20. Recovering at the Sleeping Dragon

[wolfpack]

With everyone fully healed but Grim I think we should head out.

Epsilon wants to purchase a couple of flasks of oil however before we leave.

[Alethan]

Finished with his whittling project, Gwillt hands Ewell a small replica of a lance and says, "Here, kid, in case ya break another weapon..."

Is this meant to be like a gag/prop, or a functional weapon?

This action actually led me to look into lances a bit, with a few excerpts from my findings below:

Purple Worm > Arms and Equipment Guide > Chapter 3: Weapons > Lance

"Generally, the lance is a long shaft of tough wood, usually ash, with an iron head in the shape of a laurel or willow leaf, with cutting edges and a sharp point meant to penetrate armor."

"The difference between the light, medium, and heavy, lances stems from the length (10' for a light, 12' for a medium, and 14' for a heavy), and weight (five pounds, ten pounds, and fifteen pounds for light, medium, and heavy respectively)."

I'm fine if Gwillt wanted to spend some time tracking down the materials (mainly, a long and straight enough stick) and craft a usable lance, but would rule that the light lance created would lose it's +1 damage (while mounted) or suffer -1 damage (while on foot; which will counter the natural +1 the cavalier would normally receive, leaving it a normal 1d6 weapon).

It was supposed to be a bit of both. I've always had a hard time imagining anyone using a heavy lance or medium lance off-horseback. Possible, but... silly looking, at the least. The way the light lance was described more like a spear made me think it might be more probable to use it off horseback (and maybe construct one with some basic knowledge of wood properties). Thought maybe Gwillt might be able to fashion something somewhat serviceable, especially since Ewell kept the tip of his broken one, but... Gwillt chuckled to himself a lot as he fashioned it.

[Zhym]

Where to? Back to the trog lair?

During the downtime, Kendrick heard about the trog stench effect. Is there anything we can rig up to better mute the effects of that stench? Maybe a homemade ammonia concoction?

What we really need is a febreze, 15' radius spell.

Kendrick keeps asking about a lawful good church, orphanage, poor house, or other worthy charity. He has tithe money burning a hole in his belt pouch. Not a lot of it, mind, but any is too much.

[wolfpack]

I suggest we return to the trog layer. Toth has belssed me with new magic which will prove most usefull.

[Rukellian]

While the group is still there, Fimmion asks Ferrel about what might lie towards east of here. He explains how the group's scout found a set of swamp beast tracks leading in that direction, and the cook wonders if anyone in town or Ferrel herself might know of any small towns or points of interest to check out.

After his conversation with the kind innkeeper, Fimmion too will go out and by some flasks of oil, learning from his previous encounter in the swamp beast lair.

[dmw71]

"I ain't left O'Hare in years -" Ferrell says to Kendrick, "- and the only church I know of is the temple. There may be some orphans there, but I ain't sure?" she thinks aloud. "As for the poor. Look 'round. Poor is everywhere here now."

Epsilon pays a visit to the 'Reap & Seed' and find that Harold has regular lamp burning oil, but not the kind (Greek Fire) that can be weaponized. "I can maybe get it fer ya," he says, "But probably not for another few weeks. It's pricey stuff." he adds, indicating the cost would be 10gp per flask.

[Zhym]

"Could you tell me of this temple?" Kendrick asks. "Who is it dedicated to?"

[wolfpack]

Epsilon will take 1 flask of lampoil and order 1 flask of greek oil.

[dmw71]

"That'll be 6 copper for the lamp oil, and I'll need 5 gold up front for the Greek Oil." says Harrold. "I've learned to collect a deposit from you adventuring types."

[Computer +1]

Is there an blacksmith in town? If yes, Strom would head over to get his armor and weapons checked out.

