Session 45: The Beautiful Treasure Report

General Summary

Session 45 – Wednesday July 25, 2023 – The Beautiful Treasure

4.5 Hour Battle/role play session 5:30 PM to 10:10PM

The Stone Bearers. Party of 5

It is the 4th day of the month of Nightal (The Drawing Down) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Early December.)

• Abrash – Wood (Desert) Elf, L7 Druid – Jacob Munson
• Ajani– High Elf, L7 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda (Beach)
• Gazlowe – Goblin, L6 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi
• Thomas – Human, L7 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Isabella – Forest Gnome, L7 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Juan Peyote – Gnome L7 Paladin – Will Johnson

Raise and harvest the Dragon

Abrash as an octopus and Isabella as an ape couldn’t get the dragon out of the water and it sunk to the bottom. Following the creature to the deep, Abrash spotted a cave. He swam quickly to the surface, dropped his wild shape, and told the others what he found. Juan suggested they build a Gnomish device called a crane and use pulleys and leverage to raise the dragon. Everyone agreed to outlandish idea. The party worked together and successfully built a crude device with pulleys and ropes which raised the Dragon up from the deep to the shore.

Thomas and Gazlowe successfully extracted the dragon’s poison sack as they knew it’s potential in an explosion, or at least it’s value in gold. Gazlowe carefully carried the poison sack away. Thomas tried to get the heart but butchered it. Juan ate a portion of the heart and enjoyed it. Juan extracted the skull wonderfully but then ruined its value by removing all the teeth, which he glued to his helm and shield to shock his foes even more. The dragon had no scales, but Thomas extracted enough skin to be crafted into a cloak of poison resistance. The team also extracted enough claws to make 10 +1 arrows.  

Dragon Loot:

With the dragon’s body gutted, the party dove into the cave to appropriate their loot.  They found treasure scattered about and in chests. They brought the following to the surface:

• 5,000cp, 7,000sp, 2,100gp, 105pp
• Qty 11) 100 gp gems
  • Qty 6) Diamonds of varying colors.
  • Qty: 2) Amethyst (transparent deep purple)
  • Emerald (transparent deep bright green)
  • Garnet (transparent brown-green)
  • Jade (translucent white)
  • Pearl (opaque lustrous yellow)
• Magic items
  • Talisman of pure good
  • Cloak of Elven Kind
  • Bracers of Archery
  • Scale mail of poison resistance
  • Potion of Agility
  • Potion of Hill Giant Strength
  • 2 splash potions of greater healing
  • 2 potions of greater healing
  • 1 potion of Mummy Rot Antidote
• 1 scroll case with a parchment written in draconic. At the end is a wax imprint of a signet ring.
• An Enduring Spellbook with:
  • Color Spray (1st)
  • Detect Magic (1st)
  • Feather Fall (1st)
  • Identify (1st)
  • Witch Bolt (1st)
  • Enlarge/Reduce (2nd)
  • Locate Object(2nd)
  • Misty Step (2nd)
  • See Invisibility (2nd)
  • Feign Death (3rd)
  • Gaseous Form (3rd)
  • Glyph of Warding (3rd)
  • Incite Greed (3rd)
  • Sending (3rd)
  • Wall of Sand (3rd)
  • Stoneshape (4th)
  • Stoneskin (4th)
  • Sickening Radiance (4th)
  • Resilient Sphere (4th)
  • Contact Other Plane (5th)
  • Teleportation circle (5th)
  • Scrying (5th)
• General items
  • 1 vial of Thessaltoxin
  • 1 abacus
  • Lots of Elven weapons. And lots of light armor.

What to do with the Dragon Loot:

The party passionately disagreed about the proper ownership of the loot. Isabella insisted they return all the coins and gems compromising to keep the potions and magic items. Abrash conceded to return the basic armor and weapons and the copper. Since all agreed to keep the magic items and potions, the party divided these and took a short rest. Afterward, arguments began anew on what to do with the coins and gems. Abrash’s defense that diamonds are important for spell components won him most of the gems.

Isabella righteously fought hard to return the remaining items, and Gazlowe greedily fought hard to keep items that were not his. In the end Isabella persuaded her allies to return: all the copper, all the silver, 1 purple Amythest, and all the common weapons. Thomas was further moved to offer all the silver he had (1,600 sp.)

