Anarea 1-off D: Breaking the Law 7 to 26 Aval 2000
Scenario 12C. (X)
Version C: Into the Ocean
The Questors may wish to track down Namaja, reputedly the World's greatest ChaosMaster, and quite possibly still alive. But his trail is three years cold. He was last commonly heard of in Valdrea at the massacre of Lake Zarak. Questioning of the surviving rebels should elicit the information that he walked off into the Lake, and possibly that he headed back into Valdran, where he took ship from the docks downriver to Hapral. The Questors may also have picked up the fused, glassy trail left by his passing on the bed of the Lake.
He is not susceptible to any means of Location, including Demon Summoning. His trail may be followed by means of those who saw him pass: either by Communing with their Gods or by speaking to them in person. Demon Summoning may also help follow his trail, where it is still traceable.
Shipping companies in Valdrea keep comprehensive records, which are liable to inspection by the authorities (or by others for a small bribe). The harbourmasters' logs in Valdran and Hapral will provide lists of ships heading downriver and out to sea respectively at the relevant times and give their destinations and the names of the shipowning companies. The companies will have manifests listing crew, passengers and cargoes. The Massacre of Lake Zarak took place on 1 Varech 1997. At dawn of 2 Varech 1997 the river barge Fat Empress sailed from the docks before the first lock on the River Alma (where the glassy trail emerges and disappears (DL6 vs Track). The Fat Empress was bound for Hapral, a voyage which normally takes about a week. On 10 Varech the merchantman Flying Pig set sail from Hapral, bound for Kuntax and Tehmor via Fort Venture. 'Narsi' is listed as a deck hand, but the ship's log reports he was "lost overboard" on 4 Sarm off the coast of Mt. Anar, 4 days South of Fort Venture. The Flying Pig eventually arrived at Tehmor on 21 Sarm, and duly reported the loss of a crewmember to the harbourmaster's office there. But records are not so well kept in Tehmor as in Valdrea, and this information may be difficult to find (and will certainly involve bribes). There is no trace of Namaja or 'Narsi' having arrived in Tehmor.
The "lost overboard" incident took place at 243o, opposite the Mafast Peninsula, which is the approximate area where current rumour (see separate Scenario "The Rumourmonger") says that ships heading South from Fort Venture to Kuntax and the Southern Cities have reported strange whirlpools, geysers and coloured lights deep beneath the waves close to the shore of Mt. Anar. There are also reports of Giant Manta Rays picking over bits of flotsam that have bubbled up from the sea floor, taking shiny bits and diving away with them. According to an old sailors' story (well known in the waterfront bars of Hapral), these could be the legendary Ixitxachitl: a race of Chaotic Clerical philosophers in the form of Giant Manta Rays, who are rumoured to hoard a fabulous treasure in their underwater city in the depths of the Ocean. But nobody has ever managed to find the place, or at least to return to tell the story.
Air breathers require a Water Breathing Spell or effect to be able to breathe underwater, or the Questors may seek to explore beneath the sea from the Ethereal or Astral Planes. The Great Ocean is up to c250 miles deep around Mt. Anar. There are no water pressure effects in Anarea, but the Light Intensity drops to -3 in the ocean depths, as in the depths of the earth.
On the seabed 200 miles beneath the Ocean at about the point where the "lost overboard" incident took place lies a crater 680 feet across, and 20 miles deep. In the crater is to be found the underwater city of Chaxachitlan (for which see separate Scenario "The City of the Ixitxachitl"). It should be fairly easy to find once the Questors explore the area, as the city shines with brightly-coloured lights, and is currently rumbling as if with earth tremors and shooting bits of Chaos up to the surface.
Encounters along the way will depend on how the Questors travel, whom they question, and what disguises they adopt.
The captains of the two ships still ply the same routes, and may be found en route, on their ships in dock or at bars ashore.
Captain Lubar (L) of the Fat Empress will not remember ‘Narsi’ from the many temporary deck hands he has hired over the years.
Captain Koshan (N) of the Flying Pig will (if prompted with drinks and/or bribes) remember 'Narsi' as a quiet young man who kept himself to himself and brooded a lot. He thought the man probably committed suicide. Koshan knows the stories of the Giant Manta Rays and can confirm from his personal experience the recent ones of strange whirlpools, geysers and coloured lights deep beneath the waves, but he is sure there was nothing of that kind going on at the time 'Narsi' was lost.
Wandering Monsters (L/N/C) may be encountered in the depths of the Lake or the Ocean, at sea, or on the Ethereal / Astral.
Bits of Chaos (C) rising from Chaxachitlan may manifest as small Stars, Chaos-Beings or random effects. They may seek to climb back into the sky to rejoin the Stars, wander off randomly, dissipate into the increasingly-Chaotic environment or even interact with the Questors.
The party may be left to draw their own conclusions from where the trail leads.
Back to Scenario 11: The Betrayed
Go to Scenario 13C: The City of the Ixitxachitl
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