Youth Meet 21, Adv 3, 8/17/18

The official start of the 3rd adventure and the youths had a chance to see another town. So far it was Karon – but only for an hour or so, then Saltmarsh – larger and more established – a fine haven for them – and then Dunwater. Which one of the youth’s aptly named “Dungwater” after being here for a short time.

For the Paladin and the Ranger – it’s a difficult town for them because it is NOT a lawful town – and they have to tread carefully or find themselves on the wrong end of the Marshall.

Write up follows:

The group was up bright and early on Spiritmonth the 4th. The temperature had been steadily dropping as the end of fall loomed its head, making their window to travel the 12 miles south to Dunwater get smaller if they hoped to return before the first snows. Already the frost was forming in the morning and the group made sure they had a few articles of cold weather gear at the ready.

The met with the page and runner for the Council and made their way to the Saltmarsh Courts and Council House where Sire Archibald, Dowager Lynn, Durban Thatcher, Oralif Fendelstone, and the Notary Pinelaquin Goldenrod were waiting for them. Another 10 or so citizens of Saltmarsh were here but they seemed to be on other business.

We were thanked for our efforts in sussing out the smuggler operation as it entails here – removing the safe house and the origin smuggler. But the end buyer was still in Dunwater and we were being sent there to find the end buyers of the smuggling operation and bring them back to Saltmarsh for justice. The reward? 100 nobles for each member of the party if we succeeded. The Mayor of Dunwater was a man known as Isvar and we should speak with him if we needed help. As for the smuggler contacts, the only name that had appeared on Captain Siggurd’s notes was the name Dru’uz Thorson; most likely dwarven and was a direction we could follow up after talking to Mayor Isvar.

As for the next issue, the lizardman threat as it may be. The smugglers were using the ill-gotten gains from the sale of the brandy and silks and were using it to arm the local lizardman tribes, 3 or so of them who were united in this endeavor. We were to find the chief of this tribe and dispatch him, bring proof, and without a head chief, the tribes should scatter and revert to their more individualistic ways and size.

The reward for this? 250 nobles for each member of the party if we succeeded. Very nice. They were going to have a boat take us down to Dunwater and be there for us for 14 days – day and a half to get there, day and a half to get home, 11 days or take care of both matters. We thanked them and took the offer. They also supplied us with food and water for the trip and assured us that room and board when we returned to Saltmarsh would be taken care of.

We gathered all we would need and on the morning of Spiritmonth the 5th, we arrived at the dock and met with Captain Skaddi and his crew of 4 who would be taking the party of 5, Ned Shakeshaft, and Oceanus the Seaelf from Deepcove to Dunwater. While we were loading up, we heard a call from the quay and running down towards us was Handaring, Darveig’s elder brother.

He was thankful to us for our efforts in taking care of his mother, ending her disease and giving her new life. He was thankful for us bringing Darveig back and having Tyr watch over him. Was thankful for the large stipend we brought as well to his family. But he had two spears with him and a rucksack full – and told Magnus that he would take his dead brother’s place as the paladin’s squire if he would have him.

The party was quiet and Magnus had to wrestle the right words, eventually telling Handaring that although he was honored for the offer, this was not the right time for him to abandon his mother and Magnus did promise Gjulprid that he would not bring further misery to her family by way of the sea.

Handaring was dismayed but understood and Magnus assured him that when they return, he would be happy to meet with him then about another opportunity. The party finished loading up and they all thought Magnus made the right call.

We sailed out to the deer waters of the Mastelic Ocean and Captain Skaddi turned the schooner south and we were on our way. During the trip Deja was keeping up with her lessons and had asked Veldryn if she can copy some spells from her book to the one that the Halfling had purchased. In addition, Valerie used the Bifrost Gem to question whether the lizardman holdings were between Saltmarsh and Dunwater – getting a negative answer for it.

We took an anchor in the evening and then went back out to sea and continued our way south, arriving at Dunwater around 11ish on Spiritmonth the 6th. Our first glace of the town was it was in poor condition. There were three long quays and docks, but two of them had been damaged and were not suitable to draw up to, and the last one seemed to be in sorry condition. In addition, no longshoremen were waiting for us on the docks, but a few were near a series of burned out warehouses and watching us.

Our guess was the town would probably house 1,500 people, a bit smaller than Saltmarsh but given there were barely 11 boats on the docks, the lack of serious crowds that we can see, and the number of burned buildings that had been collapsed in place and left there, we would be surprised if the town had half that number in it.

As Captain Skaddi was tying the ship up to an empty spot on the poorly maintained dock, two of the longshoremen came down the planks and stopped nearby. There were scarred, rough, and menacing looking. There was some back and forth with the Captain and a touch or two about some outrageous docking fees that numbered in the CROWNS, not the Nobles as was expected and customary. While this was all going on, the party was disembarking, casually helped by the two dockworkers. Eventually Captain Skaddi paid the exorbitant fee and told the group they were going to continue south the Eider, drop off some cargo there and then return here in 2 or 3 days’ time. To avoid further fees, there were going to drop anchor out of the harbor and await the group’s return and desire to be picked up by a series of lantern flashes.

Once on the docks we made our way to the shore where the warehouse district showed the poor repair the town was in. Much of the beach was covered in greasy looking seaweed and deep ruts. The warehouses were shells of their former self, two of the three blocks looked like they had burned down months ago and after knocking down the exterior walls, were left alone to rot away from time. The sidewalks were muddy furrows, the streets were missing cobbles and seemed to be covered in a gritty filth. The entire town smelled faintly of urine and fecund mud. Based upon the lack of industry we saw around the area and the few people on the streets, we downgraded our estimate from half  to maybe a third of the town was actually occupied.

We followed some of the road signs and the few bits of direction we were given until it was apparent that Dunwater had an arson problem some time in the not too distant past. The Mayor’s house was a pile of burned rubble as well as a few other homes we saw scattered about. Feeling ill, we decided to make it to the sheriff’s office, getting spotty directions as we walked the unwelcome streets. By this time everyone was feeling nervous and it was apparent we had our coin pouches rifled through a few times already, with none of us seeing it when it happened. Valerie and Veldryn took a pair of pants and a scarf from their pack and tied it around their midsection, covering their pouches from casual observation. Deja took hers and dropped it down her shirt, Magnus and Talion slid their further around their front and kept their hand near it.

