The Acts of The Lords of Rannick, XLII

Last night’s session was a combat-less exposition dump, but also a chance for some loose ends to get tied up and a chance to reap some just rewards. More on the just rewards later…

The end of the last section of the campaign, before all that business with the Fey, the party was:

Matt – Albedon, elven wizard.  Noe – Arradin, elven fighter. Mike – Dagfinn, human bard. Rolland – Corwin, half-elven rogue/fighter. Ben T – Tersplink, gnomish sorceror. Sean – Kerplak, gnomish rogue. Jim – Lonny, dwarven cleric. Ben O – Torgor, human ranger.

Now the party is all like:

Matt - Albedon, transracial dwarven wizard.  Noe - Arradin, elven gore-attractor. Mike – Dagfinn, human bard, only more so. Rolland – Halvard, the new guy human cleric. Ben T – Tersplink, gnomish sorcerorier. Sean – Kerplak, gnomish rogueiest. Jim – Don, human/mastodon druid. Ben O – Torgor, human ranger/amateur giant-kin urologist.

Jorgenfist to Sandpoint.

With Tersplink ferrying the Sandpointians back home, two at a time, the group had some time to kill. It was resolved that Don and Dagfinn would take the emptied extra-dimensional containers up to Longtooth’s cave to loot, via Don’s Griffon-shape. BAMF-KIIIIIIIA! The loot was substantial – a largely inaccessible cave containing a nest of coins and gems, and several objets d’art. Dragons love objets d’art. There were several nice silver statuettes, one very nice platinum Thassilonian statue of Runelord Karzoug that Dagfinn intends to sell to him during the campaign’s climactic encounter and a Thassilonian Tapestry depicting monks sparring in a courtyard. This they packaged up and had sent to Baaz. We all miss him.

Kerplak, left to someone else’s devices, was happily constructing more sabots for his grenade launcher and then filling them with interesting things. Halvard and Wheezy set about burying the brave former-slave dwarves who died forming a human shield around Albedon. After constructing six short cairns, Halvard invoked Gorum and said some nice… comforting… brutally frank things about their deaths at the hands of the undead giant-kin. Gorum and Wheezy were pleased that they got a proper send-off. While he was communing with higher powers, Halvard also sent a message to his family, telling them to relocate to Sandpoint.

Tersplink, meanwhile returned with news that Father Zantus was anxious to speak to them. Having dropped the hostages off at the camping spot outside of town that was his usual haunt around Sandpoint, the townspeople rapturously welcomed them back. Voyan, who had been left at Ravenmoor to make his way back to town, had been escorted by several Ravenmoorians and safely returned about a week ago. The hopeful townsfolk were delighted to hear that several more hostages had been saved. But Father Zantus really wanted to speak to them.

More ferrying by Tersplink gave everyone even more time to kill in Jorgenfist. Kerplak kept on tinkering, while Halvard was moved to carve a brief account of the raid on Jorgenfist into the cave walls. Dagfinn and Don, meanwhile went off riding again, this time aerially scouting the Storval plateau for signs of the Shoanti. The Shoanti, for their part, were steering well clear of the mass exodus of giant-kin radiating from Jorgenfist.

Notes were left for the Shoanti, encouraging them to come trade with Fort Rannick and similar overtures were made to the sept of Conna’s tribe that remains at Jorgenfist. Conna was receptive to the idea, since all the preparation for lowland-invasion has left most of the giant tribes ill-prepared for the coming winter.

Eventually it was time to start shipping party members back to Sandpoint. When they arrived, they found themselves lauded as heroes (again) and plied with real food and real beer. After a solid session of worship as heroes, Father Zantus made an appearance, congratulated them, welcomed them back to the town and requested to meet them regarding an urgent matter.

There’s almost no way one of the many back-slappers at the Rusty Dragon wouldn’t have mentioned the stuff going down in Sandpoint and around Varisia, so it probably wasn’t a total shock when Zantus filled them in at the Cathedral later that afternoon.

