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Story Hour
Erkonin (Campaign #1) [Session 46: Making Deals with Devils is Stupid as well as Bad]
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<blockquote data-quote="prabe" data-source="post: 8203713" data-attributes="member: 7016699"><p>Session 32: The Perils of Traveling By Water; Also, We Own A Whole Town!!</p><p></p><p>Dramatis Personae:</p><p></p><p>Orryk - Forest Gnome Monk (Way of the Four Elements, variant)</p><p>Mo - Goliath Bard (College of Lore)</p><p>Fiona - Half-Elf Wizard (Evoker)/Cleric (Knowledge)</p><p>Taman - Human (variant) Rogue (Inquisitive)/Ranger</p><p>Joybell - Forest Gnome Paladin (Oath of the Ancients)</p><p>Thneed - Wood Elf Ranger (Hunter Conclave)</p><p></p><p>GM - Everyone Else</p><p></p><p></p><p>15 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 76)</p><p></p><p>We’d decided during the course of a week of downtime that we wanted a place of our own -- preferably one that was a bit outside of Embernook. So, after Joybell picked up her new shield, we all (except Fiona who spent a week and a half doing little but learning spells from Steeltear’s spell book and, when reminded, eating and sleeping) went to Tulmor and Barnett’s. We wanted to ask them if they knew who we should talk to about maybe buying Harl’s house up in Kalmarn (or maybe all of Kalmarn).</p><p></p><p>Barnett started laughing and said that he was the person we needed to talk to. He’d inherited Harl’s house and the entire village. He also said that he didn’t want any of it.</p><p></p><p>Mo: So, for this house you don’t want, how much?</p><p>Barnett: I can sell you the house and the town all the way to the pier on the river for 8000gp.</p><p>Joybell: Only 8000? For a whole town? Are you sure that’s enough?</p><p>Mo: Yes. He is.</p><p></p><p>Barnett said he’d get the papers drawn up -- we could close the sale the next day, on the 16th of Rippenin (campaign day 77).</p><p></p><p>We discussed various plans -- Joybell and Orryk didn’t want to spend a lot of time <em>personally</em> furnishing the house and finding villagers to live in Kalmarn. Mo and Taman had some ideas about what tradespeople we needed for the village. Also, they wanted to start an inn, which is a fine idea. But we decided to start from baby steps -- getting our house in order, without spending a lot of time in the weeds of that.</p><p></p><p>(Note: Also not spending a lot of time at the gaming table on recruiting blacksmiths and buying furniture.)</p><p></p><p>We decided that we needed a castellan. Joybell was pretty definite that’s what we need because we definitely didn’t want a vizier, they’re always evil, or a majordomo, they’re usually evil. Castellans are nice and honorable.</p><p></p><p>We figured that maybe we could get a recommendation for someone who would make a good castellan from Tillaron Zun. Taman had a question for him anyway, since our next adventure is going to be up to Auriqua to deal with the fey that killed his family.</p><p></p><p>At the Zun estate, we got taken directly to see Tillaron. Joybell asked if he could recommend someone very trustworthy to be our castellan.</p><p></p><p>Tillaron Zun: I hate to say this, but the best, most qualified and most honest person for the job is a halfling named Chulty. He’s Thalith’s nephew.</p><p>Joybell: Do you know how to get in touch with him?</p><p>Tillaron: No. You’ll have to ask Thalith. I’d appreciate it if you mentioned that I gave you the recommendation.</p><p></p><p>Joybell agreed that she would.</p><p></p><p>Taman: You’ve been to Auriqua. How do I get in touch with the Fey?</p><p>Tillaron: Any one in particular?</p><p>Taman: Yes. But the Fey will be best situated to help me find the one I’m looking for, Ildna.</p><p>Tillaron: Well, I can tell you that if you’re at the Blue Gate on the first night of the Festival Of Sky you can probably talk to the Tundra Queen.</p><p>Taman: In person?</p><p>Tillaron: Yes. She’s contractually obligated to be there, I believe.</p><p></p><p>We don’t want to wait that long to go to Auriqua and find Ildna (it’s currently about 2 weeks to the Autumnal Equinox festival, so a long way from the Feast of Sky, which is the Winter Solstice festival), so we’ll have to find another way to get in touch with they Fey up there.</p><p></p><p>We thanked Tillaron and left for Thalith’s office. Joybell put her name on the waiting list and waited patiently, while the others looked at her in something like disbelief.</p><p></p><p>After a few minutes, we got called in, ahead of our time in line.</p><p></p><p>Thalith: What is it with you?</p><p>Joybell: Everyone out there has business that’s important for their lives. Ours isn’t more so. Anyway, we’re buying Harl’s house and all of Kalmarn from Barnett.</p><p>Thalith: Oh!?</p><p>Joybell: Yep! And we need a castellan. Tillaron Zun recommended your nephew, Chulty, as the best and most honest choice.</p><p>Thalith: He’s right. Chulty is the best choice. And Tillaron clearly wants something.</p><p>Mo: That was subtle...</p><p>Joybell: He didn’t say to be subtle. He said to mention his name. If he wanted me to be subtle he needed to tell me that.</p><p></p><p>Thalith, after confirming that the best place to get in touch with us was still the Pewter Oar, said that Chulty would come by after dinner so we could talk to him and meet him.