Investigating Tabazan
The Party Ties Up Loose Ends
General Summary
It is March 4th, 1000 PCE. The Party returned to the Tercelet after conferring with Zoran Mander about their newly acquired gear. They were accompanied by Orphea Chastain, Captain Thorpe, and the rest of the crew members rescued from the Voidseal pyramid. Once back at the ship, they divided the spoils and took a much-needed rest. Some of the PCs used this time to explore their new items or begin new training, whereas others made progress overcoming their psychological traumas.
The next day, Orphea spurred the Party to petition the ruling Princes of Tabazan to release the rest of their original companions. The Party took the Tercelet into the city, negotiated with doje Orbius Vhalantru, and arranged a deal to fast track Orphea’s petition.
Operating on behalf of the doje, the Party began investigating unsettling events: marauding bands carrying out attacks in the night, crazed mobs killing and kidnapping. Their investigations led the PCs to the Tabazan Arena, which they found inundated with remnants of the sargasso hive mind. Unable to make way through the inner gate to the fighting grounds, the PCs scaled the outer wall to scout the open-air structure. Down below, the Party saw familiar-looking vine creatures lurking in the vine-covered stands and inner walls of the arena and four captives tied to wooden posts on the bare arena sand.
The next day, Orphea spurred the Party to petition the ruling Princes of Tabazan to release the rest of their original companions. The Party took the Tercelet into the city, negotiated with doje Orbius Vhalantru, and arranged a deal to fast track Orphea’s petition.
Operating on behalf of the doje, the Party began investigating unsettling events: marauding bands carrying out attacks in the night, crazed mobs killing and kidnapping. Their investigations led the PCs to the Tabazan Arena, which they found inundated with remnants of the sargasso hive mind. Unable to make way through the inner gate to the fighting grounds, the PCs scaled the outer wall to scout the open-air structure. Down below, the Party saw familiar-looking vine creatures lurking in the vine-covered stands and inner walls of the arena and four captives tied to wooden posts on the bare arena sand.
Resting and Regrouping
Rediscovering the Emissary Recorder among the possessions of poor Rob, Everest began translating its contents from Precursor English. Tobias and the rest of the Party eagerly await the revelations it may yield.
William, having lost his kinetic powers (and still haunted by his crimes), turned to Stefan for guidance and learned more about the Monks of the Healing Hand. Yearning to leave his quest for vengeance behind, Will decided to apply himself to the disciplines of the Healing Path and discover his own path to atonement.
Stefan also counseled Math and Jayne to overcome their Void psychosis. They both made success in this regard.
William, having lost his kinetic powers (and still haunted by his crimes), turned to Stefan for guidance and learned more about the Monks of the Healing Hand. Yearning to leave his quest for vengeance behind, Will decided to apply himself to the disciplines of the Healing Path and discover his own path to atonement.
Stefan also counseled Math and Jayne to overcome their Void psychosis. They both made success in this regard.
Orphea’s Captive Crew
The next day, Orphea addressed the Party and once more thanked them for coming to the rescue. Evidently only a portion of her crew had been handed over to the Vril, and nine of her people were still being held by the Princes of Tabazan (including three unfortunate victims of the original Deathbringer pulse activated in Noirlan). She declared that she would not be continuing her quest to find the Forbidden City until all of these companions were freed from captivity. Making it clear that they should feel no obligation, she asked the PCs to assist her in this objective. Clearly, Orphea had come to an understanding that the dynamic of the quest had changed and, with it, her relationship to the Party. They were no longer hirelings in her personal quest, but independent agents with their own agendas.
Diplomacy and Bureaucracy
The PCs agreed to help free the rest of the crew and took the Tercelet into Tabazan to meet with the city authorities at once. Not permitted to touch down inside or on the walls of the citadel, the Party disembarked at the citadel main gate. They found the Turquoise Guards assembling for deployment under the direction of a magistrate known as doje Orbius Vhalantru.
His attention arrested by the spectacle of the flying ship, Orbius approached the PCs and agreed to informally meet with them. During negotiations, the venal corruption of the Tabazan slave state was beginning to reveal itself. Orbius seemed amenable to an offer to buy the captives back for a sum of 10,000 silver (to be paid in precious gems however, he could not be moved to take immediate action on the agreement and seemed to imply that the release would be delayed. On this point, he could not be swayed by an entreaties for mercy or haste.
