The Dangers of Civilization

Game Master sunshadow21

Ha'el sets about tying up the remaining bandits.

Sritaro, surprised at the increasing number of dragons, is in a bit of shock and awe. It is one thing to be in the presence of a youngling, but an elder dragon, even in humanoid form, earns the respect of scaled paladin.

"It isss an honor to meet you Rogforo. How may I be in ssservice?", greeting the dragon with a bow as the others round up the remaining bandits.

What do you plan on doing with all of your prisoners now that they are tied up?

The dragon smiles at Sritaro's question, "I am glad you asked that. We will get to the answer later."

Take them to town for trial once the little dragon is taken care of.

For now, what do you intend to do with the prisoners? Where are you keeping them, and who, if anyone is standing guard over them?

How many are there?

After they are tied up, Morbak helps to get them gathered into one place.

All told, half a dozen unconscious, half a dozen conscious.

Ha'el suggests we tie the unconsciois ones up and put them in the wagon. Then we tie the consciois ones to the outside of the wagon so they can walk. We should put guards on them all the time. One to drive the wagon and one to watch the prisoners.

Wow! That is some nifty spelling; especially for a high school teacher. That should be 'unconscious'. I do hate typing on my phone with a passion.

Zhiyo looks to the dragon, "So, are you going now or are you going to hang around and help find the good stuff."

If they go to leave Zhiyo will say fare well to Sylvia(though I suspect there will be more to the dragons.)

Then once the prisoners are secure he starts gathering the loot, keeping an eye out for magical items and texts(uses detect magic).

As the rest of the party sets about gathering the loot and guarding the prisoners, Rogforo pulls Sritaro aside and explains that he would like the paladin to be present during his "talk" with Sylvia as it would accomplish 2 beneficial things. It would help reduce her embarrassment by showing she wasn't the only one requiring the talk, and it would provide the paladin Rogforo's thoughts on what he had overheard without the dragon having to say the same things twice.

Those who head to gather the treasure head down to the cave, and it is a nice looking dragon's lair with a massive pool in the middle of the main chamber. They find a huge dragon, this one in her natural form, keeping an eye on it and Sylvia. Despite the dragon's size, it looks like she could be significantly larger and still fit quite comfortably. The loot has been gathered from the bodies, the prisoners, and the various nooks of the lair into one pile that again is quite impressive, but not even close to filling the nook it's in. The pile of coins and gems amounts to a value of 7000 gp, 500 gp worth of various spices, and another 500 gp worth of silk, fine linens, and other bolts of cloth. In the pile of weapons and armor, you find a wide of array of light armor and smaller weapons. Mechanically, all light armor, simple light and 1 handed weapons, martial simple weapons, and all martial swords are available in both normal and masterwork quality.

Everyone can go ahead and level at this point as well.

Sritaro happily obliges with Rogforo's request; it was an honor to be of service to such a mighty being. While it's a bit awkward that he's being used as well as a parenting lesson, he knew he is not smart enough to question Rogforo's wisdom.

Sritaro and Sylvia spend the next hour getting a nice long talk about growing up and the responsibilities that come with, as well as the need to temper one's idealism with pragmatism when out in the real world. Overall, the talk seems to be directed mostly to Sylvia, but he finds ways to mention the paladin code quite frequently to make it clear that the topics he is discussing can and should be applied in many different ways.

Eventually, he leaves the two of them alone, and Sylvia just slumps away to one of the other rooms to pout and hide for a while. As soon as he joins the others in the lair, Kat, the other dragon, promptly launches into a spiel of how someone really needs to looking after this place, how probably more than one dragon would be best for that purpose, how it would be a nice place to raise baby dragons in, and other not so subtle hints along similar veins.

After picking up a MW Comp. Longbow and MW Studded Leather, Morbak turns to leave. Just when he reaches the exit, he hears Kat's hints. Shakes his head and walks out.

I assume Kat is hinting at the other dragon and not us,(mostly because GM, understandably, doesn't want us to claim land yet too ;) )

That and specific mention of babies makes you pretty sure that she is talking to Rogforo, yes.

Goo goo ga ga?

How do you guys want to split the treasure pile up?

