Summary L: Fallout from the Death of Groorg
Here's a very brief summary. Since we didn't do a whole lot that requires
much description, it will be pretty easy:
1. Searched the areas of the temple where Groorg's men went. Found lots of
interesting items and most importantly the Mithril Key. Rangorn would
probably want us to detail his daring escapades fighting wolves here, but we
won't.
2. Rescued an adventurer dwarf, recently captured. Later we found his
chain mail of weightlessness (along with another suit that we found). Lots
of other cool treasure.
3. Rescued two Realmish privates who had been tortured. We healed them.
They were from the anti-Drake, anti-Cromwell side, but we didn't really care.
4. Explored the catacombs below the temple where the "glowy things" were.
The halfling-size prints clued us in that they may be will-o-wisps, and we
later encountered two of them. We tried to track their treasure down, since
two will-o-wisps could very well be hiding over the gems. With that much
cash, perhaps even will-o-wisps could share.
The catacombs contained lots of burial niches and sarcophagi. Some had been
cleaned out by Groorg's men. Some had been left alone. A gelatinous cube
tried to eat Ceydric. We killed it. A tentacled monster from a pool tried
to grab Ceydric. We got him loose.
Later, we went back to where a sarcophagus had been pried open and fought a
weak mummy. It was destroyed but nothing interesting was found in its
sarcophagus (though we should check out his mace for magic since it still
looked in good shape).
A room full of six sarcophagi was left intact, along with other burial
niches. Another potential place for the gems. Last place we want to look
but might have to: Under/around the Altar. Could "suck."
Kyle/Alegra
One of the prisoners we just rescued was Teldral the Dwarf, a fighter of
low level that was interested in watching the workings of our party.
During the encounter with the mummy, he did relatively little, passing
a couple of items between members and not much more. The following email
is entirely related to a discussion between Eli (the only person able to
speak dwarven) and Teldral.
After speaking with Teldral for around an hour or so, Eli returns to the
party with Teldral close behind and shares the following information.
"Hmm...how to best present this material. It seems that Teldral would
like to help us, the Stone Soules, but the degree to which he helps is
dependent upon our reaction to him. He is not comfortable with the
current arrangement, that is, following the party around and getting into
dangerous situations without sharing reward or motivation. If it is
decided by the party that we do not wish Teldral to assist us, he would
prefer to be left behind with the other prisoners as opposed to
endangering himself needlessly. He would leave with no hard feelings
towards the party, and would have only lost 4 magic items and 12k gold."
"Teldral is intelligent enough to pick out that we are searching for
something, based no doubt on our careful scrutinization of every stone
and block we have come upon since our arrival here. Therefore, he
presents option 2 as a means of benefitting all those concerned. He has
some skill as a thief, combining this with his dwarven knowledge and
proficiency in engineering, he is a very capable person for finding
secret compartments in this complex(more so than Ludo in dealing with
stonework secrets). He could agree to a short term contract of
assisting the party in locating 'the treasure' for the fee of the return
of all his equipment and a pre-arranged sum of gold. His equipment
includes that which we have already returned to him AND 3 potions
(healing, heroism, invulnerability) and a ring of protection. The amount
of money would have to at least match the amount lost but with the
perceived danger he would prefer something on the order of 20k."
"Teldral has also made it clear that he is interested in joining the
Stone Soules for the duration which they plan to adventure (somewhere
around 10 years), if several terms could be agreed to. He would ask that
all his equipment be returned to him, however, if he were to join he
would use the potions to the party's benefit whenever possible. He would
also like a decently large personal allotment of wealth, as he is used to
living well. He is aware of the 6-month core membership system and the
triumverate of leaders, but has made it clear that any suicidal mission
he will abort before forcing himself to die just because the vote was
against him. I would like to take the moment to point out that Teldral
is not fully aware of our adventuring style (very cautious) and thus I
think this final note irrelevant, but for completeness it is mentioned
here. It was at this point, that Teldral confided in me the truth of his
background and which I think the party will consider him to be a very
useful addition indeed."
"His name is not Teldral. It is X (Edwin has it at home and couldn't
remember it at the time of this writing). He has been adventuring for 60
years and is an influential member of the dwarven political community,
serving as arbiter and dignitary between the clans. He is a warrior of
prestige among the dwarven peoples, an honor that is equivalent to that
bestowed upon a human warrior when they have earned their name (7-9th
level). He is also skilled as a master thief, enabling him to adventure
alone, succesfully clearing many ruins in these dwarven hills and through
his ingenuity single-handedly defeating a tribe of hill giants. Were
he to be accepted among our ranks, he could easily learn more of our
common language to communicate with us all. It is his mixture of
talents that he would bring to the Stone Soules but he requires a few
things of us."
"The individual allotment is an important thing for him, and I believe,
an important thing for each of us. Xavier and Alegra have plans for the
telescope, which, although the party's initial outlay of tremendous
amounts of money grants each member partial ownership, the workings of
the telescope will be entirely left to those two in retirement. Thus,
they will need a personal share to build the structures to house the
scope and to start the community there. Theo has shown interest in
building a structure and joining Faranyn in Middle with some position of
leadership among the barony guard. I would like to build a residence at
the Ziggurat; Raven seek his original form. We all have personal goals
that shouldn't be funded by the party, thus it seems that Teldral's
request for a personal allotment is something each of us desires anyway."
"The second request from Teldral is perhaps more difficult. In order to
help locate what we are looking for, he requires some details on the form
of the treasure. We all know this is Type-2 classified information by
the Cromwellian government and thus the decision for its disbursement is
partially in the hands of Warwick, as the official representative of said
government. To what extent Teldral may be informed is still a party
decision however, we are in the field and not within the political reins
of Cromwell. The success of our mission could depend on the assistance
of this dwarf and what detail we give to him. I would ask that the party
invest some trust within the dwarf, a hero among his peoples, so that our
own quest does not fail. He has offered to place his life in line with
what we know to be very hideous traps, I believe he deserves to know for
what reason his life is at risk and to what he stands to gain. It would
be nice to also give him the details for why we are pressed for time, and
why, if a Realmish Shock Troop appears, that they aren't necessarily a
friend. Teldral has assured me his only allegiance is to the dwarven
people, and thus has no ties to Cromwell or the Realm, but confusion at a
moment of crisis could endanger the success of our mission. This is
something we should perhaps discuss more without the presence of Teldral
(he is standing by Eli at the moment)."
"What are people's feelings towards the offers he has made?"
More detail was presented at dinner last night (as well as several
questions I haven't addressed here answered), but this is all I have time
for at the moment. Mark and Joey's input through email is very important
here as we do not wish to waste the first hour of the mega-game session
discussing party politics. I have been told Kyle might be at dinner
tonight so he can present his ideas then. At the moment, the polling is
as follows:
Eli-Greatest proponent of Teldral's admission, seeks all Type-2
information revealed to T
Ceydric-Agrees that Teldral should be allowed to join, but that only VERY
basic information be revealed (enough that the treasure can be found, but
nothing more)
Raven-Believes Teldral to be what he claims to be, and thus would like to
see him join the party. Says he will keep an eye on his activities for
awhile.
Rangorn-Agrees with Raven, "He is a dwarf..."
Xavier-More of a hardliner like Ceydric, believing in the control of
government in this situation (yes, he is a worshipper of a CG religion :) )
Theo-"Yeah, sure, whatever." Edwin can extrapolate here.
That is the initial opinions, correct me if you are represented incorrectly.
Cheers,
-Zack Hubert-