Session 5 Recap (part 2)

Shamus Goodwine, a lieutenant of the Blue River Thieving Guild, emerges from the barracks of Border Watch keep along with a goblin warrior and Tallos Fireaxe, dwarf fugitive. The goblin barks some commands in goblin, calling for a halt to the fighting, which Shamus relays to his men. The remaining bandits back off and parley ensues.

The heroes demand that the bandits abandon the keep and turn over Tallos for the justice of Stonehome. A bit of give and take with much diplomacy and intimidation eventually wins the day: the goblin, Charlgus Bloodbane, agrees to leave and to make contact later with the bandits to discuss a potential mutual supporting action against the Razorclaw kobolds. The Bloodbane goblins comprise a large nation and they are feeling threat of the kobolds more closely than the people of Edmund and of Stonehome.

Shamus takes his men and abandons the keep. He agrees to act as an intermediary between the goblins and the dwarfs if the goblins will agree to parley.

The goblin and the bandit quickly give up Tallos to the justice of Stonehome. The heroes liberate some treasure from the dwarf and the camp and hunker down to rest the night underground. The bitter cold of a deep winter has set in, and it would be dangerous to rest outside.

During the night Tallos approaches Grim and Torv separately trying to win his freedom. He offers them "great knowledge and glory for their clans" if they will set him free. They refuse but later tell their comrades of Tallos's tale. Aeral and Jordin work it out: Tallos and Kharas sent men to Gafir's lair to recover the Bracers of Dwarven Brotherhood, a mighty artifact of the dwarfs last worn by Jaedyn Fireaxe in battle against the dragon Gafir.

The heroes while away the night in the underground barracks of the keep and make ready to leave the next morning.

Treasure: Frostwolf Pelt +1, Potion of Clarity (level 5), five amethysts worth 100 gp each, and 220 gp in mixed coins

Session 5 Recap

This was a combat heavy session.

The heroes opened the game moving along the Chisel Path to the Border Watch Keep. Torv recognized the unseasonably cold weather blowing in from the south as having an unnatural source. After a bit of noodling over it with Aeral they came to the conclusion that some magical force in the Witch Wood has triggered the great dark clouds hovering over the forest and bringing a great mass of cold air to the mountains . . . from the South.

On the march up the Chisel Path spur heading to the keep the party met a mixed patrol of elf and human bandits. They quickly dispatched the soldiers and minions, but the elf archers made a quick escape. The Silver Elites caught up with the archers at a guard tower a couple of miles away from the keep . . . and the archers had more friends. A hard fought battle ranged over a large battlefield and eventually ended when Kalim and Grim managed to ride an elevator to the top of the tower to bring down the archers and a goblin sharp shooter.

They captured one of the archers and questioned him about patrol patterns. The elf told them to expect a guard force to arrive around nightfall to replace the tower guards. He also told them there are about 25 or 30 people at the keep.

The Silver Elites set up an ambush at the guard tower and wait for the evening guard change. In their prepared state they make very quick work of the soldiers coming to take the night watch.

Another bit of subterfuge wins the way into the keep. They approach after nightfall pretending to be the relieved guard force returning to the keep. After they get in the gate, one of the guards recognizes them as imposters and a great melee ensues. The heroes beat down the guards and take on wave after wave of soldiers and archers coming up from the underground barracks. Finally, the leadership of the keep emerges.

NPC Profile: King Arnulf Blademeister

King Arnulf is the fierce and mighty king of the dwarfs of Stonehome. He has held the position of king for over forty years and intends to run for a third term in six years. His clan has the support of numerous minor clans and the major clans of Drumbottle, Bronzekettle and Two-Axe.

King Arnulf fought alongside Prince Jorum's grandfather in the battles against the Razorclaw tribe of kobolds and their dragon leader, Gafir, 100 years ago. King Arnulf proved his worth as he landed mighty blows against Gafir when Joshua Edmund fell to the dragon. King Arnulf has been a warchief and war advisor before ascending to the throne in a hard-fought election with Korum Fireaxe and Malcolm Two-Axe as his major opponents. For unknown reasons Two-Axe withdrew from the election and threw his support behind the Blademeister assuring Arnulf the victory after the forth ballot.

King Arnulf is a no-nonsense ruler. He abides by the laws of Stonehome, watches vigilantly for enemies and honors his commitments to others. King Arnulf signed a mutual protection pact with Prince Josseth Edmund shortly after taking the throne. No call has been made to honor this treaty, but with the recent Razorclaw menace on the border and tales Gafir waking in the mountains, everyone fully expects Prince Jorum to make the call soon.

Session 4 Recap

At Stonehome

The session opened with a quick recap of the last session and a quick dive into some dwarf politics. The heroes felt they needed to be at the Private Council of the Dwarfs and made quick work toward getting an invitation. They met first with Drusilla Fireaxe. She agreed to be one of their sponsors into the Council, expecting them to side with her clan and help shield her from any trouble arising out of Kharas and Tallos's actions. She advised them they would need an invitation from the King or from two Councilors to get into the Council. She agreed to approach Wilhelm Bronzekettle on their behalf to get a second for the invitation.

