Session 24
Fall: Months 10, 11, and 12
Aella increases the taxes by 1 gold per peasant family ... then pays off the last loan from Chlodomer (the money just mysteriously showed up!), then revokes the tax. Chlodomer is not displeased, however: he'd given up on the loan in the first place.
The Grim Fist clears out a few more nearby lairs, focusing their efforts on areas near the highway. Nothing exceptional … until they receive news of a purple worm sighting in the deep wilderness to the south, heading north toward Galaufabonne. A quick flight and reconnaissance confirms the presence of several surfacing points. They choose to not take a closer look and instead retreat to plan.
At the worm’s expected travel rate of 12 miles per day, they expect it to arrive in three days, so they send messages to their captains to get their soldiers to the border in three days time. Then they plan to scout out the terrain and think of a way to stop a creature that can burrow under any defenses …
And they might have had a chance to think of something, if purple worms only spent part of the day traveling …
As the party is examining the layout of a river, erupts from the earth and swallows Chlodomer whole, then curves back and begins diving back into the earth to bring its stinger to bear on the party. And then two more worms erupt from the earth, narrowly missing Shadagrunde and Galswintha before uncoiling from the earth and preparing to fight above the surface.
Deep within the belly of the worm, Chlodomer abandons his shield, draws a pair of daggers, and begins grimly scaling the inside of the worm’s gullet using the knives as climbing picks. Unfortunately, the worm deals more damage per round and has more hit points to spare, so things look grim.
On the surface, Galswintha jockeys for position, dodging worms to get to a point where her dragon’s breath can have maximum effect; Vulfelind savages the worm holding Chlodomer; and Shadagrunde summons a spiritual weapon to attack the worms.
The worms sting Galswintha twice … and she shakes off the poison both times. Vulfelind and Shadagrunde are both bitten, but avoid Death’s invitation.
Chlodomer continues his horrible, grinding climb; Vulfelind switches to her crossbow; and Galswintha breathes dragonfire, catching all three worms in its blast.
And then Chlodomer stabs the worm in a major nerve cluster and it thrashes briefly, then stops. Without the stomach muscles grinding, he sighs and starts carving his way out.
Meanwhile, on the surface, Shadagrunde continues to layer spiritual weapons, and Vulfelind switches targets.
And then Galswintha breathes dragon’s fire again, and the second worm turns to crisp … and the third worm is not in particularly good shape. It stings her (she beats the odds again!) and then swallows the diminutive magi whole. Amazingly, she retains consciousness (OOC: well, having fighter-like hp is helpful, I suppose).
And then a shrieking werefox pounces on its head and everything - for the worm - goes dark.
After everyone is dug out and assistance is acquired in hauling the corpses out of their tunnels … the Grim Fist finds, lodged widthwise in one of the worms, a statue of what appears to be elven royalty.
Sadly, the statue’s head was wedged into a different part of the beast than the rest of it, so the attempt at surviving the worm’s guts by means of self-petrification failed. But a stone to flesh treatment later yields a fresh corpse (which is given a proper cremation with an attempt at “elven ritual”) … and some serious treasure.
- Two small sacks with three thousand platinum, and a third sack filled with gold.
- Four amethyst seal cylinders showing a period of elven history thought long-since lost.
- A flawless diamond tooth.
- A royal crown of electrum, studded with star rubies and pearls.
- A royal sceptre of platinum, studded with emeralds the color of deepest ocean.
- Delicate elven plate armor of the finest craftsmanship.
- An actual broadleaf enchanted to hardness and carried as a shield.
- A leaf-themed ebon bow.
- An elven sword layered with platinum, silver, and emeralds.
- A protective scarab.
- And magical lenses of some sort.
Almost all of it aside from the coins and jewels is magical in some fashion or another. With careful expenditures, the magic items turn out to be:
- Plate armor +1, weighs 3 stone, grants +30 movement speed, and acts as boots of striding and springing.
- Shield +1, grants hide in shadows and move silently as thief in wilderness.
- Wyrmtooth (sentient shortsword, Neutral)
- Composite Bow +3
- Scarab of Protection
- Eyes of Petrification, beneficial
(OOC: With no NPC assistance at all, Chlodomer hit level 10 and Shadagrunde hit level 11; Galswintha is still a long ways from level 10; and Vulfelind can’t even see level 11 from here, thanks to the werefox thing.)
