Do the merchants have magic items for sale?
They do, but limited and spotty availability. You can get anything you want from Elap if you are willing to wait 2 months (ship transit + request).
To determine if the item is available multiply the GP cost x10, subtract the GP cost of the multiplied item from 100,000 GP, translate to % chance to have item.
Example:
+1 weapon = 2,000 GP x 10 = 20,000
100,000 - 20,000 = 80,000 or 80% chance to have item.
Obviously anything 10,000+ GP has to come from Elap.
Hat of disguise: 1800gp x10=18k
82%
Buy hat of disguise.
Rest for the night and then head out towards elven ruins the next morning.
You find resting a bit of a challenge as there is much celebrating after the massive victory against the orcs. Villagers and troopers alike are effusive in their praise and congratulations, especially the troopers. Your lucky charm status is elevated by the fact that none of the troopers in First died and only two of the remaining forty that went on patrol were killed. You see Marshap a few times, but he doesn't notice you as he is quickly running from one place to the next delivering messages.
The few surviving orcs from the battle, slaughter really, in front of the walls have been chained and pressed into service with the existing chattel. There is a thick pall of smoke from the large fires of orcish corpses, and the air feels greasy with a foul scent to it. Most of the weapons taken from the dead have been stacked in order to melted down to raw metal and reshaped into ingots for future use. The few pieces of nicer equipment have been either redistributed or packaged for shipment and sale back in Elap.
The next day you head out into the wilderness as two large columns of troopers, about 150 men in each, are making their way through the main gates. You see Major Hawkins conversing with two of his Captains and some of the other officers, including Lieutenant Yarsh who gives you a friendly wave. You also encounter the Corporal from First who tells you-Heading out to clean up the rest of the Greenies; root them out of their holes and make sure they don't get a chance to rebuild their numbers. Over the next few days we should have a lot more ready labor. They get their choice of steel: the blade or the chain. Be safe out there Curumir!
“Thanks Corporal, you too.”
When Curumir gets out of view of the troopers he will try to keep an eye out for potential enemies and move stealthily. He will use hat of disguise to appear as a gray orc.
Donning your newly purchased hat once you get out of sight of the walls, and you hope any allies, you slink away towards the elven ruins looking for all intents and purposes like a grey-green skinned orc. A part of you struggles to believe that just yesterday you fought for your life along this same route, the low hill, boulders, and fresh turned earth give proof, however. Also, evidence of violence litters your path: blood stains, broken weapons and equipment, even a few unclaimed orc corpses remain. After two miles or so you hear something making noise in a nearby thicket of brush.
Try to determine what is there while staying stealthy.
You creep towards the noise and find a pair of worgs chewing at an orc carcass. As you get closer, they snuff the air and look at each other.
Worg 1-Something tasty is nearby Deathfang, much better in my mind than this filthy goblin-spawn.
Deathfang-Yes Longstride, I smell it too. Let's see if we can catch it and crush its bones. This dead isn't in a hurry, and I like my Uruk a little more ripe if you understand my meaning.
The worgs start moving in your direction.
Try to ambush them as they come by. Extra attack with ki point.
Confirm crit
extra dam if crit, otherwise disregard
With two savage slashes you end the future of Longstride, but Deathfang must have survived a thing or two already and responds immediately, snapping with massive lupine jaws!
You are tripped and become prone unless your CMD exceeds 37.
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/conditions#TOC-Prone
Use ki point for Vanishing Trick: Swift action invisibility for 1/round.
Then stand up and attack.
You and your blade appear from nowhere delivering another slash.
Tricksy critter! Come here and let me gnaw on ya!, roars Deathfang.
Ki point for extra attack.
Stop speaking you unnatural creature.
-15
Your thoughts translate into reality and with two well placed blade strokes you hew down Deathfang.
Look about for anything of value or use.
If their pelts might be a value, try to skin them.
Otherwise continue on.
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Finding nothing of note nearby or on the dead orcs you take some time (about 30 minutes) to skin the two large lupine corpses. Each pelt is worth 100GP. Once the bloody work is done you get under way again.
The last part of your journey to the ruins is relatively uneventful. You see several groups of green-skinned orcs fleeing away from the direction of the fortress and the oncoming troop columns. Behind you the thick smoke from fires set about former orc abodes rises, and occasionally a draft of wind carries the frantic cries and screams of orc women and children being put to the sword.
The ruins are comprised of a village, hamlet really, centered in a low wide valley, cut through in the middle by a sluggish stream. There are several massive trees clustered together, in what you guess must have been the center of the settlement. You imagine that this area was once beautifully manicured and cared for. Now, there is only overgrowth and vague outlines of structures.
Sneak through the town, including the trees, looking for anything of interest.
