 |
| Winter is |
Arriving at the location, the party discovered that the dragons had dug out a makeshift lair, pulling the treasure into a series of tunnels below the ground. In fact, the 'caves' were more like open-air crevices covered over by a thick layer of ice from above, and footing was treacherous. Worse, the corpses of the slain pirates were still standing where they had perished under the frost breath of the dragons, and when approached, some of them seemed to be writhing and twitching under a thin layer of ice, animated as "hoarflesh" (ice zombies).
The party cautiously moved past the frozen battlefield and descended under the ground. The translucent ice allowed for dim lighting, and the audible steady breath of some large creature indicated that they were close to trouble.
In the first chamber, they found a single small dragon, Namazu, about 12 feet long -- younger than most of the party. She at first appeared entirely disinterested in the invaders, inviting them to fight her sister and brothers deeper in the tunnels, but showed a sudden interest in negotiation when the party revealed that they were willing to share some of their spells with her, to improve her meager repertoire. She also reassured everyone that her larger siblings had no magical talent, were unable to speak common, and indeed were really rather stupid, despite being a bit larger. She also helpfully informed the party that they were being tracked by another comparably-sized group of adventurers.
The party coaxed Namazu into participating in a plot to trick her larger siblings into launching a raid on the main pirate camp. The pretense was that she had developed "new magic" that would protect them from counterattack, and Zelmar gave her a small teleport effect to allow her to make a surprise entrance.
Unfortunately, the ruse went poorly (reaction check: 3) and instead the larger dragons decided to simply go on a rampage. Their roaring cracked the ice and released the ice zombies, and then they took off on patrol, combing the path from the air and then doubling back on the ground. Zelmar dropped a fear wall in front of them, and they were sufficiently spooked to hightail it back to their lair for the next 15 minutes or so. Meanwhile, the party worked to rescue the unconscious Namazu (who had been knocked unconscious by her enraged older siblings) and beat down the hoarflesh.
So in the end, the party fled carrying one of the dragons, but made no attempt to recover the treasure.
Sort of a reverse-Clemenza move, I guess.
Roster
- Zegzinu (2 henchlizards)
- D
- Zelmar
- Talyn
- Leone
- Shane
- Sky
- Skittles
- Kilor
- Shiek
- Bob the Wolfman (plotting treachery) [inactive]
...and introducing four liberated prisoners for next week (whose names I need to record!)
Treasure and Experience
Once again, the party made it through a session without killing anything, and without recovering any treasure, which would mean no gold or treasure-based experience. Dragons themselves are worth a small fortune when sold as captives, though, so I guess I can count that as "treasure" for experience purposes.
Coins: - [=> 0 gp]
Gems/Jewelry: - [=> 0 gp]
Trade goods: -
Dragons: One very young white dragon 1000 gp * 23 hp [=> 23,000 gp]
Magical items: -
Total nonmagical treasure value: 0 gp
Shares: 11
Gold per share: 0 gp
Killed: -
Surrendered: -
Feared with a spell that can't possibly be 1st level yet somehow is (hax!): 570 xp
Miles traveled: 36 [11.5*36 = 828 xp]
Total experience from treasure: 23,000 xp
Total experience from kills: 570 xp
Total experience from exploration: 828 xp
Total experience: 24398 xp
Total experience per member: 2218 xp
(Note: Henchlizards get half-shares of treasure and experience.)
