No
Good Deed... (7-19-04)
Party
at the start:
Mace Blackstar (Mike D.;
Human Fighter)
Wilbered The Silent (NPC (normally Bob S), Human Cleric)
Castor Bean (Steve B.; Human Bard)
Trygvie (Steve G.; Elven Wizard)
Kane (Al G.; Human Monk)
Geia (NPC; Human Fighter)
and Malus Thunderhammer (Chris L.; Dwarf Ranger)
The game began late in the evening, Torsday the 22nd of the
month of Sept. The party had beaten off the Bugbear attack in the
night. Malus the dwarf had set off running after the Bugbears;
the rest of the party was back in the campsite. Kane had
subdued a Bugbear. After a little healing, they began
interrogating the
prisoner... Wilbered using some techniques he had perfected back in
days
as a novice in the Seminary. The bugbear revealed that some
humans
headed for Asthar Rho that fit the general description of Cirdis &
Co. had passed that way a day earlier and had paid the Bugbears to
attack
or delay any who followed them. Despite the wretched bugbear's
promise
to never harm them again and his piteous pleas for his life, Mace used
his
sword to whack the creature's head from it's shoulders.
Meanwhile, Malus the Dwarf caught up with two of the Bugbears he had
been chasing. After a brief fight, he returned to camp covered in
glory and bugbear blood.
The Dwarf ranger and the Monk elected to press on ahead, hopefully
to catch up with Cirdis, while the rest of the players remained in camp
so that Trygvie could regain his spells. Malus the Dwarf hopped
onto his pony and Kane took off running. Malus proved fairly
incompetent as a ranger and failed to find the trail of Cirdis and his
associates so they headed in the general direction of the village known
to be south of their current position. A few hours into their
journey they forded a very shallow river. As day broke, they saw
the fields and village on the banks of the massive River Root, just
ahead.
The village was a collection of wattle and daub 2 and 3 story houses
built wall to wall to form a crude fort on the top of a hill on the
banks of the River Root. The River Root is a massive river, miles
wide
in some parts, A shore or island, crowned with misty mountains
could
be seen in the distance. Strangely enough, other than a few
roosters
crowing, the village seemed pretty quiet.
There was no one on the roads or in the fields and the gates were shut
tight. Malus and the monk crept forward for a better look.
They noted that one building had a weathervane decorated with a
large copper sun on it's roof. Mace crept up to the side of that
building. From within the walls, they could hear what sounded
like humans wailing and
crying. Malus unsheathed a dagger and bored a hole in the wattle
and daub wall of the building with the copper sun sign on it... but
peeking
through and listening at the hole showed him nothing. The two
brave
adventurers were pretty spooked by this and they snuck back to the
brush
north of the fields and village to wait for their comrades.
After about four hours, the rest of the group showed up. It took
them a while to find one another (since Malus and the Dwarf were hiding
in the scrubby little bunch of trees that passed for a forest in these
parts) but finally they hooked up and after considerable debate, they
decided to simply enter the town if possible since they worried that
with each passing hour Cirdis and his friends would get further away.
They approached the west gate of the town and some guards hailed them,
asking them to go and leave the village in peace. The party
objected to this treatement and dmanded that they be allowed to enter
the village or at leas speak to their headman. Eventually the
gate creaked open and revealed dozens of peaseants holding improvised
weapons, axes, shortbows and crossbows. The village headman,
(namehere), apologized for their treatment but said the villagers had
been raided by slavers recently and they had to be careful. Mace
asked about who had taken the villagers as slaves and the villagers
revealed that bandits had raided them recently -- taking mostly their
children and youths but also the son of the headman, a young warrior
named Zuran. The bandits, it seems, had also killed the preist of
Pelor who lived in town and had attempted to prevent the raids and
dragged his body away with them after having robbed the temple.
The villagers believed that the bandits took the slaves away to
Asthar Rho,
the island nearby. With trembling fingers the simple folk pointed
to
the island topped with tall mountains shrouded in mist far in the
distance.
