Treaties and Tricky Traders

Còigeamh 23 - Siathamh 12, 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

The group once again traveled to the Dwarven cities, selling their treasure and looking for people to hire. First, however, Caranthir decided on a name for his little kingdom: Whitescale, and its capital city, Quenls. Gróin called his new kingdom Jordland. Caranthir also made a deal with the golden dragons that, for 2,000 gp each, they are willing to help keep simple problems (like minor beastmen incursions) at bay, and for 20,000gp each, to fight in more dangerous battles.

Along the way, the party encountered a few ogres and some wildlife, but otherwise the journey was remarkably uneventful. Once in Dundrende Klippe, the party began searching for hirelings, and managed for find a number of dwarves willing to work. Caranthir spoke with the leaders, asking for assistance in defeating a large group of trolls; the leaders (a council of seven, the leaders of the Theocracy of the Mountain Dwarves) turned him down. Unlike their southern brethren, the mountain dwarves don't much like interacting with outsiders...

Caranthir headed north, taking the tunnel between the two dwarven cities, and Mor Gibs followed, while Gróin took the hired troops south to his base. Caranthir took an opportunity to snack when he was met by a stampede of horses; the wranglers were irritated, but weren't going to stop. Then, he ran into a rather unpleasant, drunken dwarf, who challenged him to a fight. The dwarf, though tough, wasn't tough enough to go toe-to-toe with an overpowered dragon, and soon was reduced to, well, another snack.

While Caranthir flew back to meet him, Gróin took on five dire wolves, and managed to score four cubs. He met a cloud giant, who waved him on his way.

Reunited, the party continued south. Five hippogriffs attacked, and while four were not so lucky, one managed to make off with an infantryman as a meal. Finally, they met a camp of orcs, and obliterated them. "I thought Orcs were supposed to be tough!" Well, sure, maybe at night, in a cave, with low level adventurers! Not with dragons and an army! Geez!

Meanwhile, months prior (I know, I know), Faufe managed to finally make his way south to Cliffport. Unfortunately, his bad luck with the weather turned into bad luck with sales, and he barely managed to sell a thing. He made it back to Slowhaven and sold one more item, leaving him barely making any profit at all.

Deciding to take the voyage again, Faufe hired Camilla Månsson, a level 2 Airwalker (Str: 10 (+0), Int: 9 (+0), Wis: 16 (+2), Dex: 10 (+0), Con: 18 (+3), Cha: 13 (+1), and 11 HP, carrying Leather Armor (AC 2), an Arbalest, a Silver Dagger, and a Composite Bow, with General Proficiencies: Animal Husbandry; Class Proficiencies: Swashbuckling; she speaks Common). He also hired Fátima Luna, a level 1 Bard (Str: 8 (-1), Int: 9 (+0), Wis: 13 (+1), Dex: 11 (+0), Con: 11 (+0), Cha: 14 (+1), and 6 HP, carrying Leather Armor (AC 2), a Longbow, a Dagger, 2 Slings, a Musical instrument, and Manacles; General Proficiencies: Engineering; Class Proficiencies: Mystic Aura, and she speaks Common as well).

Gróin, meanwhile, retroactively looked for help when he was in Slowhaven a few months ago (I really need to tone down this time travel), and ended up with Baelnar Grimtor, a level 1 Dwarven Sapper (Str: 17 (+2), Int: 14 (+1), Wis: 18 (+3), Dex: 11 (+0), Con: 9 (+0), Cha: 10 (+0), and 4 HP, carrying Banded Plate (AC 5), a Shield, a Mace, a Club, a Great Axe, a War Hammer, 2 pints of beer, Birthwort (1lb), a 10' pole, a journal, and Holy Water, all in a backpack - he's prepared! General Proficiencies: Performance, Craft; Class Proficiencies: Naturalism; Languages spoken: Dwarven, Goblin, Gnomish, Kobold, Mer, Orc). Gróin also hired Herman Thorpe, a dour-looking level 2 Ectomancer (Str: 13 (+1), Int: 11 (+0), Wis: 15 (+1), Dex: 12 (+0), Con: 13 (+1), Cha: 9 (+0), and 10 HP; carrying: Chain Mail (AC 4), a Shield, a Longbow, a Holy Book, a Journal, and Woundwart (1lb). General Proficiencies: Knowledge (undead/sinkholes); Class Proficiencies: Illusion Resistance; Languages spoken: Common).

Back at Gróin's kingdom, the travelers found a salesman waiting for them: Honest Steve! Which, if he was to be believed, was just an honorific. An adventurer, he picked up plenty of plunder, but had a lot of trouble selling it. In his cart was a badly-rotted dragon corpse, and a pile of various magical items. Caranthir purchased a Scarab of Protection (which, as he predicted, does indeed have a single charge on it). He produced a few items, one of which interested Craydos: a mirror of Life Trapping! Which was full of normal people. Once freed, they decided to follow Gróin loyally. Better than being trapped in some weird mirror! After some haggling, which resulted in Caranthir attempting to eat the fellow, he managed to escape through some kind of instant-resurrection or something. On the bright side, his cart seems to have gotten left behind, and apart from the black dragon corpse, some of the stuff in it might actually have some worth! Maybe!

The cart contains: 2 swords, a bundle of 20 arrows, a spear, a pure black arrow, leather armor, a "Shield of Reflection", two rings, a wand, a "Staff of Power", 3 potions (2 labeled 'poison'), and 3 treasure maps.

The vaultguard was carrying plate armor (mundane), a Composite Bow, Wolfsbane (1lb), a small sack with 3,000ep, 9,000gp, 1,000pp, 5 malachite worth 50gp, and 4 beast parts worth 4gp; a Divine scroll in Common with 5 spells (lvl 3 Growth of Animals; lvl 4 Skinchange; lvl 4 Speak with Plants; lvl 3 Curse; lvl 2 Righteous Wrath), a War Hammer +1, and a Shield +1.

Last but not least, the treasure the Orcs carried contained a magical bow.

• Treasure from Encounters:
  • Caranthir, Gibs, Gimli, Elenora:
    • 1 horse (20)
    • Telchar Barrelgut (lvl 13 Dwarven Vaultguard) (4400)
  • Gróin, Craydos, :
    • 5 wolves, 4 cubs (700)
    • 1 cloud giant (peaceful)
  • Together:
    • 2 hawks (escaped)
    • 15 ogres (2100)
    • 5 hippogriffs (1 escaped) (260)
    • 36 orcs, plus 8 gang leaders and a chief (600)
    • Honest Steve (lvl 10 Bard) (2250)
• Experience from Treasure:
  • 15566 (Caranthir, Gibs, Gimli, and Elenora)
  • 2216 gp (Craydos, Gróin, Laurita, and Rhea)
• Experience for Craydos and Gróin: 1471
• Experience for Caranthir and Gibs: 7900
• Experience for Gimli and Elenora: 3950
• Experience for Laurita and Rhea: 736
• Gold per PC: 1108 gp each for Craydos and Gróin; 7783 gp each for Caranthir and Gibs.