</p><p></p><p>Taman: How do I get in touch with the Fey in Auriqua?</p><p>Thalith: Do you want the Tundra Queen?</p><p>Taman: That’s months away and she’s not the best choice.</p><p>Thalith: You’re looking for the one who destroyed your family...After the Autumnal Equinox, some of the Fey with cold powers come out north of the city to play. You might be able to talk with one of them to find the one you’re seeking.</p><p></p><p>After dinner at the Pewter Oar, we saw a young, barely adult, hafling enter and look around the tavern. When he saw the party, he came over to us. We bought him a beer and began a sort of awkward interview. He was a robust looking halfling -- he clearly spent time outside doing things.</p><p></p><p>Orryk: What do you do now?</p><p>Chulty: I’ve been doing errands for my uncle around town.</p><p>Thneed: If you had your uncle’s job, would you enjoy it?</p><p>Chulty: I think having the Administrator looking over your shoulder constantly would be tiring.</p><p>Thneed: Have you been out of Embernook?</p><p>Chulty: I’ve been to Erlin and Lonoj. I walked most of the way, which was a good way to travel.</p><p></p><p>Someone asked if he’d be okay alone for extended periods of time, because we were probably not going to be consistently in residence.</p><p></p><p>We talked some about how much he expected to be paid (2gp/day) and agreed to his rates. We paid him three months in advance and told him that we’d be closing on the sale the next day.</p><p></p><p>The night then passed with those staying at the inn safely there and those at Queena’s lodging house safely there.</p><p></p><p></p><p>16 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 77)</p><p></p><p>At breakfast, we got a note from Chulty that he was going to be taking a trade boat up the river to Kalmarn to start taking a look at the house. We weren’t going to be getting there for a few days but he wanted to hit the ground running.</p><p></p><p>First thing after breakfast, Joybell and Thneed went to the guard house to see if they needed any help. Joybell was very disappointed that they said no. She and Thneed did however do some practice and training there -- Thneed with the archery targets and Joybell sparring with some of the guards and doing drills with dummies.</p><p></p><p>Fiona’s work learning spells from Steeltear’s spellbook continued -- some of it at the Pewter Oar, some of it at Tulmor and Barnett’s (for more privacy), and some of it outside the city walls (such as practicing making a wall of fire).</p><p></p><p>When she was at Tulmor and Barnett’s, around when we did the paperwork for the closing, Tulmor went to her with a stack of paper glued on three sides (so the pages stay together solidly but can still be readily separated). She explained that these are dragon pages -- magical paper. If you write a message on the page, fold it in half, and then write a name on the outside, the paper will magically fold itself into an origami dragon and fly to the person you’re writing to. (The paper becomes invisible after a few feet of flight.) The paper arrives at its destination within a day. If you fold a blank sheet inside the one addressed, it will provide a way for the recipient to respond.</p><p></p><p>Tulmor: There are 50 pages there. It’s a gift, but don’t tell Barnett. He doesn’t know I can make them.</p><p></p><p>Orryk also spent some time at their place learning Jump, Longstrider and Expeditious Retreat from their spellbooks. (There’s definitely a theme to his research there.)</p><p></p><p>While that was happening, Joybell and some other folks went to the docks to charter a boat to take us up to Auriqua, with stops as needed along the way, including one in Kalmarn. We found The Gellyan, captained by Tavin Lamerin, a human. He asked for 250 gp to take us there and wait for 6 days to bring us back. If we aren’t ready to leave at that time, he’ll just load cargo and come back without us. We agreed to those terms, and Taman paid for the entire group. Mo paid him an additional 50gp to load better food than would be their norm for us and the crew and everyone on board.</p><p></p><p>That evening, Fiona sent a message to Rask and the Cracked Shields about coming to Kalmarn. She told him that it’s an empty town about half a day from Embernook. We own the village. Rask said that sounded like a very tempting idea.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Maybe they’ll adopt me after all!</p><p></p><p>The rest of the day and the evening passed without incident.</p><p></p><p></p><p>17 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 78)</p><p></p><p>Mo went and bought beer, distilled spirits (moonshine) and wine for the trip.</p><p></p><p>Joybell and Thneed went to see if the guard needed any help. Joybell was once again disappointed that they did not. They spent the day training and practicing.</p><p></p><p>At some point in the day, Joybell bought a bottle of really nice wine and put it in her pack.</p><p></p><p>The day and the night otherwise passed without incident.</p><p></p><p></p><p>18 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 79)</p><p></p><p>We went to the Gellyan bright and early first thing in the morning. We told Captain Lamerin that we needed to stop in Kalmarn for the rest of the day. The pier in Kalmarn was still there and in good shape. The signal flag, which indicates that someone in the town needs a ship to stop, was not out. As we walked through the town, we noticed that there weren’t any corpses still around -- we couldn’t remember if all of the corpses had been cleared away and burned before we went back to deal with the gribbly monster in Harl’s house or not.