Luce In The Sky With Giants

Treas 27 - Còigeamh 10, 6638; next holiday: Summerset, Siathamh 1 (the celebration before the Summer Solstice on the 35th)

It took a while for me to come up with the title - or rather, to narrow it down. Other contenders were "All's Fae In Love And War" and "If You Can Dodge An Encounter, You Can Dodge A Fae Sword". I tried, and failed, to come up with a title-worthy pun on the fact that the storm giants could host them because their castle had mushroom.

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • 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
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Grogg, the White Mage

After spending a day in Sao Agua - and running into Grogg, a which mage who had somehow become very lost - the party decided to strike off towards the far west, to investigate the crystal scale, and the lost home of the ancient elves.

The going wasn't easy; along the way, they came across a village of trolls, and were able to make the canny trade of two pieces of meat for 500 electrum pieces. Later, they came across a storm giant, who was pulling a thunderstorm behind him and obliterating random objects with lightning bolts. He had a pleasant chat with them, and went on his merry way. He mentioned that he had a brother out in the plains, and recommended visiting the magical mushroom forest, if the party had the chance.

The party edged around a village of orcs, and barely managed to flee from a large village of troglodytes. Several days into their journey, they came across another storm; this storm was much larger, and hidden in a thick fog. Suddenly, the fog cleared, revealing an enormous castle! The party moved forward cautiously, and soon ran into two huge figures - more storm giants! These giants, Choka and Hrooma, invited the tired travelers in for food, drink, and rest (and to meet their son, Chat). The party gratefully accepted. After a Mary-Poppins-esque accent via cloud-walking to the castle itself, the party settled in to trade stories with the giants. The main course was an entire elephant, cooked over a huge fire like a roast pig, complete with a trunk full of apples. Eventually, the party headed to bed.

In the morning, the party debated about using the giants to travel safely to their destination, but the giants declined; it was a family vacation, and they were planning on moving in a different direction.

It wasn't but a day later, however, that the party ran into an army - the remnants of a Winter Fae scouting party! Caranthir attempted to intimidate them, but the paltry force of the party was not enough to match the fair riders, at least in their captain's eye. Even Rig was unable to keep them out of combat. The sylphs fanned out, with a line of cavalry in front of a line of archers; the archers immediately fired on the mercenaries, and destroyed the entirety of Rig's archers. Gróin, meanwhile, charmed the commander; while he wouldn't attack his friends, and the lieutenants refused to stand down, he would not use his considerable magic to assist them. And then... Quetgar. First leaping in front of the second line, then vaulting over their heads, his claws and teeth - hastened by Gróin - tearing through them like blood-soaked tissue. In the blink of an eye, he had shredded half the squad.

After two rounds of combat, Rig's mercenaries were decimated, but still holding their own. The Fae forces were shattered; Quetgar chewed through three squads himself. The others slashed through the haughty faerie-folk, cutting them to ribbons, and receiving few wounds themselves. Two unharmed squads fled, high-tailing it back to Fae lands. The rest were slaughtered. In fact, Quetgar leaped away from the squad he was attacking, snapped the neck of the captain, then returned to bring down an entire squad. His actions terrified the Fae; those who fled will return will tales of horror... whether that is good or bad is yet to be seen.

The Fae dealt with, the party healed their few wounds and moved on...

• Experience from Encounters:
  • 71 Trolls (avoided)
  • 174 Orcs (evaded)
  • 297 Troglodytes (evaded)
  • 4 Storm Giants (befriended)
  • 134 sylphs, 56 sargents, 9 lieutenants, 1 captain (6625 XP)
• Experience from treasure: none
• Total experience: 6625
• Treasure:
  • 500 electrum (traded for 2 pieces of meat)
  • 1 set of silvered banded plate armor (150 gp)
  • 3 sets of silvered chain mail (360 gp)
  • 59 sets of silvered scale armor (5310 gp)
  • Silvered scrap (1455 gp)
  • 80 light horses
• Total worth once sold: 7275
• Total weight: 333 stone
• XP per PC: 697
• XP per Henchman: 349
• The Metal Man refunded 349 in copper.

Why Are You Dragon, Dungeon Wanna Win?

Treas 1-26, 6638; next holiday: Dragonning, Treas 35 (the spring equinox)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • 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
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator

The party found themselves next to a clearing. The area was an odd, round shape, not as organic of a shape as one might expect. In fact, the trees at the edge of the clearing were bowed, the middles leaning away from the center. Even the grass and weeds grew more sparsely in the middle. From the center of the glen, a faint sound emanated, like wind blowing past a thin shard of glass, or a thin, sharp sword cutting through the air. As the party squinted at the center of the field, most found their gaze misdirected - sliding past to look at trees, or sinking to stare at the ground. Only Rig, Quetgar, and Elenora were able to pierce the veil of illusion.

