The Barbarians know of the swords effect. That is why the latest would be Armag came to his tomb. Without the black sisters meddling the Barbarians will find a new 'Armag' and resume their usual efforts to attack those to the north. That is Numeria & Brevoy.
They are not interested in you southern softies. :)
Also check out Notices 4 up top. Some loot you can gather while in this area if you choose.
So if we give it to them, we do so knowing one day we might have another ambitious Armag to deal with.
Its been going on for a few centuries now, only the Blacks sisters turning the Tiger lords towards you made it a problem. Without it they are just pests that people are used to dealing with.
Or you could find a way to destroy the sword, at the cost of pissing off Gorum. :)
In the earliest days of the Tiger Lords’ history, the original Armag led his people out of the Realm of the Mammoth Lords and into southeast Numeria. They clashed repeatedly with other barbarian tribes, eventually pushing through the Rostland plains to clash against the Iobarian warlords and centaur tribes of Casmaron.
These conflicts hardened Armag, forging him into a timeless champion who earned the direct favor of Gorum, the Iron Lord and God of War.
Pride was Armag’s weakness. He boasted he would live forever—that death herself could never slay him. Pharasma heard his boasts and was offended. She sent several of her powerful minions, aeons of the Boneyard, to aid Armag’s enemies or to lay him low on his greatest battlefield.
This angered Gorum, who had come to enjoy Armag’s audacity and brutal nature, and as Armag fought against his enemies on the Material Plane, Pharasma and Gorum engaged in a battle of wits in the Great Beyond over the ultimate fate of Armag’s soul.
When Armag finally succumbed and died on the field of battle, laid low by a mighty red dragon, Gorum intervened and infused Armag’s soul into his sword Ovinrbaane, preventing his soul from entering the Boneyard.
He then sent visions to a Tiger Lord shaman named Zorek, inspiring him to construct a fitting tomb for the Iron Lord’s champion—a tomb that would be sufficiently protected with traps and guardians to test any
who might come to claim the legendary sword.
Gorum also elevated Zorek into a divine guardian to watch over the tomb, charging him with slaying the unworthy and adding their souls to the ranks of those keeping Armag out of Pharasma’s reach.
I say the sword has been dealt with just fine. We leave the tomb, and we don't tell anybody about the sword. If we can find a way to lock it up somewhere (or even destroy it), we do that. But until then, the Tiger Lords don't need to know anything definitive about Ovinrbaane. They can suspect all they want, but they won't know, and it might lessen any martyr syndrome they want to have. For now, I'll bet they lick their wounds and deal with their power vacuum.
NK isn't keen on letting the problem linger and Thornholme intentionally having Armag reborn become someone else's problem.
For now, I think we do this:
I think it makes sense for us to go back to Fort Drelev so they can lavish their thanks on us for saving their children. We can then offer to ally with them by having their community join Thorneholme. That would be a good place for NK to teleport us to get to Location N, which is the hex just left of Location Q on The Slough map.
If anyone has another idea, let's hear it!
As far as the notices, Garuum's Revenge probably coincides with Location N. The only other one that I think makes sense from an rp perspective is eliminating the bog mummies. The others just make us seem like mercenaries or big game hunters. I can't tell from the description of the bog mummies notice exactly where to go for that, however.
If we happen to come across the locations pertaining to the other notices, I'm fine with potentially addressing them.
Yup. Magical travel does make some encounters non-events.
Mouse would like to return and make sure the freed prisoners are safe and mended. Also she would be very against giving the sword back knowing what that would mean.
Or you could find a way to destroy the sword, at the cost of pissing off Gorum. :)
I feel like, we beat the champion, we got the sword fair and square, we get to decide what to do with it, and if Gorum has a tantrum about that, he's a s$##ty god who doesn't live up to his own principles ("the winner of the fight decides the fate of the loser").
That said, Marten has no idea how one would go about shattering an artifact weapon like this. It is certainly too dangerous to be left just lying around somewhere where anyone with some divination magic could find it and put it to their own sinister uses.
So sword aside, and I will say if you keep it the Tiger lords fragment, choosing their new leader the barbarian way. That is hitting each other until one is left standing.
You will have wannabe barbarian heroes showing up to challenge you for it of course. :)
So, spilt the loot and let me know when you're heading back to Fort Drelev. Which should probably be renamed now.
I'm going to trust that Zelera is on board with us going back to Fort Drelev. NK teleports the crew there. If we're over the number of people NK can teleport, some people will have to spend 20 seconds or so in the portable hole. Don't touch the cursed artifact in the portable hole.
I can recall Dusk into my breastplate to bring the number down
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Mouse is the smallest and will find the dark kind of comforting, unlike this realm with a burning fireball in the sky.
Loot sheet is updated, whole lot of stuff to look through. Claim what you want, we'll liquidate the rest. I recommend one equal share go to the kingdom for kingdom-building/funds etc.
Thanks again for updating the loot sheet, Vibenia!
Niadroub Kliip is interested in the Necklace of Fireballs (II) and the scroll of blade barrier. I've removed them both from the loot sheet.
I'd be interested in upgrading my cloak of resistance from +1 to the +2 on the loot sheet, but it looks like Marten doesn't have a cloak at all. Is that right? The only magic items that I see on your alias page is under "Level 7 Starting Items." Marten should definitely have the superior cloak of resistance.
