Harishko, nurkala, former sailor/mercenary, blinded years previous, now a beggar on the Jennaru docks. An acquaintance of Redclaw.

Captain Adar, Durshi pirate/mercenary captain of the Riverfang; formerly Harishko's commanding officer.

Kogg, a Grey Giant, Adar's first mate.

"Pennig of Patar", a Durshi scholar hired by Adar to research the two objects he has in his strongbox

Various sailor/fighters from the Riverfang.

STORY

Harishko contacts Redclaw, seeking an accomplice in a planned robbery of the Riverfang, specifically, of a strongbox in the wall of Captain Adar's cabin. Harishko was blinded in Adar's service, years before; although promised a cut of the haul he lost his sight over, Harishko was just dumped ashore at Jennaru and abandoned by Adar. Since then Adar has operated out of the Nest Islands, and although he has come ashore at Jennaru often, Harishko has not been able to get revenge due to his blindness and lack of contacts. Now, though, Harishko has heard through the underground grapevine that Adar has come into an item of great value - perhaps a magic item, or maybe just some kind of rare book or jeweled object, he isn't sure - and Harishko thinks he deserves a cut. As former First Mate on the Riverfang, Harishko knows where the Captain's strongbox is, and he even knows where the Captain used to hide the key. However, the Captain's cabin is always locked, and the Captain's current first mate, Kogg, is always aboard, even when the rest of the crew goes on shore leave.

Harishko wants Redclaw to get aboard and clean out the strongbox, using the information Harishko can give him. Harishko has no idea that Redclaw is friends with a good thief, and of course, has no clue that Emerald is in the Kinship.

Captain Adar generally spends most of his evenings in port gambling and wenching. He has a weakness for green eyed women.

Due to the great general antipathy towards Giants, Kog would have to pretend to be someone's slave if he went ashore, so he almost never does, preferring to run the watches on board ship. He is an excellent swimmer and diver and does deep dives as exhaustion and constitution training.

The strongbox is located in the floor of the Captain's cabin, beneath the Captain's writing desk. The key to the strongbox is carried around the Captain's neck, but there is a spare key hidden inside the hilt of a decorative battlesword mounted on the wall.

The Kinship can discover the following, through various contacts, if alerted to do so:

that Captain Adar left the ship yesterday morning with a large box, accompanied by several armed men. That he visited first the Vandertar Trading Company, and then, the Temple of Silver and Gold. Both times he emerged with the same box, but after he emerged from the Temple, he told the men they could go on liberty and took the box with him to an inn called the Merry Wreck, where he got drunk and stoned and generally debauched himself. According to another contact, the box was too light to contain anything at this time.

Early this morning, however, the Captain left the ship with the Frodd who does his bookkeeping, Wirrilian. They went to the River Campus in Jennaru. The Kinship would surmise that they hired a scholar there, since only a bonded, licensed scholar can get access to the archives.

So far, Adar has made no official or unofficial announcement of any kind of valuable item he is trying to sell.

The Kinship also knows that about 10 days ago, at the height of the trade season, a Vandertar merchant ship named Zephyr was apparently lost to the south of Jennaru, as the Temple of Silver and Gold is posting a 2 silver piece reward for information leading to the recovery of the ship's cargo. The trade manifest of the Zephyr listed two valuable items in the ship's strongbox - both egg shaped artifacts, one apparently constructed of cut crystal, the other fashioned of strangely inscribed jade. The Kinship also knows that several of the more mundane items from the Zephyr's manifest have since been sold in the Nest Islands. Since getting into town yesterday, Adar's crew have been partying in most of the waterfront dives, and many of them are bragging of a big score.

