Cleaning up Loose Ends
We had a very short session today, mainly cleaning up and housekeeping, making decisions for the next couple of sessions. But before we get into how things will be going in the future, let's finish with the thrilling conclusion of our fourth dungeons and dragons session
The Earth Dragon Responds
The heroes had just finished wiping out or scaring off the remainder of the kobolds. Miaculously, very few of them had taken any damage. Oliver had backstabbed Sleusill the lizard man shaman, Guido and Horace had unleashed a flurry of bolts and arrows on the troupe of reptillian creatures, and Clyde had waded into a crowd of them, swinging about like a savage to create as much disruption as possible. As the melee finally calmed, Oliver, no longer under the effects of Sleusill's charm spell, told his companions of the treasure he had found within the kobolds' temple. He had also secured himself another treasure, Sleusill's sacrificial dagger, and after slaying the last kobold in his wake, it felt warm in his hand, tingling even. He couldn't tell the difference, but the remainder of the party felt a trembling beneath their feet, and looked at each other strangely as Oliver seemed to carry on without a care in the world.
They all headed together over to the stout building inside the kobold encampment. Oliver bounded down the stairs first, while the remainder of the party was more hesitant; the trembling, shaking ground was causing debris to fall around their heads. Just dust at this point, but it was getting worse. Cracks showed in the pillars keeping the roof aloft, and the demon idol visibly shook against the far wall. Oliver, though, happy as a lark, practically skipped over to the thing, sacrificial dagger in hand, and sought out his prize
Clyde offered to head over to the lost harpoon, and search the dead kobolds in the room for loot. He grabbed the errant weapon around the same time that Oliver had thrown one of the tents from outside over brazier to extinguish the flames, and climbed up on the idol's bloated belly. Guido and Horace looked to each other shaking their heads, and as soon as the sacrificial dagger had pried one of the rubies loose, Horace hollered to Oliver to toss it back to him, still by the entrance.
All four companions stood with their mouths open in disbelief as from beneath the tiled floor erupted a full eleven feet of stinky, mucus dripping rock worm. Its tubular form ending with a wide, circular toothed maw, which instantly lashed out at the closest living creature it could locate, the unfortunate Clyde. He reacted in time, his shield rising over his head as he lowered himself as close to the ground as he could, and holding the harpoon like an awl pike braced against the floor. Odorous ooze sprayed out from the wound of the thing as it crashed its neck into the sharp, barbed head of the harpoon. Clyde let the weapon go as the worm reeled, hissing out what it could muster as a roar of pain. The dwarf rolled, trying to get back to the stone staircase as quickly as possible to make his escape. Guido and Horace yelled for Oliver to throw the final ruby and make a break for it. He carefully slipped his new dagger into his belt, tossed the ruby over the head of the worm, and jumped down from the idol, trying to roll around the creature.
Guido hurled his spear, bruising it through its chitinous plates as it skittered off. Dropped the ruby into his pouch and took quick aim, plunking one arrow near the thing's "head," and as he drew back his second shot, taking a quick step up the stone stairs to get as far away as possible, his bowstring broke.
The Worm, still infuriated from the harpoon lodged in its neck, took aim at its next closest adversary, Oliver. He rolled out of the way, and its bite fell harmlessly to the stone below. The halfling swindler got a good look at what those deadly jaws could do, though, as it scooped up rock and debris and crushed it in a single bite, sending shards of stone everywhere. He decided the safest place to be, in order to stay out of the thing's mouth, was not to continue trying to get around it to the stairs, but rather to leap onto the beast, and cling onto its plated hide as best he could. He drew forth his blade again, and used it to spear into the thing's tube-shaped body and climb higher.
While Horace attempted to repair his bowstring, Clyde grabbed the line from the harpoon and yanked as hard as he could back towards the staircase. The harpoon came loose, dislodging a fair amount of flesh from the beast as he did so. It hissed again, just in time for Guido's handaxe to thunk into it, creating another wound for the black-green-brown slime that filled the monster's body to spurt out.
