Session 88: The many riches of Osric and Breena

As she peered into the sarcophagi, Lhoss found herself simultaneously dazzled by the mountain of coins and wondering how on earth the group would transport it all. Luckily, Gnorica and Arnd appeared, swelling the party's ranks. Between Calbach, Tatania, Lhoss, Gnorcia, Arnd, Armatzi, Niki, Feno, and Hilja, all of the platinum and gold and much of the silver was packed up to cart back to Orlane. 

As the group exited the barrow maze, they encountered a bunch of skeletons. Between Hilja casting an entangle spell and Armatzi turning the undead, the evil creatures were quickly slaughtered. The rest of the journey was uneventful. The adventurers cleaned off the dust and rain from their travels and ate dinner at the inn, ending day 11 of Wealsun.

The riches were divided among the group and Armatzi, Hilja, and Niki were able to train to level up. The items gathered from Osric and Breena (armor, sword, shield, ring, bracers, crown) along with the red leather cloak were tested and all found to be magical. Ramne was able to determine the magical properties of each item (for a price). Many in the party found themselves so loaded down with coin, they bought valuable gems and jewelry as an investment and in an effort to lighten their loads. 

Side Quest: Gnorcia and Arnd in the Barrowmaze (Day 4 of Wealsun)

 

While my friends were busy in Orlane, learning skills and eating and drinking, I determined to venture back to the Barrowmaze. It seemed thoughtless to spend such a long time in town and leave treasure where it might be discovered, notwithstanding the lovely camouflage tarp we used to hide it. Surely some infidels of the Black Hand sort would be crawling the halls of the Barrowmaze and we would all return to find it missing. That tarp is certainly more valuable than the coin it covered. I suggested to Arnd that if he went back to the Barrowmaze with me he could likely repay his debts to the other party members, and he quickly agreed to accompany me.

We managed to return to the place of our most recent adventuring, the hallways and rooms outside the lair of King Osric, easily dispatching some skeletons that approached. Back in the room where we had hidden the last of the treasure, Arnd and I loaded up our packs with everything there, then returned to Orlane. Safely back at the inn, we divided up the silver and set aside the amounts that our companions had left from their own packs as they made room for the platinum and gold from the treasure horde. These silver pieces—along with the grappling hook left by Feno—I carefully returned to their packs, slipping in and out of their rooms unnoticed at dinnertime. The camouflage tarp I stowed at the bottom of my backpack, and both Arnd and I carefully placed the remaining treasure in the locked chest inside my locked room, planning to repay our debts as soon as possible.

Session 87. Day 3 - 11 Wealsun: Mysterious appearing and disappearing treasure

The group (Feno, Armatzi, Lhoss, Hilja, Tatania, and Niki) awakened and ate breakfast. The spent time examining treasure, making some exchanged, and purchasing gems. Lhoss and Tatania were surprised to find a significant amount of silver in their packs, and Feno had what appeared to be his grappling hook and rope in his bag. There seemed to be no explanation. Some of the characters did some training for the week. 

Day 10 of Wealsun had a tremendous storm, dropping the temperature, and beating the village with rain and wind. The group decided to stay indoors that day. Day 11 was also raining, but not as bad, just a seasonal rain, with some spots of light rain. The group made sure that they all had good cloaks. Tatania made a trade with Chiki for a red leather cloak that he had found, knitting a small chicken sized cloak for Chick-chick. 

The group arrived back at the Barrowmarsh, eating lunch in the soggy and misty area, and then entering the Barrowmaze. They retraced their steps, but as they came up to the pit where they had dumped dead bodies, it gave off a tremendous stench. After some discussion, they decided to use a green slime vial to clear out the pit. After a bit of observation, they returned to the chambers where they had left the remainder of their treasure horde. A single sapphire skeleton was guarding the area, and it was quickly dispatched. The group was shocked to find that all of the treasure was gone, including the camouflage cover. 

After some debate and such, the group avoided opening the secret door to the boat, fearing to enter the room. They examined the other two doors that they hadn't opened. One revealed skeletal remains, the other revealed two corpses that, after examination, were found to be wearing copper rings. These rings were acquired, and are quite beautiful. 

