It was the 23rd day of the month of the Judge (1/23), and Ollie pulled out the papers from his magical backpack, the ones where he scribbled inscrutable notes about treasures gathered during their adventures. It was time to divide up the loot after many months. The others were eager to get back on the trail of the werewolf who’d fled the St. Orlan area, so he felt a bit rushed.
The last time treasure was shared was after defeating the strange starfish creature (Session #218 – The Citrine Star on Malb’s Island). After that time, they took 3,000 gp and some gems from a pirate ship they captured (Session #223 – A Galley Called The Dragon’s Saber). They’d intended to split this with the captured crew, but those crew turned out to be hooligans who were all eventually killed.
Much time passed until Aderian, Ghevont, Jerker and Elaria busted up a slavers gang in Slateholm (Session #225 – Return to Slateholm), taking 13,000 gp and 1,900 pp. Nate and Ollie were in Slateholm at that time, but did not participate in the adventure. A short time later, the Raiders found themselves in the Cryptward, which they’d entered via the sewer (Session #230 – Otyughs in a Filthy Chamber), and they recovered various treasure worth 19,480 gp. Among this loot were an enormous pearl (5,951 gp) and an ornate goblet (5,750 gp). These two items were not easily divided, so the pearl went to Ghevont and the goblet went to Nate. Additionally, a second trip into the Cryptward by Aderian, Ollie and Nate got them 1,200 gp and a scroll of protection against undead. This treasure was immediately divided and not shared with anyone else.
Now, Ollie intended, or so he said, to account for who was present at each treasure discovery with the intent of dividing it between who was present. After more than hour, he came up with the following.
- Aderian: 6,017 gp
- Ghevont: 6122 gp (5,951 gp of which was the pearl)
- Jerker: 6,627 gp
- Nate: 5,796 gp (5,750 gp of which was the ornate goblet)
- Ollie: 6,805 gp
- Tienarth: 2996 gp
- Elaria: 3,424 gp
- Hocuspo: 616 gp
Something about this division did not sit well with Jerker because he’d remembered the large portion recovered in Slatholm, and how neither Ollie, Nate nor Tienarth were present. Ollie noticed his displeasure and was coy. Was the dwarf giving into his greedy nature? It was hard to tell, but he did seek to placate Jerker, offering to give him more coin, and the matter was settled.
This left open the question of whether it was the best choice of the group to leave it to a greedy dwarf with a penchant for collection baubles and a former pirate with little regard for personal property to hold the party’s treasure.
Tienarth grabbed his loot and immediately teleported back to his tower on the Naked Isle.
To Slateholm
Elaria peered into her crystal ball. She saw the runaway werewolf going along the road to Slateholm in the morning and heading into the Dancing Toad at the end of the day. The whole group of them made the day’s journey to Lah’s Retreat with the intention of following to the port town. Ghevont announced his intention to remain behind to consult with Lah, likely seeking a restorative cure from the touch of the spectre. Nate gave Lah the ornate goblet and more gold coins as a donation to the church. Part of this was his tithing.
The next morning (1/24), Elaria saw the werewolf on the docks in Slateholm and was also able to use ESP to detect thoughts of despair and a lust of loot. He seemed to be looking to catch on with a ship’s crew. When they all arrived in town at the end of the day, they spotted their prey on the crowded wharf. Before accosting him, Aderian noticed that the Garlic Frog was missing. It was easy to forget that while they’d only experienced a few weeks in the mist that outside several months had passed. Jerker surmised that the ship’s crew had left because they’d run out of food.
This was a problem left to resolve at at later time, for now was the time to grab the werewolf, which Jerker did with a heavy bear hug. This attracted the attention of the guards patrolling the wharf. During a heated exchange, Jerker had nearly convinced the skeptical guards to follow up on the accusation of lycanthropy, but then Aderian made a foolish comment interpreted as an offer of a bribe. This stirred anger in the guard. In the end, the werewolf was let go and the guards told all three of them to leave the docks.
When Aderian returned to the Dancing Toad, he made sure everyone there knew about the dangerous stranger, and the patrons there were sympathetic, or else, they merely appreciated the many pints of ale he bought for them. In the morning (1/25), Elaria was able to see the werewolf hiding amongst boxes on the pier. Aderian and Jerker went invisibly to talk to him.
