Timberlands Campaign, Session 4: Pandemonium

January 1, Caudex Annales, 71 AUP

The arrival of guards from the ducal palace presented the option of simply sitting back and letting the two sides fight one another, or picking one side. Rather less reasonably, it opened up the option of fighting both sides at once. Naturally, the party picked the least reasonable option.

Sir Winsley, caught in a botched negotiation attempt, ended up with facing down the entire detachment of guards, and opened by punching out the mage as the guards watched with horror. Meanwhile, John-Paul began performing on the flute in an attempt to enthrall the conspirators inside while the situation outside could be resolved, with nearly uniform success. Virtually all the attendees -- local conspirators, visiting pirate traders, and saurian tribesmen -- seemed totally absorbed by the music to the neglect of the battle outside. The leaders of the factions watched in bafflement, and Dominator Korax raged helplessly at his distracted troops.

Basically Vrancx, but with more lizard guys.

Outside, Sir Winsley was getting a little help. One of the bar patrons decided to get in on the action, and began knocking out the rear ranks of the guard with backhand blows (and the occasional headbutt). In short order, pretty much the entire guard was scattered on the ground like bowling pins. (Herrobin's shrouded skeletons politely carried out each guard to safety as they hit the floor.)

Back inside, the conspiracy's leadership were struggling to regain control. Korax raised his staff to accomplish a successful command human spell on the performing priest, and drive him out of the room. Unfortunately, the entire crowd reacted quite negatively to the interruption of the performance, starting a general melee between members of all three factions.

Taking advantage of the temporary confusion, Jeeves, Merda Strega, Frigodria, and Aureon pushed toward the back of the room, angling for the leaders. Damien Whelk, his diplomatic facade discarded, came after them with a greatsword, trading blows with Frigodria along the wall.

When the dust cleared, the party had defeated the entire room of conspirators, as well as incapacitating a full contingent of city guards. The guard slowly recovered from their concussions, and Jeeves convinced them that the apparent treachery had all turned out for the best, given the trap that was waiting them.

The captain recommended interrogating on the the (deceased) leaders via speak with dead, and the answers came back in predictably cryptic form.

Who do you work for? "Rictovarius"
Who are your leaders? "Dead, mostly"
Where are you located? "Everywhere"

Roster

• Edward Sir Winsley, 5th-level dandy mystic (Andrew)
• Jeeves, 1st-level paladin
• Frigodria Dawnbringer, 5th-level paladin (Reba)
• Herrobin, 6th-level summoner, and his scads of spooky scary skeletons (Kyle)
• John-Paul Satre, 5th-level priest of... nihilist existentialism? (Lucas)
• Aureon Thallanir, 4th-level nightblade (Sion)
• Merda Strega, 6th-level witch (Will)
• Mysterious Lizard-y Stranger

Waiting outside the tavern to abandon and/or devour any survivors:

• Viserion, 5th-level young white dragon (Zac)
• Thorvald, 6th-level spy (Zac's Mom's PC, not a henchman)
• Adonirim, 3rd-level mage
• Shayna, 6th-level shaman (Kim)
• Togast, 6th-level skinscribe (Juston... was he here? I don't remember him there.)

Not appearing in this adventure:

• The very young white dragon, Namazu, reporting back on the frost giants
• Jarrus Velt, 5th-level thief
• Zelmar (injured, retiring maybe?)
• Anatolia (at chapel with Zelmar)
• Sir Robin (badly injured)
• Zalgesh
• Sir Rock Boulder Fist, dwarven 5th-level summoner
• Tu'a'than, 5th level spriggan

Casualties

Jeeves
Aureon
Merda Strega

Magical Items (to be identified)

All of the following checks out as magical and not cursed, based on detect magic/evil spells:

Korax' staff (presumably a staff of command, based on recent use)
rod, also owned by Korax
chain mail, worn by Korax
two-handed sword, used to great effect by Damien
sword, Reynard Tuck's
dagger, also Tuck's

Most of the gear looks fancy in terms of ornamentation, but not exceptionally powerful.

Valuables

8000 electrum pieces [4000 gp]
3 barrels of fine spirits and 4 crates of glassware [1400 gp]
assorted gems, jewelry, perfume, incense, engraved teeth, etc [6699 gp]

Total treasure value: 12099 gp

Total gold share per member: 1274 gp

I'm assuming that you include Shayna and Viserion in receiving shares, even though they didn't appear in the battle.

Experience

Killed: Reynard Tuck, 5th-level assassin [350], Damien Whelk, 7th-level fighter [790], Captain Brusticle of the Lonesome Flail-Snail, 8th-level fighter [1100], Dominator Korax [1100], 2 hoods [80], 12 foodpads [120], 4 pirate heroes [320], 30 pirates [300], 4 Thrassians [560], 16 lizardman champions [880], 18 velociraptors (deinonychus) [630]
Incapacitated: Captain Tanny [350], Heronymous, 5th-level mage [500], 2 swordmasters [110], 20 guards [100]
Total: 7290 xp

Total experience from treasure: 12,099 xp
Total experience from kills: 7290 xp
Total experience from exploration: 0 xp
Total experience: 19389 xp
Total experience per member: 2041 xp

I'm including everyone in the experience shares also, rather than punishing Viserion further for being too large and dragonish to get into the tavern.