[dmw71]

Realizing the paladin is a new face, she elaborates to Kendrick's question about the temple in a manner which suggests she's shared this story a thousand times already:

"People in this whole town been more and more suspicious and less friendly the last year or so. Since you can't know who to trust anymore, I'm pretty sure people will simply take care of themselves. They'll find their way here, or there -" she tilts her head in the general direction of the 'Goat' "- if'n they need anything." "As fer the temple, somethin' not right 'bout that place, either, but I like keepin' my distance from those things." she admits.

"I can say the temple, to the mighty deity Levitt, was once great. A regular place of worship for Jasper and me," she starts. "Then-" she looks to the ceiling, straining her memory to try and recall a detail, then shrugs. "- well, it was 'bout a year ago. Yeah, a year ago, give or take. Anyway, people -- local people, mind you, started changin'. Actin' all strange. Less friendly-like. Soon, people here didn't know who to trust and started keepin' more 'n more to themselves. Needless to say, most places became less friendly, but it seems a bunch'a folks that did the changin' seemed to gravitate towards the temple." An' I don't know 'bout any changes in the temple. No new priests or nothin', none that I'm aware of anyway. Just seemed the place many of 'em that changed seemed to start hangin' out at."

"Jasper 'n me. We ain't been there 'n more moons then I can count."


To Strom, Ferrell says that there was a blacksmith -- with emphasis on the 'was' -- but it was one of the building destroyed during one of the latest swamp creature attacks (I changed the * fire damage to an x in the southeast corner of the map to denote where the blacksmith shop stood).

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            ____ |          |            |                 |   |                            |       |     |      |       |
            |  ?|| _____    |____________|                 |   |      ____                  |       |     |      |       |
        ___ |___|| |   ?|       x    x                     |   |      | ?|                  |       |            |       |
       /   \     | |    |       x    x                     |___|  \/  |__|                  |       |____________|       |
   ___/___  \    | |    | \     xxxxxx                            |                         |                            |
   |    ?|   \   | |____|  |                                     /                          |                            |
   |     |    \--|---------|------------------------------------/----------------           |                            |
   |_____|       |                  |                                             \         ============o===0============
                 |   ___________    |                                              \                      |
                 |  | Sleeping  |   |               ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~             \                     |
                 |  | Dragon    |   |              ~   ~  ~  ~  ~   ~   ~            \                    |
                 |  |  Inn      |   /\            ~ ~  ~  ~   ~  ~   ~   ~            \                   |
                 |  |    _______| _/  \          ~ ~  ~  ~   ~  ~   ~   ~   ~          \                  |
                 |  |    |     __      ^          ~   ~  ~ ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~         \                 |
                 |  |    |    |  |    / \          ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~         \                |
                 |  |____| ___|  |   /   \         ~  ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~  ~         \               |
                 |         | wine|  / ___ \         ~   ~  ~   ~   ~   ~     ~   ~         \              |
                 |         |_____| | |   |__      ~~   ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~    ____ \             |
                 |                   |__   ?|    ~   ~ ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~    | ?|--\            |
                 |                      |   |   ~   ~  ~   ~   ~   ~     ~   ~   ~     |__|   \           | 
                 |                      |___|  %  ~  ~  ~   ~   ~     ~   ~   ~   ~            \          |
                 v                           %% ~~ ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~  ~   ~  ~           \         |
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~| ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~             \        |
                 ^                          %%  ~~ ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~          \_______|_______
                 |                           %%  ~ ~ ~  ~  ~  ~   ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~            /               \
                 |                             %   ~  ~   ~   ~  ~   ~   ~  ~  ~   ~   ~       ____*               |
                 |                              ~    ~   ~   ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~          |  **               |
                 |                                ~  ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~  ~   ~       | ***               |
      xxxxxxxxxx |                          ______ ~  ~    ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~       *****               |
      x        x |  _________               | M  |   ~  ~  ~     ~   ~   ~  ~   ~   ~   ~                          |
      x        x |  |        |              | a  |         ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~                            |
  ____x        x |  | Bronze |              | y *********   ~   ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~                       |    _____
 |   ?|        x |  |  Goat  |              | o  *      *__  ~ ~   ~   ~   ~   ~     ~   ~  ~                      |    |  ?|
 |____|xxxxxxxxx |__|  Inn   |              * r **      *  \   ~  ~  ~   ~   ~               ~                     |    *   |
       ________  |  |        |                |***      *   \    ~  ~ ~  ~        *****       ~                    |    **  |
      |      ?|  |  |        |               / **************\     ~ ~ ~     **** *****        ~                   |    *** |
      |____   |  |  |        |              /  ************** \              **** ********      ~                  |    ****|
          |   |  |  |________|  _          /   **************  \             **** ********        ~                |
        | |___|  |             |_*        /       ***********   \              \  ********         ~               |
---     |        |                       /        ***********    \              \  /                ~              |
   \--------------                      /                         \              \/                 ~              |
   |   __     __  \------------------------------------------------\    *****    /                   ~             |
   |  | ?|   | ?|  |    __***           ___          ***************\   *****   /                     ~            |   ____
   |  |  |   |__|  |   |  ***          |   *         | Reap & Seed** \  *****  /                     ~             |  **  ?|
   |  |__|         |   |  ***         **  **         |    Store    *  \-------/                      ~      xxxx   |  ***  |
   |           __  |   |  *           ******         *********   ***   |                             ~      xxxx   |  **** |
 ______       | ?| |   |__*          Moneychanger            *******   |                              ~     xxxxxx |  *****|  <--- blacksmith
|     ?|xxxx  |  |/  Tailer/Weaver                              .      |                              ~     xxxxxx |  ******
|      |   x  |__|                                            .        ^                                ~          |
|______|xxxx                                         ****** .         / \----------------------------->===<--------|--------- 
                                                     ******          /              |      *****        ~  ******* | ******
                                                     ******         /               |***** *****       ~   ******* | ******
                                                                   |                 ***** *****      ~    ******* | ******
                                                                   |                 *****             ~   ******* |
                                                                   |                 *****              ~          |  
                                                                   |                 *****              ~         /|  ******
                                                                   |                 *****                ~      / |  ******
                                                                                                                      ******
                                                                                                                      ******