Back at their quarters they received a message from Jodie Giantslayer, another Councilor who wanted to talk with them. They chose to delay answering the request and made way to meet with King Arnulf Blademeister.

King Arnulf received the heroes and quickly cut to the heart of the matter. The problems with kobolds and a potential dragon menace should be addressed forcefully. The king agreed to sponsor them into the Council. Having personally fought at the battle against Gafir 100 years ago, King Arnulf has no desire to see this dragon threaten the lands again.

The next morning a representative of Jodie Giantslayer, Twilingar "friends call me Twig" Giantslayer, came to them. He obliquely offered money if they would meet with "my friend Jodie." The heroes politely demurred, and said they would see him after the Council.

Grim managed to track down a shady member of his clan, his cousin Gormac Harmon, to get information about Tallos Fireaxe. For a sum of 250 gold, Gormac pointed the heroes in the direction of the Border Watch keep where Tallos has contacts among the Blue River Thieving Guild.

The Council

At the Council Drusilla Fireaxe announced the "unauthorized treasure hunting" on the part of her clan mates. She allowed that their activities may have stirred up the kobolds in the area and suggested they be tried for "financing an unlawful expedition into the mountains" for which they should be fined. She also advised that the dwarfs of Stonehome should send some troops to help protect Fallcrest against the kobolds and another force to hunt down and destroy the annoying "rat men". She carefully avoided any mention of Gafir.

Malcolm Twoaxe, the king's war advisor, leaped into the discussion and bellowed about the dangers brought to the dwarfs by the Fireaxe clan. Malcolm has spent a great deal of time interrogating the kobold captive, Xaxgal, that the heroes brought to Stonehome. This kobold mutters the name of Gafir, calls down curses on the dwarfs and pronounces that one day "the kobolds of the Razorclaw tribe will rule this land again for the glory of Gafir!" Malcolm opposes sending dwarfs to "defend the humans; let them fend for themselves. We have to protect Stonehome."

A long debate ensues. The Fireaxe and Bronzekettle Councilors attempt to deflect damage from the Fireaxe clan while supporting efforts to help their human allies. Malcolm calls for a strong defense of Stonehome. Jodie Giantslayer calls on the King to send troops to Fallcrest, and suggests that the Fireaxe clan should bear the expense. Elisa Drumbottle, the last of the Councilors, quietly takes it all in and appears to be swayed by the most recent argument at any given time. Finally, after the heroes have had their say, the King makes his pronouncements: the dwarfs of Stonehome will honor their treaty with the Principality of Edmund. If a formal request for aid comes from Prince Jorum then Stonehome will answer. The Fireaxe clan will be made to foot the bill for the troops. In the meantime, the dwarf traitors, Kharas and Tallos Fireaxe, will be caught and tried. Should the rumors of a dragon be proved, these two will be executed. Otherwise they will be fined and imprisoned for their unwise actions.

King Arnulf also lays a command on Grimold Ironforge and Torvidicus Harmon to take what forces they can gather and to recapture the Border Watch keep on the Chisel Path. This place will make a good base of operations against the kobolds, and gods forbid Gafir, should it become necessary. The people of Stonehome will step up their patrols on the western end of the Chisel Trail.

Later that night the heroes meet briefly with Jodie Giantslayer. He wants their aid in bringing down the Fireaxe clan. The election for the Council seat held by the Fireaxe clan will occur in two years. "It is time to start gathering dir, erm, um, information to prepare for the election." The heroes are noncommittal about their allegiance.

On the Chisel Path

The Silver Elites make their way down the Chisel Path towards the Border Watch keep. They encounter a pair of kobolds on the road. The kobolds attempt to hide from the heroes, but the dwarfs and Kalim easily spot them and attack. The kobolds use various rat swarms and allies in a losing battle. Eventually the kobolds flee the field of battle, leaving their rat friends behind. The heroes catch up to one of the kobolds along the road some time later. It is dying from its wounds. They bandage the creature and question it. The kobold is of the Ratkin tribe of kobolds. The Ratkins have been decimated by the Razorclaw kobolds and most of their kin have been taken as slaves. Those that have avoided capture are fleeing from the mountains. The heroes let the kobold leave.

Later that evening a trio of goblin scouts and their wolf companions attack the party while they rest. In a fairly quick and one-sided battle the heroes bring the goblins down. They capture the goblin witch doctor who says they are members of the Bloodbane tribe who rule this part of the mountains. They were here on a simple errand of banditry. The heroes loot the goblins and come up with a bit of cash, an Orb of Sanguinary Repercussions +1, and an augmenting whetstone (level 6). The heroes camp for the night, planning to assault the bandits at Border Watch on the morrow.

Treasure Parcel Reset

So, we've got basically an entirely new group. I'm resetting the treasure distributed at 1st level as follows:

• Gauntlets of Ogre Power (level 5 hands slot item)
• Black Iron Scale Armor +1 (level 4 armor slot item)
• Wand of Witchfire +1 (level 3 wand; Jordin has this one)
• Amulet of Physical Resolve +1 (level 2 neck slot item)
• 200 gp
• 180 gp
• 70 gp and Potion of Clarity (level 5)
• 120 gp
• 40 gp

Total cash: 610 gp

Decide how to divide up the rest. My suggestion is that you each take a magic item and give a larger share of gold to the person that does not get a permanent item, but you do what you want to do. Let me know the plan.