Timberlands Campaign, Session 3: Wrong Side of Town

December 31 - January 1, Caudex Annales, 70-71 AUP

The party split into multiple teams to comb the city, in search of the vampire's lair. The use of evil-detection produced two leads: one faint trace below the Bleeding Cockatrice in the south of town, and the other for a tenement house in a deserted lower-city block just below the palace in the northwest. The party converged on the second location, and began asking for information from the mostly terrified locals. In exchange for not-being-dragon-lunch, a street thug was willing to share that the house had been well-frequented by out-of-towners, but had recently become haunted and avoided by decent folk like himself..

Mummy art by winwu

The party stormed the building from every direction: front, back and the roof. (When you're a dragon, you make your own entrance.) The first few rooms were empty, but showed signs of terrible violence toward the previous occupants. A handful of scouts ventured down the stairs, only to discover that the junk-strewn basement was infested with mummies wrapped in bed linens -- presumably the former room occupants, converted into ersatz guards. The battle was joined by four rooms of oversized ogre-zombies, just beyond the point in the hallway when the party decided to stop checking. The mummies moaned their way up the stairs after the fleeing scouts, only to encounter a mirror of opposition and die to their doppelgangers.

After the battle, the party was just about to light the whole place on fire, when someone had the sensible notion to check the junk for treasure. In fact, the basement was well-stocked with treasures, though whether from the previous occupants or from whatever illegal activities had been organized their prior to the infestation, none could say. There was also an empty coffin there, but the vaporous vampire apparently had sufficient warning due to the guards, and had slipped away back into the sewers. (Shayna's vision had suggested numerous locations outside town that might contain other crypts that could offer potential refuge, and the dawn was not yet near.)

Eavesdropping on the after-action report was a raffish by well-dressed stranger, apparently someone interested in hiring the party for a task involving skill and discretion. He introduced himself as Damien Whelk, and invited the more cultured half of the party to a conference of "concerned parties" at the Bleeding Cockatrice. The party elected to send Edward Sir Winsley and his valet, along with anyone else interested in learning more about the offer.

The next day, the party staked out the cockatrice. Shayna hung out in the rafters in bird form, and noticed a remarkably large number of people entering without leaving -- some clearly from out of town, and some obviously nonhuman in shape and size, despite some attempts at disguise.

The meeting commenced in the evening, in a great hall hidden behind the wine cellar, below and across the street from the tavern proper. The hall held several dozen conspirators, including a number of lizardmen and their overlords. An estimated general listing of the attendees in addition to Damien himself would include:

• Reynard Tuck, an apparent organizer of some wealth and status;
• a dozen or so of his local associates in something called the "Chiaroscuro group";
• Captain Brusticle of the Freeport Kings' Council and captain of The Lonesome Flail-Snail, representing pirate traders interested in holding open the region's trade routes;
• his crew of some three-dozen irregular ruffians, mostly with knives and daggers;
• Korax, a Saurian Tribes dominator from the Savage Reaches to the south;
• four powerful greater lizardmen (classed Thrassian types);
• sixteen saurian champions, standard lizardmen with a bit of armor;
• one small razor-toothed raptor-pet for each of the Saurian tribesmen, all of them leased at attention like war dogs, with glittering eyes and snapping teeth.

Reynard himself opened the meeting with a short speech, noting the weakness of the current government, the unrest of the winter-starved peasantry, and the expected vulnerability to dangers such as the dark elves, the undead, and the forces of Baron Rictovarius to the south. He suggested a change in government might be a natural preparatory step for the stabilization of the region. Edward Sir Winsley rose to suggest that, as someone of royal blood himself, he might be a perfectly logical choice as a successor to the Duke, to broad approval. He also suggested that it might be helpful to have a full roster of the attendees as a gesture of trust, to rather less enthusiasm.

At that point, a force of guards from the ducal palace stomped into the tavern above, apparently alerted to some kind of plot against the duke. They began moving down through the wine cellar, until they were intercepted by Edward Sir Winsley, who had been dispatched by the conspirators to intercept the party-crashers. The guards were both reassured to find known allies, but also suspicious of their proximity to suspected enemies of the crown, and demanded immediate aid in apprehending the traitors -- without delay, despite the attempts of the party to negotiate for time and a nonviolent option. A last-ditch attempt to bluff the leaders of the conspiracy failed, and a battle seemed inevitable... a battle in which each side was calling out for their "trusted allies" to destroy the other!