Trying to figure that out. There is alot of stuff there, I am thinking we keep all the materials and all the armor and weapons we need. Then we split the money up with the Prisoners, the Dragons and ourselves. Just a thought.

Why the prisoners?

Unless I read it wrong(which is entirely possible) I thought the bandits where holding prisoners and they would need enough to get restarted with their life. If i read it wrong then just a split between us and the dragon.

The bandits who lived are the prisoners.

Then never mind I read it wrong trying to catch up.

Forgot to mention that there is cart, 2 heavy work horses, and a light horse (none of the horses are combat trained) out in the stable.

I'm not there, so I have no my character would have no immediate say, but I know dragons like their coins, although with the power of Rogforo and his mate, I'm not sure if there's enough to make a significant increase to their horde. Sylvia however...

Indeed it is a significant hoard. As far as Ha'el is concerned, he would be happy with a mw dagger, mw studded leather, and a few coins to buy some alchemy supplies. I still need to outfit Crispin with some poisons. The dragons can have the rest of the loot as far as he is concerned.

I was thinking the Textiles and Spices as something we can either craft with or sell. Would like a MW Dagger as well and a Masterwork Chain Shirt. The money can keep just enough to keep us in supplies and room & Board for a while.

I'm happy with the bow and armor I picked up from the hoard. The Dragons can keep the rest. Although the horses and wagon could certainly come in handy.

Good call Morbak. Those horses and cart would go a long way in aiding in the returning those prisoners to face justice and they would also be handy in furthering our disguise/secondary mission as merchant traders.

I can't imagine the Dragons would want such things other than as food.

The leader of this tavern seems to have collected a fair amount of weapons and armor, so you can all find the mw items you want.

Tavern?

Looking at the basement and how it's setup, you get the impression that whoever was in charge here was less concerned about gathering a large band together, as that would be a headache to maintain, but rather a focus point for all would be bandits to spend their ill gotten gains, which has a much higher profit margin. It has a common room, a common sleeping area, and several private rooms for the guests, and the apartment and dragon cave were more for the proprietor and really well paying guests.

We might do a similar idea. Leave the cave and lower area for the dragons, and the above area for travelers and locals to use as tavern, inn, and game rooms.

I'm going to fast forward a bit as you will have a fair bit of in game time to make whatever decisions you need to/want to make.

Seeing that Rogforo is restless over the prisoners, Kat suggests that he and the party take care of the prisoners for now, while she looks after the cave, it's contents, and Sylvia. Agreeing to the wisdom of the idea, Rogforo, in human form, and the party make the short trip to Florency. On the way, he will share what little information he knows about the cave and estate.

There was some time back a bronze dragon named Zanzy that went to help with the containment effort on Mariki. After being successful, he and a elven friend that was known locally only as Roderick came back, and together they built the complex, afterward living a quiet life punctuated only by occasional visits from old friends. About a decade ago, Roderick died, and Zanzy continued to live there, tending both the cave and the house above, for a few more years until he gave away his hoard to his neighbors, and went off to live out the rest of his days as a guardian of the Temple of Bahamut in the Io Mountains.

Sometime last year, some enterprising fellow had moved in and setup a tavern that the dragons suspected to be a problem, but had no real proof, and thus were hesitant to act directly. Their threats on Sylvia, however, could not be allowed to go unpunished, so neither Kat nor Rogforo saw any problem with the plans the party developed to clear it out.

Florency is more or less what the party would expect from a fishing village. The only things that really set it apart is the small shallow lake that gives them a harbor of sorts for the many shallow bottom fishing vessels that work the delta region and the sea beyond and the garrison of Confederacy troops that patrol the border and the bayou. It also has a ferry that carries passengers and wagons across the river.

The party creates quite a stir as they enter, and it doesn't take long for the local garrison commander to take the prisoners off of their hands and get the full story of what happened. He frowns slightly until he hears about the threats they made to Sylvia, at which point he's somewhat amazed any of them are still alive. The local dragons are mostly a kindly lot, but defend their own with great vigor. After spending the day dealing with that, and getting paid 60 gp/prisoner (720 gp total), the bounty being offered for bandits, the party finds themselves in the local tavern with Rogforo, who seems actually quite nice when relaxed.