The two of them offered payment for the werewolf to give up the location of his fellow brutes. He plead ignorance and refused to go back to the St. Orlan area with them. He did give a hint that he thought one pack was hiding in an abandoned prison, but he didn’t have an exact location to share. When the two fighters tired of negotiation, they stabbed the werewolf to death in the hiding place and left the body.
Meanwhile, Ollie purchased a cart and a donkey.
Finding the Prison
When the sun rose (1/26), they marched back to Lah’s Retreat. It occurred to Aderian that he should have the bone of St. Jaludi restored. Lah was able to consecrate it once again after its defiling by the odeum.
Lah knew of the prison, including its location. He showed them where it was on the map (hex 0209). He only knew it was a long-abandoned prison that was sometimes used by humanoid monsters as a base for attacks on the road near Muleshoe.
Tienarth reappeared this day, bringing Hocuspo with him. He then made to return again to his tower, presumably to continue work on another magic item. Unbeknownst to his companions, his teleportion went awry. He found himself on a nearby island tower some 60 miles away from the Naked Isle (the tower from Session #219 – Mayhem at the Wizard’s Crumbling Tower, Southern Seas hex 0907). He planned to teleport home the next day when he’d had a chance to memorize spells again.
Before walking back to the homestead (1/27), Elaria viewed the prison from some distance. A squat stone building stood in a clearing, rusting iron gates bent open. After they’d returned to the homestead, she got a view of the interior, seeing several figures walking in a large hall.
The walk to the prison the next day (1/28) required only about two hours, as it was mostly along the main road. They climbed up a short way into the low mountains to find the dilapidated prison. They stood about a hundred yards away at the edge of the clearing. Aderian was able to sneak in the iron doors to see a few individuals. A plan was made, and the party rushed through the doors under the power of a haste spell.
The battle only lasted about a minute. Werewolves and ordinary human thugs rushed out to fight, but they were no match for these fearsome warriors of near-divine power. Once again, Hestrin’s Chisel transformed a werewolf into a statue, another trophy to be delivered to the Ebon Spire as proof the the dwindling threat of the werewolves.
Aftermath
In the aftermath, Jerker plucked a silver earring from the leader of the pack. Later, Elaria identified it as a protection against magic. Meanwhile, Ollie and Aderian freed six actual prisoners. They were as follows.
- Adolda, a halfling peasant being held for ransome (she claimed).
- Eliana, was barely able to explain she was a merchant’s daughter. She was hysterical.
- Kydor, a barbarian scavenger who recently escaped slave pens only to be captured by the werewolves.
- Sam, a mill owner from Mill Town.
- Pippen, a halfling.
Ollie gave each of them 20 gp and offered to escort them back to St. Orlan. Sam said he could find his way back to Milltown, but Ollie came along anyway because the wolf pelts he’d paid to have tanned would be ready by then.
The rest of the chambers of the prison were searched at a cursory left. Ollie snatched up seven ledger papers which only contained numbers. He stuffed them into his backpack. In the barracks, one last thug sprang from a hiding place and slipped pasted them and into the wilderness. Jerker gave chase, but was not lucky enough to catch up.
Ollie lent his ring to Elaria who interrogated the dead werewolf leader.
- Who commands your pack? I do.
- Why were you using the prison? To hide out.
- Do you communication with any of the other packs? Yes, sometimes.
Before they left, Jerker piled all of the corpses into a cell and bent the bars to keep them closed up, hopefully preventing being disturbed by wild animals. The intent was to return to ask more questions of the dead.
They returned to the homestead that day. The next morning (1/29), Ollie went with Sam to Milltown where he picked up his tanned wolf pelts, then returned.
Elaria spent that morning identifying the earring and then began thinking about the lessons she’d learned from recent battles.
End Notes
- Days
- 1/23 – 1/29 Finding the destroying the second werewolf pack
- Treasure:
- Earring of 15% Magic Resistance
- Combat (3275 xp)
- Werewolf Leader 670 xp
- 6 Werewolf Brutes 405 xp each
- 7 Human Thugs 25 xp each
- Characters (5.5 shares of 595 xp)
- Aderian (human, fight, in front) 666 xp
- Elaria 298 xp
- Jerker (human, fight, in front) 666 xp
- Hocuspo (human, avoid combat) 660 xp
- Nate (human, fight) 660 xp
- Ollie (greedy, fight, in front) 613 xp
- Tienarth (present briefly) 0 xp