Meet 47, Adv 4.1, 4/21/18

This wrapped up the 2nd part of adv 4 and the passing of the torch back to the "A" team. We had a LARP recap of the adventure and then spent some time cleaning up all the stuff we found, kept what we wanted, and had House Illytch sell the rest. The party has done surprisingly well and there is a serious amount of coin available.

Write up follows:

The group walked slowly up to Base Camp while the denizens within emerged looking at the laden and travel worn party with ill-disguised surprise. We were ushered inside where the crowd of 50 stopped to welcome us back, including the other half of our adventuring party that had returned from Sorton a few days ago.

We were led to the messhall where it was standing room at the end for those who came late. Food was doles out, beer was poured, and for an hour and a half, the party shared their story over what happened to them for the last 15 days. From our travels, Dinka and Narnul, the Eskerton Tunnel, finding the Warren, luring out the K’Morat with Joan the undead deer, the crow swarms, the shaman, sneaking in, Cashandra the Dryad, the giant boar, pit traps, Shassismyr the troll lord, the fight, the ogre running and resting, Lysil, saving Dizzy, meeting the cyclops and ogres, Yuntwyn and Slowfeet, returning to the Warren, poisoned bread, locking the gate, fighting the last of the kobolds, Lord Gurunts, finding the basement, our first encounter with the immature kobold swarm, fleeing to the roof, setting the courtyard on fire, holing up to rest, blowing up the Causeway, Jurius the gnoll, readying for another encounter, trying it a second time and running away, the armoire down the stairs twice, looting the keep, the ogres and cyclops again, and finally the long trip back.

Voices were strained, jaws were agape, and there was surprise everywhere. Some people didn’t believe all we said, some believed everything. It was now past 6:30 and Bailiff Youngston Illytch wanted to further meet with the group. The Reeve Donna Duncarian was invited back to the Meeting House where the party was given some better ale and a toast was made to their return.

It was learned that the group was declared dead about a week ago, a matter the Bailiff was going to rectify with a letter back to House Illytch. He asked a few other points about what they did or learned. We talked about the sheer number of kobolds we faced and the Warren. When it came time to discuss all we returned with, the Bailiff flat out said that he was a manager – not a merchant. It was not to him to decide what an item is worth or not, and was best done back at the House and Sorton with any of the 3 Consuls.

What he did do was allow the party to itemize all they had brought back and declared with the Reeve Donna, pulling himself out of it so he would not taint the operation. At the end of it all, the group bid the Base Camp a farewell on Workmonth the 2nd and took the 3 day trip back to Sorton with the caravan.

Sorton was a sight for sore eyes. Situated on a full 1/3rd of the slope of the Jarl’s Tooth Mountain, the Enderlyn River roared past the water wheels and docks with a giddy spray. Stout dwarven made walls 25’ tall and braced every 40 paces with a defensive tower and either trebuchet of catapult, surrounded the entire city. We made our way through the Main Gate and walked Main Street as the wide Boulevard made its way between Slagbottom to the west and the Randari Quarter to the east. Main Street Ended at Central Gate and the Iron Stallion Inn and Tavern where we waited in queue for a short time before being passed through by keen eyed guards.

Sorton was roughly 55% dwarven, 20% Human, 15% Orc, Half-orc, and Half-Ogre, and the other races made up the remaining 10%. Once through we were in Central Quarter with its wide open ground for caravans, open markets, and bazaars. Every temple and Guild hall was in Central Quarter. To the west was Undercliff, the industrial section of town, to the east was Cobble Hill, the Middle Classed section of town and where the 6 Merchant Houses were located. We made our way there without issue and came to House Illytch’s Compound.

We were assigned barracks to rest in and then we dropped our packs, unloaded our cart, and changed our clothes after cleaning up. After dinner we were invited to sit with the 1st Consul who had been given a manifest of everything we had brought back from the Reeve as well as the Bailiff’s report on our actions.

There was some touching on the listing but the big piece was the 28 Platinum Bars we returned. They were stamped, sealed, and valid – and historically or serious interest. This actually gives the House greater clout since the Bars are used to act as place holding for influence at the Council of Lords Meetings or anything to do with real estate. The group was stunned to learn that the value of the 28 platinum bars, ramped up for their rarity and uniqueness, as defined by the Thane Ufrecta’s of Exquesher was in excess of 18,000 nobles – over 4,000 more nobles than just the value of the bars alone.

The party was entitled to half of that right off the top.

From there we went through every magical item and dickered back and forth on whether we were going to keep them, having their value removed from our now overflowing coffers. From there there were some personal wants and then we commissioned to have House Illytch sell off whatever was left. We knew we had a few weeks of training ahead of us, but our efforts have already given the group more than enough coin to fund the trip to Erylond and then Bork Keep – followed by the acquiring of the amulets we would need to enter the Terror Dungeon.

Meet 46, Adv 4.1, 4/14/18

The group finished up the 2nd part of the adventure at this point, coming back to Base Camp richer in coin and experience for their efforts. We've often joked about the "B" team and their lack of skills in the start of this part of the adventure, but after really running them through their paces, not a single person didn't walk away and not feel good about their character and their results.

I also broke my own rule - typically I am a stickler of not going up more than 1 level in an adventure - but the group infrequently plays the B Team and there was so much awarded, that every either went up 2 levels or in each of their split class levels with plenty left over.

What this means is that the "B" team is now solidly 3rd level and can hold their own with the "A" team should need be. They will need to because the next adventure is the "A" team's portion and then if it goes well, the entire party heads downriver to Erylond and Bork Keep to try their hand at long last on entering the Terror Dungeon.

Write up follows:

Healing was dispensed, what little we had remaining, and the group took stock of their situation. It was early, not even 4 in the morning, and we figured since we had the time we should explore some of the rooms we hadn’t gone into or searched in depth earlier. The 2nd floor was accounted for so we started at the stairs and began hitting rooms heading east down the hall.