The Sheriff’s office had some older fire scarred markings on the outside but still seemed whole. Deja did not want to walk in, was instead going to head down the block to “look around”, when actually she was going to find the local Thieves Guild and make her presence in the city known. It was supposed to be as a cobbler’s and the front person was a person named Agma. Valerie and Veldryn opted to stay on the street with Ned and Oceanus and keep their hoods up and out of the way.

The ranger and the paladin entered and almost immediately, realized that there was something wrong. The people in the Sheriff’s office were not wearing tabards, sported only a crude circular badge on their shoulder. Their armor was a mismatch of brigandine style cobbled pieces and too many of the men and women in here looked more like thugs than lawmen.

After introducing themselves they were told to wait for Marshall Traybor Thurgood. Marshall was a problem, since Marshall was either a military title, or most likely a populace elected official and not ordained by the Baron or the Count. Which meant that he was not necessarily tied to the Count’s laws – but merely the maintenance of order. Magnus was not happy and was feeling very unwell about this meeting.

In addition, two of the deputies in here were paying a noticeable amount of attention to us. One was a wood elf female, her face hard and angular, and body whipcord thin. She was honing the edge on a dagger while looking at us through her bangs, her expression was bordering on sneering. The other was a huge very orcish looking figure in too tight chainmail and sporting a 2’ long metal truncheon on his side.

The orcish figure came forward and identified himself as Deputy Crog Gunstock, his accent was thick, his mannerisms just on the edge of threatening. He took us to the back office where we met with a smiling late-30’s figure, Marshall Traybor. He shook our hand and then sat down. We discussed who we were and that we were originally looking for the Mayor Isvar but had not seen the home as it had been destroyed.

That’s where we learned many things about Dunwater. Some 9/10 months ago the town started falling apart as bandit and smuggling gangs were making more of a presence known in the town. The Mayor was growing concerned about this and was putting together a missive for Count Sedaris when there was a fire at his manor house that night. The Sheriff got involved in checking out this mysterious blaze that killed the mayor, his family, and his entire household staff.

That night a fire consumed the Sheriff and his family.

While strange fires were popping up all over town every few days, the spring rains had flooded out the road to Cymbarton, making travel to and from Dunwater either a slog through the swamps or viable by boat only. People began leaving the city while missives were supposedly sent to Cymbarton to get a new Sheriff appointed and a new Mayor appointed. No answer has come since then and the townsfolk elected their own lawman in the interim, Marshall Traybor Thurgood. Magnus didn’t want to accept the Marshall’s authority, the Marshall found the presence of a paladin in his town problematical, and the arrest and adventure warrant we had from Saltmarsh had little sway here but was bound to upset a number of the locals who that piece of paper might apply to.

The Marshall wanted the group to help him out as much as possible by conducting their business and then getting out as he “feels nervous with you all here. And I’m sure you being here also makes the rest of the goodly folks around here nervous.” It was while Talion was coming up with a bribe amount that Magnus was having none of it, telling the ranger to not pay as this man was NOT the law. This then had the Marshall call the paladin belligerent and increased the amount the group would have to pay.

As voices grew strained, the Deputy Crog came in and the orcish thug being in the room inspired the paladin to shake his head and say little more while Talion ended up paying 14 CROWNS, a ransom, to the Marshall. We knew that the Marshall was going to be watching the party now and we wanted to get our investigation done quickly and then get out.

We left feeling troubled and met up with the rest of the group. Deja was looking pale as she had wandered ahead to where the Cobbler’s shop was supposed to be, but saw only burned ruins in its place. Whatever misery had befallen Dunwater, had also taken out the thieves guild – which to the halfing’s point of view meant the town had too much criminal element running it and little order or control to temper it.

We made our way down the street to the town square, the green was a weed choked mess of garbage and a half dozen drunken louts lying about the place. Just off the square was the first inn we stumbled across – a two story structure in bad need of painting called the Leaky Tub. We were debating if it was worth trying to stay here or to cut our chances and maybe hole up in an abandoned building instead.

Meet 58, Adv 4.2, 8/11/18

The group finished up Damlagast's Tower this meeting, getting a few magical items and another item nicked off Avulstein's List. At this point they have a day or two grace and then the K'Morat should be at the Base Camp.

Write up follows:

The party gave the first servant’s quarter a last look over, opening the closet door where they discovered another orcish skeletal figure here, broken bones and hunched down, a bronze disk on its chest with a reverse bas-relief of an Orcish “D” rune upon it. We gathered everything together with what care we could and then cast Detect Magic. A spray of spark flew out and although it did flow everywhere, most everything did not radiate any magic – except for the disk – and it was odd according to Shim and Avulstein – faint and outlined, mostly dormant, and appearing as if it was incomplete in some fashion.

This led them to take the disk up the steps to the 6th floor where they approached the barrier that portalled everyone back to the 1st. The detect magic was still going and showed the reverse of the same magic that was on the disk – so they approached closer and closer…and then passed through the area without portalling back to the 1st floor. Perfect.

We continued our way up to the 7th floor where it appeared the dwarves had never gotten to. There was no damage, destruction, or anything else. The door here was closed and there was a lizardlike looking statue poised right outside the door with a sword upraised and ready to chop down. And no one wanted to risk touching the door or lock.

So we went to the 8th floor and the door here was closed and no amount of opening, pushing, testing, or anything would get it to open. We suspected it would require the tower being “on” to get that to happen, and that meant starting the furnace or Heart. Tomorrow.

We returned to the kitchen floor (4) and after breaking up some wood for the stove, lit a fire, shut the door as best we could, and the party went to sleep after confident that the stove was venting smoke not in the room we were sleeping in.

We awoke the next day on Workmonth the 11th feeling pretty good and doles out some healing, ate breakfast, studied and prayed. It was a bit after 8 when completed and we decided to go to the basement and work on the furnace down there.

We gave the furnace a solid once over and talked about options and possibilities for a bit. There was a small door on the left side that had a cup on the bottom and a clamp there and some nozzle was above it fed from the oil reservoir above. We talked a bit a figured a candle would go there so Darius took one out, clamped it in place and we felt like that was a good start.

