Meet 6, Adv 1, 1/21/17

Thak is a small pond and the party isn't going to be long for it. However, I do like to do some world-building and the group was going to get to spend at least 2 adventures here before moving west to Sorton for an adventure or two.

So we had an opportunity to meet with one of the Merchant Houses that we work for and get a feel for how the 1st adventure impacts everyone. What's nice is they're mercs, so anything heavy and long winded isn't going to affect them for very long. Plus it sets up the next adventure nicely.

Write up follows:

It was almost 2 on Birthmonth the 15th and we were trudging our way through the ravine heading south and east away from what had once been Fingelt’s mine. The sides were still too sloped and dangerous to risk climbing so we stayed on our path and continued to walk our way along, hoping to get to an area where we can safely attempt to climb free.

Not too much later we arrived at a split in the ravine where the water continued down both sides, the path heading roughly east and roughly south. We noted more current heading south and assumed we were already west of Thak, so opted to head east from this point. As the time passed and the ravine meandered about, we did note that the right hand side seemed to be lower than the left, and the slope was not as sharp as the miles passed on.

Around 3:30 we detected a faint whiff on the air of meat cooking. Trace at best. We picked four of us (Avulstein, Darius, Einar, and Connal) to check ahead while the rest of the group held back and waited to hear from us. Bolstered, the 4 party members crept along, watching the sides of the cliffs, the sky, and everywhere they could in the hopes of seeing whatever it was that might be ahead.

They did come upon the ribs and spine of a deer after some time, and the half-orc’s keen eyes did spit a wisp of smoke rising over the top of the ravine’s edge further along. As we were coming upon the turn to look around a voice called out in orcish for us to “Stop! Who goes there?”

Einar and Avulstein were the only ones to speak orcish and the elf deferred to the druid to confer with the unseen caller. We assured the orc warrior (that we only barely made out in the shadow of the cliff, a flatbow pointed squarely at us) that we were on our way back to Thak and had just come back from a big raid against some kobolds.

While this was going on 6 more orcish warriors had been alerted to our presence and came around the side of the ravine. They were big, Randari Wild Orcs, standing between 6 and 6 ½ feet, the largest pushing 300 lbs. There was talk about fighting and the dragon but Einar played on the orcish dislike of dwarves and said we had a few dwarvish prisoners we were bringing back to Thak to sell for ransom.

That got them interested. The leader then came down, introduced himself as Roanil and bid one of us (Darius) to head back to the rest of the group and bring them up along with the dwarf captives. He bid two of the orcs to go with the fighter/slinger and to return here forthwith. A stout fighter named Dolsch and a buxom greenskined named Shvanga were dispatched to go with Darius.

Avulstein meanwhile was trying to chat up the other orcish female, enraptured by her size, her ferociousness, and her presence. A tusked fighter named Bertin; she was unimpressed with the necromancer and refused to rise to his jibes.

As for Darius, he was flat out asked by Shvanga if he wanted a blow job which took the burly fighter back a step. A blow job, Here, in the ravine with Dolsch watching? Should he? Should he not? Shvanga was rather blasé about the whole thing, grabbing the fighter’s crotch after she flipped her brigandine hauberk off and dropped to her knees. Finally Darius couldn’t come up with a reason to say no and the matter was literally, sucked out of his hands and decision. Shvanga was aggressive and did not let up, which for Darius was a good thing since it had been some time since he had been with a woman and before long he had given the orcish warrior what she was looking for and she got up with a toothy grin, allowing the two of them to redress and continue on.

Darius made it his business as they got close to alert the bulk of the group that he was coming and to have the “dwarf slaves ready” to move out. He said it a few times, repeating it loud so the party would be ready. Sure enough, when he finally approached with Dolsch and Shvanga in tow, the few dwarves in the group (including Korsdottr) were in the center of the massed party and had hands on their shoulders keeping them in place.

There was talk of moving out and that the rest of the party was with the Randari warriors waiting for us and we were all going back to Thak together. It was then Shvanga’s wants were finally explained to Darius (neither of them spoke the others language but were doing the best they could with what pidgin and hand gestures they could) by Thalin. Shvanga wanted another encounter with the burly fighter and wanted him to not “give half”.