There were two doors here, one on the left and one on the right. Beyond the one on the left was a narrower hallway heading south. The door on the right was closed but the stink of filth and feces was strong. Sybil was interested in opening it, but was talked out of it since the group strongly suggested it was the water closet and we should just move on.

So it was the left door that we opened and looked in. It was once the keep’s smoking room but it was in poor condition. The rug was dry and discolored, there was a 20” round table surrounded by 4 worn out wing backed chairs, two of them showing old repairs on the head rest part. The wooden humidor on the south end of the room had been busted open and ransacked long ago.

We looked the place over. The curtain on the window was sagging and old. Dizzy carefully peeled back the repaired section of the chair but all it showed was a replaced portion of the cushion behind. The humidor was a loss, but the table, scarred and battered, had a series of crude runic prayers to Odin and Sutur along the inner ring. Hjalgrim lit his pipe and sat in one of the chairs near the table.

The pipe smoked much less than normal and there was almost no ash to speak of. We wanted to bring the table back and spent some time figuring out how to unmount the top from the base before putting it aside to pack up when we would leave.

From there we left the smoking room and went to the hall. Two doors, one at the end and another on the left wall. The door at the end had a foul odor of rotting meat and there were some flies buzzing around it, but the left door was forced open. It was at one point an office, maybe for the Castellan, but had been repurposed for at least 8 kobolds based upon the nests in the room. There was a wooden desk that had all the drawers removed and turned upside down, firescarred a bit as if the kobolds had used it as a fireplace.

Only a few of us entered but we looked through the nests and found a few bits of kobold flotsam however we did turn up a still wax sealed bottle identified as 152 year old Orcish brewed Red Arrow Scotch. Handsome! The rest of the room was of little interest so we left but not before Sybil went to the door with the foul odor. The rest of the group backed away as the Halfling opened it. It was once a linen closet but for some reason, the kobolds have been tossing large chunks of meat in here and the meat was rotting away, covered in maggot and there were hundreds of flies.

She shut the door, gagged a bit, and rejoined the rest of the party. We decided there was zero reason to investigate the closet ever again and moved on. We went to the library next, across the hall from the chapel. The shelves had been ransacked some time ago and the kobolds had done what they could to straighten up the shelves. About a dozen still salvageable books had been placed on one of the lower shelves but on the shelf next to it was a single dark leather tome all by itself.

We fanned out and explored, made sure there were no rot grubs, and started to gather up the books to sell. Meanwhile Thalin went to the lone tome. In Common and what he guessed was Ogrish, it read “Wizard’s Spellbook. Do not Open”.

There was LOTS of test and move and tweak and inspect. A wizard’s mark was on the tome and there was a leather latch on it, making it hard to open. Through some trial and error Thalin managed to cancel out the wizard’s mark through some tracing of runes and sounding out the ogrish word for “open”. So the book can be opened, but we’d get to that later.

We decided that we should put everything in one place to gather up when it was time to leave and the smoking room by the broken humidor was a good place. The books, the table, and even the dulcimer from the music room were moved there. We then went to the basement to look around. It was pretty foul and filthy but nothing was alive down here anymore. The original racking the orcs had used was mostly gone, just some stanchions where it used to be. Dizzy was looking around and did find a 4’ diameter wood and iron round shield (looked like a table) that the Cyclops Slowfeet was hoping to find. So he took it down and the group decided to bring it upstairs with us.

While we were looking through the basement, amidst all the mess, we did find 27 gnawed leg bones that once belonged to Shassismyr the Troll Lord. For some reason, we gathered them up as well and took them along. Upstairs we checks over the last room. There was a dead kobold in one room, rotting away and left alone. There were kobold nests and sleeping areas, and we even found a holy water font that might have come from the temple area at one time.

We took the shield and placed it in the Northwest tower while the group then dug a grave in the Inner Courtyard and garden where we buried Lord Gurunts and placed a cairn over his remains. A ceremony was given and Dizzy laid the long dead orcish lord’s remains to rest. It was almost 7 when the party went up to Lord Gurunt’s room and set up the place to sleep. We replaced the font in the temple, filled it with some water and took a drink – nothing happened.

The group rested and Thalin stayed up, studying and then took a trip onto the roof with the spellbook he found, cast read magic, opened the book safely and took a look. Many of the pages were glue and pulp – useless. But the last dozen or so pages were still good and they were a full of fire based spells. 3rd and 4th level fire based spells. Very nice.

The next day was wet and rainy but Einar let us know it wouldn’t be more than one day. So we dug up more vegetables for us to travel and eat, filled our waterskins, readied packs with everything we wanted to take back, and decided to investigate the floor of the northeast tower where the crows had rooked. It was dirty inside, there were hundreds of glinting coins and shiny things mixed in with years of bird droppings (no one wanted to look, it wasn’t worth it), but just on the inside of the doorway was the red glasslike gem the larger crow had been wearing, along with a matching one on a nicer chain. We tested them out, learning they were clairvoyant gems with one being the slave to the other, and took them with us. The Shaman had been spying through the crow and this confirmed it.

We awoke the next day, Firemonth the 30th early, packed our belongings, and then headed off west to the Shattered City Lake and the Cyclops/Ogre compound like we had promised we would. Only Thalin and Dizzy entered, the rest of the party waiting outside, and they met with Mjarnur and Shassismyr once again.

They informed the two monstrous leaders that the K’Morat threat had been eliminated. They in turn were inform that Jurius, the Gnoll and his party, had been through here and informed the Ogre of what occurred from their point of view. The fact that we took care of the problem only further elevated our standing in their eyes. They wanted to toast our skill and offered us fermented pig’s blood called Froff – which after drinking it, was the sound we made spewing it back up.