As Clyde pulled the harpoon back to himself, Oliver had climbed high enough on this hellish monstrosity to aim his dagger directly at the hole the dwarf had made. Deep into its body he plunged the sacrificial dagger, over, and over again. The goo streaming freely out now, splattering all over him as he punched into it like so much mud. The beast reeled again, and this time, thrashed his own body at the stone altar, hoping to knock the pesky halfling loose. He was very successful, and Oliver's back bent backwards at an awkward angle, causing him to let his grip on the thing's chitinous plates to loosen as he fainted from the trauma. The Animal raised its head up, curled down at the unconscious halfling, bent on swallowing this small morsel whole. Clyde readied the harpoon for another throw, and Guido pulled out his last handaxe as Horace pulled back on his bowstring and sent two feathered shafts into the monster.
With a final hiss, the thing's heart pumped one last, weak shot of ichor from its many wounds, and fell back limp, its unholy life finally taken from it.
Return to Jed's Camp
The beginning of the fifth session of the Mürmaids dungeons and dragons campaign was Oliver awakening when they arrived back at the bandits' camp southeast of Meis Osley. Jedhigo Loaum was a bit more receptive to their presence in his camp this time, probably because of the treasure of great value they brought back with them, and the news of a newly-emptied walled complex a little farther up-river, where perhaps he could make a more stable place of residence for his crew.
The Value of a Ruby
The issue of what to do with their new rubies is what came up first. Oliver awoke to the bad news that they would not be able to easily get full price for the gems here at the camp. Horace had appraised them at 1,000 gold pieces apiece. Large as they were, they did have imperfections, but still, they would be worth more than any of them had ever seen in one place before. Unfortunately, Jed would not be able to pay near that price for the gems. He had very little cash on hand at the moment, and would only be able to pay half of their value. He didn't force them to accept 500 apiece, and as we will see in a moment, even offered them protection, whether or not the Mürmaids accepted his price.
Horace first made the argument that one sack of coins in the hand was better than two in the bush, and keeping the gems at hand provided way too many opportunities for them to loose them anyway, and they wouldn't know how good of a price they could get in any of the nearby cities. Oliver at first put up an argument, and Guido pointed out that keeping them was dangerous, considering that they were surrounded by a pack of thieves and murderers. Clyde and Igrom didn't care at all, so long as they got what was coming to them. Finally, everyone agreed, once Oliver took the initiative to charisma the hell out of it for a few dozen more gold.
The party re-invested in the bandits to some degree, paying to have help repairing the damage done to the River Maven, and buying fabric for sails, carpentry supplies and other mundane goods they had acquired. As a party, they decided (after a snafu with who the harpoon belonged to, and some shady swindling with how it ended up becoming Oliver's), that they would invest in shared-party goods before splitting the cash up. But first, they had to decide what to do with Igrom. Jed offered them the chance to trade the man for a slave he had recently freed, who was particularly handy with stitching a wound. They decided to keep Bad Cheese aboard, for his skills in a scrap if not just for his comic relief. Before divvying up the cash, they decided to spend a little money on a new wooden maul for him, as well as a boiled horse hide set of armor.
As they went around purchasing things for themselves from that point, they all discussed the next issue of interest.
To Join the Guild?
The protection Jed had offered them came at a price. His guild leader, a gnome completely lacking in scruples from another part of the continent, had heard of these river pirates, and as he is attempting to expand his reach into this part of the world (hence Jed's presence here), decided it would be wise to get them on board as well. The Theives' Guild Boss's terms were simple. For his services and protection from his thieves or operatives reporting to his guild members, the Mürmaids would owe 20% off the top of whatever profits they make on any given day. Some allowances would be made for lack of profitability, but if the party lost out too often, and continued to use the services provided (fences, smugglers, support in local law enforcement, whatever the guild could provide), they would be expected to pay something out of their own pockets. Also, they would be forbidden from doing any business with the slavers operating in the Sea of Fog (whom they had already had one run-in), and would never be able to act in a way that could harm orphanages or any children of civilized peoples. However cut-throat this Guild might be, it apparently drew a line in the sand at children.