Making a play to bypass the usual channels, Edmund drew attention to the activity going on amongst the soldiers on the parade grounds. The doje was persuaded to meet privately to discuss the matter and boarded the Tercelet to provide some details. In spite of the end of the malignant yellow light and the retreat of the sargasso, strange and terrible events were still unfolding in Tabazan. Subjects of the city, reported missing during the worst of the Deathbringer’s chaos, were reappearing in the night in random attacks within the city. During some of these incidents, the attackers were abducting their victims and carrying them off.
On the previous night, one such attack occurred at the Princes’ Playhouse, a popular dramatic stage in the Citizens’ Ward. During this raid, many well-to-do citizens were kidnapped, including Prince Marduk Romrama’s sister, Meron. The soldiers of the city were now being mobilized to conduct a general search of all subjects and citizens; however, the princess’s involvement in the incident was being kept secret. If the abduction of such a high-ranking member of the prince’s own family were to become public knowledge, it would surely prove a great embarrassment to the ruling house.
Here the Party saw their opening. They volunteered to investigate the kidnapping and discretely rescue the princess. Orbius agreed to arrange a quick release of the Merikan captives in exchange for Princess Meron’s safe (and secret) return, and he provided the PCs with temporary powers of deputization represented with distinctive turquoise discs. Wearing these tokens of state sanction, the Party would be allowed to move through the city and investigate without interference from the city guard or Tabazan’s regular troops.
His attention arrested by the spectacle of the flying ship, Orbius approached the PCs and agreed to informally meet with them. During negotiations, the venal corruption of the Tabazan slave state was beginning to reveal itself. Orbius seemed amenable to an offer to buy the captives back for a sum of 10,000 silver (to be paid in precious gems however, he could not be moved to take immediate action on the agreement and seemed to imply that the release would be delayed. On this point, he could not be swayed by an entreaties for mercy or haste.
Making a play to bypass the usual channels, Edmund drew attention to the activity going on amongst the soldiers on the parade grounds. The doje was persuaded to meet privately to discuss the matter and boarded the Tercelet to provide some details. In spite of the end of the malignant yellow light and the retreat of the sargasso, strange and terrible events were still unfolding in Tabazan. Subjects of the city, reported missing during the worst of the Deathbringer’s chaos, were reappearing in the night in random attacks within the city. During some of these incidents, the attackers were abducting their victims and carrying them off.
On the previous night, one such attack occurred at the Princes’ Playhouse, a popular dramatic stage in the Citizens’ Ward. During this raid, many well-to-do citizens were kidnapped, including Prince Marduk Romrama’s sister, Meron. The soldiers of the city were now being mobilized to conduct a general search of all subjects and citizens; however, the princess’s involvement in the incident was being kept secret. If the abduction of such a high-ranking member of the prince’s own family were to become public knowledge, it would surely prove a great embarrassment to the ruling house.
Here the Party saw their opening. They volunteered to investigate the kidnapping and discretely rescue the princess. Orbius agreed to arrange a quick release of the Merikan captives in exchange for Princess Meron’s safe (and secret) return, and he provided the PCs with temporary powers of deputization represented with distinctive turquoise discs. Wearing these tokens of state sanction, the Party would be allowed to move through the city and investigate without interference from the city guard or Tabazan’s regular troops.
The Princes’ Playhouse
The Party visited the playhouse and investigated the aftermath of the previous night’s mob attack. Darmok found a chakram (a weapon commonly used in Tabazan’s fighting pits) lying in the rubble of an overturned vendor cart and later helped the Party question some of the locals. They met a servant who gave an eyewitness account of the attack. He stressed the ferocity of the assailants and showed his arm where one of the feral attackers had actually bitten him.
Stefan examined the wound and noticed it was festering with tiny worms, telltale signs of organic Void corruption (as was witnessed at Farport Outpost). The PCs informed Zargul Sammo, the playhouse’s jovial proprietor, that anyone wounded in the attack would have to be quarantined. Further questioning of the witnesses revealed that the mob had fled east deeper into the city with their captives. Jayne found a veritable stampede of tracks headed east and began following them. He eventually led the Party to the Tabazan Arena.
