The hunt for werewolves was set aside for a week. Jerker remained at Lah’s Retreat, and Ghevont made his own journey to consult with Lah. Nate took a trip for pleasure up to the mountains, and the doings of the rest of Tienarth’s Raiders was unknown, except for Ollie. The wily dwarf contemplated the two treasure maps the party insisted he take from the loot removed from the shambler while they picked their own magic items. By chance, four adventurers had arrived at the homestead, the first replacements for the those followers who’d been slaughtered by werewolves a few weeks before. Ollie used this opportunity to get some value out of the map with little risk to himself. It also gave him the chance to test these adventurers, perhaps turning them into his own loyal followers.
He looked at the map. It showed the road from St. Orlan to Milltown where the hills rose to true mountains. A trail led to a meadow where a single oak stood. There were six nails drawn next to the tree and seven stones around it. The sixth stone had a big X on it. By his estimate, the loot was only a couple of miles from town.
He looked at the ragged band of four, considering if they were up to the task. First, there was a halfling whose full name was Manekimo, but answered to “Kimo”. He was obviously trained in the art of theft. Beside him was Phahri, who preferred to be called Ari. He was a human fighting man, formerly a logger from Milltown. Then there was Caelith MacThane the half-elf bard who also knew something of the robbing and looting. He’d come to St. Orlan is search of Ghevont. Finally, there was Caolan, who made no secret of his training in the art of assassination. He, like the halfing and the fighter had come to St. Orlan partly based on rumors of Ferris starting up an adventurer’s guild.
Ollie explained that the previous residents of the homestead were freeloaders who camped in the field with sheep. Both groups had perished to the fangs of werewolves. Why should he trust these new four lads, he wondered. Caelith’s soliloquy about his admiration for Ghevont earned nothing more than a dismissive “fascinating” from Ollie. Caolan advised the dwarf that he should trust, which Ollie appreciated as the first honest statement from the group. He offered them a deal: take the map, bring back the loot and split it with him, half for himself and the other half for the four of them. The assassin sought to negotiate via an insult to Ollie’s mother, which earned him a smack across the face from Ollie’s gauntleted hand. Kimo rushed to diffuse the tension by excitedly agreeing to the terms on behalf of the other three.
The used that morning to purchase supplies, then marched south. Before long, they knew they were in the general area (hex 0909) and began a search. They found no clues for the rest of that day and made camp on the side of the road. They spent the entire next day (2/14), trudging up steep inclines, not finding any new trails or meadows. Neither were they interrupted by monsters or wild animals on either night. Midday of the next day (2/15), Caelith took up an uneven tune to encourage good luck in their search, and so it was they they did find a narrow trail that ended at a high mountain meadow.
A solitary, wind-twisted oak stood like a ‘malformed fang’ in a swaying sea of high grass. At the tree’s base, seven white river stones—smooth as a ‘mirror-like surface’—formed a tight circle, despite no water flowing within miles of this spot. Six rusted iron nails were driven deep into the trunk at eye-level. It took little time to identify the sixth stone. Kimo flipped it over, and it was obvious that a small chest was buried there.
The small chest was lifted from the hole with great effort. It weighed more than 400 pounds. Kimo made a check for traps, then lifted up the unlocked top, revealing a mess of loose coins made of gold and platinum. A cloak was spread out and the coins were counted. There were 18,000 gold coins, 2600 platinum pieces, and 12 gems.
The assassin proposed taking out all of the platinum, hiding it from Ollie. Kimo like this idea and Ari seemed ambivalent. Caelith did not come around to the idea at once, worrying that it would be part of the tale that he could never tell. In the end, they left only the gold in the chest, dividing up the platinum and gems between them. Caolan locked the chest with a padlock he’d been carrying as a way of making it seem like they hadn’t even checked the treasure before bringing it to Ollie.
So, each of them took an equal share of platinum, 650 pieces. Then, the gems were divided unevenly for some reason, according to the following.
