Expedition - Blackjack/Troll Lair - 20 May 2021

[Spearmint]

"Roarrr....Aaaarrrggghhhh..
Uurrghh!!!!"

[Alethan]

ooc: not sure how we can defeat this thing without fire. Should Earc head back for oil and flint? Or... Not sure what else we can do. Stupid cancerous troll. I suppose we could just wait a few weeks and hope the thing starves to death? Hahaha... Boring adventure, but...

[Marullus]

Amistad leaps from the water, javelin in hand, and roars ferociously at the hulking creature. It breaks, squealing like a high-pitched child, and lumbers/flops it's way to the rear of the cave, weeping and sobbing as it curls in a ball there.

(Round 2 - actions)

[Alethan]

Earc climbs up out of the water as well and tries to take a quick assessment of the treasure within, especially that which is nearest him.

[Marullus]

I'll count that as your round 1 action.
The trolls have used the coins and gems to decorate and reflect light - they are arrayed across all the crevices and ledges of the cave walls. There are thousands of coins, but at least four copper for each gold. There are one to two dozen pieces of gems and jewelry sparkling as well. The rest is refuse in mounds on the floor which would need to searched, the belongings of victims.

[Spearmint]

Blackjack Amistad

A single cave with no other exits or entrances. Amistad wonders if a secret entrance exists or there are neighboring caves. How big is this cave approximately? Does it look like a lair for several trolls, rough bed places about or just one?

"Sack up the jewels quick Earc, I'll watch this hulk quiver. He can stay unharmed if he cowers in the corner quietly. Call for Achaedany, she can search the mound and Alcide. We might need backup in a moment or two..."

Whilst Amistad is braced for an attack from the troll, he'll still put a couple of pieces of jewelry which are close at hand in his pouches and try to spot any weapons on the floor. The light spell is uncovered to give us illumination.

Lions Roar {Cause Fear spell}

An invisible cone (60'ft long, 5'ft wide origin, and 30'ft diameter at
the terminal end) of terror causes each living creature in the area
to become panicked and run away. There is a 60% probability, -5% per
victims level, that the victim drops whatever he may be holding
when he runs away. Cause Fear will cause a subject to run away, hysterical, at full running movement for a
number of rounds equal to the casters level.

[Marullus]

No, I just use the spell description from the book. It effects one creature, they get a save vs spells, and lasts your level in rounds. No special rules requiring they drop things for you. The one modification is that I am allowing you to roar at close range instead of requiring touch.

Searching for secret doors takes 10 minutes per 40' of wall (i.e. a 10x10 room).

The cavern is fairly large, you are on one end of the egg-shaped dome. It is about 100' wide and 150' long. There are easily nesting places for four or more trolls.

It would take an hour or two to bag up all the coins. You could grab half the gems and jewelry in two rounds if you left the rest behind.

It takes a turn for Earc to go out and another turn for the others to come back with him (assuming passed CON checks)

[Alethan]

And how many turns in an hour? 6?

So if Earc goes up and gets oil and stuffs tinder into the waterproof scroll case and comes back down, it would be about two turns? And he'd have about 3 turns of the potion left?

Spearmint, you don't really want to hang out down here with a cancerous troll for 20 minutes, do you?

[Spearmint]

Amistad

edited actions: sensing we have a small 'window of opportunity' Amistad will do a 'supermarket sweep' chucking whatever is in reach in his large sack and at the end of two rounds dive back underwater and swim for the surface, hooking the 'Santa Sack of goodies' on the end of the grapnel for Alcide and Achaedany to haul above.

He expects the troll to be enraged and follow so we need to grab and go, attack him on the riverbank if he chases.

[Marullus]

Realizing the creature will not likely remain afraid long enough for Earc to return, the two of you working together do a sprint around the perimeter of the trash-filled room, grabbing all the gems and jewelry that the trolls have put on display. You don't have enough time to grab any coins or search any of the trash-filled heaps to discover what might have been tossed aside from the belongings of former victims. The troll shakes it's head and begins to recover, then roars as it realizes it is being robbed. It slumbers across the room after you until you dive into the water with your sack and begin to swim. You realize there was no splash behind you, and that the troll seems unwilling to follow. As you push through the shaft out to the river as fast as possible, you realize the bloated creature may not be able to fit.

