All-Voldur campaign (IC)

[Linguz]

Shanar leaned forward and looked into Thyri's eyes. "Miss, not to offend you, but I don't spend my time heading to a city in need if I'm not serious and the mere suggestion that I might be here wasting both of our times is... let's just say, you shouldn't do it. Now, let me borrow some of that abruptness, give us details. Where are the goblins, what weapons are they using, what armor is for the soldiers, what armor do the leaders wear, what is an estimate of their forces, where was Sasha captured, what does Sasha look like, and anything else you might know."

[danzibr]

The brunette woman smiles, "Excellent. I never much cared for beating around the bush." She motions to the map on the table, "I'll tell you everything I know. For starters, there are more than just Goblins. As odd as this sounds, Goblins and Hobgoblins are cooperating with Bugbears, Kobolds, and Orcs. They've fought each for decades, giving us a peaceful life here in Birch, but no longer.

"Unfortunately, we only have guesses regarding their location. Pale Lookout," she points to a spot on the map north of the Lesh Highway past a bend in the road, "has had lights at night recently. We don't know if its allied Goblins and Orcs or otherwise. As for their weapons, nothing of high quality, but certainly still effective. Crossbows, javelins, morningstars, longswords. Fortunately we haven't had any of them capable of wielding magic attack the city. Their armor is also simple: leather, studded leather, light shields.

"And their numbers. Hundreds, thousands, ten thousand. The Dwarves built huge fortresses beneath the Garvius Mountains and the Goblins and whatnot have been vying for them, again, for decades."

Lady Thyri sighs, "And my Sasha. She looks like me, but younger and with red hair. She has a personality you can't miss. She went missing... well, let me take a step back. Birch has long since sent scouting parties into the Gravius Mountains. Never much past Pale Lookout, however. We just want to make sure the Orcs, Goblins and Kobolds are fighting amongst themselves; if any one faction were to gain supremacy, Birch would likely be in danger.

“A few years ago my husband, the previous captain of the guard before Captain Mansour, died during a standard reconnaissance trip. We killed the ones that did it, a band of Hobgoblins, but our daughter, Sasha, bears a deep hatred for anything that lives in the Gravius Mountains. She volunteers to go on every scouting mission.

“Now this is where you come in. For the first time in years, an entire scouting party went missing, my daughter among them. This happened three weeks ago. We sent out parties to try to find them, but they all came back empty-handed. We also sent riders to the nearby towns, which is undoubtedly how you heard we were in need of help.”

Lady Thyri points at the map again, near the same bend in the Lesh Highway south of Birch, “And that's when the lights I mentioned started coming from Pale Lookout at night. We sent a party to investigate, but they never came back. At this point we lack the troops to make a move. I pray every morning and every night for Sasha's safety, but no matter what happened, I have to know. If she was captured by anything with intelligence, she would've told them who she was and they'd ransom her, but we haven't received any ransom notes. I pray she's safe.”

She raises her eyes from the map, “Should you accept, your purpose is twofold: find my daughter and investigate Pale Lookout, and I suspect these two things might be one in the same. And while you're up at the lookout, have a look to the south and see if anything looks off.”

[hoverfrog]

"To hold together a force of five races, numbering up to ten thousand, who have blood feuds against one another and a history of conflict would take powerful leadership." Klar'ith looks over the map and tries to remember if there is anything significant in the history of Pale Lookout.

"Hobgoblins have always ruled over goblins and taken bugbears as powerful shock troops and bodyguards. This is known. Yet goblins lack discipline and are a treacherous race prone to turn on their masters. I have heard of kobolds being enslaved by stronger races. They are masters of trap and ambush and, though weak individually, they are numerous and crafty." He pauses to scratch at the tribal scars on his neck, "Orcs though are strong and fiercely independent. Our ways have always been clan and sept first. To join with these lesser races must mean that a warlord of great power has united the Garvius tribes and dominated the goblinoids. A warlord would seek to unite the other orcs under the same banner. My people included. The Iron Wolf Clan will not stand for this."

