[May 4 to May 11 – Survey conclusion and cautiously back to Nomi]
[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened November 13, 2023.]
[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea. The PCs are refugees seeking a better life through adventuring.]
Player Characters
Sorvia of Stavros – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)
Tharduk Lavabreath – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally
Kadruth Worldbender – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom
Anomin – female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon
Islo Redgrass – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)
Via Roll20
Inserrant – female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer
Spring
May 4, 56 I.C. (Imperial Calendar)
In the morning, the adventurers took an inventory of the claws and fangs they were able to harvest from the bear and Nemean Lion they had killed during the night. Due to their interrupted sleep from the creature attacks, they slept in a couple hours so everyone would be fully rested. During the day they scouted and mapped more of the forest. The forest seemed more peaceful. At the end of the day they made camp and set watches. The night passed without incident.
May 5, 56 I.C.
The party resumed mapping and surveying the forest. They reached the southeastern most reach of the forest and could see the Dowr Gwernan, the river that was the official border with The Shires, about a mile away. Sorvia very much wanted to bathe and suggested the group push on to the river. The rest of the adventurers were amenable and shortly the group was setting up camp next to the river. Everyone washed and refilled their waterskins with clean river water. The night was quiet.
May 6, 56 I.C.
The adventurers moved around the southeastern arm of the forest to avoid backtracking and resumed their survey when they got back to the main body of the forest. At the end of the day they made camp in the forest.
During first watch, Islo heard the sound of a very large bird flying over the forest, arriving from the west and leaving to the northeast. Without seeing whatever it was, he felt it might have been either a roc or a really big manticore. He shared this information with Tharduk and Kadruth when they took the second watch, but neither dwarf heard anything unusual that night.
May 7, 56 I.C.
The adventurers continued scouting and mapping the forest. The forest was very lively on this day and Sorvia and Islo were able to supplement the group’s store of food by hunting and gathering as they went. The night passed without incident.
May 8, 56 I.C.
The scouting of the forest worked its way up the western edge of the forest. When they were on the edge of the forest they could occasionally see herds of sheep grazing on the plains to the west. Some of the largest sheep were the same size as the smallest sheep in the cyclopses’ herd. The group camped in the forest and the night was quiet.
May 9, 56 I.C.
The adventurers wrapped up scouting the forest, observing more sheep herds to the west during the day. At the end of the day they made it back to the Mesta River, the border between the Wet Marches Barony and the Barony of Nomi, where they refilled their waterskins. They set up camp and watches, but the night passed without incident.
May 10, 56 I.C.
The adventurers forded the Mesta River and marched north towards the town of Nomi. Just as they could see the town on the horizon, they stopped walking and made camp. Uncertain what their status might be here, Sorvia set up snares and tripwires around the campsite.
The adventurers spent some time discussing their options and decided it would be smart to have Anomin fly ahead and contact The Sheriff to see how things lie. Anomin agreed with this. Before she flew off, Inserrant asked Anomin to pick up a copy of her (Inserrant’s) wanted poster if one was available.
Anomin flew off in her crow form and quickly reached the town. She flew around and above the town to see if anything peculiar was going on. She could see the partially burned Michelakis house had started repairs and that the townspeople seemed to be going about their business normally. Anomin then circled down and landed on the roof of the Post Office, across the street from the Sheriff’s Office. She observed the Sheriff’s Office for a while. The ground floor was lit up but not the upstairs and there were a couple of deputies standing on the ground floor veranda.
As it looked safe, Anomin flew down to the main doors of the sheriff’s office, landing on the veranda railing. The Bounty Board was to the left of the doors and she quickly looked the board over. None of the posters she could see were for the adventurers, so she flew inside the office and landed near a deputy she felt she recognized. The deputy saw her fly in and was about to shoo this crow out of the office when Anomin clearly asked to speak with the sheriff. This caused all activity in the office to pause for a moment.
The deputy called out, “Sheriff? There’s someone here to talk with you.”
The Sheriff called back, “Who is it?”
“A crow wearing a necklace,” the deputy responded.
The Sheriff could be heard to curse mostly under his breath and then called out, “Send her in.”
Anomin flew into the office the deputy gestured at - the door was open. Inside she found The Sheriff sitting behind his desk, staring at her. She landed on the back of a chair facing the desk and asked how things were. In response, he laid out a proclamation from the Baron. Anomin read it and the proclamation stated that Viktor Nicabar had been discovered to be a criminal and traitor and his property was officially confiscated by the baron.
