Expedition - Fingers/Heading West - 10 May 2021

[onlyme]

Half pint is good with that.

[Starbeard]

Grizzle Miss is fine.

[Marullus]

I'd suggest just hand-waving that the other stuff weighs less than 350 lbs and we move on at 3/4 speed.

I'll allow that hand-waiving. You move back to town at 3/4 speed.

The group sets to business, clearing out and heading back home. They get the valuables and coins up to the surface, round up their animals, and set them for the trip back. Clay Weatherwax, concerned with the reclaiming and purifying of this unholy site, returns to the hand-dug chamber. Invoking prayers to Beith he blesses the chamber and all the earth which surrounds it. The withered white roots in the chamber walls grow more robust and a fresh smell of springtime and organic loamy soil blooms in the room. On the surface above, the withered yellow grasses perk up, flower buds appearing where they weren't before.

Satisfied, and with much of the day still before you, the group turns southeast to head back to Gaul. You travel nine hours until nightfall then set up camp, rising shortly after dawn. The two clerics look over the latest acquisitions. They confirm that the sword, books, orb, and horn are all also magical. Casper also spends some extra time studying the horn, as he indicated.

You set out with the day ahead of you. Before long, Gaul appears on the horizon - you find that you were significantly more east than you had expected, apparently getting lost somewhere along your route. You adjust southward and arrive at the gates about 2:00 in the afternoon instead of at nightfall -- a welcome respite after your days of walking.

Day: 13 May 2021
Time: 2:00 pm
Injuries: Mors (minor)


Coins:
You go to the usurer and unload 1,400 silver coins (140lbs), 3,000 electrum coins (300lbs), and 20 gold coins (2lbs). He take 16gp as his exchange fee and gives you each 20 platinum pieces (200gp) as your shares.

Gems:
The usurer also evaluates your gemstones, which he'll purchase at 80% of value or which you can keep whole and divvy up:

100gp - red-flecked green bloodstone
75gp - muddy black onyx
75gp - golden yellow topaz
25gp - striated green malachite
25gp - chipped blue-green turquoise
25gp - blue quartz
25gp - banded agate

The merchants appraise your jewelry as objects d'art. The chess set they'll buy for 80gp, the more expensive pieces they'll buy for 25% now or more in three months if you sign a contract to sell it on commission.

Jewelry:
1100gp - A silver ring with the symbol of a cloud with three lightning bolts on a shield shape and set with 7 Clear Quartzes. It is of kingly workmanship.
400gp - a platinum locket set with 6 Red Garnets.
100gp - a simple but elegant limestone chess set

Items:
You then have the following items to divide amongst yourselves. (** means it is magical)
- An iron-banded wooden chest with sturdy locks upon it. (locks currently picked and open)
** a massive leather-bound book, ancient with crumbling pages and Eldrich markings on its covers, with wizard sigils. - (in lock chest)
** a massive leather-bound book, ancient with crumbling pages and Eldrich markings on their covers, with dedications to dark gods. - (in lock chest)
** a large glass orb which is filled with swirling liquid darkness. - (in lock chest)

** a bronze dwarven warhorn with finely-detailed engraving work on it showing a succession of crowned dwarves. (Packed. Corbin/Clay)
** A longsword is of superb quality, a slender blade etched with runes along its length. It has a plain ball pommel and a black leather hilt. (Wrapped in cloth and packed. Corbin)
** One set of dwarf-sized banded mail in good condition (Halfpint)
** A steel roundshield that is unusually light (Silent)
** A well-worn heavy spear with a elongated head (1d8, can't be thrown) (Corbin)
** A well-worn spear with remains of a banner (Fingers)
** A masterfully-made dwarven crossbow with snarling hound carvings worked in the side (Corbin)
- 20 damaged crossbow bolts (Corbin)
- An unlocked wooden chest protecting a set of leatherbound journals written in Dwarvish (Clay Weatherwax)
- a dozen iron keys of various shapes (Clay Weatherwax)


Expedition Summary:

Location: the Stone Run
Encounter: Kumsor, the Invisible Panther
Location: The ghoul millhouse
Encounter: Ghouls on the plains
Encounter: Ghouls in the Mill
Encounter: Ghouls in the hand-dug chamber

3 Hexes explored
4 days of expedition

Total: 791 character xp / 339 item xp each with division across the eight PCs.


