The Valley #8
My last month has been busy and full of stress, hence my lack of updates on the blog. By the time I get this posted I’ll be 2 weeks behind.
As for ranting against WotC, nothing much new comes to mind.
That probably means I haven’t paid attention and missed something other than the standard batch of books I’m not going to spend any money on.
I think the ranting has turned to apathy.
Our cast:
Admon (Scott); level 5 human war wizard
Duncan (Justin); level 4 Silverhome dwarven cleric of Moradin
Edward (Aaron); level 4 human paladin of Brekaneth
Kergan (Mike); level 4 Silverhome dwarven rogue
We last stopped with Duncan having died while saving Ander from a revenge-seeking quickling.
But thanks to Duncan’s lack of greed and good standing within the church of Brekaneth, the party was able to get him raised for free.
Father Jason Adrek personally performed the ritual (in private) and made sure the first thing Kergan heard when he returned was “Keep your secret and we’re even”
Afterwards everyone went about their business.
Since this was Kergan’s last day to give the Thieves’ Guild the 2000gp they said he owed them, he planned for the worst, though he did have the money.
He sent a sealed letter to Lord Rushgar Hammersmith, with instructions to not be opened until later that night.
Oddly enough, another messenger, from the church of Moradin, found him to say that Agramarr Flamehammer was looking for him.
Next Kergan went to the money changers to convert all of his coin to silver and copper, just to be irritating (only slightly). Then he met with his new contact from Thieves’ Guild at the Roaring Bull Inn.
Their conversation was calm to the outside observer, but quite belligerent.
Kergan made it clear that Marko was incompetent and stupid and his boss agreed, but Kergan’s new “handler” made it plainly clear that Kergan’s current status in the guild was of his own making, especially by denying the guild information about Silverhome.
“Silverhome is off the table. That’s been clear from the beginning.”
“You don’t tell us what is off the table. We are the ones in charge of this town, not the mayor, not the council.”
The conversation went on this manner for a short while, but in the end Kergan was no longer on the outs with the Guild and would be getting jobs again shortly.
Kergan then returned to Silverhome and headed straight to Lord Hammersmith, mostly to let him know he’s still alive and explain the reasoning for the letter.
His note read
“Lord Hammersmith, my family is now likely in danger. Please spare what dwarves and resources you can to protect them. Long live Silverhome Kergan”
At that point Kergan’s family was protected for a little while, and his mother would be receiving a personal bodyguard for a few days.
Conveniently, Agramarr Flamehammer was with Rushgar at the time, making it easier for the DM to lay out the plot hook for the night.
For the past week Flamehammer had been searching the records for any mention of Kergan’s platinum pick being a key or something.
It wasn’t until Agramarr read into a personal family journal dated back to the end of the last Silverhome did he find anything.
When Silverhome was being abandoned, a small squad of dwarves lured a large force of goblins away from the last of the dwarves fleeing to the city. They led the goblins into a killing zone, one that would neutralize the numbers advantage the goblins had. Unfortunately the goblins were able to get help from dark sources (something unheard of during the time of the Silver Veil).
When it was obvious there was no longer a chance of winning, all but one of the dwarves fled. One of the surviving dwarves to flee to city was Kergan’s great grandfather. The one who stayed was Darniv Flamehammer, a great uncle of Agramarr.
Kergan promises to investigate and bring back Darniv’s body for a proper burial.
The next morning Duncan and Kergan discussed ways of getting Silverhome representation in the city council over breakfast. So far they’ve come up with nothing.
At that same time Edward visits Girvan Torl and asks for more duties, only to be coldly told that the only job he qualified for is to “look pretty”.
So he decided to just patrol the Crags. That resulted in any crime to move elsewhere.
But in the end everyone just gathered up to follow the plot hook the DM set up for the night.
The location of the last stand of Darniv Silverhome is supposed to have been in a cave in the wooded area between the elven section of the city and the region of Silverhome.
In spite of the lack of biodiversity in the Valley, the elves have done a nice job of keeping the trees in their area strong, healthy, and thriving.
Her diligence in protecting this area is why the elven woman Mavath’riel saw the party long before they found the cave they were looking for.
She introduced (from a distance) herself and questioned the party about their plans.
When they told her of their plans, she informed them that entering the cave would not be a good idea as the cave is the home to the only two mated bears within the Valley, and they would not take kindly to such an intrusion into their home.
She then states that she could assist the party by luring the bears away for a short time, but first they would have to prove to her that they know a little something of nature in the Valley and therefore are not mindless destroyers of the land.
Unluckily for the party, none of them took Nature as a skill during character creation. Luckily for the party I knew that and increased the DC’s needed and allowed for other skills to be used.
I won’t list the questions, as they’re actually pointless questions only meant to facilitate role-playing and had no actual answers as the answers were supplied by skill check rolls, which the party answered correctly with no need to resort to threats or other forms of bribery.
