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What precautions are being taken by those staying behind?

Yes, Jonas and Willem will wait until morning to return with the horse cart.

Grim overrules that idea. "If there's enough daylight to get to town with the bodies, or at least close, then we all go. Stick together, it's safer. Let's get a move on, lads." Off they go!

tap tap tap!

Torvid falls in behind Grim, grateful both to be able to stay close to Colgher, and to be able to explain to Colgher's wife Byas what happened to her late husband. As Torvid and Byas had been having an affair together for three months now, the barber felt a bit awkward about the situation.

Themble grumbles about wasting time, but joins as well. Malgaliir, ever pragmatic, does the same.

Jonas and Willem pick up Olaf's corpse and prepare to carry it through miles of moors back to town with a minimum of grumbling.

It is near the dawn by the time you return to Helix. Burdened by the dead, you find yourselves in need of frequent rests. Despite rolling my very best dice, you encounter nothing on your trek back.

Thus ends the Fourth Expedition to the Barrowmaze.

Lawful and Neutral characters gain +1 Luck this time out for hauling out the dead. The Gods approve.

Once back in town, Grim will set about getting the corpses back to their families for burial, if they had any, or whatever is appropriate for paupers in this town if they had none.

Is there a jeweler in town or anybody with any kind of skill in that area? Cisneros will immediately seek that person out, or anyone who might be able to help, to extract the largest jewel from the bracelet. Once it's done, he'll hand the bracelet back to Grim and the others for sale/division, etc. "I ... need no ... other treasure," he says, when he's able to speak. He'll then disappear to perform whatever strange rituals are needed to appease his patron.

Did we already divide up the coins? I forget. If not, everybody's split of the coins is:

212 gp / 13 characters (Cisneros abstains) = 16 gp each, 3sp left over
367+3 sp / 13 characters = 28 sp each, 4 copper left over.

The 4 copper can be donated to the Church or whatever.

Daryll will seek out Jed, if he's still around, and show him the book and the bone mace. "I spect you'll be wantin this, eh? Maybe you owe me one too, now."

beermotor wrote:Daryll will seek out Jed, if he's still around, and show him the book and the bone mace. "I spect you'll be wantin this, eh? Maybe you owe me one too, now."

Jed handles the fragile tome gingerly, gazing at the title. "I certainly do, and I hope I soon have a chance to repay you."

"It is good to see you survived the barrows. When you return, I will go with you. I believe Murq will as well, though ... it seems our, uh, "shared experience", left him ... changed."

Jed returns home, lays out the book and mace upon his pallet, and uses the Detect Magic spell his god had taught him.

[d20 + 0] = 12

Issues:

For a jeweller, you will need to travel to Wolford or ask at the castle.

Burial is 2 cp per individual.

The tome is not magical, but it does contain the proper rituals and sacrifices for the worship of the "dead" god Nergal....a precious find for Jed, considering his new vocation. Nor does the mace appear magical, but it is definitely of the worship of Nergal, and a holy thing in His estimation.

In Helix, news of your return, and the dead in tow, passes quickly from villager to villager. There are muttered comments about "awakening things best left alone" and you find yourselves treated less like heroes than like folk to avoid. It is as though the stench of the Barrowmaze is upon you, and they fear it will rub off onto them.

Hmm. Can Cisneros get the jewel he needs out of the bracelet with a minimum of fuss? Worst case scenario, just cut that link out of it. Then can the remainder be traded straight up to a smith for some metal armor/weapons? We need some chain mail or scale mail something awful.

Grim will pay 1sp to bury all the unfortunates. Then he'll see about setting himself up with a small smithy... how much will it cost to rent a space? Or just buy an anvil and the tools and build a little shack. He'll donate his gear to his cousin, Gunnar. "I regret that I got your brother killed, cousin, and I've brought some disgrace upon my house. I don't think I would be much good in there anymore. You take these things, they'll serve you well. I pray that you will be able to recover his body." How much is a sledge hammer? Gunnar wants to buy one for the return trip.

beermotor wrote:Hmm. Can Cisneros get the jewel he needs out of the bracelet with a minimum of fuss?

