GURPS Rhûle – Part 2

System Resources: GURPS third edition, revised.

Oracle Resources: Mythic Games Master Emulator second edition.

Generative Resources: Gamemaster’s Apprentice cards.

Klurd K’Mpok is a Dendrazi warrior who has worked as a merchant guard for going on a decade. Skilled with the blade and highly recommended amongst his peers, he’s been in the employ of Otto Badenbaum for eighteen months or so. Otto’s latest caravan arrived back in Sagros a week ago on the afternoon of the 28th. During the evening of 30th, Otto was accosted by Klurd as he drank wine in the Burnt Caravel, a tavern in the Old Quarter and well-known haunt of traders and merchants of all stripes. The warrior stuck a sword into Otto’s gullet mid-gulp and left him to bleed out on the floor whilst he fled the scene. Rumours abound he’s left the city and gone to ground in the villages to the north of the Kanterkils or perhaps fled south to the steppe. The magistrate has set a bounty of five hundred silver alive, three hundred dead. Non-guilded affiliates such as yourself would receive half.”

As Drake wandered the city, something didn’t sit right with him about the official accounting of the murder, so he began to ask around [Streetwise Roll + Reaction Rolls]. After greasing a few palms with his dwindling coin and loosening tongues with ale, he managed to find some patrons of the Burnt Caravel who actually witnessed the murder. [Oracle and Context Roll] It seemed anyone who knew him thought well of Klurd, and Drake hears tell of some odd occurrences on the night of the 30th. A couple of patrons speak of an unnatural cold descending at the time of the attack, whilst a few others recount the appearance of a tall, sinewy stranger in the taproom that night. Finally, one crusty old sot tells the warrior of a furtive meeting between stranger and dendrazi, immediately following the murder, in the alleyway to the rear.

[Worldbuilding Note: The three main species of this world are humans, faun, and the dendrazi, a race of reptilian humanoids. Elves and dwarves have been historically present, but are no longer represented in any quantity, the elves seemingly wiped out by cataclysm and the dwarves disappearing in vast numbers as they become afflicted with a terrible compulsion to dig down into the bowels of the planet.]

Almost certain something was amiss, and suspecting some kind of sorcery, Drake headed to the Badenbaum townhouse to speak to the merchant’s widow [Reaction Roll]. The warrior tried his best to be as tactful as possible [Diplomacy Roll] but wasn’t entirely successful in that endeavour. However, Drake came away with more useful information, namely that the widow recognised the stranger’s description. [Oracle and Context Roll] Otto was visited by this unknown agent on the 29th. The meeting consisted of a short conversation that ended in a loud argument. Apparently, the stranger, who gave the name Harad Kleabs, wanted a piece of jewellery Otto had brought back from his travels in the lands of Ang. The merchant did not wish to part with it, and Kleabs left the house enraged.

[Nightmares Roll] The next day Drake awoke from a troubled sleep and set about seeking information regarding Harad Kleabs [Streetwise Roll]. Eventually finding a black-market fence with a loud mouth and a weakness for silver, the warrior learned that Harad Kleabs is the alias of a local mage known as Arcanist Tillman Hessel, who regularly purchased contraband and unusual items for his research and experimentation.

Once more Drake retired to the Glasterhaus to rest, resolved to seek out Hessel in the morning.