So as the party was gathering up to leave, Darius once more dropped his pants and proceeded to show Shvanga (amidst an audience of the half-ogres and one very close and very interested gnomish sorcerer Bobkins Applebottoms) what he was capable of. It was a hit, at least with the orcish warrior. She then proceeded to wrap a meaty hand around his bicep and walk proudly with him back to Roanil along with the rest of the group.

Meanwhile Roanil was commenting that the group was taking some time and talked to Einar long about how they were going to be paid for taking the druid and the rest of the group back to Thak. And Einar, now identified as “little brother” were going to go with them to the Street of Pleasures and get some human women for the night. There were some jokes about making more “little brothers” and that he should stay with them during the festivities.

Bertin was unimpressed with the lot and instead allowed Avulstein to entertain her even though the creepy necromancer was getting outwardly turned on by the orcish female and kept hinting quite nakedly, that he wanted an encounter with her. She didn’t think it was a good idea and pretty much humored him during this time.

When Darius and the rest of the group returned there was much talk and excitement. Roanil and the Randari Orcs had not been back to town for a few weeks and Shvanga made no secret of her now twice partaking of Darius. Bertin referred to her as a slut but Shvanga noted that she had a winner and grabber Darius hard once more.

There were now 23 of us heading back and Roanil helped us eventually out of the ravine and then to the main trade road. Any bandits or wild animals that were in the area gave the very large group a wide berth and we eventually (well after 8 PM) made it to the main gates of Thak. The guards knew Roanil by sight and the rest of us by reputation (thanks to Korsdottr).

Once inside Roanil and the other 4 orc warriors took Einar and his bat with them (after Einar got a handful of gold from Connal from the strongbox) to the town square and then a right to the Street of Pleasures. We went around back through an alley and then made our way inside after talking to the bouncers there. Roanil and his crew were known enough that the girls were less than enthused to see them but were even more upset when Einar paid for the lot of them and himself not just for one encounter, but the entire night.

Needless to say there was much cheering and groaning that night.

Meanwhile Darius and Avulstein each grabbed a small share from Connal and followed at a distance Einar and his crew to the Street of Pleasures where they went to a decent Inn called The Pig and Pony. Taking Shvanga and Bertin with them they managed to get a pair of adjoining rooms on the 3rd floor with baths where they paid for brandy and food, telling the servant girls to keep the water coming and hot.

Then they each took their orcish women to the chambers where Avulstein begged to have the door open so that they could watch one another. Darius started off with bathing Shvanga who was luxuriating in the hot water while Avulstein was more on getting hard and heavy with Bertin. As the night wore on and Bertin was surprised by Avulstein’s length and kinkiness (practically getting her to figure out he wanted to be choked during sex), Darius used every muscle, twist, twitch, skill, finger, tongue, flick, pull, and thrust his warrior’s form could conjure up to rail Shvanga into a gibbering mess of very self-satisfied orcish flesh.

Needless to say there was much cheering and groaning that night.

That left the rest of the group. Korsdottr flat out told the group that they should say nothing of the strong box contents and to hang everything on Sigurd. His fault, his bull shit, his mess. Nuggle Darbeard was Tropor Darbeard’s nephew and Tropor runs House Darbeard. We should get to the Darbeard Demesne and meet with Tropor as soon as possible since if he was expecting us, we should have been back much earlier in the day and with three wagons laden down with ore.

It was decided that Korsdottr, Connal, and Dizzy would meet with their employer and let him know what happened as well as the betrayal of one of his 2nds. The Demesne was open and in no time we were ushered into the offices and eventually brought before Tropor and his adjunct Savaris.

Tropor was a hill dwarf, over 250 years of age, and had taken over the family business almost 30 years ago from his father who had retired. A fairly open minded dwarf, he learned that in order to run a mercantile business, one would need to diversify and over the last 30 years have allowed other races and non family members more and more power and control. This has led to the Darbeards being one of the 2 larger Houses in Thak of the 6 main merchant guilds.

His adjunct, Savaris, was a human of late 30’s, and was effectively his controller and main broker of supplies. The two of them started off wondering where the hell the group has been, where is Nuggle, where is Sigurd, where is the iron ore and whatever other material we were supposed to bring back.