Amistad, who no longer has a water breathing spell, struggles to get free of the long tunnel. It is too far - he is out of air and cannot breathe. Panic begins to set in his mind, but he successfully pushes it back, his mind-over-matter approach propelling him forward and then up. He bursts from the river surface and breathes and coughs, his lungs having suffered mild damage (-2hp).
Amistad: Con [1d20] = 15 will [1d20] = 7 dam [1d6] = 2

Earc is left to deal with the dropped sack of goods, which he ties to the rope and tugs for retrieval. Alcide and Achaedany pull to the surface. Earc surfaces with it and climbs out to help see their haul - eleven faceted gemstones and eight pieces of jewelry.

Day: 24 May 2021
Time: 12:05 pm
Light source: continual light (x2), Lichen
Health: Armistad (moderate injuries)
Spell effects: Earc water breathing until 12:40.

[Spearmint]

Blackjack Amistad

"Bit of a snatch and grab in there. I expected to be followed by the lumpy hulk is too big to fit through the tunnel. Either he will chase us from another entrance or wait for us to come back. Come back we will, there is a mound of stuff we missed.!"

Amistad is breathing heavy but once out the water, does a little 'hacka' war dance. How about we cash in the gemstones at the Duke's assessors office and hiring some dwarves miners with picks. We come back, tunnel through the cave roof and raid the place proper.

[Alethan]

Earc Orctongue

Now that they know where the cave is, Earc studies the topography of the hills to see if he can determine if tunneling might be a successful option or if waiting for the troll to die of starvation might be the easier option.

Or if they might buy the second potion of water breathing and try to acquire some means of easily starting a fire inside the cave, thus bringing all four into the cave en force and defeating the troll the old fashioned way - with fire.

Or perhaps they might acquire several vials of acid from some source...

[Alethan]

But for the time being, Earc takes the end of the rope attached at the bank and secures it below the water, hiding it from sight until they return.

Then he collects his gear, dresses, stows the two pieces of driftwood in a sack, and indicates his ready to return to Gaul.

[Spearmint]

Blackjack Amistad

Amistad is happy to go straight back to Gaul and cash in the treasure, may be Earc you could do a detect magic on the items first. Appraise their value and look at options to return.

Do we have to go through retainer checks again, I don't feel we have finished the job and will go back with more supplies, so if Achaedany is aching for a fight of Alcide wants to shoot something, we can arrange that.

Amistad can check out the forge smiths and for labourers, ( dwarves miners with picks and crossbows preferably), Earc could check out more potions. It is a long way to the herb field, but depending on what happens next I would like to gather a few shoots to grow and cut some more saleable logs.

[Marullus]

Is that actually a decision to return? If so, I'll move you back to town. With all the hypotheticals, it is confusing.

Yes, if you return to town, you do the retainer rolls. They are within rights to take their pay and go home - especially Alcide, who is currently disgruntled. If you're arranging digging crews and coming back for an excavation (at least a week's work), it is definitely a new effort.

If you want to continue north on foot (since you don't have the horse with you and you're only carrying some gems as treasure) for your exploration/rafting, you can do that from here and keep them with you until that's done.

[Spearmint]

Amistad

The haul we have us great, but I can't tell the value of these gens. It might be worth hundreds or thousands? Amistad is reluctant to give Al and Ach the opportunity to dutch us, despite us paying well. Taking a few days to hire folk and a week to breakthrough. I do like the assault if we can carry it off. Sneak in somehow with no light giving us away and charge...

We have the equipment though, oil, food, rope, etc to go further for a few days. We could descend one of the two round caves we found or trek up the Orctongue. Amistad does favour that and we could harvest more herbs if we get that far.

Earc which do you prefer?

[Alethan]

Earc Orctongue

"I think trying to mine through is going to be difficult. I can't tell where the cavern is from here; I guess I got too confused underwater swimming through the tunnel. But mining will attract attention. Attention means competition. I think if we can get the troll against the wall again, we can figure out how to quickly get some fire lit and destroy the troll after going at it from underwater."

