The sun has set, and a quarter moon and jewel-like stars glitter overhead... The vendors of the bazaar are beginning to pack up their wares and tie up their tents for the night... The stable hands seem eager to conclude the day’s business and close up for the night, but making a few more sales at a good price (especially at an advantage over gullible travelers from afar) is always appealing...
As night has fallen, and the Anfa bazaar, now lit by oil lamps and torches, begins to quiet down, it begins to become clear that the adventurers will have to secure shelter in Anfa for the night... There is the caravanserai, which rents rooms to travelers, or they can bunk down somewhere under the stars for the night...
Load Perpireen opens his magic cloak and from it brings out a sack of gold. he hands it to Altin, is 100gp inside.
"This is all the coin I have left, Altin will have to get what we need with this. Unless others can add more. I have all I need so don't get me anything, but you others. Even Donkeys will do for a ride"
He puts his cloak on once again.
"Someone should secure a Camel, and another should secure a large tent or Pavilion" She says tossing in 5 gold.
Altin takes Lord Perpireen's sack of gold appreciatively. "That's a considerable sum... we'll be in your debt!" He hefts his own, noticeably smaller pouch. "I have twenty, with Mwikali's that makes 125 gold pieces. Anybody else?"
Get 3 pack mules and saddle packs, 2 riding mules, a tent, water and food.
"I think we can go with Mules in this area, From what I know you only need camels if your going deep desert and such. So long as we keep close to water, a day or more we should be fine. Once we have coin we can tool up for the trek over the Sahara. As for making coin, well someone always wants someone or something found or stopped for coin. We can have a look see whats on offer local. So long as they are not looking for run away salves we will take the job yes?"
Altin visits the common area of the caravanserai, where travelers from throughout Northern Africa gather to drink fermented goat milk and gaveh (coffee), and to exchange harrowing tales of the perils of the African wilderness...
He overhears the tale told by a Bedouin nomad who was the sole survivor of an encounter with a terrible desert monster he calls Boombada, the behir... The nomad describes this monster as a huge, horrible, chimaeric combination of centipede and serpent, with a long, serpentine body and head, many legs like a centipede, but ending in lizard-like claws, and covered with azure blue scales... It destroyed the rest of the nomad caravan with its breath, which the nomad describes as being like bolts of lightning!
One of the men listening to the nomad’s tale of narrow escape asks where this Boombada was encountered, that he may stay clear of the danger... The Bedouin answers that the behir waylaid his caravan while they were watering their camels at an oasis two days south of Anfa...
Get 3 pack mules and saddle packs, 2 riding mules, a tent, water and food.
"I think we can go with Mules in this area, From what I know you only need camels if your going deep desert and such. So long as we keep close to water, a day or more we should be fine. Once we have coin we can tool up for the trek over the Sahara. As for making coin, well someone always wants someone or something found or stopped for coin. We can have a look see whats on offer local. So long as they are not looking for run away salves we will take the job yes?"
Altin nods in agreement at Lord Perpireen's suggestions. "I'll purchase those things in the morning, when competition is stiffer and our chances of a good deal are better. Have you been to the desert before? You speak with the voice of experience."
"As for work, anything but slave-catching seems like fair game. I did hear a story from a local about a fearsome beast..." Altin relates the tale of the behir, "...but I'm not sure we're up to facing such a creature."
Looking at his belt pouch, then at the amount of gold being put about, Volreg sighs, "All I have is six silver left. It won't help much, but it's all I have left." Handing the coins over, he follows the rest of the group, not wanting to be lost in the new city.
Altin waves Volreg's silver away. "You hold on to that. Everyone needs a little cash in their pockets. We have enough here for basic supplies."
"A few times, in Spain and here long ago"
He says looking off into the distance.
Altin nods at the fey, a look of curiosity in his eyes. He really is completely different from the rest of us. I wonder how old he is. I wonder how much he's forgotten that none of us will ever know.