There's other items on the list that I think should not be sold, and I may hold onto them if nobody else more appropriate claims them.
Also, I think that the "wand of lightning bolt (22 charges)" near the top is the wand that NK is regularly using. I'm always confused about whether or not I should remove an item from a party's loot sheet or if someone wants to track who has claimed what somehow. Every party seems to be different.
I've highlighted it yellow. Will delete it soon if nobody objects.
Marten indeed does not have a cloak of resistance, as I've been relying on his +Cha to saves to help carry him through. Any item that doesn't have a gold piece value next to it is something that he got as treasure. If it has a gp value, it was from his starting gear.
The main thing that I need now is time. Marten is sitting on a ton of cash but needs to use it to upgrade his existing gear.
Any item that doesn't have a gold piece value next to it is something that he got as treasure. If it has a gp value, it was from his starting gear.
You so crazy.
The main thing that I need now is time. Marten is sitting on a ton of cash but needs to use it to upgrade his existing gear.
We can justify a pause after we check in at Fort Drelev, if you want. We should update our ruler on what we've been up to. We'll have a ton of things to sell, and we can go shopping. What do you think?
The main thing that I need now is time. Marten is sitting on a ton of cash but needs to use it to upgrade his existing gear.We can justify a pause after we check in at Fort Drelev, if you want. We should update our ruler on what we've been up to. We'll have a ton of things to sell, and we can go shopping. What do you think?
If I must pay full price for something, so be it, but Marten's recruits have some magic item crafting ability as well. At the very least he needs a better AC, and I would someday like to get holy on Falling Leaf.
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Also, I think that the "wand of lightning bolt (22 charges)" near the top is the wand that NK is regularly using. I'm always confused about whether or not I should remove an item from a party's loot sheet or if someone wants to track who has claimed what somehow. Every party seems to be different.
I've highlighted it yellow. Will delete it soon if nobody objects.
Yeah I think that is the same wand. If you have it on your sheet we can cross it off this one.
Okay, marked in light gray (closest to silver for a devote Cailynite to use) are the items Mouse would be interested in. She is well off on gear though, so she should do without if anyone is interested in any of those items or need the money.
The pearl of power is not for her to use though, more like getting an extra enhancing spell like barkskin or something similar for the party from one of our casters.
For Items Vibenia is interested in, I'll mark them with green. Would likely get some kind of armor or protective item for Dusk, and maybe enhance my own armor or crossbow
If nobody wants those bracers of armor +4, I could stick them on the mage who's going to join my recruits next time we go home. But no biggie.
I considered them for NK so that I'm not using a first level spell slot on mage armor every day, but then I felt like 16,000 gold (well, 8,000) would be better for the party.
If you want 'em, take 'em, and we can make the recruit make his own!
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I'm assuming of the Gems/Jewelry etc we'd liquidate everything but the 5000gp diamond for regenerative spell purposes right?
Most of the notices are there if you happen to stumble over them, however the Boggards at 'N' are something that is a benefit to your kingdom and should be done. :)
Niadroub, take the damned Bracers! Making you harder to hit benefits the party more than 8000gp. :)
When you're ready to move on from Fort Drelev let me know and we'll start the last parts of this book.
Fine, fine, NK will take the bracers. Thanks.
Are we taking the time to purchase/distribute before dealing with the boggards?
I was thinking that there wouldn't be much ability to do that in Fort Drelev. I was thinking we'd take care of the boggards, and then teleport back to Thornholme for shopping.
Yes, there isn't much to buy at Fort Drelev. It's a small town with just under 1500 people. Max purchase would be 3500gp.
Horseshoes of speed please.
(Honestly kind of a trap item. Doesn't improve your party's overland movement speed because it's just the one horse. Mostly lets you be more responsive in melee while running around a battlefield, but how often do you have your horse in a dungeon? I guess kinda useful for outdoor swamp fighting where you have to overcome difficult terrain.)
Yeah but when you have a paladin, cavalier or centaur in the party, who can pass that up?
Not complaining, just ruminating from a design perspective!
Meaning afterward, things'll probably not work right for weeks
No update today I'm afraid.
DBH, if the Boggard leader doesn't speak common, would you allow someone with a high Diplomacy, such as Marten, to use that skill with the boggard chieftain if NK translates? The skill description says that you can't use it on someone who can't understand you, but I think it's ambiguous if a translator negates that, at least in part. Real world diplomacy relies on translators every day.
Failing that, my lazy-ass plan for if NK is the only one who can talk to the leader: He'll praise them a bit and then invite them to visit Thornholme to discuss things with our leader. He'll even offer to use teleportation magic. My hope is that Thornholme will show them that we have more soldiers and citizens than they do, so they shouldn't raise arms against us, which will hopefully make them more amenable to diplomacy. Also, maybe we can quickly gain access to translation magic in the city.
And if both of those tactics fail, at least we're right on top of them for when combat starts.
I hope we haven't lost anyone in the downtime?
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Still here! I know, I know, you were hoping I was gone, but alas.
Marten is Mouse's flanking buddy, she cannot stab nearly as viciously without him :) (oh and I am still here as well)
Still here!
Looks like we're back, and survived Covid (again)!