Tatania then checked her magic compass, and found that it was pointing towards the south-west. The group decided to brave the boat room after all. After opening the secret door, they were astounded to find that the whole boat and everything on it (including the mysterious King Osric) were gone. There was no trace of the green slime either, and the floor was polished clean where the boat had been. 

The group followed the compass, and found a secret door behind the statue in the corner. This was opened to reveal a suspicious small passageway, ending in a dead end. The group searched that wall, and even though two elves were searching (Feno and Lhoss), it was Tatania that found the latch. The door was opened, revealing a chamber, with two sarcophagi. 

Two figures appeared in a burst of magical blue energy. These large figures advanced on the party and attacked. Despite giving two fearsome blows to Armatzi, they were defeated by the party, leaving a pile of six runic tablets. The rest of the group stood astonished as Armatzi and Tatania quickly grabbed and read the tablets, to a mixture of weal and woe. Armatzi narrowly fought off an enfeeblement spell, had a burst of energy that raised his charisma, and also obtained knowledge to the history of Nerull. Tatania was struck by a burst of flame that knocked her unconcious, and destroyed her boots. Fortunately, Armatzi was right there and was able to heal her. She also received a boon of making her next saving throw, and also knowledge of the tablet of Chaos. Both tablets that had the knowledge (Nerull and Chaos) crumbled, so Tatania and Armatzi scribed up what they had learned on parchment that Tatania convieniently had. 

Then the party turned their attention to the sarcophagi. The one on the right had old common runes of "King Osric" and the one on the right "Queen Breena". After carefully examining them, Feno (by far the strongest) tried to open them, but was completely unable. The group decided they must be magically fastened, so Tatania cast a knock spell on them, opening them and revealing gleaming treasure. 

Feno claimed a suit of plate mail and long sword (named Icingdeath on its scabbard). Lhoss grabbed the bracers that the queen was wearing. Tatania chose a crown that the queen was wearing, and Niki chose a beautiful golden ring set with a clear crystal. Armatzi chose a shield with a red lion on it, that the king had. Also, there were three coffers in each sarcophagi. These were opened, revealing many silver, gold, and platinum pieces. The group spent a fair amount of time counting up these, finally tallying 10,000 silver, 6000 gold, and 100 platinum. 

Session 86: Loaded with Coin from the Barrowmaze (through day 10 of Wealsun)

Gnorcia here again. Burdened with treasure and leaving more behind, we decided to slowly make our way back to Orlane. We dragged our way out of the Barrowmaze and across the marsh, noting the thick air of the marsh. As we ascended from the marsh, we heard the distant howl of a creature that sounded unnatural. The others continued forward a bit but as I turned back to look behind us, I found myself paralyzed with fear. There was another howl, closer this time. A horrible chill passed through us all. Feno came back and smacked me on the back of the head and I was suddenly able to move and screamed loudly in horror. We all quickly began moving down the path, despite the weight we were carrying, and hurried back to Orlane without stopping.

We were thrilled to be back in time for a dinner or fried fig pastries and blanche perret. None of us were sure what that was, but it sounded fancy and we were absolutely exhausted from our hurried march with all that treasure. Turns out it was small birds boiled in a pot of onions with leeks and cloves. It was tasty. Armaziti suddenly appeared with us and dispelled some of the fear that was hanging over us. He also ordered a rich dinner that turned out to be a pair of partridges. It looked good but I was too tired and went straight to bed. The others stayed up late celebrating our safe return.

In the morning we went to the jeweler and he gave us 440gp for the statuette of a penguin and 64gp each (256gp) for the gold circlets. We had then a total of 4128sp, 3696gp, and 100pp. Feno, Armaziti, Niki, and Lhoss purchased some gems from the jeweler. Tatania trained in magic, and Lhoss trained as a thief.

Session 85: An encounter with King Osric

 As the group (Feno, Armatzi, Gnorcia, Lhoss, Tatania, and a new adventurer Niki) wandered the barrowmaze, each of the party tried to interact with Niki's cat, Jack. He was indifferent to Armatzi but disliked all the others. Lhoss tried to win Jack over with a scrap from her rations, but Jack became irritated and swiped her with his claws. Ouch!

