[November 11th-16th – Vorgand is approached by applicants for the guild and the group decides to make a grab at the behir treasure.]
[This game uses the Fifth Revised Edition of the Hero System rules along with the Fantasy Hero supplement. This session happened September 28, 2020.]
Player Characters:
Jala – human female – a person of discretion, studying aspects of the Law [to avoid them] at the Dusk Academy
Ricky the Astrologer – human male – has a thirst for knowledge but doesn’t know what he’s searching for, currently studying Astrology at Monarch University
Zarek the Red – fox male – a cerebrally-unfettered spell researcher [read: Mad Scientist] turned into a talking fox, studying Natural Philosophy at Monarch University to find a way to become human again
Vorgand – human female – professional porter and Adventurer’s Aide, irregularly attends classes at The Tested military academy, practitioner of Steel Serpent martial arts, and Guildmaster of the Delvers Guild
Via Roll20
Clarence – human male – studies Religion in Temples district, coincidentally the group healer
Nick Stalwart – human male – part of the Stalwart family of merchants, studying Mathematics at The Interesting Institute of Profitable People, a college at Monarch University
Non-Player Characters:
Torsten, Fish, Harek – ex-bandits, now The Torchbearers for the Delvers Guild
Konrad Moonclub – Stalwart family factor in Little Wytheford
Orm Oxdriver – driver of the guild’s over-sized, double-decker vardo
November 11th through 14th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
During the week, a number of people approached Vorgand and inquired about joining the Delvers Guild. Most of these were students of the various learning centers in the city, but not all. Vorgand made note of the ones that made an impression for one reason or another.
Those that asked smart questions [requirements, cost to apply, loot shares, if there was a way to start above torchbearer status]:
- Marlan Tracehands
- Yngvar Copperarrow
- Stefan the Wanderer
- Leopard
Those that could fight (or at least claimed they could):
- Victor Yakovovich
- Bellinus Dragonkiller [smug and dressed in shiny armor, Vorgand really wants to fight this guy]
- Kettle the Pike
- Fadeyka the Saber
Those that stuck out for other reasons:
- Gilda Greenstick – a spellcaster
- Crow and Bear Neriansson – brothers, Bear fights and Crow “does things needing doing”
- Bork Hedinson – his name really is Bork, but he seems earnest
- Erian Eldergold – a pretty boy, possibly with some elf blood in his family
- Lukyan of Rylsk – already had leather worn armor and sword
- Tamara Greenshield – a temple acolyte
Vorgand explained that the guild was still organizing and would be taking applications in a week or so.
Vorgand also checked up on her glowing bones experiment in the basement of the guildhall. After a week, half the rope suspending the blanket and femurs was now glowing blue and showing odd signs of burning. She prepped the bones, blanket, and now rope for travel. It clearly was not safe to leave them in the guildhall.
During the same time, Nick asked around the docks, looking for his little brother, Les [if you think of Speed Racer looking for Sprital, you won’t be far off]. Nick eventually tracked down one of Les’ friends, Berooz. Berooz said he had helped Les pack up stuff “to go on adventure” and suspected Les was going to sneak onto a ship. As a result, Nick went to the harbormaster’s office to get a list of ships that left the day Les disappeared. Some of these were local transports and some were longer distance trade ships. Nick tracked down those ships that were back in port again to see if they had found a stowaway. None had.
Freysday, November 15th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
Dawn
The Delvers assembled on the docks to catch the morning ferry across Dragon Bay to Little Wytheford. The weather was cold and windy, so they and the other passengers stayed below decks for the trip.
During the trip the Delvers discussed their exploration options. Based on the amount of gold that Vorgand and Jala saw in the behir lair, they decided to make a try for some of it. The reports of the blue dragon-like creature on Arkoi suggested that at least one of the behir was no longer at the desert ruins, greatly increasing their odds at success.
Vorgand also discussed her first impressions of those applying to join the guild. She plans on sparring with all of the fighter-types to get a feel for their actual skill level. This seemed fair to the rest of the Delvers, although they did not have ways to test any of the other applicants yet.
Noon
The ferry arrived at Little Wytheford’s River Docks and all debarked. The Delvers walked over to the Stalwart family warehouse to find Konrad and get the vardo and requested supplies. Orm was there with his oxen, but they were not yet hooked up to the vardo. Orm was seen passing some coins over to Konrad when the Delvers showed up. Konrad told Nick that all the requested supplies were in the vardo and Nick thanked him.
Once the oxen were hooked up, the Delvers climbed into the vardo and settled in for the trip to the Moon Manor ruins.
