It was a bit of a slower start than I was hoping. First, an introduction to our characters:
- Quinby Glimmertouch, Halfling Thief who is more a kleptomaniac than a thief.
- Enoki Matsutaki, Mycelium (aka Mushroom Person) fighter
- Baldur Woodburn, human Druid Ovate
- Kragh the Unshackled, half-Orc Barbarian
Our characters get to Windemere Crossing near sunset. One of the guards, Tara Serk, seemed awfully anxious and rushed through the gates into the walled trade town. Quinby tried to stop her but she was in a rush and hurried on, not hearing his cries. As the party hesitated outside the town walls (Baldur really does not like being inside or in walls), Rennor came out, carrying her knife on a pole. She introduces herself and greets the travelers. She recommends the Nimble Priest Inn if they want food (as she really does not like the half-Elves running the Silver Pirate).
Our group eats and drinks, or at least those eat and drink do so. Enoki just needs a pot of soil and is in fact in search of an Earth Stone that can produce a cubic yard of earth per day. At the inn they hear the ballad of Grace Carver and Quinby joins in. At one point, Deputy Newtonson comes by and retrieves the drunk Sheriff Sprigbasher to take him home. They overhear that it must be that time again. And by the end of the night, Quinby has managed to keep the lute from the bard. Having more coin than they can really understand (this group has no one that really understands the concept of money, not even the very odd thief. It will make for some peculiar and interesting sessions if I can remember that and not always play the honest merchant!). The head priestess. Zhou Smithensonne, rents them the room upstairs.
Spending the night at the inn, they awaken to the sound of fighting in the back yard of the inn. The priestesses, all shave-headed, are fighting. They are amazingly fast, and Zhou is taking on three others. Quinby rushes down to help her only to find out that this is the morning practice and a form of prayer to the First Lady. He tries to stick with it but is easily outclassed but seems to have a good time.
Tara Serk pays them a visit, dark circles under her eyes. She has interrogated the other passengers/guards on the caravan and our group is the last one. She somehow rolled a natural 20 n perception so strongly believe Quinby does have her message tube, but his dumped-out backpack revealed nothing. But she has her eyes on him.
They head to the job board and have a few options. But first, they decide to find Zesp Zrag, the Goblin merchant whom Enoki had heard had an Earth Stone. Finding the store, and Zesp surrounded by a wreath of pipe smoke, Enoki comes to find that Zrag had traded the stone for an obsidian staff. Letting Quinby play with it, he manages to coat the floor in ice, causing Enoki to fall into Kragh. But they find that Carrabus Blue, a Tradewalker, had left a few days before heading south into the mountains.
Deciding that the stone was to be the first thing they needed, they go to find Lurbuk, the Orc stablemaster, outside of town. Not wanting to buy but rather rent a wagon and horses, Lurbuk has nothing to do with that. Part of that is cart rentals for outside the city, especially from strangers, is just not a thing. Credit history is NOT a part of my fantasy world! But another part of that is Kragh: half-Orcs are not welcome by Orcs or humans. But he may be willing to trade for a discount: the family sword has been stolen by thieves, known to be hiding at the barrows perhaps three leagues southwest of town. Baldur heads off at a trot. Entirely ignoring that they could have been paid and had companions to go these very barrows as it was on the job board....
On the way there, they encounter a giant snake! Baldur recognized the crushed grass and the large snake scales. Seeing the snake up ahead, they attacked! The fight went on for about 4 rounds. Quinby I don't think ever hit it, Kragh did 1d4 damage initially with his shield, his only weapon, and Enoki actually got a critical hit. Baldur hit it a few times with the sling. Unfortunately, the snake attacked Kragh, managed to both bite him and get around him to crush him to death. Fortunately, they did manage to kill the snake. And a python does 2d4 automatically per round when constricting someone. They took some teeth as a trophy, and Quinby actually had a healing potion so Kragh is not entirely spent. Recovering a bit, they make a really good check & find the barrow door, which is where we left it for the next session.
I tried not to do too much of an info dump (though I obviously have a LOT of info!) but hopefully it was not too overwhelming. The first and only combat was a little rough as I reversed one roll, but it got a bit smoother as each round went on. I also think it helped our newest player (and follower of the blog - thanks!) realize that this game is unforgiving. His character only survived because he did some amazing rolls on Discord on his constitution as well as hit points. It would have killed two of the characters. And I rolled who the snake attacked in front of everyone so I was not fudging the dice there.
What they all missed was, while at the shop, as they have no healers, they really should be buying a crapload of healing potions and the like! But they rushed in, rushed out, and rushed into meeting a giant snake. That only attacked them because they attacked it. Even just bypassing the snake peacefully they would have received the 300XP without Kragh getting hugged. And Kragh, though he likes milk, does NOT like hugs apparently.
The obsidian staff, Carrabus Blue and the Tradewalkers are part of the RPG challenge: I'm bringing in some of the things we come up with. Some may not make it into the first game, but I'm adding these pieces to my document of RPG things and, if allowed, will post that final list at some point. Possibly over several posts as some of us are quite wordy!
NPCs Encountered and Where
Tara Serk, Human female fighter, caravan guard.
Rennor, Orc female, teen, outside of town and at her father's stables the next day
Zhou Smithensonne, Human female priestess, owner of the Nimble Priest Inn
Deputy Newtonson, Human male, picking up the sheriff at the Nimble Priest Inn
Sheriff Sprigbasher, Human older makle, passed out at the Nimble Priest Inn
A bard who is missing a lute, at the Nimble Priest Inn
Zesp Zrag, Goblin male, at Zrag's Mercantile
Lurbuk, Orc male, stable master
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