Interlude 7: Rolling in cash

[drpete]

Randolpho

Janus laughs. "Tell you what... I'll take the items, and identify them. You can then 'buy' them back from me, as you get the money... I think you've confused me with someone who wants to do thousands of gold pieces worth of free work for you, or you think I'm an idiot. Now, think through your situation... if I want to take your magic items right now, can you stop me? Hrmmm... there's an idea...sure, Randolpho, I'll identify them for you, for free, give them to me, and I'll get back to you in a few months" This last part is said with a bit of sarcasm, but he puts his hand out, as if expecting you to hand over a magic item.

Quinn

Are we just sort of vamping here, or do you have something you want to do? It feels like you want something to happen, but I don't know what. Are we just "worldbuilding"? Do you want to have Morna heal you, or are we just sort of hanging out exploring the temple?

Quinn talks to the acolytes. They tell him about how they are doing their duty to their families by joining the church. Tyche is the name in this world for "Fortuna" the goddess of Fortune. She brings prosperity and "good fortune" but she is very fickle, and just as often brings ruin. They talk about her in a fairly abstract way, seeming to go back and forth between talking about her as a person and talking about fortune or luck as just an idea. None of them seem terribly interested in joining you in a life of adventure.

You tell the acolytes that Morna is free to visit you, but you told her that you wanted a night of meditation, so she leaves you to it.

There are various people dressed in clerical garb moving around the temple. Not being all that familiar with how these organizations work, you clearly see that the membership is fairly female dominated, but there are also men who seem to be directing some of the action. You see a fit, middle-aged man who looks kind of like a captain of the guard surveying the temple security, and you see a distinguished man with a beard who seems to be teaching a group of students. There is also a matronly figure who seems to be "overseeing" these young ladies, though she is in the background, not interacting with you directly.

Solaine

Solaine goes out drinking and celebrating with the city guardsmen. This is a rowdy group, but the very worst venality of rough men has been trained out of them, and they know better than to be too "handsy" with a trained bladedancer.

[barkman]

Randolpho gets up and leaves, Calling over his shoulder, "As I expected, you have too small of a vision to invest in proven delvers that can return with with that which you seek"

[Stirling]

Quinn

Well I wasn't sure what to expect. Sure Quinn wants his leg healed, it is why he came here. But I didn't think it right to just go hey heal my leg, how much? Also when you wrote Morna offers you to be an agent of fate and winks at me, I didn't know if you meant it as a seductive 'be my agent, I'll favour you. Here are somethings I need doing or finding in the mount'. So I thought him spending a night contemplating what ' being an agent of Fate' means and giving Morna an opportunity to approach him privately if she wished.

If able, Quinn will approach the scholarly old man. "Excuse me Sir, I note your lessons and you seem to have these years of experience and wisdom. Perhaps you could enlighten me with regard to issues I have faced within my travels." Quinn will share about the gaming ghosts, the possession of the dwarf and the undead wight and guardian ghoul. "How may Tyche help me overcome such hostiles, can I learn the ways of being warded from such fiends?"

[drpete]

Randolpho:

Janus calls back "Come back when you can afford my services. If you're as good as you say, that won't be long..."

Quinn:

They aren't setting an explicit price, they're saying 'we'll heal you, pay what you think it's worth and what you can afford'. It's a sliding scale. They are expecting a couple hundred gold, basically, but you can be generous or thrifty, depending on how much you value the relationship and/or want to foster something going on here. She's open to you converting to the church, if you want, and you might gain something from being a member of the church, but it's not necessary. Keep in mind that Morna is a High Priestess and Senator in the biggest City State in the local area, and you're basically at the level of a small business owner. She's not bigger fish to fry.

For what it's worth, the gods here are 'real' and will act (in subtle ways) in the world if you please or anger them, but whether you want to seek out that kind of interaction is up to you.

