OSE Session 5 Recap: Back to Windemere Crossing

Leaving the bone barrows, the two horses loaded with gold, pots, a crate of tobacco, the adventurers get ready to leave and head back to Windemere Crossing. Seeing a small rat, perhaps the one he spoke to the night before, Baldur goes back to the entrance and leaves some food for the helpful rat. The party have restocked their food supplies as well from the storeroom. Samir Mitra, the lead merchant, notices Kragh's Orcish sword.

"Say, my large fellow, are you aware those runes spell out Orc Fist on your sword?" he asks. Kragh looks down and shrugs his massive shoulders. Seeing that the massive half-Orc does not want to comment, Samir's eyes pass over the goods being loaded, then back to his bedraggled fellow merchants. "Well," he says to himself, "at least we are well out of this mess and heading back to that backwater town."

As the group leaves, they may hear the screaming of an angry pixie, who just now finds out her 500 gold has been stolen. And she knows who thanks to his mentioning he did straighten out her room. A lapsed member of the Pixie Liberation Army, she starts to make her plans for revenge.

The group travels slowly in the late summer day, the merchants dehydrated and starved from days being locked up. Along the way, Enoki asks in his mind-voice: "Baldur my friend, can you sense the world and weather about us?" Walking beside the Mycelium, the Druid shakes his head, "No, not yet. Perhaps one day the blessings will come to me for that sort of seeing."

Finding a good campsite along the path, Ellis Newtonson and Grace Carver set up the camp, and they discuss setting up guards for the evening over a veritable feast from the food freed from the barrows. Those skeletons had also been stealing food in anticipation of being able to enjoy the culinary world again. It was put to good use by our rescuers and the starving ex-prisoners. 

As Baldur watched the stars slowly wheel overhead, the susurrus of leaves in the slight breeze, he hears sounds far down the path coming towards them. Quietly wakening the crew, they get Kragh, the only one with darkvision, to peer down the path from the barrows. He can just make out two small creatures moving towards the group. He recognizes them as kobolds.

Brandishing a burning stick from the fire, Baldur boldly asks who they are. There is some hissing in their sibilant tongue, then the one without an arrow ready says, "We are just travelling through. We mean no harm." Baldur responds that they are outnumbered, and it would be in their best interest to continue on and leave in peace. Which, after some more sibilant discussion, the two do, sliding carefully around the group and continuing on. The group stays alert for the remaining guard shifts but nothing else happens. 

The next morning after breaking camp, they soon come to the southern road that leads from Windemere Crossig across the mountains (which I really need to name!) and on to Tuvano (the Fantasy Trip adventure; yes, I will run that one way or another somehow!) They get into town close to mid-day. They notice as they are in the market square a tired-looking High Elf with two haughty guards going to the Silver Pirate, the tavern and inn run by the half-Elf sea pirates. The merchants, once back in town move to their inn, but Samir returns with the 1200 gold as promised. 

"For our rescue, this is but a token of our gratitude. We are ever at your service, and the Sericulture Guild, of which are members, shall hear of your bravery." As he leaves, he does not notice Quinby managing to pickpocket him for 7 silver pieces. 

Sheriff Sprigbasher is smoking a pipe (Zesp has made tobacco addicts out of a good portion of the town it would seem). Greeting Ellis as Grace takes the horses to the stables to be taken care of, he greets the crew. "We thank you for your services. When we heard you were heading to the barrows from Rennor, we sent the deputy and one of the guards to help out. We figured it was a small band of thieves at worst or we would have sent along more. One moment," and he starts digging through his desk. Finding a small bag, he hands Enoki the bag of 500 gold. "This is the reward we had for that bunch, and again. thank you."

Enoki speaks, "We are protectors. It is what we do. You should let Rennor be a protector." A brief discussion enues, where the group learns that Rennor is still too young to be a guard but has helped out at various times. She is being trained both by Tara Serk, one of the Feathered Guild mercenaries in town, as well as Grace and Anja Van Ryneval, another guard. 

A bit more background about Windemere Crossing being the ancient outpost for Tuvano, a long dead city across the mountains where rumors of a Lich King sometimes make themselves heard. The alicantos are still on the loose, and there is a small reward to capture the remaining ones that are loose.

Somewhat informed, the group leaves the sheriff's and tries to decide what to do with their newfound wealth.

Sheriff Sprigbasher's house and sheriff (he lives upstairs)

Pretty much where we left off that night. And they are also in day 22, Collie of Haelhold, the 9th month.  I am using the Dolmenwood calendar to keep track of days. As they may be resting a few days to get healed up, though OSE's 1 HP per 2 days of rest may mean they see about a healer of sorts. And when I looked through my Windemere Crossing bible, I realized I have no healers. I'll probably add a few more characters in a blog post soon!

Sadly, another player & I, who work at the same place (why yes, I try to get gamers everywhere I work!) were distracted by a work issue, and another player had an unexpected meeting so never managed to show up. Quinby was very quiet, but he was distracted by a collection of cups and pots. 

What was asked for was a price list for various things. Prices in Windemere Crossing are pretty standard pricing for OSE. Being on a fairly active trade route, there are always goods coming and going. The aforementioned Sericulturalist Guild of merchants is planning on starting a guild hall here. That would make 3 guilds as we have the Feathered Guards and the Tunnel Master's Guild, who are here in theory for the mines above the town. But with King Axechest possibly involved, there may be more to that than meets the eye.

Back to prices. And I really wish blogger had tables. though we can copy/paste from Word a native table would be nice. But hey - it is free so we cannot complain.

Item	Price (GP)	Availability
Healing potions	400	3
Armor – leather	20	Yes
Armor – chainmail	40	Yes (though 3/6 chance in Kragh size
Armor – Plate	60	4 in 6 (the military may be getting it)
Horse  (draft)	40	2d4 available at Lurbok’s
Horse (riding)	75	1d6 available at Lurbok’s
Horse (war)	250	1 (in training at Lurbok’s)
Weapons	Per OSE	Most weapons will be available

 If they want o purchase the rights to land, they will need to talk with the Burgermeister Paoatie and pay for the land and taxes. I'll have to figure out how much but will probably use the By The Ax Dwarf book as it has tax costs and things in there. It is at least a start for that sort of framework.

And as a next-last note, I did tell the players that, yes, I have invested a lot of time in Windemere Crossing. However, that in no way means they need or even should stick around. It has been an experiment in world-building using a variety of sources and things. I often wonder if I have more fun world-building than actual playing sometimes. But what good is a world-building without being able to share it and play in it?

And a final note I meant to add at the end of the dungeon post. I used the OSE Dungeon Time Tracker and really liked how it helped keep track of things. And using a printed calendar from OSE's Dolmenwood game is also useful - I have a few things "penciled" in for the future based on things we had from our RPG thng a day challenge. In fact, those Kobolds are from one of the players...