Author: Will Dickey

Waltz enlisted Krethial and Nix to find the Lost horse “Buster”. They ascertain that the horse did not escape but was in fact stolen. Krethial used his familiar in cat form to track the horse to a section of woods where a few hobgoblins were using Buster to log the area.

Nix changed into an injured Hobgoblin and Waltz killed it (Waltz apparently lives to slit throats.)

Nix attempts to get the Hobgoblins away from Buster and seems to succeed but when Krethial sets all their work on fire before making their escape the Hobgoblins run back to the group.

Waltz stands firm against the group but succumbs to the Hobgoblin onslaught and had his coin purse and sword stolen. They return with the Horse and, other than yet another near fatal experience for Waltz, they are relatively unscathed.

Tristan asks Dianne about how to proceed with telling Misty about Legast but they come to the conclusion to wait until the house is cleared. Tristan asks if he can help out with the Bandin’s home and takes their horses to the Stables to be reshod and asks for the parties horses to be tended to.

The group reconvenes for breakfast the day after we come back from the “Ghost House” Krethial had a meeting with Dianne and Lacy Bandin about coming to the manor to restore Leghast’s Alchemy text but they showed concern that we had yet to explore the upper parts of the house throughly. So we begin to make preparations to go and fully clear the unexplored rooms.

While we make these preparations Sheriffs Raylen and Robin arrive from their 17 hour flight to Saltmarsh (they arrive on the backs of Pegasi 🤘) and ask us to debrief them on the situation regarding the Slavers, Ogres, and the ghost house. We do so and they ask in two days time to be led to the cavern where the Ogres lived and to see the manor of Legast. In the meantime they interview the fourty released prisoners.

Nix also revealed that she is a Changeling to anybody who wishes to know. We suggested that she keep one face on while in a town just to make sure to not scare the folk.

Summary? Everything went to shit.

Krethial, Tristan, and Waltz explored the caverns while Eglath, Gul’dan, and Nix attempted to speak with our prisoners

(we all should have just waited for Jeff because boy did we cock that up.)

Tristan decided the best way to get the half-orcs to talk was to take one away from the group and break his knee. (Partly because intimidation mostly because of deep rooted anger issues) Everybody was like “no tristan do dooo eet” and got all squicky about “torture” so they decided to take the sailor back and bring the deck hand in.

The Sailor proceeded to mock our group about backing down (called it.) So Waltz decided the best way to shut him up was to Slit his throat (😱)

Of course the rest of the prisoners seeing that their busy just got axed jumped Waltz and tried to chew out his throat with their tusks (nat20 🤮) so Waltz is bleeding out and we kill/subdue the two attackers but in the fracas the wizard and the other prisoner escape. We catch the halforc rowing to sea but the Wizard bolted upstairs and swallowed a potion of invisibility and haste to bail.

So yeah mission failure.

Continued investigation of Legast’s house. everybody made their way to the basement first. Midnight tripped an illusion trap that made Eglath and Waltz panic and run from the house. Gul’dan went first into the basement and found a corpse of a figure in armor. Eglath and Waltz rallied themselves and came back to the house.

Gul’dan touched the corpse and had a “rot grub” burrow into his arm which required an application of lesser restoration or it would have eaten his heart killing him instantly 😱 we found a secret door in the basement that lead to a room with a table with place settings for 12 and a variety of foods.

Midnight opens a couple of locked doors as Waltz and Nix kick open the door to a room marked “DANGER DO NOT ENTER” and beyond it was a group of skeletons. we made short work of the skeletons thank’s to Krethial’s new shiny spell. In the room with all the skeletons was a secret door hiding the Alchemist’s laboratory, where we discovered that apparently Legast had discovered how to turn common items into gold.🤩🤩 Midnight found a shiny new stone….which just so happened to be cursed.

We continued to search the area and found a secret door in the eastern wall that lead down into a cavern where we were ambushed by eight gnolls and five assorted pirate looking dudes. we proceeded to dispatch them and the living pirates and gnolls surrendered.

Tristan revealed that he had given the Wizard Billingsly Bandin 1200 gold from his personal funds to begin the research and development of the spells to permanently anchor a Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion spell to the Big Damn Wagon Of Heroism.

