Session 002 - Snails and Men
General Summary
Date 15 Nuzyael 720TR (Spring)
The heroes travel inland making their way inland to the City of Coranan.
Not long after crossing the border into the Thardic Republic they encounter an injured middle-aged man, covered in scratches and bite marks. He is Ivic Turthin, a heliculturist (snail farmer) and uses the cellar of a collapsed nearby tower as the enclosure for breeding and feeding his snails.
While returning to his farm with a wagon of compost, a pack of vicious dogs ambush him. They ripped apart his mule, but he fled up a tree and waited hours until they had lost interest before escaping. He will pay the PCs to deal with this problem.
Timing is critical, it's spring and soon the snails they will come out of hibernation and opportunities to maximise breeding for this season could be lost. It is a profitable enterprise, but if he makes a loss then he will not be able to pay back his loans and will lose his business.
Following the pathway toward the farm the party finds a dead mule, clearly been savaged by dogs and as the tower comes into sight into they hear barking and the sound of dogs rapidly approaching. A pack of seven large mastiffs burst though the trees surrounded the heroes, but they prove no match for Athena and Yureb who dispatch half their number before fleeing back to the tower.
Approaching the tower, they are surprised to find a large man in hide armor commanding the dogs. He is the beast-master and a dangerous opponent, a skilled archer with some rudimentary knowledge in nature magic rituals. He caused the vegetation around the party to spring to life, wrapping around their legs, slowing or entrapping them. He then moved to the top of the tower and fired arrows down onto the vulnerable heroes. Slowly they broke free, under volleys of arrows and savage attacks from the remaining dogs. By using natural terrain features as cover the heroes were able to close, forcing the beast-master to leave the tower and engage at short range. He still had a surprise remaining, again aided by his skill with nature magics he was able to breath poison gas full in the face of Athena, almost killing her. Yureb was able to sneak behind him and kill him with an well placed arrow to the back of the head.
Hiding in the tower they find a quivering young man, one Huber Haga, former apprentice of Ivic the snail farmer. He was fired last year for laziness. Under interrogation he revealed that he had hired the Beast-master to drive Ivic out of business and was planning to take over the farm. Huber was dragged to the local magistrate and prosecuted and sentenced to a severe fine. Being unable to pay it he was sold as arena fodder to the local Pamesani Games.
Rewards Granted
Recovered a superior quality Shortbow from the corpse of the Beast-master.
Character(s) interacted with
Ivic Turthin – Heliculturist (Snail Breeder). Sells snails for luxury food, shells for jewellery and snail mucus to alchemists to refine for use in perfumes.
Huber Haga - Former apprentice Heliculturist, now a slave gladiator until he pays off his dept. Not expected to survive long.
Comments