Once Anomin finished reading the proclamation, The Sherriff shared that the baron found the map Anomin had turned over quite interesting, particularly the gold mine that by rights belonged to the baron. The baron fixed that issue, which amazingly cleared up all the land disputes in that area. Agni Michelakis now had more or less complete control over the lumber business per her inheritance, even if the baron claimed the part of the land with the mine as confiscated property. Anomin asked if he still had any of the wanted posters as Inserrant wanted a copy of hers. The Sheriff opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out copies of the wanted posters and gave Anomin the one for Inserrant, folding it so she could carry it as a crow.
The Sheriff then asked if they found anything in the Mykro Dasos. She gave a summation but left out the cyclopses. When The Sheriff asked if they could confirm the rumors of giants stealing sheep, her response was, “Nope. No giants.” The Sheriff stared at her but couldn’t read a crow’s facial expressions and let it go.
After polite goodbyes, Anomin flew out of the sheriff’s office and then out of town, making her way back the the encamped adventurers. Back in camp she handed Inserrant her own wanted poster, which listed her as Lady Zill with a minor reward. Anomin then shared everything she had learned and heard in town. The group decided it sounded safe to enter Nomi the next day and planned to do so.
The rest of the night passed quietly.
May 11, 56 I.C.
After breaking camp, the adventurers walked the last five miles to Nomi and entered the town through the County Gate [so-called as it was the starting point for the County Road the extended east from Nomi]. Sorvia wanted to get copies of the wanted posters for the group as souvenirs, Kadruth wanted to speak with Agni Michelakis, and the return mail to Mouzaki needs to be picked up, so the group splits. Tharduk, Islo, Sorvia, and Anomin went to pick up the mail. Kadruth went to go speak with Agni, hoping for a reward for helping the family out recently. Inserrant went to the Crossed Arrows to see about making some money singing at the inn.
~*~
Inserrant arrived at the Crossed Arrows and spoke with the owner, Hira. Hira quickly and correctly recognized Inserrant but kept a neutral expression when she asked Inserrant what she needed. Inserrant started with, “We're back.”
"Are you going to cause any trouble," Hira asked.
“We haven't yet.”
"There was a lot of excitement the last time you were here."
“We were more a victim of the excitement really.”
Remembering Inserrant was a singer, Hira asked, "Do you want to work tonight?"
“Of course.”
The two settled down to terms and when Inserrant needed to be performing.
~*~
On the way to get the mail, Tharduk and Sorvia wanted to go to the Sheriff’s Office. While Tharduk and Sorvia went in, Islo and Anomin waited on the veranda, Islo reading the various wanted posters to Anomin.
Inside, Tharduk and Sorvia spoke with The Sheriff, asking if there were any possible rewards for the people they captured the last time the adventurers were in tow. The Sheriff, slightly apologetic, stated that the adventurers had captured the arsonists before an award was posted, so there wasn’t any now. He suggested the group stop by the next time they are passing Nomi and he might have something for them.
Sorvia asked if she could get a copy of the wanted posters the baron had posted for the group as mementos. The Sheriff reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a stack, stating the reward had been rescinded before his deputies got around to nailing up the posters, so Sorvia could take what she wanted. Sorvia also wanted to interrogate Seraphim but The Sheriff informed Sorvia that Seraphim was being kept in the baron’s jail, not his, so she was unavailable.
Once Tharduk and Sorvia were done speaking with The Sheriff, the group crossed the street and went into the Post Office to pick up the return mail to Mouzaki. They were given another two-foot cube crate, but this one was heavier that the one the adventurers previously delivered.
Having done what they wanted, the four adventurers went over to the town well to wait for Kadruth to find them. While there they read the Nomi job board but found nothing that interested them.
~*~
Kadruth arrived at the Michelakis household. Clean up from the fire was complete while repairs were just getting started. Kadruth found the foreman and asked to speak with Lady Michelakis. The foreman sent a kid as a runner to get the butler. After a couple minutes the kid returned with a note for the foreman. The foreman read the note and then had the kid take Kadruth over to “the other building.”
The kid led Kadruth down the street south and then east along the street inside the town walls to a narrow building. The kid knocked on the front door and a servant answered. The kid explained that Kadruth was here to see the Lady. The kid then discretely coughed at Kadruth, who took the hint and tipped the kid a copper.
Kadruth was led into the house by the servant to a waiting room at the back. While waiting, Kadruth noticed that the back of the house was much wider than the front.