In successive fits and starts, the three revealed the sad tale to Tropor who only grew angrier and more wroth at the thought. We learned that the possible loss from this caravan not only not returning with the goods, but also the loss of material and equipment as well as funerary costs was most likely closer to 10,000 nobles. 10,000.

Needless to say there was much yelling and groaning that night.

After filling the two in on everything including the possibility of the Brinster involvement, Tropor Darbeard flat out couldn’t see what Braddock Brinster would achieve by this, especially if it would ever come back and shit on his door step. There had to be more.

We needed to get Sigurd back so the call was put out to set a bounty on the turncoat and learn of his location. We also needed to have a group lock down – no blabbing around town as to what we saw and not to tip off the Brinsters of what we learned. The party would be rounded up and brought back to the Darbeard Demesne on the morning. Next, everyone was going to get 10 crowns (not 100 nobles) in hazard pay for their efforts as thanks from Tropor. Finally, as we were all still employees of the Darbeard’s, if we needed to train, they would be picking up the costs.

He wanted 3 weeks from us until such time he learned what happened and what the long game was of the Brinsters. We agreed and thanked Tropor and Savaris for their efforts, leaving the two men to further plot along while we went back to the longhouse to get some rest.

Meet 5, Adv 1, 1/14/17

The group did the right thing and avoided the fight with the cavern BBG as it would have most likely mauled the group. Not all fights require you to bash the bad guy in the head - you can also avoid it if possible.

As for the dragon at the end, that was a shock to me. Rolled for wandering monsters in a mountainous area and for the first time since I've ever remembered DMing as far back as I can, a god damned dragon came up. On the sub-table it was 2 points away a Chimera, instead came up Copper Dragon.

Write up follows:

We gave the area around the burst open box a careful once over, cognizant that there was also some subterranean man-beast down here as well. The box had a number of air holes drilled along what would have been the top but the box was lying on its side and would normally stand 8’ tall. Einar looked cautiously inside, noting a number of those hairs like we had seen earlier, some gouges on the inside of the wood, and the bottom was covered in feces. Since it appeared the box was lying on its side, the feces would have rained against whatever was sitting inside’s feet and legs. Most foul.

As for the body parts and clothes, it was pretty much standard miner gear, no real identifying pieces – except for the green cloth. We managed to fish it out and flip it over – it was 2/3rd of a page’s tabard, not something that a miner would be wearing at all. In addition, it had a specific looking braid marking sewn into it, identifying it as belonging to House Brinster – one of the 6 main mercantile houses/clans/guilds that does work and trade in Thak – where the party is currently living and employed. We made sure to wrap it up to take with us.

Einar wanted to have a better handle on where the beast was, so called to Frey to allow him to detect animals in his presence, a spell that would eventually be draining mentally as long as the half-orc concentrated upon it. However he almost immediately got a hit and feeling for the beast – 80’ south west of where the party was standing. The longer we waited, the more Einar was able to tell – primarily that the creature was large (over 800 lbs), angry, afraid, and waiting. He was able to tell when it shifted its weight and when it wandered back in forth in place as it listened to and stalked us.

We had weapons drawn just in case, staying bunched up near the end of the cave while we finished our investigation which included flipping over the burst off box top and reading the shipping manifest stenciled on the other side. “FR: Bork Keep, Ter Dung Live Specimen. TO: Thak, Merch H Brinster. SHIP: Birth 1, 190 A:30, ARRIV: Birth 12, 190 A:30” This was three days ago.

Someone shipped this …thing, up here to the Brinsters, who then brought it here to Fingelt’s Mine which is being sponsored by House Darbeard – and it killed everyone? Including a page or delivery guy? There was still many things missing – but we wouldn’t find them out by staying here. It was time to leave and return to the bottom level. Briefly it was thought to fight the beast, but we decided there was no reason to and we should just go.

Einar kept us abreast of the beast as we left, noting that it eventually returned to the box and sort of waited there. At the lift, Merica dropped a light spell on the edge of the shaft here and the rest of us went down to the 4th level and climbed off. Larry, Einar, and Dizzy all stayed behind in order to watch for the beast should it dare to approach, as well as to listen for any K’Morat kobolds who might have finally dug their way in.