On our way out Dizzy sought out Yuntwun and had the Cyclops seer told about the shield he moved from Slowfeet. We were thanked and then went on our way, 4 of the Ogre chief’s Bloodrunners leading and guarding us to the Eskerton Tunnel. We arrived unmolested and then made our way under the mountain until we arrived near Dinka’s tower. The Cyclops was pleased to see us and we stayed the night, sharing news and getting a good night’s rest.

We awoke later on the 1st of Workmonth and took the long way back through the valleys and the cold cloudy day until we saw the double peak top of Furtham’s Peak and knew we were close at long last to Base Camp and Home.

Meet 45, Adv 4.1, 4/7/18

The group was on a small window of time, unbeknownst to them, before the 5 AM wake up and hunt for the party breakfast bell was going to ring. That and the kobolds at the top of the stairs had already slept earlier and were on guard watching (listening) for anyone sneaking up. They are immature, young, but work wonderful in swarms and packs, learning to work together to overwhelm and take down any foes they come across. If the group had waited one more day to finish them off, they were going to be even larger and have the ability to climb.

All good and the end battle was fantastic.

Write up follows:

The group was in the Great Hall and a check for “lizards” with Merica’s helm revealed none in range at this time. The group did not want to hit the hall to the basement until they were sure, 100%, that they weren’t being foolish and not checking any place behind. So the party went first to the long hall on the east wing and took the time to look. The kobold swarms had triggered the trap in here, a series of spears that had swung down from the ceiling on a gantry. However based upon the height, it was safely assumed that the spears would have passed over the kobold-lings without issue.

A look about the hall showed nothing else of interest except for the two archway openings to the south – one which led to the chapel and the other somewhere else. The party wasn’t sure they wanted to explore in detail as it was already after 2 in the morning and we assumed the kobolds were sleeping now but wouldn’t be sleeping all night.

We know we had the armoire at the top of the 2nd floor steps in place along with a heavy footlocker to slow down the kobold’s advance. We guessed there were fewer than 150 of the critters left but no way of knowing for sure. We talked of getting to the 1st floor stairs to the basement area and dragging another table over there to block that off – keeping the 2nd floor armoire as a 2nd place fallback. No matter what, we were going to stay together and focused – not giving the kobolds a chance to surround us or to escape.

Without knowing exactly where they were, we needed some intel. Were they in the basement? For this, Dizzy was willing to take a walk down the hall to the basement stairs and look around. Carefully and quietly he made his way to the corner, and then around again – there were 6 of them at least sleeping on the floor up here. Quietly he backed away and to the group.

Now that we knew where they were (and guessing the rest were downstairs) we wanted to give the east wing a solid once over. We hit the chapel first. The original markings and tooling was all Odin, however the All-Father had an orcish casting to his face and body but that made sense since this was an orcish keep at one point. Since then, there had been some repurposing of the place to include the markings of Frey. However, Frey was depicted in many of the crude pictograms as short and tailed like a lizard. Most likely how the K’Morat kobolds see the god of sunshine.

We gave the place a solid once over, discovering there was a stone headed axe under the altar which we took. A few candles were lit and a short offering to Odin was made, mentioning Frey just to be safe. Feeling better about ourselves we left the chapel and went to the Long Hall to the last room on the right.

It was once a music room and in the center was a harpsichord that was slowly falling apart under the ravages of time. Lord Gurunts was aghast, commenting on the sheer expense of the harpsichord and how pissed off his castle musician was going to be – once again blurring the gap of 123 years between his life and his now unlife. As for the rest of the room, most of it had been plundered but there was still a dulcimer on the shelf and from its condition, it was apparent that the kobolds had been maintaining it and most likely playing it. Weird.

With all the obvious places checked out, we went back to the main hall and decided that we’d make a change. Dizzy and Sybil had gone into the old aviary and looked through the holes on the bottom of the door with their infravision, attesting that there were still kobolds sleeping up near the top. They then went back to the Dining Room hall and took their time walking down to the corner and around while Thalin stayed in the aviary and watched quietly.

There were 7 of the kobolds up here, lying down in a spaced out 15’ area along the area near the top of the stairs. They seemed bigger than they had been yesterday which also worried the group. We guessed there were more on the stairs but didn’t know for sure. What the two thieves did know was that the kobolds might look like they were sleeping randomly, but they did note that none of them were “facing” the exact same way as any of the others – giving them 360 degree view of every approach to the steps should they awaken. Neither of them liked it and they backed up again down the hall and back to the group to let them know that “sneaking” down there was not going to be the answer.

Meanwhile Thalin continued to watch from his dark vantage point and after the two thieves left, the flare around the kobold’s eyes in the infravision range let him know they had opened their eyes. The closest one lifted its finger and tapped the ground with a claw twice, slowly and deliberately.

Fuck.

The elf got up slowly, noting MANY heat signatures creeping their way up the stairs to the landing, and then raced across the aviary back to the party who was just getting the difficult news from Dizzy and Sybil. When Thalin let us know that the kobolds were up and had been waiting for US to come to them, we left the great hall, ran down the eastern wing and took the stairs to the second floor. We took up a battle line at the armoire with Sybil standing on the box to sling and Merica at her side to support her – the front was Einar, Lord Gurunts, and Hjalgrim with spears out and ready.

The sound of racing cicadas grew louder and then the wave of kobolds hit the stairs and charged towards us. Flasks of oil went flying and set some of the back rank on fire then sleep spells shot off. Spears swung and arrows flew and kobolds died by the singles, pairs, and four count. But they were older and bigger, they hit the armoire and from the back, others were actually flung forward where they hit the top of the steps and clambered up to the barriers surface in an effort to push us back.

Through it all we also had a look out the door and the other wave of kobolds, at least 40 of them, hit the Bailey and charged for us. Dizzy and Percy pulled up the ladder while they massed under the Solar and started to climb on one another.

