Overview of the Dungeon

Continued from Retire to Above

The DM: I will need to know what your action points are on the cart. I've created a chart for calculating cart encumbrance, if you haven't already seen it. The weather on the morning of the 20th is beautiful: clear skies, no clouds at all, pleasant weather, a gentle breeze blowing. Feels like the first day of Summer.

What's more, seems very quiet this morning as you head out on your journey.

Lexent: Quite.

Vafrandir: Looking for my Stavanger sheet - AP shortly.

Vafrandir: We need to drop about 300 lbs. Max with the mule is 1 AP at 1350 lb, we have about 1635 lb.

Lexent: Wow. I don't suppose that's an amount we can spread out amongst ourselves and our hirelings.

Lexent: I can only take about another 20 lbs. before I reach my max. 9 more will drop me from 3AP to 2.

The DM: You have the strengths of each hireling; presume they're already carrying 40 lbs. of personal gear, and that they'd be ready to push themselves to 2 AP ... 1 AP if you'll provide them a 2 s.p./day bonus.

Vafrandir: We can give them 282 lb all told and stay at 3 AP. That leaves a little over 3 lbs which any one of us can make up the difference in.

The DM: You can eat that for breakfast on the 20th.

Lexent: Then I believe we are off.

The DM: Figure 4 lbs. a day for travelling, eat 1½ lb. each for breakfast, then at the end of the first day you finish off with 48 total lbs. gone from eaten food. The journey is, I remember, 14 total hours at 3 AP. So it would be 21 at 2 AP ... so you’ve made a little less than half your distance the first day. That leaves 11 hours at 2 AP. Unless you want to cache some of your food at the cairn.

The DM: You have no encounters on the 20th.

Pandred: That's almost too bad. We'd have eaten more of our encumbrance. Hmm, but then we'd have loaded down the cart with trophies. Tricky business.

Lexent: As we set up camp for the night, I cast Augury and ask the following:

Lexent: "Is Hamish Ross in Norway"

Lexent: "Is Hamish Ross in Denmark"

Lexent: "Is Hamish Ross in Scotland"

Vafrandir: I thought about caching but we'd have to leave too much to gain any AP. We'll be fine with the longer travel.

Vafrandir: Tomorrow, can you ask if the gold can be recognized or tracked?

The DM: The answers are Yes, null, null. You don't get answers for the last two questions.

The DM: From the document: “the scroll delivers a land grant to whom is apparently a Scotsman, Hamish Ross, of 8,000 acres upon the island of Askøy west of Bergen, for services rendered to Christian IV, the King of Denmark, against the Swedes in the Battle of Femern in 1644. The document was to be delivered to Ross so that he could take possession of his lands; the document is dated May the 10th, 1647.” Which is odd, since all the coins clearly post-date 1648.

Lexent: I can certainly ask that tomorrow. I assume the most likely place for him to be is on the island of Askøy, but I figured I'd start narrowing it down.

Vafrandir: Thank you for the reminder. That's intriguing.

Lexent: And, if I recall, the airship showed signs of being exposed to Norwegian rains and winters for three years.

Vafrandir: That implies that the gold is not from the airship. Which I didn't think we believed as a theory but can possibly rule it out anyway.

Lexent: Interesting. The pack in which the circlet and land grant were found was described as "bearing the emblem of the King of Denmark & Norway, Christian the 5th. Your king." Is this merely a typo?

The DM: Hm. That shouldn't have been published; it was an error I thought I'd fixed before publishing. I'll clear it up. Christian the 5th doesn't become king for a while. Your present king is Frederick III.

Lexent: Meaning that the emblem on that pack was of Frederick III, meaning that the land grant could date to the same time as the gold, just not the airship.

The DM: That's correct.

Vafrandir: Also, cultic goblins may not have had much use for gold. Perhaps Ross may have a deeper connection to the Grond lair than we previously thought.

Pandred: Here I thought we were about to uncover a cool conspiracy with the wrong king. Denmark-Norway got soundly beaten in the wars preceding us. Sweden pretty much runs the Baltic from what I understand.

The DM: Odd. My first draft made that Christian V error last night; and now I find I made the same mistake months ago. I draw your attention to this page on wikipedia:

The DM: Don’t be too sure about that 3 year weathering; you’re not experts, it’s just a guess.

Pandred, since the death of Gustavus, Sweden has been on a very slight decline; and with the end of the 30 years war, it is getting embroiled in disputes over the territory it holds on mainland Europe. It is distracted from menacing Denmark & Norway at present. This would be common knowledge.

Vafrandir: I assume the king who granted the land was Christian IV. The airship bearing the grant crashes shortly after (and no apparently attempt is made to recover it). Frederick III became king in 1648, mints special coins, and Hamish Ross takes possession of them. Then they find their way to Grond. The timing of the airship crash would help determine whether or not the coins were on the ship, which would be the most convenient explanation for their presence in the lair.

Lexent: Except that the bag at the airship also bore the emblem of Frederick III.

The DM: Yes, I want to make sure its understood that's the case, my error nonwithstanding.

Vafrandir: Ah, ok. So then the working theory is that the gold was on the airship and was recovered/taken to the lair.