Conall, Merica, and Avulstein all went off to Korsdotter to see how the digging was going. They had made it most of the way through, an hour or two tops and we could get out. This was greeted with much thanks and appreciation all around.

At this time, Merica’s spell finally faded and Dizzy seriously wanted to replenish the light spell but Einar asked the dwarven priest to Sif to wait. And sure enough, according to his locate spell, the beast was creeping closed to the end of the corridor on the 3rd level. When it was AT the edge (but in the dark according to us) and we were unsure of its intentions, Dizzy called out a fast light spell and let it fly.

It hit the corner perfectly, flooding the area with light. The beast was light blinded, staggered, and tripped…falling 68 feet down with a twisting roar to crash into the elevator lift with a crushing bouncing rocking force. The wood cracked and the lift seemed to lean a few degrees over. The beast was very dead, the fall had slain it.

Everyone gathered around and the digging stopped as we gave it a serious once over. Yeah, it looked like something that would have torn the group apart. And it was here…not in the Terror Dungeon. The group then went back to digging while a few of us were hacking it up for trophies (heart, balls, teeth, hand…and its penis – that went to Merica).

At this point we took the lift (broken but still functional) back to the 3rd level, gave it one last look over to make sure we didn’t miss anything, and then returned to the elevator shaft. We could hear the K’Morat picking and shifting stones echoing far above, and we wanted to make their potential approach here almost impossible. So we applied the bear grease lotion to a half dozen bars, then did the same one more bars with a flask of oil. We also unbolted three of the steps (keeping the 18” shaft of metal and the huge nuts) and also bent one of them off line to further make descending the ladder practically impossible.

We rode the elevator to the bottom and most of us went back to the exit to help with the clearing out of the final bit of rock. But the K’Morat had arrived and we could feel the lift ropes and chains shifting as they came down not only the ladder, but the ropes as well. That would not do. SO it was hacking and slashing and chopping and then the ropes separated and whizzed up into the dark as they unwound from the pulleys. The sound of screaming kobolds was mixed in with the collapsing lift ropes and chains as they raced up and down the shaft and eventually 12 of the K’Morat had died from the efforts.

Satisfied, we left the area, it was time to go. The group all made their way out of the cave, it was about 1ish and the sky was clear. We were in a ravine about 25’ wide at the base, over 140’ tall – it ran roughly n/s and we knew that Thak was SE of here, so we set off in that direction, noting that none of the K’Morat far above us at Fingelt’s Mine had noted us yet.

The water was only a foot or two deep in the middle and the short members of the group were able to stay to the side and avoid getting wet. But we didn’t know where we were in the scheme of things and just wanted to get some distance from the K’Morat for now before trying to climb out of the ravine.

About 45 minutes into our walking noted a cave entrance on one side of the ravine, 30’up. Pretty sizeable, 12’ tall, 30’ wide. As we drew closer we heard a voice beckoning to us and wondering who we were and what was going on. From the timbre and the sight of the huge brownish/red tinged taloned leg sticking out and its tone we knew it was a FUCKING DRAGON in the damned cave. What kind? What the hell? Damned wandering monster table is bullshit!

We had some talk with it, it wanted payment to go past and was taking od things, but did grow wroth with Dizzy for not giving up his holy symbol and told the group to kill the dwarf or they would all die. So he was assaulted, shot Avulstein in the chest and dropped the mage, and then slept by Merica with a handful of rose petals. The dragon allowed the group to not kill the dwarf, just toss his holy symbol up here along with the other goodies we promised (we did). Avulstein was healed and we talked a bit more – learning it called itself Herodotus and when it stuck its head out, we were happy to see the metallic color to its scales (copper!). It was a collector of items holy to the gods and would be willing to take, buy, or trade anything the group might find like that in the future.

We awoke Dizzy who learned of what happened, was pissed that his symbol was taken (and swore right there to one day take that EXACT one back) but we left the dragon’s lair and moved on through the ravine in our quest to get the hell out of here and make our way back to Thak.