Hjalgrim had another bad run of luck and struggled to avoid falling into the mass while Einar and Lord Gurunts hit the kobold front again and again, spears slamming out in sweeping waves knocking the younglings free. Sybil was slinging until she was forced back where she fell with three of the kobolds on top of her. Merica grabbed one of them off of her, body slamming it into the ground and crushing its face while another struggled to EAT the halfling’s fingers off her hand!

Einar had Bruce circle around and join the struggle as Sybil, Merica, and two..no now three! Kobolds rolled and struggled and grappled with one another. The giant Bat only added to the chaos as the Halfling and the dwarf were going wild trying to keep from being eaten.

The kobolds were hitting hard but we noticed that there weren’t as many as we feared and their numbers were whittling away as our hit points dwindled. The pile outside was disrupted by dropped rocks and burning oil but Thalin suggested we let the group amass and get closer to the top and pick off the outliers.

The battle was wearing us out and the kobolds actually had Sybil’s fingers in its mouth, chewing on them as she screamed and bashed and twisted. Hjalgrim was getting healed from Percy and the press of kobolds was barely held. Einar had been raging, his spear slamming out in cracking waves back and forth. And then the decision was…let’s push the 220 lb heavy assed armoire DOWN the steps and onto the kobolds packed on the other side of it.

Brilliant.

It tipped over and crushed a dozen of the kobolds on the other side, and then rolled down the flight where it got hung up on the corner wall. The three heroes hit the stairs with weapons flashing while the rest of the party finished up the few kobolds still at the top. With the armoire once again as a barrier, they faced off again against a dozen kobolds and hit them hard.

As for the group outside, a well-placed set of spells and burning oil collapsed the pile, killing many of them and the remaining 20 charged out of the Courtyard and back into the keep – heading in our direction. The group relined themselves on the stairs, almost out of spells and equipment, and then struck out at the last wave of kobolds who hit the barrier. We were bleeding out fast, painful wounds were rampant and then Lord Gurunts fell!

And since the plan worked once, we decided to do it again. Before Einar’s raging strength finally ended, the barbarian half-orc shouldered the rickety armoire and send it crashing again down the stairs where it rolled over a dozen of the kobolds killing them. We then tore into the last of the ankle biters and with a flurry of spears and swords and finally killed off the last of the kobolds.

Youth Meet 14, Adv 1, 4/15/18

The youth group continued to do the town adventure thing – and today they made some inroads on their own on to the discovering of the Order of the Kraken as well as branching out and making contact with the thieves guild. There was a lot of LARPing at the table and some good times were had by all.

Write up follows:

We decided to split up before going to the Reguirin Demesne and take care of our own investigation for now. Deja, Valerie, and Veldryn were going to make their way to the Merchant’s Quarter and poke around to find the Thieves Guild while Magnus and Talion would go to the docks and see if they could come across the squid markings of the Order of the Kraken on their own.

The girls left the Saucy Winter Wench and wandered south and west through the merchant district. The blocks were long, the buildings tightly spaced, and the age and time had them rocked slightly on their foundations, choking off the sky above and plunging the alleyways into shadows. The group stayed with Deja who was looking at the mouths of each alley, looking for a marking that would identify the place as a meeting house for the local thieves guild.

She stopped outside of a two story inn called the Resting Frog. Convinced she saw something on the wall, she inspired Val and Veldryn to follow her in and look around. Upon entering, we noticed the place was a bit smaller than the Saucy Winter Wench, but more interesting – it seemed to be a demi-human establishment. There were dwarves and gnomes, Halflings and half orcs, elves and half elves – no humans.

We made our way to the bar through the Common Room of 40 odd patrons and took a seat where we spoke with the bar owner, a gnomish fellow named Markle McDickle Nickle. Some order for water, wine, and ale followed while Deja was Canting about the possibility of the thieves guild. Markle hand waved it away and commented no but had one of the other barbacks get the drinks.

While the drinks were being delivered the barback motioned to Deja in Cant about south while Markle made some inane comment and conversation about a decent flower shoppe on the next block run by a woman named Ygrette Stolis. Gathering the clues we stayed and had some more drinks until a group of three half-orcs near the east wall were watching Valerie. One of them got up and made his way over, crudely attempting to flirt with Valerie and failing it. Identifying himself as Aetar he was a bit intimidated by Valerie and Veldryn was not helping the situation by supplying information to Aetar who grew pissed off and then Valerie stormed out of the Resting Frog to sit on the front porch and wait.

Deja and Veldryn finished their drink, made some small talk with the patrons within while the druid waited outside. However, while she was sitting in the over-sized chair, a half-ogre woman over 8’ tall and 400#s came over and asked Valerie to move. She was Grael, the half-ogre bouncer for the Resting Frog and took some pity on Valerie, talking to the somewhat naïve half-orc. She explained about orcish whistles and was surprised that the druid did not have one. Letting her know that she hadn’t the luxury of a mother figure, raised by the druid circle since she was small, she was instructed to go to Anour the Toymaker’s and get a whistle there. By this time Deja and Veldryn came out and the group made their way south.

Meanwhile, Talion and Magnus left the Saucy Winter Wench and went off to the docks. They stayed at the end of the 1st dock and looked out. Each of the docks, the four of them, stuck out some 120’ from the shore. Larger boats were at the end of the docks, smaller rowboat and single masted boats were closer to the shore.

While they were standing there, a pair of dwarven longshoremen pushed past and made their way to a boat on the dock, loading up what seemed to be a small cargo of precious wood. The dwarves were watching the paladin and ranger and one of them came back, grew wroth with the pair, and then stormed off to the wharfmaster to complain.

Kurly Lodbrook, the dwarven Wharfmaster came out and hand waved the long shoreman away. He shook Magnus and Talion’s hand and invited them off the dock and to his office to get them away from the docks and “stop pestering his people as they work.” If they have questions, they should just ask him since he knows everything that goes on and off his docks.

