DM Talomyr's Kingmaker

Game Master Talomyr

Excellent idea.

Back to Elkmark or elsewhere?

Back to the boat then to Elkmark I think was the plan. Then we can ask around and see if any of our settlers or allies have heard of this Old Beldame before.

Yeah! Then a couple more bits of exploration... then another kingdom turn!

Works for me

Also works for moi,

Sounds like we're all in agreement. After we've checked for information on the old lady and re-provisioned, how about we take the boat up near the Sootscales, check in with them, and then explore the hex southeast of them. That's the last unexplored hex within 2 hexes of Elkmark.

That sounds like a great idea! I think we were planning on taking the boat up that river as far as we could, so that would make great first stop along the way.

Having said their peace with the Old Beldame, the councilors head back for the Arrow and its Captain, Godwin.

Arriving mid-morning, Godwin greets you. "Welcome back!" he calls from the deck of the Arrow.

Boarding the boat, you set sail for Elkmark, by early afternoon, you are home. Walking from the dock to the city proper, you see that where there were a number of tents and makeshift shacks, actual homes are being built.

Who are you wanting to ask about the Old Beldame? Anyone in particular?

"I think we'll have the most luck with those who've been here the longest. But you never know what rumors people might have heard about the area before making their decision to settle here either..."

"In any case, we'll cover more ground if we split up."

Tove heads over to the construction sites to canvas the settlers there, while also assisting them in their tasks where she can.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20

I think asking Jhod, Bokken or Lanyssa would probably be our best bet, if any of them happen to be in town at the moment, otherwise we can probably safely keep it in mind to ask them next time we see them. We can also ask the Sootscales about her when we check in with them. I don't think the Old Beldame is a particularly urgent issue but it would be good to find out more about her when we can.

Wandering around the settlement, Tove finds that Jhod has not returned from the Temple of the Elk as of yet. While it was not unheard of for the blinded witch, Lanyssa, to make her way to Elkmark, she was not at the settlement either.

As it would happen though, the old, half-crazed alchemist was in town.

"Oh, you ran into the Old Beldame eh? She still as cranky as ever?" Bokken says with half-cackle like laugh. "Oh she don't mean anyone any harm and her bark's worse than her bite."

The old alchemist's eyes narrow as he looks around at the settlers of Elkmark. "Don't be listening to anything any of this lot says about her, nuthin' but falsehoods spread by scared folk."

Moving on through the rest of the settlement, some of the older settlers - both in terms of time of being in Elkmark and actual age have other opinions.

"She's a terrible witch! Turns men into mice and eats children!"

"She's the one who drove old Nugrah mad and caused him to beat his boy..."

"The Old Beldame was really the power behind the Stag Lord. Only a matter of time until she raises another..."

Taking in the sight of the houses being built, Rhiannon takes heart in the growth of their community. It seemed that the people of Elkmark were as given to flights of fancy and spreading fearful stories and rumors as anywhere else.

"I'm more inclined to put stock in Bokken's opinion than the others, but who knows. He's right about her being cranky as all hells though."

"I'm inclined to agree, if anyone here should know something, it'd be him."

Bokken's words reassure Tove, and she spends some time trying to pass on that reassurance to the people of Elkmark, doing her best to assuage their fears.

She also makes it very clear to those who hold the beliefs presented in the third rumor that the Stag Helm and its corresponding title are now safely in her hands, and that as Erastil's rightfully chosen champion, if any witch-spawned pretender should arise, they can count on her to defend it.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25

Azen also helps to calm people down, believing Old Beldame to be honorable.

Your efforts to calm the villagers about Old Beldame seem to be received with at least lip service to your point of view, which in the grand scheme of things, is really all one can hope for in the short term.

What else would you like to do while home, or are you ready to head out again after a night's rest? If so, where?

I like Garethane's idea to take the boat up to visit the Sootscales, then explore the hex southeast of them. Tove will visit Celeste in the mean time and we can set out first thing tomorrow.

