This was both Kharash and Nafus first time at sea travel and they weren't looking forward to it. Boarding a bhaglah with the rather lovely name of ' Akide ' with a rather dubious captain one Ibn Muttabah, who saw potential in Nafus light build and brightened when Karash made it known he could fight.

Captain Muttabah made known that the Gulf of Marazid was not easy to navigate with coral reefs and rocks just under the waterline near the coast.

" Storms are common, as are pirates who waited patiently for ships with rich travelers to rob and kill."

" Ships were weak in a storm, the planks are stitched together with cords. Moreover, the winds can keep us from reaching our destinations. Truly our lives are in the hands of God."

.................

Captains Jounal Three days into the journey:

"We traveled on this sea with a favoring wind for two days, but thereafter the wind changed and drove us off ... course... The waves of the sea entered in amongst us in the vessel, and the passengers fell grievously sick."

Eventually the ship had to head for shore, undergoing repairs in a small fishing village on the southern edge of the Kaikhuran Desert.

Sailing onwards and around the coast of the Sultunate of Opalar and into the delta of the River Isis to the city of La'Atmar.

La'Atmar was a city built on a rocky shoreline with its southern side exposed to a river mouth and the sea. The harbor was surrounded by stone walls and sea gates for protection.

La'Atmar charged a tariff or tax on all the goods that came through this port. Ships brought spices, medicinal herbs, dyes to color cloth, iron, steel, Minji silks and cottons, pearls, cowrie shells, Khitain pottery, Mungodan ivory, fruits and lumber.

From La'Atmar the ship sailed across the Deeps of Rasakna and down the coast of Mungoda this time. The weather conditions were right for the trip, and it was an easy journey for the thirty man crew who had begun to warm to the two newcomers by now.

The trading ship made its way down the east coast of Mungoda stopping at small towns to trade for Mungodan goods such as ivory, gold, myrrh to make a fine skin oil, animal skins, frankincense and fruits.

They continued southward and fifteen days later they reached Paru, the busiest Mungodan port.

The captain was well known here and the crew was made welcome guests of the local chieftains. This feasting and meeting of important people continued for about a week before the ship continued southward to smaller trading towns.

There in the seldom visited settlement of Qalha, whose inhabitants feared something called The Bird Kings and warned them against going further south, they observed a busy market with merchandise from Minji, and along the coast they saw pearl fishing boats.

The captain traded the rest of his goods for bushels of pearls and with the crews blessing they sailed east......

A night into the journey under a bright full moon there was a sudden call out from the lookout about a ship rapidly approaching from the south.

It was low and brightly coloured with three hulls and on the two outer a dozen men rowed with broad leaf-blade paddles.

On the central hull stood six figures dressed in mantles of iridescent feathers and great crested helms...but they were not helms...and those six were not men.  The folk of Qalha spoke of Bird Kings...it seemed they were about to meet them....

“By the Prophet!” Nafu curses as he looks about for somewhere to hide, figuring he would best to try to get the drop on whomever or whatever these things are.

Once in hiding he will awkwardly draw the fine scimitar and prepare to sell his life dearly.

At the sound of the commotion, Karash gains the bridge and is soon alerted to the incoming, three-hulled ship. He squints his eyes trying to catch more details of the strange feathered figures. He looks around for Nafu, but the man is nowhere in sight.

He rushes to seek audience with Captain Muttabah. "My Captain, can we outrun them with the sails of the Akide? Are the winds in our favour?"

He turns once more to observe the strangely shaped ship. "Hmm... A dozen rowing... Six strange creatures in the middle... Our crew outnumbers them, should it come to blows. But... are they hostile?" he thinks out loud, his hand tightening around the grip of his weapon.

" We can try, By the Illuminate."

" We outnumber them, yes. But my men are not soldiers."

Five of the hulking iridescent plumed figures advanced to the bow of the trimaran and drew enormous plum-leaf shaped blades from where they were strapped to their backs.

" I would say they seem to be hostile."

The ship tacked hard across the wind but the trimarans fevered rowing did not abate as they drew within 30m of the ship angling to intercept.