Adar does not trust the Temple of Silver and Gold, thinking it a Sottle run business. His distrust of the Temple and all Sottles is well known to Harishko, who is sure the treasure must be aboard in the hidden strongbox. Adar does not know the nature of the eggs or their power, but he does know that when he first touched either of them, he felt weak and sick. After that, he used a pair of tongs to get them both into the strongbox, and has cautioned Kogg not to touch either egg with his bare skin, if he has to move them for some reason. Adar assumes that both eggs must be magickal, as he has heard that magickal items make one feel sick, and he has gone to the Jennaru River Campus to try and find out what they are. He has hired the scholar Pennig to identify the eggs as much as possible. His trips with the box while under guard to the various places was a ruse; he knows his men will gossip when drunk, and he wants both his crew and the Kinship to believe the eggs are safely stowed away off his ship

The local Sharp community, led by "Lord Chandra", is very concerned that the Egg of Enlightenment not fall into any hands but theirs. "Lord Chandra", in fact, is the legitimate owner of both eggs - they were purchased in Sottli Ban through his writ on the Temple of Silver and Gold, and were being transported to him when they were stolen. The Sharp network, extensive in Jennaru, has been looking for any sign of the eggs, and they were informed when Pennig of Patar began checking out reference books containing material on the artifacts. Pennig was arrested by Chandra's men last night and is now sequestered in a VIP cell in Chandra's palace; his place has now been taken by a Sharp named Daroset, wearing a Class II form. (Typical coherent anti-essence form; does not cast a reflection or shadow, cannot tolerate silver, sunlight, or the standard natural and essential wards. Can, however, quickly shift to other appearances or shapes, or back to Class I shadowshape.) Daroset will attempt to get Adar to bring the Eggs to a rendezvous somewhere on shore, as Sharps cannot cross running water easily to reach his ship, and currently, Chandra and the others believe the eggs to be in the Vandertar Trading Company or the Temple of Silver and Gold, both of which are warded against magic.

If the Sharps become aware of the interest of human thieves, they would allow the thieves to make their attempt, but follow them carefully, planning to acquire the Eggs after the theft was successful.

Strongbox lock - Difficulty 13 to pick; requires 3 sequential successful rolls.

Contents of Strongbox -

OLATH's LIVING EGG - an egg carved out of a large jade, about 6" high, weighing about 8 lbs, with a word in Ancient Sothark inscribed on its base. The egg itself is elaborately inscribed with abstract designs that are actually runes for the taking and holding of essence. Anyone touching the Living Egg with bare flesh that does not properly pronounce out loud the inscribed word takes a d4+1 in essential minuses for each second they remain in contact with it. When the Living Egg has 100 essence points stored within, it metamorphoses into an animated golem, 6 feet high, weighing 1800 lbs. Roll % + 45 for how many essence points the statue currently has stored, maximum, 99.

The Egg remains animate until its essence points run out; the essence points are used as exhaustion, but cannot be recovered through rest. The Egg will change from one state to another, assuming it has sufficient essence points, if the inscribed word is properly pronounced within it's 'earshot' without essential transfer. If the Egg is animated by the word, it will obey the orders of the word's speaker, if the orders are spoken in Ancient Sothark.

If the Egg is animated aboard a normally built ship like the Riverfang, it will crash through the hull and sink to the bottom of the River, where it will use up its stored essence and revert back to its dormant form.

THE EGG OF ENLIGHTENMENT - also created by the great Essential Mage Olath, this Egg is actually a distillation chamber that converts essence into a water-like fluid designed to make the drinker's essence immune to outside manipulation, acting as, for the most part, a powerful Protection from all forms of illusion. The effects of the water are permanent. Unfortunately, this so strengthens the essence as to make it impossible for mages to use their own essence to power spells, as they can no longer voluntarily take essential minuses.

The Egg drains essence in the same manner as the Living Egg, and similarly, has a key word written on its base in Ancient Sothark. If this word is spoken while touching the Egg, no essential transfer occurs. If this word is spoken while not touching the Egg, nothing occurs. Once the Egg has absorbed 100 points of essence, it manufactures one dose of enlightenment. At that point, its top can be unscrewed to access the fluid.