In return, they would be considered off-limits to any of the Guild's agents, and thereby offered protection from Jed & Two-Coins, as well as any operatives or agents working for them. Jed told the Mürmaids that this was a rare honor. Nirnfi R Bindlestiff wasn't one to offer allegiances unless he saw a true path to profit. In this case, the path may just be to secure a stronger foot-hold in the area, or perhaps he truly saw something in the exploits of thie crew, or maybe he just hated the harbormaster of Meis Osley or Conchlan the smuggler.
At the mention of Mr Bindlestiff (Nirn, for short...get it? short? he's a gnome....ahhhhh...too much typey typey), both Guido and Horace knew the name and ramifications. Nirn is a ruthless man, well known for his control over the crime syndicates of almost the entire northeastern part of the continent. However, he is also known as a fair employer, and provides for his thieves as well as can be managed. In this case, far away from the gnomeish crime mastermind, his influence might not be that powerful, but it certainly wouldn't be a bad deal to get protection from his thievery. Oliver asked Jed when they would get to meet Nirn, and with a raised eyebrow, Jed replied "you don't meet him. You deal with me. If he wants, someday Mr Bindlestiff might meet you."
After asking about a few more details, the crew finally shook on it, and joined the guild.
What's Next?
A few options were provided as the next course of action for our intrepid heroes. First, they could have decided to take their rubies south to the plains city of Kolas, where a gem merchant would be much more readily found than in the small, remote city of Meis Osley. You might have guessed that they didn't, and accepted Jed's offer for half the value.
Second, they could have headed off to the northwest of the bandit camp, in search of a dwarven fortress of some repute that had fallen to the goblins during the dwarven wars some fifty years ago. This was Igrom's idea, and it may or may not have been of particular importance to him because it was where he was defeated, and potentially captured by the goblins before being man-handled for 40 years and eventually sold off to the slavers. Yes, he carries a deep, oppressive grudge.
Jed also suggested an idea. Their new employer, of sorts, though he would never tell the Mürmaids to do anything they didn't want (unless it involved a guild war), needed a job done. Some time ago, one of Nirn's investments turned up some sour news. His mine wasn't producing as well as it should have, and the governor of the town, who had been paying for Nirn's protection, wasn't feeling particularly protected, as his port was under constant threat of pirate activity. Jed had received an order, in no uncertain terms, to send someone out there to investigate the issue. He sent the last man he considered offering a guild membership to, a rogue named Kwon, who had yet to report back, and the complaints were still reaching Nirn.
Mr Bindlestiff would greatly appreciate the Mürmaids intervening in the matter. First, the governor must be made to feel safe again, as Nirn counts on that port as part of his access to this part of the continent. Second, Nirn has considerable investment in the neighboring limestone mine, and his profits have been coming up short. He will be dispatching a man of his own, a prospector named Malebrion, to the area, who the party can use as a thieves' guild contact. This is the option the party chose, and Igrom reluctantly agreed to follow along and help out, at least until his debt for being rescued from the slavers' ship was repaid.
Until Next Time
So the Mürmaids will be travelling back up-river past the Great Man Knoll, and making the crossing to the eastern side of the foothills of the Border Mountains at Harding's Portage, a farmstead a few weeks travel north upriver. From there they will travel to where this new river on the east side of the foothills meets the Sea of Fog, at a small fishing and shipping down on the coast called Darkshelf.
If you are an experienced 2nd edition dungeon master, you might recognize the name Darkshelf from the module A-0, Danger at Darkshelf Quarry. Yes, we will be beginning this module, and yes, I plan on reviewing it in full once the Mürmaids have completed their journey (to avoid spoilers).
Until then, be excellent to one another, and party on, dudes.
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