Prequel
"Slave! Bring me a tattoo artist, a box, and a Kaika-bird!"
The campaign opens with the various characters--those not already there--
arriving in Jakalla.
They learn, through local clancousins or other contacts, of
Shekkara
Tlakotani's upcoming party. Shekkara's informal and semi-private
parties are pretty much for those in her social set and their guests.
(i.e., up-and-coming high status young people ranging from late teens
to early thirties, though Prince Rereshqala has been known to drop
in on a whim when he wanted to snub another event) Since she is a
Dlamelish priestess, one can imagine that the entertainment is quite
good.
The other player-characters all meet Shekkara, and they meet each other if their
paths happen to cross at the party.
Shekkara gets herself invited to go to Lord Tekunu's fief with
Ngaya
hiChaishyani. The other PCs get themselves invited as well through
other channels either because they are Golden Sunburst and were asked
by their clan to check up on what's going on there, or for some other reason.
For those familiar with the AoT archeology adventure, the GM took
the solo adventure and converted it into a group adventure with
some plot changes of his own. The fief does end up confiscated,
and the group makes a hasty departure back to Jakalla, where...
many of them do not have the good sense to keep their mouths closed.
Word is soon out amongst the wrong people that certain persons saw
undead troops.
Meanwhile,
Tetkoru hiSsaynuch, Kasi in the Legion of Storm of Fire,
happily tells anyone who will listen how he earned his Gold of Glory from Prince
Mirusiya. This results in a set-up by a few Scales of Brown troops
in which he is tricked into either paying them Shamtla or fighting
a duel. He takes the duel, as he refused to have any of his kaitars
go to feed Scales of Brown troops.
A day or two later, Shekkara invites the various PCs to attend a
Jakallani sword technique demonstration at her dueling school.
There, they are called away for a brief and very secret meeting
with Prince Rereshqala himself. He wants to know the details of
what happened on Tekunu's fief. Shekkara had sent him a message
that something was up that he might want to know about. Dlarku
hiSsanmirin has taken a "picture cube" of the undead troops using an
Eye, which he gives to Rereshqala.
Rereshqala admonishes the party for blabbing the Tekunu stuff
around town. (Shekkara feels insulted for being included in this
group and, with a steady look at her clan-uncle, says that she has
only told one person.) Rereshqala gets the various PCs to promise
one favor to him.
Right before he leaves, he warns Shekkara that her beauty has
attracted some attention and she should be be careful unless she
has a desire to live in Penom. (This later proves to match rumors
that a certain Kerdu Arkutu hiKurrodu desires her for his wife, and
may have gone so far as to petition Emperor Dhich'une.)
The arrangements for the duel are not happening fast enough for Tetkoru,
who is anxious to return to his legion, so he undertakes more spectacular
shamtla-able actions -- sending a Kaika-bird with breast plucked and
the particular Scales of Brown Tirrikamu's name, clan, and legion
tattooed on it to the Tirrikamu's barracks, to arrive just as drills had ended
for the day. (Hmmm.. imagine. I wonder if the delivery boy lived
through the delivery.) This escalated the action from 50 to 20,000 kaitars
and an extremely public duel.
The various PCs attend the duel. During this time, I might add, the
Food Riots are going on. Tetkoru wins the duel (rather amazingly.
I seem to recall that the GM's own estimation of surival odds was
rather low for Tetkoru).
In our version of Tekumel, Prince Rereshqala chooses this as the best
time to take the city. [With so many Scales of Brown troopers worming ;-)
out of their duties to watch the duel, it is a good time.] The Scales
of Brown leave en masse as soon as the duel ends to attempt to fight
off Rereshqala's people. Tetkoru and Akhan hi Ketkolel
, Hereksa in the First Legion of Ever-Present Glory and Tetkoru's second,
think at first that the entire Legion is coming for them.
Various PCs either hole up in the Hirilakte arena until the fighting
and food riots calm down in the vicinity or take their chances and
go to clanhouse or temple.
While holed up in the arena, Shekkara receives a summons from Rereshqala
for herself and her new friends at a certain winemakers' shop, and she
in turns writes out "summons/invitations" to the PCs. (That in itself
was amusing as the PCs tried to explain to their various temples and
clans without telling the real reason, why they had to immediately answer
this summons from Shekkara with riots and fighting going on.) Poor
Tetkoru had to leave his victory celebration and a Sea Blue woman who
had been hitting on him, leaving her with the impression that he was
dumping her for Shekkara.
At the winemakers' shop, the PCs meet a Tlakotani clansman/houseguard
and a disguised woman. They are to escort this woman (Shekkara thinks
it's Sogai) out of Jakalla. The players have termed her "Most Secret"
though in the game she has a pseudonym. Most Secret knows the path
she is going to take out of Jakalla, and it involves a pre-mapped out
route through the Underworld as they can't leave by the city gates.
The session summaries begin at this point.
These game logs are spoofs of what really happened. They will make much
more sense if you understand one crucial point: if anything in the logs
was brilliantly done, easily done, happily done, willingly done, done with
style, flair, or grace, you can bet your kaitars the truth is nine times
out of ten exactly
the opposite.