He nods and starts walking along the bridge, calling out to the various crew members, "We must slow them down... arrows! Bows! Crossbows! Anyone who has any, make yourself known! We can try firing at the rowers. That's their strength right now"

"Come on, brave sailors of the Akide !! We haven't sailed this splendid ship this far, just to become prey to a mere row boat!!" he calls out, trying to boost some courage.

Emboldened by Karash’s stirring speech, Nafu sheathes his scimitar awkwardly and pulls out his sling loading a smooth stone into the pouch.  Scampering up to a vantage point on the deck he whirls the sling around and around and then let’s the stone fly at the closest rower.

OOC and with a 19 that’s a miss! $&@!
This message was last edited by the player at 22:57, Fri 14 May 2021.

A number of crew pulled out recurved laquered reed bows and fired, two of their shafts struck home and one of the rowers slumped over dead.

The trimaran slowed very slightly but it was still gaining....

Karash rushes to the archers' side, encouraging them.

"Do not give up, prepare a second volley of arrows! They already have slowed down some! Come on, mighty archers!!" he shouts at the top of his lungs.

In reply to Karash (msg # 9):

Urged on by Karash Nafu loads another stone and sends it whizzing towards the towers with deadly intent.

OOC 18:09, Today: Nafu rolled 8 using 1d20.  Sling shot.Not sure if that’s a hit. Maybe he hits but not the one he was aiming for?!

One of the rowers was struck in the shoulder by a stone and cried out but the trimaran did not slow and drew closer. One of the figures now recognisable as a strongly built humanoid with shimmering feathers hopped up on the bow of the trimaran and held its massive plum-leaf blade high as it prepared to leap onto the ship.

Karash looks around for something to use to ram potential boarding enemies off the ship, like a long oar, or a pole. If he finds one, he will hold it like a pike and ready himself to charge the enemy at the boarding point.

He asks for Nafu's help to prepare the action.
"Nafu! We can try ram them off the ship as they jump on board! It's worth a try..."

He tries to time his action so the enemy boarding does not have time to regain balance after jumping on board.

[OOC if Nafu joins to help, hoping for a combined action to make it easier/more effective]

OOC does the tactical situation lend itself to Nafu using his jumping skills to leap unexpectedly behind the creature once it boards to unbalance it as Karash seeks to push it off the deck?

Or could he snatch up a rope and try to entangle the boarder’s feet/legs?

If neither of those options look feasible he’ll try to lend his puny might to Karash’s plan.

The crew fired again and three of their arrows hit taking out two more of the enslaved rowers, the trimaran dropped back and the creature on the bow screeched in rage at being stymied.

Karash and Nafus plan it seemed would not be needed this time.

" Excellent work!", said Captain Muttabah.

" I believe those were the creatures described in some journals as Volucreth....something else for my log."

" Break out the palm wine this deserves a celebration."

He looked Karash and Nafu over, " I'm sure God will forgive us this indulgence having just escaped certain death and enslavement."

The ship sailed east across The Deeps of Raksana for more than a month before it came in sight of land once more, their stores almost extinguished by the time they sighted it.

The shores the two men saw for the first time were rich and verdant, somewhat reminiscent of the forested shores of Mungoda that they had left behind.

They sailed northward along the coast until they came in sight of a great city, as they tied up at the docks they were welcomed to the Nine Shining Citys by the dock workers.

Captain Muttabah went to seek official acknowledgment of their arrival.

Once he had established his credentials and shown his wares Captain Muttabah was given a welcoming gift of 200 silver coins by the Merchants Charter and put up in a comfortably furnished house.

Captain Muttabah, and a selection of crew including Nafu and Karash, went to greet the ruler of the city with their gifts of pearls. On a gold-plated throne sat a tall, healthy, white-skinned man.

Captain Muttabah approached King Chauhan, who took his hand, and continuing to hold it addressed him most kindly, saying in Opalarian,... 'Your arrival is a blessing; be at ease; I wish to hear more of your homeland.  Though we are having more traders from your region arrive every year."

A small feast was held and the men ate well though there was some unfamiliar flavours among the dishes.

The next day the King paraded into the city. On some elephants were mounted richly dressed women that threw out gold and silver coins to the crowd of on-lookers.

Whatever went on in the private meetings between the Captain and the King they became fast friends and the crew lived very comfortably indeed for sometime. Because he didn't speak Minjian ( though they would later learn it was only one of many languages used here) well he was given assistants and had soon established an outpost of his old trading company.

