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Message: <blockquote data-quote="randrak" data-source="post: 6826977" data-attributes="member: 6806492">Here's the whole development:The party owed their city's temple, they had resurrected a party member but the party only had enough money to cover half the cost. The temple then sent the party to a village in order to investigate a nearby dungeon. *fast-forward through dungeon*Dungeon Boss' RoomThe boss was a powerful ghost controlling a suit of armor. He had a hatred for High-Elves (and saw wood elves as his brethren) and spent the whole fight knocking the ranger (only high elf) out, though the party kept feeding him potions. Before it dies, the boss KOs the Sorcerer and the Ranger. It then dies, dramatically calling out to the Wood Elf (the monk) before the ghost fades and the armor+weapons all fall to the floor.The two party members still standing (Barbarian and Monk) rejoice. Then they remember that their friends are dying and proceed to help them up.The ranger and the sorcerer both rush to check on the children (that had been kidnapped by the ghost) but sadly realize that they had taken far too long and they were already dead. Meanwhile, the barbarian and the monk check the loot. I inform them that the sword has several magical runes as well as the ring and the gauntlets, indicating that they might be magical. The ranger and the sorcerer return to the loot and a discussion about the sword takes place. They find a statue with a sword similar to what the boss holds and the sorcerer realizes the legend behind these swords of wounding (he rolled high on a History check). While the ranger and sorcerer talk about the sword next to the statue, the barbarian picks it up. The ghost guardian warns them to release the sword and she comically drops it instantly. The curious ranger tells the barbarian to try picking it up again, she listens to him and does so. The guardian ghost appears and combat takes place.Once again, the barbarian and the monk are the only ones standing (the sorcerer and ranger were weakened from the previous battle). They destroy the ghost and wake their friends up once again. The sorcerer realizes (rolled high on arcana) that the sword likely has a curse that binds the ghost to it, causing it to attack anyone that holds it. Meanwhile, the barbarian decides and tells me that he's bundling the whole armor set up with rope and will take care of it later since everyone was focused on how to deal with the sword (I make sure to remind him that the gauntlets and the ring are included with the bundle).The party decides to leave the premises, taking the loot and the dead children. Before they leave, I casually remind them that they barely explored the dungeon (having gone almost straight toward the boss' room). They ignore me and leave (meaning they missed out on several treasures).*funeral ensues, party is thanked for their work. Fast-forward back to the city.*CityThe party splits up, the Monk and the Barbarian go to the temple to report on their mission. The Ranger goes to sell/appraise items. The Sorcerer was distracted with his phone and absentmindedly said he'd go with the others to the temple when asked.The Ranger first chooses to go to the magic shop, but the rest of the party remind him that they do not have any money for identification spells. He goes to the blacksmith instead.At the blacksmith (a half-orc they already know from before) he presents the bundled up armor. The blacksmith studies it, making note that the armor is very damaged (from the battles) and it would lower the price. At the mention of the price being lowered, the ranger asks if he can make a int check to learn how much such an armor would go for, he rolls well. The half-orc notices the magical ring and immediately asks "Are you looking to sell the whole thing?" to which the ranger immediately says yes. The blacksmith offers a price, the ranger isn't too sure since it was lower than expected. The blacksmith argues that with the damage would lower the price and he still needed to make a profit. The ranger still seems to have a hard time agreeing. The blacksmith quickly adds that it's money up-front. The ranger agrees.The ranger then shows the mithral sword, saying it is from an ancient kingdom. The blacksmith offers a price, but the ranger isn't pleased and the blacksmith does not argue and lets him go.The ranger asks around for collectors, finds out the half-orc owner of the magic shop (another person they had met before) is a collector as well. He goes to the magic shop and asks for an identification on the cursed set of half-plate armor (they had gotten in a previous mission) and on the sword of wounding. Identification is made and information is provided. The ranger then tries to sell the mithral sword, gets a better price than the blacksmith had offered. Finally he tries to sell the cursed armor, the magic shop owner offers a petty sum, claiming that the work it would take to break the curse would be expensive and laborious. The ranger sells it anyway (completely forgetting that the barbarian wanted to fashion an shoulder guard from the armor once they finally managed to de-curse it).