Hook Mountain Loot

[DMDarcs]

(I am assuming that detect magic spells are cast and that all attempt to make Spellcraft checks to identify.)

The corpse of Lamatar Bayden was retrieved, along with a +1 chain shirt and a +1 icy burst composite longbow.

Nothing of interest was found on the first stone giant other than an ordinary large-sized greatclub.

Kaven has all of has equipment intact from before. This amounts to: +1 leather armor, +1 rapier, masterwork dagger, composite longbow, 20 arrows, and a ring of protection +1.

The lamia had a tattoo of the Sihedron on her left breast that would have allowed her to cast a spell once per day without the use of verbal or somatic components. It doesn't seem to be transferable. She was carrying the following equipment of note: a wand of scorching ray (22 charges), a +1 keen dagger, a masterwork dagger, a gold and pearl ring, and a silver necklace. She also had a scroll with the header, "Those who have agreed to grant their greed to the master's need." There are about 200 names on the list, some of them ringing strangely familiar. One of these names is circled: Kaven Windstrike.

The second stone giant was using or carrying a Sihedron medallion, a wand of enervation (12 charges), a large-sized masterwork earth breaker, a headband of vast intelligence +2, a pouch full of black onyx gems, and a spellbook with thin slate covers and mammoth hide pages. He also carried, in his pocket, a folded up page of mammoth hide with the following message written (in Giant) on it:

BARL -

LATEST CONTACT WITH TERAKTINUS INDICATES HE HAS NARROWED THE SEARCH - HE BELIEVES A HUMAN TOWN CALLED SANDPOINT COULD HIDE WHAT MY LORD SEEKS. TERAKTINUS WILL LEAD SEVERAL OF THE PEOPLE, AS WELL AS THE DRAGON, ON A RAID INTO THE TOWN SOON. WHEN THEY RETURN, THEY MAY BE PURSUED, AND I MAY NEED YOUR OGRE SLAVES TO AID IN TERAKTINUS'S RETREAT TO JORGENFIST. BE READY TO RETURN AT MY COMMAND!

M

Behind the stone giant's throne, there are haphazard piles of weapons, art objects, gems, trade goods and other treasures. Mixed in with these items were found 32 +1 arrows, 12 +1 giant bane arrows, a suit of +2 light fortification studded leather, a +1 longsword, a +1 composite longbow, a belt of incredible dexterity +2, a cloak of elvenkind, and a pair of boots of the winterlands.

[Tahlvin]

I'm calling dibs on all arrows (even Kaven's normal ones). And I'd like to have that belt of dexterity, but I'm willing to negotiate.

Oh, and I think it may be time to head back to Sandpoint (after a stop in Turtleback Ferry to get our horses, and after stopping at Fort Rannick to drop off the traitor Kaven Windstrike).

Oh, and I say we burn the bodies in order to avoid them coming back after us later. Sorry, too much Game of Thrones?

[Tahlvin]

By the way, in terms of immediate next steps:
- We need a guard on Kaven.
- We need a guard at the tunnel entrance; I'm not convinced all of the ogres/giants that fell off the side of the cliff perished, and I don't want them coming back and surprising us.
- We need a guard watching the entrances to the mines (back in the room with the forges), so we don't have any ogres coming up from the mines and surprising us.
- We were rather hurried getting through all of the rooms in an effort to kill before being killed, so we need to go back and carefully search rooms and corpses for valuables and intelligence.
- I'd love for someone with more knowledge to investigate the area in general. While this was home to an ogre clan, the giant statue, big skeleton ribs sticking up out front, and general size of the place makes me think it's much more than that. And the presence of so many sihedron runes (on the stone giant, on the giant statue, the lamia's tattoo) has me a bit worried.

Eldthor has one CLW and one Lesser Restoration available, and will cast it on anyone who needs it. After that, he's willing to go stand guard duty at the cave entrance to watch for any returning survivors from cliff adventures, or stand guard duty over the mine entrances in the forge area. Whoever stands guard at the tunnel entrance, I suggest they take the boots of the winterlands.

Longer term, I think we'll want to start a separate thread but I don't have the time to do it right now, but we need to figure out our next step. It sounds like Sandpoint may be in danger. We have to check on Turtleback Ferry and consider whether we need to defeat Black Magga. We still have the rains falling like crazy, which Sam and Anna were sent to investigate. And it sounds like a trip to Jorgenfist may be in order soon, wherever that is.

[Mike]

We need to identify the names in the note, particularly M. We also need to learn more about the scroll's Naughty List. I also have knowledge checks to make on some of the décor around here. Side quest: still keeping an eye out for ingredients to heal Illian.