When asked if anyone could offer more specific information on the
island and the Valley of the Shrines, the villagers directed them to an
aged priest of Thyr and Muir who lived outside of town in a small
shrine. This old priest was named Bograna and was a bit of a
hermit but could probably answer questions about the Valley of the
Shrines. Uzna, the leader
of the village, took them on a short walk up a woodland path to a small
and
crumbled, vine covered stone building in the wooded hills about a mile
away.
An old man with a long white beard in a shabby robe was seen
sitting
on a large rock outside the shrine, leaning on a staff.
"Ho there, wanderers," the old man said in a quavering voice, "What
brings you to the blessed shrine of Thyr and Muir?"
"We wish to bring the bones of Tayleen the Just for an appropriate
burial," replied Wilbered. After brief introductions, Wilbered
unpacked the bones. Via a Speak with the Dead spell, the
old priest determined that the bones were indeed those of Tayleen, the
paladin of former times. The priest was pleased that the players
wished to deliver the bones to the Valley of the Shrines and directed
them to the Tombs there. After consulting the maps, they saw that
the tombs were located in the northeast part of the valley.
The priest also offered the opinion that, "it would be a long journey
for Mace Blackstar to travel in order to wield the sword of Tayleen
properly." Of it's powers he said very little, other than it
would be a powerful weapon in the hands of a Paladin of Muir.
When pressed, the priest stated that the sword might more
properly be employed by someone of Gaia's temperment. "My son,"
said the old priest, "you have far too much
chaos in you. It would be a long and hard road for you to travel
to
learn to walk the path of the warrior of Muir." Gaia, on the
other
hand, apparently had one foot on the path already. Reluctantly,
Mace
gave Tayleen's sword to Gaia.
(DMs note: Mace is Chaotic Neutral and Gaia is Neutral
Good. Thus Gaia need only shift her alignment by one degree to
become eligible for Paladinhood (neutral good to lawful good) while
Mace needs to shift
by several degrees (chaotic neutral to neutral, then neutral to neutral
good, then neutral good to lawful good).
The players asked if any persons fitting Cirdis' description had been
seen in the area and the villagers replied that Cirdis and his party
had bought a boat from them and, it was presumed, rowed out to the
island of Asthar Rho. The villagers revealed that this was not
unusual; persons of all sorts of descriptions came to the village to
buy or rent boats to travel to Asthar Rho. Some were adventurers
(like the players), others were suspected of being pilgrims interested
in visiting the "bad shrines" on the island (as opposed to the "good
shrines" that had been built to Thyr and Muir in the distant past).
Others went there to buy or sell slaves, gold, wine, food,
etc. In short order the players offered to try to free the slaves
and hopefully find the chief Uzna's son, a warrior by the name of
Zuran, who had been taken by the slavers as well.
They left the shrine and returned to the village. After a brief
confab with the villagers, they decided to travel that evening to
Asthar Rho since it was only a journey of a few hours by boat.
Most travellers, it seems, travelled to a small village named
Gundar's Squat on the east side
of the island. According to the villagers, this town was home to
bandits,
cut throats, thieves and other persons of ill repute and was the center
of
much of the slave trade that plagued their village time and again.
"By
Cuthbert," swore Wilbered, "Why not pick up and move? Why do you
fools
continue to live so near the island that houses the very bandits who
keep
raiding your village?"
"It is our poor and miserable fate," wailed Uzna. "We are but
poor and powerless peseants! If we moved elswhere, no doubt it
would be worse!"
Having left the poor steeds they had obtained from Oliver Sacks in the
care of the villagers, the players and a few of the braver villagers
were climbing into a pair of fishing boats when they saw a figure
racing towards the docks, screaming, "Wait!" and waving a broadbrimmed
hat with a ludicrously huge feather in one hand and a well worn lute in
the other. As the
figure drew closer, they could see that it was Castor Bean, their Bard
companion. Out of breath, he bard climbed aboard the boat and
they set off for the island.