Rhiannon would spend a bit of time among the citizens, getting more acquainted with anyone of note.

Still pretty new here. lol

Okay, Tove is wanting some quality time with the General, and Rhiannon is wanting mill around the town and get to know more of the folk that call Elkmark home. Anyone else doing anything?

Azen is going to get some very deep, quality sleep. She never seems to sleep well when they are traveling.

Just saying the everwake amulet is kicking in right now... I don't remember enough that I have it, so if someone else wants to make better use of it, willing to pass it on.

Garethane will make good on that first newspaper drop and do a literal flying patrol over the outlying settlements.

Some of you rest well, others of you are otherwise occupied for the night. Regardless, you awake in the morning and board the Arrow and head upriver toward the Sootscale caverns.

The trip is a bit harrowing at times as there are number of spots along the river that the Arrow nearly bottoms out, but Godwin is able to see her through the shallows. By early afternoon, you can see the entrance to the Sootscale's cave.

"You all are wantin' to stop here if I remeber right.' Godwin says, confirming your plan.

"You remember correctly Captain," Tove nods.

"I don't think we'll take too long, but you're welcome to join us if you'd like to meet our Sootscale friends."

"Nah, that's alright. I'll stay here with the Arrow. She probably needs a good lookin' over after some of those shallow waters." Godwin says.

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The rest of the party heads off east, towards the Sootscale Caverns. After about thirty minutes of a brisk hike though low rolling hills, you come upon the entrance.

"Halt! Who goes there?!" a raspy voice calls out. Looking to your right, you see a dusky scaled kobold up on a large rock with a crossbow pointed in your direction.

"Kalo, no!" you hear another raspy voice say. "Mikmek not know most of these, but the red-haired longlegs is a friend to Sootscales."

Tove spreads her arms wide and smiles in greeting the Sootscale guards, glad that at least one of them recognized her.

"A friend indeed, it's good to see you again Mikmek. My companions and I are travelling north and wanted to stop in to visit our friends here along the way. May we request an audience with the Chief?"

Azen is glad when the crossbow turns away, allowing her alarm to melt into polite curiosity.

Mikmek waves you on in to the cave and guides to the chamber of Chief Sootscale.

"Ah...you have returned. Good to see friends again. What brings you back?" the black scaled kobold chieftain asks.

"Greetings Chieftain, yes we have returned. We’ve come to see how our allies in the North are fairing, it’s been near on four months since we were here last with news of our new charter. How have things been for the Sootscales?"

The Chieftain offers a toothy grin, recognizing Garethane and Kalaman from the group's last interaction with the Sootscales.

"We are good. Last you were here we agreed to trade, yes? Have you come to trade? Recently we found a vein of silver in our caverns, Sootscales do not have much use for silver, but know the longlegs do. Would you be interested in trading for the silver? Our numbers are reduced right now, but we have many young. We seek food stuffs so that we do not have to spare tribe members to hunt."

Cocking his head he asks, "Who are your new friends?" pointing toward Azen, Celebeth, and Rhiannon.

Azen bows and says

Greetings, I am Azen. It is good to meet you, and trading food for silver sounds like a deal we can make. I would like to get some more silver to make arrow tips in case we run into more werewolves in a bad mood.

Should we have a meal with them now? ... if Tove has create food and water we could provide a meal now, although a fairly bland one. Or we could go hunting and get them some game. The long-term trading is a supply chain issue, but we could begin it immediately for good will, and perhaps some immediate silver as well if they have already mined it.

"I am Rhiannon, well met, Chieftain." the warrior says with a bow of her own.

We can definitely go out hunting and put together a feast for the kobolds if they're interested. Create Food and Water is a 3rd level spell and I haven't got an open slot to prepare that.

Tove lets her friends introduce themselves, (I'm assuming Celebeth will too).

Once the introductions are out of the way, she continues.

"As Azen says, food for silver could certainly form the basis of our trade deal. Our settlement is still in its infancy and our capacity for trade isn't high, but we do have a surplus of fresh fish at the moment. We can have some brought up the river for your people if that would be to your liking?"

