Elemental Masters
This campaign ran many years ago, and unfortunately I don't have much by way of records. What I do have is contained here.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Pirate Cleanup
The party rested for the night after rounding up and securing the pirates, and after Darad's funeral. By late morning, the first of the party awoke, and Kessith and Etree set off north across the beach in an attempt to find the pirates' ship. After some 15 minutes, Kessith spotted a small ship anchored about half a mile out. He moved as close to it as he could on the shore, then swam through the reef and onto the ship. Etree went back to camp to spread word, and Kessith sailed the ship as close to the camp as was safe.
After some makeshift repairs on the remaining rowboat, Etree loaded up Svingal Stonefist, the second in command, and the smallest of the pirates and rowed them out the the ship. The rowboat submerged completely some 300 feet away, but Kessith skillfully maneuvered the ship into position nearby and they dragged everyone aboard. Unwilling to risk a return trip on the foundering rowboat, the four sailors set out to return to Coral by sea, waving the rest on to trek through the swamp.
The Return Journey
The overland trek was long, but not difficult. One of the remaining pirates whistled mid-march, calling three lizardmen to their aid, but the party dispatched one and sent the other two running. After about three days, the group returned to Coral and deposited their prisoners in the jail. Rochlathan retrieved the 250gp reward from Mayor Askel, and gave 50 gold each to Nelay and Jed for their shares. He still has Etree's and Darad's shares, along with his own.
Those traveling by sea had a much harder time. In the middle of their second day, they were attacked by four sahuagins, who seemed to be friendly with the pirates. Etree was knocked unconscious in a matter of seconds, and Kessith surrendered shortly after that. The sahuagins untied the pirates and tossed the party into the mostly broken raft to fend for themselves, then leapt back into the water as the pirates sailed away towards the west. Kessith rowed as far as the boat could go, then when that sank carried Etree and swam through the reef to shore, collapsing out of exhaustion.
The two woke up a few hours later, and traveled the rest of the way by land, following the shore. Eventually, they arrived in Coral, tired but alive. The remainder of the party would arrive a few hours later.
Raseb's Wagon
Kessith found a notice posted on the town bulletin asking for help in retrieving stolen goods, and decided to take the job. He met the merchant Raseb in the Stuffed Mattress and heard about how he had been attacked by orcs (he thought) and robbed while he was driving his wagon into town. Raseb offered to pay half the value of any recovered goods as reward. A nearby archer in the inn overheard the conversation, and decided to come along when prompted. Kessith, Etree, Andromadous, and the archer set out immediately to slay the orcs and recover the goods.
While camped for the night, a strange demon approached the camp. It was vaguely humainoid, but seemed to be melting as it walked, and blows against it seemed to fill in after only a few seconds with the continual ooze. After the party's initial attack, it dropped to all fours and charged, attacking the archer and knocking him out a moment later. By the time the demon's attention turned to anyone else, though, it had been severely weakened, and soon lost too much of its body mass to sustain itself, dissolving into a goo.
Continuing their journey that morning, the group entered the woods where Raseb had said he was ambushed. Searching carefully for traces of a fight, they came across an area with several faint but large, booted footprints, and a small scrap of wood that seemed to have been broken off of a finished product. They followed the tracks into the woods and found the orcish camp. Setting up an ambush, they half surrounded the orcs, then fired into the camp, attacking from multiple directions at once. The group made short work of the eight orcs, most not even taking a scratch. They retrieved the wagon from the camp, hitched up some mules they had bought back in town, and rode it back to Coral.
The Robbery
Raseb, upon the return of his goods and wagon, paid Kessith 100 gold, estimating the value of the remaining goods to be around 200 gold total. Raseb had closed the door to his room before retrieving payment, leading Kessith to believe that he was not being completely honest. Kessith decided, therefore, that this was a gross underestimate, and thought that he should take matters into his own hands.
Later that day, while Raseb was out selling his goods and restocking others for the return trip, Kessith and Etree worked out a plan to rob him. Kessith challenged the innkeeper to an arm-wrestling contest, and during the match, Etree crept up to the innkeeper and stealthily removed his key ring from his belt. Kessith took the keys and went to Raseb's room. Rummaging around, he found a small box hidden underneath the bed. Inside was a silver chain necklace, along with several rows of gold coins, lined up like poker chips. Kessith emptied the box into his own bag, then closed the lid and slid it back under the bed.
When Raseb returned that night, he stopped at the party's table in the tavern and gave Kessith an additional 20 gold, saying he had managed to sell the goods for a little more than he had expected. He went up to his room, and a few minutes later came back down, whispered with the innkeeper, packed up, and left. The group hurriedly discussed options, and sent Andromadous to follow him. He saw Raseb heading out through the east gate, then went back to the Stuffed Mattress and brought Kessith to track him down. They went out the east gate, headed along the trail for more than half an hour, then realized he probably went off the trail at some earlier point. They backtracked, searching for any sign of passage through the plains. Finally, about five feet away from the town gate, they found traces of flattened grass to the north. They followed the poor trail around the city wall to the west gate, then began to head west along the road. Two hours later, they decided he must have gone back into the city, and turned around to get some sleep.
The next morning, they found him in the town hall, under protection from the guards. He seemed extremely distrusting of the group, especially Kessith, and after a chat, the group left him alone.
The Pirate Hunt
Etree interrogated the pirate prisoners in their cell, threatening to cover them in melted cheese and let the rats nibble on them until they confessed the likely location of Svingal. After some harassing, they decided to tell him that the escaped pirates could probably be found on Nechel Island, only a few miles out to sea. They also explained that there would probably be anywhere from four to twelve additional pirates there at the time.
Without further ado, Kessith contacted Captain Arth of the Dagoda, whom he had met at the Drunken Sailor a short while previously, and hired him to ferry the party out to the island and back. They set sail, reaching the island after only a couple hours, and circled around it until Etree spotted a hidden cave entrance from the crow's nest.
The party went into the cave in a dinghy, and quickly found two pirates enjoying their stew. They slaughtered both pirates, then moved on until they came upon a larger group of them further back in the cove. Kessith cast darkness on a gold coin and threw it onto the ship that was docked near the camp, then the party began firing arrows and bolts at the pirates on shore. The pirates fought back, but were no match. One tried to flee to the ship, but was unable to see or steer properly. Etree burned his oar and hands while Kessith and Andromadous hacked the oar apart. Calling for the pirates' surrender, they pushed the ship back against the shore. Four pirates disembarked, including Svingal Stonefist, the dwarf, and were quickly slain.