Battle Royale

Siathamh 12-27, 6639; next holiday is Brightest Night, 6/35

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

Gimli, retroactively, was left behind to gather more troops; he encountered a few creatures on the way down, and negotiated as best as he could. The scariest were the two white dragons, certainly...

Caranthir, Gróin, and their henchmen lead their armies to battle. After Rhea did some spying, they managed to determine that there were about 60 trolls, and got the lay of the land - as well as a prisoner, who told them about the trolls, but didn't have much other information, apart from the trolls trying to get a spy into their camp, and failing.

The battle began some distance apart; the trolls knew they were coming (due to some spying of their own), and generally what to expect. Charging in, the two main groups of trolls did some heavy damage to the front lines; Gróin cast a wooden staircase to scale a cliff, and brought the battle to the next level (ha), though was slowed by a continual pelting by skeletal crossbowmen, which are *surprisingly* effective. Gróin's battle group was destroyed, and the ugly horde of troll women captured Gróin, dropping him into a flame-retardant bag and dropping a bunch of rocks on top to keep him still. The witch doctor probably helped too.

On the rocky plains below, Caranthir made headway against the trolls, and some new allies - troglodytes! They plinked some rocks off of Caranthir, who generally ignored them because he was immune to normal missiles. Both sides were facing heavy losses, when Caranthir called to the chief, asking for a fair fight, winner take all. The chief, liking his odds, took him up on his offer; Caranthir beat him easily, and set fire to his corpse. The trolls turned and fled, leaving Gróin behind (it was a near thing). At the top of the cliffs, a voice called down, offering the same terms; winner take all! Caranthir could make out a pale-skinned undead pushing to the front of the unit of zombies, his teeth bared. Laughing, Caranthir took him up on his offer.

This fight was not quite the same. Caranthir struck again and again, but the creature refused to go down. Due to very unfortunate luck, he only managed to get a single blow in, but Caranthir certainly felt that strike! Finally, he slashed through the creature... which turned into mist. Blinking, Caranthir could only watch the mist float up into the mountains.

The party mopped up the undead as the troggles escaped, but the hex is not yet clear; they need to find the lair of the draugr!

Treasure: Leather Armor, 3x Shields, 15 potions, 1 sword, a Scroll of Ward against Elementals, a Scroll of Ward against Magic, and a Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Elven): Magic Missile (1st lvl), Invisibility (2nd lvl). The draugr was equipped with a Spear, Ring Mail Armor, and a Shield; the troll chief had a magical sword.

• XP from Encounters (just Gimli)
  • 2 caecilian (1140)
  • 24 skeletons (312)
  • 2 white dragons (peaceful... eventually)
  • 13 zombies (377)
• XP from Mass Battle
  • 34 dwarven crossbowmen (-340)
  • 20 mounted bowmen (-260)
  • 88 heavy infantry (-880)
  • 4 ballista (-160)
  • 60 trolls (40800)
  • 30 troll women (4200)
  • 30 troll children (300)
  • 120 troglodytes (2400)
  • 60 skeletons (780)
  • 60 zombies (1740)
  • 1 draugr (escaped)
• Experience from Treasure
  • 1000 Copper, 4000 Silver, 5000 Electrum, and 6000 Gold worth 8910 instantly
  • Other treasure worth 75,313gp once sold:
    • 2 3HD monster carcasses worth 100 gp
    • 80 3HD monster horns worth 320 gp
    • 4 4HD monster carcasses worth 120 gp
    • 5 6HD monster carcasses worth 150 gp
    • 4 8HD monster carcasses worth 280 gp
    • 12 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes worth 14400 gp
    • 187 animal horns worth 20gp each worth 3740 gp
    • 6 bags of loose tea worth 450 gp
    • 7 barrels of fine spirits or liquor worth 1400 gp
    • 1 beast parts jewelry worth 31 gp
    • 67 bottles of fine wine worth 335 gp
    • 4 bundles of rare fur pelts (such as ermine, mink, or sable) worth 2000 gp
    • 1 Carved jade jewelry worth 1100 gp
    • 6 cord of hardwood log worth 30 gp
    • 15 crates of armor and weapons worth 3375 gp
    • 9 crates of glassware worth 1800 gp
    • 13 crates of monster parts worth 3900 gp
    • 2 crates of terra-cotta pottery worth 200 gp
    • 1 Fine wood jewelry worth 400 gp
    • 1 flawless diamond worth 4000 gp
    • 17 ingots of common metals worth 17 gp
    • 29 jade carvings of heroes, monsters, and gods worth 5800 gp
    • 6 jars of dyes and pigments worth 300 gp
    • 3 jars of lamp oil worth 60 gp
    • 5 jars of spices worth 4000 gp
    • 100 monster feathers worth 200 gp
    • 350 monster feathers worth 1050 gp
    • 350 monster feathers worth 1750 gp
    • 150 monster feathers worth 900 gp
    • 10 opal cameo portraits and intaglio erotic tableaux worth 8000 gp
    • 1 rich fur cape worth 1100 gp
    • 1 rich fur cape worth 1700 gp
    • 1 rich fur cape worth 2000 gp
    • 18 rolls of garishly dyed cloth worth 180 gp
    • 12 rolls of silk worth 4800 gp
    • 5 rugs or tapestries worth 25 gp
    • 1 statuettes worth 300 gp
    • 1 whorled nephrite jade worth 1500 gp
    • 1 Wrought orichalcum jewelry worth 3000 gp
    • 1 wrought silver jewelry worth 500 gp
• Total XP from experience: 53,035, plus 37,657 when the treasure sells.
• XP for Gróin and Caranthir: 9643
• XP for Rhea, Luce, Elenora, Gimli, Laurita, Baelnar Grimtor, and Herman Thorpe: 4821
• Extra XP for Gimli: 915

Extra notes: since Gróin lost 4 ballista, with 4 conscripted peasants manning each ballista, that means his population drops by 16 people, which is roughly 3 families. Also, the remaining troops take half the treasure (and gain XP from it); 4,455 gp of coins and 37,657 gp of treasure (which means less you have to sell, personally), for a total of 42,112. As long as you have fewer than 421 individuals (counting the 4 each at the ballistas), all your surviving troops have gained veteran status!

Other notes: Ballista only fire once every other round, or less, depending on how many people are manning them. I let you get away with firing them every round, mostly because they missed the trolls every time, but only this time. Also, no more retroactive shopping. Also, if Caranthir lost more (or fewer) than 50 individuals, I'll just use that as an XP loss (or gain) next time.