"In the meantime, my companions and I could head out, hunt some game and do some foraging for you now."

Celebeth waves hello but remains quiet as she doesn't want to confuse the issue with more overlapping talking.

Chief Sootscale's eyes widen with delight. "Yes! This would be good. This pleases us greatly."

Out to hunt?

Good to see the offer accepted, Tove heads out to gather some food for the Kobold clan.

Out to hunt.
Survival: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Survival (aid): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

A wide smile opens on the elf's face. "Let us hunt! Following your lead, Lady."

Survival (aid): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16

Azen didn't know much about hunting, but she was a good shot, and decided to give it a go.

Survival (aid): 1d20 ⇒ 20

The party heads out of the cramped cavern system and back out into the open air, ready to hunt.

You travel northwest, heading towards a lightly forested area. It doesn't take Tove long to find a small group of grazing deer.

Quietly, the party's hunters get into position to fire upon their prey, anticipating bringing a bounty of venison back to the Sootscales.

There are 5 deer in the group. How many would you like to try and bring back. The aided survival roll was high enough I'll give you two without any additional rolls.

They all select their targets, and although two go down quickly, Azen calmly tries to snag another.

Attack (longbow): 1d20 + 6 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 6 + 4 + 1 = 24 (bullseye shot, point blank)
Damage: 1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 2 + 1 = 11 (point blank)

Rhiannon targets the same deer as Azen, sinking an arrow into it's flanks.

Composite Longbow: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (20) + 0 = 20
Piercing: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Confirm
Composite Longbow: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (9) + 0 = 9
Piercing/Killer: 2d8 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (1, 4) + 4 + 3 = 12

Pretty sure Rhiannon has more than a +0 to hit with a bow (+9 if I'm reading the sheet right).

Azen and Rhiannon each let an arrow fly - seconds later the third of the deer falls to the ground. The remaining two scurry off deeper into the wooded area.

Three deer in hand, the party begins to head back to the Sootscale caverns.

Anything else before arrival?

Tove says a brief prayer to thank Erastil for the successful hunt.

Ready to head back.

Ugh, forgot to post.

Celebeth lifts her bow, pulls back, then brings it back down and says, "You go home today."

The hunting party arrives back at the caverns to a cacophonous combination of growls and chirps from the kobolds, happy to see the bounty being brought to them by the Council of Elkmark.

"Very impressive!" Chief Sootscale exclaims. "We take you to the silver now." he says waving his clawed hand for you to follow deeper into the caverns.

Azen follows.

Pretty sure Rhiannon has more than a +0 to hit with a bow (+9 if I'm reading the sheet right).

Azen and Rhiannon each let an arrow fly - seconds later the third of the deer falls to the ground. The remaining two scurry off deeper into the wooded area.

Three deer in hand, the party begins to head back to the Sootscale caverns.

Anything else before arrival?

Yeah, no idea how that happened.

You're just that good!

Celebeth remains jaunty but alert, with her bow resting on her left shoulder. She sneezes once after the team reaches the kobold caves again.

"Sorry. Got something in my nose."

She rubs her tiny nose a bit and mouths something to her sister.

Azen laughs.

Quietly, to her sister, she says

It's sort of weird, because there are relatively simple spells for sound and sight, but not scent. That could be really, really useful sometimes. I guess you could just summon some skunks for some things, but there should be a spell for like, summoning the smell of daisies, or the smell after it rains or something.

Walking deeper into the increasing cramped cavern, you eventually arrive in the holding chamber for raw ore mined by the kobolds.

Best estimation would say that there is in the neighborhood of 150 lbs of raw ore here at the moment. If properly refined, the ore could be broken down into silver, lead, and copper.

"We are searching for iron, and have found much down here, but we have little use for this." Chief Sootscale says, gesturing toward the ore pile.

"It is yours should you want it, and if you want more, we can continue to mine it to trade with you."

The elf nods approvingly and says to the baroness "I'm sure our artisans could find uses for those."