[Alethan]

Understanding fully the need for the town to have a blacksmith if it is going to survive, Gwillt asks Ferrell a follow-up question, "Did he die during the attack? Or does nobody know where 'e is?" He turns to Strom, "Let's go check out the building and see if 'e's about."

[dmw71]

"I's ain't sure?" Ferrell says, responding to Gwillt's inquiry about the blacksmith. "I ain't had much use for her services and didn't know 'er well. Ain't seen her in a long time, but did hear word of her shop gettin' burnt down."

[wolfpack]

don't forget epsilon came across the secret room under the goat, and a door in the seceret room was shut by a crossbar.

I say we go finish the trogs off.

[Computer +1]

Strom nods in agreement. A walk over to see can't hurt.

[dmw71]

Is it just Gwillt and Strom heading to investigate the remains of the smithy?

If this pair (or more) does split off, the rest of the party can continue to act/discuss in this main thread while the exploration party will have its own new thread.

[onlyme]

Ewell smiles at the replica lance, wishing he could find a perfect replacement for the one that splintered just a few days ago. But, he is getting better with his sword swings, and is missing the lance a bit less each day.

He feels better after being treated like almost royalty at the inn. He thanks the innkeeps and the clerics for their assistance.

I say likewise that we finish off the trogs. I know not how many are left, but until we do.... this town aint safe.

[Zhym]

This bunch splits up more than any party I've ever seen

I vote we all go to the trogs, preferably after figuring out our best anti-stink'um defense.

[dmw71]

This bunch splits up more than any party I've ever seen.

Keeps things fun, no?

For the record, I have no problem with it.

[wolfpack]

"That'll be 6 copper for the lamp oil, and I'll need 5 gold up front for the Greek Oil." says Harrold. "I've learned to collect a deposit from you adventuring types."

epsilon gives him the 5 gold and a silver for the lamp oil.

Lets try to be sure the greek fire sows up as quickly as we can shall we.