In the hallway, ocean murals and mythic scenes were observed painted on the walls. The party came upon two doors, one on either side of the hall. Lhoss and Gnorcia gathered at the first door and noticed that it was covered with spider webs. Using their thief skills, they attempted to check it for traps, but felt uncertain if there were any. Armatzi (with no particular skill) also attempted to look for traps, but not knowing what to look for, he came away with the certain knowledge that there was a door in front of him. The pair turned around and checked the other door for traps. Again, nothing was apparent, but the pair were not convinced that the door was safe to open so the group moved down the hall. 

The next door was checked and Lhoss felt pretty sure it was safe to open, even though she proved too weak to do it herself. Feno, however, opened it easily and found himself facing three ghouls. Moving quickly, Tatania offed one with a magic missile and the other two attacked Feno. Using her signature move, Gnorcia vaulted into position and slew one with a vicious backstab. Lhoss used a new spell (continuous light) to blind the third ghoul and Armatzi turned it with his holy power. In it's discombobulated state, Gnorcia finished the last one easily. Scanning the room, the team noticed rotting tapestries depicting ocean scenes and a shining bowl filled with metal. Gnorcia inspected it closer and deemed it safe; the group then split the 315 silver pieces among themselves. Gnorcia swiped a sample of the tapestry.

Behind the next door, four shadow creatures with baleful red eyes loomed menacingly. Armatzi again successfully turned all the foes and as they fled and cowered in the room, the party easily dispatched with them. Feno was the first to discover there were four corpses draped in burial shrouds; Armatzi informed the group that these we the corporeal forms of the shadow creatures. Feno removed one of the shrouds and found a desiccated corpse with a golden circlet perched atop its skull. Niki used the spell detect magic and determined it was not magical. The group gathered up the other three circlets and moved out of the room.

As she was walking out, Lhoss noticed a concealed switch on the wall. There was more inspecting for traps and discussion of whether or not to try the switch. Lhoss felt the switch might be a trap... maybe? But Gnorcia felt it was safe. Trusting in the skills of Gnorcia, Lhoss threw the switch to reveal a large room and, inexplicably, a Norse ship. A deep voice boomed out and asked the group to identify themselves then chastised them for their disruptive presence. The heroes perceived a figure in a yellow robe with red eyes peering out. He identified himself as King Osric. Osric seemed perturbed yet aloof and again demanded answers from the team. Unsatisfied with the responses given, the being cast a spell and Tatania, Feno, and Armatzi disappeared.

In shock, Gnorcia, Lhoss, and Niki retreated to discuss what to do. Niki was terrified and Gnorcia hid in the shadows. Lhoss approached and addressed King Osric who had moved up to the ship. Lhoss asked where her friends were to which Osric responded that they had been sent to the bowels of Hades. Lhoss tried to stoke the king's ego and ask for their return, but he was unresponsive. With each new attempt to parlay, the king remained silent with a haughty smirk. Lhoss shifted tactics and threatened to destroy the ship if her friends weren't returned. The king was unmoved and unimpressed. Lhoss reached into the bag of holding and withdrew a glass jar filled with devouring green slime. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a basket filled with coins. She lifted it above her head in a threatening manner, released it, and *poof* she also disappeared at the hand of the king.

Lhoss blinked and found herself... just outside the barrowmaze with Tatania, Feno, and Armatzi. The four decided that they should return to their compatriots and defeat the king. Running as fast as they could, they made their way back and found Niki and Gnorcia surprised and grateful to see them all. Gnorcia and Lhoss made a plan to sneak back in and try and relieve the king of as much treasure as they could carry. The pair was skillful in their sneaking, but they were still observed by Osric. It didn't seem to matter though, as he made no move to stop them. Gnorcia tried to lift a basket, but it was quite heavy. Thinking it would slide easily down the gangplank, she gave it a nudge, spilling coins everywhere. Lhoss beckoned to Feno and handed a basket down to him. All along, the green slime was doing its work devouring the wooden deck of the ship. Either ambivalent or unknowing of his fate, the king remained seated on his throne, watching but not engaging. 

Moving quickly, with the additional help of Tatania, all of the treasure was unloaded from the ship and the spilled coins were gathered together in the room where the ghouls had been defeated. Feno and Gnorcia explored the ship room, finding four sailors in the corners of the room and little else. Feno flipped the switch and closed the door behind them as they left, leaving the king to his fate as he sat unmoved on the slowly-engulfed vessel.

