The Sudden Sea –Session 15

[May 12 through 16 – Unexpected guest and return to Mouzaki]

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened December 18, 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 13, 56 I.C.

Pre-Dawn

Aware that someone is approaching the camp, Anomin cougar-screamed to wake the deeply sleeping adventurers and failed.  She was more successful in causing the whoever was approaching to pause.  This allowed Sorvia to circle around them and take the approacher by surprise.  Sorvia tackled the person, who screamed in surprise like the little girl she was.  Sorvia tied up the girl who protested that she had a message the entire time.

Once Sorvia was done, she turned the girl over - it was Morvia, her ward/apprentice.  Moravia explained that Sorvia’s other ward/apprentice, Kailor, was wanted for poaching the count’s animals.  Once untied, Moravia pulled out a wanted poster for “Kailor the Elf”, wanted alive by Count Constantin for poaching in the Count’s Preserve [a hilly area west of Mouzaki that used to be Baron Yorgos’ Preserve].  The bounty being offered was 20 gold pieces.  Moravia explained that Kailor would go off with some old guys and come back with food to cook.  Sheriff Raptis came around asking for Kailor and Morvia told him she did not know where he was.

Sorvia introduced Anomin to Morvia.  Anomin changed from cougar form to human and asked Morvia when she last saw Kailor.  That was 6 days ago.  After the sheriff came by and the posters went up, Moravia headed south to find Sorvia, which is how she got here.

By this time Islo was awake and had heard most of the story.  He had an idea who the “old guys” were and where they might be holed up.  There is a place in the northern end of the Tsepi Forest that abuts the hills of the preserve where the retired rangers tended to hang out.  Islo would lead the group there to see if Kailor was hiding out.

Day

Once everyone was awake, rested, and had eaten breakfast, the group resumed walking back towards Mouzaki.  The day was otherwise uneventful and as the sun was setting they made camp in the Onomastike Hills [the border between the Barony of Nomi Pediades and the Barony of Mouzaki].

May 14, 56 I.C.

The group made it another 10 miles before rain rolled in from the east.  Islo and Sorvia searched the area for a place to shelter and Islo located a small abandoned fort.  The fort had a single tower with a dry ground floor large enough for the entire group to take shelter in.  Tharduk and Anomin looked around the fort and determined it had been abandoned for a long time.  Anomin flew up to the top of the tower.  The tower would have a great view of the forested valley if it hadn’t been raining.  She can occasionally just see the areas being logged in the forest to the north, but not the logging camp itself.

The rain lasted through the afternoon until it petered out in the early evening.  The adventurers set watches and during the second watch Tharduk and Kadruth heard something hunt and kill some prey down in the forested valley, but it never came close to the old fort.

May 15, 56 I.C.

The party continued marching to the northwest, exiting the Onomastike Hills and entering the branch of the Tsepi Forest outside the Ladon River valley.  Islo led the group through the forest to the area the retired rangers used.  He didn’t know exactly where they were, so Sorvia used her tracking skills to locate a well concealed campsite.  Islo used a birdcall not native to the area to announce the group and was immediately answered by someone on watch.  Islo presented himself and the older human on watch greeted him with, “Hey Ears!  Come on in.”

The inside of the camp was neat and held several older humans who all knew Islo and called him Ears.  Islo explained why he and the group are there and Kailor was sent for.  After a couple minutes Kailor showed up [he is a “young” elf, about 50 years old but looks slightly younger than Morvia, who is an 8-year-old human].  Kailor admitted to working with the retired rangers to hunt for food to share with people in the refugee camp around Mouzaki.  During their last hunt Woodfoot’s foot came off while the Count’s men were chasing them and Kailor had to cover for Woodfoot.  Woodfoot [a retired ranger who lost a foot back in the day] vouched for Kailor, stating the Count’s men would have captured him if Kailor had not helped.  Sorvia asked how much hunting the old rangers had been up to and they admitted to taking 5 deer in the past month.  The Count seemed sore about that, using his ability to put lavish meals on his table as part of his show of wealth.  Due to scarcities, those deer would fetch 2 gold each if sold.

Options were discussed on how to get the warrant rescinded.  It turned out some of the blank forms Tharduk took from the secret rooms in the Nicabar house included pardons, but they would need the Count’s seal.  Anomin pulled out the shiny thing she had taken from the desk in the other room just after Viktor Nicabar had been killed and asked, “Like this?”  Tharduk looked it over and it was a replica of the County’s Seal.  Tharduk handed it back and said, “That would do it, but maybe it’s not the best idea in the Count’s own city.”

The retired rangers offered to catch replacement deer from the forest if the adventurers could negotiate a deal with the Count.  That sounds promising and the adventurers decide that negotiation is the best path.

The adventurers spend the rest of the day at the camp.  Islo shared stories of the creatures they group had fought and killed, omitting the troubles inside Nomi entirely.  Tharduk kept asking about how the campsite was set up, what the watches were, and so on, earning him the nickname “Ballbuster” among the retired rangers.  Sorvia spent part of the day completing her map of the Mikro Dasos.

May 16, 56 I.C.

Sorvia left her spare rations with Morvia and Kailor at the ranger camp with strict instructions for them to stay at the camp until she sent for them.

