The group departed Stilt Town for the port city of Amon Sin, carrying the decaying body of Ka'Gron. The normal distance of the voyage was about 4 days away, but they were careful to pack an extra week's worth of iron rations and water aboard the ship (which they still have). It took about 5 days to reach the city; on the way there they were near land when a strong ocean storm blew in, and so they weathered the storm in a sheltered cove. As they were sailing away from land, they spotted several fish-bodied mermen swimming alongside the ship, one of them threw a spear at Durus when he went to the railing to do something questionable. The rest of the voyage was uneventful and the winds were agreeable. When the group arrived in Amon Sin, they first went to a local dockside tavern to get an idea about this strange and foreign Stygian city. They discovered that all the Stygian gods possessed temples in the city. Gods of chaos and law were worshiped openly and equally throughout the city, and that the city did major trade with the city of Ahrima, belonging to Omphir, located across the Stygian Sea. They also found out that Amon Sin acts as a gateway city for trade with the mysterious inner parts of Stygia. The first day they were in the city, Durus visited the local temple of Set, and obtained an expensive set of cleric prayer scrolls as well as paid the temple priests to raise Ka'Gron back from the dead. Ka'Gron was weakened by the event, and was forced to rest for 2 weeks (real life time). Meanwhile, Ramkus and Kyle ventured out to the bazaar, and Kyle made use of Ramkus' ability to detect magic in order to search for magic weapons in the market. While they were looking, a seedy looking merchant approached the pair and asked them if they were interested in purchasing a treasure map. Ramkus used his amulet of ESP to hear the thoughts of the merchant, and discovered that the merchant had found the map that very morning from a dead vagrant in the street and intended to scam the pair of adventurers out of their gold. Ramkus grabbed the map out of the merchant's hands and confronted him with this secret knowledge. The merchant yelled for the guards, and was able to grab the attention of a pair who were watching over the crowds nearby. The guards recognized the merchant as a local swindler, and decided to take him off to jail, but offered Ramkus a chance to avoid some jail time by greasing their palms with coin. Ramkus refused and wanted to play things straight, so the guards hauled him off to jail to stand trial before a magistrate. Ramkus' was charged with Theft by the magistrate, and attempted to bribe his prison guards (but was unsuccessful and they didn't take the money). He discovered that he would be hanged if found guilty, and so he hired a court jester as defense and paid several other court members off to improve his chances. The magistrate found Ramkus not guilty, and ordered his personal effects be returned. Once Ramkus was released, Durus, Kyle, Ka'Gron's new character, and Ondraedon were on the way to the bazaar when they were ambushed by pirates in the early morning streets of the seafront district. The group was able to defeat the group by putting to sleep most of them and casting hold person on the leader. The leader admitted to recognizing them earlier and attacking them for the bounty that was offered by the Cult of the Eternal Queen. They led the leader back to the docks to find his ship, and approached the dock master to force the held leader to transfer title of the ship to the group, but the dock master was suspicious that something had been done to the leader. The group tried to tell the truth to the dock master, and ordered the leader to explain what happened, but the leader explained again that he was chasing the bounty on their heads. The dock master didn't believe the leaders story complete, but when he called over the guards to take everyone into custody one of them recognized the leader as an infamous outlaw and he and his crew were properly arrested and the ship confiscated. The group received the reward that had been offered on the outlaw instead of being arrested themselves. The group finally made it back to the bazaar and Ramkus was able to detect a magical unaligned sword among a merchant's wares. Kyle bargained with the merchant who wasn't aware of quite what he had. Kyle obtained a +1 magic longsword of no alignment or intelligence. Ka'Gron's new character also purchased a horse and put it aboard the ship. The group returned to the island of Baalor under favorable winds and weather, and ventured back into the Palace. They made their way eastward down the main hallway, crossing the first intersection and beginning their investigation of rooms in earnest. The first room was a small maze-like passage which dead ended a mystical symbol in bas-relief. They made rubbings of this symbol on black vellum, and discovered that it could be used to kill rats. The group continued eastward and turned northward at a branching hallway. They found a room with a dried up bath pool filled with sand, cats, and their waste. Ondraedon cast speak with animals and talked with one of the cats who led them to their caretaker, Zovar, a madman in a hidden room next door who claimed to be a werewolf. Zovar told the group all sorts of things, and eventually convinced Freddy to leave him a portion of his 1st level cleric scroll to study. The group soon departed and returned to Stilt Town. *************************************************************************** Player Characters: Ramkus, Ondraedon, Kyle, Durus, Ka'Gron/New Character (none earned since they weren't on the adventure long enough). XP and Loot was stated already for the pirates encountered in Amon Sin. XP and Loot for the short expedition into the Palace is as follows: Total Monster XP: 775 Total Loot XP: 2110 Total Gold: 110 +1 Neutral Sword "Crazy Wolf": EGO 8, INT 12, Can detect metal (unlimited), detect lycans (unlimited), see invisibility (1/day), detect traps (1/day), heal 6hp (1/day), and has the ability to read magic (unlimited). 9x +1 Magic Arrows Each player receives a share of 24 gold pieces , and Durus' henchman receives 14 gold . Remember to split the loot or pay your guys like the rules say below. Each player receives 722xp , and must split that with their companions. Each hireling (cooks, porters, torch bearers) that accompanied you will take 2% of the gold from their employer's share of the loot. Each level 0 mercenary will take 10% of the gold from their employer's share of the loot, and if you don't have a companion you may try to recruit them; you may also level them by sharing your xp to turn them into henchmen. Each level 1 or higher henchman will take 1/2 the gold from their employer's share of the loot; and you may allocate any amount of your xp to them. Each companion will take 1/2 the gold from their controlling player's share of the loot, and you must share 1/2 of the earned xp with them as well.