Timestamp: You all enjoy a well-deserved rest in town, from 13 May to 25 May to match the current time stamp. You can leave, but will miss the Greenleaf festival. Assuming you stay for the festival, we extend your stays to 02 June. That is 20 days in town, which gives you two weeks of rest to earn bonuses. Please post in the Golden Tooth Tavern to account for your stay.

- you can pass the time for free at the Infirmary. You get no bonuses, and need to post a confession IC.
- you can stay in the common room for 5cp/night, or 10sp total.
- If you need private rooms (to study or do magic things, for example) then you can get a basic room for 2gp or a suite for 6gp.

- If you buy poor meals, you can pass the time for 2gp total. You get no bonus.
- If you buy common meals, you can pass the time for 6gp total. You get +1 to savings throws for the first two days of your next expedition.
- If you buy good meals, you pass the time for 10gp total. You get +2 savings throws for the first two days of your next expedition.

You can organize and begin an expedition as soon as you wrap up the treasure and such, if you like, as it will set out on June 2 and run concurrently with the Greenleaf Festival.

[Zhym]

Quite a haul!

If we sell all the gems and jewelry right now at merchant highway robbery prices, that's a total of 735 gp. Split 8 ways it comes to 91.875 gold per person (although we might want to adjust money shares based on who takes what magical loot). Is everyone okay with that, or do we want to wait three months?

As for the magic items, I'd suggest that anyone willing to try out the sword gets dibs. Grizzly Woman and Baxtaw are the only ones who don't seem to have taken custody of any magic stuff. Assuming Baxtaw wants the orb and spell book, which he's the only one in this group who can use, that leaves Grizzy. Is anyone particularly interested in anything on the list? We don't have and dwarves who can use the dwarf-sized banded mail, right?

The spear is the only thing on the list that does much for Fingers (although he's tempted to ask for the kingly ring).

[KingOfCowards]

I personally say that we don't sell the locket and ring for 1/4 of their value. Maybe those should be divided to individuals who can get a better profit from them by waiting.
We are already getting 200 gp from the coin, so Corbin will ask for the magic spear he currently carries as his part of the magic division and call it even. The split from gems and jewelry can be divided by the remaining 7.
Does anybody else need a new missile weapon? A magic crossbow is nothing to sneeze at, but if noone is willing to take it. I'd rather it be in our hands than selling it.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Selling the gemstones is silly. They can be used as currency at their full value. It is how CLay bought his armor before this expedition. And some of the the food for the Farrows.

Seeing as he plans to establish a home base out in the wilderness, Clay would love the two chests and the chess set for eventual use. He'd take the horn if no one else wants it, particularly Casper.

I have another character (Captain Bremen) that would love the crossbow, but we'd need to arrange that somehow. Certainly not through Clay, since that is a conflict of interest.

FYI: Clay would let you all know that several of the items in the innermost cavern radiate chaotic or negative material energy; specifically the spell books, the orb and the sword. The spellbook and sword are both marked by the wizard Zhint.


Marullus: Do any of the keys work on the chest with a lock?

Clay relates his findings about some of the magical items. He also reminds the group they have many book to trade for money with the sage. (Clay will head to the sage to discuss terms for sale later today - my time, not his.)

[Zhym]

I wasn't sure if the gems could be used as currency at face value. That makes the total cash value of all gems and jewelry 805, or 100.625 each - or 100 each and we use the other 5 to buy a round of beers or something.

I'd suggest that anyone can take objects d'art at the current offering price—IOW, the ring could be had as 275 gold of someone's share (with the calculation above, someone who wanted the ring would have to put 175 gold back in the pot in exchange for the ring), the locket could be taken in lieu of the full 100 gold of someone's share, and the chess set is available as 80 gp of a share (i.e., that person would take the chess set and 20 gp as his share).

If everyone's okay with that plan, Fingers would like the ring as his share of treasure, putting 175 gp worth of coin back in the pot.

I'm assuming that since there are so many magic items, we're going equal shares of gold.

Is anyone interested in a sword that radiates chaotic and/or negative energy?

[onlyme]

Halfpint has the magical armor, so she needs to account for that in her share. She would prefer to have a gem than the equivalent gp for weight purposes.

