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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 2743990" data-attributes="member: 143">True, and that was partly a conscious decision on my part, and partly a result of what the module designers had wrought. I will point out that the only treasure that the original heroes have gotten is that from the modules.  I think that the authors of the series assumed that the players would find every hidden cache, slay every bad guy, and sell every item of value for at least 50% trade in. Some of the modules also assume, I think, that every bad guy just sits in his/her/its room and waits to be killed (in several of my chapters, some of the bad guys escaped with a lot of the loot, and in a few of the early books, hidden treasures were not located by the heroes). I have kept a running tally of the all the items and wealth they've collected, and did include several shopping trips/trades in the narrative. While I can appreciate the exercise (and I did something similar to your analysis when I statted up the Travels characters), I'm not too preoocupied about the suggested wealth levels. When I introduced the Travels characters I deliberately set their wealth at 50% of the suggested amount for their level, because they had lost everything they had in the final chapters of that story (in the Abyss). This was ameliorated to some extent by Cal's item creation, which I also documented in my own records (and I did mark on the Rogues' Gallery posting, IIRC). Keep in mind also that the "official" adventures were designed for 4 PCs. For the most part I was running 5-7 characters through the later chapters. I think a full-strength party at the actual level suggested and with the mandated gear would have had no difficulty whatsoever. Of course, it would have been rather dull to read about, I imagine. And we're beyond the official part of the Adventure Path now in any case, so the argument is further moot. I am going to be traveling for the remainder of the day, so here is today's post:* * * * * Chapter 498“I have fought the blind stalkers before, but never have I encountered ones like these,” Umbar said, the pale blue glow of healing fading from his hands as he drew back from Hodge.  They were in the larger hall outside of the small chamber where the ambush had been sprung, although they brought the stench of blood with them, their clothes and armor liberally sprayed with gore from the short but vicious fight.  “They were rather durable,” Beorna said.  “Blast, but not a one o’ them even tried to retreat,” Hodge observed, nodding to Umbar in thanks for the healing.  Beorna had already treated Arun, and while the four still had a few cuts and bruises to show for the ambush, their enemies were worse off by a pretty significant margin. “That’s not all,” Arun said.  “Did you notice their hides?”“Aye,” Umbar said.  “Odd… almost transparent, some of them… like skulks.  Some magical effect, perhaps?”“No,” the paladin said.  “No, I wish it was so simple.  We’ve encountered it before… it’s the Vanishing, a magical affliction that destroyed this community, the gnomes that lived here decades ago.  It’s part disease, part curse, and it causes the infected to fade, gradually losing substance and reality.”“I remember you speaking of it,” Beorna said.  “Zenna had been infected by it, right?”“Yes.  She got very sick before we found out what was happening and had the curse removed.”Hodge’s eyes widened as he looked down at the bloody front of his tunic.  He’d already lamented the damage wrought upon his beard by the fire-blast of the grimlocks; at the moment, he looked like a butcher who’d worked several back-to-back shifts.  “Yer sayin’ them things were infected with this… Vanishin’?  That mean we got it, now?”“You need not fear any ailment, magical or mundane, while traveling in the company of the high priest of Moradin,” Umbar said. “It’s not spread like a normal disease, anyway,” Arun said.  “At least none of the others had shown any symptoms, despite having been close to Zenna during her affliction.  She believed it spread through infected magical items, like the scrolls we’d found down here during our first visit.”“So you think that these grimlocks found some of this cursed magic, and are now affected by the disease?” Beorna asked. “If that is true, then they are destroying themselves,” Umbar said.  “Within a few tendays, the problem may resolve itself.”“If they are intent upon assaulting the city, we may not have a few tendays,” Beorna retorted.  “We handled a dozen, with our combined talents, but even one of those things is more than a match for two or three of our city guardsmen.”“Then we must seek out the remainder and destroy them.”“That may be difficult,” Arun said.  “This complex is a maze; there are many more of those doors like the broken one we came through, most of which have potent, still-active defense mechanisms.”“What about those burrowed tunnels?” Hodge asked. “The most recent occupants of Jzadirune, a gang of dark creepers, opened up those side passages using a few gnomish pulverizer automatons that they were able to gain control over,” Arun explained.  “They do bypass some of the doors.  There is also a lift that provides entrance to a deeper complex further beneath the city; a place called the Malachite Fortress.  There was an entrance into the Underdark in that latter location.”“The humans seem willing to tolerate a lot of things beneath their city,” Umbar commented. “It’s not that dissimilar from the existence of the Underdark beneath the Great Rift,” Arun said.  The cleric frowned at the comparison, but Arun continued, “I know that the dwarves guard all such transitions very intently, and monitor any digging or new tunnels that approach their chambers.  When we cleared out Jzadirune, and fought slavers who’d established themselves in the Malachite Fortress, we likewise sealed the entrance that connected the former to Ghelve’s Locks up in the city.  Later, another band of adventurers traveled below and sealed the entrance to the Underdark itself.”“It would appear that they did not do a thorough job,” Umbar said. “As I told Beorna earlier, it is likely that the quakes opened another access point.”“So the rest of the grimlocks, and the prisoners, may be either here in Jzadirune, or below, in the Malachite Fortress,” Beorna said.  “Those little tunnels be beggin’ fer more ambushes,” Hodge pointed out. “Well then, we’d better get started finding them,” Arun said, sliding his sword back into its scabbard.  They spent the better part of an hour probing through the accessible parts of Jzadrune.  They found no ambushes, although they did spring a few traps that, while not lethal, caused damage that clerical magic was required to treat.  There were also more signs of the grimlocks, but they did not find any of the creatures themselves.  A few more of the gnomish doors had been breached, but it looked as though the lair of the creatures lay somewhere beyond.  “Down it is, then,” Arun said, directing them by memory to the location of the hidden lift that descended to the black halls of the Malachite Fortress. After their last expedition down here, when they’d fought and overcome the half-troll slaver Kazmojen, they had considered destroying the lift that connected Jzadirune and the deeper underground fortress.  Ultimately they had agreed to leave it be, after setting the mechanism so that the lift could only be activated from up above.  Apparently the grimlocks, if they had indeed found their way up through the Underdark, had found a way to confound that precaution, for the lift appeared to be in working order and showed signs of recent use when they finally reached it. “Clever,” Umbar granted, as the four of them activated the lift and started down.  “Gnomish work, you say?”“So far as we could determine,” Arun replied, standing near the center of the platform as it ground its way steadily down the approximately octagonal shaft.  The journey took several minutes and progressed without incident, the lintel of another recessed door appearing as the platform slowed and finally ground to a halt. “Ready?” Arun asked. “A moment to bolster our defenses,” Beorna said, invoking a blessing of Helm upon them.  Umbar, likewise, took a moment to augment his own considerable stamina, while Arun created a magic circle against evil to enfold all of them. Hodge used the delay to steal a few swallows from a small flask he had tucked into a pocket of his surcoat.  When he’d put it back into its hiding place, he looked up to find the other three dwarves looking at him. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he tapped his axe.  “Right then, ready.”</blockquote>

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