Spoiler

Show

Knowledge History for information about Pale Lookout beyond what we already know (1d20+5)[11]

[WyvernLord]

Harfil looks extremely worried at this news.
"This does not bode well for anyone. Unification on this scale causes massive destruction. But you have my word as a knight of Heironeous that I will do all in my power to protect this village from any threats."
Harfil looks at Lady Thyri watching her reaction to words.
"Do we have any support or is this a situation where you need people here to defend?"

[danzibr]

Klar'ith knows that Pale Lookout was built by the departed Dwarves to look over the Garvius Mountains. Supposedly, one can see for a hundred miles from its second story. Approximately seventeen miles away from Birch, its most recently known inhabitants were Ogres, though the Goblins, Orcs and Kobolds may have moved in.

Lady Thyri listens to Klar'ith's words, waiting until it's clear he's finished so as not to interrupt, "Their apparent cooperation is indeed troubling. I'm glad you take these issues to heart.

"Thank you Harfil, knight of Heironeous," the brunette woman responds, then takes on a slightly pained expression. "I'd like to offer you aid, but I'm afraid we've lost good men and women in the past few weeks and the watch is spread thin. Perhaps Brother Jim and Poppy can provide goods on my behalf to help you with your tasks." She approaches one of the shelves to retrieve parchment along with quill and ink. Returning to the main table, she writes a few words before blowing on it for the ink to dry, then rolling it up, securing it with a ribbon and handing it over, "Show this to Brother Jim and Poppy and they should help you."

Lady Thyri pauses, then asks, "Are there any other questions? I greatly appreciate your aid in this matter, and I'll offer what reward I can."

[BelGareth]

Jeor just waits for them to stop talking, he had made himself look the fool to much already and wasn't about to do so in front of this lady.

He then finds himself stepping forward one foot and opens his mouth "Yes Ma'am, I think having the towns folk closing their doors might help out with any future incursions." Having said his piece he steps back to where he was standing.

Inside his head he was mentally berating himself.

WHY did you HAVE to say that!

[niw18]

Volskan had followed he was not very comfortable in cities as they restricted him from being as moble as he would like to be. He would just stand there and watch as they moved to another building and noticed the women and heard her out. He was shocked to hear of such a thing as those races unfiing like that. He was more shocked by his friend speaking up as he was not type spoken like that unless it was needed. He would just stand near door and watch to see what the others well do as we are deffently outnumbered in that battle if they made presence to well known.

[WyvernLord]

Harfil snorts and looks away. Recomposing himself he bows to Lady Thyri.
"I thank you greatly for this. Though is there a place where we can rest? Of the threat is as dangerous as you say then we may need to return to rest occasionally."

[danzibr]

Lady Thyri gives Jeor a slightly confused look, "Open doors? It gets a bit warm during the day for everyone to leave their doors closed, but I'll take it into consideration."

The brunette woman turns back to Harfil, "You're welcome to rest here or at the Salty Dragon. Womar is a kind woman despite how she behaves. As for on the Lesh Highway, there's a small house on the west side of the bend several miles south of town, but not much beyond that, I'm afraid. As it is yet morning, it would be difficult yet reasonable to go to Pale Lookout, investigate and return here before nightfall."

[Linguz]

Shanar nodded. "Then I guess we better be off. Everyone ready?"

[hoverfrog]

"One moment, Shanar, if it please you." Klar'ith is conscious that he often spends too long making plans and not enough time acting but is unwilling to miss any opportunity. "M'lady, pray tell me if there are any prisoners from the goblin forces that we could question? A translator would be useful as well or a kobold, if you have one, I can speak as well with kobolds almost as well as I speak my mother tongue. Any intelligence of Pale Lookout or of the warlord's plans, assuming there is a warlord, would help us greatly. We don't want to stumble upon a band of ogres when we're expecting kobolds."

Feeling increasing self conscious and unused to speaking in front of groups he continues, "The good citizens of Birch have told us where previous attacks were staged. They are simply tradesmen though. Can you tell us of the strength of the goblin attacks? If they typically attack in groups of ten then it changes our response compared to if they attack in groups of twenty or fifty. Can you tell us why you think that Birch is being raided? If it naught but the placement of this town or is there a history of hostility that you can share with us. Goblins are vindictive creatures who will carry a grudge for generations. If they do have some grudge then mayhap it will aid us in our struggles against them. We may taunt them with it or deceive them into believing that we agree with them or whatever circumstances allow us."