The Bedouin nods in response to Wulfgar’s query, replying in Arabic: Yes! Emir Mohammad, who dwells in the palace at the south edge of Anfa, has declared a bounty of six thousand golden shekels for the head of Boombada, and twice that to whosoever can bring him the monster, subdued and captive, in cage or chains! But who in all the world is mighty enough to accomplish such a task!? I tell you, he slew half-a-dozen men with a single bolt of lightning from his toothy maw!
Altin's mouth twists wryly as Wulfgar relays the Bedouin's response. "Sounds like a good way to get blasted into a thousand pieces... Still, that's a lot of coin."
Eyes growing wide, Volreg's mouth drops for a moment. "This beast sounds frightening! Is anyone truly crazy enough to actually kill the creature, let alone capture it?!" Shaking his head for a moment, bringing his head back to the task at hand, as well as taking back his coin, Volreg smiles at Wulfgar. "I suggest we take turns, so we can save a bit on money, and if needed, can take a few items and buy a cart for anything more if we find something."
Other tales overheard that night in the caravanserai:
From the innkeeper: Emir Mohammad is collecting a menagerie of exotic beasts to keep in his palace zoo. I have heard he charges an admittance fee to wealthy travelers who come to see his menagerie of exotic beasts. The fiercer ones, I have been told, he brings to the Blood Pit of Marrakech, where he fills his coffers with winnings from gladiatorial combats... I have heard that Emir Mohammad pays brave hunters to capture wild beasts of the desert and jungle for his menagerie!
From an Arab sailor: My boss, Captain Barak, is looking for slave-catchers to raid the coastal villages for slaves to sell in the bazaar of the Kasbah at Marrakech... Our ship is called the Alanqilis (Eel), and is currently docked here in the harbor at Anfa... Captain Barak is right over there, if you are interested... The sailor indicates a muscular, tattooed Arab bouncing a pretty harlot on his knee nearby...
From a Berber camel merchant: A local man told me just the other day that after a sandstorm blew through, an ancient tomb entrance was uncovered only a few hours trek southeast of here... Who knows what riches...or what horrors...might lie within?
Eyes growing wide, Volreg's mouth drops for a moment. "This beast sounds frightening! Is anyone truly crazy enough to actually kill the creature, let alone capture it?!"giving Volreg a smile that some may deem crazy, he winks and asks the Bedouin, "Has the Emir declared any other bounties?"
Other tales overheard that night in the caravanserai:
From the innkeeper: Emir Mohammad is collecting a menagerie of exotic beasts to keep in his palace zoo. I have heard he charges an admittance fee to wealthy travelers who come to see his menagerie of exotic beasts. The fiercer ones, I have been told, he brings to the Blood Pit of Marrakech, where he fills his coffers with winnings from gladiatorial combats... I have heard that Emir Mohammad pays brave hunters to capture wild beasts of the desert and jungle for his menagerie!
From an Arab sailor: My boss, Captain Barak, is looking for slave-catchers to raid the coastal villages for slaves to sell in the bazaar of the Kasbah at Marrakech... Our ship is called the Alanqilis (Eel), and is currently docked here in the harbor at Anfa... Captain Barak is right over there, if you are interested... The sailor indicates a muscular, tattooed Arab bouncing a pretty harlot on his knee nearby...
From a Berber camel merchant: A local man told me just the other day that after a sandstorm blew through, an ancient tomb entrance was uncovered only a few hours trek southeast of here... Who knows what riches...or what horrors...might lie within?
From a Berber goatherd: A tribe of nasty gnolls lairs in a cave not far from Anfa... They are the ones who have stolen nearly half my goats during the night! Bold thieves, they be! I hear them some nights, laughing like hyenas as they raid the flocks! If someone were brave and strong enough to put an end to their raiding, I’m sure all the herdsmen of Anfa would pitch in to make a handsome reward...