All together there was a smattering of platinum, 500 pounds of silver and 300 pounds of gold. The group loaded themselves down with as much as they could carry and left the rest beneath a camouflaged tarp. Feeling rich and lucky, they lumbered back toward Orlane. 

Session 84 Wealsun 1

It is the evening of the first day of Wealsun when we first met our newest adventuring companion.  She is a wood elf named Niki, trained as a druid/ranger, with a cat familiar named Jack.  Being middle rung-lower class, she fits in rather well with the rest of the group, although there is an almost immediate rivalry between Niki and Armaziti. I don't know if this is because of Cleric/Druid incompatibility or because Armatzi is upper class and a bit snobby with it.  Regardless, we made sure they were pretty much as far apart in the marching order as possible, with Armatzi in the front and Niki in the back with me (Tatania).  We are ready for dinner, so we head back to Orlane as soon as Armatzi heals Feno.  

We don't make it far into the barrow marsh before being set upon by four strange zombies emerging from the north. The ever-present fog in the marsh here makes it difficult to judge distances, and it shows during our battle. One zombie tries to claw Feno as he's in the lead, but it misses.  Gnorcia tries to take advantage of its distraction to backstab it, but also misses.  Two additional zombies also strike out at Feno and unfortunately both hit him.  I shoot one with my magic missiles, doing serious damage but not defeating it.  Meanwhile, Armatzi is attacked by the final zombie, and it missed as well.  Niki attacked the same zombie as I had hit, and she did a bit more damage to it.  Armatzi attempted to "Turn Undead" but his spell is not successful.  Feno bashes one of the zombies that are attacking him, although not the one that Niki and I damaged, and sends it reeling.  Lhoss uses Magic Missile to splatter the head of the zombie that Niki and I had beat on, leaving us down to three opponents.  The zombie that Feno had hit struck back at him, knocking Feno unconscious.  Gnorcia immediately moves to cover our fallen friend.  Lhoss uses a Magic Missile to attack the zombie that got Feno, leaving it in poor shape.  Armatzi moves to heal Feno and is attacked by the zombie that had missed him previously, so I fire my second Magic Missile at it and drive it back.  Niki backstabs the zombie that had taken down Feno, demolishing it completely.  Since I am out of Magic Missiles, I pull my magic silver dagger and slice at the zombie I'd blasted, almost killing it. Armatzi comes in with Melissa and pounds that zombie into paste.  Gnorcia goes after the final zombie with her short sword, Vengeance, and the feisty Niki is right there attacking as well.  It is Feno, still feeling woozy after being healed, that gets the final hit in on that last zombie, and his hit is so powerful that all of us (except for Lhoss, somehow) get splattered with zombie juices. It's gross and stinky! Feno notices that Lhoss is still mostly clean, so he flicks some of the ooze at her.  Niki heals Feno the rest of the way while Armatzi heals himself.  Then, our exhausted group trudges down the path through the dim forest and on to Orlane.  So as not to offend our hosts at the Foaming Mug, we all bathe before dinner.  The dinner is delicious, chicken pasties with steamed greens, although Armatzi spends extra so that he can have rotisserie chicken.  There's that snobbery I mentioned before.  I appreciated the dinner so much that I went and gave the cook an additional silver coin as a gratuity.  I think she appreciated it.