But after some months things began to change....

A thousand miles away from the capital, one of the Kings governors rebelled against him and proclaimed himself King. This prompted him to bring his army south. During the next three months that the King was away at battle, Captain Muttabah lived in the city with the crew. He was appointed as a judge and he took care of the building of what was eventually planned to be the Kings tomb which required hundreds of workers.

The King returned after an unsuccessful campaign against the rebellious army in the south. Then army officers and a governor near the Nine Cities also rebelled. The kingdom was disintegrating around King Chauhan. This time he proved himself a skillful general and marched out to secure the region. The traitorous leaders were captured and thrown to a cadre of bull elephants.

Captain Muttabah would later relate, "They started cutting them in pieces with the blades placed on their tusks and throwing some of them in the air and catching them. All the time the bugles and fifes and drums were being sounded."

And King Chauhan began to lash out at real and imagined enemies.

Even Mattubah came under suspicion. While living there, Mattubah married a woman and had a daughter by her. This woman was the daughter of a court official who had plotted a rebellion and was executed by the King. But the most serious problem for Mattubah was his friendship with a local holy man. This holy man refused to have anything to do with politics and tried to live a religious life. He snubbed the King and refused to obey his commands. In retaliation the King had the holy man's beard plucked out hair by hair, then banished him. Later the King ordered him to return to court, which the holy man refused to do. The man was arrested, tortured in the most horrible way, then beheaded.

The following day the King demanded a list of friends of the holy man, and Mattubah name was included. For nine days he remained under guard imaging in horror that he would be executed, too. And his crew could do nothing but wait...

He later told them, "I recited prayers 33,000 times and ... fasted five days on end, reciting the Ta'ashim from cover to cover each day, and tasting nothing but water. After five days I broke my fast and then continued to fast for another four days on end."

He rid himself of his possessions, and donned the clothes of a beggar. He was given permission to join a hermit who lived in a cave outside of the city. He lived like that for five months.  His crew dispersed most joining other crews and heading home though Karash and Nafu made a living through a combination of weaponskill and sleight of hand.

Then Mattubah was called back to the palace. Fearfully he returned, and was greeted warmly. But determined to avoid further troubles, he got up enough courage to ask the King if he could head home to further develop trade ties.

But the King had another task in mind, one that Mattubah found fascinating, the King wanted to make Mattubah ambassador to the Court of Khitai. He would accompany 12 Khitain messengers back to their homeland and carry shiploads of gifts to the emperor. Now he was given an opportunity to get away from the increasingly unstble King and to visit further lands in a grand style! It was an offer too exciting - and too dangerous - to refuse.  And so he sought out his two ' lucky charms' to bring along.


( Feel free to describe what you two got up to for the better part of a year in fantasy-medieval India.  In terms of employment, things learned reltionships etc.)

Karash found the new land strange and opulent, exotic and full of contradictions - people threw coins at the populace in the streets, yet their punishments for crimes seemed vicious and often disproportionate to the offence.

He benefited by proxy, like the rest of the crew, of the good standing that Captain Mattubah enjoyed in the eyes of King Chauhan. He was treated with deference and invited to many banquets and celebrations.

After a few weeks, however, it became clear that they could not rely on the King's benevolence alone for their sustenance. Karash started to look for employment, and his familiarity with weapons secured him a few jobs, watching the warehouses of some wealthy merchant at night. This was enough to gain the few coins to pay for his lodgings and meals. This work would be considered way under his stature, back home. But he hated idling around, and the night watches gave him focus and opportunities to observe this wealthy harbor and its denizens. He enjoyed the warmth of the tropical nights. Only occasionally he had to fend off some petty thieves who sneaked in the warehouse to steal the wares. Most nights were calm, and the skies above showed myriads of bright, unfamiliar stars. Dawns were spectacular, a favorite moment at the end of his watch.

He found lodgings in a house owned by an elderly cattle merchant. The various rooms of the house opened on a square courtyard where strange beasts the locals called gaur were kept. He rested by day and conversed with the other occupants of the house, soon becoming a curiosity for the local children with his aspect so different and his limited language abilities, which elicited great hilarity in his little tormentors.