- Kimo: Amethyst (500 gp), Fluorospar (38 gp), Chlorastrolite (10 gp), Aventurine (100 gp)
- Ari: Garnet (100 gp), Fire Opal (100 gp), Chlorastrolite (5 gp)
- Caelith: Alexandrite (200 gp), Fluorospar (375 gp)
- Caolan: Ruby (20 gp), Garnet (1000 gp), Fluorospar (50 gp)
The trek back to the homestead was slow, with two of them walking together to share the heavy weight of the chest. They had to take several breaks at that, being just at the end of their carrying capacity. Eventually, they dropped the heavy load before Ollie. On the way, Kimo became nervous of being caught essentially stealing part of the loot from the famous dwarf, but he was reassured by the others, mostly Caolan.
Ollie looked them over, and being naturally suspicious, he rightly accused them of hiding some of cheating him. He said he noticed their pockets bulged and jingled like they hadn’t days before. Caelith immediately admitted they held some extra loot and that he hadn’t wanted to go along. Then, Kimo offered a preposterous tale about pixies given them treasure. Caolan further explained that since this loot didn’t come from the map itself, it was not included in the deal, and he pointed to the lock on the best as further proof of their honesty. Somehow, this foolish lie was believed by the dwarf, and he let the matter go.
Kimo got to work on picking the lock on the chest. It took him ten minutes. Once again, the gold coins were counted, and Ollie honored the deal, taking 9,000 gp for himself and giving the other four 9,000 gp.
Kimo buried a good portion of his loot in a location known only to himself. He also spent good sums on parties. Ari donated much of his new wealth to Amalgus in support of the effort to improve the security of the town. Caelith donated a large sum to chruch at the temple of St. Orlan. Caolan gave away 150 gp to the poor and then spent four times as much to hire thugs to advertise his philanthropy, mostly by painting black knives on any available surface. By the end of the week (2/22), everyone in town knew about the knew about Coal Bhas and his benevolence for the poor, though some grumbled at the ugly graffiti that appeared.
The assassin also spent 1,000 gp to increase opportunities for fame in St. Orlan. This was in the form of a new periodical called The Inkwell’s Edge, a first for the small town. The funds would allow for a single publisher to create stories about town and print them on parchment to be sold on the street. This increased the potential for fame in St. Orlan from 100 gp to 150 gp.
Caelith wrote down the song about searching he’d developed while in the mountains, making it repeatable and effective. Thereafter, he could expect that performing it would increase the range of success when searching by 1, such that a search for a landmark that might succeed on a 1 in 10 would succeed on 1-2 out of 10 if he kept up the song.
Caolan spent the following week (2/23 – 3/1) looking for ingredients, preparing them and brewing up a single vial. He did this in the homestead where Ferris would typically make potions. Given available material and some luck, he made a rare poison that erases the victim’s memory. The poison worked by getting into the blood, usually by the edge of a blade. Those not making a saving throw, immediately lose four memorized spells and 75% of everything that happened to them in the previous 24 hours.
See also: Ghevont’s Questions
See also: Jerker and Lah Discuss the Dream
End Notes
- Days
- 2/13 – 2/14 Kimo, Ahri, Caelith, Caolboss dig up treasure for Ollie
- 2/16 – 2/22 Kimo, Ahri, Caelith, Caolboss train
- 2/23 – 3/1 Caolboss brews up a vial of poison of forgetfulness
- Treasure:
- 9,000 gp to Ollie
- 650 pp and 2,250 gp to Kimo
- 650 pp and 2,250 gp to Ari
- 650 pp and 2,250 gp to Caelith
- 650 pp and 2,250 gp to Caolban
- Amethyst (500 gp), Fluorospar (38 gp), Chlorastrolite (10 gp), Aventurine (100 gp) taken by Kimo
- Garnet (100 gp), Fire Opal (100 gp), Chlorastrolite (5 gp) taken by Ari
- Alexandrite (200 gp), Fluorospar (375 gp) taken by Caelith
- Ruby (20 gp), Garnet (1000 gp), Fluorospar (50 gp) taken by Caolan
- Combat: none
- Characters
- Kimo (stealing) 3898 xp
- Ari
- Caelith (stealing) 3825 xp
- Caolan
Kimo and Caelith are thieves. Stealing anything of value earns an immediate award of 1 XP for each GP of value stolen. This does not use up the gold. It can later be used for training or any other purpose. XP awards above are based on the value of the platinum (3250 gp) and gems stolen from Ollie.