The big news is that the two city states in Varisia, Magnimar and Korvosa are poised for war. A series of aggressive troop deployments by Korvosa has meant Magnimar has had to do the same. Opposing camps have been set up along the southern Skull River. Korvosa is pretending that their forces are there to protect the Ashwood loggers from the predations of Illsurian and behind the lines of camps is busy hacking down much of southern Ashwood. Illsurian is a town founded by disgruntled former Korvosan military and while anti-Korvosa, remains independent from Magnimar. Magnimar is responding by sending men and resources to “offer” to defend Illsurian as well as bolster the defence of the Skull River’s west bank. Dra-ma.

All of which puts Fort Rannick on the fortified northern flank of what could quickly turn out to be a warzone. How Lonny is dealing with this, no-one knows yet. Should the game of brinksmanship turn violent, Fort Rannick can expect to play a pivotal role.

Sandpoint has been given somewhat of a pass for a while, since Magnimar understands the need to rebuild following the Dragon/Giant raid. And as a coastal port, it can’t relinquish its defenses entirely for fear of naval raids.

The other big news is that Sandpoint is collapsing. Well, a bit of it anyway.

Shortly after the party left, a sinkhole appeared beside the garrison, wrecking a few walls, but without injury or loss of life. Sinkholes aren’t terribly unusual so close to the coast and it kind of makes sense given that everyone now knows that there are at least smugglers caves down there (only a few select know that there is Thassilonian bunker down there).

Sheriff Hemlock sent a few able bodied men down the hole to check it out, but after a night filled with bloodcurdling screams and canine howling emerging from the cave, the men have not been seen since. Hemlock has given them up for dead and has roped the area off – his men on alert and increasingly concerned as the howling gets louder every night.

Despite all the trouble they’ve already just been through, Zantus has little choice but to ask them to help out, since the party is composed of the most badass people he knows. He didn’t say that exactly, but it was implied.

After agreeing to help out and turning down an offer of money (so very A-team) the party agreed to look into the fate of the Sandpoint guards. In the morning.

In the meanwhile, there was drink to be had and venereal diseases to make saves against. After getting his fill of civilization, Don wandered out of town to camp, the others stayed in whatever beds were open to them, but everyone kept an ear out for the howling. It was hard to miss; mournful baying from several sources, reverberating from deep below the earth. No-one could identify the type of creature – something they had not encountered before.

That’s where we left them, but that wasn’t the whole of the evening. We then set about determining the group’s buying power. Dagfinn and Kerplak had combed through the haul from Jorgenfist and places in-between and appraised everything.

So the party has a substantial amount of buying power above and beyond the loot they’ve purloined for their use. They haven’t had a chance to spend it yet. But when they do, they’ll have 13,262gp each to spend after the hoard was split 8 ways.

While I’m gone, it’d would be a good idea to figure out what you will buy assuming you survive the trip down the sinkhole. You will not have that item for the trip down the sinkhole – cannot stress that enough. But it can be waiting in the wings ready to purchase when you get out.

13,262 – That’s the number you are working with. If you want to transfer money to someone else, or want to sell any of your stuff (i.e. if you replace armour etc), let me know and I’ll update your total.

Sandpoint has the following magic items for sale: A Ring of Invisibility, a +1 Shield and a +2 Shield. You also receive a 20% discount on all mundane items purchased in Sandpoint. So if you just need gear, it’ll be cheaper in Sandpoint.

You can get anything custom-made, up to a +2 bonus (or +2 bonus equivalent). In Magnimar, there is a wizard who specializes in stone who is friendly with Lonny. The +2 limit doesn’t apply to stuff he makes, he can custom-make anything for you, as long as it is stone, mineral, or gem. It has to be an object that is typically stone – you can’t get him to make you a granite crossbow. But if the item is normally stone (e.g. flint arrowheads or a stone head on a warhammer aren’t typical, but they aren’t outlandish either) it can bypass the +2 bonus customizing limitation. N.B. Ioun Stones are Thassilonian tech – no-one knows how to make them, so he can’t customize them.

Plans have already been made to shop in Magnimar – I’ll post a list of available magic items in Magnimar soon. Shopping further afield is something you can certainly do, but if you say you want to go, then you will spend that time after the sinkhole business.

Okay, I’ll update all of this later. Any questions, let me know.