Sunset
The vardo arrived at the Moon Manor ruins. The Torchbearers [Torsten, Fish, and Harek] waved at them as they approached. Orm parked the vardo just outside the entry to the ruins and everyone helped move the supplies from the vardo to the old chapel. The Torchbearers had spent the last two weeks using the supplies brought the previous trip to patch the walls and roof of the old chapel, sealing it against the elements. They used the wood scraps to build a cover for the entrance into the areas under the manor to keep the weather out.
Torsten related that when the storm blew in they had to herd the goats and chickens down into the chambers under the ruins for a couple days. One of the golems down there had walked off with one of the goats before they could do anything. They barricaded the door until the storm blew over and then moved the livestock back up to the surface. It took the golems several hours to clean up after the animals after the door was unbarricaded.
Yggsday, November 16th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
Morning
After breakfast, the Delvers started their leisurely way down through the under-ruins of the Moon Manor. They were in no hurry as the portal to the moon cannot be opened until after 9:00 am, when the moon is high enough in the sky.
On the upper lever of the under-ruins, the Delvers located the missing goat. It was on a shelf in one of the storerooms, bleating for food. They made a quick U-turn and took the goat back to the surface to graze before resuming their trip down. In the shaft of stairs, Zarek asked The Torchbearers if there was enough wood to make a wooden patch to the missing set of steps. Torsten said there was not in the scraps, but something could be done if the Delvers brought in more timber. He also said it would be safer if the water leaking into the stair shaft and running down the steps was stopped or diverted.
Once down at the portal room, the group discussed how they wanted to deal with the behir. They set the portal coordinates to the moon and retrieved the couch stored there before closing the portal again. By this point the Delvers had decided to make a quick raid of the desert ruins with the goal of defeating the single remaining behir or at least stealing some of the behir treasure. Zarek modified his attack spell so that it spat stone shards instead of lightning and stacked a delayed version of the spell that would trigger when he cast his attack spell a second time. He also put his Stoney Skin spell on himself and Ricky. Clarence cast Shield of Faith on himself and Vorgand and Nick cast Wave Breaker [a force field-based spell] on himself. Jala was very unhappy about not having a defensive magic spell cast on her until Vorgand pointed out it was her job was to steal gold while everyone else fought the behir. This mollified Jala somewhat.
Like all great plans, this one did not last long. Vorgand set the portal to the coordinates for the desert ruins and opened the portal. Zarek flew through the portal and went high to scout…which is when the waiting behir, sitting on the roof of the adjacent building and watching the portal area, saw him and spoke to him in the common tongue, “You. Me. Talk now.”
[This is when the players realized that maybe the group scout should have had a pair of earrings of communication.]
Zarek agreed to talk. The behir was looking for its mate and knew Zarek had something to do with it. Zarek allowed that he might know where the behir’s mate was, but needed to get a power stone to open the portal there from this side. [This was a lie – Zarek personally carried all the control cubes and power stones the group had and were not in use. Luckily, behir are not terribly smart.] The behir accepted his explanation and allowed him to go back through the portal to get what he needed.
Back in the under-ruins, Zarek quickly explained the situation and that he needed someone better with words to come back with him. Clarence and Ricky agreed to go. Ricky told the group to give them an hour before reopening the portal – Vorgand said, “You have 10 minutes.”
Zarek, Clarence, and Ricky went through the portal and the behir came down from the roof to observe more closely. Vorgand closed the gate from the Moon manor side. Zarek cleared off the control cabinet, set the portal coordinates to the Moon Manor Ruins, and activated the portal to prove to the behir that he could. The away team (Zarek, Clarence, and Ricky) waved at the rest of the Delvers and then closed the portal again.
Zarek then set the coordinates for the portal area on Arkoi and opened it. They could see the stony ground and sparse ruins on the island through the gate. The behir, suspicious, insisted Zarek go through first. He did so, followed by Ricky and Clarence. The behir then followed them through the portal to the other side and looked around. The behir then let out a full-throated roar and listened for a response. It did this twice more before a responding roar emanated from one of the nearby wooded areas.
The behir seemed pleased and told Zarek to wait at the portal. When Zarek agreed to do so, the behir headed towards the wooded area. Zarek estimated it would take the behir at least 20 minutes to get to the woods and would be mostly out of view after 10 minutes. He turned to Ricky and said, “Go back through to the ruins and tell them they have 8 minutes to go to the desert and grab as much as they can before you have to reopen the portal to here.” [This last part was crucial as there was no control cabinet at the Arkoi portal and Zarek and Clarence would be trapped with the behir otherwise.]
Ricky darted back through the portal, reset the control cubes to the Moon Manor, stepped through to there, and blurted out, “We have 8 minutes to grab all the treasure we can before the behir comes back!”
