"I am all for the Bathhouse. Is that a piece of brain on my hair? Must be! No matter let´s finish this!"
Anga looks at the corpse of the orge spellcaster.
never thought ah'd see a orge that could even spell, much less cast one.
She kicks the body.
better dead!
She looks at the party, and grins.
ah'd say, mission accomplished. Tha giants are dead, the orcs are the same or scattered. Trunau is safe, fer now. Lets find these bones and leave. This place stinks.
Aye, let us do this thing. As fast as we can.
Haskyll takes a couple of moments and creates water in a deluge to wash down those members of the party that wish it.
Ingrahild and the particularly ripe Umlo partake in the bath.
Even Droja finds herself enjoying the water, "Refreshing. Thanks."
In the room you will find Tamand Varias’s skeleton still wearing his uniform—a noble’s outfit in surprisingly good condition (worth 75 gp)—as well as his signet ring and gold chain of office, which together are worth (100 gp).
The portrait of the man must be Varias. The uniform on the skeleton is the same as in the painting.
The Ogre mage had on him the following:
A scrolls with two speak with dead spells, and a wand. You will soon learn the wand has summon monster III spells on it (8 charges). The Ogre also had a pair of javelins, a quarterstaff, a headband, and a terrible looking talisman.
On the bodies are 180 silvers and 54 gold pieces.
Ragnir doesn't bother with trying to figure out what the talisman is and sets it aside and smashes it with his hammer. Does'na matter wha' foul god that was bein' f'r. It needed tae be gone."
"AMEN. Hope he felt that in his spine... or better between his legs!" Grabbing the remains and putting them less than honorably in a cloth for easy carrying Uflgard points to the dead ogre. "Any more magic on him?"
Besides the obvious wand and scroll, the headband did radiate magic.
"So that is how it ends?" says Leira.
She carefully inspects the room for any other hidden place.
"We probably should bring the bones to the cathedral and finish this"
Aye, let us finish this as fast as we can.
Haskyll assists in dealing with anything else that might need done.
Leira determines that the magic item is a headband of alluring charisma +2. She will not find any hidden places.
When the party brings the bones of Tamand Varias to the chapel, Fabian Blix appears hovering over the alter. His typically sad visage offers a smile, "We can end this curse. And, I can now rest."
He then points to the statue of Iomedae, " There is a glory medallion in a secret compartment in the neck. Use it well."
Knowing exactly where to look, Leira has no problem finding the secret compartment.
The Blix says a prayer. A sudden flash of extremely bright light flashes and both the skeleton and Fabian Blix are gone. The despair is likewise gone. The curse has ended.
"That be something!" Umlo will then points out, "What about all them bears? "
What about them. If it trouble ye, kill them or release them as per ye will. We'll help ye regardless of choice, though unless they are maddened, release is better ta mah mind.
Anga waves vaguely.
They are as much victims of the orcs as any.
Ragnir looks over at the bears, "Aye, the bears suck."
Shaking his head Ulfgard replies. "Hmm, well Ragnir, you are like a brudder, but... if those beasts were mistreated by orcs.. they deserve freedom!"
As the party searches the rest of the fort, Umlo and Ulfard take a few dead Orcs and toss them into the bear pits. That kept the bears happy for a while.
In addition to what has already been noted, you will find the following non-magical items:
24 wearable suits of Orc crafted Studded Leather Armor
26 Orc Falchions
43 Javelins
10 Longbows
180 Arrows
1 Giant-sized Meat Cleaver
1560 Silvers and 398 Gold Pieces
By nightfall you are in a position to release the Bears into the wild. The party can camp one more restful night in the Chapel. The fort is essentially yours.
Day Forty-One
Walking around Ulfgard asks Anga and Leira if they have some help cleaning the fort. "Well without guardians.. a fort is just fodder for wandering monsters."
huh, a human fort. Not as durable as a dwarven home, but then what is. Though ah feel our path will takes away ftom here.
Anga looks around at the others.
we should return to trunau, and tell them vengeance has happened, and this threat is gone. And we can sell this loot, and maybe upgrade our equipment.
She sniffs.
besides, this place stinks of orcs and ogres.
Mebbe we c'n be hirin' some people tae come here an' hold the place f'r us till we can be comin' back and takin' it proper."
I be thinking of the same that Anga has. Let us return, rest for a few days, and then come back with some people who can help fix and hold this place.
Anga examines the letter and map
There is also a detailed inventory of Grenseldek’s dowry, and besides cataloging the items found in this room, the list includes several items from Uskroth’s tomb beneath Trunau as future additions to the dowry: most notably, Uskroth’s armor, Uskroth’s hammer, and something called “Uskroth’s rock.” This last item is accompanied by a detailed drawing of a geode half surrounded by scribbled notes hinting that the rock fragment forms half of a treasure map. You will look, but the depicted geode is not among the papers on the desk, and though it looks similar to the geode half that the party found in Uskroth’s tomb in “Battle of Bloodmarch Hill,” it is clearly a different stone. A final note mentions adding “the stuff in the giantkiller’s tomb” to the dowry. Lastly, a parchment map shows the location of a secluded valley in the Mindspin Mountains south of Belkzen. “My future with Volstus starts here” is scrawled on the back of the map in Giant.