We talked for a while about various things, bringing up Dunwater (town to the south of here) and the trade caravans that might or might not go there. We did learn that at least 2 boats had reported they were able to make some money selling swords and axes to the markets at Dunwater which was interest since Dunwater does not have a standing militia or army. But when it came time to bring up the Order of the Kraken, Grabbi Ogansdottr, or the squid sigil – the two party members did not – realizing that Kurly might actually be in on the entire smuggling operation.

They did bring up Ned Shakeshaft but Kurly only knew of an Elric Shakeshaft, a midshipman on some merchant vessel called the Sea Ghost. Relations? Don’t know, but the two men filed it away and decided they were going to take their leave of Kurly and head off south to check out the three warehouses and see if anything turns up there.

Back to Deja, Val, and Vel – the Halfling thief stopped at Ygrette’s Flowers while the druid and priest went on to Anour’s Woodworking and Toy Emporium to look inside. Deja was convinced the lintel of the flowershop had the markings of the thieves guild and she entered. Ygrette, mid to late 30’s human woman, reddish hair, dressed in greens and browns, tending to a number of plants was here, and a younger man (her son?) was lounging just on the inside of the door nodding to Deja.

The Halfling asked about buying a purple flower for a friend and was Canting while doing so, getting a fluid answer in kind. Yes, right place. Ygrette mentioned that an Amaryllis would be nice but they were in the cold storage below. The son went and locked the front door while Ygrette stomped on the trap door in the floor twice before sliding the latch aside and opening it. A set of stairs went down to the flower filled interior and the three of them descended, the young man lowering the trap door behind them.

In the dim gloom a Halfling in black leather, face streaked in greys and white paint was positioned with a crossbow pointed at Deja and instructed Ygrette to give Deja a quick pat down. Every knife was accounted for and no other problems were uncovered. The Halfling then opened a secret door in the shelves behind him and led the four of them into the guild hall.

There were already 8 people here, 3 humans, 2 other halflings, a gnome, an elf, half elf, and half-orc. The black haired Halfling identified himself as Hedagar, the “Father” of the guild. They talked for a while; the guild was small and was a spin-off of the larger guild in Dilabria where the “Grandfather” resided. Deja was made to feel welcome and there were many conversations about her life and past and the guild itself and the members within.

Three rules: Direct orders from the Guild Father are always obeyed. Under no circumstance does any member of the guild work at odds against any other member of the guild. And the guild itself is always protected. In return, everyone works together, the guild is family, you give up 10% of your take of any job done in or around town, you don’t assault anyone who is already paying protection, and guild members will always help train and come to the aid of other guild members no matter what.

Deja was happy and joined right then and there. They commended her on adventuring with a paladin as that was the perfect cover – it makes her and her actions above casual reproach. When it was asked about the party leadership, Talion’s name came up and that led to two of the members getting excited. It seems the Dilabrian Slaver Society had never forgiven Talion for his actions 7 months ago when he brought in an escaped slave for a bounty for a crime committed instead of turning it over to the Slavers.

Turns out the slaver was a sorcerer of some small skill and the numbers guy for a large operation – invaluable. They hadn’t been pleased that Talion opted to place law above the slaver guild wants and had watched him carefully in Karon, expecting to exact a measure of revenge when he would leave the town by caravan.

They did not expect him to board a boat and when he sailed out, no one knew where he was headed off to. So the slaver guild had sent runners to every guild house at every ocean front town from Karon to Reters Trod with a 50 noble reward for information regarding Talion and his arrival. Two members, Elbaus (Human) and Marzina (Half-Orc) had been the contact and let the Deja know what happened. Do they approach the slavers? It’s worth money to Deja and the guild to give up Talion’s location. And it’s not bad for the guild. Hedagar waited to see what Deja’s ultimate decision was.

Deja was willing to pay the lost money for Talion’s information if the guild didn’t let the slaver’s know. This pleased Hedagar who let the Halfling know that it showed good character that he was willing to protect her leader and pay the funds to the guild to keep the secret safe.

Hedagar took 10 of the nobles that Deja gave him and handed it back, telling her to go to the Lost Children of Tyr, an orphanage on the south end of town, and make a donation to the establishment there in her name. Deja was thankful and we talked more. As for the smuggling operation, there was always the Dunwater angle and Hedagar did reveal that some contacts he had had let him know of Lizardmen from the Eider Down Swamp being seen in the vicinity of Dunwater. Was told to proceed carefully. Deja left and headed off to Anour’s Toy Emporium to meet her friends, purple Amaryllis in hand.

Meanwhile Talion and Magnus had made their way off the docks and to the warehouses. They bypassed the one that Rosensteel used and went to the one that Iran Hamanar and the Umbarian Tradegoods used. They took it upon themselves to walk in as if they belonged…and it worked! They wandered up and down the aisles, seeing at least a dozen merchant seals and stamps on palletized and loose goods – but nothing after a half hour of searching showed the Order of the Kraken or the squid seal.

They left and went to the last warehouse and again, luck was with them. A few of the longshoremen gave them a glance, but they were left alone as they entered and took to looking through the back of the stacks. If was while they were looking that they stumbled upon a pallet with 5 casks on it – the markings turned inward but from the edge they could see the squid symbol upon it. Nice. This warehouse was used be Nightsiren’s Tradegoods of which we knew almost nothing about. The pallet was marked that it was awaiting shipment but there was no purchaser or shipper information on the manifest. They two men left feeling pretty good and started making their way south towards the edge of town and on their way to the Reguirin Demesne.

Veldryn and Valerie had gone to Anour’s Toy Emporium where they saw the red hat wearing elder gnome sitting at a bench in the crowded store with other similar dressed and younger gnomes about stocking shelves, working wood, and preparing orders. The elder gnome motioned the two women closer as he finished his carving of a small wooden knight on horseback and engaged them in conversation.

