Dragon Me Down

Naoidheamh 18-24, 6638; next holiday, Beastnight, 9/35

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Good Question, the Wonderworker
• Gianna, a Gnomish Trickster

The party flew onward... two flying characters, a mage and a thief, crossed their path; they also broke bread (well, whale blubber) with a caravan of 30 men. Later, a group of 21 skeletons was quickly turned. A group of bugbears wandered past, but didn't see their camp. 15 hoarfrost zombies were destroyed, and finally, they reached the edge of the blasted wasteland around the tower.

They were able to fly a good way in, close enough to see the tower... but a raging storm kept them earthbound. Gróin, with his fancy wind-proof hat, managed to get a little farther, but in the end, even he had to turn back. That meant traveling through the maze on foot...

Inside the maze, they found 15 mastodons; a cheerful conversation with Rig convinced them the party was no harm to them, and they were able to get a general idea of how to get out of the maze. They warned the group of a huge dragon, and a "bitey bat man". Rig thanked them, and they once again moved on.

A group of 10 thoghrin were camped in the maze; they were put down quickly, leaving a fair amount of treasure behind. Continuing on, they fought two frost salamanders, a pair of cave bears, and found the tunnels of a number of remorhaz. Finally, their trek was complete - they had made it to the tower.

Inside was nothing but a winding stair; up and up it went, finally coming to a stop in a room full of illusionary treasure. A huge stair lead upwards, and a door opened to the outdoors. The stair, unlike the others, was well-worn. And at the top... waited a dragon. A massive, 120 foot long, white dragon. Giana, alarmed at the creature, immediately went for her go-to, and tried to seduce the beast. Unfortunately, her finger-guns must have misfired, as the dragon was absolutely unimpressed. It probably didn't help that the dragon was female, either...

After some whispered conversation, the party decided that they could take the beast. They began their assault; the dragon breathed a blast of frosty breath at them, and Giana fell! The thief fired an arrow of dragon killing... and missed. Quetgar, being Quetgar, dashed around to the back of the beast and dug under its massive scales, trying to destroy it from behind. The dragon turned, raining down blows, but managed to land only one. The party pressed their advantage, and in only two rounds of combat, the monster lay dead atop its treasure.

Of course... that wasn't the only thing in the room. Caranthir, wondering at the lowly amount of gold, asked everyone to search for hidden doors; and, indeed, a door was found in the ceiling. Quetgar leaped up, caught the latch, and opened it, causing a ladder to extend. At the top, he found piles of dusty boxes. Turning to tell the others, he barely missed being shoved out of the loft! He spun to see a man in a tattered cloak, sporting some rather interesting teeth... a vampire!

Quetgar had a bit of experience with vampires, and quickly slid down the ladder to the ground...

• Experience from treasure:
  • 2,000 Silver (2 st, 200gp)
  • 1,000 Platinum (1 st, 2000gp)
  • 1 crates of monster parts (5 st, 300gp)
  • 1 crates of terra-cotta pottery (5 st, 100gp)
  • 2 pouches of saffron (30gp)
  • 3 crates of armor and weapons (30st, 675gp)
  • 3 crates of glassware (15 st, 600gp)
  • 6 pouches of wolfsbane (60gp)
  • 12 rolls of garishly dyed cloth (48st, 120gp)
  • 208 animal horns (42st, 3160gp)
  • 6 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes (7,200gp)
  • 63 typical fur capes (63st, 6300gp)
  • 1 jar of dye (5st, 50gp)
  • 30 bundles of bear pelts (90st, 450gp)
  • 1 Agate (25 gp)
  • 1 citrine (50 gp)
  • 1 lapis lazuli (25 gp)
  • 1 malachite (10 gp)
  • 1 Facet cut imperial topaz (4,000 gp)
  • 1 flawless diamond (4,000 gp)
  • 1 topaz (500 gp)
  • 1 alexandrite (500 gp)
  • 1 bronze jewelry (160 gp)
  • 1 jacinth (1,000 gp)
  • 2 lapis lazuli (50 gp)
• Total experience from treasure (once sold): 31,565 XP (which is 4,509 XP each for Caranthir, Quetgar, Gróin, Sorvald, GQ, and Gianna, and 2,255 XP for Elenora and Laurita.)
• Additional treasure from before: 80,916 (which is 16,183 each for Caranthir, Quetgar, Gróin, and Sorvald, and 8,092 for Elenora and Laurita.)
• Total weight of treasure (not counting magical treasure, counting previously gained treasure): 322 st
• Experience from encounters:
  • 2 NPCs (ignored)
  • caravan of 30 men (traded)
  • 21 skeletons (273)
  • 17 bugbears (ignored)
  • 15 hoarfrost (1200)
  • 15 mastodons (friendly)
  • 10 throghrin (800)
  • 2 frost salamanders (4200)
  • 2 cave bear (640)
  • 1 massive, venerable, white dragon (20250)
• Total experience from encounters: 27366
• XP per PC: 4561
• XP per henchman: 2280

As a note, a Bag of Holding: is large enough to fit an object that is 10' x 5' x 3'. Regardless of what is put into the bag, it weighs a maximum of 6 stone but holds up to 100 stone. I'm going to assume the 10' x 5' x 3' measurement is the size of the object that can be placed into the bag; nothing that doesn't fit within that space can fit into a bag of holding. However, any amount of treasure can fit, up to 100 stone. At the moment, the treasure available is 322 stone; while the original amount (66 stone) fit in the bag just fine, the new treasure just isn't going to fit, unless you can source two more bags of holding.

Next, magical treasure! Not all of it has been identified; one item was identified as cursed, and all items are magical.

• 3x Treasure Maps; one to a cliffside in the Wild Plains, one near the Mountain Dwarves, and one in the desert, just over the Ridge.
• 7 potions, yet to be tested
• Scroll of Ward against Elementals
• Scroll of Ward against Undead
• 3x Rings, untested
• 2x staffs, untested
• A bag, untested
• Boots of Traveling and Springing
• A shiny helmet, untested
• 3 swords, one of which is cursed, untested
• 3 arrows, likely +1
• 1 dagger, untested
• Ring Mail Armor, untested
• 2x shields, untested
• Leather Armor, untested
• A black box, wrapped in cloth; locked and untested

Last but not least, new characters starting at this point will begin with 64294 XP and 160,000 gp, which can be traded for magical items. Remember that you can "frivolously spend" gold (donating it, burying it, throwing it in the river, burning it as an offering, sending it home to your family, etc. - anything that essentially wastes it to no benefit to yourself) to build up bonus XP for your next character.