Nalatheshi Merchants

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Read Aloud: The sands of Nalathesh sift softly along the tops of the dunes. The collection of canvas tents rustle in the gentle wind of the waning night, and the stars twinkle overhead like tiny diamonds. Ancerra’s five moons, each at a different orbital phase, mark their silent trails across the heavens.

Horses and camels grunt quietly in their slumber. The wee hours of the morning give way to a pastel sunrise, painting the skies and sands purple, then orange. As color seeps into the world again, the caravan begins to stir.

Caravaners begin to rise and break camp, collapsing their tents, feeding their mounts, and packing their bags.

The Caravan

Feel free to make up additional NPCs or draw from your players’ backstories to add more characters to the caravan, but be sure to include Adelaide and Reza Luxxor and Malsasa Swiftpaw. Both of these NPCs will be significant throughout the campaign. Note that if any of your players are using the MythCraft Legend Marcus Luxxor as their hero, then the Luxxors are Marcus’s aunt and uncle.

As the merchants break camp and prepare for a day journeying towards Bridgemoor, encourage your players to introduce their characters and why they are traveling to the city-state. Are they merchants, hired security, or something else?

The Luxxors

Adelaide and Reza Luxxor are the two traveling merchants in charge of this caravan. Detailed information on the Luxxors can be found in Appendix A. During this prologue, the heroes would likely get to know the Luxxors’ personalities and might get a sense of their motives, but would not gain deep insights into their character.

Playing Marcus If one of your players is using the Legends of MythCraft character Marcus Luxxor, then Marcus would be aware of more of the intricacies playing out in the Luxxor noble house. Marcus knows of the tension between his father Mattias and his uncle Reza, but is unaware of Reza’s true desires. Marcus would likewise be unaware of his own mother’s secret agenda.

Adelaide and Reza Luxxor are generous with their time and resources when traveling for the day is concluded, but they push their caravan to maintain a disciplined schedule. Rising at the crack of dawn and being ready to go by early sunrise is a requirement when traveling with this caravan.

Malsasa Swiftpaw

One of the most notable merchants traveling with this caravan is the enigmatic Malsasa Swiftpaw. Malsasa is a kettek with long, grey fur. He is exclusively seen in silken garb of fine weave, usually with colorful feathered felt hats to compliment his outfit. Known far and wide as “the Exotic Merchant,” Malsasa’s reputation precedes him. Detailed information on Malsasa can be found in Appendix A.

While traveling in this caravan, Malsasa would make small talk with the heroes. He is an open book with his past, happy to discuss his upbringing and his career as a traveling merchant. He would not publicly disclose any information about his curse, though. While he will not shy away from talking about himself, Malsasa is especially interested in learning more about the heroes. Malsasa’s curiosity is a great way to get the players to organically share their backstories. Malsasa Swiftpaw’s prize possession, his Alchemy Egg, is not for sale at this time, but the heroes may make use of it while traveling with him.

Additional NPCs

Unlike the Luxxors and Malsasa, these NPCs are minor characters and can easily be replaced by characters from the heroes’ backstories. Note that Alsanbeg is a thief that serves as a minor antagonist, so if you remove him from your campaign, be sure you have someone to fill that role.

Alsanbeg. Alsanbeg is a human merchant who grew up in the slums of Aridala, but has concealed his past in order to present as a wealthy, successful merchant. He has played at the charade for long enough that he was able to talk his way into joining the famed Luxxor Caravan, and he has been taking advantage of Adelaide’s and Reza’s generosity. Unbeknownst to them, he has been stealing small amounts of silver every day since they left Nalathesh’s capital, and has designs on Adelaide’s jewelry as well. Alsanbeg has the stats of a Charlatan (CC p. 219), but has a knife that he uses as his primary weapon.

Isavella. Isavella has the stats of a Merchant (CC p. 229). She is a short human with olive skin and black hair that she keeps cropped short. She tends to be reserved in conversation, and is known to be one of the more prominent wine sommeliers of Aridala.

Stella. Stella is a halfling in her twenties whose grandfather recently passed away and left her with a comfortable inheritance. This has allowed her the means to travel to Bridgemoor and enroll in the University. She is open to conversation and explains how she holds a mix of bittersweet emotions. She has many fond memories of her grandfather and misses him greatly, but she is also thrilled at this new opportunity to get an education. She has the stats of a Noble (CC p. 231).

Rubav. A trollkin with yellow-brown skin and a dusty mane of ginger hair, Rubav has the stats of a Guard (CC p. 222) but uses a khopesh as his primary weapon. He is a jovial fellow who often laughs with a booming, deep voice. He loves to play dice or place wagers for low stakes (a couple sc will be the most he ever risks). Rubav is close friends with Aminadab, and the two often laugh over a shared campfire late into the night.

