(Adventure) Trek to the Vinyard...

[Thels]

"I'm sorry, we have no clue about the horses. This secret room, does it have additional entrances? Also, do you remember how many people were in the house when the orcs attacked? Perhaps there are still others alive. Also, if it's within our power, we should clear the mansion of these foul creatures." Zoe walks towards the secret entrance, briefly inspecting it, as well as concentrating on her near surroundings for any disturbing aura's.

 

[Arken]

Felix performs a slightly elaborate bow.

'My good lady we will of course bring you, and your children, to saftey. I hope you would not find it overly presumptuous however if I were to ask if can think of anything, even the slightest thing, that you believe may have been a draw to these creatures. If it is some aspect of the site then there is the possibility you could be in danger again, I apologise for ebing so forth-right'

 

[GnomeWorks]

Troi nods politely as the mother and son come down from the attic, though he says nothing. He stands by and watches, fidgeting slightly, sometimes looking out the window.

As the others look to the passage, however, Troi rolls his eyes.

"I'm sorry to be rude an' all," He says loudly, "but am I th' only one who's concerned 'bout the one that got away? Y'know, th' one that crashed through the window and changed? Or did none a ya notice that the guy changed into a beast er somethin', and whatnot?"

He shrugs. "Just askin'... no offense meant, and all that..."

 

[Velmont]

"Yes, I saw him flee, but who cares about a simpl... What? you saw him changed? You mean he could be a shapechanger like we talked at the outpost?" *sigh*

 

[Thels]

Zoe turns around to Troi: "He changed? Uhh, I must have missed that. In that case, it would be interesting to check out more of him. However, by now he is probably quite far away, and we cannot leave these people here unprotected. Perhaps we should focus on the mansion for now and hope that you will be able to follow the tracks of the shapeshifting orc later?"

 

[GnomeWorks]

Troi shrugs. "Heh, I thought the rest a ya saw that."

He nods as Zoe speaks. "Yeah, ya gotta point. Let's take care a the mansion first, then see what we can find, tracks-wise."

 

[Uriel]

OoC: High on pain killers for my broken knee...trying to tie this one up, so as to move forward with the next story, should any wish to adventure in it. This one will read like a narrative, please feel free to interject at any point in flash-back mode if I roll over anyone and you want to 'go back' for questions etc...


IC: As the storm rages outside, the Companions usher the woman and her young son down into the Vault past the secret door. As you travel, she speaks quietly ' There is a second secret entrance to this vault at the back of a false keg (really large storage kegs kept below) that also leads in. It is barred from inside and I doubt that even those brutes have the muscle to have forced inside, even if they had the wit to find it.'

The secret door that you pass through has a large bar, and Orson sets it as you head down.At the bottom of the thin staircase leading down, you end in a room perhaps 25 by 25 feet. A desk as well as many crates and barrels line the walls, along with several simple pallets for sleeping. A door (barred from inside) sits against one wall, still intact.

Orson holds his crossbow grimly and says that he will lead you about the Mansion, as he knows it like the back of his hand. With the mother and son safely tucked away, you all head back out to secure the mansion.

Perhaps two hours of careful searching yeilds three facts. One, there are no Orcs (alive) yet in the mansion. Two, the orcs seem to have looted much and gone on for the most part. Those left in the mansion must have been stragglers.
three, there are no bodies of any of the humans that once called the ingarius Vinyards home. Orson says that there were perhaps 20 people in total at this time of year, perhaps double that lived here during the growing Season.

Heading outside, you see that the horses are all still teathered, though they roll their eyes wildly at the thunder and lightning. orson says that the Foyer would be large enough for them (once you remove the Orcish bodies), and you bring them inside.
Troi (with Thurgan keeping eyes peeled with his Darkvision and Zoe using her Hyrag-Given ability to Detect Evil) moves around to where the Shapechanger leaped out of the window. Two holes where he landed are visable (though full of rainwater at this point). After about ten yards the tracks clearly go from a two-legged set to a four-legged set...heading West/South-West into the low hills surrounding the estate.

The storm becomes more fierce, and you all decide to retire inside, though Troi is frustrated and reluctant to give up the chase.

Once all doors are locked and barred, the horses calmed and the place reasonably secure, you return to the Vault where Mrs. Vingarius waits with little Daryn.

Sharing your tale over tea and cake (Orson having shown all hwere these things could be found), you tell the survivors of taking the job from Fenton, her husband's dearest friend. Tears of joy spring to her eyes at this, she smiling at
how quickly Fenton acted. Nodding at Orson, and trusting you implicitely, it would seem, she has her older son go to a small chest and (with Thurgan's help), he brings it up and places it upon the low desk.Mrs. Vingarius opens it and gestures to your group. Moving around to look within, you see many,many shiny gold coins, clearly in excess of several thousand gold pieces.
'There are just over three thousand gold pieces within, and over half that value again in jewels, a small bag containing fire opals.I will add in another thousand from what Mr. Fenton owes me for the last season's shipments, clearing up the rest of what he promised you.