A young woman in the cattle merchant's entourage caught his eye. She was beautiful and exotic, casting inviting glances in his direction. However, the memory of the heap of trouble his latest escapade had caused him, as well as his scarce knowledge of the local etiquette, refrained him from making his move. Frustration grew within him, and the unchannelled libidinous thoughts kept him in a foul mood for a while.

When things started to change, and the King started becoming suspicious, he kept a very low profile, limiting contacts with the other members of the crew. He had heard of Mattubah's fall from favour, and of his voluntary exile. The atmosphere in the city became dangerous, and friends could turn enemies in a split second.

When Mattubah returned and summoned him for his escort mission, he responded with caution, trying to determine what side the various members of the  expedition would be...

OOC: post and character sheet edited
This message was last edited by the player at 07:58, Mon 24 May 2021.

( Karash: Increase your Sanskriti to Fluent ( with another 6 months study you will be literate in it), add 150 'florins' worth of coins.  Also you would know camels as they're not uncommon among the Badawin and other Zheniri where you grew up so lets change that mention to ' gaur '. + 10 xp.)

Having been used to always trying to blend into the background and avoid the attention of authorities and cruel adults, Nafu found the notoriety and novelty of being a stranger in this new land at first very confronting. However, he soon found he enjoyed the certainty of a full belly and eventually relaxed a little into the novelty of his new environment, enjoying not constantly having to be on guard against threats as he did living on the streets of Crescentium.

Nafu tended to trail along with Karash, finding security being in the orbit of a powerful and charismatic figure from his homeland. Always conscious of trying to secure money for his future, Nafu eventually began to strategically practice his skills at pickpocketing. His natural caution and the harsh punishments meted out to local criminals kept his larcenous urges largely in check and he felt less need to steal just to survive.

He decided to try his hand at entertaining the local children with displays of leaping and tumbling. He tried his hand at juggling, aping former mummers from Crescentium with some modest success.

But no longer needing to struggle daily just to survive left Nafu somewhat adrift. He was living his dream of not having to scratch and scrape to survive but he felt a little lost away from the hustle and bustle and familiar sights and sounds of Crescentium, the only home he had ever known. When Karash informed him of the possibility of traveling to yet another strange and exotic land he felt excited by the prospect. He had always dreamed of traveling to strange new lands, yet now that he was in such a strange place he found himself unsettled and directionless. He hoped this new adventure might provide him with the direction and purpose he sensed but was not really sure was missing from his life.

In reply to Nafu (msg # 17):

( Nafu you may also increase your Sanskriti to fluent, though you didn't mix enough with educated folk to become literate.  You have 100 silver to your name and a small vial of blue-black fluid that you lifted off a shifty looking individual)

Muttabah and his entourage set out at the head of a small fleet bound for Khitai. Gifts from the King to the Khitain Emperor included 200 slaves, singers and dancers, 15 pages, 100 horses, and great amounts of cloth, dishes, and swords. There were 100 soldiers under his command to protect the treasure and supplies until they could board ships to Khitai.

The fleet was composed of four ships. Three were large dhows to carry to the gifts, including the horses and slaves and pages. The fourth was a war ship which carried the soldiers to defend them against attack from pirates.

Using the monsoon winds to propel them, the four ships headed south and arrived in the port of Kalik. There they were received with drums, trumpets, horns, and flags.

Muttabah wrote in his log, " We entered the harbor amid great ovation and pomp, the likes of which I have not seen in these parts."

The crew noted that in the harbor were 13 Khitain chuán. The chuán were much larger ships than the dhows they sailed on.

Muttabah was impressed with the Khitain ships, some with five decks and five masts or more! They had interior cabins and even private lavatories! The crew of a chuán might be up to 1,000 workers!

It would be on three of these large ships that they would continue to Khitai. So the crew transferred the gifts including horses and slaves to the junks. Mattubah spent the day in the dockside mosque and planned to board the ship that afternoon.

But before he got on his new ship, a terrible event occurred, a violent storm came up.

Because the harbor was not very deep, the captains of the chuáns ordered the ships to wait out the storm in deeper water out to sea. Muttabah waited helplessly on the beach all night and the next morning watched in horror as two ships were pushed onto shore, broke apart, and sank. Some of the crew on one of the junks were saved, but no one survived from the other ship - the one that he was supposed to be on.

