rolled a 1 on a d100 in over a decade of tabletops. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I’ll use this roll (origin is optional), because it’s nobility, which in this case means a landed noble or influential knight, I’m not sure how well that translated here but I’ll think about it. 

Timing—7, a Winter adventure, meaning our ease factor is increased to 13. 

Complexity—7, very complex. Man, I roll a lot of 7s. 

Type of Adventure—19, Combat, 12, Social, 49, Magic. Actually, we might have a pretty cool setup here. 

I’m opting in, because as I’ve been rolling I’ve come up with a good idea. 

Omens—5, not bad. Not good. 

Spring 1224

Spring inaugurated a time of great prosperity for Siwa Oasis. The income issue was fixed, at least for the moment, with Jabril’s skilled traders bringing in more than enough to sustain the covenant, with much more beyond that. In fact, having had a surplus of Animal from last year, Jabril still had two pawns after casting both of his rituals, so the income could remain greater for this year and two years to come. Covenant wages were doubled and each of his covenfolk given pensions, ensuring their loyalty.

As well, vis poured into his coffers. While his Vim vis, save one pawn, was earmarked for the three Aegises, he had built up a stock of 28 pawns beyond the three already mentioned, twelve of them Aquam, six Ignem, and ten Corpus from the new source. Once Venti Rosa arrives this season—with a new Gifted Mercere, Aurelius, in tow—Jabril trades 9 pawns of Aquam for leather scale armor with a constant, personal range Doublet of Impenetrable Silk-like effect (25 effect levels=8.333 vis, rounded to 9), leaving him with 18 pawns overall. 

With all this wealth, at last he could relax and study, and so he spent the season reading his new Animal tractatus, surrounded by friendly asps. 

Study XP: 11+2=13, bringing Animal to 14. 

Summer 1224

The hot summer brought more study, this time returning to his Rego summa, surrounded by precise and tidy servants. 

Study XP: 15+2=17, bringing Rego to 14. 

Autumn 1224

As autumn came, Jabril continued to study Rego, but was unnerved by irregular reports of activity at his lab in the Hill. It seemed that regio would not stay quiet for long. 

Study XP: 15+2=17, bringing Rego to 16. 

Now that our Rego is over 15, I will probably need to enhance his study area to meet his requirement and bonus. I’m thinking of having the turb drill in precise rows around him while servants move between them, continually cleaning. Also, that exceptional book is getting close to reaching the end of its useful lifespan. I’m not sure by what I’ll do once I hit 20 Rego, to be honest. I might pay to swap the boon and send the book into the Redcap network. Then again—and I hadn’t really thought of this before—having an Exceptional Book could be another story producer, although it would feel a bit silly to add it to the Oracle after I’ve already used it. 

Winter 1224

Sand and Sulfur

As winter approached, Jabril decided to spend some time at his laboratory within the crypts to study Corpus, but was mindful of the need to keep his turb nearby in case of issues with the regio. However, as soon as he and his men arrived at the cleft, they heard shouts and the sounds of fighting at its cliffside exit and rushed to investigate.

At the road, a terrible scene unfolded before them. Three men torn to shreds, camels fleeing in all directions, and one lone survivor cowering as the powerfully-built ghul advanced on him. Feeling a surge of anger—as these were after all his lands by right, with all within beneath his protection—Jabril leapt into action, charging the creature with a bellow and deftly dodging its instant counterstroke. 

The creature struck this way and that, but Jabril was keen of eye and quick of reflex, and so it only succeeded in frustrating itself, roaring at him as his turb surrounded it. Seeming to realize its desperate situation, it leapt for an opening to escape: but Jabril was there first, flinging his body at it to knock it to the earth and hold it down while his men’s spears stabbed down savagely, over and over. 

At last, he felt the ghul grow still beneath him, and stood unsteadily, legs exhausted with the effort. It lay twitching on the sandy ground, and although he knew little enough of the creatures, he believed this one to be dead. In a moment, the erstwhile survivor, who had been shuddering away still while they battled the ghul, fell upon Jabril with a hundred thanks. Acknowledging these with a nod, the magus invited the man to his home to recover from his terrible encounter. 

First challenge: Qik+Brawl (specialty, rolled 4+0+3=7, spent two confidence to succeed), Per+Awareness (specialty, rolled 1, rerolled another 1, rerolled a 4 for a total of 18+0+3=21 for a huge success!), Str+Athletics (rolled 7+0+2=9, spent 2 confidence to succeed). 3 successes.

Dinner with the Judge

It was to a nourishing meal of mansaf that Jabril and his men treated their guest, who introduced himself as Al-Walid, a qadi, or Islamic judge, from the Sultan’s court in Cairo. Over tender lamb and shrak bread soaked in onion-infused jameed sauce, it emerged that the urbane jurist had seen little of the deserts outside the cities of the Nile, and that this was his first time traveling in the Great Sand Sea. Indeed, he would not have come here willingly, but had been sent west by the Sultan to administer the Ayyubid gains against the Tuareg, only conquered within the last decade or so. 

Looking at the restored temple around him and the many servants and armed men that moved hither and thither, the judge idly wondered at the wealth of his host. Jabril sensed a subtle edge within the folds of his courtesy, and hastened to explain that he was a mere gentleman farmer, owning a great portion of the valley in which he farmed dates and herded goats. As he lied, he subtly tapped the bracelet he had been given some seasons ago by his friends at the Pyramids to nullify his Gift, and went on to explain that he had chosen the old temple at Aghurmi for his home due to its position overlooking much of the Oasis: and because he had heard how terribly pious it was to restore the creations of the ancients. This seemed to please Al-Walid, who dropped the subject and went on to carefully broach the subject of the creature that had attacked them. 