Sending Ritual

There was some discussion about using the Sending ritual to get word to Prince Jorum about the goings on in Stonehome.

Grimold Ironforge has family here and they are reasonably well off. A member of the clan, Aegon Ironforge, has the ability to cast the Sending ritual. The clan will donate up to 100 gp worth of residium to cast the ritual two times. If you want to use it additional times you'll have to find a way to pay for it.

You convey a mental message of up to 25 words to a person you know. If the target is within range, he or she receives the message mentally and can respond likewise. The ritual’s maximum range is determined by your Arcana check result.

Aegon needs to get a 20 or better on his Arcana check to make the Sending work, which shouldn't be too hard for him. Decide what your message will be and if we can do this BEFORE the next game I can get things rolling with that.

Also, think on what you know and what you want to do next game. The next game could be very role-play intensive, or I can rush us through the politicking.

Session 3 Recap

What's going on?

The Silver Elites have traveled to Stonehome to deliver a message from Prince Jorum Edmund to King Arnulf the Blademeister of Stonehome regarding recent problems with kobolds in the Smokestack Mountains near Fallcrest. Edmund has reason to believe that a band of dwarfs may have disturbed the kobolds, and more importantly the ancient dragon menace, Gafir. Kharas Fireaxe, a traveling dwarf merchant from Stonehome, let slip that this may be the case.

Tallos Fireaxe, Kharas's brother, approached the heroes on their first night in Stonehome. He told them that the Fireaxe clan did indeed finance the mission to recover Gafir's treasure. He strongly encouraged the heroes to avoid mentioning the dragon, or dwarfs or anything that might bring dishonor to his clan. The Fireaxe clan has held a position on the High Council of Stonehome for generations and a scandal of this sort would endanger their political standing. The election for the position currently held by the Fireaxe clan occurs in two years. The heroes were noncommittal to Tallos, but he left believing they will not be doing him any favors.

The next night Drusilla Fireaxe, the High Councilor of the Fireaxe clan, invited the Silver Elites to a dinner party. The heroes enjoyed a massive banquet and good entertainment before Drusilla met with them privately. Drusilla pumped them for information and discovered the problems with the kobolds, the potential involvement of dwarfs and the threat of Gafir. Jordin recognized that Drusilla did not know about the expedition to Gafir's treasure. She thanked them for their time and dismissed them.

The King's Court

The Silver Elites attended King Arnulf's Court in the Stonehome Amphitheater. The session opened with a very stylized and ritualistic performance that named all of the High Councilors and announced the purpose of the Court: to treat with emissaries from the Court of Prince Jorum Edmund. As the king called on the heroes to stand and present their business High Councilor Drusilla Fireaxe called "a Point of Order" which interrupted the proceedings. The assembled dwarfs were shocked. While the High Councilor followed protocol and was well within her rights to do call a Point of Order, such interruptions are nearly unheard of in King Arnulf's court.

High Councilor Drusilla then proceeded to accuse two members of her own clan, the brothers Tallos and Kharas Fireaxe, of high treason. The rules of the dwarf court require that such matters be resolved prior to any other business and after a formal reading of the charges, the court was adjourned with the pronouncement that King Arnulf and High Councilor Drusilla Fireaxe demand the capture of both Tallos and Kharas and will pay a reward of 1,000 gp each for the presentation of their living persons at the court at Stonehome.

The specifics of the charges were not made public. High Councilor Drusilla used her authority to press for a private Council at which to discuss the matters as the information may present a danger to the state.

What to do?

So, High Councilor Drusilla Fireaxe has managed to manuever the court to avoid public presentation of information that will endanger her political position. In the meantime, King Arnulf still does not know what's going on and the heroes have not gotten Prince Jorum's message to the king.

Catching Up

We played a second game with the original PCs. It amounted to the Silver Elites answering the call of Prince Jorumn to visit the dwarfs of Stonehome and to bring word of the kobolds to him. The heroes had a choice of paths and initially planned to take the long, safe route by way of the trade highway with Kharas Fireaxe. These plans changed when Prince Justin decided that he wanted the glory of "putting the dwarfs on notice" for himself. Prince Justin took the dangerous Chisel Path to the north. The heroes set out in pursuit and after a brief chase caught up to him west of Fallcrest on the Chisel Path.

Captain Tiberious and several guards took Prince Justin and his hangers on in hand and led them back to Edmund Keep. A band of thugs accosted the party before they caught up with Prince Justin. The heroes captured one of the bandits and learned from him that he and his comrades were hired by a representative of the Blue River Thieving Guild to attack the party. Part of their payment was a necklace belonging to Lady Elaine Edmund which the heroes gave to Captain Tiberious to return to her.

Long break between games and then a party reset. See next report.

The New Cast

Aeral and Jordin are still around, but we've shuffled the cast a bit.

Kalim: human barbarian

Grim: dwarf fighter

Torv: dwarf warden

More details coming soon.