You talk to the old man, whose name is Hamund. He smiles at you patiently as you describe your encounters with various monsters. "Well, you look like a man of action, so let me give you a few nuggets of wisdom, of a practical nature. It's said that Fortune favors the brave. It seems that you and your friends chose to meet these threats head on, to dive in, and she seems to have smiled upon you. You've survived and lived to tell the tale!" He claps you on the back. "That's wonderful! The rest of that saying, of course is... 'Fortune favors the brave, but not always!' There are no guarantees with luck. You can do things to improve your chances, but Tyche is fickle, and will take you down if you insult her, or just to see the look on your face. She's a bitch that way. So your best chance lies in staying on her good side. If you lose her today, don't expect her to come back to you tomorrow!"

"Another proverb for you... Fortune helps those who help themselves. Or put another way, you've got to make your own luck. Seize your opportunities when they come. Little opportunities often pass us by unnoticed. Open yourself to them, and follow through, and you'll find all sorts of magic is happening all around you. We sometimes call that 'serendipity' but you might think of it as little games Tyche is playing with us. They can be great fun, and very profitable, but only if you are watching for them. As for your monsters, you might think about carrying some blessed water on your next journey. Or are you too much of the flesh to believe in blessings?"

Solaine

In your drinking and carousing, the guards mention that the crazies have been out 'in force' lately... things they generally associate with the new moon, like crazy screamers and violent assaults, seem to be more common these days. Maybe it's something in the water...?

[Stirling]

Quinn

"Thank you Elder Hamund, I shall take your words as an opportunity that knocks. Let me see how opening the door fares for good or ill." Quinn shakes this man's hand and prepares to leave for his room. "This blessed water, is there a font I may avail myself of a flask full."

[drpete]

Hamund smiles, and nods. "We do provide blessed water to those in need of it. We ask for a 25 gold donation for it. Something I'm sure you can provide, sir. Speaking of services of the church, you seem to be in need of healing...we can provide that for you. Unfortunately, as with all things, you will get what you pay for. If you want our strongest prayers, which can heal you immediately, that will require a donation of 500 gold. If you need to save some money, we can repair most of the damage and after about a day of rest, you'll be good as new. That'll cost 325. If you want us just to pray that the knee will heal properly, that's cheapest. We can do that for 150 gold, but you might need a week or so to recover. You interested...?"

[Stirling]

Quinn

Thanks Hamund for his help. He will take the healing ministration and rest up for a day if that is acceptable. It might also give him chance to further discovery the wax and wanings of Tyche's whims. -325 gp

Quinn will organise to buy three blessed water flasks, though will have to come back for those. The next day he will seek Morna out and ask if she requires more of the Oracle.

[drpete]

They take Quinn into a natural underground cave, glistening with crystalline rock formations. He is stripped, and tied, spread-eagle on a cold, stone slab. His leg is slathered with blood, and bugs are spread on it. The priestesses chant prayers in a language Quinn does not understand as the bugs slither over his leg. Finally, a torch is run back and forth over it, and clear water poured on it.

Eventually, the leg is washed off, and Quinn is given his robe back. His leg hurts. A lot.

Does anybody else want to do more stuff? Recruit, or party, or anything? It looks like Torgyr will go up another level (to lvl 3) from his expenditures, but Solaine won't get to lvl 4. We can handwave Ranulf's wild time, play some more out, or have him vanish into the underworld/catch up later.

Though I understand the desire to keep Galen on, I think he's going to stay in Adamas, so if you want another priest/priestess, you'll need to recruit one. Otherwise, you have Zim and Solaine. Zim is *almost* able to cast spells.

[kalstone]

I'm fine with playing out Ranulf's escapades if that's what Dogma wants to do.

[drpete]

I'm ok with that, if he wants to, and am happy to turn that into something wild and worthwhile, but if there's not much other business, we should get back to doing some adventuring

If Ranulf want to just summarize it, he can give me a sense of how much money he wants to spend carousing, and we can go from there.

Do you guys, generally, want to go back to Dwimmermount, seek a side adventure here around Adamas, follow up on the treasure map, or something else?

[Dogma]

Sorry for the on again/off again posting. Just have a convergence of work and life that just when I think things are going to normalize gets all wonky again. Nothing bad...just busy and attention hogging.

I don't want to hold us up from getting back to the mountain. I was going to have Ranulf go with games of skill...and he was willing to play until he lost 300 gp or for a couple hours if he was up cash. Then it's drinking and carousing. Total expenditure would be 200 gp (plus any losses from gambling).

