Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 1274821" data-attributes="member: 15470">Issue #3: The Spider-Eye Goblins. Episodes 5, 6, and 7The next morning is the first Belsaday of Charder. As we’re having breakfast in The Laughing Ogre, we hear Fox talking to his daughter. “Where are your brothers, Rian?  I haven’t seen them since last night.”Rian answers, “I haven’t seen them this morning, either. I’ve had to do most of their chores!”“You don’t know where they are?”When she answers, “No,” Fox looks worried.After finishing breakfast, we go to the temple of Hedrada, moving quickly through the rituals of entry. Stone places ten gold coins into the temple donations box as we pass. Grilliam congratulates and thanks us, paying us with twenty platinum pieces, at which Fergus looks dubious, having never seen platinum money before. Grilliam explains the currency in Vesh, but Fergus is still dubious, and the rest of us try to explain it to him in a riot of voices. It looks like we might argue about the currency, but Grilliam interrupts us.“You guys are doing a great job,” Hedrada’s priest says. “If you’d like to be my investigators, I’ll give you ten more platinum up front.”  Saraya shakes her head. “No thank you,” she says emphatically. “One adventure was more than enough for me. I’ll take my share of the payment, and go my own way.”  Goldpetal asks, “What would the investigation entail?” “I want you to find out who is on either side of the delivery,” Grilliam answers. “Where does the stuff come from? Who is picking it up?” Miriel says, “I’m interested, but I need to go talk to my priestess first.”Stone says, “And I want to talk to the high priest of Hedrada. Oh wait, that’s you.” He laughs.Fergus looks unsure. “I’m not sure if I want to stay,” he says, “Or continue on my journey.”Before we can discuss it further, an elderly man enters the office. Grilliam gestures towards him, “This is the apothecary, Spalier. Spalier, I presume you have your report on those vials? These are the worthies who found them.”“Yes,” the old man says. “It’s mostly poisons, produced by a tribe of rat men who focus on the production of poisons and potions. The black vials are an inhalation poison, the amber are injury poisons, and the green are ingestion poisons. They are all deadly, extremely powerful, and extremely rare. I don’t even know who would buy this stuff, but it would be very expensive, probably a couple hundred gold each.”Stone immediately suggests, “We could sell it for a huge profit!”His laughing eyes suggest that he was joking, but Grilliam takes him seriously. “No,” the priest says sternly. “You, of all people, should know better. These are contraband, which you agreed to turn in before you went on my mission.”“Actually, it’s not all poisons,” the old man continues. “The glowing emerald potions are glitter ink, for inscribing scrolls. The white potions are neutralize poison potions.”“You can keep both of those,” Grilliam tells Stone. Then he turns towards the dour and shouts, “Taylor! Go fetch the emerald potions and white potions from Spalier’s shop.” An assistant of Grilliam’s runs out to fetch the potions. Paks asks Grilliam, “Can we purchase potions of healing? We used those you gave us.”It is Spalier who answers. “Certainly, come by my shop later.”Miriel says, “We’ll come back with a decision,” and we prepare to leave.Stone looks at his high priest, and says, “I accept.”  Grilliam nods his thanks, and we all file out of his office.We’re in the main hall of the Temple when Taylor returns with the potions. Spalier checks to make sure that they are the correct ones, and so it is that we acquire twelve vials of glitter ink and two of neutralize poison.As we walk out of the temple, we all split up to do our errands in the town. Paks asks Fergus to walk with her, but most of us go separate directions. Stone goes shopping. He finds a leather-worker’s shop, and orders a nice pair of boots. The leather-worker tells him that they will take a couple of days to make. He starts wandering through town, and buys another roll of cheese on his way back to the inn. He is the first to return to the Laughing Ogre, and starts drinking.Miriel goes to the temple of Madriel. She speaks to the high priestess. Verenia has a small office in the temple. First, she outlines our adventure, and Grilliam’s job offer, most of which Verenia seems to already know about. Then, since Verenia had previously mentioned Miriel’s future, Miriel asks for more guidance about her future direction. “I had planned on returning to Lave as quickly as I might,” she explains.Verenia pours water into a bowl for a divination spell. After some contemplation, she says, “Your fate is here, in this town, for now. You should continue as you have been,” she says, “As you are now on the right path. Madriel shines on you, my child.” “Should I take the job Grilliam has offered?” asks Miriel.