Prelude.
We did a side bookkeeping run for a couple of hours. Andy expressed his dislike of familiars so Dan will go with the ritual book feat plan (allowing this feat in lieu of Book of Ancient Secrets) for his character modification. We met with Captain Harken and got paid for our efforts to rescue her crew. The Monk overheard Marisha talking to Captain Harken about passage back to Long Bridge where she was hoping to re-engage with her life. A fee of 25 gp was requested but she didn’t have it so the Monk paid on her behalf. We later agreed to give Marisha and Commander Price an equal share of that reward (not the treasure) so we had to juggle our money sheets a bit. We debated what to do with the ship. The upshot was that we hired Price to find a place to store it for now.
The Rogue and Swashbuckler went with the Monk to his temple to see about the Greater Restoration. That was no problem but he wouldn’t state a price. Just “whatever you feel is appropriate”. Andy would not help either and it wasn’t defined in the books. Player opinions varied greatly but all agreed it should come out of party funds since it could have been any of us. Eventually, the two of them paid out of their own pockets, what they thought was appropriate and put the discussion out of our misery. The generous-minded Fighter donated some of his money on his own. The Rogue attempted to impress Price by giving her a tour of the undercity only to discover that all of the entrances had but spiked shut. We assumed that was the city’s doing. We also noticed an increase in the guards and soldiers in town. I guess that happens in up and coming towns.
Actual game
The Swashbuckler Paladin rode his newly summoned horse to the temple and got his strength restored. He and the Rogue continued to vie for Commander Price’s attention. At the mage school, that adventuring Wizard, Row showed up and wanted to talk to our Wizard. He had heard of our exploits, recovering the pirate ship and defeating a demon wanted to make us an offer. He then told him and the Rogue, and eventually the rest of the party, a bit of history. In the north there was a Sultan and the Scorpion Prince who allied their kingdoms by marriage and then invaded the humans and elves to the south. It was a long war, hundreds of years ago. A group of heroes snuck north and managed to kill the Sultan. His death caused darkness across the land for a week, the whole region to shake with earthquakes and sink and turned the once-powerful kingdom into the desert it is today. The Wizard’s history and lore skills confirmed these legends.
But there was a prophecy. One day he would return. There would be more earthquakes and the ancient land would reemerge from the desert. Evidently that has started to happen. Row has been doing research on the matter and knows that adventurers have started heading into the land, looking for treasures in the purportedly newly uncovered ruins. His concern is that they (or someone else) may unwittingly (or on purpose) unleash (restore) the evils of the past to wreak vengeance on the present. He had pieced together a map which showed the location of an important ruin and needs heroic adventurers to help him get there and … do good, I suppose. There was some lengthy confusion about the map and how it relates to the world map but basically the path would be up the river to Long Bridge, then due north into the mountains to the Deep Valley Inn. From there, a couple days northwest and into the desert. With any luck, and assuming his map was accurate, several weeks across the desert to the ruins.
Some of us expressed concerns over such a dangerous endeavor but heroic evil smiters won out (plus that was the adventure presented). The standard “treasure found” fee was agreed upon or at least accepted. Row would be coming and paying for provisioning. We took the ship to Long Bridge, leaving Price in charge of crewing it, guarding it, storing it. There, Row purchased camels for all, a wagon and a yak to haul it, supplies for a couple of months including water caskets and some hire hands to help. While in Long Bridge, the Holy Paladin and the Monk spotted Marisha eyeing them in the market. She had had no luck finding her former friends. The Monk extended an offered for her to come with us, pending approval, much to the chagrin of the Paladin who’s detect evil still could not get a reading on her, but she turned him down. She had feelers out for her former crew and couldn’t be gone that long. The trip to the Deep Valley Inn was uneventful, traveling through civilized lands. Along the way, Row gave our Wizard the Tiny Hut ritual so that we could have 2 huts and accommodate everyone in the desert.
The inn, keep and village were very nice, up in a valley in the mountains. The Rogue claimed it for her own thieves’ guild and the Swashbuckler mused about how hard it would be to take over completely. Some suits of studded leather armor were purchased so that the heavy armor wearers wouldn’t bake in the heat. That night, we heard an explosion and felt some extreme heat from the north wing of the inn. (Row’s fireball.) As we scrambled, we saw Row running off into the forest, after some bandit types. (So much for being his guards.) We later learned they had broken in and were rifling through his possessions. We gave chase and ended up on a battle map next to a pond. So it was 3-4 thugs who turned out to be very tough, 3-4 guards, 2 bandit thieves and one priest. The priest cast Hold Person on Row and then the thieves grabbed stuff off him (map and notes and such). However, armed with our 5th level firepower, they didn’t last long. Some 3d6 sneak attacks, a couple of Fighter crits, extra attacks from the fighter types, double eldritch blasts for the Sorlock and a Slow from our Wizard and they were vanquished. The last, poisoned himself rather than be captured and to save us an hour of fruitless questioning.
About the only thing of interest on them was some scorpion bracelets on the priest that seem to function as his holy symbol. Row said that there were legends about a Scorpion Prince cult but he assumed it had died out over the centuries. Evidently not. We decided to stay an extra day so we could get a long rest in and proceed fully loaded in case there were more of them. The Swashbuckler and Fighter searched the area and found what they thought was their camp but no useful information was found. The Holy Paladin and the Wizard talked to the keep lord and asked about the cult. He didn’t know anything about that but he did say there had been an increase in traffic of late. Mostly treasure hunting adventurer types. He also confirmed the recent earthquakes and gave us a heads up that the desert floor was indeed a 15-foot drop. But the trail was being cut by the traffic and we could get down if skillful and careful.
We headed out, paranoid as ever, but spotted no one. We passed by the massive twin dead oaks on the map and entered the desert. We decided to travel in the morning and the evening and rest and sleep in the night and mid-day. The Tiny Huts made the first stop quite pleasant. When Andy tried to bring up a battle map, he closed the whole thing by mistake. But it was after 1AM his time, Jon was signing off anyway and we decided to call it an early night. We’ll go again on Saturday since we’re all stuck at home.