While that was going on Barb and Einar discussed the oil barrels, having one that was uncompromised. It was thick and crude – and as it was heating oil, had a higher temperature to light. Most likely it was aerated at some point in the furnace which explained the very tiny nozzle above the candle. They managed to lift it, removed the plug from the…bunghole…and loaded about 4 or 5 gallons into the reservoir. Sealing everything back up they closed all the covers and returned the barrel again.

Meanwhile the party was loading the furnace with a couple hundred pounds of hacked up wood as well as much kindling and faster burning material they could find. On the right side of the furnace was a longer door and narrow, when opened had a bellows fall down that needed to be pumped . The leather was in poor condition and had many rents in the fabric. We hit it with a mending spell but needed a second one so we waited for Avulstein to study and fire off a second one – at this point the bellows seemed whole.

As for the catch bin on top, Einar went over the bone fragments and chips we had found down here and discovered rabbits, cats, and large rats. Ok – nothing specific. We did had a number of formerly animated giant rats in Avulstein’s bag so he took out three of them, placed them on the catch offering bin on the top of the Tower Heart and then we lit the candle.

From there we shut the front door and proceeded to pump the bellows. It was very difficult as first but each time we did so the furnace made a low “whuff” noise and the sound of fire inside the metal surface moving about grew louder. The furnace grew warmer as we pumped and there was a chugging sound that was accompanying us per pump. Then the chugging grew louder and the whuffing got very pronounced…and with a final pump the bellows handle snapped back into the side of the furnace.

While all this was going on, the offering bin on top was slowly spinning, chewing up the rats until they too disappeared within.

There was a pause in the sound and then a steady “wum wum wum” noise willed the room and light sprinkled up the central column as the room heated up from 50’s to low 70’s quickly. The water drained down until the floor became dry. On the first floor the column grew ripe with light as it went up to the ceiling and then the floors above – lighting what little sconces were here, removing the stale scent, and for the main floor, drying out the carpet quickly.

First class job. We did it.

Feeling bolstered by our actions, we decided to go back to the 2nd floor and try out the room with the paintings. On the wall was the picture of an empty chair and when Barb entered the room – to the rest of us it appeared she disappeared! To her she was fine and saw everyone as they were .They could hear her but the magical effect was the room would appear empty. Nice.

The 2nd picture we tried was the orcish wedding feast and unlike before we had a plate of fresh fruit, a full loaf of nutty rich bread hot and a long stick of butter, and four dark ales. Very nice and we ate it happily. We then tested the one that appeared to be a wooden gate with a key and when put in place, the wall to the room grew across and closed the room off, sealing it. Nice!

This left the basket and scissors room and it ended every spell in here. Avulstein’s skeleton collapsed to the ground, Barb’s boots fit poorly, and Connal’s headband slipped down. Taking the picture off the wall or leaving the room returned the magical effects but NOT for spells – Avulstein’s skeleton remained disanimated.

As for the 5th picture, the doves sleeping on their back, we did that and about 30 seconds later, every person except whoever was sitting in the chair marked with Damlagast’s marking slumped over unconscious – and only those in the room. Taking the picture off the wall and 30 seconds later they woke up. Very handy I’m sure for the former orcish tower wizard.

From here we decided to go after the crystals and that meant heading to the 8th and final floor. The tower looked a bit cracked and less stable up here but was still sound. The door opened with the disk we had pressing nearby and we entered.

The ceiling was low here, barely 7’ tall, and the floor was covered with about 60 smoky burned out looking crystals. There were 10 or so still hanging from the ceiling. In the middle of the room was comfortable chair and an emaciated looking mastiff black obsidian dog watching the group. It was animated and looked around at us as we flirted with entering. On the back wall was a set of iron rungs that led to a trap door on the ceiling.

Avulstein in the chair near the mastiff and tried a number of ideas to get it to communicate – it did very little, and behaving only as a dog would behave. So Einar had Frey give him the ability to speak with animals and talked to the hound. It was a companion of Damlagast and knew some things but not much. It was a guardian for the older orcish wizard and knew he had died and moved on. Could work with another master and Einar rubbed I’s head and muzzle and then it collapsed down to a foot long figurine.

The figurine had referred to itself as Onycanim, or Canim, and from discussing with it, learned that it could be called 3 times per day for an hour each time max. And as long as the statue didn’t break, it could heal and return again and again. Very nice.

As for the crystals, Avulstein took one, and then a second. This left very few on the ceiling and after the 2nd one, the tower seemed to lean a tiny bit and room cooled off a trace or two. Forcing the door in the roof open, Darius had a chance to look out. He had a good vantage point up here – the tower itself was pretty screwed up and there were only a small scattering of metallic looking trees up here, each about 2-3’ tall. And as he watched, two of them, just about over where the two crystals were taken from, dried up, grew duller, and fell over. One of them tumbled off the tower, the other he managed to grab.

Coming back to the room we discussed not taking any more crystals. These were manatrees and could be ground up for ink, but could also be treated well and planted – hopefully resulting in more manacrystals in the future. We took the one we had and then left the crystal chamber.

We went back to the 7th floor and using the key that Onycanim had been holding for Damlagast long ago, opened the lock and entered. It was the orcish wizard’s workshop and it was not well stocked but we checked it out with great care. The alchemist assembly, 3 potions, two wands (one of fire finger, the other of create water), and a robe with deeppockets as well as a thin spellbook with a dozen spells within had the group pretty happy with all things.

We went down and tested the front door – and it CAN be reopened from the inside. Very nice. We then walked the tower one last time to check if we missed anything, confident we didn’t, it was after 12 on the 11th when we were going to leave Damlagast’s Tower and either return to Base Camp or check the north shore of the lake for K’Morat tracks.

Youth Meet 20, Adv 2, 8/10/18

The Youth’s had their “2 week” montage this meeting where we had a chance to take care of anything they were looking for and get some dangling ends resolved. Next meeting is Dunwater and Adventure 3 – which for the group will be a dungeon crawl; their first for this gathering.

Write up follows:

At Pinelaquin’s, Deja and Talion spent some time talking with the town’s mage as well as Notary public. Deja was feeling that it was possible for her to maybe embrace some of her deeper concerns and see if she had an aptitude for wizardry. “Laq” ran her through a number of possible thoughts and postulations before Deja had to admit, that she didn’t know squat about magic.

But she could learn. It would be difficult, and would be embarrassing, and there was no guarantee she’d ever be really good at it, but if she wanted to, Laq was willing to give her the chance.