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, we walked through the town to get to Our House. Mo suggested renaming the town Mo City, or perhaps Mo Village. Someone else suggested Motown. The idea of renaming Kalmarn didn’t gain much traction. However, Joybell did enthusiastically back calling our house Stately Kang Manor.</p><p></p><p>When we got there, we found all the windows and doors thrown open and a tent pitched in the front yard. Chulty stepped out of the tent as we approached.</p><p></p><p>Chulty: Howdy!</p><p>Joybell: Why are you staying outside?</p><p>Chulty: The place has been closed up for a month and it’s stuffy.</p><p>Joybell: Fair enough. How much do you think you’re going to need to fix it up?</p><p>Chulty: For paint and furniture and so on, 3000 gp. Do I need to know anything -- like is anything on the walls?</p><p>Orryk: There’s a teleportation circle on the floor in the library, hidden with an illusion spell. We’d like to keep that.</p><p>Chulty: Good to know.</p><p></p><p>We gave him the pad of dragon pages so he could reach us, and the money he said he’d need. Mo gave him some extra money to stock booze so we wouldn’t come back to nothing to drink when we returned.</p><p></p><p>Mo then headed out to cast the 8-hour version of the Plant Growth spell -- to make the land around Stately Kang Manor very fertile and productive. While he was doing that Joybell talked with Chulty about maybe needing a gardener, so we don’t have fertile and productive weeds and stuff. She slipped him some extra money to hire a gardener or any other staff he might feel he needed.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Are you going to be okay?</p><p>Chulty: I’ll be fine.</p><p></p><p>She told him about our invitation to the Cracked Shield to come and settle in Kalmarn.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: They’ll be a tribe of orcs and half-orcs, with some children as well as adults. They have cracks painted on their shields. They’re really awesome. I just don’t want you to be surprised or taken aback.</p><p>Chulty: Okay. I’m glad you told me.</p><p></p><p>After talking with Chulty, Joybell walked around the house and picked herself a room on the ground floor, because she wanted a window Scooby could jump in and out of. The others picked out rooms according to their preferences.</p><p></p><p>Ultimately though, because we had no furniture, and the house was kinda stuffy still...and maybe because we’re used to it, Fiona made a Tiny Hut in the garden for people to sleep in if they wanted. Orryk, Joybell and Chulty stayed in the hut with her. Taman slept outside the hut in the garden. Thneed found her way to the edge of some trees so she could sleep under those. Mo started the broom flying and spent the night sleeping strapped into his combat hammock a thousand or so feet in the air.</p><p></p><p>The night passed without incident.</p><p></p><p></p><p>19 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 80)</p><p></p><p>We headed to the river bright and early in the morning. In honor of our water voyage, Omnath (Orryk’s Awesome Mephit Friend) was in the form of a steam mephit.</p><p></p><p>Aboard the Gellyan, Joybell, Scooby, Thneed and Taman sat right up in the front of the boat looking at all the neat stuff going by and talking about it. (Well, Scooby didn’t do much talking, but they were able to sort of lean back on him and relax.) Fiona and Orryk were reading below. Mo was flying along above the boat, relaxing in his combat hammock -- where he mostly lives now.</p><p></p><p>The day and the night passed quietly.</p><p></p><p></p><p>20 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 81)</p><p></p><p>Most of the day passed in very similar fashion to the day before. Dinner was shortly before sunset. After dinner, Joybell, Thneed, Taman, and Scooby, went back to the bow of the ship to watch the sunset. Mo was getting ready to start the broom of flying again. Fiona and Orryk were once again reading below.</p><p></p><p>Our post-dinner reverie was interrupted by a huge surge in the water ahead of us, as a hydra with five heads rose up out of the river immediately in front of the boat.</p><p></p><p>Before the crew could even react, Thneed had drawn her bow, cast hunter’s mark on it, and shot it twice. Taman cast hunters’ mark as well and shot it as well.</p><p></p><p>Because there was no screaming or commotion yet, Orryk and Fiona just kept reading.</p><p></p><p>Mo puffed on his pipe to get some smoke going well, then blew out a cloud around the hydra and cast polymorph. Unfortunately, the hydra saved against that. He then inspired Joybell.</p><p></p><p>Joybell considered jumping from the boat to the hydra, but it looked like it was maybe a bit too far and she was afraid that it was a bad idea. So she fired magic missiles at it from the wand instead.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Orryk and Fiona, we need you!</p><p></p><p>The hydra moved up to the side of the boat right near Thneed and attacked her with all five of its heads. Two missed, two hit (one critically), and Mo said some cutting words to cause the last one to miss.