Urth shrugs at Jysson, "not necessarily. I figured the parents would tell the truth."
Responding to Sohar "We were captured in Goldenfields, our abbey is there...a quiet, simple place in praise of the Grain Goddess. I shudder to think what the giants have done to it in our absence. Its so unusual that this Guh would try to elevate her status..."
At Urth "...I would imagine the great glutton would keep it very close."
"Well then, let's take another look at Guh's wagon. Can't get any closer than that." Urth offers.
Urth, its full of s&$!.
"Well then, maybe she ate her treasure. Let's search the place." Urth suggests.
While the others start to search, he tries something stupid. He casts Prestidigitation thinking that she swallowed her treasure and starts to separate the excrement from anything useful. He first cleans the barbarian blood from his face and then gives himself a few minutes of futility before searching somewhere else.
As you clean the filthy, overflowing, slimy, stinky wagon section by section with your magics, to your delight little gold and electrum pieces appear here and there and when all is said in done you have a nice clean wagon full of treasure with a broken axle...
A magic ring
A magic javelin perhaps used as a toothpick
An ornate shortsword (Dragonmoor's)
A wooden rocking horse with silver inlay and blue quartz eyes
A small wooden chest containing a disguise kit
A wooden coffer containing 6 vials
A lifesize statue of a grinning halfling smoking a golden pipe
A battered hat with five carnelians sewn into it
A gold flute
A flowerpot carved with images of green dragons
A wooden puppet theater with gold trim, along with gold stringed puppets wearing bejeweled costumes
630 ep
150 gp
2200 sp
5600 cp
And Urth casts Mending to fix the axle that Urth shattered...
The sailor seems quite rukking proud of himself.
The barbarian nods at Jax's suggestion "...I will take these in the name of the Elk and be honored..." grabbing a fistful of electrum unless anyone stops him.
"Daddy, can we have some coins, too? That way we could sit around and play Dragonchess instead of stupid wheat farming..." the little boy asks.
"Can it, boy. Not your place to say." the father responds.
The half-elf plucks up the decorated short blade "Here it is...funny the memories that are stored in a blade."
Looking at the group of items found with huge eyes, or as big as halfling eyes can get.
"Can we look at them? Please?"
Already setting up a little ritual space to do Identify as he is talking.
"I mean I can stop...."
Unless someone speaks up he starts to identify the ring.
Urth smiles and slips the farmer a dozen gold.
Dym, your connection to reality blurs upon casting the spell, focusing entirely on the intricacies of the ring's metal...multiple images flash through your mind like a frog on a lily pad hopping into the water, a grasshopper in a sunny field taking flight, gazelles in some savanna evading lions...it must be a ring of jumping.
"Ah yes! Lets take a look"
Dym, as the divination magic takes your consciousness deep into the aura of the javelin, you hear a druidic hymn of old with visions of calm dark stormclouds near a rocky beach without rain...
This javelin is a magic weapon. When you hurl it and speak its command word, it transforms into a bolt of lightning, forming a line 5 feet wide that extends out from you to a target within 120 feet. Each creature in the line excluding you and the target must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 4d6 lightning damage on a failed save, and half as much damage on a successful one. The lightning bolt turns back into a javelin when it reaches the target. Make a ranged weapon attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes damage from the javelin plus 4d6 lightning damage.
The javelin's property can't be used again until the next dawn. In the meantime, the javelin can still be used as a magic weapon.
Proficiency with a javelin allows you to add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll for any attack you make with it.
"Built by giant labor, yes...but it was the hobgoblin's who designed it. There's no way they could have engineered something like this on their own. A blight on the Dessarin Valley! This branch of the river provides irrigation to countless farmlands downstream...if only we had the power to erase it from the map."
"Aye, that sounds like rukking fun. We could randomly hit the dam with fireballs and burn the logs. It would probably be faster if we had an engineer."
"Maybe with the time, Dym could identify any other magic items."
"Let's give this place the once over and set camp outside."
"Jysson may also need time to herd his sheep away from the flood zone." Urth suggests with a smile.
Not much else of note is found in Grudd Haug, besides a few captive wolves. The tower burns brightly through the night and is a column of smoke extending far into the sky come sunup.
Molok exits out of the building into the clear, fresh air. He moves up to the dam and looks over the newly made lake. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before turning back to the others.
"Hey all. Figured out what these 2 things are. One allows you to jump with magic. The other is a lightning weapons. I have no need for either of them. I think they should go to people who are in the fray a bit more." Dymm holds them out for everyone to take a look.