He knew 7 languages and was able to speak a couple words in 15 others. He talked about the orcish way of things with Valerie who admitted her orcish upbringing was nonexistent. He guided her on the way orcs think and their strict adherence to honor and respect for clan leaders and elders. He tried to explain what an orcish whistle was and why it was important for orcish girls to get one on their 16th birthday. Since Valerie had never gotten this information from her mother or anyone else, she was a bit behind the 8-ball. But she did purchase a very nice black walnut whistle in the shape of an oak tree that blew out a 4-note harmonic.

They continued to chat until Deja arrived. Anour was carving the knight for a young man at the orphanage and he often made small simple toys for the children there when it was their birthday or if they’ve just arrived. Deja offered to take it for Anour but the gnome demurred, saying he’s never missed giving a toy to a young child before and wasn’t planning on missing one opportunity now.

It was almost 11:30 when the three women left and headed south to the Lost Children Orphanage and then to the Reguirin Demesne when they spied Talion and Magnus coming from the Warehouse district and called them over to join them.

Youth Meet 13, Adv 1, 4/3/18

The youth group had a long trip back to Saltmarsh and then once there, we rolled into a number of LARPing situations where they got to do some town stuff and dress in different hats for a while. And somewhere along the way, a throw-out line that had been delivered 3 or 4 meetings ago came back to roost – as in Talion needed to get laid and blow off some steam. Well, at a table full of 16 year olds is sometimes wont to do, they got crude and pooled some coins together to get the party leader a lady of the evening. And then two others joined in as well. The other half of the party was content to just sit in the bath and soak up the scented oils.

Write up follows:

It was at 9:30 or so on the cold morn of Earthmonth the 17th when the jolly boat left the cove under the abandoned mansion and started the 4 mile trip back to Saltmarsh. Talion, Deja, and Magnus were aboard the low slung single masted boat; Ned Shakeshaft was piloting the craft while Darveig the 17 year old former smuggler and Sanbalet, the ringleader of the smuggling operation at the mansion sat on the floor of the boat trussed up and gagged for the ride. Whatever stolen goods we managed to bring back from the stores under the mansion were included – 12 casks of brandy and 11 bolts of silk.

From the boat the party could see their companion Valerie storming along the ridge and beach north of the mansion, her anger pronounced with every step while the elven priestess Veldryn was struggling to catch up to her taller, half-orcish friend.

The sailing trip back took about 2 hours during which time the feeling was we dock and then go immediately to Sir Archibald Reguirin’s Demesne to discuss our findings and turn over Sanbalet. Ned piloted the boat with great care to the docks where a few young boys helped tie the jolly boat up. Kurly Lodbruck, the Dwarven Wharfmaster came out to talk about our boat and cargo – which for now we wanted to keep quiet about until we could get it to Sir Reguirin’s. So we paid for docking fee and then hired a few longshoremen to unload the boat and eventually cart everything to the Reguirin Demesne. We left Darveig in charge of the operation and the rest of us took the trussed up Sanbalet off to the south end of town and eventually Sir Archibald’s.

At the Demesne they had to wait while the nobleman’s manservant kept the group waiting until he allowed them audience with Archibald. Besides Master Reguirin, there was also the Dowager Lynn Coopersmith, dwarven owner of the largest cooper and barrel makers in Saltmarsh and Pinelaquin Goldenrod, the half elven herbalist and notary public – known to go by the non elven sounding name of “Lack” when given the chance. With Sire Archibald, this was 3 of the 5 members of the Town Council and just the sorts of people we wanted to visit with and talk to.

The party explained their findings at the mansion, allayed the Council that it wasn’t haunted, and assured them that although the party had been through the ringer, ever member was still alive and kicking. We talked about the smuggling and the operation as we had come to understand it, the massive fight at the end, and the capture of Sanbalet. We spoke about leniency for Ned and Darveig and agreed with the council members that the smuggling operation as we had it so far was only part of the situation.

The goods had been dropped off and we talked about the seals on the barrels. The group was expecting that it would tie back to Iran Hamanar in some fashion but was surprised when the Dowager Lynn admitted that had recognized the sigil as belonging to a trade organization known as the Order of the Kraken. They had turned to smuggling and slaving – a practice that was legal in the northern Baronies of the County but not in the central and southern Baronies. Saltmarsh was by location, part of the northern Barony but by law, abided by the rules of the central Barony and the County laws from Cymbarton. So the Council typically tries to follow central barony rules when possible.

The Order of the Kraken had been raided and their leader, Grabbi Ogansdottr, had been tried and hung from the neck about 2 years ago – the organization was then struck down and defunct. How these sigils had been reestablished was a problem for the council and the questioning they had for Sanbalet here had been unanswered and rude.

As for Valerie and Veldryn, it was an almost 4 hour walk back during which time the elf and half-orc eventually patched up their friendship. However as they drew closer to Saltmarsh, Veldryn was concerned that Magnus was going to use what occurred at the mansion as fodder for the paladin to act against Talion or her. She wanted someone on her side to help her out. So she convinced Valerie that they needed to go to the cemetery and see Hjarlod, the Speaker for the Dead and see if he’d be willing to act as an intermediary and support for her.

By 2 they had traveled back to town and then made their way to the Speaker for the Dead. Hjarlod was a bit in his cups but was willing to come with the two of them to see Sir Reguirin and advised them that was a ritual he could do to help ensure the truth was being told. So it was 2:30 when Val and Vel arrived at the Demesne with Hjarlod and met the councilman and the rest of the group.

We all got caught up and then Magnus brought out a letter he had penned during the journey back, reading it to the councilman and the party. It detailed his concern for Talion as leader and the undue influence Veldryn seemed to have on the ranger. There was talk about severed heads and cruelty and enforcing the part of the charter where a leader can be changed should the situation merit it. Hjarlod had cast a Zone of Truth on the area and for the most part, the group was able to tell when a falsehood was uttered – although not all the time. It is for this reason why the Zones are not acceptable during testimony since it can be defeated through luck, guile, will, and magic.