Aminadab. Aminadab is a crag dwarf with deep brown skin and soot-black hair. He keeps both his hair and beard in at least six thick, gold-banded braids. Aminadab has the stats of a Soldier (CC p. 234) but uses a battle axe as his primary weapon. He is not as much a gambler as Rubav, nor as outgoing or vocally mirthful, but loves a game of dice as much as his trollkin friend.

Thievery

Read Aloud: The sun is still approaching its noonday zenith when Adelaide Luxxor calls the caravan to a halt under the shade of some looming sandstone outcrops. Her face is flushed with the desert heat, and her eyes flash with livid light.

Adelaide explains to the caravan that she realized she is missing her brooch. It is ivory with gold ornamentation and the ivory has a relief engraving of her family when she was growing up: herself, her older brother Mattias, and their mother, Erdelan. Has anyone seen it or stolen it? Adelaide expresses that if it was stolen and the thief volunteers that they took it, they will be spared more serious punishment. When nobody is immediately forthcoming, Alsanbeg suggests that perhaps Adelaide dropped it while riding from camp and perhaps backtracking will locate it, which Adelaide immediately dismisses as ridiculous. She is more careful than that, and even if she were to drop it in the desert, backtracking to look for it would be an exercise in futility.

At this point, the heroes can get involved and try to determine who stole the brooch. You can facilitate this either through pure roleplaying or by asking the heroes to make AWR or CHA attribute checks, adding a skill if relevant. If the heroes’ average is 12 or higher, OR if a single hero rolls 20 or higher, then they can determine that Alsanbeg is doing everything he can to redirect attention to someone else - anyone else - and is clearly the guilty one.

Once the brooch is recovered from Alsanbeg’s saddlebags, Adelaide expresses her intent to immediately expel him from the caravan. Alsanbeg protests, explaining how it’s safer to travel in a group and how he plans on reaching Bridgemoor anyway, so he may as well stay with them. Punishing a thief by cutting off their hand - or at least their thumb - is not uncommon in Nalathesh. Reza reminds Alsanbeg and the other merchants of this while sharpening a large dagger. The heroes may attempt to mediate, or they may let the situation play out as it naturally would. Unopposed by any of the other merchants, Adelaide and Reza show mercy by only severing Alsanbeg’s right thumb and expelling him from the caravan. Left with his own wares, his camel, enough rations for two days, and a bloody bandage around his hand, he is made to ride off on his own. If the heroes intervene, they can sway the Luxxors’ approach to the situation. This can be handled through roleplay or by making a successful DC 15 CHA check. They might reduce Alsanbeg’s sentence to either expulsion from the caravan or losing a thumb, but not both. Alternatively, they may talk the Luxxors into more drastic measures, such as amputating his entire hand or both of his thumbs. If the heroes defend Alsanbeg too forcefully, then their standing in the eyes of Nalatheshi merchants is damaged. Otherwise, even if they reduce his sentence in some small way or have no tangible impact on it, their social standing improves simply through offering their opinions on the situation. Depending on how the heroes intervene, they each lose or gain 1 point of Goodwill in the Mercantile facet of Nalathesh. If you are tracking individual noble houses, grant them 2 points of Goodwill with the Luxxors.

The Carcass

Read Aloud: The sun hangs low and red on the horizon, deepening the skies to a rich purple. Reza informs you all that there’s about a half hour of riding left today: you should reach a valley sheltered by rocks and high dunes by then, a good place to camp for the night. Shortly after he makes this declaration, you come across a gruesome sight. It looks - and it smells - like a pile of fresh carcasses. Curiosity mingles with revulsion as the caravaners skirt around the sight. Two jackals, a camel, and some poor merchant.

(If Alsanbeg was expelled from the caravan, then it is indeed his corpse. If he is still with the caravan, then it is a nameless merchant.) If the heroes try to loot the corpse, they are in for a nasty surprise. They do find two days’ worth of rations, 80 sc, and 200 sc worth of trade goods. But they are also attacked by Bendelexes (CC p. 33).

The parasitic Bendelexes are attempting to siphon nutrients from the corpses, but when they sense living hosts nearby, they turn their attention to these fresh new victims. Determine the number of Bendelexes based on the number of players. If you have enough players, then one of the Bendelexes was carrying the Zombieism disease and one of the corpses becomes reanimated during the fight. This corpse has the stats of a Zombie (CC p. 196). If the heroes try to figure out how this happened, after the fight they can surmise that the Bendelex was carrying the disease if they succeed at a DC 16 INT/Medicine check.

