DF Khoramandu Sea, Session 70 - Caves of Chaos, part 24
Due
to the coronavirus lockdown, we once again played remotely using
Hangouts. I don't use a VTT; when I need to show the battlefield, I use
paper maps and minis, and point a webcam at the table.
Session Date: Thursday 25 June 2020
Party roster:
Miao Miao, cat-folk swashbuckler, 411 points (PC)
- Jenkins, human servant, ~200 points (NPC Ally)
- Brother Warian, human monk (initiate), ~200 points (NPC Ally)
Sir Yvor Gryffyn, human knight, 347 points (PC)
Davin Emberwood, human wizard, 342 points (PC)
Childerbert "Bert" Ingoberger, halfling locksmith (thief), 287 points (PC)
Hemmu Gahrol, half-orc knight, 275 points (PC)
Adam Aesalor, half-orc wizard, 257 points (PC)
Location: Borderlands between the Kingdom of Ioscany and the Wilds of Pyrrhon; ravine outside the caves.
The party limped from the orc cave to one of the small woods to heal, with both Hemmu and Davin being helped down the bank of the ravine, while Sir Yvor dragged the body of the orc chief. Inside the wood, Brother Warian healed the worst of their wounds. Hemmu was brought back from death's door and Davin's leg was healed well and the crippling had only been temporary.
They rested in that wood, intending to recover their strength before taking the chief's head to the hobgoblins. Instead the goblin-kin came to them. There were several hobgoblins and a couple of goblins with them. One of the goblins did most of the talking, in a mixture of accented Orcish and even more accented Common Tongue. The goblin said they were ready to take the corpse, but Miao pointed out the deal was for the chief's head only. The goblin asked if the party were planning to eat the orc chief.
Noticing new party member Adam, the goblin then ignored Miao and spoke to the half-orc directly. In Orcish, the goblin asked Adam if he was the new translator. This meant nothing to Adam, as he doesn't speak any Orcish. Hemmu then stood up and insisted that she was still very much present, and would do any necessary translation.
Miao said that they would strip the orc chief first, then the hobgoblins could have the naked body. The goblin agreed to this, but complained to Hemmu repeated about how slow the party was being. He seemed quite agitated that if they had seen the party then perhaps the kobolds had too. The kobolds apparently have a pet dragon, which the goblins seem quite wary of.
The deal was done, the hobgoblins got the second orc chief, and the party got three sacks of treasure, plus what had been looted from the orcs. The party returned to the keep; another uneventful journey as Miao's player once again invoked Luck.
Loot was as follows.
Orc chief and wizard:
- suit of crude plate armour
- ornate broadsword, set with a blue gem
- hatchet of seeking (Accuracy enchantment: +1 to hit)
- coin purse
- silver and gold belt
- quarterstaff (standard Staff enchantment)
Hobgoblins:
- 2 sacks, each with a full suit of cheap human mail armour
- 1 sack full of Bronze coins from Mythrus, a foreign city-state known its Bank
At the gates of the keep there was a bit of unpleasantness, as the guards refused Hemmu entry back into the keep (half-orcs will occasionally suffer prejudice in DFRPG for their racial heritage). Sir Yvor was not having any of it, and gave the guards what-for. The sergeant came running out and apologetically told the guards to let them through.
The next day the party evaluated their gear. Sir Yvor sold off the 3 suits of armour at the keep; Jenkins added up the coins, and Miao helped him to get these changed at the keep loan bank*. They were fortunate that the Bank of Mythrus is well enough known and trusted (also a good reaction roll, boosted by Miao's Status) so that the foreign coins were exchanged at full value ($2896). "Mythrus Bronzes" are worth the same as a copper coin, but weigh half as much (100 coins to the pound; almost 29 lbs weight in coin). With the sale of the secondhand armour plus the coins, the party made enough this trip that each party member got 2 gold crowns each. They are waiting to get back to town to sell any of their magic treasure, including the items recovered from previous visits to the caves.
Having achieved their primary objective (destroy the evil cult), and feeling satisfied that they had done enough toward their secondary objective (loot the caves), the group agreed to leave the keep as soon as they could join a caravan going back to Marsh Hall. There was another caravan due to be going that way in 4 days time. They had a big leaving celebration, and Sir Yvor paid the innkeeper a crown to buy every soldier at the keep a drink. Yvor gave the other half of his day's takings as a donation to the keep shrine. Miao paid a visit to the Castellan to pay her respects. Davin gave a report of to the Bailiff of the keep of the state of the caves. Then they departed the keep with the caravan to Marsh Hall...