(I did have another out, a dear carcass to lure the bears from their cave for a time. But since there are no dear in the Valley, they would have had to hire someone to leave the Valley, hunt a dear somewhere else, and then bring it back. That would have cost at least a couple of days and 250gp.)
Mavath’riel told them that they had 2 hours to take care of their business in the cave.
At the back of the cave they found an old but sturdy door that showed signs of something beating on it from the inside long ago.
They find no locks, only an indentation that perfectly fit the platinum pick of Kergan’s.
The old door opened slowly, revealing a room with an eerie green light and several devilish creatures and skeletons ready for battle.
The party took care of them with relative ease thanks to the DM not being ready for a level 5 war wizard who readily threw in his brand new Fireball to clear out the minions the DM placed in the room. The rogue did take a beating, but that was his own fault for running to the back lines of a fight all on his own without an easy form of escape.
The only exit from this room was another door just like the last one.
The new room revealed was one light by hidden yellow and white lights but with two identical vaults built into the back corners, and standing guard was a trio of mechanical dwarves, one of them riding a mechanical boar.
The dwarves never moved until the party entered the room. Neither did the pendulums.
The Kergan failed in missing the trigger plates for the pendulum blades that swung across the room at varying locations (on a rotation that monsters in the room knew, but not the PC’s, but they could determine which one was next with a minor action).
The dwarves gave the party a nice but manageable fight, and the pendulums did nothing more than force the party to dance a little.
But the second trap of the room caught the group off guard.
I decided that having one trap was quaint, easily manageable, and predictable.
Players expect a pit trap in spots. But they don’t expect an additional trap at the bottom of the trap and on the other side of the trap.
This time there was a pair of fire spitting nozzles, one guarding each vault. Once someone got near the vaults, they’d activate and start blasting.
One vault had the control panels to disarm the traps in the room. The other had the treasure spoken of.
The beating the party had taken from the dwarves and fires left them a bit weakened, so after the dwarves were down they took a rest, and eventually so did the traps which made it easy on Kergan to disarm.
Kergan also gave the party the coin treasure, but kept the item treasure to be given directly to Agramarr.
Once they were back in Silverhome, Agramarr returned most of the treasure to the party, keeping only a trinket for himself and Darniv’s book (which described the sacrifices many dwarves made so that the rest of them could flee to city, and that he made the mechanical protectors to carry for him when he passed).
It was considered odd that they never found Darniv’s body, but not odd enough to warrant further investigation.
Quests completed:
Kergan – The Platinum Key [Level: Unknown (4). Reward: Unknown (175XP). Find the long lost cache of treasure that your father told you that your miniature platinum pick would be the key to.]
As for ranting against WotC, nothing much new comes to mind.
That probably means I haven’t paid attention and missed something other than the standard batch of books I’m not going to spend any money on.
I think the ranting has turned to apathy.
Our cast:
Admon (Scott); level 5 human war wizard
Duncan (Justin); level 4 Silverhome dwarven cleric of Moradin
Edward (Aaron); level 4 human paladin of Brekaneth
Kergan (Mike); level 4 Silverhome dwarven rogue
We last stopped with Duncan having died while saving Ander from a revenge-seeking quickling.
But thanks to Duncan’s lack of greed and good standing within the church of Brekaneth, the party was able to get him raised for free.
Father Jason Adrek personally performed the ritual (in private) and made sure the first thing Kergan heard when he returned was “Keep your secret and we’re even”
Afterwards everyone went about their business.
Since this was Kergan’s last day to give the Thieves’ Guild the 2000gp they said he owed them, he planned for the worst, though he did have the money.
He sent a sealed letter to Lord Rushgar Hammersmith, with instructions to not be opened until later that night.
Oddly enough, another messenger, from the church of Moradin, found him to say that Agramarr Flamehammer was looking for him.
Next Kergan went to the money changers to convert all of his coin to silver and copper, just to be irritating (only slightly). Then he met with his new contact from Thieves’ Guild at the Roaring Bull Inn.
Their conversation was calm to the outside observer, but quite belligerent.
Kergan made it clear that Marko was incompetent and stupid and his boss agreed, but Kergan’s new “handler” made it plainly clear that Kergan’s current status in the guild was of his own making, especially by denying the guild information about Silverhome.
“Silverhome is off the table. That’s been clear from the beginning.”
“You don’t tell us what is off the table. We are the ones in charge of this town, not the mayor, not the council.”
The conversation went on this manner for a short while, but in the end Kergan was no longer on the outs with the Guild and would be getting jobs again shortly.
Kergan then returned to Silverhome and headed straight to Lord Hammersmith, mostly to let him know he’s still alive and explain the reasoning for the letter.
His note read
“Lord Hammersmith, my family is now likely in danger. Please spare what dwarves and resources you can to protect them. Long live Silverhome Kergan”
At that point Kergan’s family was protected for a little while, and his mother would be receiving a personal bodyguard for a few days.
Conveniently, Agramarr Flamehammer was with Rushgar at the time, making it easier for the DM to lay out the plot hook for the night.