Our path seems to me to be:

Stone giant's lair/Kaven -- interrogate
Shimmerglens/nymph -- deliver Lamatar
Fort Rannick -- ditch Kaven (I can't remember the map, maybe this is before the nymph)
Turtleback Ferry -- okay
Magnimar -- report to mayor/trade goods
Sandpoint

Hopefully, we can find answers along the way and will have an idea of what to do by the end of it.

[Tahlvin]

[Mike]

Are we missing anything on that list for goals OR objectives? Because each step on that path, we need to look for people or resources that might provide insight into stuff on our ever-growing list of shit we don't know.

[Bluedevyl]

Hey! You survived your hike back last night!

I think we should hold onto anything that is already masterwork, in the event that a party member would like a weapon magicked that doesnt already have one.

I would like to examine his spellbook, which we could always sell afterwords.

I don't need the wands, but I'd certainly make use of them if no one else wants them.

Can anyone make use of the headband? If not, I'd like to see if there's somewhere nearby I could trade 2 headbands of vast intellect +2 for 1 headband of vast intellect +4 (but probably not)

I'd like to seriously search the area for hidden compartments (the throne intrigues me, for some reason)

We're not far from the Fort, correct? Wouldn't it be in our best interests, as some of us are at least partially responsible for the fort on an administrative level, (correct?) to clear out this hold of all of its giant-y badness and make it part of the fort? They certainly don't want more ogres moving in here. Maybe they could convince some of the folks from TBF to move up here and turn it into a trading post. At least they'd be dry here.

Was it confirmed that big bad giant guy is completely dead? Is there perhaps an elven cleric with a butterfly tattoo on her face that might have access to a spell to help us speak with the dead in the event that we can no longer speak to the living?

As for next steps, I'm fairly certain that the Shimmerglens is the furthest away, so Fort Rannick -> TBF -> Deliver Lamatar is the order I'd think we'd be going.

That's all I've got for now. Nice work last night, everyone!

[Mike]

[Bluedevyl]

This is all true. I was hoping, perhaps vainly, that I could trade the headbands and spellbooks for the +4 headband, but making up 12 grand in gold with books seems... unlikely.

At least I can work towards making our +2 weapons to save us some gold that way

[Zen]

While the concept of a 24 dex by adding the belt is EXTREMELY tempting, I will grant that my husband needs it more than I...

I don't make nearly as much use of the wands I do have as I should, but if nobody else wants the wands, I will take them. (Even though I can't learn necromancy well myself, I don't have that many qualms using the spells... I really should use that Vampiric Touch wand some time since it boosts HP temporarily...)

I would take that +1 Keen Dagger if nobody else wants it, but I will defer if Illian wants it, since he might want the extra crit chance with his off hand? (Not sure if a dagger would be enough damage to bother with...)

As for the +2 light fortifications studded leather armor... Who can use that among us? I'm guessing that Eldthor can't because he is part druid... Illian because of his size... Dothan and I would have to put up with a fairly heafty % spell failure chance... It isn't beefy enough for Dwyn and Hall... What about Sam? What is her armor like? (Same spell failure issues... ugh...)

I already have a nifty cloak that I am wearing... and the boots are really only useful in the north and the mountains...

As for our future plans, I think Dothan's list is just about right... We really need to figure out what is threatening our adopted home town... (Now I'm starting to worry about Dothan's girlfriend... It's not too soon to call her that, is it?)

[Bluedevyl]

I'm proficient with literally no armor, so I'm out there.

I've got 2 daggers already and rarely use them, so I'm sure that someone more close-combat oriented could get better use from the keen dagger than I could.

Ditto the cloak and boots combo for me. I wonder about selling the marsh boots and winter boots in Magnimar for some gear... or we could leave the marsh boots with Lamatar's corpse so he could use them when (if) she's able to resurrect him.

What is everyone's opinion on Lamatar's gear? Leave it for him? I honestly dont have an opinion, I'm just curious.

[Tahlvin]

You die, you lose your gear. Let's see what the nymph is able to do with his corpse before we decide.

As for the boots, as a ranger, I really like having them. If nobody minds, Eldthor would prefer to keep both sets of boots. When he has need of one or the other, he'll wear them; when he doesn't, he'll put the unused ones in his handy haversack.

Shit, I just realized I was forgetting to add the +4 bonus to my attacks last night for Favored Enemy-Giant. That would have made those critical hits that much more impressive. :O

[Bluedevyl]

Its fine with me. I'm wearing Boots of the Cat, and given my propensity for flight during combat, swapping them seems ill-advised.

I've really been enjoying this adventure path. Thanks a lot for letting me join you guys.