Roster

• Edward Sir Winsley, 5th-level dandy mystic (Andrew)
• Jeeves, 1st-level gentleman's gentleman
• Frigodria Dawnbringer, 5th-level paladin (Reba)
• Viserion, 5th-level young white dragon (Zac)
• Thorvald, 6th-level spy (Zac's Mom's PC, not a henchman)
• Adonirim, 3rd-level mage
• Togast, 6th-level skinscribe (Juston)
• Herrobin, 6th-level summoner, and his scads of spooky scary skeletons (Kyle)
• John-Paul Satre, 5th-level priest of... nihilist existentialism? (Lucas)
• Aureon Thallanir, 4th-level nightblade (Sion)
• Merda Strega, 6th-level witch (Will)
• Shayna, 6th-level shaman (Kim)

Not appearing in this adventure:

• The very young white dragon, Namazu, reporting back on the frost giants
• Jarrus Velt, 5th-level thief
• Zelmar (injured, retiring maybe?)
• Anatolia (at chapel with Zelmar)
• Sir Robin (badly injured)
• Zalgesh
• Sir Rock Boulder Fist, dwarven 5th-level summoner
• Tu'a'than, 5th level spriggan

Casualties

None

Magical Items (to be identified)

10 potions
10 scrolls
4 swords
wand
suit of ring mail

Valuables

The skeletons are going to be busy all night hauling this stuff!

Note: At this point, you are the richest people in town inclusive of the ducal family. And since it's hard to have an army of skeletons toting around large quantities of treasure without at least SOMEONE noticing, this has become common knowledge.

5000 gold pieces.

8000 silver pieces.

6000 electrum pieces.

3000 platinum pieces.

A rich fur coat, worth 13000 gp.

6000 GP facet cut star sapphire.

6 jars of lamp oil, worth 20 gp each and weighing 6 stone per jar.

3 bags of loose tea, worth 75 gp each and weighing 5 stone each.

3 jars of lamp oil, worth 20 gp each and weighing 6 stone per jar.

3 rolls of silk, worth 400 gp each and weighing 4 stone each.

450 griffon feathers, each worth 5 gp and weighing 1 stone per 25 feathers.

2 bundles of rare fur pelts, worth 500 gp each and weighing 5 stone each.

200 eagle feathers, each worth 4 gp and weighing 1 stone per 25 feathers.

750 GP sunset amethyst.

50 GP crystal.

50 GP citrine.

500 GP alexandrite.

25 GP agate.

10 GP malachite.

50 GP bloodstone.

25 GP agate.

50 GP jasper.

100 GP amber.

A piece of jewelry constructed from chryselephantine worth 800 GP.

A piece of jewelry constructed from fine wood worth 300 GP.

A piece of jewelry constructed from chryselephantine worth 900 GP.

A piece of jewelry constructed from chryselephantine worth 700 GP.

A piece of jewelry constructed from ivory worth 400 GP.

28 bottles of fine wine, worth 5 gp each and weighing 1 stone per 5 bottles.

4 crates of glassware, worth 200 gp each and weighing 5 stone each.

3 bundles of rare fur pelts, worth 500 gp each and weighing 5 stone each.

500 GP topaz.

A piece of jewelry constructed from wrought silver worth 500 GP.

A piece of jewelry constructed from carved jade worth 900 GP.

A piece of jewelry constructed from silver studded with moonstone worth 2000 GP.

A piece of jewelry constructed from wrought gold worth 400 GP.

A piece of jewelry constructed from chryselephantine worth 1100 GP.

A piece of jewelry constructed from silver studded with opal worth 1000 GP.

A piece of jewelry constructed from chryselephantine worth 1100 GP.

3 bundles of rare fur pelts, worth 500 gp each and weighing 5 stone each.

2 bundles of rare fur pelts, worth 500 gp each and weighing 5 stone each.

3 rolls of silk, worth 400 gp each and weighing 4 stone each.

1 bundles of rare fur pelts, worth 500 gp each and weighing 5 stone each.

1 jars of spices, worth 800 gp each and weighing 1 stone each.

6 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes, each worth 1200 gp.

100 GP coral.

500 GP alexandrite.

100 GP jade.

10 GP obsidian.

100 GP coral.

25 GP lapis lazuli.

25 GP lapis lazuli.

250 GP garnet.

10 GP hematite.

750 GP star ruby.

100 GP amber.

A piece of jewelry constructed from chryselephantine worth 200 GP.

A piece of jewelry constructed from porcelain worth 300 GP.

A piece of jewelry constructed from silver studded with jet worth 5000 GP.

A piece of jewelry constructed from chryselephantine worth 700 GP.

4 barrels of fine spirits or liquor, worth 200 gp each and weighing 16 stone each.

1 barrels of fine spirits or liquor, worth 200 gp each and weighing 16 stone each.

2 crates of beetle, tiger parts, worth 300 gp each and weighing 5 stone each.

2 barrels of fine spirits or liquor, worth 200 gp each and weighing 16 stone each.

32 typical fur capes, worth 100 gp each and weighing 1 stone each.

3 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes, each worth 1200 gp.

6 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes, each worth 1200 gp.

A piece of jewelry constructed from chryselephantine worth 500 GP.

Total treasure value: 99,975 gp

Total gold share per member: 9,998

Experience

Killed: Mummy lord [4200], 5 mummies [5x460=2300], 2 brute zombies [2x570=1040]
Total: 8540 xp

Total experience from treasure: 99,975 xp
Total experience from kills: 10,270 xp
Total experience from exploration: 0 xp
Total experience: 110245 xp
Total experience per member: 11,025 xp