He certainly may.

Then can the remainder be traded straight up to a smith for some metal armor/weapons? We need some chain mail or scale mail something awful.

That may well be possible.

Grim will pay 1sp to bury all the unfortunates. Then he'll see about setting himself up with a small smithy... how much will it cost to rent a space? Or just buy an anvil and the tools and build a little shack. He'll donate his gear to his cousin, Gunnar. "I regret that I got your brother killed, cousin, and I've brought some disgrace upon my house. I don't think I would be much good in there anymore. You take these things, they'll serve you well. I pray that you will be able to recover his body." How much is a sledge hammer? Gunnar wants to buy one for the return trip.

I will get back to you on this.

Good deal... Cisneros will get started on using the jewel to appease his patron and heal his spellburn damage. Recognizing that's going to take some weeks, he's probably out for the next expedition, unless the group wants to wait.

Corsair wrote:Question: can 0-level characters buy weapons and such? There's nothing that I can find specifically forbidding it, but it also seems like most 0-level characters never get a chance to spend any money before dying or making it to level 1. If so, my characters are going to try to do some weapon shopping and perhaps such armor as they can find.

No one cards your level in Helix. What you can buy is based only on availability and money.

Jed, will avoid letting villagers see the book or mace so as not to feed the mutters. With some time to kill, he'll start reading the book seeking some insights into the worship of Nergal. He'll also talk to the tanner about the price of a sheet of leather large enough to wrap up the book.

He knows he needs a holy symbol for some of the things he can do; does the mace qualify?

Daryll asks Jed about his deity, while HP looks on. "So, what's the deal with this god o'yours anyhow? He sposed to stop them from risin up and walkin about? Or is he the one that's doin the risin?"

I'm back from the holidays. Hope your holidays were equally pleasant. Happy New Year!

Lots to deal with!

Setting oneself up as a smith is not as easy as renting a space and buying an anvil. Important trades are licensed, and one needs the permission of the local lord to set oneself up so. A larger town, like Wolford, works on a Guild system, where Grim would no doubt be able to hire himself out as a journeyman smith. He might also be able to do so at the keep in Helix, where such trades are always in demand. Otherwise, aquiring space is the least of his concerns, as he would need tools, anvil, and a ready supply of scrap iron. Ideal set ups are passed down from father to son, or from master to apprentice.

The costs to set up a stationary smithy from scratch do not run in the mere dozens of gold pieces. It is an important part of the pre-modern economic model that these types of trades are dependent upon the societies they are part of....On the other hand, a travelling smith or farrier could be set up for far less, although that requires travel (obviously).

From a game viewpoint, Grim would be welcome at the Keep, as a dwarven smith, although he would labour as a journeyman rather than as a master. As the game progresses, this would perhaps give you a known contact within the larger world of the nobility.

Jed can get a suitable piece of leather for a mere 2 cp. He could use either book or mace as a holy symbol. Reading the book, he learns that Nergal, Lord of the Dead, stood keeper over the gateway between life and death. Although dreaded by the living - for who wishes to face the Grim Lord in His own domain? - he stood as a balance point between the living and the dead. While the dead might be sent into the world on rare occasions to do His bidding, it was blasphemous to His cult to raise the un-dead for mortal gain. Not so for the cults of Orcus and Set, His sons.

So says the earlier portions of the book. The later portions speak of what Jed can only believe to be a degenerate Cult of Nergal influenced more and more by the beliefs of Set and Orcus, and of something called the Tablet of Chaos that can cause the dead to rise. It seems that this tablet was hidden somewhere in the Barrowmaze eons ago.

So ends the Fourth Expedition

Fifth Expedition starts here: http://unseenservant.us/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1121