*There seem to be a lot of increasingly forceful hints that the humans are, let’s say, overly harsh with the orcs. In this campaign, are all orcs evil, generally evil with a few outliers being non-evil, or a total variety of alignments.
As you reach the ruin outskirts your eyes catch several piles of bones that look to be of the orc variety. The bones are shattered and broken as if something has devoured them.
Revert to elf appearance. Continue to search the village.
The ruins are fairly desolate, having been left untended for hundreds of years, but the design and build of your kin was impressive and you get a sense of how they crafted beauty and durability into the simplest of things. A different mindset to building apparently when you intended to use something for the better part of a thousand years. The overgrowth of flora is significant, however, and what structures weren't largely damaged or destroyed from the violence hundreds of years ago are simply enveloped by nature and inaccessible without tools and labor.
The lone exception is a building on the ground that is built from stone, laced through with quartz veins. You imagine what it must have looked like without all the trees, vines, and shrubs around it. The sun dazzling off the veins of crystal, making it appear almost like a building made of lightning. Now however, it is dark and musty-the large frame that once held double doors empty with various vines and creepers hanging from the interior ceilings. You notice several features that make you believe this must have been a temple to Yuelral, the elven god of magic.
Interesting, let’s take a look.
Enter the temple if possible. Take a look inside. Use detect magic.
You enter the temple ruin and find it to be a fairly simple structure. It appears as if there was once a crystal lens at the top of the ceiling dome that allowed light from the sun, moon, stars etc. to enter and be magnified, filling the large chamber with light. The remnants of that lens lie shattered on the floor, intertwined with various detritus, and the hole is covered over by plant growth. You detect the faint residue of some magic (enchantment) in the lens shards, but nothing very powerful or meaningful to you. It looks like there are mosaics on the walls, also overgrown by vegitation.
Wish I could have seen this while it was in good repair.
No other exits? If plants can be moved aside without too much trouble to see mosaic try that.
You do your best to cut away the vegetation on one of the walls, and what you can see appears to depict a scene of a beautiful elven woman in normal, simple dress. The woman appears to be giving some type of light or power to an assembled group of elves.
I wonder what it means?
trying to figure out mosaic
If nothing further comes to mind, head back out.
Are there other areas to explore? If not head back towards fortress resuming orc guise when leaving this ruined village.
You believe (based on your teachings growing up) that the mosaic you exposed on the first wall is supposed to represent the moment that Yuelral gave the secrets of magic to the elves. According to the histories, this was the start of the quick ascent of the elven race on Urath, making it the dominant humanoid species of the continent. It is one of the foundational racial legends of your people.
As you finish your review of the mosaic you feel a presence behind you, near the doorway to the temple. Turning slowly, you see a massive gorilla with shaggy dark fur and the forepaws of a powerful bear. Its head appears to be a cross between a gorilla and bear. It stands erect (about 8' tall) and is snuffling the air near where you entered, trying to identify the scent.
Going to assume as elf and ranger that Curumir would know if this was an ordinary animal, and will assume it is some sort of unnatural creature due to its gorilla/bear attributes, kind of like an owlbear.
Ki point for extra attack, via FF AC hopefully.
Leaping from the shadows, you put an end to the creature's snuffling about, as well as all future activities in perpetuity. It collapses to the ground, gushing fonts of blood from two savage blade strikes. Looks like the Baron's warning of magical beasts inhabiting the ruins was correct.
Ketephys has been guiding my blade today, my thanks!
Check the beast over for anything of interest.
Any chance of tracking back to a lair?
Gotten pretty lucky with combat rolls, dreading when it goes the other way.
Nothing of interest on the beast.
There is a pretty clear path of where the creature came from and you have a solid guess as to where it's lair might be. You question if this creature is solitary or roves in packs...
Head back to the fortress. Use orc disguise until humans are clear then use real appearance.
As you exit the vicinity of the ruins you hear a chorus of angry growls and yowls from the area of Yuelral's temple. Apparently there were other gorilla bears in the area and not just the one you ambushed. Your return to the fortress is uneventful, although you do come across the smoldering remains of cleansed orc nests. Apparently the Baron is quite sincere in his quest to quell the local orc populace and make the land habitable for settlers.
The main gates to the walls are open and you can see troop formations entering and exiting regularly. Many of those entering are burdened by loot and chained orcs, clear signs of their success in the field. Where before you felt an air of concern or uncertainty now those you encounter have a confident stride and seem much more relaxed.
Almost seems like a different place now.
Enter the fortress (remove hat of disguise). Sell the worg pelts. Seek out the Baron.
The merchants are impressed by the worg pelts-Don't get many of these. Feels like they take more of ours than we do of theirs.
You make your way to the keep and find Marshap joining you the last part of the way as he has messages to deliver to the Baron.