As he later related bereftly to Karash and Nafu, "The slaves, pages, and horses were all drowned, and the precious wares either sank or washed up on the beach, where the local soldiers struggled to prevent the townsfolk from making off with the loot."

The other surviving ship carried Muttabahs luggage, servants, and slave-girls - one of whom was, he related, carrying his child. The captain of that ship had immediately set sail for Khitai without him, Karash and Nafu.

Muttabah was now alone, penniless, and ashamed - a failure as the leader for the trip to Khitai - but lucky to be alive. There was still a chance that he could catch up with the other ship, so he tried to track it down.

Dragging the other two with him he boarded a coastal dhow headed south. After ten days he arrived in another port and waited for the ship which never turned up.

Knowing if he returned to the King, he would be executed for his failed trip. He decided it was safer to seek employment and protection from another ruler in southern Minj. To gain favor with this King he leaned upon contacts he had made in the northern courts.  He managed to somehow talk his way into being named a general and three weeks later Karash and Nafu found themselves at his side as their dhow entered battle.

Muttabah wrote later, "On the third evening we reached Sapur and entered its creek and found the inhabitants ready for the fight. They had already set up catapults. So we spent the night near the town and when the morning came drums were beaten, trumpets sounded and horns were blown, and the ships went forward. The inhabitants shot at them with the catapults, and I saw a stone hit some people standing near the king. The crews of the ships sprang into the water, shield and sword in hand... I myself leapt with the rest into the water... We rushed forward sword in hand. The greater part of the heathens took refuge in the castle of their ruler. We set fire to it, whereupon they came out and we took them prisoner. The king pardoned them and returned them to their wives and children."

A month later the next battle seemed to be an inevitable defeat, Muttabah managed to escape with Karash and Nafu through the battle lines and headed down the coast reaching Jalpur.

Here he decided to continue on to Khitai on his own. And despite their growing reservations Karash and Nafu accompanied him.

Their dhow sailed south-east passing around the southern most point of Minj and making port at the Maala Divaina archipelago.

The islands were important in the region for their exports: coconut fiber used to make ropes and cowrie shells.

Muttabah and the other two were amazed to find the people of the archipelago were Ta'ashim, apparently having converted when a pious young Ta'ashim explorer from Opalar rid the land of a terrible demon. (The demon had demanded a young virgin each month - and the Ta'ashim hero offered to take the place of the girl. Before the sacrifice, he recited the words of the Illuminated throughout the night, and the demon could do nothing out of fear of the Sacred Word.....or so went the tale at least.)

Muttabah had not planned to spend much time here as he arrived at the capital, Mepe. But the rulers happened to be looking for a chief judge, someone who knew Opalarian and the laws of the Ta'ashim. The rulers were delighted to find a visitor that fit their requirements. They sent Mattubah slave girls, pearls, and gold jewelry to convince him to stay. They even made it impossible for him to arrange to leave by ship - so like it or not, he stayed. He agreed to remain there with some conditions, however: he would not go about Male on foot, but be carried in a litter or ride on horseback, just like the king or queen! He even took another wife after staying there less than two months, a noblewoman related to the queen.
 He was now part of the royal family and the most important judge. And once again, Karash and Nafu found themselves surrounded by luxury, this time in a tropical paradise.

He set about his duties as a judge with enthusiasm and tried with all his might to establish the rule of strict Muslim law and change local customs. He ordered that any man who failed to attend Friday prayer was to be whipped and publicly disgraced. Thieves had their right hands cut off, and he ordered women who went "topless", as was local tradition, to cover up.

He said to Karash, "I strove to put an end to this practice and commanded the women to wear clothes; but I could not get it done.", but Karash doubted the old goat had tried particularly hard.

Muttabah took three more wives who also had powerful social connections, and bragged to Nafu. "After I had become connected by marriage ... the rulers and the people feared me, for they felt themselves to be weak."

And so, as seemed inevitable and to the two younger mens despair, he began to make enemies, especially the governor. After several nasty arguments and political plots, Mattubah decided to leave after almost nine months in the islands. He quit his job as judge, though he really would have been shortly fired.

