Deicheamh 12 - Deug 6, 6638; next holiday, Wintermas, Dara 1
The Party:
- Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
- Flit, the bat familiar
- Clench, the
WardogWar-Badger - Midnight, the Panther
- [name], the Lion
- 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
- Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
- 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 journeyed to both cities of the Northern Dwarves, aka Mountain Dwarves; in Dundrende Klippe, they sold the Eyes of Petrification and the library staff for a pretty penny. Caranthir picked up a henchman, a Dwarven Fury named Gimli Trollriver. Then, off they went, following the wise words of an elder dwarven librarian - one of the Seekers. He pointed them to the locations of a good few items, and told them a bit about the Instrumentalists. Eventually, the group set off for Norston, then from there to the capital of Mareten, Slohaven.
After murdering some wild goats along the way ("I said herd, not hurt them!"), the group made it to Slowhaven, albeit with a few stops due to bad weather. In Slohaven, the King rewarded them with 50,000 gp (which was scoffed at by Caranthir), and a pair of amulets. The amulets will safely teleport anyone to the location of the other amulet. He thanked them for a job well done, and the group let once again, this time for a quick jaunt across the sea to the (much warmer) island of Malvados.
Once there, the group took a few hours to rest and relax, then headed inland. They found a haughty man directing groups of workers; after a brief verbal battle, Quetgar turned him into a fine pink mist.
A few other workers sounded an alarm; as the battle was joined, most of the group used dust of disappearance to vanish outright, and crept in among the soldiers as they advanced. Mor Gibs, meanwhile, wished for a spell. A "Summon Battle Kraken" spell.
The battle, predictably, did not go well for the unprepared Instrumentalists. They were woefully outmatched, even with their high-level casters nuking hexes with fireballs, and getting off a lucky disintegrate on the Princess. Even so, they managed to wear down the party; when two tall, well-built men in white robes arrived and began firing both arcane and divine spells, Ms. Gibs decided to use the second of the wishes she had collected, and wished for everyone to be at full health and power. Instantly, the party - including the not-so-disintegrated Princess - were at full health, though stripped of any previous magical health or might. Gróin grumbled about losing health from that wish, but the others were pleased to be alive.
The battle continued; one of the dark Nobiran wonderworkers (for that is what they were) fired off a spell and mired the attacking bunker in sludgy mud, blocking exit or retreat; the other created a wall of flesh, which terrified poor Gibs until the Laurita Turned it, forcing the grasping hands to retreat back into the ground.
At this point, the wonderworkers were on the offensive. They were confident in their spellcasting, and had plenty of spell slots to fire off. And then... tragedy. From about 300 yards in the air, Mor Gibs summoned four berserkers. He aimed them at the Nobirans below... and struck his mark. With a scream and a splash, one of the wonderworkers was permanently mixed with the poor barbarians. The other wonderworker was dispatched by a renewed Quetgar, and suddenly, the battle was turned.
The remaining mages tried to run, but were all captured and eaten by Caranthir. A few soldiers managed to escape, and one of the high level clerics used some very expensive jewelry to protect himself, restore one of the wonderworker, and teleport away, bringing another, lower level cleric with him.
Shrewfully, the party realized that the disintegrated-then-restored princess was likely out of her contract a little early. Indeed, she was; death tends to do that. However, due to her not unpleasant handling, she decided she would stay on and assist them, at least for the time being, or until something better came up. Besides, that whole "ocean" thing really freaks her out, and she'd be glad to get a ride back across. Fae and water... don't mix. Except for trolls, but trolls are just weird.
