The City of the Northern People

Naoidheamh 25-29, 6638; next holiday, Beastnight, Naoidheamh 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
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Gianna, a Gnomish Trickster

The party carefully stacked up what items they were bringing with them, and what items they were leaving behind. The magical trunks seemed quite heavy... but, alas, they were locked tight, both physically and magically. Careful teamwork finally opened one of the chests. Inside, they found... dirt. Thousands of tiny vials, each filled to the brim with dirt, and labeled with careful lettering. The inside of the box seemed to have a device that operated as a wand of locking; seconds after the box was dispelled, it would re-lock itself. It seemed that it required both dispelling and unlocking for it to open. Realizing that the boxes held, not just dirt, but the dirt of nearly every land around - something vampires need, to sleep on the earth of their homeland at least once a month. With that in mind, the party lined the boxes up near the door, dispelled the lot of them, and shoved them to the ground, where the contents shattered inside.

The magical treasures were quite interesting:

• 2 potions of dragon control (2/6 stone)
• 4 potions of human control (4/6 stone)
• 1 potion of invisibility (1/6 stone)
• 2 potions of speed (2/6 stone)
• 1 scroll (arcanist: level-1 floating disc; level-5 cone of cold, contact other plane, hold monster, hold monster) (Nobiran) (1/6 stone)
• 1 scroll of ward vs. elementals (1/6 stone)
• 1 scroll of ward vs. undead (1/6 stone)
• 1 treasure map (1/6 stone)
• 1 spear +1 (1/6 stone)
• 1 war hammer +1 (1/6 stone)
• 1 +2 longbow, discovered through mundane means; it seems to fire a second arrow as well! (1 stone)
• 1 wand of polymorphing
• 1 Wand of Dark
• 1 Wand of Protection from Good, Sustained
• 1 Rod of cancellation
• 6 packets of dust, guessed to be dust of disappearance (1/6 stone)
• 8 packets of dust of appearance (1/6 stone)
• 1 set of Eyes of petrification
• 1 ring of what was later found to be Protection from Good
• 1 ring of summon dragon... which called a dragon, who asked for the ring.
• 1 Folding Workshop, worth 120,000 gp! (6 stone)
• 3 as-yet unknown scrolls
• 1 as yet unknown rod
• 2 as yet unknown staffs

Finally, electing to leave 1600 stone of beer behind (minus whatever the party drank), the party set out. But as soon as they reached the exit to the tower... a voice laughed down at them from the storm. The ice in front of them shook, and party suddenly realized that the tower was surrounded by a small lake. And something in that lake... moved.

Cautiously, the dwarf headed out over the water, only to be grabbed by a writhing tentacle! Quetgar dove in, slashing madly at the beast, and managed to tear the arm off the creature, but more tentacles wrapped around him, beginning to pull him under! Not only that, but Quetgar felt the strange water burning his skin!

The beast splashed above the surface of the lake - it was a kraken! And not only that - but an undead kraken! The party hacked and slashed, and Quetgar barely managed to free himself, missing being swallowed by fractions of an inch. Cold, wet, and understandably nervous, the party dragged themselves deep into the tower to regroup. Quetgar described the burning water, and GQ realized what it was - unholy water! It was a lake of unholy water!

Not wanting to face the beast again, as it likely had fully healed itself, Caranthir decided to try to fly overhead, as quickly as possible. He managed it, rocketing over the beast; the others followed, one at a time, and eventually made it to the other side unscathed. As the storm whirled and screamed, they trekked back through the maze.

On their way to the Northern City, they passed a young white dragon and a pair of frost salamanders; they also ran into a large caravan of monster hunters, who were quite interested in Caranthir. They opted to buy a potion of dragon control instead, as well as the monster parts and animal horns they had collected.

Finally, the party reached the Northern city; thankfully, the weather held long enough for them to arrive. Hours after settling in, a blizzard swept through the city. As they circled overhead, they were met by a pair of riders on pegasii, and directed to enter by the gate. Just inside, they saw the statues dedicated to those who defended the city during the beast wars: an elf, leaning on a staff, and holding a glowing orb; a dwarf, the Hammer of Thor hovering over his shoulder, and a serpent-staff in his hands, sat mounted on a battle-ox; a polar bear, standing tall; a human fighter, his sword thrust skyward; and a thief, head bowed, a knife in his outstretched hands.

After finding a place to sleep, the party began selling their items the next day. The staggering number of items was far beyond the basic market stalls, and so the party had to head to the Merchant's Guild. For a small fee of 12 gp, they were allowed to list what they had for sale. It took a bit, but the merchants available were able to process 35021 gp worth of items - which included selling some spices in the main market. That XP, as well as that from the traders, and the XP from the coins, are figured below. Note that selling this stuff takes a full week; you're stuck in town until then, or at least someone is.

• Experience from treasure sold: 70181
• Experience from encounters:
  • 1 kraken (fled)
  • 1 young white dragon (ignored)
  • 1 caravan with 250 people (peaceful)
  • 2 frost salamander (4200)
• Total experience from encounters: 4200
• Total experience: 74381
• XP per PC:
  • Caranthir, Quetgar, Gróin: 10586
  • Sorvald: 9746
  • Gianna: 6203
  • Rig, GQ: 5363
• XP per Henchman:
  • Elenora and Laurita: 5113
  • Midnight and Faufe: 2681
• Total gold acquired: 70181
  • Caranthir, Quetgar, Gróin, Sorvald: 12,182 gp and 5 silver
  • Rig, Gianna, GQ: 7150 gp, 6 silver, and 7 copper

Yet to sell are:

• 1 emerald (1000 gp)
• 1 jacinth-studded gold regalia (1 stone, 11000 gold)
• 1 opal-studded silver jewelry (1000 gold)
• 1 platinum regalia encrusted with flawless blue diamonds (1 stone, 20000 gold)
• 1 platinum regalia encrusted with flawless black sapphires (1 stone, 60000 gold)
• 6 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes (7200 gp)
• 1 Facet cut imperial topaz (4000 gp)
• 1 flawless diamond (4000 gp)
• 1 Black pearl (2000 gp)
• 1 emerald (1000 gp)
• 1 emerald regalia (13000 gp)
• 1 sapphire regalia (5000 gp)
• 1 opal jewelry (3000 gp)
• 3 platinum reliquaries with crystal panes (24000 gp)
• 12 alabaster and jet game pieces with jeweled eyes (10800 gp)
• Remaining gp from treasure hauls: 167000 XP
  • Caranthir, Quetgar, Gróin, Sorvald: 23782
  • Rig, GQ, Gianna: 12022
  • Elenora and Laurita: 11891
  • Midnight and Faufe: 6011
• Current weight of treasure (not counting magical treasure): 10 st, plus 70 st of gold, unless it's kept in another form (copper, silver, electrum, or platinum)

And, as an added note, I'll be quite glad when you get all this sold off, because it's a huge pain trying to keep track of who gets what XP! I really hope Will didn't toss anyone else's coins into his banking bag; if he did, then he gets to figure out who gets what!