The party eventually managed to reach a point when Talion was going to be more open to listening to all the party members equally and the vote to replace him as leader was defeated 3 to 1. As for Sanbalet, the council was going to select a questioner (torturer) and a Justicar to get some information out of the smuggler and when we do, Sir Reguirin would like the party to follow the findings to the next link in the smuggling chain. We were given 250 nobles as a thanks for our efforts so fat, had Valerie added to the charter, and then by 3, left to head for the Saucy Winter Wench to get a room for a few days.

On the way we stopped at Rosensteel’s Tradegoods and did some purchasing, Veldryn taking the time to but a silvered steel dagger for Deja as a thank you and apology for her actions at the mansion. The Halfling was touched and had just sold a number of crummier knives back – placing the silvered one into her now empty boot sheath.

We arranged for another large room for the party at the Wench, ordering a bath and oils again to scrub the grime and filth off our bodies. Laundering was taken care of and then Magnus wanted to get Talion a lady for the evening – or late afternoon. He requested something different and firm from Pettis, and then in a fit of “what the hell”, asked for one for himself – but specified she had to be a lady. Not to be outdone, even Deja asked if there was a man of the evening she could get and was assured someone would be sent up.

We went to the bedroom where water was being filled into the tub and hot oils added. A fresh cake of soap was supplied and Talion went first, getting himself cleaned. As he was getting out of the tub, there was a knock at the door and a woman in her late teens and dressed rather sluttily in tight leather clothes asked for the ranger. Said her name was Candy and she was here for him. Meanwhile Magnus got himself cleaned quick as a second woman appeared behind Candy, a bit older and dressed in a clinging blue sheath dress who identified herself as Sophia and was here for the paladin.

The two of them left as Deja got in next, following the two women downstairs to the space that was normally cordoned off, and to a room where they said they shared it together and would like to know if that was a problem for the two of them. They assured the two women it wasn’t and they went in where the door was shut, Candy took charge; Talion got some straps around his legs to hold him down while Candy beat him and took him for herself and her pleasure. Sophia was more refined but Magnus was happy and the time passed.

As for Deja, a dwarven piece of beefcake named Hefador showed up and escorted the Halfling out where she too was treated to a 2 hour window of relaxation, excitement, and whatever consenting adults do behind closed doors…for a price.

Veldryn and Valerie paid for new bath water to be brought up and then relaxed for some time before Deja staggered back into the room, tired and satisfied. They had her back in the tub and plied her with questions about Hefador until Magnus and Talion returned – both also tired and satisfied, the paladin glowing and the ranger having a rough time sitting down.

We laughed it off, dropped off all the dirty clothes to be laundered, and then went to the common room to eat, drink, listen to some music, and just wind down after the terribly long day. We talked about tomorrow and decided there were two things we wanted to look into before heading to the Reguirin Demesne, 1) Deja and Veldryn wanted to make contact with the thieves guild if there was one in town to discuss some of the things on the manifests we discovered at the mansion, and 2) the rest of us to make our way to the docks and poke around to see if could uncover any other blazon markings or sigils from the Order of the Kraken.

By the time our meal was done Deja took in a local card game, playing a number of hands until she was up by a large amount of silver. It was when she got up from the table and the players grew angry at her leaving before they had a chance to win their money back that threatening actions were given and the entire situation looked like it was going to blow up. But one of the Deputies to the town Sheriff came over, named Stenthin Gooseberry, and helped diffuse the situation a bit. However, we were dismayed to learn that the loudest complainer of the gamblers was a card shark known locally as “Ehks” and had been brought up on charges of suspected murder at least 4 times before. Always smaller women who had gone missing. Small – like Deja.

Lovely.

We retired to our room by 8:45 and came 10, it was lights out and we rested. Veldryn finished the ponderous tome Metaphysics Math and Magic and even though she understood it, it was a weighty subject that she was going to have to digest for some time.

We awoke the next morning feeling good and by 8:30 had finished our breakfast, prayers, and studying. We were discussing our plans to split up and hit the town and then go visit Sir Archibald and see if he had any information from Sanbalet as of yet by the afternoon.

Meet 44, Adv 4.1, 3/23/18

One of the "fun" dwarven things I've had in my games for a long time is "Fizz Stone". It's a porous rock (like pumice) that when it gets wet, releases air so miners deep under ground can breathe. It's crumbly and easy to break off into whatever size chunk is needed. If a large amount gets wet it can actually make a fairly sizable blast of rolling wind.

Intrepid dwarves have also used it as a propellant in assorted weaponry and tools such as inboard motors, air powered triphammers, and spear throwers. As long as it's in an enclosed space that can be capped off, all that air force has to go somewhere and typically out the "back" end. It is also used in mining to widen cracks and fissures in the natural stone.

So the group ended up 7#'s of it and it works out to 1# is roughly 100#s of force and it goes up 125% for every pound afterwards in the same area - so the 7#'s of fizz stone, assuming it was in one place and got wet, would result in almost 13k#'s of force - enough to knock a pair of Ford F250's on their side. They used it to blow up a Causeway. It rocked.

Write up follows:

The first thing the group wanted to do was to make sure the main door to the keep was closed and sealed, and from the roof we could see the portcullis was down, but the doors under the barbican were still ajar. The fire was not going to go out for hours and we could hear the giant pig inside the keep squealing along with the cicada-like yipping sound of the kobolds.

The parapet led to the barbican and we could get to the parapet from the causeway by the Solar – it would mean crossing over the courtyard and the fire, but it was an option. So we crossed the roof of the first floor to the wall of the second floor of the keep, and between Sybil and Einar, they managed to climb to the roof of the second floor and extend rope down to the rest of the party to scamper up.