</p><p></p><p>Mo: Hey! You got too many heads!</p><p></p><p>Thneed disengaged and moved back from the railing of the ship to be near Scooby.</p><p></p><p>Taman did what Joybell had only thought of -- he took a running leap and jumped onto the back of the hydra and slashed at it with his new scimitar, getting a good hit.</p><p></p><p>Orryk trudged up on deck muttering about Joybell interrupting them for some damn thing or another. Then he saw the hydra.</p><p></p><p>Orryk: <<swearing in gnomish>> Fiona. Hydra.</p><p></p><p>He took a shot with his shortbow.</p><p></p><p>This wass about when the crew started screaming.</p><p></p><p>Mo: It’s not nice to waste someone’s high level spells.</p><p></p><p>Then he cast polymorph on the hydra again. It resisted again.</p><p></p><p>Fiona came up onto the deck.</p><p></p><p>Fiona: Huh!</p><p></p><p>She cast polymorph and turned the hydra into a trout. Taman fell into the water with a big splash. Joybell ran over to the side of the ship and threw him a rope and pulled him back on board.</p><p></p><p>Taman: That was really cool for about five seconds.</p><p>Joybell: It was awesome!</p><p>Mo, to Fiona: Polymorph was a great idea.</p><p></p><p>Captain Lamerin came out on deck to see why his crew were screaming and what the commotion was -- only to see absolutely nothing threatening the ship. Joybell explained to him that there was a hydra and that it had been turned into a fish, but only for an hour, so maybe we ought to get well away.</p><p></p><p>The captain agreed with that and we sailed away with alacrity.</p><p></p><p>Joybell sat back down in the bow of the ship, leaning against Scooby, to watch the sunset.</p><p></p><p>After the Hydra Incident, we decided to keep watches while aboard the Gellyan. Joybell took first watch and it was very quiet and peaceful. She woke Orryk up for second watch.</p><p></p><p>After an hour or two, Orryk heard a really bad impersonation of a red-tailed hawk, which he knew to be a daytime bird, not prone to calling in the middle of the night. It sounded to him like someone doing a signal call to someone else.</p><p></p><p>He sent Omnath, still a steam mephit, around to wake everyone up. Omnath was able to talk to Fiona, who was able to explain to us why we were being woken up. Thneed went to the captain’s quarters and banged on the door.</p><p></p><p>We stayed upstairs for a while, but no one saw or heard anything further, so Fiona and Taman went back to bed. Joybell curled up with Scooby on the deck and slept there. Thneed, having already gotten as much time for her trance as she needed, stayed on deck with Orryk, until he went back to sleep, then took over for third watch.</p><p></p><p>The rest of the night passed without any anomalous animal noises or other incident.</p><p></p><p></p><p>21 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 82)</p><p></p><p>The next afternoon, we sailed along with Joybell, Taman and Thneed in the front of the ship, with Scooby behind them where Joybell could lean on him, watching the banks go by and pointing interesting things out to each other. Orryk and Fiona were reading and Mo was a couple hundred feet up and about 10 feet behind the back of the ship lounging in his combat hammock.</p><p></p><p>We were snuck up on (sort of) by a troop of five hill giants about 40 feet away on the banks of the river. It was pretty clear that they could wade right up to the boat without much trouble because the river wasn’t all that deep.</p><p></p><p>One of them stepped forward as their leader.</p><p></p><p>Giant (in common): Pull boat to shore or we throw rocks.</p><p>Captain Lamerin (to us): I’m not going to let them hole the boat. I’m pulling over.</p><p>Mo (to the giants): What do you want?</p><p>Giant: We want treasure. Empty boat.</p><p>Mo: We don’t have any treasure.</p><p></p><p>It was clear that the giants did not believe that we had no treasure on board the boat.</p><p></p><p>Joybell moved to the deck railing where the giants would be reaching us and told them that we didn’t have anything for them and to let us be. Then she held an attack in case one of them made an aggressive move on us or the ship.</p><p></p><p>Taman tried to use the Eyes of Charming on the leader but the attempt failed because Giants are immune (the Eyes of Charming work on humanoids). The giant was clearly aware of the attempt though because he said something about human tricks. Then he moved aggressively toward the side of the ship.</p><p></p><p>Joybell decided that was enough of a threat for her and used her held action to attack, drawing down divine energy into the hit and striking a blow that the giant actually noticed.</p><p></p><p>Taman, did something really cool -- he traced the edge of his scimitar with his thumb, causing it to glow bright green, then did his attack. As the sword slashed across the giant’s chest, there was a shockwave that radiated out from the blow, rippling through the corpulent body and doing extra damage.</p><p></p><p>Orryk who had been alerted while we were moving to the shore came on deck and attacked the giant, getting lots of hits with the daggers. Mo blew a ring of smoke and cast hypnotic pattern over the three closest to us who were not the leader. Two of them appeared to stop moving much and just blinked slowly. Then he floated closer on his broom, but was still in the air.