Here, Daoud awkwardly attempted to step in, clumsily weaving a tale of bandits cursed by God for their unrighteousness, who plagued the nearby desert. The qadi seemed unimpressed by this story, and, realizing he was an educated man, Jabril cut in, excusing the foolishness of his servant. He explained the truth, or some of it: that a sinister ghul had taken lair in some of the valley’s ancient tombs, and that he and his men had been working on a way to capture or destroy it. 

At this, the qadi nodded and offered some advice of his own. Folklore had it that an individual reciting the Bismillah Invocation would be protected from ghuls and other such foul creatures. Jabril, being a consummate pagan, had not considered such a thing, and thanked the jurist for his idea, and invited him to stay for the night. Al-Walid agreed gratefully, and the dinner came to an end with the two as good acquaintances. 

The next day, after hiring some more guards in Siwa, Al-Walid left the oasis, leaving Jabril to ponder what he had said. 

Second challenge: Com+Guile (specialty, used Bracelet of Trust to add mag 3 and ignore gift penalty, rolled 6+1+3+3=13, success), Daoud rolled Pre+Charm (rolled 2+1+2=5, failure), Int+Folk Ken (rolled 5+2+3-3=7, spent two confidence to succeed). 2 successes, 1 failure. 

Siwa’s Shadow

With the advice of the qadi, Jabril felt it was high time to enter this unknown regio and find out precisely what manner of place it was. First, he had the awkward task of learning what exactly the Bismillah Invocation was from his more devout covenfolk. After a few days of memorization, Jabril donned his armor and set off to the Hill of the Dead. He chose to leave the turb behind this time, not wanting to drag mundanes into a potentially dangerous and volatile regio. He did not want to admit to himself or anyone else that part of his reluctance came from his growing fondness for his covenfolk.

Last time he had encountered the ghul, he had noticed that the entrance to the regio had remained open while it lingered outside, only to seal once it entered. With the creature defeated, he surmised that the entryway might remain open for him. Once he arrived in the larger chamber at the center of the hill, he was gratified to see that he was correct: the doors beyond his laboratory stood open, with shadowy darkness lying beyond. 

After a few minutes casting a spontaneous CrIg spell for light, Jabril entered, passing into a dark chamber similar to the one he had just left. As he did so, the doors behind him shut with an imperious thud, and he knew he had to find another way out. More worryingly, as soon as he stepped through, The passage back out, echoing that leading to the cleft, was similarly dark and full of tombs. But looking into them, Jabril became aware of a growing exhaustion, and realized to his horror that stigmata had begun to spread across his hands. He had stepped into an Infernal aura unintentionally, and needed to escape quickly. 

Ahead, along the path, he found traps that weren’t there in his world: luckily, though wicked, they were largely made up of animal parts, and so it took only some precise spontaneous magic to unravel them. Unfortunately, that also took a great deal of time, and so it felt like days before at last he emerged from the tunnel into a weak, washed-out light. 

All around him spread Siwa Oasis: or at least, a compressed, washed-out version of it. The light was thin and nearly grey, despite the sun sitting above, and while he could recognize various landmarks, they were all far closer than they should be. Here he stood at the Hill, and yet it felt like Siwa town stood only feet away, and Aghurmi as well. It was odd here: he could feel the weight of the Infernal aura on him, and get there were moments of lightness, as though magic took over. It was as though the Infernal aura was imposing on a natural magical one. 

Regardless, he had bigger concerns. There was movement within Siw and Aghurmi, and a hard push on his Parma let him know it wasn’t friendly. He even realized something had made it through as he began to feel weaker and more exhausted. And yet, he could sense something from the east, almost a lightness. He began to hasten across the sand, followed by things he knew were there but couldn’t see. It felt like forever until at last he came to a small pool in the desert, surrounded by withered date palms. Oddly, two crows sat in the trees, looking down at him, and he felt in his heart that they were not monsters of this strange place. 

Reaching out with his power, he commanded them to alight on his shoulders, and in a moment of pure intuition, told them to guide him out. Silently, the crows began to fly through the trees, and he followed, first walking, then running to keep up. He didn’t realize quite when it happened, but slowly the color began to return to the world, and it seemed to decompress, spreading out into the oasis he knew. He stood now before a lush, healthy version of the spring he had seen in that other world, with healthy, powerful date trees waving in the wind. There was a power here: a magic aura. Looking up at the date trees, he realized they too contained vis, and that he had come to another vis source, guarded by the selfsame crows that had guided him. 

Disturbed, but intrigued by what he had seen, he returned to Aghurmi with much to consider. 

Third challenge: Dex+Finesse (specialty, rolled 4+0+4=8, spent two confidence to succeed), Sta+Parma Magica (specialty, rolled 0, botch threatened! Botch dice 8, 7, 4, 1, 4. No botch, becomes normal failure of 5), Pre+Summon Animals (specialty, rolled 8+0+4=12, cast Momentary Command to add mag 5 and succeed). 2 successes, 1 failure. 

Results: Success! We had to spend 8 confidence and nearly botched (plus Daoud was useless, freakin’ grogs), but Jabril makes it through, earning 3 rewards +2 xp for his successes, and 9 xp (becoming 14 overall) and 9 confidence points for the challenges. 5 xp goes to Folk Ken, finally increasing it to 4, 5 xp to Parma, and 4 to Finesse. At some point I should start investing xp in Summon Animals, given how key it is to his character. Animal Ken I’ll barely be able to advance thanks to my Arts, but Summon Animals is favored, so I shouldn’t have that issue. All rewards and 2 mythic pounds are spent on unlocking the final vis source in Siwa Oasis: Alexander’s Camp, producing 4 pawns of Herbam every February.