Ochdamh 21-22, 6639; next holiday is Beastnight, 9/35
The Party:
- Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
- Flit, the bat familiar
- Clench, the
WardogWar-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
- Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
- Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
- Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
- Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
- Sorvald, Thief
- Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
- Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
- Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe
- Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
- Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
On a roll with the scale-destroying business, the party decided to next go to Mareten, and see the king about his shield. After teleporting to the gate, passing through, then teleporting to Slowhaven, the party waited until they could receive an audience with the ruler of Mareten.
After a bit of negotiation, Caranthir was able to convince the king that they had, indeed destroyed the scales, and were intent on finishing their quest. They king's spies had already reported on the other scales' destruction (though he hadn't yet heard of the Scale of Darkness being destroyed), and the truthful verification put him at ease. He recommended the party meet him later that evening to discuss the particulars. After a bit of shopping, the party returned to the address indicated, and found themselves in the king's private entertainment chamber. After a light supper, the king got down to business: he would provide a champion and equip him with the shield, if the party would face him and defeat him in one-on-one combat. Caranthir agreed.
In the morning, Caranthir arrived at the battle, buffed and blessed; the fighter he was to face stomped out, raising the white shield to cheers from the crowd. The enormous man charged forward, slamming into Caranthir; Caranthir returned the blow, but both fell short, their swords parried away. Strike after strike fell, and neither was even winded. One of the opponent's blows finally made its way past Caranthir's armor, and Caranthir was forced back from the strength behind it! Enraged, Caranthir shift into dragonform, and blasted the fighter with his breath, then again, and a third time. The fighter was visibly faltering from the blasts, but doggedly kept swinging his sword, connecting a second time. Finally, Caranthir found a chink in the big man's armor, and tore out his chest.
The party turned to the shield... which remained whole and unblemished. Confused, they turned to the king. The man beside him was visibly pale; as the king slapped him on the shoulder, he flinched, the remaining color draining from his face. "Your champion lost, sir Mayor. And now you must keep up your end of the bargain..."
In a moment, the mayor, clutching a very similar shield, was thrust into the arena. Caranthir leaped forward, and in a moment, the mayor was dead - as was his warlock's familiar! The shield in his hands cracked down the face, then blasted into tiny slivers of shining glitter, before vanishing entirely. Caranthir bowed as the king thanked him for ridding his kingdom of a malicious plotter...
After the fun with the shield, the party decided to move on to the Jungle Tower, hoping to gain some strength before facing the final scales...
They teleported out immediately, arriving as another group was finishing performing sacrifices. After some chatting, they found the secret opening again, and began their descent into the tower. The first floor was filled with swarms of flies; Kurt managed to kill a few, but Caranthir slashed through six in a single blast. The rest fell quickly, and no one was harmed. They found a little treasure, and moved on. In the next level, they did not quite disarm a trap, and ended up watching two very large gems get crushed under a pile of rocks. Oops. They killed a few crab spiders to make up for it. Gróin was knocked over by a swarm of rats, but managed to splatter most of them, burning the last few. Realizing the Caranthir had not yet stopped to rest, the party immediately decided that this was the best place to stop for the night, and (after sweeping away the rat guts, I would immagine), set up camp for the night.
- Experience from encounters:
- lvl 9 fighter, Breaker (3100)
- lvl 10 warlock, Mayor Eustace Molebeak (3650)
- Shield of Armies (5000)
- 15 giant flies (300)
- 4 crab spiders (152)
- 4hd rat swarm (135)
- Experience from Treasure:
- 4 statuettes of superior quality (280 gp, 0.6668 st)
- 11 bone fetishes and figurines (7 gp each) (77 gp, 1.8337 st)
- 4 sets of engraved teeth (1 item each, 70 gp each) (280 gp, 0.6668 st)
- 1 set of superior thieves tools, worth 200gp (1 item) (200 gp, 0.1667 st)
- 837 gp, 3.3335 st
- 1 emerald (2500)
- Total gp when sold: 3267
- Total gp now for Caranthir, Gróin, and Sorvald: 279gp
- Total XP now: 128740
- XP for Caranthir, Gróin, and Sorvald: 2146
- XP for Ellenora, Gimli, Laurita, Herman, Baelnar, and Kurt: 1073
I'll keep track of what items haven't been sold, and where the XP goes, and will insert that once you do sell it off (do tell me if there's an item you don't want to sell!). As a final item of note, Craydos's tower has finally been completed as of 8/22, and his recruits are ready to begin their studies.