For the past week Flamehammer had been searching the records for any mention of Kergan’s platinum pick being a key or something.
It wasn’t until Agramarr read into a personal family journal dated back to the end of the last Silverhome did he find anything.
When Silverhome was being abandoned, a small squad of dwarves lured a large force of goblins away from the last of the dwarves fleeing to the city. They led the goblins into a killing zone, one that would neutralize the numbers advantage the goblins had. Unfortunately the goblins were able to get help from dark sources (something unheard of during the time of the Silver Veil).
When it was obvious there was no longer a chance of winning, all but one of the dwarves fled. One of the surviving dwarves to flee to city was Kergan’s great grandfather. The one who stayed was Darniv Flamehammer, a great uncle of Agramarr.
Kergan promises to investigate and bring back Darniv’s body for a proper burial.
The next morning Duncan and Kergan discussed ways of getting Silverhome representation in the city council over breakfast. So far they’ve come up with nothing.
At that same time Edward visits Girvan Torl and asks for more duties, only to be coldly told that the only job he qualified for is to “look pretty”.
So he decided to just patrol the Crags. That resulted in any crime to move elsewhere.
But in the end everyone just gathered up to follow the plot hook the DM set up for the night.
The location of the last stand of Darniv Silverhome is supposed to have been in a cave in the wooded area between the elven section of the city and the region of Silverhome.
In spite of the lack of biodiversity in the Valley, the elves have done a nice job of keeping the trees in their area strong, healthy, and thriving.
Her diligence in protecting this area is why the elven woman Mavath’riel saw the party long before they found the cave they were looking for.
She introduced (from a distance) herself and questioned the party about their plans.
When they told her of their plans, she informed them that entering the cave would not be a good idea as the cave is the home to the only two mated bears within the Valley, and they would not take kindly to such an intrusion into their home.
She then states that she could assist the party by luring the bears away for a short time, but first they would have to prove to her that they know a little something of nature in the Valley and therefore are not mindless destroyers of the land.
Unluckily for the party, none of them took Nature as a skill during character creation. Luckily for the party I knew that and increased the DC’s needed and allowed for other skills to be used.
I won’t list the questions, as they’re actually pointless questions only meant to facilitate role-playing and had no actual answers as the answers were supplied by skill check rolls, which the party answered correctly with no need to resort to threats or other forms of bribery.
(I did have another out, a dear carcass to lure the bears from their cave for a time. But since there are no dear in the Valley, they would have had to hire someone to leave the Valley, hunt a dear somewhere else, and then bring it back. That would have cost at least a couple of days and 250gp.)
Mavath’riel told them that they had 2 hours to take care of their business in the cave.
At the back of the cave they found an old but sturdy door that showed signs of something beating on it from the inside long ago.
They find no locks, only an indentation that perfectly fit the platinum pick of Kergan’s.
The old door opened slowly, revealing a room with an eerie green light and several devilish creatures and skeletons ready for battle.
The party took care of them with relative ease thanks to the DM not being ready for a level 5 war wizard who readily threw in his brand new Fireball to clear out the minions the DM placed in the room. The rogue did take a beating, but that was his own fault for running to the back lines of a fight all on his own without an easy form of escape.
The only exit from this room was another door just like the last one.
The new room revealed was one light by hidden yellow and white lights but with two identical vaults built into the back corners, and standing guard was a trio of mechanical dwarves, one of them riding a mechanical boar.
The dwarves never moved until the party entered the room. Neither did the pendulums.
The Kergan failed in missing the trigger plates for the pendulum blades that swung across the room at varying locations (on a rotation that monsters in the room knew, but not the PC’s, but they could determine which one was next with a minor action).
The dwarves gave the party a nice but manageable fight, and the pendulums did nothing more than force the party to dance a little.
But the second trap of the room caught the group off guard.
I decided that having one trap was quaint, easily manageable, and predictable.
Players expect a pit trap in spots. But they don’t expect an additional trap at the bottom of the trap and on the other side of the trap.
This time there was a pair of fire spitting nozzles, one guarding each vault. Once someone got near the vaults, they’d activate and start blasting.
One vault had the control panels to disarm the traps in the room. The other had the treasure spoken of.
The beating the party had taken from the dwarves and fires left them a bit weakened, so after the dwarves were down they took a rest, and eventually so did the traps which made it easy on Kergan to disarm.
Kergan also gave the party the coin treasure, but kept the item treasure to be given directly to Agramarr.
Once they were back in Silverhome, Agramarr returned most of the treasure to the party, keeping only a trinket for himself and Darniv’s book (which described the sacrifices many dwarves made so that the rest of them could flee to city, and that he made the mechanical protectors to carry for him when he passed).
It was considered odd that they never found Darniv’s body, but not odd enough to warrant further investigation.
Quests completed:
Kergan – The Platinum Key [Level: Unknown (4). Reward: Unknown (175XP). Find the long lost cache of treasure that your father told you that your miniature platinum pick would be the key to.]
posted by BlueBlackRed at 6:52 AM
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