<3,048 GP and 20 gems worth 100GP each+ 1,000GP in lieu of Fenton's backend reward>.

You all sleep a fairly restful night, and in the morning you emerge to see that the rains have abatted somewhat, enough to trael to Orassus at least. The stables yield no horses, but there is a wagon and you are able to hitch several of the horses up (Thurgan is happy to let young Orson ride the pony, and ride in the wagon instead).

The trip back to the Roadhouse is an easy one, and the Roadwardens immediately send out a patrol of a half-dozen men, as well as sending a rider ahead to get reinforcements from the City. The trip back to Orassus is an easy stretch and you soon find yourselves back at your Lodgings in the Red Dragon.

OoC:Once again, feel free to add anything you would like to, while I submit the XP awards to the other Judges, as I am DM in this one instead.
Great Roleplaying all around folks, sorry I couldn't rap it up a few days ago, but with my connection roblems and then getting mugged and my ankle and knee broke, I have been havinga rather tough time of it.

 

[WizWrm]

Thanks for the great adventure, Uriel. Sorry to hear about your incident. In my naivete, I feel compelled to ask if there's any chance that the muggers will be found?

This whole post is going to be OOC; I have a couple things to do IC, but I'll just give an overview rather than spending another three or four days going through it. I'm a bit eager to get back to the Inn, since there's at least one adventure pending (poor Someone...) plus the global world event.

Velbrik will comment that we had tied some horses we borrowed from Fenton (I think..) outside, and we'll be able to return on those, as well as return them to their proper owner. Assuming they weren't mauled, of course. Also, he wants to know if the Vingarius family will be safe; making sure the Roadwardens have an easy line of communication or something along those lines. In addition, he'll want to know if the Vingarius family will be able to get their business back on their feet and if there's anything he can do to help.

To the other party members, Velbrik is going to mention Delmon's Tower and the Monastery of Saint Feragon, which, according to the map, were the other places marked for attack. (Is that the next adventure you'll be running?)

There was an orc about halfway down this page which had three un-identified potions. In addition to that, Velbrik is going to keep one of the Kroggoth symbols in his backpack, just in case.

A couple more things:

Could I change my alignment from N to LN? Velbrik turned out more steadfast and devoted to the goals of the group than I had originally intended.

Presuming that I level up from this adventure, will velbrik's stutterstep be an OK spell to take? Here is the House Rules thread detailing the spell, with comments and suggestions (though I didn't end up changing anything), and garyh and Macbeth have given their OK, though creamsteak hasn't said a word.

Once the cash is split up (see below), how is the purchase of magic items going to be handled? There was an availability limit of 20000 gp, if I remember correctly, so no problem there, but does that mean just about any reasonable non-custom item will be available at market price? Or are there other limitations?

So 6048 gp (2000 being in gems) plus three potions that need splitting up. I see nothing wrong with 1008 gp each, and then rolling randomly on the potions or distributing as need be (if one is a potion of fox's cunning, for example, obviously Velbrik or Troi or some others won't have a major use for that). Once we find out what the potions are, though, I guess we could do some funky calculations to make the loot split perfectly even, if everyone wants.

As a side note, I've marked down one sunrod as being used on my character sheet.

 

[Uriel]

Thanks for the great adventure, Uriel. Sorry to hear about your incident. In my naivete, I feel compelled to ask if there's any chance that the muggers will be found?

Well,the robbers hit at least one other person; A poor elderly woman whose home they burglarized, she wasn;t hurt thank the Gods. I'm not sure about the chances of getting them as of right now. I'm going down tuesday to maybe look through some mug shots, but it's pretty bleak. Maybe the older woman can give a better description, as I assume that she had better lighting than my situation did.

This whole post is going to be OOC; I have a couple things to do IC, but I'll just give an overview rather than spending another three or four days going through it. I'm a bit eager to get back to the Inn, since there's at least one adventure pending (poor Someone...) plus the global world event.

Velbrik will comment that we had tied some horses we borrowed from Fenton (I think..) outside, and we'll be able to return on those, as well as return them to their proper owner. Assuming they weren't mauled, of course. Also, he wants to know if the Vingarius family will be safe; making sure the Roadwardens have an easy line of communication or something along those lines. In addition, he'll want to know if the Vingarius family will be able to get their business back on their feet and if there's anything he can do to help.

I had you folks return on the horses, used them for the wagon etc...