While the others help destroy the damn, Jysson will help the halfling fellow they rescued collect some sheep for his farm. He'll also give his portion of the electrum pieces to the prisoners, split evenly.
As far as magic items go, he'll only take them if the others in the group don't want them.
"Perhaps is there a way to loosen the dam so that it works itself open rather than destroying it all at once? I would hate to have some poor farmer and family lamenting their stolen animals and withering crops, only to then be struck by a flash flood. Nothing too drawn out, but maybe take an hour or few rather than releasing it all in one big blast, I suppose." Pindleton shrugs. He goes along with what the others want, and only wanted to voice that warning just in case. He has never really dealt with such things. He has just heard stories from his parents and grandparents about deadly flash floods on their expeditions.
"Hmm... the logs are probably much too wet to burn. Maybe if we remove some from the top on one side first and then let the water pressure, work out the rest of it? Whichever you all think is best, I can help however."
days to break dam
You start the process of dissembling the massive structure. Molok and Sohar-snake are doing most of the heavy lifting under careful guidance.
Sohar, from his unique underwater vantage finds a few weak points where the wood's buoyancy can be exploited, and is able to concentrate removing particular sections in coordination with Molok on the opposite side. Urth and Pinleton ensure communication between the 2 sides is clear. The party makes rapid progress!
At last with a tremendous crash the longhouse implodes and is swept downstream with the release of the Dessarin. The forever grateful prisoners on their way, and the longhouse utterly destroyed, the party ventures north leaving a lasting mark on the area.
Scuttling a keelboat named 'Percy' from the old docks, the group takes to the river, its banks having receded substantially. A spacious craft, you easily accommodate the wagon of treasure. For a time, its a hard row upcurrent, but after many bends through the hills the waters still and you again reach the main way of the mighty Dessarin, and turn to Yartar, the regional hub.
You might spend some time thinking about your next journey. After Yartar, the Dessarin River becomes the Subrin River, snaking around the Evermoors (a foggy bog) and then the Subrin becomes the Rauvin. This is roughly 400 miles. You would pass the following settlements, at the least:
Yartar - Major river port facing intrigue from the Kraken Society
Mornbryn's Shield - A fortified village named for a famed ranger whose treasure is said to be hidden nearby
Nesme - taken first by orc, then by drow, struggling entrepreneurs seek to rebuild the ruins
Rivermoot - A small stilted village marking the beginning of teh Rauvin branch off the Subrin
Zymorven Hall - A Knight's hold
Silverymoon - The Gem of the North, emulating the ancient elven city of Myth Drannor
Urth takes easy and casual command of the keelboat, showing everyone how to load and handle the craft.
Once they are underway, he stands at the tiller and imagines the last several months was a nightmare. He pretends that he has finally earned his own boat with his own crew. And life could not be better.
Pindleton is happier when they reach the still waters. Although not outright fearful of boats, he at least is far more comfortable on land than water. He tries to keep a clear eye out along the shores as they travel - both watching for danger with so many attacks lately, but also in imagining himself walking through the trees and grass rather than here with only thin wooden planks between him and drowning.
Yartar is a small, walled city that stands on the east bank of the Surbrin River. Extensive docks line the city’s riverfront, including a towering bargebuliding facility busy with burly men. The city bustles with trade, and wagon trains constantly come and go along the Evermoor Way. West of the city, a wide bridge spans the river, leading to a walled citadel that must lead back to Triboar. There seems to be no end to river crabs and fresh eel meat for sale.
The city of Yartar is renowned as a place to make deals. Merchants, smugglers, mercenaries, and spies from all over the North meet in Yartar’s taverns and alleyways to do business. Trade is the lifeblood of the city, and wherever trade flourishes, thieves are never far behind. The guild known as the Hand of Yartar is the largest and most fractious collection of scoundrels between Waterdeep and Luskan. In contrast, what you see now are many heavily armed guards on mount patrolling the streets.
You pass an immense vessel, perhaps beyond anything you've ever seen. It could easily carry 200 soldiers and likely half as many horses along with it. Its sides above the waterline are armored with iron. Behind its walls stand multiple crossbow contraptions, each able to fire a dozen bolts at once. You must imagine that no raiders could stand firm against such an assault.
