You Got Worms

Dara 24 - A'chiad 23; next holiday, Dragonning, 3/25.

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Noona, 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
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe

Elenora and Luce each had a birthday (1/14 and 1/18, respectively)

Meanwhile, Caranthir and Quetgar headed south, hoping to find some lizardmen to join their ranks. They moved from village to village, putting out the call, and managed to get a good few creatures to join up. Their trek back was uneventful as well, as they took a boat up the river. Luckily, the river is deep enough and flows well enough that there is little ice build-up. The final leg of their journey, they ran into a group of six dwarves and humans: a woman named Whispering Mouse, who seemed to have a pet tiger beetle that followed her around; Dolmen Rockharvest and Ori Barrelgut, both dwarves, and the only males in the party; and Ingeborg Månsson, Anna Patterson, and Berit Eriksson, who appear to be priestesses. Whispering Mouse told Caranthir that they were a party of emissaries from the dwarven realm, hoping to make peaceful contact with the new kingdom starting nearby. The group tagged along with Caranthir until they reached the base. Three days later, the second party with Gróin arrived, which gave Caranthir time to plan the first festival for his kingdom.

The journey for Gróin, Laurita, Gimli, and Sorvald was rather more eventful than Caranthir's trip. First, they ran into a caravan of 40 wagons - a group of traveling nomads, heading for the shelter of the arboreal forest to the east. They were interrupted one night by a remorhaz attack; they scared one, but the rest left when they realized their food had wings. Just outside the City of the Northern People, they waylaid a group of 9 thogrin, and nuked the lot of them, as is custom. They looted the corpses, and continued on.

In the city, Sorvald met with the leader of the local Thieves' Guild, who surprised him with his joviality. "So ya want to start a guild of your own, eh? Shoor! I got a few henchmen I could loan out, yah. How many do you want - aboot 10 do ya fine, eh?" Sorvald declined, as he was only information gathering, but left on good terms.

Gimli, meanwhile, looked for various troops to fill the new castle with. After a few weeks of looking, he managed to piece together quite the army; finally, it was time to return. They blasted through a msall group of skeletons without a problem, and waltzed on... and that's when disaster struck, in the form of not one, not two, but three purple worms. Luckily, they saw the worms from a good distance. Gróin immediately took to the air... and suddenly realized that the swordsmen and crossbowmen behind him were, unfortunately, land-bound, and soon to be worm food! He flew forward, and carpet-bombed the worms. Well, earth-bombed from his carpet, anyway. When the worms were in range, the crossbowmen took turns firing through the holes in the wall Gróin built. Just as the fight was concluding, a skinscribe stepped out of the swirling snow, lobbed a fireball at the worms, and introduced himself.

Gróin took an immediate liking to Craydos Silverskin; as Gold Skinscribe, he was lawful, and there were scant few lawful beings for the poor dwarf to talk with. Craydos, meanwhile, carefully wrote down all the information Gróin shared. As it turns out, Craydos is a Seeker! Until recently, he helped lead a small group of hermits in the northern mountains, scribing scrolls and gathering information from the heights of a mountain. He had heard about a group of adventurers who had come across some items of great knowledge and importance, and hoped to get a good look at them. Unfortunately, the Book of Holding was with Llarm.

Speaking of Llarm, he was holed up in Slowhaven, researching spells. His first spell, Dragonform, was an unmitigated disaster, but the second spell, Blue Dragon Breath, succeeds, and likely blows out a window. Luckily, the inn he was staying at has good insurance. You have to, with wizards around!

Meanwhile (well, I say meanwhile; this actually is a bit behind time), Faufe purchased a small troop transport, named the "Total Bullship," a retired military vessel (it used to be the "HMS BS"). He loaded it with merchandise (and got a pretty good deal), sailors, and the troops he hired, and headed south the 3rd week of Ochdamh, around day 23, hoping to reach Cliffport by the end of the week.

As we closed last time, Gróin's team (only 3 days from the new city) ran into a trio of chimeras...

The magical items discovered include: a Potion of Plant Control (on the thoghrin), plus 3 potions, 5 swords, 1 war hammer, 3 crossbow bolts, and two scrolls.

• 1,000 Copper
• 1,000 Silver
• 1,000 Gold
• 2,000 Platinum
• 3,577 gp from selling:
  • 1 Glass trinkets (120 gp - sold)
  • 1 hematite (10 gp - sold)
  • 1 obsidian (10 gp - sold)
  • 1 porcelain trinkets (500 gp - sold)
  • 1 turquoise (25 gp - sold)
  • 1 wrought copper trinkets (90 gp - sold)
  • 1 crystal geode (2,000 gp - sold)
  • 1 ruby (1,000 gp - sold)
• 112,600 gp yet to sell, to be split between Gróin, Laurita, Gimli, Sorvald, and Craydos:
  • 1 topaz (500 gp)
  • 1 crystal geode (2,000 gp)
  • 1 flawless diamond (4,000 gp)
  • 1 roll of silk (400 gp, 4 stone)
  • 20 ingots of precious metals (6,000 gp, 40 stone)
  • 34 typical fur capes (3,400gp, 34 stone)
  • 3 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes (3,600 gp)
  • 3 opal cameo portraits and intaglio erotic tableaux (2,400 gp)
  • 11 alabaster and jet game pieces with jeweled eyes (7,700 gp)
  • 103 jade carvings of heroes, monsters, and gods (20,600 gp)
  • 3 platinum reliquaries with crystal panes (3,000 gp)
  • 4 platinum reliquaries with crystal panes (28,000 gp)
  • 1 Platinum studded with diamond regalia (3,000 gp)
  • 1 ruby regalia (5,000 gp)
  • 1 Gold studded with topaz regalia (6,000 gp)
  • 1 jacinth regalia (6,000 gp)
  • 1 jacinth regalia (11,000 gp)
• Experience from Encounters:
  • 40-wagon caravan (peaceful)
  • 8 remorhaz (1 was panicked, 7 escaped: 2250)
  • 9 thogrin (720)
  • 10 skeletons (130)
  • 3 purple worms (12,600)
• Experience for Gróin, Laurita, Gimli, Sorvald: 6,787
• Experience for Gróin, Laurita, Gimli, Sorvald, Craydos (not counting unsold treasure): 12,600
• Total experience for Caranthir and Quetgar: 0
• Total experience for Gróin and Sorvald: 5412
• Total experience for Laurita and Gimli: 2706
• Total experience for Craydos: 3150

Additional experience: once a stronghold is complete, the builder receives 1 XP per 2 gp spent on it. This XP is lost if the stronghold is ever lost. Spell research also gains XP, if the research succeeds: the cost of the spell and extra components, divided by the number of months of research (min. 1), minus your gp threshold, multiplied by the number of months of research (again, min. 1). What, you expected magic to be straightforward?

As a final additional note: as of this adventure, the starting XP (for a new character) is 131,000 XP and 16,000gp. Retired characters and starting a new one will net you 20,000 XP, plus whatever gold you've "wasted", and whatever gold and stuff you're willing to dole out.