*during the shopping trip, the monk and barbarian were talking among each other out of character and the sorcerer was on his phone like usual*The ranger returns to the rest of the party that was waiting by the temple. He gives them the news about finally having money and they ask him about the gauntlets and ring. He seems confused, not realizing a ring was involved in the equation (he either wasn't listening or had forgotten about it). They rush back to the blacksmith. The moment they enter, the barbarian starts calling him a pedophile (it was a running joke since the first time they met the blacksmith they playfully said "I've been searching for you" and the blacksmith scared responded with "She was an adult!") raving about him being a thief. When the ranger calmed her down he explained that the ring had not been for sale (at this point, the ranger still didn't seem to know/remember the gauntlets were magical either...), but the blacksmith explained that he had made sure to ask before if he intended to sell everything, that it wasn't his fault if he was careless. He asks if he could buy the ring back, the blacksmith responds that not for now, because he wanted to get it checked out first to know what it was but that they could talk afterward. They then awkwardly claim that they have a powerful sorcerer that could identify the items for him for a cheap price. The blacksmith thanks them, but refuses as his brother is the owner of the magic shop (I had dropped hints of this being the case since they first met them). They proceed to distract the blacksmith while the ranger goes around and sneaks in through the backdoor. The ranger reaches the armor but seeing as he couldn't take off the ring without time and tools, he left everything there (he still didn't realize the gauntlets were also important). As he leaves, I joke about the door being left open...the ranger gets aggravated and I apologize for the bad joke.Two of the go back to the temple to talk to the clerics about the cursed sword while two of them stay to keep watch. A female half-orc enters the blacksmith (one that they had seen talking with the magic shop owner before) and then leaves. One stays behind at the blacksmith's place to keep watch and the other follows her. She enters the magic shop and leaves soon after. They watch as the magic shop and the blacksmith close up shot for the day and head back to the inn to meet with the rest. Session ends with them drinking to both celebrate their accomplishments and drown their sorrows for losing loot.----Now, I had no intention of punishing anyone. I did not wish to punish the player on his phone, even if it did annoy me greatly, nor did I want to punish the rest of the party. I, however, feel like the players should be in-charge of what they own and what they are doing and it is not the DM's job to hold their hand. I have a hard enough time making up settings and keeping everything in check, I do not want to handle the player's equipment and so on. I generally trust them to keep track of what they have and we haven't had an issue with it yet. Could I have warned him about the gauntlets and ring? Yes, but I didn't because again...it is their job to keep track of things. The ranger chose to go alone and sell the gear, he had not properly kept track of things. I felt that I should not have warned him. I also made sure to keep the blacksmith seem very interested in the armor but not as much with the weapon. Should I have told him to make rolls? Possibly, I admit that I maybe should have had him do a roll of some sort, but at the time it did not cross my mind.My approach to magical items in my campaign is: They are rare and can be identified as magical items by magical runes or an aura about them but to get a feel of its powers you need to either learn through using them or use an identification spell. I always felt that learning their properties with just a short rest is too simple and doesn't really make sense. We've been playing for a long while now with this rule and even so, the spellcasters never pick any identification spells or detect magic or anything that isn't combat related. It's fine, it's their choice...they can get the same results by paying money anyway.I have talked to the group since and the stance on the situation is as follows: The barbarian and the monk seem pretty ok with what happened, though of course they are not happy with the situation of not having items and are planning how to get them back.The ranger only realized the gauntlets were special too as we talked and while he didn't seem to pleased, he let it go and started focusing on the potential of the situation, coming up with ways to get them back as well.The sorcerer (Mr Cellphone) adopted the same stance he always adopts when things don't go his way "I don't care.", claiming that from now on he won't trust any of my NPCs (implying that I'm trying to screw them over) but that he doesn't care (while clearly being disgruntled). The situation is a little awkward as he also happens to be my best friend, but thankfully outside of this we have been just fine.I've read all the posts so far and I thank everyone for the feedback, regardless of it being for or against my choices. Thank you very much as both sides have helped me learn more about the situation and how to proceed.How do I plan to "solve" or rather, develop the situation? Well, I will mix in a previous plot with this one. Before the whole undead dungeon debacle, the party faced a demon that was plaguing the countryside. Long story short, they killed the demon and the gnoll that worked with it for their more powerful master (an even stronger demon in the abyssal plane). The demon has held a major grudge against the party since then. The armor they recovered is "cursed" in that it is linked to the demon and anyone wearing it receives power but might become possessed by the demon as well. They had also sold the armor to the magic shop owner. The female half-orc that visited both the brothers (their sister) is a warrior that will be wearing the armor without realizing what it is. She'll be possessed and the demon will try to get revenge on the party. Depending on how they solve the situation, the half-orcs might reward the party by giving the items back, possibly with an added bonus.I feel that this way, the plot will progress and again...depending on how they solve the situation it could lead to them being on friendly or hostile terms with the half-orc brothers.</blockquote>

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