Shadagrunde can’t strip out of his chainmail fast enough for the plate armor. Vulfelind takes Wyrmtooth and pairs it with her unwilling sword of luck, who is a bit put out …
Wordthief: Well, my life is over.
Wyrmtooth: Wordthief, is that you?
Vulfelind: You know this sword?
Wordthief: As if I would associate with such a plebian weapon.
Wyrmtooth: You still have all of your wishes?
Vulfelind: Oh. My. Goddess. Wyrmtooth, I want ALL of the embarrassing stories.
Wordthief: Well, my life is over.
On the plus side, they now have a name for the sword of no wishes for you.
Chlodomer - voted most likely to get caught with a deathtouch by a hot necromantic witch - gets the scarab. Galswintha gets the lenses. The remainder gets passed down to henches.
Hex Management
By the end of Fall, everything is borderlands except for those areas that are civilized: Red Meadow, Pegasus Mountain, Utena's Shadow, Bugbear Forest Lake, Ugly Hill, Torn Tree Hill, and Azure Hot Springs. (Oak Circle remains "unpopulated" wilderness, of course.) This does wonders for the income, despite Chlodomer still hanging on to a grossly oversized army.
(OOC: For XP, since Galaufabonne is a group effort, I divided the total GP earned among the group, then awarded XP where that exceeds their GP threshold. This has meant … not a lot of XP. Heh.)
Highway: The completed highway is 10 feet wide and paved for 150 miles (75,000 gold) with a stone townhouse every 12 miles (12 of them, 14,400 gold).
Maintenance: 375 gold/month.
Garrison: 100 light infantry; 300 gold per month.
Income: 600 gold/month.
The garrison costs will go down as the area is civilized, however, and in the meanwhile, the income between Orléans and Atanung essentially allows the extra infantry for only 75 gold per month.
Once the highway is completed, Vulfelind talks Chlodomer into putting Adela and Genofeva in charge of the highway hexes. As they are lair-free, the entire 26-hex length is only a pair of strongholds away from being part of a Galaufabonne realm … and Adela and Genofeva both operate cavalry with the capacity to cover half the highway’s length in a single day, making power projection (at least along the highway) a non-issue.
By the time strongholds begin construction, it looks like they will be done by the end of Year 6.
Once that starts, though … Vulfelind argues that it is time to build “her” city: Bone Temple (in Bone Temple Hill, squarely in the midpoint of the highway, and at the midpoint of three domains-to-be). And since it is the worst hex (Land Value 5 with the efreet wish), a city is one of the few ways it can be profitable.
The city is constructed; peasants are moved in from all over Galaufabonne, and Vulfelind immediately begins building further infrastructure (no one bothers asking whether she’s riddling the city with secret passages).
By the end of the year, Bone Temple has amazingly managed (if barely) Class IV status.
Year 6, Winter, Month 1, Day 1
Atanung's representative arrives on the first day of Winter, concerned by the two fortress constructions going up along the highway, and implies that "concerned parties" beyond just Atanung itself might get involved.
Chlodomer smiles, claps the representative on the shoulder, and says, ever so softly, “The good news is, I don’t believe in killing the messenger. Take your men and go home. Sit by a warm hearth, eat a fine meal, enjoy the company of those you love. Then tell Atanung or whoever it is you are trying to imply you actually represent: No.”
The representative is sent back with Adela’s cavalry as guard, and deposited at the entrance to Atanung, safe, snug, and shaken.
Hench Spotlight: Sir Merideth le Chocolat
As part of this session, we explored the current affairs of one of Shadagrunde's henchmen: Merideth le Chocolat, whom Shadagrunde sponsored for knighthood in the Lady's Church. A small, dark-skinned woman with ankle-length platinum hair and a constant, ready grin. WIS and CHA +3! Bears the lady's cane (mace +2 which can cure disease once per day).
Currently leading a small cavalry force chosen for their elite skill, loyalty, and gender; and despite the best efforts of Adela and Genofeva, they have made a name for themselves as the premier cavalry in Galaufabonne … and the Church has approached Shadagrunde on a few occasions to try to borrow them (Shadagrunde has argued, thus far successfully, that they are doing the Lady’s work in Galaufabonne, and that keeping Galaufabonne is an important, long-term strategic goal).