Deja took it.

For the next 2 weeks she was to come back to Pinelaquin’s where she would be performing rote and redundant tasks for 12 hours each day, in order to train her mind to better enter the state needed to perform wizardry. She left and Talion was asked to stay behind. The Ranger and party leader had a long talk with Laq about the group and his skills as leader, identifying that many times the Speaker for the Dead and the Paladin often run rough-shod over his leadership attempts.

For a trade, Pinelaquin was willing to offer Talion the use of a Rod of Might in exchange for the Ranger finding a ring that a Lizardman Chieftain had on him. If was gold and silver with 3 horseshoes on its surface. Seems a former adventuring companion of the Half-Elf Notary had faced off against a Lizardman Chief called Ardi and was killed; his belongings taken as loot by the reptilian. Pinelaquin wants the ring back – no questions asked. Talion agreed and they shook hands and parted.

Magnus and Valerie for their 2 week period made it their business to devote their time and help to the Lost Children of Tyr Orphanage. It was appreciated by the kids and the staff to have their help as they added their strengths to helping out the disenfranchised. Magnus also visited the Hospice a few times to give words of support to this suffering there as well as dole out a bit of healing each day. A couple of judicious uses of his Cure Disease blessing went a long way towards having the healing community being very appreciative of the paladin.

For Valerie, besides her time with Magnus, the Half-Orc Druid also had the enjoyable company of Ned Shakeshaft on many occasions. The reformed smuggler would often spend his off hours with the Half-Orc and at least on two occasions, the two of them had been seen together at a quiet booth at the Saucy Winter Wench sharing a candlelit meal within ear shot of the local minstrel.

After getting stabbed in the foot at an earlier fight, Valerie wanted to at least ameliorate the possibility. Hitting the town cobbler, she got into a heated racist diatribe against the Journeyman cobbler tending to her. He was rude, condescending, and terrible to the Half-Orc, so much so, that the master cobbler had to come out and take over the sale, especially after the Master had found out the Journeyman was price gouging Valerie in the process. Eventually it was resolved and the boots were to be finished within a week as requested.

Veldryn spent a week studying the white opalescent rock we had gotten from the mansion as well as the Book on Philosopher stones – only to learn after much time and study that the rock was not as hoped, but instead a focus gem to replace any material components for lowest level Water school arcane spells.

She then went off to Pinelaquin and explained her findings, wondering if he had a market for it here. He was not very helpful in that regard, but did let her know that she could try better at Dilabria or even Cymbarton. They talked a bit longer and then Veldryn returned to further her studies.

As for Talion, he was enjoying his time without responsibility for now; taking up to drinking during the day and watching the ships roll in and out in the evening. One day while at the bar he was approached by a traveler with some scarring on his neck and a travelled look about him, identified as Vonar who reported that he had recognized the young bounty hunter from his time in Dilabria. They talked about jobs past and Vonar did understand the Talion was hooked up with a paladin for now…and was he out of the bounty business?

The group of men Talion saw on the docks.

Giving a non-committal response they let the conversation wind down and then Vonar admitted he had to leave. Once outside Talion got up and trailed him unseen as Vonar made his way to the docks. Once there, he traveled up a short distance to a schooner where 7 or so men were gathered about and talking. Vonar was pointing back to town and gesticating emphatically to one man with an unruly red beard.

Talion recognized him as Malloc, a mid to high ranking member of the slaving group known as the Lyceum. He had run afoul of them 6 or 7 months ago in Dilabria when he brought in an escaped slave for a crime he had committed and had NOT returned him to the slaving guild as Malloc and the Lyceum had requested…then demanded. It had come to blows outside a tavern by the stables and Talion defended himself, and also where he met Deja who took out a thug who was going to back stab the Ranger.

The constabulary had gotten involved and they sided with Talion – his first duty was not to the Slavers and whoever was upset their slave had run away, but to the King’s Law and Justice – and the slave had to answer for those crimes first and foremost. Malloc had declared that he’d remember this slight and word on the street was they had tried to find Talion a few times after this but with no good results.

Until now.

Malloc seemed to be giving the matter some thought and then had his men reload the schooner. One of them had gone down to the Wharfmaster and was arguing with Kurly Lodbrock for a bit before getting a few coins and returning to the ship. Talion watched as they cast off lines and then sailed north out of Saltmarsh.

Curious, he went down to the Wharfmaster where Kurly and a number of the other locals were chit chatting. He joined in and the conversation was just on the guy who had been here. Seems he had originally arrived last evening and paid for a week of dock space, but today came very agitated and said they wanted a refund as they had pressing business north to Karon. Kurly didn’t want to refund the money and after the conversation had gotten pretty heated, just to get him off the docks, gave him a partial refund and told them to “git”.

From there Talion then went to the Notary to learn what he could about the Lyceum. They were a mid-sized slaving guild, 26 of them, and apparently 3 years ago during a period of expansion, took out a loan from a local trading guild, The Order of the Kraken. The same guild that Grabbi Ogansdottr ran. The same guild that she had been hung 2 years ago, buried, and her body is missing. The same guild that was sponsoring the smuggling the party had been breaking up. And the same guild that seems to be funneling their smuggled goods into arming the lizard man tribe further south at Dunwater.

4,500 nobles. And the loan was still open on the books – unrepaid.

With the end of the 2 weeks coming up we all reconvened at the Saucy Winter Wench and shared across the board all we had learned and done for the 2 weeks and what we hoped to have come up tomorrow with the Council. Ned Shakeshaft was on board with us, and Oceanus the Sea Elf from Deephome was also glad to be a part of the group. To make it a bit official, Veldryn had taken to drawing up a contract on loot and treasure division and the party all agreed it was fine and made sense. We all signed it and on the morrow, Spiritmonth the 4th, we would be on our way to meet the Council and then get out permission to take care of the problem at Dunwater.

Meet 57, Adv 4.2, 8/4/18

The group made their way further up Damlagast's Tower, finding what was to be found and being careful about it. So far they've had some good luck and decent dice rolls, making what combat and traps here achievable with being too difficult. One of the players had mentioned that it seemed "easy" but they were then reminded that a single bad roll with the ghoul fight and we would have had a TPK.

