Keep on the Borderlands - The Path of Evil - Session 43

SESSION 43: DAY 18-19 – CRAGMAW CAVE TO THE BURG

The party rests on the 18^th and on the morning of the 19^th they pack their gear and loot and begin their trip back to the Burg.

It is a quiet trip, eerily quiet Lucien thinks to himself, but none the less the trouble free journey is appreciated. 

Upon reaching the Burg they are again challenged by Knight Lorenz, the Corporal of the Watch and half a dozen Brothers of the Watch. 

 Lorenz is impressed by the clearly laden party who are only too eager to put down the various arms and numerous pelts for a quick rest whilst they converse with the Corporal. 

Whilst it seems like an age, it has in fact only been five days since they had left the Burg last.

They ask Lorenz what have been the goings on since then and in particular how did Sildar fair in his great test (see Session 32). Although initially suspicious that the party would enquire after such a thing, Lorenz’s qualms are soon put to rest when he reasons that it is common knowledge that a company of brothers had traveled to take the challenge of Bymbir, Lord of the White, and, as Lucien reminds him, the party had previously rescued Sildar and brought him safely back to the Burg (see Session 5-6).

Lorenz responds, “Sildar has indeed survived the test. He rose to the challenge and survived although many of the company did not”. Lorenz’s voice deepens as he remembers some of his fallen comrades “And,” he adds, “they didn’t defeat Bymbir. Some say they have disturbed the beast too much and it now seeks revenge with its worshipers, filthy lizardmen, snakes, lizards and troglodytes, spilling out into the mountains. Troglodytes and lizardmen have always been a problem in the mountains but now it seems that there is some type of faction war. We don’t know where the other pit of evil is but it is suspected that there is at least one clan in the Caves of Chaos”. 

“Where is Sildar?” Lucien enquires.

“He rests in the main barracks and now answers to Knight Engel, the Sergeant of the Guard.”

The party picks up their gear to enter the Burg but before they do Lorenz sticks out his hand “That’ll be 8gp to enter thank you”. Begrudgingly, Lucien hands over the golden coins. 

They make their way around to the Cold Hart Tavern.

There they find Berrin who is only too happy to see his old customers safely back once again.

Smiling and talking a million miles an hour he asks, “What have you stinking, pointy-eared rockrunts been doing? It’s been so long. Look at all those hides, what have you done?”

The party regal some of their exploits to the proprietor, after all they are so burdened with pelts they cannot hide everything they’ve done. 

“You must have killed over 30 of them. It looks like you’ve slaughtered a whole pack,” he remarks. “But by the babbling, rat-eaten, pestie you stink. I’ll have a bath drawn for you all and your clothes cleaned. What have you been battling? Troglodytes or something?”

As some of the party begin to rest and repair their equipment, Lucien and Talmark go to start to dispose of some of the pelts and collect the bounty on the ears. 

They need to dispose of the gnoll pelts first, so taking Fremont, Barret, Clovis with them, they go to Valor Trading where they find Derag, the half elf trader (see Session 33). 

The establishment is as they remember it with all manner of armour, weapons and large quantities of goods such as salt, spices, cloth and rare woods stacked around the walls and in shelves. Derag looks up as his two sons scurry about the trading hall, moving goods from here to there, counting inventory. 

A wry smile enters upon his face as he recognises Lucien and Talmark, “Oh my sons, look at these slothful, lice-ridden, gas spores” and then turning to Talmark and Lucien he straightens himself and formally addresses the party, “Err what can I do for you good sirs?”

Lucien has Talmark, Fremont, Barret and Clovis put down the 15 male and 20 female gnoll hides.

Dearg scratches his chin as he inspects the goods. “As previously agreed, he states, 10gp for each of the males and 5gp for the females”. 

“What about this pelt,” Lucien asks as he removes the pelt of the gnoll king from his backpack “It is a truly magnificent specimen.”

Dearg examines the pelt closely, “Well it is heavily damaged, with many cuts and wounds upon it. Hmmm I’ll give you 50gp for it.”