Ricky, Vorgand, Jala, and Nick all darted through the open portal to the desert ruins. The Torchbearers asked if they should come as well, but Vorgand told them to stay in the portal room in case anything happened. Jala did take a torch with her in case one was needed to create shadows for her to jump or see through. The group raced to get to the behir treasure room, Jala and Nick teleporting to locations on the second floor near it they knew of while Ricky and Vorgand used the second floor window on the side of the building [that the Torchbearers had fled out of the last time they were here]. When the group arrived at the second floor room with a hole in the floor, Jala dropped the torch down the hole to light up the treasure room and provide shadows for her. She pulled down her veil to peer through the shadows into the treasure room and realized all the treasure was gone!
Clearly, in the two weeks since the Delvers had been here, the behir had moved all the treasure to a different hiding place. Ricky looked around for a trail to follow. [I rolled to see how well the behir had hidden its trail at this point and rolled an 18 on 3d6 – complete failure.] Ricky realized that there was an easy trail to follow. The behir had hauled the treasure out, dropping the occasional coin along the way and had done nothing to hide its tracks. The trail eventually led to the nearby amphitheater and down into the “backstage” area. The entrance to the area had a large stone placed in front of it, but Jala found a spot where the group could still squeeze in. In the room behind the stone they found all the behir treasure piled haphazardly, along with some empty chests the behir had used to haul the treasure.
It still took nearly 2 minutes to follow the trail, so they were running out of time. As a result, each Delver prioritized what they grabbed. Vorgand prioritized jewelry cases then coins, hoping that amongst the jewelry would be at least one pair of earrings of communication. Nick stuffed valuable looking items into an available chest before filling in the empty spaces with coins. Jala went with gems, jewelry, and anything that looked like a magic item [nothing fit this description]. Ricky went after anything that looked like a magic item, books or scrolls, and then coins [with no books or obviously magic items, he spent most of his time stuffing his backpack and sacks with coins].
After four minutes of frantic stuffing of loot into packs, sack, and chests, Vorgand called time to go. The group each drank a dose of the potion of speed and sprinted back to the portal, heavily laden with treasure. Once through the portal, Vorgand took Ricky’s backpack and loot sacks [now noticeably full] from him. Ricky stepped back through the portal, closed it, and reopened it to Arkoi. He stepped back through to where Clarence and Zarek were waiting for the behir to return, panting and grinning like a fool. Zarek suggested he work at getting that smile under control before the behir returned and asked about it.
Meanwhile, back at the portal room under Moon Manor, Jala, Nick, and Vorgand hid all the stolen treasure behind the moon couch so it would not be visible to the behir if they looked through the open portal later. They too were grinning widely and not hiding their excitement at all. The Torchbearers were impressed with all the loot.
About ten minutes after Ricky had returned to Arkoi, the behir they had been talking to returned to the portal from the woods. She stated her name was Queen and she and her mate now owned both places, the desert ruins and this island. Queen demanded control stones to open the portal. Zarek convinced Queen that he had to go and get one to give her, but Ricky and Clarence would stay until he returned. Queen accepted this.
Zarek went through the portal to the desert ruins. He closed the portal and waited a minute or two, pulling one of the “dead” power gems from his pack. [“Dead” means unpowered in this context.] He then reopened the portal to Arkoi and delivered the unpowered crystal to Queen, who accepted it. Queen then said, “Leave now and never return to our places or we will eat you.” Clarence, Ricky, and Zarek quickly stepped through the portal, back to the desert ruins, where they closed the portal to Arkoi.
Ricky then reopened the portal to the portal room under the Moon Manor ruins and the trio returned. Clarence and Zarek were brought up to speed on the loot taken and they explained what they had done with the behir. As the portal stones on Arkoi did not have a control cabinet anymore, they were confident that the behir were now trapped on Arkoi and they could all go back to the desert ruins and take the rest of the behir treasure at their leisure. They all agreed now was the time to do this.
With the portal still open, Ricky went through first and deactivated it from the desert ruins side. Vorgand reactivated the portal from the Moon Manor side, allowing the retrieval of the power gem and three control cubes from the desert ruins side. The Delvers spent the next thirty minutes removing the remaining behir treasure from the amphitheater.
Once that was done, Vorgand redirected the portal to “Burning Hell” [the site where they fought the three effigies] and stashed the glowing femurs, blanket, and rope there, where the glow would not bother the Delvers. She then closed the portal to that location.
End of Session
[Detailing the treasure happened the following session as I had not rolled it up yet when this session happened. They were not disappointed. More on that at the end of the next session notes.]
Delvers Guild
Session A, Character Creation Part 1
Session B, Character Creation Part 2
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