Write up follows:

An emaciated greyish skinned orc bust from behind the table at Connal’s side, the Monk somersaulting backwards to stand side by side with his companions, scrabbling at the air before charging forwards. It hit the line and bit scratched and snarled at Einar, the half-orc druid grunting in pain before his limbs froze in place. In return the ghoul was assaulted by magic and blade but most weapons just bounced off it’s skin. Meanwhile Barb reported that ANOTHER ghoul was in kitchen and trying to get out! The barbarian dug in her feet and raged, swelling up in anger and shoving the ghoul back inside.

The combat continued with the first undead getting hit again by flying bullets and Connal’s fists, but it angered the wobbling dead thing who turned its anger on the monk and paralyzed him with numerous scratches and bites. Shimlagesh begged it with a blast of cold and then a final sling bullet from Darius’ enchanted weapon tipped it over sideways.

They pried Mettle, the enchanted blade from Einar’s hand and slid it to Barb who grabbed it, waited for the party to get ready, and then moved back so the group could assault the last ghoul. It had a large metal pot cover that it used to block one of the bullets, was hit with the second, and spells finished the damned thing off as it fell over finally dead.

Healing was doled out and we had to wait a few minutes for the paralysis to wear off. From there Shim and Avulstein went over the undead being deciding to take the two hearts and 4 eye balls for now for possible alchemic purposes at another time. It was a bit after 6 based upon our best guess when we left the dining room, kitchen, and pantry area (picked over long ago) and made our way up to the 5th floor.

This was the first floor and landing where we did not see broken dwarven skeletons or signs of violence. The door was shut here and a peer under showed no heat sources beyond. Feeling squeamish, we continued on our way up the stairs and decided to come back to this floor at another time.

At the 6th floor we saw 3 blasted dwarven skeleton’s here, bits of melted metal around them. The door was blasted open and fire and lightning score marks littered everywhere. Just inside there were even more dwarven remains scattered around what we assumed was the orcish wizard’s private chambers. From the placement of the many bodies we could tell he was backing up to the next room here and looking inside the entire chamber which was once the wizard’s library, had been the victim of a terrible fireball. Five more dwarven skeletons had been blasted into the shelves and walls, and in the center of the room was a pair of worn but still in good condition orcish made high soft boots.

Barb braved the boots, picked them up and tried them on. As she slid them on they changed color from dusky brown to forest green and shrunk down to better fit her feet. Some tests showed that while wearing them, her feet felt no effects from fire or heat, but had nothing to do with the rest of her body. Weird but ok.

From here we went to go further up to the 7th floor but around the 3rd or 4th step up, Darius ended up disappearing! As for the fighter, he was actually downstairs and stepping off the last step to the 1st floor. Odd. He turned to go upstairs. Others also tried it and they too ended up down at the base of the tower. We tried throwing rocks, stepping over, jumping – nothing allowed us to get past the 3th or 4th step.

We decided to go back to the 3rd floor and try out the two doors in the statue room while Shim gave the pictures on the 2nd floor a once over, seeing nothing new. Back in the statue room, Barb tossed the parts of the statue down the steps while we listened to the scratching from the north door. We decided to check out the south door instead. Once sure it wasn’t trapped, Barb opened it and got out of the way just in time before she was immolated by a flame blast – getting singed, not burned. But an animated chain floated out of the room and attacked Barb who was getting whipped about the neck. Shim froze a section of the chain and concentrated on hitting that part, while the half-orc fought with it. It took a few minutes before it was over and we could take better stock of things. The door to the room had shut again during the fight.

Darius wanted to try it next, but we figured on maybe blocking the door in some way so that it might impeded the potential fire. While the fighter was making a set of thin shims, the party was getting bits of wood tossed down from the 4th floor to the 1st so we could eventually light the furnace. After a half hour of fiddling around, Darius went to open the door and the fighter received a full on blast of flame before we tried other ways on opening the door. Ropes and chains and looping it around the statue bases helped and we got the door open.

It was a study but it had been lightly picked over. Two dwarven skeletons were here, necks crushed. We looked around the desk, eventually discovered a secret compartment, and took a handful of old orcish silver coins and a partially dissolved and concentrated potion labelled Flight. Nice. There were two scroll cases in here but both of them had only fragments of dried paper within.

We went back to the room, opened the north door and a stone lizard head and arm statue piece came flying out towards the statue! Only the head made it as Darius was able to smash the arm before it could attach, and we fought the statue here, eventually smashing it to pieces.

Some healing was dispensed and we checked out the room, another study but this time the secret desk part had been listed up and the dwarves had left a nasty note for anyone to find.

It was about 8 and we were getting tired. The tower was cold, just under 50 degrees and we were going to work on the furnace, but wanted to check out the 5th floor with the closed door just in case. Once there we opened the door, seeing a shirt hall with three doors at the end, all of them had been forced open. The first room on the right was a servant’s bedroom, ransacked. Closet door was closed.

The next room on the left was set up similar, bedding slashed and closet busted in. Some orcish underwear still in decent shape – not much else. The center door showed a slightly larger servant’s chamber – an orcish skeleton near the back in a set of faded robes and three flatbow bolts in her chest. Dreadlocked hair and necklace led us to believe it was a woman. We checked out the room while Barb looked over the fallen orc.

Found a secret false bottom in one of the drawers that had a small scattering of coins and some dangle copper earrings that looked like lightning bolts. Barb was sure the girl was wearing an orcish whistle and she eased it off, and in her pocket were a pile of battered letters she had been communicating with her boyfriend at some not too distant village. We read the letters and got some ideas of what the surrounding defenses might have been like, thinking that the orcish fort mentioned might be a good place for the third Kobold Warren to be.

We took everything that we wanted to check with us to the bedroom that had to the closed closet door and were going to detect magic here before heading downstairs to screw around with the furnace.

Youth Meet 19, Adv 2, 7/20/18

Long delay on this one because I actually thought I wrote it weeks ago. Had to take a few weeks off on the youth’s game for summer trips and whatnot, but this was the wrap up meeting for Saltmarsh. My games are living worlds and things happen when the party is involved and even when they are not. In this case, the centerpiece was the death of Magnus’ short-lived squire, Darveig, and his family’s response to it I’d like to put a nail in Saltmarsh this next meeting and get the group on their way to Adv 3 – Dunwater.