“Yes,” Verenia answers without hesitation. “This is the work that both gods wish you to do.”“Are there healing artifacts I might borrow?” Miriel inquires. Verenia shakes her head. “True artifacts are far too rare and expensive. I could offer to sell you potions of Healing, at our cost to manufacture them. As you know, we specialize in healing, so you might find these more effective than those you were offered by the apothecary.” “What are the costs?” asks Miriel.“I have two ready,” Verenia answers. “They each cost about sixty gold to manufacture.”“I don’t have that much,” Miriel pleads. “If I give you everything I have, it comes just over a hundred.”“Very well,” Verenia says. “But you should donate to Madriel quite soon.”“Is there anything I can do to help out around the temple,” Miriel asks, “And also, may I come here to study?”“You are always welcome to come to study. There’s nothing we need help with at the moment, but there is a wedding you can help officiate at later in the week.” Their conversation is over near mid-day, and Miriel meditates at the temple for a while. She spends the afternoon walking around the town, familiarizing herself with the area, and returns to the inn well before dinner.Paks and Fergus walk around town together. Paks asks him about switching to the bastard sword as her main weapon, as it is a masterwork weapon. He points out that she would be unable to use the shield, and suggests that the strokes of a two-handed weapon differ substantially from those of a long sword, but that he’d be happy to show her some of the moves, in training.Paks stops at the apothecary to pick up healing potions, but they cost sixty five gold pieces each, which is more than she has, so she says she’ll think about it, and they leave to poke through some other shops.Meanwhile, she sounds out Fergus about an idea she’s had. “I’d like to set up the party almost like a mercenary company,” she says, “Run the same way as the company I was part of.”“What did you have in mind?”, he asks.“I thought that one share of our treasures could be given ‘to the party fund’ against future expenses, such as healing, or purchasing horses. Would you be interested?”Fergus looks contemplative. “I’m amenable to the concept,” he says hesitantly, “And the structure you suggest would work for me. However, I’m not certain that I want to remain and settle into that routine. I’m still intent on finding my fellow clansmen, the MacAllisters, and I’m loathe to give up on that so quickly.”Paks nods. “I understand. Think about it. Oh, here’s the tailor! I want to order a new outfit, something other than this caravan guard’s uniform.”  They step into the tailor’s, and he takes her measure, saying that he can have a new outfit ready for her in three days. She places the order, requesting two outfits suitable for travel.Paks and Fergus continue to walk the town, and they have an encouraging talk. Both feel the kinship of brothers in arms, and they return to the inn in the late afternoon in high spirits.Chuck tries to connect with Jim the Vigil.  He tries to find the Vigil for most of the day, looking in different stores and inns, but the search is fruitless. No one seems to know where Jim is, although many are familiar with him, either by name or by description.  In the late afternoon, Chuck gives up, and decides to go shopping before the shops close.  He stops by the general store and buys more rope, and two empty potion vials. He then goes to Saylis to browse her selection of weapons and armor. He sells the four poor quality daggers, for two gold pieces. He prices and tries on some chain shirts, but they are too expensive and make so much noise when he moves, that he decides against them. He returns to the inn just before sunset, and he and Paks spar for a while. With two swords, he is much quicker than the mercenary, and though he tries to teach her to move more, and stay on the balls of her feet, she remains fairly slow.Goldpetal goes to the town jeweler first, where he sells the blue stone for forty gold coins. He asks about a druid priest, but the jeweler gives him a funny look, and Goldpetal doesn’t pursue it. He has noticed that he is already getting funny looks from the townspeople for being a wood elf druid. Followers of the Titan, Denev, are not very popular in the human lands, where the people worship the gods. He goes to the weapons shop to buy a composite short bow, which he is able to find immediately, and he takes with him. By noon, he is getting frustrated with the town, so he goes for a walk in the hills nearby.He finds his little campsite, still intact, and meditates through sunset, which makes him the last one to return to the inn.</blockquote>

Verification