Urth guides the keelboat toward the Yartar docks. They get intercepted along the way by a dockmaster skiff who's pilot Urth obviously has known a while. The two catch up on news like old friends and discuss the giant's raiding of Urth's crew. Eventually, they settle on a berth and a rate for friends, and the boats part. Urth professionally steers toward a berth at the dock where they can unload the wagon.
Along the way to Yartar, Urth has discussed that they need to unload the wagon at the dock, but it is safer to leave the keelboat at a mooring in the harbor. One that he sunk himself. So, everyone is ready to unload the wagon when the time comes. In addition, the group has already divided up the loot and decided that they would spend a night in Yartar.
So, everyone unloads the wagon from the boat and leaves little of value on keelboat that can be stolen. Urth has already recommended a reasonable inn to stay the night, where he will meet them once he moors the boat and catches a taxi to the dock.
Dockmaster Dodson is relieved that you've recovered the 'Percy', he explains how it went missing months ago. He warns the baron's quartermaster might try to seize it as an asset considering the debts of its previous owner. Adding that something is keeping her a bit distracted, he spins a yarn "During the last tenday, accusations arose against the Waterbaron that she had murdered a man, Kaidrod Palyr, who was later revealed to have been her lover. His body was found in the river, with the soaked remnant of what appeared to be Nestra Ruthiol’s favorite cloak. That she loudly and publicly argued with Palyr's wife, Tiarshe, shortly before the accusations came to light did little to help her reputation, or the impression of her innocence."
"When she was finally cleared of the charges, Waterbaron Ruthiol made it clear that she didn’t wish to speak of the matter again, and she would ensure that anyone who brought it up in official dealings would be quite unhappy with the results. Though there are whispers, it has not been mentioned in her presence since. Some blame the murder on the Hand of Yartar, the local thieves’ guild, but I believe that Kaidrod was killed, and the Waterbaron was implicated, in order to free up the post for one of her rivals within the city..."
On Urth's recommendation, the party eventually makes their way to the Pearl-Handled Pipe. From the outside, it looks like quite the establishment, a far cry from the dilapidated theater of Triboar, and much better than the cold floor of Leomund's tiny hut. Well padded with some clink in your pockets, you might be in for the best eats and sheets since Waterdeep. (Or a certain halfling might be about to redefine "sloppy" again)
However, opening the door you are startled to see a familiar looking group of dwarves sitting in the middle of the room. It's Naalt, Griswelda, and the other warriors of the Lord's Alliance that assaulted you with silver dragon Clarion in the cloud castle. Naalt's eyes lock with Jysson's instantly "Birch-strider..." he grumbles with penultimate contempt.
"Wow. That's some drama, Dodson. Hey, we're looking for a boat to Everlund. Besides me, I've a crew of guards. Any leads? That way you can take credit for finding the Percy" Urth chats.
"Oh I see, you're doing me a favor, eh?" he laughs. Striking an alchemical match on the side of his face and lighting a pipe in thought he continues "Everlund? By river? That be a fine ride. You lookin' for another keel? Current gets mighty swift in parts, suppose you'd need harnesses for the tow beasts...let me see what I can dig up, where you staying?"
While on the boat, Molok stays right in the middle of the vessel. While it is hard to tell, but the stoneman seems to be somewhat nervous while on the water.
Once the boat lands, Molok is one of the first off the boat...looking rather sheepish at his quick exit from the boat.
"Aye. Preferably something big heading that way. I've some nervous sailors. We're staying at the Pipe." Urth replies with a genuine smile. The setting, location and conversation almost makes him forget his giant tragedies.
Urth, river-sailing is rare in the Evermoors, given the multitude of hidden branches just under the surface being incompatible with the techniques required (ie scanning back and forth bank to bank). Crews that are already on their way are rown barges supplemented by roped beasts ashore, carrying freight for Silverymoon. They would welcome an escort. Typical of such operations is to camp on board, above deck. You might also expect a few stops to unload and resupply along the way.
Urth heads up to the Pipe. He slams open the front door and shouts,
He finds his way to the group's tables noticing the evil eyes going between them and the group of dwarves.
Urth, the bartender slides a water cooled brown ale down in a tall dark green glass to a slim waitress who tepidly walks over amidst the tension. It's one of the best you've ever tasted. The bartender says nothing for a time, gauging the scene as if trying to anticipate if there's going to be a fight or not. "T-t-that's the Lord's Alliance, m'lord..." whispers the maid. A cat mews and clickpurrs at your shin.
Urth reaches down and pets the cat whispering a reply to maid, "what's a Lord's Alliance? The rukking stunties?"