Write up follows:

The party, under the tutelage of Ned Shakeshaft, managed to guide the taciturn Sea Ghost back towards shore and eventually the Saltmarsh docks. It was after 3 in the morning at this time and the group was beyond exhausted. Kurly Lodbrock, the Wharfmaster, was waiting for us; the dwarven seaman was watching our lanterns for some time, his longshoremen waiting to help tie the large vessel to the end of the first quay.

Besides Kurly and his boys, were a few members of the watch and the Councilwoman, Dowager Lynn Coopersmith, who was pleased to see us return with the Ghost in hand. We shared with the Dowager what happened and the death of the Smuggler Siggurd Snake-eyes and some of the other smugglers. We also had to share the escape of the Bosun Frithoff and the other two (Smuggler and Lizardman), letting them know they had escaped us over an hour ago. Kurly sent some of his men to check the other docks while we observed some of the unloading of our goods, who returned to let us know the jolly boat had been found on another dock, but no one was there or inside.

Exhausted, we made our way to the Saucy Winter Wench where we learned the Dowager and the rest of the Council had picked up our lodging costs for the next 2 weeks, and after getting to our room, crashed for the night.

The next morn, Earthmonth the 20th, was bright and cooler, and we broke our fast while Deja went through the coinage we had acquired and gave everyone a divided share. We saved a half share for Darveig and planned on giving it to his family today at the burial ceremony. We discussed some of the other goods we had found, talked about selling them, and then learned that we were invited to debrief with the Council on what occurred.

We were given a reward for our efforts in capturing the Sea Ghost and putting the situation to bed. And we were then told that the Council was going to spend a few weeks going over the Ghost, what logs we had brought back, and the various trade caravans and suppliers to see if they could get a better handle on the Dunwater situation. We were told to enjoy a few weeks off and then we would be given a mission to go to Dunwater and displace the 3rd leg of the smuggling operation – the destination – and along with Oceanus, learn what’s going on with the Lizardmen in the area and why the Order of the Kraken was arming them and interested in them.

From there we went to the Saltmarsh Cemetery where Hjarlod was officiating over the internment of Darveig, with Magnus and Veldryn adding their own parts to the somber affair. The young smuggler cum squire’s ill and wheelchair bound mother and older brother were here, looking at the party and Magnus with ill-disguised hatred. When Magnus finally had a chance to talk to Gjulprid and Handaring, he was accosted verbally by the two, told about how he failed to do his job and protect their son, and his actions had led to his death.

He tried to defend himself and then realized the futility of it – it WAS his fault on some plane and he did lead Darveig to his death. It was a heavy mantle for the paladin to bear and he did so with grace, dignity, and piety. At the end of the ceremony he had asked Veldryn to deliver Darveig’s share of the treasure to his family and the Speaker for the Dead did so, learning more of Darveig’s life and that of his brother Handaring. How Darveig’s father had died at sea and now Gjulprid was torn at losing another family member to the cruel waters.

We all reconvened and there was talk of heading off to talk to the town Notary and representative of the Arcanum about the books we had found, hoping that Pinelaquin could help the group.

Meet 56, Adv 4.2, 7/14/18

The group finally got back to adventuring at location - we entered and have been exploring the remains of the Orcish Wizard's Tower of Damlagast - and there are some things that work now and some things that need the tower on to work. However, the 2 ghouls in torpor in the kitchen have awoken and are interested in eating the party, now.

Write up follows:

The evening before we left was spent extracting venom from the giant centipedes as well as loading up on whatever supplies the Reeve Donna was willing to let us take. We slept well and the morning of the 10th dawn bright and early.

We were off by 7:30 and took the long walk south along the Enderlyn River from Base Camp, porting out dugout canoes with us. Furtham’s Peak watched us from on high as we made good time through the grasslands and light scrub, slowing down only to avoid the harsher climb by Three Rock Falls. We arrived thereafter about 2:30 or so and took some time to look around. There were no signs of kobolds at this point and the tower appeared as it did each time we had passed it – sitting some 750’ feet or so from shore on a spire of rock, stretching up another 80’ or so with the top melted and busted appearing. There were no windows, doors, buttresses, or markings on the silent spire.

We split the group into 2 and paddled over, the remains of a dock that had been here was reduced to just some pilings. The rocky base was about 4’ over the height of the lake and there was an uneven path that circled the tower perhaps 3’ or so wide. Whatever safety chains or rails that had been here long ago had rusted or rotted away over the last century.

As for the entrance, there was an area near the front of the tower that showed the lines of a door, but no key, knob, or hinge was seen. Avulstein took out the precious scroll of “Knock” and aimed the effort of the spell at the door. It skittered about for a bit before settling along the Wizard Marked lines on the doors surface and forced them apart – opening the door for the first time in over a century.

A great gust of foul mouldy air billowed out, followed by an inrushing of fresher air. We cast light on a stone and tossed it in, taking the measure of the place. A set of steps started on the east wall and spiraled up along the tower’s wall to the 2nd floor above. A central pillar of thick stone ran through the center of the room. The carpet had become waterlogged over the years and was now a slurry of mashed fibers. There were a few dwarven skeletons in here one at the base of the steps with the head on backwards, one pinned to the southwest wall by a long rifled metal shaft. There was a smaller room along the north wall of the tower where the door had been ripped off its hinges and propped back in place.

Darius spiked the door open in place and we tested the wizard lock as it tried to close the door after 6 minutes and then got hung up on the spike. Once sure we were ok, we entered and scanned around. Outside of what had been described, the room was without any new features. The tower was cool, barely 50 degrees and smelled wet and foul. We decided to check out the closet first.

The door was moved aside and we looked inside. It was a coatroom with more dwarven skeletons in here. The closet rod had been torn free and impaled one of the skeletons to the floor, and the other was near the back of the room by and opening heading down, its right arm missing from just above its elbow. We discussed it a bit and decided a few of us would look down the stairs to the basement while the rest would keep watch up here.

There was a pendulum trap just at the steps down, sprung long ago and the missing dwarf’s arm and rusted axe lying on the stairs. We moved passed and made out way down. The basement had apparently had a seeping issue as there was a good foot and a half of water on the floor with various spongy growths floating on the surface. There were the remnants of a wood bin on the south wall, the west end of the chamber had a half dozen 40 gallon casks there, a rainbow film surrounding them in the fetid water. But the center of the chamber had a monstrous pebbly iron furnace looking thing sitting there.