Leira and the party will determine the book to be of love poems written in Giant (25gp), the bust of Minderhal to be worth 100gp, carpet depicting love making giants (125gp), drinking horn (150gp), the necklace (0), 12 giant drawings (50gp ea.), scabbard (200gp), bronze statue (150gp), 5pp, 147gp, 103sp, and 976cp.
The party has two maps. The two halves of the geodes makes a map. When Umlo sees the geode, his exclaims, "I know t'is place. The rute leads to Stag's Pike. But I dunna know the trail. T'is about 100 miles Southwest of Trunau in da Mindspins. Could this be the tomb me ancesta Nargrym Steelhand da Giantslayer? That be what Ingrahild and I were lookin' for when we were split up by da Orcs. Rumor has thar be a great treasure, maybe a great weapon."
Droja, Ingrahild or Umlo are not familiar with the location on the other parchment map. But Anga determines that the map is detailed enough that will allow the party to follow it.
most interesting. We should check it out. After trunau. And a long bath.
When the party reaches the river the Keelboat is nowhere to be seen.
Well, we came upstream to get here, I think the keelboat would have headed downstream. Shall we go?
However, once we reach Trunau, I think we need to take a couple of days to rest, resupply, and repair our gear before we venture forth again.
The party begins to trod downstream along the north banks of the River Esk. By late afternoon Captain Bloodtusk's Keelboat can be seen coming down river from behind. Bloodtusk steers the boat towards the river bank and the party.
Bloodtusk calls out, "You survived. Are you looking to book passage back towards Trunau?"
You will find out that Bloodtusk had been trading further up river.
Leira likes the idea of exploring the dwarven hero tomb, but she likes the most to come back Trunau "The revenge is done. I want to come back home finally"
--------------------------------
Once back at the keelboat she greets Bloodtusk and his sailors "Good to see you back" the girl closes by with Kaos "Yes, any news? We cleaned the old fort which was infested with both orcs and giants"
"When will we arrive Trunau? I cannot wait to see back little Sarah and Erik." she has a weird thought "I wonder if they miss me as much as I do"
"No towns. Nomadic Tribes. They trade gold ore for steel. I see you have steel. I will trade passage for your Falchions, extra Longbows and arrows," Captain Bloodtusk says in a matter-of-fact manner.
Sounds good. What do you think? Anga looks at the party, judging their acceptance
"Keep the weapons and armor. It is a fine trade for me!"
Leira nods agreeing too at the deal. She looks at the keelboat guessing if there has been any meaningful change.
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Bloodtusk will look at Kaos, "Nothing out of the ordinary." When the captain receives payment, "Welcome aboard."
Leira will first notice the Keelboat is runner lower in the water. It does not take the Rogue Arcanist long to note three more horses than before. Each of the new horses has Orcish bridles. There are also two new crew members, one is a Half-Orc, the other a female Orc.
Bloodtusk is equally interested in Droja. He offers a trade.
The Keelboat moves to the south shore and weighs anchor. The ship's crew and everyone sets watches and camps for the night.
Day Forty-two
Haskyll takes the time to look over the companions before they end up settling in for the night.
Umlo overhears the conversation, "Droja saved my life. Her life is not for sale. She is no slave."
Bloodtusk grunts at Umlo derisively, then walks off.
Droja moves close to Umlo, "I long ago foresaw your protection this day. Just as I saw the coming of Ruby's Champions. Our lives are intertwined."
Laughing about the conversation Ulfgard tries to sooth the emotions."Forgive Kaos. He is just a human. But a good rücken in a fight. In any case, we are for sure no slavers. Nono. Your friend is our guest on the way back. As are you and your sister. Well if you want. Would be happy, but if you have other matters let us split fair and square what we found. .. oh and by the way. What ruby champion. And do you know more about my hammer's powers?"
Day Six
In the early morning hours, the weary party, carrying the statue of Iomedae, makes it way back into Trunau without further incident.
When one of the guards sees the young boy, "Othdan! We thought you to be dead. Your mother is worried sick. Come with me."
Othdan leaves the company of the party, "Thank you Ruby's Champions for rescuing me." He gives the party a slight bow and goes with the town guardsmen for a reunion with his mother.
Several guards relieve the party's burden of the heavy statue and deliver it to the Sanctuary.
"I can see things. Your party is becoming widely known as Ruby's Champions. As for the Hammer of Unmaking, see the Dwarf Wizard in Trunau. She may know more," Droja responds to Ulfgard.