And then lastly Talmark, takes a roll of the two hyena skins from his right shoulder and puts it upon the table “And what about these little elf man” he utters in a deep voice. 

“Hmm yes, hyena hide, tough but a little mangy, I’ll give you 5gp a peace.” He orders his sons to take away the pelts and start to prepare them for longer storage. One of them runs to a small store room and returns, dragging a large sack of salt behind him and then they start to lay out the skins, one by one, and put salt on them to preserve them better. 

Dearg disappears momentarily, as he searches under the bench for something and then he pulls out a bag of coins as he counts out the 310gp for payment. 

And finally Lucien adds, “I’ve got two lion pelts, a male and a female and some troglodyte skins, good for leather they’d be. They are back at our lodgings. How much would you say they’d be worth?”

Dearg doesn’t hesitate “Yes I’ve got a great deal of demand for those lions. I’ll give you 150gp for the male and 50gp for the female. Have one of your men bring it around for me when you’ve the time. I’ve got no use for the troglodytes however. But Berowalt in the Minotaur Blacksmithery might want them.”

Lucien tips his hand to his head in a sign of thanks and ushers the party out of the hall. 

“Right” he says as he turns to Talmark “let us go and see Berowalt and then we’ll deal with collecting the bounty from Captain Wallache.”

They walk just a little way to the north and come across Berowalt who is working the bellows, feeding his insatiable forge with air. He doesn’t immediately notice that the party had arrived until they are brought to his attention by Talmark clumsily knocking over some armour that he was having a look at. 

As he turns he recognises the party and a broad, genuine smile spreads across his face. “I’m happy to see that you’ve returned, safe from your travels and adventures. It’s been a few days and I thought you may have succumbed to the evil that is outside these stout walls. How do thee fair?”

Lucien meets Berowalt’s curtesy with his own and tells him of some of their adventures. He asks if he is interested in the troglodyte skins and some of the other loot that they had accumulated. 

Berowalt considers the not inconsequential number of items and offers the following:

·        4 longswords, 7.5gp a piece, 30gp all up

·        13 spears, 0.5gp a piece, 6.5gp all up,

·        20 small short swords, 2.5gp a piece, 50gp all up

·        20 small short bows, 7.5gp a piece, 150gp all up

·        7 shields, 3.5gp a piece, 24.5gp all up

·        1 suit of chainmail, 75gp

·        12 hand axes, 3gp a piece, 36gp all up

·        3 long bows, 37.5gp each, 112.5gp all up

·        8 troglodyte hides, 10gp each, 80gp all up

That would be a total of 564.5gp.

“And we’ve got this” Talmark pulls the falchion +2 held by a sling on his back. 

“Ohh, jeez, I haven’t seen one as good as this for a long while” Berowalt comments whilst he runs his fingers through his thick black hair. “That’d probably be worth, jeez I dunno, err, I could probably pay thee 4,000gp for that. How would that sound?” 

Lucien had previously discussed the price of such a weapon with Malandir and knew this is a fair offer. He nods to Talmark who offers his hand to shake on it. 

Lucien concludes the deal with “I’ll send around a few of my men with the items and to collect the reward. Thanks for your fair prices Berowalt.”

They head back to the Cold Hart Tavern where they find the rest of the party working on their equipment. 

Lucien quickly gets them up to speed. “We’ll it looks like we’ve made close to 5,000gp so far. I’ll take Talmark and Per and go and meet Captain Wallache to collect the bounty on the monster ears. Malandir and Kord, could you organise the men and take the lion pelts to Dearg and the looted weapons and troglodyte skins to Berowalt.” Looking down his nose at the men at arms he shakes his finger as he adds “Don’t cross contaminate those valuable lion pelts with those filthy, stinking troglodyte skins.”

As Per and Malandir accompany their friends to their various tasks they feel that their skills have increased, they feel that they are more capable than ever before (ie they’ve leveled up. Please check the summary character sheet at the end of the post and let me know if I’ve made any errors). 

As they walk they conduct their own mental calculations about their new found wealth. 

And they reflect on the relationships that they have made so far at the Burg.

DEW