We explored about a bit. The furnace had a wood repository for almost 400# of combustible material, there was an oil hopper as well, some parts looked like it opened and closed, and there was a bin on top with a mesh along the bottom where something could be placed in the 2’x3’ bin. The barrels were in poor shape, a few of them collapsed and one was leaking, but one or two might be good and we assumed from the leak and residue as well as the tar balls that it might be oil for the furnace. Under the steps were a dozen metal cages that might have held cats or small dogs – but right now most were empty a few had only some bone scraps within.

It was almost 4 when we came back to the first floor, not wanting to mess with the furnace for now. We took the door from the coat closet and leaned it against the front door to further camouflage from outside that the door had been opened and to keep the light pollution from the tower out to a minimum. From there we climbed the steps to the 2nd floor landing and looked around.

Some dwarven bones here and some melted slag. The floor and walls were burned and scarred, and the door in to the next chamber had been smashed in. We looked in and there were a few 2 shelf cases that had been knocked over, a couch on the back wall that had been cut and stuffing was coming out, and two other openings on the south wall at opposite ends of the chamber.

We righted the shelves and looked about, some books, some bric a brac, most of it in broken and poor condition. There was the bust of a orc discovered under the display case. Out light spell was fading some we lit a torch and continued our exploring. We cleaned up the shelves a bit, confident there was not much to find. The two rooms beyond each was a small meeting room – each with a round table and 4 simple chairs.

The western room was initially the more interesting. Two dwarven skeletons were here, their heads smashed in and there was a large orcish skeleton here as well, head twisted the wrong way. In its bony grasp was a large wooden club with a curved top and sporting a heavy stone ball in place – the cosh being the item in question that most likely killed these dwarves. The liquor cabinets had been ransacked and we went back to the parlor. A detect magic was cast and then we panned about – seeing nothing magical in the parlor, the cosh was not, and a look downstairs showed nothing there as well.

The last room had the same layout as the 1st room, tables and chairs, but there was a difference here. There were spaces on the walls for pictures to be hung – currently one with an empty wooden chair. One of the chairs also had the wizard marking on it – the same as we had seen on the front door of the tower – both sides. Shim and Avulstein were sure it had something to do with the person who owned the tower originally.

There were other pictures on the floor and we swapped the empty chair for one that showed an orcish wedding feast. At first nothing happened and then a feeble glow appeared and an apple, a water clay mug of ale, and a poor spot of crumbly bread wavered into existence. What the hell? We tested it, everything tasted poor, but was real. We put the original picture back, left the meeting chamber, gave the couch a once over, and then left, heading up to the 3rd floor landing.

A lizard looking statue is here, snapped into three large pieces, hacked about. The door to the chamber is missing and no sign of where it went. The room beyond takes up half the tower, the other half is walled and two doors on the north and south side of the room arte closed. There are 4 pedestals here, two are empty, and two had the lower halves of what might have been more lizard looking creatures on it. There is busted stone everywhere and the northern most statue is only missing its head and one arm.

We enter and the pedestal on the north side gets a faint wavering glow. And eventually we hear a scratching noise coming from the north door. We test this by entering and exiting a few times – the glow stops and the noise stops. Also, after doing some rubbings, the base of the statues has the name “Damlagast” written again and again around the bottom in Orcish. Name of the wizard? Sounded believable.

We lit two lanterns as the torch was running out and continued our testing of the room. We knocked on one door and tried to hear if it was carried on the other door, other than the scratching noise – no, it seemed there were two rooms beyond here.

It was then that we heard a “THUMP” from below and we ran out and down the steps to investigate – the front door had closed and the table we had propped up there had been knocked down. The spike we had driven in the ground had given way. Ok – once sure no one was in here with us we concluded the Wizard Lock on the front door was the reason behind the noise and returned to the 3d floor landing.

We suspected we would have to start the furnace at some point – Shim and Avulstein letting us know about the Hearts of the certain Towers and some spells and accommodations lie dormant until it the Heart was lit. We decided to keep on looking up to the 4th floor for now.

The fourth floor here had parts of the steps just below the landing smashed again and again as if by a hammer, cracking the rocks in places but still allowing people to climb up. The room beyond showed a dining room that would seat 10, 8 of the chairs around the table, warped legs making the table not sit true. One chair has been shoved under the door handle to what you assume leads to the kitchen, propping it closed.

But we were making some noises in here and moving things around as we picked through the broken crockery, and we heard a snarling growl from behind the door. The chair which over a century had grown weak was bending and splintering. We grabbed the table, flipped it on its end and ran it at the door as the chair broke back. A weathered grey arm scrambled about and Shim tried to whip it, failing – and Darius pegged it with a bullet – but it slithered back and then something hit the table HARD from the other side and it fell out a few feet as something scrambled from behind it.

Youth Meet 18, Adv 2, 7/13/18

The group went through the Sea Ghost from bow to stern, top deck to bottom hold, and found a few items of interest. Including a prisoner that had been hinted was on board. However, they had also lost 3 of the prisoners they had captured earlier and managed to keep the last one that had been knocked out in the hold bound up and ready to go back to shore. At this point they need to pilot the boat back and then meet with the council. Next meeting should put a line in the “done” box for the Sea Ghost and start the set up for the next adventure where they need to go to Dunwater.

Write up follows:

The chest contained assorted crud but most important were the almost 100 silver hammered slugs on the bottom. About the same size as nobles, these had no stamp or minting marks on them and their presence was strange to say the least. A look over the rest of the cabin showed nothing else of interest for now. There was a door in the rear of the cabin that lead elsewhere into the Ghost so Deja, Talion, and Veldryn went further in to investigate.

The next hold was against the bow of the ship as evidenced from the curved walls and was the supply hold for the ghost. Nails and hammers, wood and sail cloth, all manner of needs for the ship were here. On the south wall of the hold was a smaller door/passway – about 3’ off the floor and 3’ square. We gave it a good look over and it was the ship’s galley stores. Salt, honey, biscuits, all manner of food was here. The three of them were looking over the bounty and seeing what could be taken and what should be left.

Meanwhile on the Forecastle, Magnus and Valerie were talking to the three smugglers up here – the Bosun named Frithoff, the Lizardman who was eyeing the half-orc with an appreciative eye, and the lone smuggler who had stayed by the captain’s side. As for Ned, he was on the Poop deck across the ship, working on the steering linkage that apparently the ship’s mage had damaged as soon as the fight had started, so was buried beneath the wheel and under the deck plankings.