Players	Carcass Bendelexes
1	1 Bendelex
2	2 Bendelexes
3	3 Bendelexes
4	4 Bendelexes
5	4 Bendelexes and 1 Zombie
6	5 Bendelexes and 1 Zombie

Thorough inspection of the rations reveal that there are 2 more Bendelexes in each day’s ration. If the heroes eat these rations without checking, then the Bendelexes are consumed by a randomly determined hero and use their Feed feature.

After this encounter, the heroes level up to level 2 and are able to Take a Rest undisturbed.

The Ironheart Gang

The next day begins uneventfully. The caravan breaks camp as it always has (although if Alsanbeg is alive and with the caravan, he will pay a couple sc for someone to break his tent down for him).

Read Aloud: The desert’s late summer heat warms your back as you set out eastward. You ride for some hours over sand, dirt, and stone, and Adelaide and Reza lead the caravan into a well-worn, shallow valley familiar to those of you who have made the journey before. Soon, a bend in the road and a fold in the land will reveal the magnificence of the Great Chasm.

The Great Chasm beckons in the morning light. A mighty canyon painted of the rustic reds, browns, and yellows of limestone, its ragged edges cut across the golden-brown plains on either side of the Chasm: sandy plains on the Nalatheshi side, and scrubby plains on the far Kendarian side.

You know that intrepid miners and explorers often brave the depths of the Chasm in search of gold, gems, and treasure, and likewise you have heard that the Great Chasm’s depths hold many dangers. Rather than serving as a deterrent, it seems that the promise of danger simply serves to fan the flames of curiosity.

Bridgemoor itself, a sparkling stone wonder of a city, sprawls proud across the Chasm. The city-state is built entirely on a massive, miles-wide bridge that spans a narrow point in the Chasm. From one side to the other, Bridgemoor would take a little over a day to ride across. You know that Bridgemoor is home to beautiful green gardens, university libraries with a wealth of knowledge, and vast markets and bazaars where nearly anything can be found, traded, and haggled over. A marvel in both functional engineering and architectural beauty, Bridgemoor is a melting pot of cultural and religious ideas, trade goods, and international agreements.

Your admiration of the picturesque landscape before you is cut short when whooping, bloodthirsty cries explode from the craggy rocks lining the valley and bandits rush forth!

If the heroes specified at any point that the valley made them feel uneasy or that they were looking for bandits or other threats, allow them to make a DC 14 AWR/Perceiving check. If they succeed, then they see the bandits and are not surprised. Otherwise, they are Partially Surprised for the first round of combat.

The bandits will allow the party to pass peaceably if they are paid 2,000 sc.

These bandits have the stats of Bandits and Bandit Marauders (CC p. 218) and their exact numbers are determined by the number of heroes in your party. Rubav and Aminadab engage two of the bandits in combat, leaving the remainder for your heroes to deal with.

Players	Bandits
1	3 Bandits
2	4 Bandits
3	2 Bandits and 1 Bandit Marauder
4	3 Bandits and 1 Bandit Marauder
5	4 Bandits and 1 Bandit Marauder
6	5 Bandits and 1 Bandit Marauder

Upon killing or apprehending the bandits, the heroes can loot them. Each hero gains 40 sc, and ask each hero to make a LUCK/Fortuity check. If any hero rolls 20 or higher, one of the bandits had a strange medallion. It seems to be made of solid gold. It has a skull and scythe on one side and an indecipherable glyph on the other.

Underbridge Medallion If any of your players find the medallion, make note of this. The medallion symbolizes affiliation with the Underbridge Cult and may be relevant later on.

If they leave the bandits alive, Reza and Adelaide will undoubtedly insist that both the thumbs of each bandit are removed. These would-be thieves are worse than Alsanbeg, for they were willing to resort to violence to take what was not theirs.

If the heroes interrogate the defeated bandits, they will explain that they are members of the Ironheart Gang. Mort Ironheart, a dwarven crime lord, has a large encampment of bandits a day’s ride north of Bridgemoor. Make it obvious to the heroes that this problem is too large for them to deal with on their own, and reporting it to the Bridge Knights or Nalatheshi soldiers would be the best course of action.

If you use The Heartstone of Vedrathis campaign module, note that this is the same bandit encampment that the heroes explore in those events.

For helping fight off the bandits, the heroes’ Goodwill increases by 1 more. Apply this to their Mercantile standing in Nalathesh and to the Luxxors, if you are tracking individual nobles.

Conclusion

After fighting off the Ironheart Gang, the Luxxor Caravan reaches Bridgemoor. The Luxxors secure lodging for all of their caravan partners in a modest inn, allowing the heroes one week’s prepaid stay. Allow the heroes an opportunity to roleplay, fulfilling some of their basic reasons for traveling to Bridgemoor. They might turn a profit in the markets if they were merchants, or simply be paid a stipend by the Luxxors if they were hired security. Either way, the heroes earn 20 sc. Then, proceed to Chapter 3: The Underbridge Cult.