The journey took most of the rest of the day. Uzna and his
comrades proved to be excellent rowers. Finally they rowed up to
within sight of the docks of the Village of Gundar's Squat just as the
sun was going down. A few river boats, canoes and rafts were
pulled up to the dock and a few disreputable characters lounged around
there. Further up the
hill they could see a circular pallisade srrounding a village with a
tall
stone tower in the center. They rowed right up to the dock and
unloaded
their passengers. Almost immeadiately a ruffian with a lantern
appeared
and demanded a 5 silver piece docking fee. The players leapt out
of
the boat and the villagers still in the boat rowed away. Mace
replied
that since the boat wasn't docked, they did not need to pay a docking
fee.
The man with the lantern sneered and said, "Pay me the five
silver piece
landing fee, then." Reluctantly, Mace paid up.
They proceeded up the hill to the gate in the pallisade. A group
of rather viscious looking half orcs were standing on guard and one of
them demanded five silvers from each who passed the gate.
Grumbling,
the players paid up. Castor showed them his shield with a toad
emblem
that he had plundered from The Temple of the Toad and said, "You ought
to
treat us with a little more respect!"
The guard laughed, showing crooked yellow teeth, and said, "You knows
the rules! I aint one of those muckworshippers -- we let you use
the town and the road, but there the friendship ends, frog-man. I
worship the horned god, besides. So if youse wants to enter you
pays the toll like everybody else."
Insulted by the very idea of paying gate tolls to a dirty half orc,
Malus the dwarf threw a gold piece on the ground, but the halforc just
sneered and stuck out a hairy paw, saying, "You gots to pay ME, dwarf!"
Choking back his outrage, Malus put money in the half orc's hand
and walked through the gate.
Once inside they saw that Gundar's Squat was a collection of hovels and
huts with another pallisade inside surrounding the tall central tower.
They could hear music from a nearby building with many lit up
windows and doorways and a worm eaten sign that said, "The Crow's
Nest;" - obviously an Inn. There seemed to be one or two drunken
brawls happening in the vicinity as well. Groups of humans, orcs
and half orcs were gathered in groups talking or wandering around in
the enclosure. After looking at this hotbed
of filth and evil for a moment, the players attempted to saunter as
casually as they could over to the Inn.
Inside the inn was full of bandits, thieves, whores, rogues, half orcs
and less savory creatures. A few of them eyed the players as they
walked in but then went back to their ale. A muscian with a flute
played a raucous tune and a thin man behind the bar filling mugs with
ale
had a crow sitting on his shoulder.
Castor walked up to the bartender and said, "I'm looking for my friend
Cirdis. He probably passed through here a day or two ago."
"Cirdis?" the man asked, "Never heard of him." Castor tossed him
some money. "Ahem! Of course," the bartender went on;
"That Cirdis! Why didn't you say so to begin with? He
was here just a day ago, along with some others. Headed off to
the shrines."
Eager to find out more about the missing children from the village,
Castor asked where in town one could buy slaves. The bartender
indicated
that there was a slave trader in the town and offered to have his
servant
boy show the way. A short distance from the inn was a locked
enclosure
made of logs planted upright in the ground with sharpened tops and
several
huts in the enclosure, The players knocked at the gate and
several
mean looking half-orcs bearing great axes answered. "We are here
to
buy slaves," Mace and Trygvie announced. The half orcs unlocked
the
gates and led them into a shadowy courtyard between two buildings.
Several humans in scale mail and a human wearing a great deal of
gold jewelry were there. The man in all the bling-bling
introduced himself as Nerdahl. When he heard the party wanted to
buy slaves as workers or sacrifices he rubbed his hands together and
ordered the human guards bring forth the slaves. A gang of twelve
dispirited looking youngsters in rags and manacles were brought out of
a shed.
As Mace and Castor began to haggle with the slaver over the price,
Trygvie attempted to slyly cast his charm person spell.
As soon as he saw the elf making furtive cabalistic gestures and
muttering magical words, Nerdahl shouted; "They're trying to magic us!
At 'em, boys!" Nerdahl then ran for the rear, doubtlessly
counting on his half orcs and guards
to cut down the party. Four half orcs and three humans came at
the
party with axe and sword. A fourth human guard herded the slaves
back
into a corner in order to keep them from interfereing or making a run
for
it.