Acutely embarrassed now and feeling almost as if he does dishonour to himself he struggles on, "There is also a small matter of reward. We are noble men (and woman) true but needs must eat and live. That takes gold, silver and iron. Is there a bounty on goblins slain? Is the gratitude of nobility and the rescue of her daughter heir something that a crude figure could be placed next to? At the least surely selling the spoils of war would be free from whatever local taxes that might be imposed upon us."

[danzibr]

"Unfortunately," the brunette woman starts, "we have no captives. In recent days we've thought to capture at least one of our assailants, but the only survivors flee.

"The previous attacks have only been twelve at most, mostly Goblins and Hobgoblins, though there were one or two Orcs and Kobolds, and always at night. I don't think it was their aim to actually overrun the city, but rather steal what they could before escaping. Fortunately, our guard is ever vigilant."

Lady Thyri gives an understanding nod at Klar'ith's final words, “Of course. We didn't expect people to put themselves in danger for free." She sighs lightly, "At the moment, all I can guarantee is two thousand gold pieces, most of it my own. It's not that I don't value my daughter, but Birch simply is not a wealthy town."

[hoverfrog]

"You are most generous m'lady and our questions have been answered. It seems that we must seek our own captives and put them to the question ourselves." Klar'ith looks forward to combat again, "If the spirits are willing we'll have news of your daughter before the sun rises. If they smile on us may even have her back by then." He gives a toothy grin full of confidence and slams the butt of his shortspear into the floorboards resonantly for emphasis.

[danzibr]

Lady Thyri inclines her head in a slight bow, "Thank you, Klar'ith. As a mother and leader of Birch, your efforts mean more to me than you may know."

[WyvernLord]

Harfil nods and smiles.
"We might not know, but that doesn't matter much. Doing the right thing is its own reward. But never decline food or supplies, a starving hero isn't one of much use.
I do believe we may head to Pale Lookout but there is no guarantee we will be back by tonight. We should have some preliminary reports by tomorrow though. I think we should leave some supplies at the abandoned house just in case we can't get all the way back to town for anyone reason. I believe we have all the information we need now time to prepare."
He salutes and turns to leave. Heading to gather some food and first aid supplies to leave at the house on our way to Pale Lookout.

[danzibr]

Taking his leave, Harfil makes his down the stairs, out of Lady Thyri's house, and east past the Lesh Highway to the fourth building on the right, Poppy's shop. Looking through the open windows, it's clear the building has at least two rooms, a larger in the front which serves as a shop, and a smaller in the back, likely Poppy's living quarters. There are more open windows on the east and west sides.

Also through the windows, an assortment of goods are visible, scattered amongst numerous relatively short shelves, everything from tindertwigs to crowbars to tents. A female Halfling, perhaps three feet tall and clad in fine-looking leather armor, is sitting on a counter reading a book.

The door, although closed, reads, "Open for business" in several languages, not all written by the same hand and in a number of alphabets.

Spoiler

Show

Although I wrote Harfil, I assume the entire party's going.

Also, for getting more than the minimum campaign-advancing info from the cap and lady, everyone gets exp as though overcoming a CR 4 encounter, so 450 per person.

EDIT: Also, though not written, I figured the party would easily figure out where the general store was.

[Linguz]

Shanar went into the store and handed the lady's paper to the one she assumes is named Poppy. "Thyri told us to give you this and you'd be able to help."

[danzibr]

Upon Shanar opening the door, the Halfling woman--short as most Halflings are, and with long curly blonde hair--looks up from her book with a smile, not surprised in the least to see Voldur in her shop. Though she stays seated on her counter, her head still doesn't reach more than five feet high.

"I was wondering if you'd show up," she says. "I'm Poppy. I heard just a few minutes ago there were Voldur in town, looking to help Lady Thyri."