The adventures left the forest and headed to Mouzaki, about 7 miles away.  Once there they split into two teams.  Sorvia, Kadruth, and Islo were on one team to go and make a report to Sheriff Raptis and get paid for that job before asking about the warrant for Kailor.  Anomin, Inserrant, and Tharduk made up the other team and they were to go to the Post Office to deliver the return mail from Nomi and get paid for the delivery contract.

On the way to the Post Office, Anomin made a side stop at the Job Board to see if any new jobs were available.  She saw that the bounty for the Green Hand had increased to 2 gold per bandit and 200 gold for the leader.  The pay for caravan guards traveling west to Grizano and the western parts of the County had gone up due to the Green Hand bandits being successful.  There was an announcement from the Count that new settlements must be approved before being settled and there was Kailor’s bounty.

The Post Office group went straight there.  Inside they went over to the Bounty Desk on the left, ignoring the long line at the main desk.  They noticed people looking at them and whispering, eventually working out it is because they had the mail crate.  The clerk at the desk accepted the crate and had Tharduk sign the delivery form to accept payment [so the Post Office can prove they paid on the contract and to whom].  The clerk left and came back with a small pouch containing 9 gold coins.  He then asked if the adventurers were interested in taking another contract, either back to Nomi or over to Grizano.  Tharduk asked if he needed an answer immediately and the clerk said it could wait a week.  Tharduk thanked him and said he needed to ask the rest of the group first.  The trio of adventures then left the Post Office.

Once outside, Tharduk said he wanted to find a buyer for the cyclops wool, bearskin, and wendigo claws.  Anomin and Inserrant agreed to go with the dwarf.  Being a professional merchant, Tharduk was able to locate a buyer for the bearskin and the six wendigo claws he had, making 3 gold and 5 silver in total.  Tharduk wanted to get the best price for the wool, so it took longer to find a buyer.

Meanwhile, Sorvia, Kadruth, and Islo went to the sheriff’s office. Sergeant Greenpike was sitting at the front desk and greeted the adventurers with, “Hey!  I think I have wanted posters for you.”  She then winked and said, “Don’t worry about it - they were marked as cleared a couple days ago.”  [Fantasy cop humor.]  The adventurers explained they completed the scouting mission to the Mikro Dasos and would like to see the sheriff.  Sorvia then put one of the Nemean Lion claws on the sergeant’s desk as proof.  Sergeant Greenpike sent a messenger to let Sheriff Raptis know they were there.

Once escorted into Sheriff Raptis’ office, Kadruth handed the sheriff one of the bottles of mead he had purchased on the way out of Nomi, which perked the sheriff up.  The adventurers then handed over their written report and map of the Mikro Dasos [this is a copy, Sorvia kept the original].  They also handed over a sodden bag full of various animal parts from the monsters they killed as part of the job, including the head of the bear and the head of the Nemean Lion.  The sheriff was both impressed and disgusted with the smell.  He quickly summoned someone to take the bag for cleaning.  Once the bag was gone he had another person take a marker to the bursar and retrieve the reward money.

While they waited for the reward money, Sheriff Raptis asked questions about what they had seen in the forest.  He also shared information, explaining that the Green Hand bandits were getting very successful, having robbed 3 of the last 4 caravans from Mouzaki following the Trade Road west.  He also mentioned that now refugees were trying to establish towns of their own on lands belonging to others.  The Count felt this was to avoid taxes and had to establish laws on creating settlements.

The runner returned with the 10 gold for the report and 30 gold for the map.  Sheriff Raptis told the adventurers that they’d need to come back tomorrow for the monster clearing bonus.  Sorvia took this as a good time to ask about the situation with Kailor.  The sheriff looked a bit uncomfortable about the topic and stated that the bounty was set by the Count who was angry about the poaching.  Sorvia asked it was possible to negotiate a pardon and Sheriff Raptis agreed to inquire.  He would have some form of answer when they returned tomorrow.

Sorvia, Kadruth, and Islo then left the sheriff’s office.  Not having a plan for what to do next, they went over to the police bar to drink and discuss.  While there they work out about half the patrons think they are still wanted for something, but the barkeep was not among them.  Even so, after a while they left and headed to the group’s favored drinking place in the refugee camp outside the town.

Roughly at this time Tharduk found a buyer for the cyclops wool.  He got a price of 70 copper per clove, for a total of 420 copper.  [A fair price.]  This group then left the town proper and headed over to their favorite drinking establishment in the refugee camp.  There they met back up with the rest of the group.  Tharduk started telling the tale of the group’s adventures to the other patrons and did a good job at it [made his Oratory roll by 4].  As a result, the group received several free drinks each.  [Note: this is at a refugee bar, so maybe not the highest quality drinks, but earnestly sent.]

End of session

Commentary

[So I’ve started working on the outline for my second novel.  This is consuming most of my writing time right now and will for most of this year.  I’d like to get the first draft done while my dad is around to read it.  I don’t know how long I have, so there is some urgency on my part.  I will continue to post session notes to this blog, but I can’t promise what schedule I’ll be able to keep to.  We will see how it goes.]

Sudden Sea Adventures

Sudden Sea Landing Page - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign 

Last session: Session 14

 

Next session: Session 16