Dalnor/Campaign1/session-9
Unintended Consequences
Session Date: January 3, 2009
Diplomacy Is Saying “Nice Doggy” Until You Find A Rock
Harvest 18, 53
Having negotiated with the local dwarf, the party loads up the dragon corpse and ships it down stream. The dwarf pilots the boat. The trip is uneventful.
The party arrives in town in the middle of the afternoon. The dock master is less than pleased that a group of mercenaries have landed on his pier with a dragon corpse. He starts making noises about not letting the party wander around the town with a dead dragon. The party offers to go get Ruben to help smooth things over. The dock master agrees.
When asked about why they had the whole dragon when all they needed was dragon scales, Varien responded: "We didn't know which one they wanted"
Alex has a short conversation with one of the dock workers, who quickly scurries off.
While Lucius runs off to the dwarves to have them return with a survey team and (hopefully) a proposal for the dragon carcass, Safira goes to find Ruben to help smooth things over with the dock master. She finds Ruben at the main guild hall talking to some merchants. Ruben asks for a status report. He wants to know why they are in town if they don't have all the items needed to save his daughter. Safira says that they have the dragon at the pier and once that is disposed of they will head out to get the foxfire. Hearing that the party has a dead green dragon (and the resultant Green dragon scales) he says that he will help.
Once Safira is done talking to Ruben, the merchants that were talking to Ruben ask to talk to Safiria. They are the merchants she had contracted to deliver the note to the temple in the lower half of town. The merchants had had their rooms raided and all of their papers stolen. Safira says she will take care of this problem, post-haste.
Safiria and Ruben head up to the docks to look at the dragon, and arrive at roughly the same time as Lucius returns with the dwarven trade contingent. Lucius has already explained that the party is interest in a flexible basket of compensation for the carcass, including trade goods, magic items and (of course) gold. The dwarves send for an evaluator to look at the dragon. While they wait, Alex's associate, a man named John the Chemist, arrives wanting to harvest some of the choice parts of the dragon.The party contracts for poison manufacture with John the Chemist.
Ruben sorts out the dockmaster and generally facilitates the movement of the dragon corpse in the city, provided all the remains are dealt with and out of the public eye by sundown.
Morgrim Thundershock and a dwarf referred to as Stoneshaver arrive to inspect the dragon and dicker over a price. The negotiations are short and amicable, with those wishing pay in "store credit" receiving a bit more in compensation than those who simply want cash. Negotiate for pay on the dragon. Some cash, some goods. Dwarves send in a fire crew and battleforce to protect the corpse. Morgrim instructs his bursar to write paper chits for the goods and the cash, payable to the bearer, but Safiria entreats his indulgence and requests that he accompany her now to claim her share, citing a concern that a curse from an adversary might cause the paper to disappear before she has been paid. Morgrim is taken aback, and wonders what bad omens this pale Eladrin wisp of a Warlock might be bringing down on his house, but grants her request.
Leaving the dawrven quarter of the city, the party stops to decide if they should raid the mysterious house so they can get the merchants papers back. Al gathers information on the house and its inhabitants while the party relaxes in a local tavern. When Alex returns, the news is not good. The house is owned by a group of people who execute contracts. "It wouldn't be in your best interest to rattle their chain". Al gets the hint that raiding the house would not be in their best interest.
Concerned that their new foes could be very well informed about the party, their affiliations and their temporary lodging arrangements, the party opts to sleep outside of town.
Harvest 19, 53
The party passes the day outside of town, mending armor and other essential tasks until it is time to collect the poison from the chemist. Safiria spends the time writing notes on nine blank pages torn from the necromancer's notebook, then burning eight of them in a frying pan and placing the ashes in a small envelope affixed to the remaining page, sealing it with wax and handing it to Alex for delivery when he goes to town for the poison.
Alex leaves for his errands and picks up the poison from the chemist, and learns that several gentlemen have stopped in looking for him and the party. Alex hastily deposits the note Safiria has given him with a street urchin who he knows to be a reliable delivery agent.
The party begins their travel to the honeycomb, which will take a full day to complete. They camp several miles away from town, far enough from the threat of the mysterious group that the necromancer has contracted with.
Harvest 20, 53
Travel to the honeycomb is uneventful, and by evening the party enters the honeycomb and is allowed to pass through the checkpoint by the goblin guards, again using the excuse that they are there to conduct business. Safiria leads the party to the Dripping Stalactite, and talks to Stan about finding the white variety of foxfire. He indicates it will take some time, and Safiria buys a nights lodging for the party, leaving extra to Stan to compensate for his troubles.
Safiria gathers Alex and goes to negotiate with Soolian over delivery of the poisons he had commissioned earlier. He agrees to a rate of 600gp per vial of dragon poison, a fair price for such an exotic and hard to come by substance. Unfortunately, Soolian doesn't have the money to cover the entire purchase, so Soolian makes a partial payment of 1000gp for two vials on the promise of the balance when they return in a few days time. Safiria agrees and has Soolian pay Alex for the poison. Safiria gives him two bottles as a show of good will.
The party stays overnight in the Dripping stalactite.
Harvest 21, 53
In the morning, Stan introduces a guide named YikYik, who knows of a warren of Kobolds that are worshiping something that fits the description of the white foxfire. With no other leads, the party follows Yikyik beyond the confines of the Honeycomb into the deep dark. The party passes a duergar mining party. Neither group attempts to acknowledge the other and they head out on their way.
The party pulls off to the side of the tunnel to sleep.
Harvest 22, 53
The following day, Yikiyik leads them to within a mile of the kobold tribe, but indicates he will go no closer. Trying to avoid a one-way drop off and becoming lost in the deep delving of tunnels, the party promises a bonus payment for waiting 12 hours before returning to the honeycomb. Yikyik reluctantly agrees to wait where he is for the agreed time before returning to the surface.
Travelling down the passage, the party hears a Kobold trying to quietly set up an ambush. He is the first of many Kobolds killed as the party raids the kobold cavern. Lots of tight narrow tunnels that hem the party in while allowing the kobolds to move around. In the end, they manage to carve a swath of destruction through the kobold lair, killing
the kobold chief, but still without finding any fox fire.
End Session
Previously: Dragon hunting
Continued in: Mopping Up
Campaign 1 Index
Notes: Bryan Gordon stood in for Pat as Crash this session. The note and ashes delivered by Safiria were a post-game addition agreed by the GM, Safiria and Alex.
The party was trying to list people who they may be enemies with. The list includes but is not limited to:
Mortician (and his employees, rabble and twitching undead minions)
Nimia (and her associates, henchmen and assorted rabble)
People they haven't pissed off but are working on:
Unnamed house in Mormoon
Favors owed:
Lord Thunderhead
Other Contacts:
Lord Maedros
Rubin Wheel Turner
Soolian
Morgrim Thundershock (plus lackeys, smiths and battle patrol)
People who are probably annoyed with the party but probably don't amount to a hill of beans:
Baylon