Marshap-That was amazing how you killed the tusker general. Everyone is talking about how your heroics that day saved the entire patrol. I think it drives the Major crazy, but I'm pretty sure the troopers are ready to take on anything as long as you go with them!
Where did you go yesterday? I looked for you all over, but was told that you had gone outside the walls.
“Hello Marshap, I just did my part in the battle, trying to stay alive for the most part and fighting when I had to. I went beyond the walls to explore the ruins of a village. How have you fared?”
Marshap, smiling and excited-The troopers in First told me you were humble! They were a little more elaborative about your role, but I won't talk about it if you prefer not to.
Me? I've been really busy! The Baron has all the squires running about taking messages to his commanders. I even got to go outside the wall a few times! You'd think they would cut us some slack on our other duties, but no such luck. Just means we have to get up earlier to get all of our drills and other work completed. Honestly, I don't think I've ever been this tired in all my life.
“Well I’m sure you shouldn’t slack on your training, especially here, it could save your life. Give it time and it will likely improve. Let’s see what the Baron is up to.”
Marshap leads you back to the Baron's office. The Baron is looking intently at the framed map on the wall, Major Hawkins and a man you haven't seen before stand nearby him.
Marshap, sharply-Messages from the field my Baron.
The Baron looks back at the pair of you and motions to the Major, who comes over and receives the documents. Marshap snaps to attention, which Hawkins returns, and pivots about, quickly exiting the room. You notice that he doesn't dare a last glance or word to you on the way out.
Baron Duncan returns to looking over the map, muttering to himself quietly. Major Hawkins eyes you condescendingly-Do you have messages to relay as well Curumir? The third man looks over the scene, and a slight grin creeps across his face.
“My apologies Major, I did not intend any interruption and can speak with the Baron at another time.”
While speaking, Curumir tries to take in all the details of the room as well as the unfamiliar man. He then turns around and departs toward his quarters.
Hmmm, what is happening here and who is this grinning man?
Hearing your voice seems to remind the Baron of your presence in the room-Hold on there Curumir, you aren't an interruption; not more than any of the thousand other things that barge in this room every day. You went to see the ruins, eh, how'd that go?
You get the sense that the third man is bemused by Hawkins and whatever issues he appears to have with you. He appears to be studying you in return.
“Thank you Baron, your advice about worse things than orcs was quite accurate, I encountered and disposed of two worgs on the way there and found the ruins infested with gorilla-bears most of which I avoided. If any of your troopers should go there they should be prepared to encounter them. Other than that I learned little other than to confirm the ruins are elvish in nature.”
Baron-Gorilla-bears, eh? Count yourself lucky there were no air sharks flying about. Come swooping out of nowhere; quite deadly. Not sure what you expected to find, it's ruins of a small village. My guess is smaller than our establishment here, even if you count out the troopers.
What next for you?
“I have no particular plans other than to continue to explore the area.”
Desna bless..., Duncan mutters to himself.
Baron to you-Well if you have no specific plans maybe I can enlist your aid? The Major here would like to set up a handful of fortified outposts within the five miles or so that we have explored so far. Far enough out to be useful, but not all the way at the explored radius. Each location should be able to be strengthened in such a way that it is relatively hidden and would allow a force of twenty or so to 'discourage' anything larger than a major force from getting in. Larger forces, their standing order will be to abandon the strong point and fall back to the fortress.
Any interest in helping us find such places? As an elf, I would think you would have an eye for such things and it will give you some time to explore the rest of the area nearby.
“Of course, as you say, I will be out there anyway, so I may as well make myself useful.”
The Baron gives you a broad smile-Excellent Curumir, thank you. If you are still looking for something to do afterwards, I'll ask you to start reconnoitering the areas past where we have been so far. I've been staring a hole through this map, but it doesn't tell me what things are really like out there and we don't have anyone better suited for this type of stuff than you.
Anything else I can do for you?
“Nothing additional Baron, thank you.”
Curumir departs, heading back towards his quarters thinking about the identity of the man with the Baron and Major, as well as flying sharks. He plans to head beyond the fortress walls the next morning.
You receive a fair amount of attention from people you pass by in the halls and during dinner. Everyone seems complimentary of you and much less reserved than when you first arrived. You get a good night's sleep and make your way to the main gates of the wall, which you find now do not close. You surmise that they must turly feel like they have remediated the local orc population.
Since he came in by ship assume there is a coastline here, correct? Head away from the fort following about 1/4 mile from the coastline.
The coastline winds smoothly, with a relatively sandy beach interspersed with small sections of rocky exposure. If you didn't know better you would consider it a peaceful land. Every once in a while you find an orc hole that has been burned out, sometimes with corresponding charred corpses. It looks like the orcs closer to the coast engaged in some for of rudimentary fishing to supply the majority of their protein.