---
I asked the players at the end of the session to give an idea of what they wanted to do next. They probably need some training downtime at some point, but do they want that immediately when they get back to Marsh Hall, or elsewhere (e.g. Phessio, the capital city). Do they want to spend any length of time in Marsh Hall. Do they want to stop anywhere along the way back (someone mentioned the wizard en route). I kind of pressed them for an answer. Sometimes it feels difficult to achieve a consensus. No doubt this is made harder over VoIP than face-to-face. I was quite tired last night and hindsight I needn't have forced the issue.
They agreed that they would go to Phessio, but on reflection I think there are multiple reasons that it would make sense, both IC and OOC, to delay in Marsh Hall before setting off. It would also give me more time to prepare for the big city. I will see what my players say.
They rested in that wood, intending to recover their strength before taking the chief's head to the hobgoblins. Instead the goblin-kin came to them. There were several hobgoblins and a couple of goblins with them. One of the goblins did most of the talking, in a mixture of accented Orcish and even more accented Common Tongue. The goblin said they were ready to take the corpse, but Miao pointed out the deal was for the chief's head only. The goblin asked if the party were planning to eat the orc chief.
Noticing new party member Adam, the goblin then ignored Miao and spoke to the half-orc directly. In Orcish, the goblin asked Adam if he was the new translator. This meant nothing to Adam, as he doesn't speak any Orcish. Hemmu then stood up and insisted that she was still very much present, and would do any necessary translation.
Miao said that they would strip the orc chief first, then the hobgoblins could have the naked body. The goblin agreed to this, but complained to Hemmu repeated about how slow the party was being. He seemed quite agitated that if they had seen the party then perhaps the kobolds had too. The kobolds apparently have a pet dragon, which the goblins seem quite wary of.
The deal was done, the hobgoblins got the second orc chief, and the party got three sacks of treasure, plus what had been looted from the orcs. The party returned to the keep; another uneventful journey as Miao's player once again invoked Luck.
Loot was as follows.
Orc chief and wizard:
- suit of crude plate armour
- ornate broadsword, set with a blue gem
- hatchet of seeking (Accuracy enchantment: +1 to hit)
- coin purse
- silver and gold belt
- quarterstaff (standard Staff enchantment)
Hobgoblins:
- 2 sacks, each with a full suit of cheap human mail armour
- 1 sack full of Bronze coins from Mythrus, a foreign city-state known its Bank
At the gates of the keep there was a bit of unpleasantness, as the guards refused Hemmu entry back into the keep (half-orcs will occasionally suffer prejudice in DFRPG for their racial heritage). Sir Yvor was not having any of it, and gave the guards what-for. The sergeant came running out and apologetically told the guards to let them through.
The next day the party evaluated their gear. Sir Yvor sold off the 3 suits of armour at the keep; Jenkins added up the coins, and Miao helped him to get these changed at the keep loan bank*. They were fortunate that the Bank of Mythrus is well enough known and trusted (also a good reaction roll, boosted by Miao's Status) so that the foreign coins were exchanged at full value ($2896). "Mythrus Bronzes" are worth the same as a copper coin, but weigh half as much (100 coins to the pound; almost 29 lbs weight in coin). With the sale of the secondhand armour plus the coins, the party made enough this trip that each party member got 2 gold crowns each. They are waiting to get back to town to sell any of their magic treasure, including the items recovered from previous visits to the caves.
Having achieved their primary objective (destroy the evil cult), and feeling satisfied that they had done enough toward their secondary objective (loot the caves), the group agreed to leave the keep as soon as they could join a caravan going back to Marsh Hall. There was another caravan due to be going that way in 4 days time. They had a big leaving celebration, and Sir Yvor paid the innkeeper a crown to buy every soldier at the keep a drink. Yvor gave the other half of his day's takings as a donation to the keep shrine. Miao paid a visit to the Castellan to pay her respects. Davin gave a report of to the Bailiff of the keep of the state of the caves. Then they departed the keep with the caravan to Marsh Hall...
---
I asked the players at the end of the session to give an idea of what they wanted to do next. They probably need some training downtime at some point, but do they want that immediately when they get back to Marsh Hall, or elsewhere (e.g. Phessio, the capital city). Do they want to spend any length of time in Marsh Hall. Do they want to stop anywhere along the way back (someone mentioned the wizard en route). I kind of pressed them for an answer. Sometimes it feels difficult to achieve a consensus. No doubt this is made harder over VoIP than face-to-face. I was quite tired last night and hindsight I needn't have forced the issue.
They agreed that they would go to Phessio, but on reflection I think there are multiple reasons that it would make sense, both IC and OOC, to delay in Marsh Hall before setting off. It would also give me more time to prepare for the big city. I will see what my players say.
Comments
Post a Comment