</p><p></p><p>Joybell attacked the giant leader twice, without smiting, and dropped him.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Your leader is dead. We’re going to sail on.</p><p></p><p>Before they had much chance to respond to that, Fiona cast a fireball, centered right on them but shaped around the two that were hypnotized. It did a lot of damage to the two that had not been injured yet. Thneed took her two shots on the nearest one, with her hunters’ mark, hitting solidly.</p><p></p><p>One of the two singed ones went to their fallen leader and put her hand on his body. The other one backed away from the edge of the river.</p><p></p><p>We sailed away down the river staying alert for them to throw any rocks at us. They did not.</p><p></p><p>Captain Lamerin: There are weird things on the river, but this is new. I’ve never had a trip like this.</p><p></p><p>Because of course all the bad stuff was coming out while we were passing through.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="prabe, post: 8203713, member: 7016699"] Session 32: The Perils of Traveling By Water; Also, We Own A Whole Town!! Dramatis Personae: Orryk - Forest Gnome Monk (Way of the Four Elements, variant) Mo - Goliath Bard (College of Lore) Fiona - Half-Elf Wizard (Evoker)/Cleric (Knowledge) Taman - Human (variant) Rogue (Inquisitive)/Ranger Joybell - Forest Gnome Paladin (Oath of the Ancients) Thneed - Wood Elf Ranger (Hunter Conclave) GM - Everyone Else 15 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 76) We’d decided during the course of a week of downtime that we wanted a place of our own -- preferably one that was a bit outside of Embernook. So, after Joybell picked up her new shield, we all (except Fiona who spent a week and a half doing little but learning spells from Steeltear’s spell book and, when reminded, eating and sleeping) went to Tulmor and Barnett’s. We wanted to ask them if they knew who we should talk to about maybe buying Harl’s house up in Kalmarn (or maybe all of Kalmarn). Barnett started laughing and said that he was the person we needed to talk to. He’d inherited Harl’s house and the entire village. He also said that he didn’t want any of it. Mo: So, for this house you don’t want, how much? Barnett: I can sell you the house and the town all the way to the pier on the river for 8000gp. Joybell: Only 8000? For a whole town? Are you sure that’s enough? Mo: Yes. He is. Barnett said he’d get the papers drawn up -- we could close the sale the next day, on the 16th of Rippenin (campaign day 77). We discussed various plans -- Joybell and Orryk didn’t want to spend a lot of time [I]personally[/I] furnishing the house and finding villagers to live in Kalmarn. Mo and Taman had some ideas about what tradespeople we needed for the village. Also, they wanted to start an inn, which is a fine idea. But we decided to start from baby steps -- getting our house in order, without spending a lot of time in the weeds of that. (Note: Also not spending a lot of time at the gaming table on recruiting blacksmiths and buying furniture.) We decided that we needed a castellan. Joybell was pretty definite that’s what we need because we definitely didn’t want a vizier, they’re always evil, or a majordomo, they’re usually evil. Castellans are nice and honorable. We figured that maybe we could get a recommendation for someone who would make a good castellan from Tillaron Zun. Taman had a question for him anyway, since our next adventure is going to be up to Auriqua to deal with the fey that killed his family. At the Zun estate, we got taken directly to see Tillaron. Joybell asked if he could recommend someone very trustworthy to be our castellan. Tillaron Zun: I hate to say this, but the best, most qualified and most honest person for the job is a halfling named Chulty. He’s Thalith’s nephew. Joybell: Do you know how to get in touch with him? Tillaron: No. You’ll have to ask Thalith. I’d appreciate it if you mentioned that I gave you the recommendation. Joybell agreed that she would. Taman: You’ve been to Auriqua. How do I get in touch with the Fey? Tillaron: Any one in particular? Taman: Yes. But the Fey will be best situated to help me find the one I’m looking for, Ildna. Tillaron: Well, I can tell you that if you’re at the Blue Gate on the first night of the Festival Of Sky you can probably talk to the Tundra Queen. Taman: In person? Tillaron: Yes. She’s contractually obligated to be there, I believe. We don’t want to wait that long to go to Auriqua and find Ildna (it’s currently about 2 weeks to the Autumnal Equinox festival, so a long way from the Feast of Sky, which is the Winter Solstice festival), so we’ll have to find another way to get in touch with they Fey up there. We thanked Tillaron and left for Thalith’s office. Joybell put her name on the waiting list and waited patiently, while the others looked at her in something like disbelief. After a few minutes, we got called in, ahead of our time in line. Thalith: What is it with you? Joybell: Everyone out there has business that’s important for their lives. Ours isn’t more so. Anyway, we’re buying Harl’s house and all of Kalmarn from Barnett. Thalith: Oh!? Joybell: Yep! And we need a castellan. Tillaron Zun recommended your nephew, Chulty, as the best and most honest choice. Thalith: He’s right. Chulty is the best choice. And Tillaron clearly wants something. Mo: That was