Speedrun

A'Chiad 15-Treas 1, 6638; next holiday: Dragonning, Treas 35 (the spring equinox)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • 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
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Sal Rrentath, Thrassian Gladiator
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator

Rig, as noted, headed to Forreston, to sell his wares; Caranthir and Quetgar stayed in Wallace, while Gróin and Llarm headed to Riverbend to study the books (and learn new spells). Quetgar learned what his ring does (finally), and took down a rather angry woolly rhinoceros that the ring summoned. Eventually, the party regrouped in Wallace, then headed out into the chilly winter. Due to luck or cold, there were few travelers on the road, apart from some chilly snakes. Once they reached the forest of the Winter Court of the Fae, however, they began running into quite a number of other creatures. They met - and avoided - an 8-headed hydra, and were greeted by five Sylphs, who sneeringly took their money as tax. The sylphs seemed very much on edge, however, and not in a mood to fight. Others had already told the party that the fae were all abuzz; why, however, they did not know. Something about a hunt?

Luce and Elenora's birthdays went by; Luce, offhandedly, mentioned that she finally turned 18.

The Library

The library contains books on history, magic, and knowledge:

• History books
  • The Age of Dragons (see this post), a tale of what happened before the coming of men and elves to Mor-Thir.
  • The Towers, a book on the seven Towers, built where the blood of the ancient Wyrm was splashed; as it turns out, seven dragon tribes were tasked with protecting the towers:
    • Mareten Tower: Silver dragons (lawful white dragons)
    • Airwalker Tower: Gold dragons (lawful red dragons)
    • Pointless Tower: Electrum dragons (lawful black dragons)
    • Toprac Igne: Bronze dragons (lawful blue dragons)
    • Jungle Tower: Green dragons
    • Northern Tower: White dragons
    • The Spire: Black dragons
• Magical books
  • A tome of Dragon Knowledge: when attempting to research a spell on dragons with this book in your library, add +2 to the roll (worth 5,000 gp).
  • A tome of Wall Spells: when attempting to research a spell involving wall spells with this book in your library, add +2 to the roll. (worth 5,000 gp)
• Recipes for making:
  • Potion of Human Control
  • Potion of Longevity
  • Potion of Sweet Water
  • Potion of Polymorph
  • Staff of Commanding
  • Wand of Polymorphing
  • Chime of Opening
  • Armor +1
  • Weapon +1
• A divine book of the Way of the Dragon, describing an ancient order of dragon-clerics, tasked with protecting the land of Mor-Thir; the order is made of all kinds of dragons. Few have heard of, or interact with, the dragon-clerics. As ageless dragons, time is on their side.
• A Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Draconic): Lower Water (6th lvl)
• A Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in draconic): Hold Portal (1st lvl)

The rest of the books contain various magical snippets, or information about ancient times, all worthy of adding to a magical library. As a note, a spellcaster requires a library worth at least 4,000 gp to be able to research first level spells; a further 2,000 gp is required for each spell level. For every 10,000 gp above the minimum value required, the spellcaster gets a +1 bonus (maximum +3) to his magic research throw. Thus, the maximum useful library value to research spells up to level 9 is 50,000 gp.

A Maze of Twisty Passages

A'Chiad 9-14, 6638; next holiday: Dragonning, Treas 35 (the spring equinox)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • 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
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Sal Rrentath, Thrassian Gladiator
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Gottes Segen, Cleric
  • Betül Tirmizi, Ectomancer

The adventurers once again returned to the tower, certain that they were near the lowest levels. The winding passages of the 9th floor turned this way and that - a maze!

Laying out the occasional chalk lines, they slowly moved through the maze, looking for traps and fighting the occasional zombies or hulked-out skeletons. Down one corridor, hidden in a secret passage, they found a group of creatures, huddled at the dead end. One had a gold ring, which Quetgar took.

Completely Floored

A'Chiad 8-9, 6638; next holiday: Dragonning, Treas 35 (the spring equinox)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • 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
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Sal Rrentath, Thrassian Gladiator
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Gottes Segen, Cleric
  • Betül Tirmizi, Ectomancer

After a quick rest upstairs, the party once again returned to the tower, planning on delving into its depths. Rig and co stayed behind.

The adventurers continued sweeping the 8th floor. The discovered (and avoided) many traps, though found few creatures. The first creature the party ran into was actually summoned into a trap - a mummy! The creature, surrounded, didn't last long.

Don't Eat That

Dara 27 - A'Chiad 7, 6638

Next holiday: Dragonning, Treas 35 (the spring equinox)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • 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
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Sal Rrentath, Thrassian Gladiator
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Gottes Segen, Cleric
  • Betül Tirmizi, Ectomancer

With the godmurder dealt with and the pockets stuffed, the party made one last shopping trip before leaving town, picking up a strange ring that seemed to be a +1 Ring, a Duck of Many Things, a Bag of Banking, and a Tankard of Theft. All handy items in their own right. The duck (currently in the form of a cat) seemed ambivalent about the party, but that may simply be because it's in the form of a cat. Gróin, meanwhile, opened a bank account at the nearest Gnomish Bank, which immediately linked it to his Bag of Banking.