Merideth’s cavalry is composed primarily of six church knights of varying ability, plus her squire and their squires:
- Squire Tescelina de Galaufabonne
- Sir Airsenda de Galaufabonne and Squire Sibilla de Galaufabonne
- Sir Ermingardis d'Orléans and Squire Nicholaa de Paris
- Sir Alia d'Orléans and Squire Racilda d'Orléans
- Sir Aliberta d'Atanung and Squire Cecilibrunde d'Atanung
- Sir Sigebald de Paris and Squire Bertaswind de Galaufabonne
- Sir Vuit d'Atanung and Squire Hathvidis de Galaufabonne
All serve the Lady and can bring the Lady’s grace to the battlefield; all are armed and armored with the best and most expensive gear available; all ride only the finest heavy war horses, and string along seconds for great need. What they lack in numbers, they make up for with seeming invincibility.
In addition to the core group, each of Merideth’s companions have supporting employees of various sorts. Beyond their squires, most have employed the services of 2-3 devout but non-casting warriors (also functioning as cavalry), horse handler, lantern bearer, and scroll bearer. Sir Alia has also acquired the services of two devout wizards who serve the Lady with their arcane might; Sir Airsenda and Sir Vuit both employ the services of a trap-finder; and Sir Sigebald employs a wilderness guide.
Recent rumors have placed a new troup of bandits in hex #1605, Mistwood Springs, where they prey on travelers and hide from the highway’s protectors. At the request of Shadagrunde, they have come to cleanse the springs.
Mistwood Springs is mostly valley, with a multitude of small, warm springs and resulting streams heading north. With little information, they hunt for trailsign and camp sign, until Sigebald’s tracker finally spots signs that the bandits were recently nearby.
Very recently! The ambush of arrows is brutal, and the rogues remain unseen in woods filled with the mist of warm springs hitting snow.
The bandits, however, are not as prepared as they think for the prey they have caught. Detect evil and locate object (for quivers of arrows!) quickly reveals the location of the primary groups of bandits, and they cannot melt away fast enough to escape the devoted cavalry.
Moments later, the bandits are tied up and given first aid … and the first regains consciousness, only to see Merideth’s teeth in a broad smile.
“You will live to see the inside of a court if you tell me where you camp. If you do not, we will see if the gentleman next to you will live to see the inside of a court.”
They can’t talk fast enough.
At the bandit camp, four flame strikes and a cavalry charge end all hope for the bandits before they realize they had hope to lose. First aid and rope is parceled out, strays are hunted down, and almost two hundred brigands, less those who died, are lectured on the folly of opposing the Lady in matters of faith and war.
They are then marched to the outskirts of Galaufabonne, where Merideth speaks to Shadagrunde, who speaks to Chlodomer … and Chlodomer and Merideth together interview the brigands to determine what drove them outlaw.
For many, it is entirely too obvious that a weak character and greed brought about their sorry state; these are charged and convicted of assault and theft, whipped and fined, and then sent to one of the larger temples near Orléans to work off their penance - as they lack the funds to pay the fines.
For some, it is equally obvious that they are simply evil, and bear no one good will. These are charged and convicted of robbery, fined (mostly for show), and beheaded.
But most have a sufficiently persuasive sob story, and swear under oath most prettily that they, themselves, have never murdered, that Merideth asks Chlodomer to stay his hand. They are charged only with theft, placed in the stocks rather than whipped, and fined the minimum amount … and then offered a place to work off their penance in Galaufabonne, where they can become citizens if they behave loyally for three years (the time required for “basic service” to pay off 150 gold in fines), without further stigma.
Of great interest to everyone, quite beyond the normal treasures of the bandits, is an artifact of the Lady: a necklace of platinum, with two diamonds upon it. Each diamond is said to be a mortal lifespan, which can be sacrificed to resurrect a cleric of the Church (both may be sacrificed for anyone else).
Merideth gifts the necklace to Shadagrunde as the divine patriarch of Galaufabonne; who gifts it to Chlodomer as the ruler of Galaufabonne; who gifts it to Galswintha as “most likely person in Galaufabonne to find the right use for it.”