subtle... Joybell: He didn’t say to be subtle. He said to mention his name. If he wanted me to be subtle he needed to tell me that. Thalith, after confirming that the best place to get in touch with us was still the Pewter Oar, said that Chulty would come by after dinner so we could talk to him and meet him. Taman: How do I get in touch with the Fey in Auriqua? Thalith: Do you want the Tundra Queen? Taman: That’s months away and she’s not the best choice. Thalith: You’re looking for the one who destroyed your family...After the Autumnal Equinox, some of the Fey with cold powers come out north of the city to play. You might be able to talk with one of them to find the one you’re seeking. After dinner at the Pewter Oar, we saw a young, barely adult, hafling enter and look around the tavern. When he saw the party, he came over to us. We bought him a beer and began a sort of awkward interview. He was a robust looking halfling -- he clearly spent time outside doing things. Orryk: What do you do now? Chulty: I’ve been doing errands for my uncle around town. Thneed: If you had your uncle’s job, would you enjoy it? Chulty: I think having the Administrator looking over your shoulder constantly would be tiring. Thneed: Have you been out of Embernook? Chulty: I’ve been to Erlin and Lonoj. I walked most of the way, which was a good way to travel. Someone asked if he’d be okay alone for extended periods of time, because we were probably not going to be consistently in residence. We talked some about how much he expected to be paid (2gp/day) and agreed to his rates. We paid him three months in advance and told him that we’d be closing on the sale the next day. The night then passed with those staying at the inn safely there and those at Queena’s lodging house safely there. 16 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 77) At breakfast, we got a note from Chulty that he was going to be taking a trade boat up the river to Kalmarn to start taking a look at the house. We weren’t going to be getting there for a few days but he wanted to hit the ground running. First thing after breakfast, Joybell and Thneed went to the guard house to see if they needed any help. Joybell was very disappointed that they said no. She and Thneed did however do some practice and training there -- Thneed with the archery targets and Joybell sparring with some of the guards and doing drills with dummies. Fiona’s work learning spells from Steeltear’s spellbook continued -- some of it at the Pewter Oar, some of it at Tulmor and Barnett’s (for more privacy), and some of it outside the city walls (such as practicing making a wall of fire). When she was at Tulmor and Barnett’s, around when we did the paperwork for the closing, Tulmor went to her with a stack of paper glued on three sides (so the pages stay together solidly but can still be readily separated). She explained that these are dragon pages -- magical paper. If you write a message on the page, fold it in half, and then write a name on the outside, the paper will magically fold itself into an origami dragon and fly to the person you’re writing to. (The paper becomes invisible after a few feet of flight.) The paper arrives at its destination within a day. If you fold a blank sheet inside the one addressed, it will provide a way for the recipient to respond. Tulmor: There are 50 pages there. It’s a gift, but don’t tell Barnett. He doesn’t know I can make them. Orryk also spent some time at their place learning Jump, Longstrider and Expeditious Retreat from their spellbooks. (There’s definitely a theme to his research there.) While that was happening, Joybell and some other folks went to the docks to charter a boat to take us up to Auriqua, with stops as needed along the way, including one in Kalmarn. We found The Gellyan, captained by Tavin Lamerin, a human. He asked for 250 gp to take us there and wait for 6 days to bring us back. If we aren’t ready to leave at that time, he’ll just load cargo and come back without us. We agreed to those terms, and Taman paid for the entire group. Mo paid him an additional 50gp to load better food than would be their norm for us and the crew and everyone on board. That evening, Fiona sent a message to Rask and the Cracked Shields about coming to Kalmarn. She told him that it’s an empty town about half a day from Embernook. We own the village. Rask said that sounded like a very tempting idea. Joybell: Maybe they’ll adopt me after all! The rest of the day and the evening passed without incident. 17 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 78) Mo went and bought beer, distilled spirits (moonshine) and wine for the trip. Joybell and Thneed went to see if the guard needed any help. Joybell was once again disappointed that they did not. They spent the day training and practicing. At some point in the day, Joybell bought a bottle of really nice wine and put it in her pack. The day and the night otherwise passed without incident. 