[May 17 – Shopping, Shares, and Commissions]
[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
Hernesday, May 17, 56 I.C.
Morning
Tharduk completed his shopping (and selling off loot). Kadruth was able to purchase some inexpensive leather armor for his legs, finally gaining complete armor coverage of his body.
Next the adventurers split the money they had earned. This included: the money earned from defeating the wendigo, delivering the mail to Nomi and back, and scouting the Mikro Dasos; money tipped to the group from Lady Michelakis; sale of the bear skin and wendigo claws; and the County Modon and Freegate coins found in the Nicobar manor. Each member of the group received 24 gold coins with 26 gold coins, 5 silver coins set aside for group expenses. Sorvia immediately gave Tharduk 4 gold coins to invest for her.
Tharduk held onto the Silverloc and Imperial coins. Spending freshly minted Imperial coins in the Syrak Alliance, a part of the empire that broke away during the Goblinoid Invasion would draw the wrong kind of attention. Tharduk felt he could easily exchange the Silverloc coins for local coins at the Merchant’s Guild.
With money in their hands, both Islo and Sorvia were interested in learning what it would take to establish a settlement away from Mouzaki and the enormous refugee camp surrounding it. As no one knew, the two asked Tharduk to look into it as he seemed to have the best contacts in Mouzaki. The group then split up to do some shopping.
Tharduk and Islo tracked down an armorer to craft some things from the Nemean Lion’s pelt. They find Timo Galouni, who is very interested in working with the lion pelt. After some negotiations they reach an agreement: Timo will fashion 2 sets of full leather armor, a set of armor for the arms for Sorvia, an archery arm cover [for Islo], a vest made of the Mane for Inserrant, and a shoulder piece for Kadruth. In exchange, Timo gets to keep the scraps, keeps one of the claws as a deposit (and so he can cut the pelt), and he will be paid 150 gold coins, due June 17, when the work is done.
Islo and Tharduk next tracked down a weaponsmith to turn six of the lion claws into 3 daggers and 3 skinning knives. These will make a set of “membership knives” for the group, making the group recognizable. The weaponsmith requests the right to display the blades as they are completed, which Tharduk agrees to. The blades will be ready by June 17th as well.
After that, the two went to the Merchant’s Guild so Tharduk could exchange the Silverloc coins at the best exchange rate. He was able to get one 25 gold trade bar and 24 gold coins minted in the various members of the Syrak Alliance [essentially the local currency].
Islo and Tharduk then met up with Sorvia and Kadruth to work out some good locations for a settlement inside County Modon. Tharduk was able to learn while at the Merchants Guild that the application fee to file for a settlement permit was now 10 gold coins.
Mid Afternoon
Kadruth, Sorvia, and Islo went to the Sheriff’s Office to meet with Sheriff Raptis and discuss their bonuses and the Green Hand bandits. Sergeant Greenpike was at the front desk with the Nemean Lion claw they gave her mounted in a wooden base. The sergeant was using it as a letter spike. She waved the adventurers back over to Sheriff Raptis’ office.
After knocking and being told to enter, the three adventurers entered the sheriff’s office. Sorvia provided the sheriff with a bottle of wine. The sheriff accepted the bottle and told her he had good news and bad news. The good news was that the Count was willing to consider services rendered [meaning clearing the Mikro Dasos of monsters] as good enough reason to rescind the wanted poster for Sorvia’s ward/trainee, Kailor. The bad news is that they are no longer going to be paid a bounty for the monsters killed. The adventurers felt that was fair [or at least as fair as they were going to get] and accepted the deal. The sheriff said it would take a day or two before the wanted posters for Kailor would be pulled.
Interested in the rising bounty on bandits, they asked Sheriff Raptis about it. The sheriff confided that the bandits were getting organized, organized enough for it to be concerning. The bandits were collecting weapons from the guards from every caravan they hit, enough now that they were well armed and might be growing in numbers. Ideally, the Count wants as many of them captured alive as possible, especially their leader, Paraskevi the Green.
The adventurers then asked about what caravans had been hit. The sheriff told them several caravan masters led caravans from Mouzaki west to Grizano along the remains of the County Road and then south, overland to the small town of Gelanthi, on the border with the Grand Duchy of Mercia. Viktor Xanthopolous has been most hit, losing three caravans in the last two weeks. Sarlic Rodorson only lost one of the two caravans he’s taken out and Asta Bonehammer, a dwarf new to the area, took one caravan through that was attacked, but Asta and her guards fought off the bandits and made it through.
