Session 16: Welcome to Skaven

General Summary

Our party found themselves still on the side of the road and on the way to Skaven, after having left their companion, Diagna. Diagna made sure to offer Havem with the chance to visit him at his sword school on the Corten Mont to “awaken” the memories of Ouroboros within him, and perhaps gain an understanding as to why Havem was chosen by Satakal to be his avatar.

The party would continue their travels until they arrived at Skaven. As the entered through The Dusts and into the streets/walls of the city, it became clear that the city was experiencing some severe problems. Open skooma and moon sugar use was apparent throughout the city, with addicts crowding the various alleys and walkways, pitching up tents and bartering good to pay for the next hit. The squalor extended throughout the entrance of the city and into the market district, painting a picture of a city with great problems.
The party decided that the first thing that they should do is return Cleetus’ body to his family home. The party spent some time traversing through the city, to the Northern half where they found the Kindman Family Farm. The front of the farm was filled with various construction and excavation equipment, dotting the front of the mountainous caves. The party was met by a few different Knights of the Hawk who were guarding the gate. Steve would tell them that they were here to return the body of the former owner to his rightful resting place. After hearing this, Steve was able to detect a slight smirk from both guards, who let them in to see the lady of the house without any issues.
A large farmhouse stood beside the caves, and the party could see a large number of cages all sort of stacked on top on one another, with Skav Bats filling the cages. After knocking on the door, the party was met by Katha Kindman al-Gatha, Cleetus’ ex wife. Not exactly ushering in the warmest of welcomes, Katha allowed the party into the home to explain their presence and discuss what happened to Cleetus.
Steve would relay the story to Katha, of how Cleetus gave up his life to save the life of his friends. Katha acknowledged this, however, did not even pretend to feign sadness, instead asking about how they knew him. Steve mentioned that they had just met recently, having endured a number of trials together at which, Katha, would ask if they were a bunch of criminals as well? Steve did not reply to that, only pressing that Cleetus was promised that he would have the Last Rites performed over him and that his body would be returned to his ancestral home to live amongst his ancestors in their burial hall. Katha would oblige this, telling him that the guards would deal with the body and that it was getting to be time for them to leave. Finally, Steve, seeing that Katha was not being totally gracious, asked where her current husband Hamza al-Gatha might be as they had a letter for him from Sentinel. She said that they could try their luck at the barracks as he was not home currently and bid them all good night, forcefully.
As the party began to exit the home, they watched as a couple of guards collected Cleetus’ body and placed it sort of beside the rest of the construction materials haphazardly. Seeing this, the party all made a note to one another that they would return to ensure that their friend was looked after.
Darius would let the party know that he was off to send a message to the Ash'abah, and that he would return in three days time. 
The party then decided they would go and get some rest before visiting Commander Hamza at the Barracks. They found themselves sitting down for dinner at the Golden Grotto, a small tavern and inn. As the group all began to collect their drinks and food and sat down to begin eating, a brawl would ensue on the other side of the bar. A group of dapperly dressed men were eating and drinking in the far corner of the room. A large group of patrons who were dining around this group would quickly pull Darkin Spectre hoods over their faces and began attempting to assassinate the men in the corner. The party would see their old foes and jump into action. A brawl would play out between the party, the Darkin Spectres and the other group of men in the corner. After the brawl ended and the spectres were handily defeated, the party would chat with the men to learn more about why they were attacked by the Spectres.
One of the men introduced himself as Farhad, one of the sergeants in an organization known as The Gentlemen. He explained that the Spectres and his organization had recently come into conflict with one another, and thus, this was definitely a targeted attack. As they were speaking, Steve and Jonus would notice that Farhad was speaking in a sort of code, which they recognized to be Thieves Cant. A conversation would take place between the three of them and they would be invited to meet Farhad’s boss, the esteemed Gentlemen Jack Stacey at the conservatory called The Birdhouse.
Farhad would then thank them again for their help in dispatching Spectres while his men began to clear away the bodies of the fallen Spectres.
The party would retire for the evening and head off to visit Commander Hamza in the morning. Along the way to the barracks, they passed by what appeared to be the Imperial Temple, covered in graffiti work and various defacing across the grand entrance. Outside of the Temple stood a large statue dedicated to Diagna, however something stood out about it that unnerved the party. The massive statue was adorned with cloth/fabric that appeared to mimic the cloaks of the Darkin Spectres, with their symbol engraved across the back.
As the party continued working their way to the barracks, they found themselves face to face with more Knights who guarded the front gates. After letting them know that they had a message from Sentinel, the party would notice again, that their was a slight smirk between the guards as they let them in to see their Commander.
Entering into the barracks, the party would see a number of guards gathered around in a circle and watching a young boy around 10 years old being trained by the knights in the square with the Commander watching dutifully from afar. Steve would approach him and let him know that he had a message from Lord Commander Saraad of the Order of the Candle in Sentinel, which Hamza would take with a grin. Upon reading it, Hamza would remark loudly so the rest of his men could hear that it appears “Saraad comes begging for our help.”
Hamza would tell Steve that his city is dealing with its own problems and that they have too much going on right now to aid Saraad with his Darkin problem. Steve would mention that they have experience dealing with Darkin Spectres and that they would be happy to aid him in rooting them out of the city to which Hamza would forcefully tell him that it was a Knights of the Hawk problem and that he would not allow mercenaries to operate in his city without his approval to which Steve would accuse him of protecting the Darkin Spectres. If Steve wanted to secure his help, he must first help him with two jobs that need doing that he does not want to divert his resources to working on. First, he must escort a Dwemer expert into one of the caves at the Kindman Family Farm, which now belongs to him and Katha. It appears as if they struck a bounty while excavating and so they must send an expert in to catalogue their findings. They also were asked to investigate The Gentlemen. The Commander has noticed they have begun operating in Skaven and wants to find out more about them and prove their connections to criminal elements in the city. Bring him intel on the Gentlemen and they would talk about aiding Saraad.
A dejected party would leave the barracks in a bit of a huff, unsettled by their interactions with Commander Hamza al-gatha, and wondering if perhaps there was more going on in Skaven then met the eye.

Report Date

03 Oct 2022

Primary Location

Skaven

Related Characters

• Commander Hamza al-Gatha
• Lord Commander Saraad