To the other party members, Velbrik is going to mention Delmon's Tower and the Monastery of Saint Feragon, which, according to the map, were the other places marked for attack. (Is that the next adventure you'll be running?)

The Monestary happes to lie due South,South-East...Hmmm...Troi starts to get this really irritating itch at the back of his skull 'he Orc that got away was this big!

There was an orc about halfway down this page which had three un-identified potions. In addition to that, Velbrik is going to keep one of the Kroggoth symbols in his backpack, just in case.

He also had a Masterworked Warhammer, a fine weapon of obviously non-Orcish make.

A couple more things:

Could I change my alignment from N to LN? Velbrik turned out more steadfast and devoted to the goals of the group than I had originally intended.

I don't have a problem with it as either a Dm or a judge. I think that the first few adventures help shape a character's alignment, and such a minor shift (as oppossed to Chaotic Good to say Neutral Evil or some such...) is fine.

Presuming that I level up from this adventure, will velbrik's stutterstep be an OK spell to take? Here is the House Rules thread detailing the spell, with comments and suggestions (though I didn't end up changing anything), and garyh and Macbeth have given their OK, though creamsteak hasn't said a word.

I'll go and have a look, as well as ask CS what he thinks. I still need to send one of the other judges the XP total, but you guys can start speculating what you might like to do as far as Level 2 development...

Once the cash is split up (see below), how is the purchase of magic items going to be handled? There was an availability limit of 20000 gp, if I remember correctly, so no problem there, but does that mean just about any reasonable non-custom item will be available at market price? Or are there other limitations?

I read that in my catch-up this evening. I have no problem with any non-magical purchases that you would like to make.

So 6048 gp (2000 being in gems) plus three potions that need splitting up. I see nothing wrong with 1008 gp each, and then rolling randomly on the potions or distributing as need be (if one is a potion of fox's cunning, for example, obviously Velbrik or Troi or some others won't have a major use for that). Once we find out what the potions are, though, I guess we could do some funky calculations to make the loot split perfectly even, if everyone wants.


As an additional show of gratitude, Mrs. Vingarius has also had a family friend (who is a Wizard) identify the items.

The potions are
1) Cure moderate Wounds 2D8+3
2) Bull's Strength (3rd Level use)
3) Elemental Resistance (Fire)

The Warhammer is also Magical, +1 in fact.


As a side note, I've marked down one sunrod as being used on my character sheet.

This may change the distribution, of course...
-Uriel

 

[Arken]

Thanks for a brilliant adventure Uriel, So sorry to hear about you being attacked . I hope you get well soon.

ooc: One or two notes from me as well, Felix will keep as many of the orcish talismans as possible that aren't wanted by other people (such as Velbrik for example), he is a collector of magical oddities, is there a tally anywhere of exactly how many there are?

Also as far as customising the characters goes, is there any possibility that if I get together an artificer build for a PrC that I could run it past the judges or should I stick to spells and feats?

Another thing, Felix' religion didn't play as large a role as I expected (Merchant God), could I perhaps change that into a losse moral guidline on the way he views society should work? (It keeps him essentially the same in respect to alignment etc.), Oh and I should addd the personality trait I gave him over the course of the adventure of slight over wordiness oc

As they are riding back in the after-rain airy atmosphere Felix begins to whistle a little tune not altogether melodiously and after a while rides to the centre of the group as they are passing beneath an avenue of trees on the road.

"My friends I have had the greatest pleasure in making your aquaintance all be it in rather stressful surroundings"

He his head respectfully at each in turn

"I most wholeheartedly hope that this was the beginning of a relationship that will go beyond our re-convening in the tavern. Friends can be few and far between at times in this world of ours and I consider, following our experiences together, that we could indeed be my friends, we must keep in touch, people always get more done when they work together.
With that in mind I had considered begining a guild for such activities as trading (he nods towards Rinaldo) and the formulation of a catalogue of Monsterts and study of them which I thought you, Troi, might express a particular interest in. It was clear from our experience with these creatures that there are many strange beasts in the world and they fascinate me.
Please if you are at all interested in such an 'adventurers guild' (it would very close to the tavern of course, one wouldn't want to be cut off) then do talk to me, I hope it will act as part of a support network later on, in fact (his eyes seem to glaze with imaginations a future grandeur for a moment) one should be able to make an item, telepathy perhaps, a ring, no parhaps an item for teh head...?..."his musings tail off.
"In the spirit of this any of you are always most welcome to come and consult me over a magical item or an interesting case which you believe I could help you on"

As often happens Felix only suddenly realises how much he has said and quietens down looking mildly embarrased but grinning all the same. Happily he rides with the others over a crest in the hill below which they can see the city layed out before them.