18 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 79) We went to the Gellyan bright and early first thing in the morning. We told Captain Lamerin that we needed to stop in Kalmarn for the rest of the day. The pier in Kalmarn was still there and in good shape. The signal flag, which indicates that someone in the town needs a ship to stop, was not out. As we walked through the town, we noticed that there weren’t any corpses still around -- we couldn’t remember if all of the corpses had been cleared away and burned before we went back to deal with the gribbly monster in Harl’s house or not. Anyway, we walked through the town to get to Our House. Mo suggested renaming the town Mo City, or perhaps Mo Village. Someone else suggested Motown. The idea of renaming Kalmarn didn’t gain much traction. However, Joybell did enthusiastically back calling our house Stately Kang Manor. When we got there, we found all the windows and doors thrown open and a tent pitched in the front yard. Chulty stepped out of the tent as we approached. Chulty: Howdy! Joybell: Why are you staying outside? Chulty: The place has been closed up for a month and it’s stuffy. Joybell: Fair enough. How much do you think you’re going to need to fix it up? Chulty: For paint and furniture and so on, 3000 gp. Do I need to know anything -- like is anything on the walls? Orryk: There’s a teleportation circle on the floor in the library, hidden with an illusion spell. We’d like to keep that. Chulty: Good to know. We gave him the pad of dragon pages so he could reach us, and the money he said he’d need. Mo gave him some extra money to stock booze so we wouldn’t come back to nothing to drink when we returned. Mo then headed out to cast the 8-hour version of the Plant Growth spell -- to make the land around Stately Kang Manor very fertile and productive. While he was doing that Joybell talked with Chulty about maybe needing a gardener, so we don’t have fertile and productive weeds and stuff. She slipped him some extra money to hire a gardener or any other staff he might feel he needed. Joybell: Are you going to be okay? Chulty: I’ll be fine. She told him about our invitation to the Cracked Shield to come and settle in Kalmarn. Joybell: They’ll be a tribe of orcs and half-orcs, with some children as well as adults. They have cracks painted on their shields. They’re really awesome. I just don’t want you to be surprised or taken aback. Chulty: Okay. I’m glad you told me. After talking with Chulty, Joybell walked around the house and picked herself a room on the ground floor, because she wanted a window Scooby could jump in and out of. The others picked out rooms according to their preferences. Ultimately though, because we had no furniture, and the house was kinda stuffy still...and maybe because we’re used to it, Fiona made a Tiny Hut in the garden for people to sleep in if they wanted. Orryk, Joybell and Chulty stayed in the hut with her. Taman slept outside the hut in the garden. Thneed found her way to the edge of some trees so she could sleep under those. Mo started the broom flying and spent the night sleeping strapped into his combat hammock a thousand or so feet in the air. The night passed without incident. 19 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 80) We headed to the river bright and early in the morning. In honor of our water voyage, Omnath (Orryk’s Awesome Mephit Friend) was in the form of a steam mephit. Aboard the Gellyan, Joybell, Scooby, Thneed and Taman sat right up in the front of the boat looking at all the neat stuff going by and talking about it. (Well, Scooby didn’t do much talking, but they were able to sort of lean back on him and relax.) Fiona and Orryk were reading below. Mo was flying along above the boat, relaxing in his combat hammock -- where he mostly lives now. The day and the night passed quietly. 20 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 81) Most of the day passed in very similar fashion to the day before. Dinner was shortly before sunset. After dinner, Joybell, Thneed, Taman, and Scooby, went back to the bow of the ship to watch the sunset. Mo was getting ready to start the broom of flying again. Fiona and Orryk were once again reading below. Our post-dinner reverie was interrupted by a huge surge in the water ahead of us, as a hydra with five heads rose up out of the river immediately in front of the boat. Before the crew could even react, Thneed had drawn her bow, cast hunter’s mark on it, and shot it twice. Taman cast hunters’ mark as well and shot it as well. Because there was no screaming or commotion yet, Orryk and Fiona just kept reading. Mo puffed on his pipe to get some smoke going well, then blew out a cloud around the hydra and cast polymorph. Unfortunately, the hydra saved against that. He then inspired Joybell. Joybell considered jumping from the boat to the hydra, but it looked like it was maybe a bit too far and she was afraid that it was a bad idea. So she fired magic missiles at it from the wand instead. Joybell: Orryk and Fiona, we need you! The hydra moved up to the side of the boat right near Thneed and attacked her with all five of its heads. Two missed, two hit (one critically), and Mo said some cutting words to cause the last one to miss. Mo: Hey! You got too many heads! Thneed disengaged and moved back from the railing of the ship to be near Scooby. Taman did what Joybell had only thought of -- he took a running leap and jumped onto the back of the hydra and slashed at it with his new scimitar, getting a good hit. Orryk trudged up on deck muttering about Joybell interrupting them for some damn thing or another. Then he saw the hydra. Orryk: <<swearing in gnomish>> Fiona. Hydra. He took a shot with his shortbow. This wass about when the crew started screaming. Mo: It’s not nice to