Tharduk knew and had met with Viktor Xanthopolous and knew he underpaid his guards, so it was no surprise to Tharduk Viktor had lost 3 caravans. He had heard of Sarlic Rodorson but never met the person. Tharduk was of the opinion that Bonehammer was a cover name for a dwarf traveling without the blessing of their clan. He wanted to speak with the caravan masters and thought he might find them over at the Merchant’s Guild, so the three adventurers said their good-byes to Sheriff Raptis and left.
Sorvia bolted off to the Merchant’s Guild to find and interrogate the caravan masters but was stopped at the entrance. Not being a member of the guild, she was not allowed in. She waited outside the doors until Tharduk finally arrived and complained she was not being allowed in. Tharduk explained that was correct. He then went and talked to the front clerk. Once he established he was a member, by displaying his guild badge, he chatted with the front clerk about the bandit situation. The clerk asked if Tharduk was pro-Green Hands or anti-Green Hands. Tharduk said "against" and was let into the guildhall.
He asked around the guild to get a better picture of the bandits and the caravan masters. He learned that Asta’s caravan was still traveling south and not due back for a week or two, Viktor was looking for funds to put together another caravan but was having trouble finding anyone willing to trust him, and Sarlic Rodorson was still out with his second caravan, the one that was not attacked, at Grizano.
Tharduk also learned that the Green Hand bandits take almost everything from the caravans except the lives of the people. Most of the shipments are basic goods and some foodstuffs that Mouzaki can produce. With the promising crops planted and growing now, Mouzaki should have plenty of food to trade.
Tharduk spent the rest of the afternoon reading through available guild reports on the bandits. He was able to learn that the bandits hid in the tall grasses that flanked the road, standing up just past the Y-intersection in the road [which led south to the town of Keramidi] to demand the turnover of all goods, weapons, and armor. Often there was a fight that triggered even more bandits to appear plus an unknown number armed with bows and slings that stayed hidden in the tall grass. After a certain number of guards died, the caravans usually surrendered. The caravans then turned around to return to Mouzaki and never saw where the bandits went with their loot.
During this time, Tharduk noticed a guild posting discussing lumber deliveries both from the Tsepi Forest and the Ygro Dasos. That stood out to Tharduk due to the huge refugee camp surrounding Mouzaki. These postings indicated a lot of timber was entering Mouzaki but no housing was being built for the refugees who lived in impromptu shelters and tents.
Late Afternoon
When Tharduk left the guildhall, Sorvia was still waiting, trying unsuccessfully to talk with the guildhall guards. The two of them exited the town and went to the group’s favorite drinking place to meet up with the others and share information.
With that information, Kadruth assisted Anomin in analyzing attacks [used Deduction]. Anomin [rolled a 3] and deduced that the bandits were watching the road from one of the farmhouses along the road and probably using a heliograph to signal ahead. All signs pointed to a camp in the hills north of the road, probably the hills adjacent to the Sudden Sea. The Green Hand might also have a long term lair in the hills south of the road, but neither Anomin nor Kadruth had any idea where. Kadruth recommended that if the group followed a caravan, the adventurers needed to stay hidden. Sorvia wanted to find out who owned the most likely farmhouse.
Islo went to the Old Rangers and gave them money: 15 gp for their use and 5gp to stash for Islo.
End of session
Commentary
[I decided to incorporate the day names that I use in other campaigns into Crendia, the campaign world this campaign takes place in. When I first ran a campaign in this world, I was creating too many other things to keep track of by me and the players, so I kept the real world calendar. With this group, I’ve used these day names in multiple campaigns, so they are familiar with them and it helps maintain suspension of disbelief. I probably will not change the month names this time around as those are harder to do, but it will likely happen in a future campaign.]
[The day names being used are: Sunday, Moonday, Hernesday, Magusday, Thorsday, Freysday, Yggsday. I might adjust the deities days are named after to map better to the campaign world, but that is a low priority.]
Sudden Sea Adventures
Sudden Sea Landing Page - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign
Last session: Session 15
Next session: Session 17 [Not yet typed up]
