Dr Simon
Explorer
The Catfish, Thievestown, City of Llaza, Fnoi Province.
It is a typically hot and humid summer evening for Llaza. In some circumstances the weather would be termed ‘sultry’, but this carries with it an air of romance and mystery, which a Llazan summer night assuredly does not have. This is more like being smothered by a hot damp towel, as if the whole city has become a giant bathhouse.
The heat and humidity does little to improve Thievestown’s distinctive smell, a community of boat people who live their entire lives afloat… and have no access to sanitation other than casting waste of all kinds overboard.
The denizens of the Catfish, however, are unfazed by swelter and stench. Not when there are yen to be made and lost. A double-decked houseboat festooned with brightly-coloured lanterns, the Catfish can be found somewhere in the centre of the ever-shifting mass of Thievestown. It can be reached by hiring one of the many boat-taxis that ply the harbour waters of Llaza (not, of course, members of the reputable Boatsman’s Guild), or by the other method of travelling in Thievestown – hopping from deck to deck on the tightly-packed boats. Thievestown inhabitants are accustumed to the deckspace of their sampans being used as access for everyone else – many of the more permanent residents have set up systems of gangplanks and rope bridges for people to use.
The upper deck of the Catfish is where the serious gamblers go to play. The air is ribboned with smoke from countless golden yaama pipes, the silence is broken only by the clicking of dragon tiles and the occasional utterance - a bet or a gaming exchange. The lower deck is more lively, home to a range of games of chance and games of skill, from the Wheel of Fortune to beetle races, not to mention all the side-betting. Hostesses serve either the potent jinka rum, or for those who want to keep a level head there is tea. No food is served, but Llazan entrepeneurship being what it is, the Catfish is surrounded at all times by tiny skiffs serving a range of food from precariously balanced stoves and skillets; the customers of the Catfish leaning over the side to exchange yen for fried noodles (and often leaning over the side again later to deposit the noodles back into the water).
This, then, is where you are due to meet Vaal Zeshon, the man with yellow jade for sale. His message said that he could be found by the Wheel of Fortune, wearing a yellow sash.
[sblock=People, Places and Things]
Various things revealed during the course of this adventure.
The Black River Society - a criminal cartel.
Shem - small-time crook sought by the Black River Society for unspecified reasons, but hints at some kind of fraud. Mistaken with Vaal Zeshon.
The Otter Girl - a nai-nek-chai shapeshifter implicated in the assassination of Vaal/Shem.
Palu Devil - a spidery creature from the Hudan Technocracy.
Red Jade Spirits - found in red jade, enter the body through wounds and turn mortals into bloodthirsty monsters.
House Turif - large and powerful Merchant's League house.
Lady Calis Ondra-Turif - aka Lady C and the Mistress of Iron. Octogenarian matriarch of House Turif.
Jantrashan - magician working in house Turif's personal guard.
The Shadow Lark - a two-masted sea-going junk.
Ying Woo - Captain of the Shadow Lark.
Tara-Ki - First mate of the Shadow Lark.
Kop - Bosun of the Shadow Lark
Vaal Zeshon's "map":
The maps are highly stylised, more diagrams, but perhaps no less useful for that. They don't depict Thell, but a series of islands. Clearly marked on the map is the "Tuuma Strait", then an "Island of the Smoking Crown". There is then depicted a journey up a river from a "Circular Bay" and a trek inland where the river is shown to fork at twin waterfalls, to a plateau marked with a "Cave of Three Eyes", where is marked "Here I hid the white jade, beneath the stone marked with a [and here is used the High Imperial symbol meaning Danger/Bad]"
[/sblock]
It is a typically hot and humid summer evening for Llaza. In some circumstances the weather would be termed ‘sultry’, but this carries with it an air of romance and mystery, which a Llazan summer night assuredly does not have. This is more like being smothered by a hot damp towel, as if the whole city has become a giant bathhouse.
The heat and humidity does little to improve Thievestown’s distinctive smell, a community of boat people who live their entire lives afloat… and have no access to sanitation other than casting waste of all kinds overboard.
The denizens of the Catfish, however, are unfazed by swelter and stench. Not when there are yen to be made and lost. A double-decked houseboat festooned with brightly-coloured lanterns, the Catfish can be found somewhere in the centre of the ever-shifting mass of Thievestown. It can be reached by hiring one of the many boat-taxis that ply the harbour waters of Llaza (not, of course, members of the reputable Boatsman’s Guild), or by the other method of travelling in Thievestown – hopping from deck to deck on the tightly-packed boats. Thievestown inhabitants are accustumed to the deckspace of their sampans being used as access for everyone else – many of the more permanent residents have set up systems of gangplanks and rope bridges for people to use.
The upper deck of the Catfish is where the serious gamblers go to play. The air is ribboned with smoke from countless golden yaama pipes, the silence is broken only by the clicking of dragon tiles and the occasional utterance - a bet or a gaming exchange. The lower deck is more lively, home to a range of games of chance and games of skill, from the Wheel of Fortune to beetle races, not to mention all the side-betting. Hostesses serve either the potent jinka rum, or for those who want to keep a level head there is tea. No food is served, but Llazan entrepeneurship being what it is, the Catfish is surrounded at all times by tiny skiffs serving a range of food from precariously balanced stoves and skillets; the customers of the Catfish leaning over the side to exchange yen for fried noodles (and often leaning over the side again later to deposit the noodles back into the water).
This, then, is where you are due to meet Vaal Zeshon, the man with yellow jade for sale. His message said that he could be found by the Wheel of Fortune, wearing a yellow sash.
[sblock=People, Places and Things]
Various things revealed during the course of this adventure.
The Black River Society - a criminal cartel.
Shem - small-time crook sought by the Black River Society for unspecified reasons, but hints at some kind of fraud. Mistaken with Vaal Zeshon.
The Otter Girl - a nai-nek-chai shapeshifter implicated in the assassination of Vaal/Shem.
Palu Devil - a spidery creature from the Hudan Technocracy.
Red Jade Spirits - found in red jade, enter the body through wounds and turn mortals into bloodthirsty monsters.
House Turif - large and powerful Merchant's League house.
Lady Calis Ondra-Turif - aka Lady C and the Mistress of Iron. Octogenarian matriarch of House Turif.
Jantrashan - magician working in house Turif's personal guard.
The Shadow Lark - a two-masted sea-going junk.
Ying Woo - Captain of the Shadow Lark.
Tara-Ki - First mate of the Shadow Lark.
Kop - Bosun of the Shadow Lark
Vaal Zeshon's "map":
The maps are highly stylised, more diagrams, but perhaps no less useful for that. They don't depict Thell, but a series of islands. Clearly marked on the map is the "Tuuma Strait", then an "Island of the Smoking Crown". There is then depicted a journey up a river from a "Circular Bay" and a trek inland where the river is shown to fork at twin waterfalls, to a plateau marked with a "Cave of Three Eyes", where is marked "Here I hid the white jade, beneath the stone marked with a [and here is used the High Imperial symbol meaning Danger/Bad]"
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