Isabella moved the body of the leader in front of the dead dragon with all of the items that were returned. Gazlowe also left a note saying, “I killed the Beautiful, Eversus.” He forged the signature perfectly (33 check with forgery tools!)

The boats in the swamp

The party made their way back to the swamp and found the 2 boats and the Froghemoth. The Froghemoth questioned them about their interaction with the Hag Carla and Abrash skirted the full truth telling him, “She told us she was just stopping by to gather some supplies.” The frog didn’t sense any deception and let them pass.

They navigated safely to the other side where they were met by Robin and his Married Men who were waiting for the boat. Gazlowe offered to let them use the boats for a small fee. Frustrated by the ridiculous request, but patient to outwait him, Robin simply sat and waited. Abrash secretly cast detect thoughts and saw that Robin and his men were the ones who actually made the boats. Robin was thinking, “She’s patient, she’ll wait.” Abrash told Gazlowe about this, and Gazlowe began questioning Robin. He mentioned The Beautiful. Robin reacted indicating he knew of “The Beautiful.” Juan stood up and angrily said “Shove Off” in a very intimidating tone. Robin and his men backed off and said, “Very well, there are other ways” and they left.

The Stone Bearers deduced that the men were walking around the swamp and they would be able to get back to The Beautiful’s lair long before Robin and his men. They decided to go back to the lair and set a trap. Thomas asked, “Why are we going to attack these innocent people.” Gazlowe convinced Thomas that they are not innocent, charming people. They wanted to kill Warfus, and they’re working with the Beautiful. As they headed back, Abrash suggested they just knock them unconscious and question them. Isabella, revealing a dark side of herself, suggested drowning them.

Setting the trap

They made their way to the other side of the swamp and the Froghemoth again greeted them. The Froghemoth asked if they could let the hag know that she hasn’t come back to feed her and say goodbye. Gazlowe said sure and then told the others, “We’re not going to be able to use these boats again!” They made their way to the lair and figured that they had between 4 and 8 hours before Robin and his Married men would be there. This allowed Abrash to rest for 4 hours.

Thomas and Isabella setup the small ballista on a hilltop. Gazlowe setup a tripwire with a phase spider poison needle. Gazlowe then hid in a spot just inside the entrance and prepared to use the Dragon’s poison sack. Abrash cast water walk on the whole party. Isabella, Juan and his War Rooster hid on the other side of the entrance opposite Gazlowe.

Springing the trap

They sat and waited until Robin and his Married Men entered into the cave by walking on the water. As soon as they were in sight, Gazlowe yelled “Should have paid the boat fee!” and he broke open the poison sac. The poison sac exploded, surprising Robin and his men. It killed two of them and badly wounded the remaining 4. Gazlowe pushed through the poison without taking as much damage as the rest and quickly ran to a safe distance.

Abrash immediately surrounded Robin and the remaining 3 Married men with a wall of fire. Big John died in the flames. Surprise entrapped another in the fire and he died. Thomas, Juan and Isabella got into position to attack as soon as the firewall dropped.

Robin dispelled the wall of fire. Thomas loosed the bolt. Juan, his rooster and Isabella all attacked. Robin taunted Juan, hurting his feelings. Robin, seeing most of his men dead, turned and ran. Abrash hit him with a guiding bolt as he ran. Robin’s assassin (Guysbourne) stood his ground to protect Robin’s escape. Thomas hit Robin with a bolt from the Ballista. Juan and his rooster went after Robin and were struck by Guysbourne. Juan then used his aurora and instilled fear into both Robin and Guysbourne which caused them to stop in their tracks.

Isabella then killed Guysbourne with her axe and ran to Robin. With a mighty feat of strength, she struck Robin as she screamed, “This is for all the innocent children you bastard!” Robin shouted, “What are you talking about!” as the axe struck him and killed him.

More stuff

The party immediately looted Robin and his men, finding:

• 1,000gp
• 1 potion of Invisibility
• 3 vials of poison
• Standard weapons
• Canaith Mandolin (Magical instrument of the bards) Worth at least 2,00gp.
• A tan Brick

Juan picked up the Mandolin and made a beautiful sound from it, even without real musical training. Someone found a tan stone about the size and shape of a Brick. Gazlowe held it and it felt warm. Abrash cast detect magic and the stone had a unique aura of magic that he had never seen before. Juan wanted to try to eat it, but the party told him, “No!”