From a Berber potter: I’m willing to pay all that I’ve earned making pots last year—a whole fifty golden shekels!—to whosoever can avenge the murder of my son Hakim by that bloodthirsty brute Jamal, the spice-peddler’s son! He killed my son over an unpaid gambling debt! Sure, my son Hakim had a gambling problem...but did he deserve to die over a few lousy shekels!?
The sailor tells Wulfgar that the Alanqilis is docked at the third dock of the quay from the west end, a dhow with a figurehead carved of ebony in the shape of a rearing eel...
We sail as soon as we can get about half-a-dozen good men who won’t mind roughing up any black slaves who resist... The sailor grins an evil grin, revealing only a few rotting teeth in his gums...
Wulfgar smiles a smile that doesn't reach his eyes, "Hmmm, a half dozen more? What kind of vessel is she? Needing half a dozen more, how many do you have on the crew already?"
Mwikali looks at the captain with anger and disgust before she listens to the others. AS the stories go on, Mwikali smiles.
"Many quests for our possible journey, some yield more money than others, with some offer more moral value than others. I like the prospect of the Tomb and the Gnolls. I even wish to help the woman get her justice. Her son did not deserve death. As for the captain.." She pierces the palm of her hand with a nail letting the blood fall from her hand. She wanted to get him close and slit his throat like the pig he was."I wish to see him roast like a goat!"
Wulfgar smiles a smile that doesn't reach his eyes, "Hmmm, a half dozen more? What kind of vessel is she? Needing half a dozen more, how many do you have on the crew already?"
Grinning a toothless grin at Wulfgar, the sailor replies in Arabic: Ah! Ye be a strapping lad, Northman! Captain Barak could use about six like yerself! Whaddya say, big man? Are you up to cracking a few black skulls and making a purse full of shekels? There’s already enough men to sail the Eel... We just need about half-dozen big fellows like you to do the actual slave-catching... You up to it?
Captain Barak notices his crewman speaking with the tall, dark Northman nearby...
Tossing the dusky harlot rudely on her butt upon the floor, he rises and strides over to Wulfgar, a bottle of wine in his hand... He looks the Northman up and down before saying, in Arabic: I am Barak Bin Barabas, Captain of the Alanqilis... I heard you speaking with Faruk here... Are you seeking work for good pay? Because I can offer you that... I’m paying 5 gold shekels per head for black slaves you capture and bring aboard my ship... You get paid on return to Anfa, when we sell them to the emir, agreed?
Captain Barak notices his crewman speaking with the tall, blond Northman nearby...Wulfgar is tall and thick shouldered like his father, dark haired and dark eyed like his mother. His skin an amalgamation of both, so when he is out in the sun he tans instead of turning pink.
Realizing the captain was following him, he turns, and nods toward Altin, "I told your sailor, I would discuss the job with my partner, and possibly see him in the morning. Would the same pay go for any I bring, if I vouch for them?"
You split the reward, so if there are six of you, and together, you bring me a dozen slaves, that’s sixty shekels...or ten per man...
Captain Barak returns to his own seat.
Seated beside Captain Barak at the caravanserai is a man-sized bipedal crow with feathered humanoid arms and hands instead of wings, wearing a sailor’s garb, a pair of kukris sheathed at his waist... The crow-man cocks its head as it stares at each of the adventurers for a moment, starting with Wulfgar...as if sizing each one up...
Captain Barak and First Mate Toruko jabber at each other for a moment in Thieves’ Cant...
These marks aint swag...but they might could cut mustard... Whaddya make of ‘em, Toruko?
Squeak-rats, I reckon... Don’t be a gloopy codger!
Yer seeing angels in the bushes, lad... These busters’ll make us a nice booty!
In Arabic: Aye-aye, Captain! The tengu’s words drip sarcasm...
I think perhaps we should refine our crafts with the gnolls before tackling harder foes. I have sone coin left from my last shipment from my father.
"Sounds like a plan, my good lady. With Wulfgar's help, I'll buy mules and supplies in the morning, then we can set off, if everyone's agreed?"