He took three of his wives with him, but he divorced them all after a short time, even though one of them was pregnant. He travelled to another island, and there he married two more women, and divorced them, too.

Karash and Nafu became more and more disenchanted with their old captain, seemingly unphased, Mattubah would say, "It is easy to marry in these islands because of the smallness of the dowries and the pleasures of society which the women offer... When the ships put in, the crew marry; when they intend to leave they divorce their wives. This is a kind of temporary marriage. The women of these islands never leave their country."

In their time on the islands Karash and Nafu enjoyed eating many products of the coconut (coconut milk, juice, "meat", and sweet honey from the sap of the tree), as well as rice, fish, salted meat, fowl, quail, and numerous fruits.

Mattubah again secured a dhow with remnants of his wage and travelled east once more until they arrived on the island kingdom of Ilan.

When Muttabah arrived on Ilan, he met with the king. The king was interested in his travel stories, and he entertained Muttabahs party for three days. The king gave them permission to climb a sacred peak where it was said wishes could be granted - and he gave Muttabah a small purse with pearls and rubies, two slaves, and supplies as a parting gift.

The small party of pilgrims climbed to the summit up the nearly vertical cliffs by means of little handholds held in the stone by iron pegs. Making it to the top, they camped there for three days which they spent in prayer and admiration of the spectacular view.

After their visit to the peak, the party returned to the coast and boarded another ship which was provided by the king. After setting sail, again a storm threatened their lives.

The crew managed to cut down the mast and make a crude raft which they lowered into the sea. Muttabahs two companions and his slave girls got down onto it, but there was no room left for him. And besides, he was not a strong swimmer. He had to stay with the ship and hope for the best. Darkness fell and Muttabah huddled in the front of the sinking ship throughout the night. In the morning a rescue party suddenly appeared and the remaining passengers were all taken to shore. There he joined his companions with what few of his belongings he had salvaged.

From here he got on a Khitain chuán and continued on his much delayed trip to Khitai....

( Feel free to detail what you got up to on this leg of the journey and I will drop goodies as before)

Karash followed the wildly alternating fortunes and misfortunes of Muttabah with a mixture of astonishment and concern. The man was capable, in the space of a few weeks, to endear himself to local rulers, gain status, wives and riches, and lose everything in an adverse turn of luck. Out of camaraderie and a strange sense of loyalty he stuck by the man, although he secretly wondered which ruler would lock him in an oubliette, which storm would drown him, or which scorned and abandoned wife would stab him in his sleep.

Yet, somehow, the man survived each fall, picking himself up like an immortal phoenix reborn from its ashes. One had to admire the versatility and spirit of adaptation of the man. Like a street gambler in a bazaar, who is equally prepared to lose everything or gain a fortune every morning, so Muttabah looked at his fate, with the same fatalistic detachment. From him, Karash learned resilience and tenacity.

However, Karash was starting to get tired of this uncertainty, being cut from a different cloth. He strived for success, but also for stability. Instead, with Muttacbah one was caught in this continuous feeling of being like a fragile raft carried by the tumultuous rapids of Fate. He voiced his concerns more than once to Nafu, during their peregrinations.

The many journeys at least improved his sense of navigation and his familiarity with the way these southern vessels were rigged and operated. And in the intervals on the mainland, he tried to keep his fencing sense sharp, training with Nafu and with whoever would spar with him.

He also found the company of a small monkey amusing. The critter, first encountered in Mepe, started coming back to him for nibbles and company. Karash enjoyed the comical expressions and mannerisms of the monkey, whom he named Kirikou. Kirikou started to follow him around, until they were inseparable, even sharing bedrolls and hammocks at night. He taught him some simple tricks and commands to fetch simple things, and started walking around with the diminutive primate (only around fifteen inches tall) on his shoulder.

( Karash: +5 xp, you have acquired a pet who will level up with you if you invest time in training with it.  You can also take the Saltwater Sailor Path ( See Cadaver Draconis ) when you reach 2nd Rank).

In reply to Damian May (msg # 21):

Nafu found himself tossed around by the wildly fluctuating fortunes of Muttabah. Whilst his adventurous spirit enjoyed the new sights, sounds and tastes he still felt, sometimes literally, like a piece of flotsam awash on an endless ocean, never sure where the winds and tides would take him.