You can discuss your plans of how to disperse the money, deal with the estate, where to go from here without having to worry about time constraints, and any other questions/concerns you may want to bring up with Rogforo.

Knocks back a flagon of ale, turns to the dragon turned human, and asks, "Tell me Rogforo, are there any vermin in the region that I should know about?" Flags down a serving wench to order another flagon.

Indeed Rogforo, tell us about the area.

Sritaro, pleased his first that his first mission with his ATA allies was successful, offers to pay for lodging with his share of the bounty. He plans on portioning out a part of his rewards to give back to the church once they reach a chapel of Pelina or one of her orphanges.

Enjoying some mead with the group, the nagaji is more relaxed than he was when he first met the party. He is currently all ears for any tales Rogforo has to offer.

It doesn't take long to share what he knows about the region.

The delta is mostly about fishing, and the surrounding area is farmlands and meadows. The farmlands do periodically have to deal with vermin, and exterminators generally can make a good living if they are willing to cover some ground while doing so, but there hasn't been a massive outbreak for a while, which isn't surprising, given the massive amount of effort taken to prevent them from getting that big. Hunting, while not as important, is still fairly common in the spaces between farms and towns.

As far as law and order are concerned, the entire area is pretty peaceful. Petty groups of bandits, with the occasional problem like the tavern you just shut down, are the most one has to deal with generally. It is suspected that there are more dangerous criminals hiding out in the area, but at least while here, they keep a low profile while things cool down elsewhere. Although the law and order of the Confederacy really only counts in Turvar, and officially part of the bayou, the effects are generally felt on both sides of the Tulas River. Even if folks on the other side don't officially rely on higher level authority, the local setup is virtually indistinguishable, and the local sheriffs still talk to their neighboring sheriffs, so there is still a pretty decent network that prevents someone from simply running wild.

Bronze Dragons live up and down the coast of this area, though the biggest concentration is by far on the other side of the Confederacy in the Eastern Zerit Sea. In this area, they are particularly drawn to the bayou, and the opportunities it provides for a larger number of lairs, which along a plentiful food supply and the relative safety of the area, makes it one of the better places for those trying to raise younger dragons outside their primary nesting grounds in the east.

Any other specific questions about the region?

Ha'el looks thoughtfully at Rogforo and then asks would you be able to point us in the direction of some of these other bandit groups?

Ha'el says So ... whats the plan folks? Where are we off to next?

Rogforo doesn't know of any other bandits in the immediate area, though if you go west and stick to the coast, you could probably find a pirate's den or two if you looked for them, despite the mostly successful attempts to discourage the practice.

"I say we sell what we can and continue on." As he drains his forth ale.

"I agree with Morbak, though plying our trade from the cart is great I think we should continue that between our bouts of anti-banditry."

Ha'el suggests pirates sound like a good idea.

The party spends some time answering further questions from the garrison commander in Florency, and discussing their plans with the dragons on how to handle the estate. Aside from suggesting that perhaps building the proposed tavern just outside the walled compound, and leaving the compound as a place where they, the dragons, and any hired help can live in relative privacy and quiet, as well as store any required goods in relative security, the dragons seem to embrace the idea, and the three of them set about cleaning up the place while the party returns to Tuven to sell their goods and start the process of legally claiming the estate and the surrounding land. Finally, after a few weeks, during which they were able to sell the spices and the cloth, and worked with the ATA reps to start process to claim the abandoned property, they were once more ready to head out on the road.

At this point, you have basically have two options, you can go west from Tuven on the main trade road, or you can go west from Florency on the local trails and roads that run along the coast. Neither really has any advantage over the other, it's mostly a personal preference. Also, while they do the other things, the party is able to make a respectable 80 gp total as they ply their trades in their free time.

Ha'el suggests that the main road would probably be the best option for fulfilling our mandate of clearing out the bandits. However, the thought of running into pirates along the coastal route is very appealing ... very appealing indeed! I vote pirates!

What was our total take for the treasure haul?

"I feel it would be better to ensure the main road is sssafe; sssafe road means more trade, would it not?"

"The main roads are the last to be hit, if we take out bandits hunting the back roads the will likely not ever get the chance to take the main road which is more likely to have caravan guards anyway."

"I say we clear the back roads.