After reading the letter passed over by Shanar, Poppy gives a deep nod, curls bouncing, "A friend of Lady Thyri's is a friend of mine." She swings her legs around the counter, retrieving some objects from beneath the back of her counter with a clank, passing them over. They're five stopped vials, "This ought to help. I can't do any magic myself, but I do a fair amount of trade, as you can imagine. And feel free to buy whatever you will, but those potions are the only things that're free."

Spoiler

Show

Party gets 2 potions of Enlarge Person, 1 of Reduce Person, 1 of Bull's Strength, 1 of Invisibility. They all last 3 minutes.

[Linguz]

Shanar asks Poppy, "Potions... what are they?"

[WyvernLord]

"A generous gift indeed. Your investment into this endeavor will not be wasted."
Harfil bows to Poppy.
"Now onto other business. We need three days food each and some first aid supplies. Do you have an everburning torch? I've wanted one of those for some time. And finally some extra sacks.
Do you know where we could get a mule or a horse?"
I pull out some gold to pay for the stuff I asked for.

[danzibr]

The Halfling faces Shanar, "To the best of my knowledge, two of Enlarge Person, one of Reduce Person, one of Bull's Strength, one of Invisibility. They all last 3 minutes. Don't get them mixed up."

"Indeed, I have all of that, even the animal. A donkey, in fact." She hops off of the counter and goes around the back to a door fit for her height. Poppy cracks the door, says something in a foreign language, then walks past the party and out the door, saying, "Toly's in the back if you need anything. I'll be back in a minute with your donkey."

[Linguz]

After being told which potion is which potion, Shanar asked, "How much would something to label them cost?"

[hoverfrog]

"I need to stock up on components for my spells while we're here." Klar'ith looks about the shelves idly, "Potions, eh? Always useful they are. We can mark the bottles with a blob of wax and scratch a symbol into it or tie a ribbon around the neck as a label."

"I wonder," he says pondering the shopping list, "one of those magical bags that carry an enormous amount would be most useful though I expect that only a large city would have anything so expensive." He repeats these questions to Poppy when she returns.

[danzibr]

Poppy returns minutes later leading a donkey, far taller than herself. Tying the beast up outside, she reenters her shop.

"Just a moment," she says to Shanar, returning to behind her counter. A few seconds later she retrieves five different brightly colored pieces of string and hands them over. "It's not ribbon as your friend suggested, but it should work."

Poppy shakes her head to Harfil, "Sorry, I don't have any of those."

[Linguz]

Shanar ties the potions with a string each and memorizes which colors are which potions. "Free of charge... or how much?"

[danzibr]

"For the string?" Poppy asks. "I run a business here, but you can consider the strings and potions as a package. If you really want to pay me, the strings aren't worth more than a copper total."

[Linguz]

"I don't really have anything besides gold and the like, so I'd rather not. That'd be a lot of change for me. Thank you, though."

[hoverfrog]

"I think that we need to scout out the enemy before determining what we need in the way of additional equipment" Klar'ith looks down at the halfling, "Miss Poppy, do you have a regular supply of potions, scrolls and such or are these the sum of your trading over the years?"

"We go to rescue the child of Lady Thyri. Many goblins will die by our hands and their weapons, armour and goods will become our plunder. We have no need of their paltry goods but may wish to sell them for profit. Will you act as our agent and secure us a fair price for the just spoils of our war?" He waits for an answer, it would be good to have a way to profit from the prowess of superior voldur strength.

[danzibr]

Poppy hops back up to her counter, not having to crane her neck so much to address Shanar, "You're most welcome."

She turns to Klar'ith, "Oh, I have a number of such goods. The potions I gave you all were a sampling, though Brother Jim deals more with the restoratives. And between Rhokag and myself I'm sure we can find a home for your spoils."

Spoiler

Show

You can buy anything up to 800g here... so limited magic mart.

[hoverfrog]

"We were reasonably well provisioned before we came to Birch, Poppy. I do have a list of scrolls that I seek to acquire to grow my spell book. These can wait until we return from our mission though." Klar'ith takes a sheet of paper and dips a quill into a pot of ink and starts a long list of arcane spells that he wants.

"These, " he grins handing the list over, "also this ink and quill and a dozen spare sheets of paper. Let me know if scrolls become available." He puts down the gold and packs the things carefully into his backpack.