In all of this Karash was the one constant and Nafu found himself looking up to the charismatic warrior like an older brother. Having never had much chance to learn, Nafu applied himself to learning to swim and worked on his juggling, a plan to turn light fingered entertainer perhaps with some capering from Kirikou to distract hapless patrons although he was unsure Karash would appreciate him teaching the monkey his larcenous ways.

Shy and inexperienced Nafu made some stumbling advances to pretty local girls but without much success despite him apparently being a mysterious foreigner. Nafu felt deep down that he needed tales to tell and some wealth to his name along with some stability before he could honestly offer to settle down with a nice girl. He found Muttabah’s conduct amusing but ultimately distasteful and found himself surprisingly prudish for a street urchin.

In reply to Nafu (msg # 22):

( Nafu may take the Entertainer or Sailor Path at Rank 2.  He also manages to pick up +5xp and a silver dagger with a jade inlaid pommel.)

From Ilan, Muttabah and his travelling companions sailed to northeast and stopped at the port town of Chutta. Chutta was a city filled with food, but the muddy delta that made up the port smelled extremely bad - "a hell crammed with good things.", he remarked to his two companions. Everything there was cheap, including slaves. He bought a slave girl and a young boy slave for a couple of gold coins.

They sailed up the Magha River to Sylhi in order to find a holy man who, it was said, could perform miracles and foretell the future. According to later conversations with the disciples; one day the old holy man had told his surprised disciples that a traveler from the far west was about to arrive and to go out to meet him. The disciples went out and discovered Mattubah was on his way - two days away! Mattubah stayed there for three days and shared the stories of his travels with the holy man. Then he continued on with the bemused Karash and Nafu in tow.

Back in Chutta he booked passage aboard a Khitain ship and went to Sumuda on the island of Sumara.  Here he stayed for about two weeks in the wooden walled town as a guest of the queen. The queen then provided him with supplies and sent Muttabah on one of her own djong to Khitai.

The current rulers of Khitai were the powerful descendants of the Khanate armies that had conquered the previous dynasty.

Foreigners were welcomed into Khitai and were often recruited by the emperor. A scant few Ta'ashim, and even a few Coradians held jobs in Khitai such as tax-collectors, architects, and finance officers.

The Khanate Dynasty had "an open door" policy that encouraged trade. So foreign merchants were welcomed into southern Khitain cities, especially Huanzhou and Gangzhi on the south-east coast. They generally lived in their own neighborhoods where they built temples, hospitals, bazaars, and conducted trade by ship that reached all the way back to Minj, Ilan, and other ports.

For about 40 days Mattubah sailed and at last he arrived in the busy sea port of  Huanzhou on the coast of Filun Province.

He admired much that he saw. He observed to his companions that "silk is used for clothing even by poor monks and beggars" and that the porcelain was "the finest of all makes of pottery." Even the poultry amazed him: "The hens ... in China are ... bigger than geese in our country."


Muttabah would later record, "Khitai was beautiful, but it did not please me. On the contrary, I was greatly troubled thinking about the way paganism dominated this country. Whenever I went out of my lodging, I saw many blameworthy things. That disturbed me so much that I stayed indoors most of the time and only went out when necessary."

"The Khitains themselves are infidels who worship idols and burn their dead like the Minji peasants . . . they eat the flesh of swine, and sell it in their markets."

"Khitai is the safest and most agreeable country in the world for the traveler. You can travel all alone across the land for nine months without fear, even if you are carrying much wealth."

Some time into his stay Muttabah met a rich Minji trader who lived in Zhoumai. He went to stay with the trader, bringing the two of them along, for a few weeks as he enjoyed banquets, canal rides, and magic shows. In Luzhou he met another merchant whom he met when he passed through Minj. Now this man was rich. He owned about fifty male slaves and as many female slaves, and presented Muttabah with two of each, along with many other gifts.

When Muttabah got back to Huanzhou he found a djong belonging to the Queen of Sumura ready to go back. So he got on board and began his return home.

Unfortunately for Karash and Nafu they also boarded a Sumuran djong believing it to be the one Muttabah had boarded and they had already sailed south for most of the night before they realised Muttabah was not asleep in the cabin they had assumed to be his.