As a sign of just how tired everyone was, we all slept late and almost missed breakfast completely.  Fortunately, we just made it down in time to get food and got ready for the day.  Several of us had a bit of shopping to do before we set off again, with Armaizi buying holy water, Gnorcia buying an armor repair kit and some incense, and Lhoss and Feno also deciding to get repair kits.  As we travel through the dim forest, it becomes apparent that something has changed.  The feeling is very eerie with strange noises and unnatural sensations surrounding us.  Entering the barrow marsh is no better.  There, we encounter a large group of members of the Band of the Black Hand who threaten us. I can hear Lhoss growling even as Gnorcia casts Hypnotic Pattern, which can paralyze anyone it affects.  Of the 12 band members, four are ensnared.  I quickly hit one of the paralyzed men with a Magic Missile, killing him instantly.  Lhoss is attacked by two enemies but they both miss.  An additional two members attack me, but they also miss.  Lhoss uses her Magic Missiles to kill two more paralyzed members of the Black Hand. Two who are not ensorcelled try to hurt Feno, but they miss pitifully.  Then, Niki is also missed.  All these missed attacks have shaken up the Black Hand members and it is made much worse for them when all of our attacks are successful and deadly.  Armatzi bashes in one guy's head with Melissa and Feno decapitates another with his long sword.  One of the apparently smarter bandits turns and runs away as Niki kills one of his unfortunate comrades.  The remaining bandits blanch and want to flee but are headed off by further attacks.  I kill one and damage another with Magic Missile.  Lhoss kills the runner and Feno kills two more in an attack of opportunity.  Niki and Feno both fire their short bows but Niki misses (probably because of the annoying fog) while one of Feno's arrows hits and the second falls short. The last living member of this group of the Band of the Black Hand manages to escape because Armatzi doesn't want to run after him.  We loot the corpses and find 79 gold. This is surprising, considering how pathetically they fought against us, but we split up the money and move on.

Entering the Barrow Maze secondary entrance proves that the uncomfortable atmospheric changes we've been feeling since entering the dim forest are evident here too.  There is a distinct feeling of something watching us.  Armatzi spots something strange that he identifies as a "Wizard Eye", an advanced type of scrying spell.  The "eye" quickly retreats and is soon gone.  As we are walking past the stinking charnel pit, I remember that we have a foul chain and skull amulet in our bag of holding that nobody wants, so I toss it into the pit to be rid of it.  We go down the stairs to the area we'd been exploring yesterday and ate lunch in one of the cleared rooms followed by re-memorization of spells.  Armaziti is goofing off when he notices claw marks in the stone wall.  Niki immediately determines that the marks were not made by a natural creature and after some discussion, Lhoss and I conclude it was likely a Demonic Shambler that is causing the bad aura in the maze.  None of us has any desire to encounter a Demonic Shambler!  We check the closed door across the hall from us, looking for traps, but find nothing unusual.  Armaziti casts a blessing before Feno opens the door.  There are human-sized skeletons lying unmoving on the floor of the new room.  The walls are all decorated with frescos detailing myths of sea-going adventures.  Just to be sure, since the feeling of wrongness is still hanging heavy in the air, Armaziti breaks apart one of the ancient-looking skeletons with Melissa.  Nothing happens and nothing of interest is visible.  Suddenly, there is a sound of stone grinding against stone, but it is impossible to tell where the noise is coming from.  After only around 11 seconds, the sound stops, and the eerie silence returns to the barrow maze.

Session 83: Evening of Day 1 Wealsun - CY 576 In Person Session

As the group went down the staircase into darkness, Feno, Armatzi, Chalkboi, Myrtle Dixon, Lhoss, Gnorcia, Tatania, and Chiki gathered together, some by the uncanny magic of the world, where one moment someone is present, and another moment they pop into existence with the party. 

The group found themselves in a corridor stretching out into the west and darkness. There were frescos on both the southern and northern walls of various seaside myths, legends, and generals scenes. They were very well done, but old, and the remaining paint was flaking badly. 

There were two doors, one to the north, and another to the south. The group chose to examine the southern door, and then open it after it was deemed safe by Gnorica. Chiki opened the door successfully, revealing seven fearsome figures with baleful red eyes that turned their ire upon the party immediately. Chalkboi proved most useful, wielding Caliburn, which seemed to burn with fury as it fell into the undead bodies and brought them back to their dead status. 

After the group dispatched this nasty group, they spent sometime fruitlessly searching the room, resting, and some memorizing/praying for spells. Also, the group started eating. Chiki was behaving very strangely, and decided to go out of the room, and close the door, and examine the hallway, and then have a meal in there. This attracted several very hungry beetles, which quickly overcame Chiki. Fortunately for the willy gnome, the rest of the party heard the noise and came to the rescue. The beetles proved to be fire beetles, and mostly interested in the contents of Chiki's backpack (who always carries plenty of provisions). They devoured plenty before being sated but not in time to flee, and the party destroyed them, claiming their glowing stalks for light sources.