The Half Orcs definitely had the strongest start in the fight.
Malus and Mace took heavy damage from their wicked great axes and
things began to look dicey. Castor the bard closed the gate to
the slave pen behind them and hoped that the fighting inside the slave
pen would be interperated by the locals as the noise from another
drunken brawl. Trygvie cast a sleep spell and took out the Slaver
Nerdahl and one of the guards. First one halforc and then another
succumbed to their concentrated attacks and Trygvie's magic missiles
and then the tide turned. The last of the halforcs
was cut down and the human guards were slain before they could flee or
fight.
Kane stepped forward and, obviously enraged by the slaver's profit of
misery, broke Nerdahl's forearm by use of a technique learned at his
monastery
known as a "curb job." Nerdahl awoke and began crying for mercy.
Castor the bard admired the slaver's rings, ear ring and gold
neckchains and immeadiately appropriated them. Trygvie found a
single potion bottle
in one of the belt pouches of the ghalf orcs, which he turned over to
the
cleric for safekeeping.
They interviewed the children and discovered that over half of them
were from the village nearby. Zuran, the chief's son, however,
was not among them. One of the children piped up that Zuran had
been bought and
taken to the Valley of the Shrines a few days ago, probably for human
sacrifice.
While some of the players began searching the compound, the others
began to interrogate the slaver. Kane found a few coins and spare
weapons in the barracks, a few manacles and piles of straw in the slave
quarters and a well appointed room furnished with a soft bed,
upholstered chairs, food,
wine, liquor and drugs. After searching the room several times.
Trygvie
noticed a hollow sounding spot under the floor. They could'nt
figure
out how to open the secret door so they used one of the halforc
greataxes to smash it open. Inside was a small chest which they
also smashed open, only to dicover it contained a great quantity of
silver, gold and four gems.
The players attempted to interview the slaver again, asking him where
Zuran was, The slaver claimed innocence, stating that he really
was
only a distributor -- he didn't go out and steal the slaves himself--
and
when they were under his care they were treated humanely and given
enough
to eat. Tired of his whining, Mace decapitated the wretch despite
Gaia's
objections.
They players then formed up as though they were marching off with their
newly purchased slaves. They kept the children bound in chains
and
instructed them to stay quiet with their heads downcast and marched
right
out the gate, past the guards and down to the docks where the wretched
harbor
master who so set Mace's teeth on edge demanded (and got!) another fee.
Uzna
and his crew rowed up in their boats and managed to mask their joy at
seeing their children being freed. The players loaded the
children onto one boat and then got into another themselves and cast
off from the docks and rowed off into the darkness.
The boat with the children headed back to the village of Nudlo.
The other boat, with the party members aboard, headed off to the
other side of the island. The players wanted to enter the Valley
of the shrines itslf, and, according to a map they had, a secret
enterance to the valley lay on the west side of the island.
The adventure ended here for the night.
Experience: (corrected
7-22-04)
Character
|
class/race
|
player
|
xp at start
|
xp at end
|
|
Geia
|
human fighter
lvl 3
|
npc
|
3117
|
3842*
|
|
Mace
|
Human fighter
lvl 5
|
Mike D.
|
14332
|
15382
|
level 6!
|
Wilbered
|
Human Cleric
lvl 5
|
npc
|
14183
|
14908*
|
|
Castor Bean
|
Human Bard
level 4
|
Steve B.
|
9917
|
10967
|
level 5!
|
Trygvie
|
Elven Wizard
level 5
|
Steve G.
|
11631
|
12681*
|
|
Kane
|
Human Monk
level 5
|
Al G.
|
13332
|
14482*
|
|
Malus
|
Dwarven Ranger
level 4
|
Chris
|
6800
|
7850
|
|
These are the
revised xp totals; Al G. noticed that I had accidentally used the
player roster from a previous session so that all xp awards were off by
a few hundred or thousand(!) so I had to go back and recalculate.
We have also introduced the concept of alignment based XP
bonus awards.
*These lawful and good players were the first to receive
alignment based xp awards; in this case for freeing the slaves.