Back at home, Tienarth’s Raiders were ready for relaxation, but first they had to split up the loot. Once again, Ollie argued for an outsized share with no luck. In the end, the entire take was divided into five equal parts of 15,407 gp. One share each went to Jerker, Tienarth, Ferris and Aderian. The fifth share was divided between the five less-experienced followers: Florida, Roddy, Zad, Ollie and Saul. Those five were given 3,081 gp each.
Tienarth retreated to his laboratory to resume work on a magical wand and did not reappear for weeks. Meanwhile, Jerker showered benevolence upon St. Orlan, handing out coins to the poor and asking about anyone in need. He also visited his father, Hubert Smith, in order to ask the favor of constructing plate armor for Ollie. The old man was still sore over Jerker leaving the family business to pursue adventuring, but he did agree to do the work for 400 gp. The armor would be complete in six weeks, around 5/27.
In the intervening weeks, Ollie found a town guard called Carl to train him in fighting techniques. Part of the training involved taking the dwarf to the local taverns where he arranged fights. Ollie lost most of those fights but gained some insights in the fighting arts, including how to take a punch. After paying Carl and losing money in wagers on his fights, Ollie took 1,000 gp and buried it the woods near the homestead. He drew himself a map to recall the location.
Jerker spent lavishly during these weeks organizing a series of parties where songs were sung in his honor. Ferris took Nate the paladin under his wing and donated funds to the church in his name. Zad, despite his dwarven heritage, donated his money to the church as well.
Saul the druid overspent on animals for sale in St. Orlan, setting them free. When Jerker learned of this, he gifted Saul several animals: a goat, a goose, a cow, a sheep, a donkey, and a turtle. Saul enchanted the animals to be his friends and then directed them to perform at one of Jerker’s parties.
After about six weeks of merriment, talk turned to finding more loot. Idle banter about pirate ships was forgotten in favor of Ferris asking them to find fireweed, which they hoped would still be in bloom on the slopes of the volcano near the road to Tosasth. On 7/2, a party left the homestead, headed for the tower at the top of the mountain pass. The crew included Ferris, Jerker, Ollie, Tenren, Zad, Saul and Nate. With them came Jerker’s war dog, Nate’s two war dogs and all of Saul’s animals.
Not long after turning from the main road to the cutoff that skirted the swamp, they met a large boar. Seizing on the opportunity for a companion better than his fanciful menagerie, Saul befriended the boar which relinquished his charm upon the cow, the sheep and the goat. He still led them along on a rope.
A few hours later, they were set upon by nine wolves. Jerker rushed forward to attack, but most of the pack fell upon Saul’s animals. Jerker’s dog stayed back with Tenren, who fired arrows at the wolves. Ollie ran for a tree, followed by Saul and his animals. Nate and his dogs did their best to defend the animals, as did Zad. Saul charmed one of the wolves, leaving eight to defeat, which they did without much trouble, though they lost the cow, sheep and donkey. Saul bid farewell to the goose and the goat so that he could maintain his charm over both the wolf and boar. He also kept his pet turtle in a pocket.
When they arrived at the tower they found two giant crab spiders nesting there. Jerker, Zad and Tenren killed them quickly. Ferris collected their venom sacs, intending them for brewing antidotes. Jerker cleared the inside of the tower of rubble, and they talked of restoring it.
End Notes
- Treasure: none
- Combat
- 8 wolves 1,160 xp
- Characters: 116 xp
- Ferris: 128 xp
- Jerker: 128 xp
- Jerker’s dog
- Nate: 128 xp
- Nate’s two dogs
- Ollie: 116 xp
- Saul: 128 xp
- Saul’s boar, wolf, turtle
- Tenren: 116 xp
- Zad: 116 xp
Note: animal retainers get a half share of XP but do not have levels.
Fun chaotic session … however, I thought the blog post title might be, “when animals attack…”