The battle over, the party gleefully set about looting the ruins. The ruins, as it turned out, weren't as ruined as they might have seemed; though the outsides looked as if they would crumble away at a touch, the insides were surprisingly well maintained. Apart from a number of sleeping quarters and storage areas (which were ransacked for their contents: jewelry, gems, and other treasure, including of course cold, hard, cash), they discovered a number of heavily secured treasure rooms. While locks and metal doors might have slowed the team down, with no one left to harass them, they could take their time and really destroy those doors. Inside, they found piles of magical loot. Helpfully, most items were well labeled! That is, apart from a large room with a sign over the door: "Unsorted Magical Items". The items found are below. Every item listed is magical, and did not detect as evil, apart from the very first item on the list, which seemed to be quite chaotic:
- Special Items:
- The Motherlode stone (the gray scale)
- The Pen of Artemis
- Elrik's Water Boots
- Weapons:
- War Hammer +2
- 2 War Hammer +1
- 2 Sword +2
- Sword +1, light 30' radius
- 3 Sword +1, +3 versus summoned creatures
- Sword +1, +2 versus spell casters
- 7 Sword +1
- Crossbow Bolts +1 (Quantity: 19)
- 2 Bow +1
- 3 Axe +1
- Armor:
- 4 Shield +1
- 2 Shield +2
- Plate Armor +2
- Plate Armor +1
- Leather Armor +2
- 2 Leather Armor +1
- Chain Mail Armor +1
- Banded Plate Armor +1
- Staffs and Wands:
- Staff of Healing
- Wand of Detecting Magic with 17 charges
- Wand of Detecting Magic with 14 charges
- Wand of Detecting Magic with 9 charges
- Wand of Detecting Magic with 5 charges
- Wand of Detecting Magic with 17 charges
- Wand of Detecting Magic with 5 charges
- Rings:
- 3 Rings of Command Plant
- Ring of Protection +1
- Ring of Regeneration
- Ring of Spell Storing, containing:
- lvl 2: Glitterdust
- lvl 3: Protection from Normal Missiles
- lvl 5: Contact Other Plane
- lvl 6: Disintegrate
- Ring of Spell Storing, containing:
- arcane lvl 2: Stinking Cloud
- divine lvl 3: Cure Blindness
- divine lvl 5: Create Food
- Misc. Items:
- Amulet versus Crystal Balls and ESP
- Boots of Traveling and Springing
- Crystal Ball
- Cube of Frost Resistance
- Drums of Panic
- Elven Cloak
- Flying Carpet
- Medallion of ESP
- Rope of Climbing
- Potions:
- Potion of Animal Control
- Potion of Clairaudience
- 2 Potions of Clairvoyance
- Potion of Climbing
- Potion of Diminution
- Potion of Dragon Control
- Potion of Fire Resistance
- Potion of Giant Control
- 2 Potions of Giant Strength
- 2 Potions of Growth
- 2 Potions of Healing
- Potion of Heroism
- Potion of Human Control
- Potion of Levitation
- Potion of Polymorph
- 3 Potions of Speed
- 2 Potions of Sweet Water
- Potion of Treasure Finding
- Potion of Water Breathing
- Oil of Sharpness
- Poison
- Scrolls:
- Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Ancient Zaharan): Sleep (1st lvl), Magic Mouth (1st lvl)
- Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Nobiran): Levitate (2nd lvl)
- Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Nobiran): Remove Curse* (4th lvl)
- Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Nobiran): Wall of Iron (6th lvl)
- Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Old Elven): Protection from Normal Missiles (3rd lvl)
- Scroll of Divine Spells (Written in Common): Restore Life and Limb (5th lvl), Find Traps (2nd lvl)
- Scroll of Divine Spells (Written in Dwarven): Snake Charm (2nd lvl), Glyph of Warding (3rd lvl), Detect Evil* (1st lvl), Flame Strike (5th lvl), Detect Evil* (1st lvl), Bless* (2nd lvl)
- 4 Scrolls of Ward against Elementals
- 8 Scrolls of Ward against Lycanthropes
- 2 Scrolls of Ward against Undead
- And 5 Treasure Maps.
- Additionally, in the room of unmarked items:
- 6 Crossbow Bolts
- a Shield
- Plate Armor
- 4 Staffs
- 3 rings
- a Crystal Ball
- 4 Helms
- a pair of Bracers of Armor
- 3 Potions
- 2 Scrolls
Near the Motherlode stone was a sheaf of notes; most of it was quite illegible, but a few sections seemed at least slightly readable. The few readable lines say:
- Odd interaction with metal/magic
- [indecipherable] properties of magenetics?
- Interaction with [smudged] HIGHLY reactive, suggest caution, and keep the blasted thing away from storms!
- Impossible to attain samples, exterior is impervious to instruments
- Copper?