Earc studies the gems and jewelry. "Actually, the jewelry is worth more than the gems. Some of it might be considerably more, even."

OOC: Speaking from gaming experience, the more NPCs know about a treasure trove, the more trouble it is to get the treasure without having to fight off NPCs, either outright physically or with city watch when they "claim" a part of the treasure since it was stolen from them in the first place, etc. I think mining for a week would absolutely a) draw lots of wandering monsters and b) draw townfolk from the ford and from Gaul to watch or try and find their own way to get the treasure for themselves, especially thieves.

My vote is to head back to town. Who knows what the value of some of it is; if enough (at least 200gp for each of us, which seems probable), Earc could quickly pick up a few spells copying them from the spellbook the infirmary has (magic missile and protection from evil would be very useful). We could do several things with that. Earc could cast Continual light on the troll to try and blind it. Then he would be able to fire off four magic missile spells. Or two magic missile spells and Protection from Evil on two fighters (Protection from Evil would grant a +1 AC bonus). or if just the two of us, then Prot from Evil on you and 3 magic missile spells. Or Amistad could scare it to the back wall and Earc could get torches going and then use oil and fire. Or try to use one of the three remaining darts to knock it out.

Not sure what to do to make Alcide happy. He is retained by Amistad, so he needs to be the one to try and figure out why he's upset and what can be done to correct it. If he bails and it's just us and Ach, then that's fine. she still needs to earn her share of the treasure, I think, and splitting the rest three ways is better than four!

[Alethan]

Earc Orctongue

Earc packs the jewelry and gems into his backpack for safe keeping.

"Let's get this valued when we get into town. Alcide, if you want to go your own way after this, you can take your share of this haul and probably not have to worry about working for some time."

[Spearmint]

Amistad

Okay back to town and reviewing a new assault on the troll lair. Alcide and Achaedany can follow. We braved the lair and have scars to show so we are not just using them as meat shields.

Assess value of gems and take it from there.

[Marullus]

Satisfied with the sack of treasure in hand, your group heads back to town. You arrive by dinner, and go immediately to the Usurer to appraise the gems, then to the merchants who appraise the jewelry and object d'art for what they think they can sell it for in the south. Offers are made for immediate purchase, if you're interested. The merchants are also willing to work on commission as you did for your other art piece.

Day: 24 May 2021
Time: 6:00 pm
Light source: Sun
Health: Armistad (moderate injuries)

Expedition End - Part 2

Encounter: The Trapped Troll

New Hexes: None
Expedition Days: 2

Total: 6930 character XP / 950 Item XP. (2310xp each for Amistad and Earc; 1155xp each for Alcide and Achaedany)

Treasure:

chipped black obsidian (10 GP)
dull striated green malachite (10 GP)
chipped striated green malachite (10 GP)
small golden brown tiger eye (25 GP)
dull black obsidian (25 GP)
blue azurite (50 GP)
gray smoky quartz (50 GP)
dazzling banded agate (75 GP)
blue zircon (75 GP)
deep blue lapis lazuli (75 GP)
blue-green turquoise (75 GP)

total appraised value: 480gp. offer for purchase: 384gp

a bronze clasp (30gp) (Purchase offer: 15gp)
a copper neck ring (30gp) (Purchase offer: 15gp)
a well-used brass sextant (40gp) (Purchase offer: 20gp)
a string of prayer beads carved from minotaur horn, with the inscription “Despair Comes From Treasure, Not From Pain” written in dwarven upon them. A bronze fob bears a sigil of a closed fist. (500gp)
a well-used silver drinking horn, with engravings of holly leaves and an angel in a defiant stance, set with 6 polished, iridescent opals. (1000gp)
a platinum amulet, decorated with folk symbols said to bring the owner good luck. It is set with three small diamonds. (1200gp)
a gold tiara set with 12 polished, round moonstones, sized for a small human child. (1300gp)
a silver and gold wand with the inscription “Hound of Power” written in Common and set with 6 Sapphires round its top end. (1400gp)

Total appraised value: 5,500gp. Offer for purchase: 1,400gp.