[Eliahad]

Bluedevyl: Were you in the group that Pat first ran Runelords for? I'm insanely curious how we've done things differently I know some of the things, but it would be fun to hear more of the stories!

Also, I'm taking that damn ring of protection +1 from Kevan back, if that's alright. I should never have given it back. I can also make use of the cloak of elvenkind, but I'm already pretty stealthy.

[Bluedevyl]

I think this is the third time I've run parts of this path with Pat as my DM... The first time I think we only made it as far as maybe The Misgivings, but Pat can correct me on that.

The second time we made it a decent way through the path, but it was quite a few years ago, I believe before Evangeline and Annie were born, so we're talking almost 6 years ago. It's been quite some time since we did this part, but what I do recall is The Troubleshooters tend to take a more tactical approach to certain situations than our first group did. I think much of that is owed to the different personalities involved.

I also wasn't with this group during the spooky bits, so I don't know how you guys handled that, but I do remember a member of our party REALLY not taking well to being the object of Aldern's affections. It showed a side of my wife that I honestly didnt know she had. It was pretty damn funny.

I'll see if I can recall anything else while I'm editing the podcast tonight

[Bluedevyl]

[Elle]

WHOA I don't even know where to begin with that Letter!!!! Not only from a character standpoint (has family and friends back in Sandpoint) but also a player perspective, how totally unexpected and awesome is it that we are clearly headed back to Sandpoint for the next chapter?!!!

I was working up over months now the narrative of Dwyn being pulled gradually away from home, going a little further with each new layer of responsibility, and feeling torn between doing what she sees as Erastil's specific bidding and being close to family and friends. Or at least solving the mystery of who killed her father and stole his sword, a few years ago.

Suddenly... plot twist!!! We're headed back to defend the place we started from, and we don't even know who these new terrible enemies might be! This is awesome. All I really want for Dwyn is a higher AC somehow. I'll sell off loot and try to trade in for that.

[Elle]

Big question in my mind: when Dwyn cracked the Snakelady's medallion, presumably a second life type medallion like Kay's and maybe now this giant's (does Illian have one too or did I hallucinate that?), did the snake get a New tattoo to make up for its loss, or did she have the tattoo all along? Can Dothan or someone investigate to see if the tattoo is new? If so, who tattooed her? And why?

Starting to feel more and more that these medallions are some kind of shared sign of being in a particular group of baddies. Like the Lamashtu mother-monster worshipping equivalent of a masonic ring or whatever.

[Tahlvin]

From a purely logistical point of view, I think we do things in the following order:
1) Finish up searching Hook Mountain.
2) Fort Rannick to turn in Kaven and return our winter gear.
3) Shimmerglens to turn over Lamatar's corpse.
4) Turtleback Ferry to check in and retrieve our horses.

From there, it's up for debate. It certainly sounds like a return to Sandpoint is in order. But a stop by Magnimar first to check in with the mayor, sell some loot, purchase magic items, etc., may be a good idea, especially if we think we'll be facing a dragon. And we still have the matter of figuring out what is causing all the rain in this area, and how to stop it.

I'll put up a poll and see what folks think.

[Elle]

Okay, M is the new head bitch in charge of our enemies. Barl was supposed to help, and now M. doesn't yet know that Barl cannot help him/her/them. M. may send another messenger here and discover what happened. So first order of business IMO is to conceal traces of our presence here and maybe try to deceive this M. as to what happened. Perhaps we could fake a note from Kavan describing a plot for himself, Lucretia and the hags to betray the others, steal their goodies and run off, seeking higher favor with whoever they work for who wants the greedy souls, forget the name. Then if anyone comes here with a message for Barl, they may at least think what happened is more complicated, or may even delay any planned invasion of Sandpoint.

Second, I have a poor sense of the map right now. Dwyn for sure would like to go straight to horses and then straight to Sandpoint, after trying to send messages both to Sandpoint and Magnimar, warning of a dragon and invaders. Do they all breathe fire in this world, or other bad breaths? Maybe we warn the Sandpoint residents to secure that cave entrance we were in loooooong ago, and hide out underground. Hopefully under there are caves or tunnels small enough to prevent a dragon entering, and they can prepare some sort of metal shield vs. fire breath at a tunnel opening. I'm thinking tornado-shelter style. They could take some kids and run to the Misgivings, now that we cleaned it out, and that place definitely has underground caves.

My next question is, where would the enemy be coming from? If we aren't too late, we could prepare some trap outside the town. And what about all the people in towns or countryside before they arrive in Sandpoint? We should warn anyone along the possible route. Dwyn will be freaking out about this. Or would they fly in on their dragon?!