Tristan is confident in the abilities of Wizard Bandin to achieve this spell because of his fame as an enchanter. (we have seen his wares up and down the Great Eastern Way several times and he is a fellow member of the Oakleaf Cluster.)

So, because the end result will benefit the entire group; Tristan asked if the Party would be willing to allow him to recoup his costs from the as of yet undivided party funds. Only Waltz said he could.

However, upon bringing up the subject of undivided loot, Tristan also asked going forward how everybody would like to handle funds and the divvying up of such. In this he proposed Three ideas.

Each possible way does not involve any character’s personal money earned during downtime. Your free time has no bearing on what we do as a collective save that each member *should,* during downtime, do something to benefit us all, learning a new skill, finding contacts, or improving themselves in some fashion so they become more useful during missions.

*Solution 1: Democratic Socialism.

Concept: merit based divisions that still takes care of the basic necessities of the group.

Method: all funds and items are collected during an adventure and upon completion of the adventure are divided, amongst the members of the group that participated in the quest, evenly to spend, save, or squander as they please.

One additional share of loot (or an agreed upon percentage of each share) will be allocated to a party fund for supplies to keep us going in between towns, basic room and board, and any thing the party seems necessary or cool to have as a group by majority vote.

A Quartermaster would be elected by the group to supply adventures and manage party funds.

Advantage: if you are there you gets a fair share. Basic necessities are taken care of by the group. We get to decide together if we want to buy something cool for us all.

Disadvantage: Stiffs those not able to make adventures. if you want to have a nicer in town experience it’s on you. Needs to come up with a way to handle large magic items not easily divided.

*Solution 2: Raw Capitalism.

Concept: capitalism.

Method: You keep what you kill, you keep Loot you find.

Advantage: Easy. No need to worry about how items and coin are divided. No need for math, or organization.

Disadvantage: No safety net, if you’re too slow you get nothing. Everybody is probably gonna fight eventually.

*Solution 3: Communism.

Concept: All for one, One for all. Everything is for the collective.

Method: ALL of the Loot; Items, Coins, Equipment etc. belong to everybody. We pool everything together and make decisions on how to spend coin democratically by majority vote including the outfitting of members with equipment.

Magic items will be assigned to party members for use but in the end they still belong to everybody. Room and Board are handled by the party funds with a small stipend given for any luxuries you may want beyond the basics.

When our journey is over or a member decides to retire we split the whole thing evenly. Everybody gets an equal share. If you retire early you get your share of what ever is currently Available.

A Quartermaster should be elected to handle the supplies and keep totals of our coffers.

Advantages: Other than the job of the Quartermaster this method is also fairly simple. No need to worry about basic necessities for an individual. Even shares for all including those unable to make a session. No one has to feel left out of swag.

Disadvantages: the quartermaster’s job will be intensive. Will require us to vote on any given item we want to pick up, which may bog things down. May lead to some feel bad moments when we miss out on a purchase that one person wants but the others feel is superfluous.

These ideas are strictly how we may handle the money gained from adventures. Your downtime is all on you unless you want to contribute your downtime money to party loot which is something completely separate for now. This is all in an effort to be more organized and be in agreement on how our group will function moving forward seeing as how we are all in this for the long haul.

The meeting Tristan called is still in session on the in character messenger group so if anyone wants to discuss these options, modifications to them or come up with a different solution feel free to roleplay it out, or make a comment on this post.

Tristan lights up a hand rolled Berle tobacco cigarette using the oil lamp sitting on the Tavern table. His frock is damp from the calves down and his brand new boots are caked in filth. The justicar grimaces at the strange inclusion of the scent of whale oil to the usual mixture of clove, allspice and cinnamon his favorite Tobacco usually gives off.

Tristan looks into the camera, takes a drag and says “Here’s what you missed.”

The group ascended the boat that the shapeshifter was on. We discovered a few half-orc corpses that Tindar had cut down and a ruined magic circle lying on the deck. In addition next to the circle was the desiccated corpse of their wizard who sucked the life out of herself to teleport the survivors away.