waste someone’s high level spells. Then he cast polymorph on the hydra again. It resisted again. Fiona came up onto the deck. Fiona: Huh! She cast polymorph and turned the hydra into a trout. Taman fell into the water with a big splash. Joybell ran over to the side of the ship and threw him a rope and pulled him back on board. Taman: That was really cool for about five seconds. Joybell: It was awesome! Mo, to Fiona: Polymorph was a great idea. Captain Lamerin came out on deck to see why his crew were screaming and what the commotion was -- only to see absolutely nothing threatening the ship. Joybell explained to him that there was a hydra and that it had been turned into a fish, but only for an hour, so maybe we ought to get well away. The captain agreed with that and we sailed away with alacrity. Joybell sat back down in the bow of the ship, leaning against Scooby, to watch the sunset. After the Hydra Incident, we decided to keep watches while aboard the Gellyan. Joybell took first watch and it was very quiet and peaceful. She woke Orryk up for second watch. After an hour or two, Orryk heard a really bad impersonation of a red-tailed hawk, which he knew to be a daytime bird, not prone to calling in the middle of the night. It sounded to him like someone doing a signal call to someone else. He sent Omnath, still a steam mephit, around to wake everyone up. Omnath was able to talk to Fiona, who was able to explain to us why we were being woken up. Thneed went to the captain’s quarters and banged on the door. We stayed upstairs for a while, but no one saw or heard anything further, so Fiona and Taman went back to bed. Joybell curled up with Scooby on the deck and slept there. Thneed, having already gotten as much time for her trance as she needed, stayed on deck with Orryk, until he went back to sleep, then took over for third watch. The rest of the night passed without any anomalous animal noises or other incident. 21 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 82) The next afternoon, we sailed along with Joybell, Taman and Thneed in the front of the ship, with Scooby behind them where Joybell could lean on him, watching the banks go by and pointing interesting things out to each other. Orryk and Fiona were reading and Mo was a couple hundred feet up and about 10 feet behind the back of the ship lounging in his combat hammock. We were snuck up on (sort of) by a troop of five hill giants about 40 feet away on the banks of the river. It was pretty clear that they could wade right up to the boat without much trouble because the river wasn’t all that deep. One of them stepped forward as their leader. Giant (in common): Pull boat to shore or we throw rocks. Captain Lamerin (to us): I’m not going to let them hole the boat. I’m pulling over. Mo (to the giants): What do you want? Giant: We want treasure. Empty boat. Mo: We don’t have any treasure. It was clear that the giants did not believe that we had no treasure on board the boat. Joybell moved to the deck railing where the giants would be reaching us and told them that we didn’t have anything for them and to let us be. Then she held an attack in case one of them made an aggressive move on us or the ship. Taman tried to use the Eyes of Charming on the leader but the attempt failed because Giants are immune (the Eyes of Charming work on humanoids). The giant was clearly aware of the attempt though because he said something about human tricks. Then he moved aggressively toward the side of the ship. Joybell decided that was enough of a threat for her and used her held action to attack, drawing down divine energy into the hit and striking a blow that the giant actually noticed. Taman, did something really cool -- he traced the edge of his scimitar with his thumb, causing it to glow bright green, then did his attack. As the sword slashed across the giant’s chest, there was a shockwave that radiated out from the blow, rippling through the corpulent body and doing extra damage. Orryk who had been alerted while we were moving to the shore came on deck and attacked the giant, getting lots of hits with the daggers. Mo blew a ring of smoke and cast hypnotic pattern over the three closest to us who were not the leader. Two of them appeared to stop moving much and just blinked slowly. Then he floated closer on his broom, but was still in the air. Joybell attacked the giant leader twice, without smiting, and dropped him. Joybell: Your leader is dead. We’re going to sail on. Before they had much chance to respond to that, Fiona cast a fireball, centered right on them but shaped around the two that were hypnotized. It did a lot of damage to the two that had not been injured yet. Thneed took her two shots on the nearest one, with her hunters’ mark, hitting solidly. One of the two singed ones went to their fallen leader and put her hand on his body. The other one backed away from the edge of the river. We sailed away down the river staying alert for them to throw any rocks at us. They did not. Captain Lamerin: There are weird things on the river, but this is new. I’ve never had a trip like this. Because of course all the bad stuff was coming out while we were passing through. [/QUOTE]
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Erkonin (Campaign #1) [Session 46: Making Deals with Devils is Stupid as well as Bad]
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