They did not speak any of the languages used by the crew but were able to convince them to drop them off at the port of Xi Lao.

Attempting to arrange passage to Sumura they again ran into problems communicating as they had picked up little of the language in Khitai and all the languages of the Thousand Islands were new to them except a few words of Sumaran.

Attempting to make their way westwards they boarded a djong bound for the island of Kuta....
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:27, Wed 23 June 2021.

( Sorry for the drop in posting rate....work got on top of me for a bit.   Feel free to detail your two characters actions/behavious for the last travel post and after that you'll be arriving into Kutam shortly.)

Karash and his inseparable Kirikou experience these exotic lands and cities with great interest. The mannerisms, demeanour and language nuances that Karash witnesses intrigue him, making him feel small in a huge and varied world. He thinks back at his youth in Demkhor, when that holy city seemed immense to him. How one's perception changes, faced with new, vast horizons.

The swordsman in him is fascinated by the varied weapons and blades he sees in the various harbours, some of them with extreme curves. He misses no occasion to ask about the fencing techniques involved to take advantage of such weapons, interested in the responses that he can get. Sometimes he manages to obtain a demonstration from the sword's owner, a precious study for his own advancement.

He is struck by the variety and artistry of short blades and daggers, often worn for a decorative purpose, or to signify status. Bejeweled handles, exquisite metalwork on the blades, finely decorated scabbards... He manages to purchase and train with a refined silver dagger of unusual shape, finding the practice beneficial. Learning how a weapon is used helps defending from its attack too.

In reply to Karash (msg # 26):

( +5 xp, Some few phrases of Tsutsuneng, and a silver inlaid pisau/bishou ( as dagger ). )

In reply to Damian May (msg # 27):

Their ship arrived at the dock and began unloading bales of silk and other materials. Both Karash and Nadu disembarked and stepped onto the dock.

They walked along the dock taking in the sights, an assortment of long wooden buildings with roofs like ships prows and one larger building built in a different style with two storeys and a wide verandah supported by pillars.

The local dock workers, both men and women, were stripped to the waist and wore checked sarongs, they waved lightly to him as they passed to begin unloading the ship.

There was a steep switchback ascending the cliffs behind the docks.

“Nice to feel solid dirt beneath my feet again!”  Nafu exclaimed.

With a wry grin at Karash he ostentatiously rests his hand on the pommel of the stolen scimitar that led to him to the other side of the world, puffed out his diminutive chest and asked “So sword brother where shall we go? Up to that big place? Perhaps someone has some honest or not so honest work for us and our blades?”

Nafu enjoys the comical absurdity of pretending he is a mighty hero.

He nods to Nafu, while Kirikou is nibbling on a nut he's found. "A little honest employment would not harm, my friend. I have been idle too long, and my pockets are consequently empty, after all this travelling." He looks at the large structure. "Perhaps one of these workers could tell us what to expect in there?"

He waves back to one of the dock workers in sarong, and approaches. "Pray tell me, friend, what manner of building is that, over there?"

OOC - not sure if they share a common language with these workers?
This message was last edited by the player at 14:55, Thu 12 Aug 2021.

In reply to Karash (msg # 30):

The man looked up and cocked his head replied in a broken dialect of Tsutsumeng, " Big House of....supplies....furniture...no....Goods. Yamato People. "

He then turned back to the others and conversed quickly in what Karash assumed was the local tongue.

The man turned back to him, " You not speak Garudan? Or Kutamese?  Need learn."
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:09, Sat 14 Aug 2021.

Karash thanks the dock worker and answers in his basic Garudan "I know a little Garudan. Thank you."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:34, Fri 13 Aug 2021.

" Ah, good. Yes, Merchant family from Yamato, good pay but hard work."

" A Khitan man went inside a short time ago."

He nods in gratitude and steps closer to Nafu. "a Merchant Family could make good use of some extra hands, let us seek audience to see if they are hiring."

He walks to the structure, admiring its construction and exotic details.
Near the gate, he calls out in Garudan "Good day, noble merchants of the house!"
He uses a knocker or equivalent if one is to be found.

In reply to Karash (msg # 34):

OOC: Head across to the Nusa Kutam thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:09, Sat 14 Aug 2021.