ADVENTURES ⟩ THE LOST CITY OF ELUSHA
Partway through the adventure, a mysterious skyreme appears, carrying a new group of interlopers: the Company, a Kananite religious, transport, and trading organization. The Company's agents have come to Elusha to pillage the sleepwalking Shinarians.
It's up to you when the Company shows up. You can introduce them after the heroes take their first rest, or wait longer if the players are having fun exploring.
The Lord's Fortune is the name of this skyreme. As it approaches, heroes have plenty of time to ask questions and prepare for its arrival, though not enough time for a rest.
Most Kananites and anyone with the Civilization, Lord Adod, Politics, or Trade lore recognizes the winged bull on the skyreme's sail as the symbol of the Company, and the following:
The Company is a religious organization based out of Syre, the capital of Tel-Kanan. They're devout worshippers of Lord Adod, and they have a monopoly on trade and transport to the capital.
The Company is the only Kananite organization with their own fleet of skyremes, not counting pirates.
The Empire has supported the Company, because the Company's ventures are fabulously profitable, and they pay the Empire handsomely for the privilege of sailing skyremes. The Company also serves as the Empire's primary connection to Syre, since imperials aren't welcome in the holy capital city.
If the balloonist Jezebel is present, she can relay this information to the heroes. As a native of Gebal—a cosmopolitan, scholarly city—she's wary of the Company and their religious fanaticism, and maneuvers the balloon away from the approaching vessel.
Zephiram wouldn't recognize the Company's skyreme, but vaguely recollects the Company existing years ago. As an Adod skeptic, the wizard is also disdainful of the Company's religiosity.
The ship is a well-appointed skyreme galley. Anyone with the Skyremes lore can estimate its stats (Toughness 4, Structure 128) and sees that it has no shipborne weapons. They also notice the oars move in perfect synchronized motion—which is odd, because the dark crystal arrays that usually power skyreme oars are so scarce.
Sorcerers or heroes with The Hand or Scrolls of the Sorcerers lore also notice that, despite the synchronized oars, the ship is not emanating dark magic which would normally propel them. That implies manual rowing— but even the most skilled crew wouldn't be able to row with such perfect synchronization. (The reasons for this are explained below.)
Unless the heroes intercept the Lord's Fortune in mid-air or otherwise harass the ship as it approaches, the Company prioritizes landing on the island.
The big bearded man is Lordspeaker Jethro, or "Uncle Jeth," as he insists on being called. Also on deck are four soldiers, eight company men, and a cowardly merchant-navigator named Trademaster Abimelku. All are Kananites.
The soldiers are well-paid mercenaries. The company men, like Jethro and Abimelku, are devout followers of Lord Adod, and fervently believe that wealth and power are signs of the Lord's blessing. To signal their divine favor, they wear flashy, gold-trimmed tunics and gleaming circlets. They dislike foreigners, viewing Mazrians as hostile competitors and Zordin as unrighteous barbarians. They're especially hateful toward Shinarians, believing them to be inhuman things.
Unless the heroes warn or stop the Lord's Fortune, the ship lands in the canal. Several company men and soldiers disembark, leaping over the railing and down the skids—then quickly re-embark as they’re attacked by cubeworms.
After this debacle, a wounded soldier and company man are taken belowdeck. The rest of the crew jury-rigs a wooden gangplank that connects the top deck to the far lip of the canal, near the Ruined Plaza. The crew has done this before and it only takes them 10 minutes.
During this time, heroes can Hide from the Company by beating Awareness 3. Otherwise, one of the company men notices them, prompting Jethro to warmly introduce himself (see below).
If the heroes keep their distance or hide from the Lord's Fortune, the crew divides into two groups:
Ashore: Jethro, 2 soldiers, and 3 company men
Ship: Abimelku, 1 soldier, and 4 company men (plus wounded noncombatants)
Jethro leads the ashore party, disembarking via the gangplank near the Ruined Plaza. If the heroes aren't detected and don't interfere, Jethro leads this party to the nearest Elushan statue—and begins smashing its legs with his hammer. Then he does the same to a second statue. Finally, Jethro and three company men, guarded by soldiers, carry the two legless clay bodies back to the Lord's Fortune, dumping them in the cargo hold. After this, they return ashore and repeat the process, gathering as many legless Elushans as they can, until the heroes intervene.
If the heroes engage, Jethro feigns friendliness (see below) while he assesses the situation. If combat is inevitable, the soldiers Protect Jethro, while the company men scramble for high ground to attack with their slings.
"Uncle Jeth" is the leader of the Company crew. He's a bold and brash priest-warrior whose warm and friendly demeanor hides a cruel chauvinism. Jethro is on Elusha to collect Shinarian bodies and eventually turn them into "holy rowers" (see below).
If heroes don't immediately profess devotion to Lord Adod, Jethro is wary, and shifts into hostile if it's clear they aren't believers—though he continues acting friendly (with a Deceive roll as necessary).
Jethro reacts differently to heroes of different origins.
Kananites: Jethro tends to like Kananites more than other origins, especially if they have the trappings of wealth. He dislikes poor-looking Kananites, believing poverty is a mark of the Lord's disfavor.
Mazrians: Jethro sees the Empire as a declining power, a signal of the Lord's disfavor. His operation on Elusha is part of a broader Company plan to supplant the Empire's control over skyreme transport and, eventually, Tel-Kanan itself. He quickly turns hostile to Mazrians who threaten to upend his operation.
Shinarians. Jethro believes Shinarians are at best objects to be plundered and, at worst, cursed remnants of an unholy civilization who should be destroyed.
Zordin. Jethro dislikes foreigners in general and thinks the Zordin in particular are scavengers unworthy of Adod.
If the heroes profess to be friends of the Lord (call for Deceive rolls if necessary), Jethro invites them onto the Lord's Fortune to break bread—with the exception of Shinarian heroes, who he won't allow on the ship, intact at least. Even if Jethro doesn't trust the characters, he'll try to lure them onto the skyreme, because he thinks his crew will have the advantage there if a fight breaks out.
Jethro holds what he calls the Horn of the Lord, which enables him to control the Lord's Fortune's holy rowers (see below). He can use the horn to summon the Wraith of Adod that inhabits the rowers, ordering it to fight alongside him—at risk of leaving his ship stranded without propulsion.
If the heroes make their way aboard the Lord's Fortune, they can discover the source of the vessel's propulsion—and what Jethro hopes to gain by pillaging Elusha.
The source of the Lord's Fortune's synchronized propulsion are these sixteen mutilated Shinarians, who the Company call holy rowers. They are legless and faceless, and "sit" in the claustrophobic cargo hold, rowing endlessly, impervious to fatigue. Any Shinarian or Arbiter is instinctively horrified by these creatures.
The Company has come to Elusha to gather more Shinarians for just this purpose. Emboldened by the Empire's fall, they hope to expand their fleet of skyremes with this seemingly reliable source of labor and energy.
The Wraith of Adod. The holy rowers no longer have Shinarian souls inside them. Instead, they are animated by a single wraith distributed among them. The wraith was created on Syre in a ritual of human sacrifice, and it believes it is literally Adod or part of Adod. Lordspeaker Jethro can summon this wraith with his horn, drawing it out from the holy rowers. The wraith must be commanded, by the same horn, to return to its "bodies," or else it lingers in the air and eventually dissipates.
The Wind Wizard. The heroes can describe the holy rowers to Zephiram, who expresses much interest and demands to learn more details.