After a few minutes, Agni Michelakis arrived, along with a couple bodyguards. Kadruth stated he was just there to see how the Lady was doing after the mail incident and the fire. Agni told Kadruth she was still surprised that her business partner, Viktor, had been such a snake in the grass. The baron publicly confiscated all of Viktor’s property as a result of the revelations under Viktor’s house. This included a large part of the logging area and the mine she did not know she once had. Apparently Viktor had been secretly running the mine for over a year, producing gold for at least half that time. No one really knew how much gold Viktor had extracted but speculation was that it had been significant.
In the past week, the property markers in the forest had been re-surveyed and it was discovered the markers along her property had been moved. With the markers replaced back to their correct positions, all the land under contention was decreed hers by the baron. The person who had contested the property confessed to being paid by Viktor to file the claim, but swore he had not moved the markers. The baron had not rendered judgment on that yet, but Agni suspected the baron would be confiscating some of the man’s land as punishment.
Once the two had finished discussing the outcome of things, Agni handed Kadruth a small pouch with coins in it as a gift for helping put the fire out so quickly. Kadruth thanked her for the gift and bid her good day.
Kadruth then went looking for the rest of the group, eventually finding them at the town well. The group waited for Inserrant there for about half an hour before deciding to go look for her at the Crossed Arrows.
At the Crossed Arrows they found Inserrant waiting. They went to a table and shared what they had learned. Kadruth took this time to see what kind of gift Agni had given him and found the pouch held 18 gold coins. Inserrant explained she had a gig to perform at the Crossed Arrows that night and asked that the group spend the night in town before heading north back to Mouzaki. The group agreed and rented the large room upstairs again for the night, with Kadruth covering everyone’s dinner and the room.
Later That Night
Curious about things at the Nicabar residence, Anomin told the rest of the group she was going to check the house as a crow while everyone else listened to Inserrant's performance. The other adventurers were fine with Anomin doing this, being too comfortable back in town after camping for two weeks to follow her.
Anomin flew over the town to the north end where the Nicabar place was located. There were a couple guards standing watch at the front and back entrances. Some of the window blinds were up and some were not, with no smoke coming from any of the chimneys. The house felt empty to Anomin.
Seeing an opportunity, Anomin flew down through the largest chimney and exited it in the kitchen. There was light dust on everything in the kitchen and some food left out had gone bad. Anomin checked the pantry and cold room and found both mostly empty.
Anomin decided to check the rest of the house out, looking for Viktor’s bedroom. She eventually found it on the third floor at the far end of the house from where she started. She searched the bedroom, looking for secret or hidden compartments. She found a hidden compartment in the bed headboard that held a sword! One of the side tables had faint scratch marks on the floor near it. Anomin turned back into her human form and moved the table, finding a trap door underneath it. Anomin turned back into a crow and investigated the trap door. It seemed locked and she suspected that there was a latch on the other side, which would be appropriate for a quick escape.
Already down on the floor, Anomin next looked under the bed. There she found a movable panel. Pushing the panel up, she found a hidden compartment. She also heard footsteps approaching the room from the hallway. She climbed up into the compartment, which contained a small bag, and listened.
She heard two people enter the bedroom, one asking the other if they had found something. “Not yet,” was the reply. Anomin heard the two people discover the trapdoor and attempt to pry it open. Suddenly there was the sound of wood splintering and a cry from one of the two as the trapdoor suddenly gave way and that person fell with a loud thud!
Anomin heard the fallen person climb back up and state he was injured. The other helped him out of the trapdoor and back out of the bedroom. Anomin held position until she heard them start descending the stairs and then climbed out of the hidden compartment. She removed the small bag, which jingled slightly with the sound of the many coins inside. She then dragged the bag out from under the bed.
Once out from under the bed, Anomin turned human again and put the small bag in one of her belt pouches. She then turned back into a crow and descended down through the now open trap door. It descended a single story to a hidden passage along the eastern side of the house, ending at the backside of a secret door.
Anomin opened the secret door and stepped through, finding herself in a dark closet in the adjacent building...
End of session
Commentary
[The front half of this session went quick as the PCs finished scouting the Mykro Dasos forest. The second half, back in Nomi, took more time. We stopped before Anomin finished her investigations as it was getting late.]
[Random fact determined this session: the major export from the Shires to other principalities is food wagons. Think “fantasy food trucks” and you are spot on.]
Sudden Sea Adventures
Sudden Sea Landing Page - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign
Last session: Session 12
Next session: Session 14
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