[barkman]

Randolpho will return and tell everyone that his mentor will not be willing to share any knowledge of the treasures we have found, unless we return with gold, or 10 gallons of the stuff flowing out of the broken pipe.
"Even just returning with that may be worthwhile as a moneymaking venture"

[Stirling]

Quinn

can he rest in the Tyche church until healed up fully?

If not he finds digs with everyone else. Before going he will see Morna or Hamund if he can and ask regarding this 'spider cult' that has an underground of webs and threats in Adamas. It is obviously secretive though I remember one of the party opening a 'wrong' door into some kind of meeting. Dies Morna gave any suspicions of who or where cultists are involved?

[drpete]

Quinn:

The spell seems to have done something to Quinn's bad knee, so that it hurts a lot more than usual. He is allowed to rest and meditate in the Temple. Over the course of a full day of resting, the pain in his knee subsides, and it actually feels better. [the penalties are gone].

After this is done, he goes to see Morna, who greets him kindly. Quinn asks her about the spider cult. She acknowledges that yes, she knows that there are worshippers of Arach Nacha at work here in Adamas, but they have not been able to locate them. Occasionally they find a house filled with spiderwebs. In the spiderwebs are bodies which seem to have been poisoned by a powerful venom. They know that this is a sign that the cult is active, but they do not have active leads, at the moment.

Randolpho:

After a day of looking around, a man comes to you to offer his services (Advertising in Adamas is more expensive... it costs 11 gp). His name is Nazares Malakis, which is not a name local to Adamas. He tells you it's an old Thulian name, and that he is a venturer interested interested in ancient history, and in the exploring of ancient Thulian sites like Dwimmermount. You guys get along, and he is willing to join up with you guys, either to come along on the adventures, or to stay here as your local representative, however you want that to work. This is the first guy to accept your offer... the ads will run for a week.

Ranulf

You have a wild night partying and gambling. Overall, you only end up 10 gp down from your gambling. The drinking and celebrating is pretty wild, but things do not get so out of control that something horrible happens. Mark off the 210 gp (and you'll gain that much xp).

Solaine

After your night of adventure, you wake up with a bandage over a sore spot. You wake up with a tattoo in either a very visible, or very embarrassing spot. Do you want to pick out what it is, or should I?

[kalstone]

You can pick. (Famous last words)

[Stirling]

Quinn

Can Morna give Quinn and introduction of the name if the officer in charge of investigating the spiderweb houses? Are the found bodies a random family in their home or several apparent strangers bought to a specific place. Is there any reward being offered in Adamas by the council for ' information leading to the arrest/suppressing/closure' of the spider cult.

If no leads, we could just wander by the place noted earlier.

[drpete]

Solaine

Somehow, you got the idea it would be a good idea to get a tattoo of a scarab in the center of your chest. A celebration of your survival, perhaps? It's not visible when you're in armor, etc, but it is visible unless you dress conservatively.

Quinn

It's not generally widely known by the population, partially because a lot of victims seem to be goblins (who are sort of the equivalent of halflings in the setting, but obviously... goblins, so really second class citizens who mostly live on the margins).

This church isnt actively offering a reward or anything. She says that the church of Typhon is much more actively involved in law enforcement, and you could go see them, but they are not big on vigilantes.

Everyone

You are hanging around in a bar, discussing what to do next. A man in a blue mage's cassock notices that you are trying to decide your course of action. He approaches you...

[monayuris]

Liam approaches the group. He is slight of build and wears this slightly over-sized wolf skin cloak over his cassock.

He introduces himself to you all...

"Greetings, I have heard word of you and of you talents. My studies have brought me here to find Thulian histories and relics that may be found within. I believe my knowledge and arcane skill may be of use to you. I would like to join you on your next delve."

[kalstone]

Solaine looks the newcomer over. "It's true we could use some arcane help, but how do we know you truly are skilled in the magical arts? This town seems to be lousy with failed magicians."

[Zorroroaster]

Torgyr grips the man's arm tightly and looks him over. He nods in agreement with Solaine and sits down heavily, an expectant look on his face.