Isabella found a piece of parchment with a badly drawn picture of Warfus on it. His name was written below it and crossed off with a check mark by it.  Juan popped the head off Robin.  After they finished mutilating the bodies and examining the loot, they positioned the bodies so as to look like they were killed by the Dragon. The set up felt realistic enough to lay blame on Eversus.

Sleeping in the woods

It was late and the party needed a long rest. Gazlowe suggested sleeping at the Hag’s place, but Thomas warned him of the Froghemoth. They decided to go into the woods and find a spot. The area was damp and had a more swamp-like feel. They found a space that wasn’t covered with water like the deep swamp, and setup the tent. Abrash (who had already rested before the Robin incident) stayed on watch.

The insects were annoying, so Abrash cast speak with animals and threatened them. Abrash found a nice spot to hide in the trees and stared at the stars. Abrash heard a loud droning buzz in the distance. He looked and saw trees in the distance shake as if something was brushing by them. The path made by the shaking trees was headed in his direction. The buzzing drone sound was coming from above the trees. He woke up the others.

Dinosaurs!

The party heard a loud roar in the distance. Peering from the tent, Abrash noticed large movement from the other direction. It appeared as if two hoards or two very large creatures were heading to converge exactly at their camp site. The team decided to leave fast. Abrash cast “Pass without a trace” to quietly move away. Thomas put out the radiant glow on his whips. They heard the large roar get closer. Abrash noticed that a giant dragonfly was the source of the droning noise and then watched it fly away.

Suddenly, a huge Tyrannosaurus Rex’s head appeared at the top of a nearby tree. Everyone in the party froze except Thomas who jumped into a nearby bush. The movement caught the eye of the T-Rex who looked at and then roared directly at Thomas. The distraction was all the Triceratops needed to catch the T-Rex off-guard as it attacked the T-Rex from the side.

The party slowly moved back into the bushes and continued to watch the fight. The T-Rex was hurt but it was eventually victorious in killing the Triceratops. The party saw the T-Rex rip the flesh off the other dinosaur and ravenously eat it. They moved further away until they felt they were a safe distance, but they could still hear the sounds of the creature tearing flesh. They quietly put the tent back up, camouflaged it, and succumbed to their exhaustion. Except Abrash, who resumed his watch. Eventually the sounds diminished, and it sounded like the T-Rex went to sleep near its prey. The night sounds did not return.

Cleon

In the morning, the party rose to take stock of their situation.  Gazlowe cast identify on the brick and learned that the object while not actually a “Magical object” per se had a natural ability to detect weavite. He observed that the brick gets warmer the closer it gets to larger deposits of weavite. The brick, at the moment, was slightly warm, the same as when they had found it.

Abrash noticed that the sounds of the forest had returned. They ventured to examine where they saw the dino-battle. The dead body of the Triceratops was there but there was no sign of the T-Rex nor any large prints indicating that he left. Examining the area, they found humanoid footprints leaving the area but none entering. They followed the footprints to the swamp. After a 2 hours trek to the swamp, they found a very primitive stick hut on stilts at the edge of the swamp’s water. The party walked to the hut and knocked on the door.

A human looking druid answered the door. He welcomed the party into his hut. After discussion, he explained that he likes to transform into a dinosaur to hunt and thin the herds as needed to maintain order and health in the swamp areas of the forest. Abrash told him that he was a Druid of the stars and Cleon admitted to be a druid of the moon. They delighted each other with commonalities of their kind, while the rest of the team waited for the conversation to end.

Finally, Gazlowe interrupted to ask about Ogian. Cleon said that he works for Ogian who is his mentor. He knew of Niptu but didn’t know of his return. He knew of the Hag but thought she had left. He knew of the Comet in the sky and warned the party that it’s a sign of bad things to come. He knew of the Beautiful and the stone tribe and told them that they’ve been aligned for just a couple of weeks. He didn’t know much about the events outside of the Swamp.

Showing extraordinary hospitality, Cleon served the party lunch while detailing the paths of the swamp for Abrash’s map, even showing them a safe route back to the swamp entrance and a safe passage to the place that the Orcs were last seen.