- Reversing the neutron flow doesn't even make sense, you [torn from attempted erasure] simple-minded [page is torn completely]
Gróin, eager to collect the full set, pulled on Elrik's boots. They fit snugly, warm and dry. As he stood, he suddenly found himself looking down on Elrik again. This time, Elrik was aboard a ship; a storm tossed it about, flinging it headlong into a rocky shore. Battered by the waves, Elrik clung to the ship's mast as the ship foundered. As the ship turned on its side, a huge wave caught it, slamming it through the shoals and tearing the ship into pieces! Elrik didn't wait for another wave; as the water streamed past, he ran through the shoals, jumping from jagged rock to jagged rock... and sometimes, it seemed, onto nothing but the water itself. Finally, he reached the shore, and threw his arms around a boulder. The wave crashed against the rocks behind him, leaving naught but a gentle splash by the time it reached him. For just a moment, as the tip of the wave touched the boots, there was a blue glow...
Elrik's Water Boots: provide Water Walking at will; additionally, provide complete immunity to magical water damage.
- XP from Treasure: (weighing in at 762.5 stone)
- Money:
- 4000 Electrum weighing 4 stone
- 5000 Gold weighing 5 stone
- 5000 Platinum weighing 5 stone
- Gems:
- 2 Black pearl worth 2000gp, weighing 2/6 stone
- 1 emerald worth 8000gp, weighing 1/6 stone
- 1 ruby worth 1000gp, weighing 1/6 stone
- Jewelry:
- 18 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes, worth 1200gp, weighing 3 stone
- 14 carved ivory netsuke and figurines worth 1000gp, weighing 2 2/6 stone
- 2 emerald regalia worth 14500gp, weighing 2/6 stone
- 1 topaz-studded gold regalia worth 5000gp, weighing 1/6 stone
- 8 opal cameo portraits and intaglio erotic tableaux worth 800gp, weighing 1 2/6 stone
- 6 platinum reliquaries with crystal panes worth 3000gp, weighing 1 stone
- 1 diamond-studded platinum regalia worth 13000gp, weighing 1/6 stone
- 1 ruby regalia worth 8000gp, weighing 1/6 stone
- 1 Wrought orichalcum regalia worth 1000gp, weighing 1/6 stone
- 199 jade carvings of heroes, monsters, and gods worth 39,800gp, weighing 33 1/6 stone
- Other treasure:
- 6 2HD monster carcasses worth 240gp, weighing 6 stone
- 6 6HD monster carcasses worth 720gp, weighing 6 stone
- 6 8HD monster carcasses worth 960gp, weighing 6 stone
- 10 barrels of fine spirits or liquor worth 200gp, weighing 160 stone
- 2 bundles of rare fur pelts worth 1000gp, weighing 10 stone
- 2 crates of armor and weapons worth 450gp, weighing 20 stone
- 2 crates of glassware worth 400gp, weighing 10 stone
- 2 crates of monster parts worth 600gp, weighing 10 stone
- 133 ingots of precious metals worth 39900gp, weighing 266 stone
- 2 jars of spices worth 1600gp, weighing 2 stone
- 350 monster feathers worth 1050gp, weighing 14 stone
- 12 pieces of ivory worth 780gp, weighing 8 stone
- 102 rare books worth 15300gp, weighing 51 stone
- 5 rolls of silk worth 2000gp, weighing 20 stone
- 117 typical fur capes worth 11700gp, weighing 117 stone
- Money:
- Total Treasure Worth (once sold): 232,200 gp
- Total XP from Treasure, currently applicable: 57,000
- XP from Encounters:
- 13 goats (65)
- 1 lvl 5 fighter (500)
- 100 lvl 1 fighters (1600)
- 10 lvl 6 mages (13200)
- 5 lvl 9 dark clerics (12500)
- 2 lvl 13 mages (10800)
- 2 lvl 13 neutral clerics (8800)
- 2 lvl 10 shamans (5900)
- 2 lvl 12 Nobiran wonderworkers (13200)
- Total experience: 123,565
- XP per PC: 14,537
- XP per Henchperson: 7,268
The rest of the experience will, as always, be rewarded upon the sale of the treasure.