We investigated below decks to find yet another group of slaves. Some of these ones had also been drained of their life forces but…in a different way.

Turns out that the shapeshifter was not what we originally thought, it is some kind of monster that can take on the appearance of people through a dread way. It sucks it’s victims clean of energy, talent, skill, and vivacity to bolster itself…and feed.

It then assumes their identity to disguise itself.

(Tristan takes a deep drag and flicks some ashes)

So we save the folk with the aid of the constabulary and some sailors he enlisted and continue to search the boat, all the while it’s sinking. We find it’s lair, and apparently it has a taste for finery. So we strip the whole thing and run for our lives while Sughust and Tindar attempt some foolish deed and go into the bilges.

We all escape and Sughust and Tindar tell us they’ve been tracking this thing for months, crossing paths with us where it leaves it’s victims…it’s stalking us. Specifically?

(Tristan takes a gulp of water and another drag off of his smoke, the plume he exhales perfuming the air)

It’s tracking Nix…she’s…tasty to it.

So? We have a chest, a load of books, and more questions than answers. But, we’re heroes, we’ll persevere.

(Tristan stubs out his cigarette)

“Get some rest. We’re going to go and see a man about a house tomorrow and I want you all to be ready.”

he Big Damn Heroes saved a member of a team that was sent after the missing cartography team. He informed us that his crew was captured by Hobgoblins enroute to the suspected location of the Dwarven tomb.

Through this we found our way to the suspected location where we discovered a secret door in the mountain that was locked by a sound based magical system. Nix was able to make it open at which point our group was ambushed by Troglodytes and a Dragonborn with black Scales outfitted with all magical arms and armor.

We defeated the ambushers, but the noise roused the guardian of the Tomb, a 22 foot tall Cyclops who proceeded to attempt to crush us. With good tactics and a whole lot of inspiration we defeated the beast and made our egress into the tomb.

Inside we discovered the Cartographer, who had been held captive as a snack by the Cyclops and freed him. We made a complete map of the Tomb and found a series of journals detailing the adventures and workings of this great Dwarvish hero who’s weapons had slain Tiamat herself.

We delivered the items to Lady Othel, stink bombed the tavern by being covered in Troglodyte blood, and after a celebration and goodbyes have made our way south toward New Bern.

Our group is going to commission a large wagon to assist in transporting all of our group safely from town to town, so while it is being constructed we are going to spend a week in New Bern before heading south to Saltmarsh to complete the very first
Mission we were tasked with.

Everybody has 40 hours of downtime in which to select jobs from the New Bern job board.

the next session is going to be this Sunday April 7th as a bonus session from 12:30 to 4pm. During which we will make our way to Saltmarsh.

(Originally posted by Tristan)

For those of you who were frequenting the Bern It! Tavern During the last week you would have definitely heard the raucous party that happened on the evening of Wednesday. Gul’dan, Tristan, and Vandor had decided to go out to the place where the Oolitic caravan had been ambushed by the Kenku and hunt down their lair to try and secure the road between Vegas and New Bern. They come back with a wagon load of supplies and weapons that they had looted from an abandoned hunting lodge that had been overtaken by the Kenku and found a rather disturbing hidden room inside where several Travelers from Cobbleton, a town south of Saltmarsh, had been kidnapped and nearly starved in anticipation of their sale into slavery.

One of the items recovered was a coded book that had 241 check marks in various columns that we interpreted as counts of people that the Kenku had sold. Having rescued these people and securing the road we celebrated the night and any of you may have been there. The next morning Gul’dan and Tristan have a private conversation in the corner over breakfast after Tristan checks the job board. He takes the job to deliver a package from New Bern to Berle and seems to over prepare for the journey, buying a new set of lighter armor and a shield, getting a different horse to ride, and taking a very light amount of supplies for what would surly be a three to four day journey. He arrives back in town after a full six days at 8pm, exhausted, at the Bern It! Tavern with pieces of leather sewn into the thighs of his trousers and a silk horse blanket on the horse he borrowed from the hostler. He acts like he’s been through hell and after a short conversation with Gul’dan goes upstairs and passes out.