Stefan examined the wound and noticed it was festering with tiny worms, telltale signs of organic Void corruption (as was witnessed at Farport Outpost). The PCs informed Zargul Sammo, the playhouse’s jovial proprietor, that anyone wounded in the attack would have to be quarantined. Further questioning of the witnesses revealed that the mob had fled east deeper into the city with their captives. Jayne found a veritable stampede of tracks headed east and began following them. He eventually led the Party to the Tabazan Arena.
Remnants of the Hive
The Party found a trio of Pale Rider cultists lurking around the abandoned arena, which had until recently been used as a base of operations for Durance and his gang of Vril toughs. Jayne, Everest, and William managed to sneak under the notice of the cultists’ lookout and eventually sprung an ambush in which they captured two of the cult members. The third ran off towards the east-side slums of Tabazan (location of the House of the Pale Rider — the cult’s HQ). The PCs have not yet interrogated these prisoners.
Inside the arena, the Party found that the Vril had left piles of waste and rubbish strewn about. The inner gate leading to the arena’s fighting grounds was inundated with thick, leafy vines, sprouted with stems and purple blossoms. The winch mechanism used to operate the gate could not be engaged. Moreover, the plant demonstrated the capacity for locomotion and was extending tube-like vines to suck up a puddle of yellow ambektar left for it by the Pale Rider cultists just outside the blocked gate.
The Party reasoned — based upon their earlier experience on the sargasso mat — that the sargasso hivemind seemed to rely on localized nodes of consciousness for command and control. These nodes seemed to be located beneath masses of sargasso vegetation, so the PCs concluded that there must be a node underneath the arena; however, Darmok informed them that there was no basement under the building (nor any sewer).
Unable to make way into (or under) the arena from the ground floor, the PCs scaled the external wall to get a birds-eye view. They saw that the spectator seating was entirely covered with sargasso-like seaweed vines that also extended down the inner walls of the arena. Over time, they came to perceive humanoid figures, bipedal creatures formed of twisted vegetation, lurking amid the vines amid the perimeter of the stadium’s killing grounds.
The Party also spotted four captives, three women and one man, tied to vertical wooden poles set in post holes on the arena sand. The Party contemplated their next move.
Inside the arena, the Party found that the Vril had left piles of waste and rubbish strewn about. The inner gate leading to the arena’s fighting grounds was inundated with thick, leafy vines, sprouted with stems and purple blossoms. The winch mechanism used to operate the gate could not be engaged. Moreover, the plant demonstrated the capacity for locomotion and was extending tube-like vines to suck up a puddle of yellow ambektar left for it by the Pale Rider cultists just outside the blocked gate.
The Party reasoned — based upon their earlier experience on the sargasso mat — that the sargasso hivemind seemed to rely on localized nodes of consciousness for command and control. These nodes seemed to be located beneath masses of sargasso vegetation, so the PCs concluded that there must be a node underneath the arena; however, Darmok informed them that there was no basement under the building (nor any sewer).
Unable to make way into (or under) the arena from the ground floor, the PCs scaled the external wall to get a birds-eye view. They saw that the spectator seating was entirely covered with sargasso-like seaweed vines that also extended down the inner walls of the arena. Over time, they came to perceive humanoid figures, bipedal creatures formed of twisted vegetation, lurking amid the vines amid the perimeter of the stadium’s killing grounds.
The Party also spotted four captives, three women and one man, tied to vertical wooden poles set in post holes on the arena sand. The Party contemplated their next move.
Report Date
15 Apr 2023
Resting and Regrouping
Orphea’s Captive Crew
Diplomacy and Bureaucracy
The Princes’ Playhouse
Remnants of the Hive
NPCs Encountered
Orbius Vhalantru
Zargul Sammo
Adelle Mirodar
Orphea Chastain
Playhouse Servants
Pale Rider Cultists
Orbius Vhalantru
Zargul Sammo
Adelle Mirodar
Orphea Chastain
Playhouse Servants
Pale Rider Cultists
NPCs on the Tercelet
Orphea Chastain
Locard
Tashtego
Albeard
Fulbeard
Captain Thorpe
Sky Marines
Orphea Chastain
Locard
Tashtego
Albeard
Fulbeard
Captain Thorpe
Sky Marines
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