Lexent: So, a couple of possibilities:

• Our estimates on the length of time the ship was there were wrong.
• The gold and bag were not on the airship when it crashed, but instead were brought there later.
• They started making Frederick III coins and bags before he was king.
• Time travel.

The DM: bursts out laughing.

Vafrandir: Can't rule it out though ;)

Vafrandir: Out. We'll get to the bottom of this!

The DM: Out.

What to Do After Treborg?

The DM: In.

Vafrandir: In. 4 lb per person for traveling for the 20th, correct?

The DM: Yes.

Lexent: In.

Marcule: in

Vafrandir: About what time do we arrive in Treborg?

Lexent: I believe we are still at the cairn on the evening of the 20th.

Lexent: Unless we can figure out a way to pick up the pace, I believe we are slated to have to risk malady checks to even make it by the end of tomorrow.

The DM: You're probably past the cairn. You'll have 11 hours travel tomorrow. Let's decide first if you want to push that travel and risk accidents.

Vafrandir: I have no objection to another day of travel. We are pretty loaded down. "Shortcuts make long delays."

Lexent: Fine by me. We split up the remaining travel into two days.

Marcule: I agree, if we rush that might leave us in real trouble.

Lexent: Is everyone else ready to sleep for the evening of the 20th?

The DM: The weather declines on the 21st declines and it lightly drizzles through the afternoon after an initial light shower. You find the wheels are getting caught in ruts, because you can’t just bang over the gaps between the rocks during your steady descent. However, by the end of the day, there have been no encounters and you’re about three hours outside of Treborg. Continue into the 22nd?

Lexent: I'd like to cast Augury again first.

Lexent: I cast Augury and ask the following questions:

Lexent: "Can the Frederick III Gold with the extra crowns be recognised as special or tracked?

Lexent: "Is Hamish Ross on the island of Askøy?"

Lexent: "Is Hamish Ross in Rogaland?"

Vafrandir: After the Augury we can continue on to the 22nd. Food marked for the 21st.

Vafrandir: Out for a bit for lunch.

The DM: Answers: yes; no; null answer.

Arriving in Treborg on the 22nd

The DM: The weather is dry with hardly a breeze, and a clear blue sky. The weather is pleasant and comfortable. You spend those last three hours making good progress over a decent cart track ... and you draw attention from a few cotters on your way into Treborg, who can’t help noticing the height of the cart’s goods, the evident wealth of some of the objects and the look of the party, which is – shall we say – rumpled. One or two approach to ask where you’ve come from.

Lexent: "Up in the mountains a few days journey from here."

The DM: Since that isn’t specific, I assume you don’t want to be, and that you put off further questions politely but without giving further details. Eventually you roll into Treborg, to your own house, where you breathe deeply to be finally at home. This last haul has been troublesome and tiring.

Lexent: Correct.

Lexent: How is Valda doing?

The DM: She’s been worried about your departure. One of you came in badly hurt last time and this time she’s wondered who that’s going to be. She’s glad to see you all safe. She has taken some of your stored meat and made sausages for you, and biscuits. She’s also been able to create a reed matting for the floor of your house, so you’re not forced to walk on dirt, and she has a few gallons of small beer for you to drink. Small beer is about 0.5% alcohol, and is safer to drink than well-water.

Lexent: I thank her for her concern and her efforts and assure her that we are well. I also take the time to enjoy what she prepares for us.

The DM: She fries up the sausage. Before she’s done, and as Oddsdrakken begins to supervise the unloading of the cart, to store your things in the collection of tents and space that you have, a small crowd begins to gather. They are particularly interested in the chests and the very large shield, neither of which can be practically kept hidden.

Lexent: Hmm. We need to improve our methodology for returning to town in the future.

The DM: The town’s governor, Mss. Hendriksen, soon arrives, advancing to the door of the party’s house, interrupting them during a dinner of sausage, involving not only the party by your hirelings I assume. “Er, h’hm. Ladies ... Gentlemen ...” he starts.

Lexent: "Yes?"

Hendriksen: "I’ve been asked to inquire ... that is, in a non-official fashion ... if you haven’t recently come into possession of a rather large, erm, ah ... some sort of treasure. Begging your pardon, sirs. And ladies."

Lexent: "While investigating some cattle disappearances from the town we found an old goblin lair. We took care of the trouble inside and found a few items for our troubles. There is a rather large shield. May I ask as to who has requested you to make such an inquiry?

Hendriksen: "The villagers. I am, after all, the governor. It is in my purview to ... but, ah, I assure you, this is not ... I mean that I’m not attempting to, uh ... well, sir, you understand, you’re new to the village and you appear to be, um ... well to-do."

Lexent:[OOC] I'd like to let the rest of the party weigh in before either providing any more details or specifically declining to do so.

The DM: I can wait.

Vafrandir: We have no intention of causing a panic. But I do understand their concern. But we may also not be sure if we have actually "come into possession" of anything. I would want to reassure Mss Hendricksen that we don't want to disrupt everything - the people of Treborg have been quite good to us. Perhaps we should ask to speak to him later after we've had a chance to discuss it privately. Would that be untoward?

The DM: “I would want” and “perhaps we should” are not actions. I need an action, since he’s standing in front of you and the other players cannot hear your thoughts; therefore, attempting to relay your perspective at this time as though you’re all telepaths, and can work out a solution telepathically, is not kosher here.