The Bosun was talking to the paladin, calling in his honor at attacking honest seamen on their own boat and relished the idea of getting before the magistrate and clearing his name. The Bosun was waxing long about how the group was the ones at fault and their aggression would end up being the party’s downfall once the Council heard how they accorded themselves. Kept claiming he was an honest man and the Captain was the one who handled all the trades and deals.

It was when he started to break into song that had Magnus and Valerie looking at him oddly. And then the other two also were singing and humming and rocking a bit. Not sure what was going on, Valerie took a step closer to order them to knock it off when Magnus felt the sharp prick of a blade slide between the joints in his armor and press into his back, drawing a drop of blood. A hand then settled on his shoulder and a voice whispered in his ear, “Not so fast, paladin. Drop your sword now or I’ll paint the deck boards red.”

Crap.

Valerie looked and saw a lone smuggler; soaking wet had climbed up the side of the Ghost and had the paladin in a position to be skewered instantly. She clutched her club and he told her to drop it. And the shield. Meanwhile he kicked Magnus’ sword behind him until it fell off the ship and into the water.

He kicked a small knife over to Valerie and ordered her to cut the Bosun free. She did so, carefully, and Frithoff the Bosun then cut the lizardman and the lone smuggler free as well. They climbed down the guide rope to the jolly boat below one at a time while the wet smuggler kept his sword in Magnus’ back.

Magnus asked who he was, identified himself as Brance. He was the one who had jumped off from the fear spell and was swimming away but once it wore off, he tiredly swam back and waited for the party to split up before making his move. The other three smugglers had seen him climb over the rail and made noises and were singing to mask any sound he might have made.

He advised the paladin to find different work and to not bother to follow them because next time there’ll be a reckoning between them. He then gave a small stab, told him “The Order of the Kraken wishes him well”, and pushed Magnus at Valerie, and vaulted over the side to the jolly boat that the smugglers on board were already rowing away. Val helped Magnus up as they looked over the side – the lizardman smirking at the half-orc while the boat was lost in the midnight fog.

Damn it.

Meanwhile the other three had finished going through the food stores and the next door led to the galley and then the main deck. Once there they were hailed by Magnus and Valerie who also managed to finally attract Ned’s attention and the two of them let the group know about the 3 smugglers and their escape. Damn it!! Now we had no one to bring back to question and get justice. The three went now below decks to quickly clear out the place while Ned said he needed half an hour more to finish the job.

The first below deck section was the crew quarters and the group looked through it with care. Lots of clothes, hammocks, a few honey buckets. They discovered some “ace” heavy decks of cards and a few sets of loaded dice, but nothing else of interest. They went through the bulkhead door to the main cargo hold which was filled with bolts of silk and brandy, all bearing the Order of the Kraken seal. There were other cargo as well, but the majority was the stolen goods.

The big find though was towards the aft part of the hold where we discovered one of the smuggler’s here, goose egg on her head and blood running along the boards. We bound her up and Valerie called on Frey for a minor curative. Then we awoke her and brought her topside.

Her name was Roseta and she was the smuggler that Ned had kicked into the hold during the fight. She answered a few questions and then was left to Magnus and Valerie to further pick from while the other three went back to the hold to explore the two closed quarters under the stern. One was the Bosun’s, and the other was Bloody Bjorn’s, the first mate’s.

We checked of the Bosun’s first and gave the quarter a once over. Some silver flagon and other minor treasures. There was a parrot here, Polly that kept calling “Pieces of Eight, pieces of Eight!” and squawking about Frithoff loves Polly. The sea chest had clothes on top, but below was a locked iron box.

Working the lock showed a dagger, a short spear, and a crossbow as well as around 200 nobles. The weaponry was cold forged weapons and the crossbow was not operable at this time. The design work on the spear and dagger were also different and elvish, but also not. We were checking out the rest of the chamber when we heard a faint knock behind the aft wall.

Investigation showed a panel that could be removed and inside was a bluish skinned elvish figure chained to the deck. Veldryn did most of the talking as the figure did not speak any language other than elvish. Identified himself as Oceanus and he and his wife, Nymara, had been captured by Captain Siggurd a number of weeks ago.

This ship had been having dealing s with the lizardman tribe outside of Dunwater and even some dealing with the Sahaugin marauders beyond Deep Cove (the sea elven enclave not too far from Dunwater). Oceanus, a ranger, had been given permission by his chief to investigate the ship and see what these “hoomans” were doing when the man and wife team were caught.

Nymara was left with a cruel smuggler in a cave called Sanbalat and Oceanus had been here, prisoner of the Sea Ghost for the last 2 weeks. He had heard the Bosun say something about selling him but didn’t know anything else. We talked to him about his wife, assuming the severed sea elf head we had found at the haunted mansion was his wife’s. He grew angry and wanted revenge.

We returned his weapons (the spear, dagger, and crossbow were his), and then gave him a shirt which he cut up into a better clothing for him to wear. We then went up to the main deck, introduced Oceanus to the rest of the crew and the sea elf was happy to join us and would gladly go with us if we were eventually going to go to Dunwater and take care of the lizard man problem.

Which he did tell us, that Siggurd was using the money he was getting from the sale of smuggles goods to help outfit the lizardmen down there in armor and weapons. Why? Had something to do with someone the crew had referred to as “My Lady” or “The Lady”. We asked Roseta on it and even though she was a minor member of the crew, about once a month or so, an important person would visit the ship and she apparently ran or was high up in the Order of the Kraken – the smuggling operation which was Sanbalat, Siggurd, and whoever was buying the goods at Dunwater was.

Was this Grabbi Ogansdottr who we suspected had not died that day on the gallows 2 years ago? This was here operation…but we didn’t know. We do know the name of the ship though that she sailed on…”The Kraken’s Wrath”.

The group finished cleaning out the last three cabins, taking the captain’s log books, the wizard’s spell tomes, and the navigations books from the First Mate’s Meanwhile, Valerie was spending her time bonding with the parrot, Polly, Speaking with the animal as well as working on mutual trust between the two.

At this point it had to be 2 or 3 in the morning and we were anxious now to turn the Sea Ghost towards shore and sail it back to Saltmarsh.