Once everyone was safely now on the second floor, we crossed to the Solar and listened. Outside of the fire, we heard nothing else. Assuming that none of the immature kobolds had hit the stairs as of yet, we lowered the rope and set it up so Dizzy, Sybil, and Einar made the trip down to the Solar and then crossed the causeway to the parapet. From there it was a solid run to the barbican and Dizzy climbed down to the Bailey and Courtyard. He entered the barbican and worked the door, digging it out on the bottom, until it closed. We needed a crowbar (run back and get one) and some help holding it inn place, but we got the door closed and the bracing lock bar dropped in place. No kobolds were getting out this way. Sybil dropped the two portcullis and we all scrambled back across the parapet to the causeway and then the Solar.

The rest of the party came down and we discussed options. The kobolds were not here now but they might be soon. We hadn’t heard the pig for a while and we needed to hole up and rest somewhere. The thought was either the “bird” tower at the north east corner, or the original one we entered by at the northwest tower. Staying in the keep was foolish as we’d be overrun at some point.

The group made their way across the causeway again to the parapet and then took it north until we arrived at the tower. The door was closed and we had to work the wire off the handle to unlock it – but when we did the door was opened to reveal the inside of the tower that had a set of stairs going down in a spiral to the floor below and some open area at the top. But the entire thing was filled with bird shit. Like years of bird shit. It was thick and muculent and viscous and trying to navigate the steps seemed like a foolish idea. So we closed the door and decided to cross the long parapet over the inner courtyard and to the other tower to hole up there.

We sent a few of us down to the Courtyard to gather some of the food using blankets and cloaks as bags while the rest of us were up top and kept watch for kobolds or anything else. It was here when we heard some giggling laughter from the woods and a few gnolls were there. Attracted by the column of smoke riding in the air, their leader, Jurius, wanted to know what was going on. We gave some song and dance, and a lot of bullshit, telling about the kobolds and their death and whatnot. The gnolls didn’t buy our words for too long before they asked for some payment to send them on their way.

The group was climbing back up the rope at this point back to the parapet as the gnolls were getting louder and ready to do anything. We effectively refused and one of them charged the wall, making it – we shot and slung out at them and they fired at us – and we realized we were “TERRIBLY” outmatched as their bows were picking us off the wall with brutal ease.

The count was 9 gnolls and we distracted them by saying “back into the keep, now!” meanwhile everyone stayed low under the crenellations as we raced towards the west and the northwest tower. The door was opened and Einar took the roof of the tower, watching the gnolls as three of them had slung hooks and were climbing the wall. Hjalgrim and Percy were the last to get off the parapet and managed to get inside the tower door before the gnolls climbed up and could see. The saw our abandoned food stores below and hearing the comment about “back to the keep”, they wrongly deduced that we had gone down to the courtyard and into the keep. So three of the 9 gnolls stayed up top while 6 other (Jurius the leader was one of them), climbed down ropes and made it to the floor.

They laughed as they went through the food and then went to the keep door and listened. We could see they were excited that there was some noise inside and they assumed it was us. So they opened the door and fired two arrows inside.

And then the kobold swarm started coming out. It began as 15 or so crawling all over the lead gnoll and then swiftly swelled to over fifty who managed to knock one gnoll down and were crawling around two others. Jurius ordered everyone back to the ropes and the gnolls tried to climb up to escaping the ever swelling number of kobolds clambering to eat them. One fell off and was overrun and another one had gotten so badly hurt that was unable to climb and was abandoned. This left 7 gnolls, 4 of them pretty hurt, to climb back down the wall of the keep and flee for their lives back into the woods.

The kobold swarm though was now in the inner courtyard and devouring what food was easily seen there as well as the two dead gnolls. We emerged from the tower and went to investigate. The decision was that Thalin and Merica were going to stop here at the tower and study up spells that we had now expended while the rest of the group took more of these kobolds out.

They were milling about and didn’t seem to have good long range vision because even when we called to them up above, they didn’t seem to be too interested. Dizzy and Sybil ad an idea of a dead crow on some fishing line and we used that as a lure to keep them around while we slung and dropped stuff on them. When the bird got too low, they managed to grab it and a few climbed up so it was a quick cut and we dropped the line.

We had a second crow on a string and some more dropped stuff but the hoard was spreading out and edging away. So it was a dropped flask of oil and a “Raging Fire” spell which consumed a 15-20 bunch and the crowd broke up and ran back to the safety of the keep and out of the courtyard.

With them all inside (100 plus?!) we then talked about what if they managed to climb the stairs and get to the second floor? They could cross the causeway and hit the parapet and then we’d be up the creek. So we wanted to drop the bridge. We took the Fizzstone and then made our way across the parapet to the causeway and then drilled a number of holes along the far side. We ground up the Fizzstone, filled the holes, covered them and then some water was dropped and we ran off the bridge and back to the parapet. The bridge hissed and rumbled and then BLEW up on the far side, the causeway fell over and collapsed to the fire below.

The party all regrouped at the tower and once there the mages finished studying and we all took watch and ate and rested. It was after midnight when we woke up and prayed. Healing was dispensed and we were pretty beat up but game. We wanted to get into the keep and do in in a way that we started on the 2nd floor and made our way down to the first – making sure there were no kobolds behind us and we could deal with the swarm properly.

There was lots of planning but we settled on some good ones. We made it to the Bailey and crept carefully to the area near the Solar. Then using a few of the ladders climbed up to there and we checked out the entire second floor – no one here. We took one of the armoires and a massive wooden foot locker to the stairs to act as a barricade if we needed to once more fall back to someplace and then made our way down. It was quiet, eerily quiet. They hall was empty but dirty and we looked in the chapel and library – both were a mess but no kobolds. In the Great hall we found the massive boar dead and partially lying on and open pit, lots of it eaten away by the kobolds.

Hundreds of tiny bloody footprints did lead down the hall to the same place we originally encountered them. The group was discussing heading that direction to see if they had all gone back to the basement.