I'd say we let someone take the ring only 1100.
someone take the locket only. 400gp
Divvy the remaining coins/jewels more equally. around 340gp each.

That is better than selling low and sharing 8 ways.

That doesnt take into consideration the "Stuff". The PC with the ring wouldnt get anything. the others should be able to split the magic stuff equally with the platinum pieces/stones moving around to even it out.

[Zhym]

Thing is, we don't know how much the magic stuff is worth, and there's so much of it that just about everyone can get some of it if they want, right? Or is there nothing a cleric could use?

On the objects d'art, I think we need to use the offered price as the "buy it" price, not the "face value." Regardless of what the sticker price is, the ring is worth 275 right now. That's how much we could get for it. Its worth some undefined "more" 3 months from now in game time, but at the rate PbP games go who knows when that will be real time?

[Marullus]

To enable a finer distribution of coin:
You have 1644gp, which can be divided and then taken as either PP or GP at your election (the conversion fee is already paid.) This is what was summed-down to "20pp each" but shouldn't have been rounded off. The even share is actually "20pp, 5gp, 5sp each."

Also consider the investment in tribute. If someone writes up the tale of your expedition it can get everyone more XP. If you pay 100gp, then success on it is automatic (instead of a CHA roll). You also can invest in construction or in monuments as personal tribute. Any item (including objects d'art) can be traded to a single NPC at its full value. You could begin a large construction with an item, or a monument to the group members (100gp each personal tribute is 800gp, giving everyone 100xp).

[Zhym]

Sorry if this is metagaming, but is the ring something that's likely to be a plot item later? I'm a little reluctant to trade away the ring in case it turns out to be important somewhere else, but maybe it's just a random result colorfully described, in which case we could safely sell it.

If we need to figure that our for ourselves, that's fine, but if you want to clarify, that's fine too.

[Zorroroaster]

Silent already has the shield, and would gladly take the crossbow as well if no other party members wish to claim it. He would forfeit any share of cash if that were the case.

[Marullus]

Sorry if this is metagaming, but is the ring something that's likely to be a plot item later? I'm a little reluctant to trade away the ring in case it turns out to be important somewhere else, but maybe it's just a random result colorfully described, in which case we could safely sell it. If we need to figure that our for ourselves, that's fine, but if you want to clarify, that's fine too.

Even randomly-generated items gets tied to plot, and they all have uses in the future if you choose to keep and involve them accordingly. All items came from somewhere and likely mean something to someone and all items kept by PCs are taken into account as I expand the story. A special plot-related item (only way to access an ancient tomb, etc) was likely important to someone before it came to you and thus is more likely to be an imbued magic item. In LL Basic, "treasure" and "magic items" are mutually exclusive - magic items have utility and do not have a GP value or award XP.

Marullus: Do any of the keys work on the chest with a lock?

Yes, the keys to both chests are on the key ring. However, there are three other keys also on the ring which do not relate to the items on hand.
Yes, even though not magical, the keys are an obvious plot item that open something somewhere. Because they are keys.

[Rusty Tincanne]

I am opposed to using trade in value for the objects of art for the reason Marullus cited. That ring so buy a building or land or something.
Other than the horn, there isn't much a cleric can take that is magical.

Not saying that Clay wants the ring, but he dies want a large tract of land, and that ring would help with that.

I can tell more about the objects later today. I can't do so much on my phone. Unless Marullus wants to divulge what he sent me in my private forum. (Don't know if KOW did adetect magic on the items. ) Several of the objects have a lot of item XP assigned to them. And just because the items have chaotic energy doesn't mean the are cursed. Most of the things have imbued energy, so it is the energy from their former users. Don't know about the items from the wizard though.

[Zhym]

Okay, so the ring, locket, and chess set go as "special" items like the magic items for individual loot distribution at list price. If we treat the gems as currency at face value, that makes the total value of cash and gems 1644 + 350 = 1994 gp. That's 249.25 gp per person if split equally (or maybe Marullus would let us round that up to an even 250 each), or we can give more money to people who can't get a nice magic item.

The XP value of the magic items would be really useful to know.

[Starbeard]

The Grizzly Woman isn't interested in any picking up any weapons or armour, and she doesn't read books. The only magic item she'd express any interest in is the war horn, but the clerics are also suited for that item and Grizzle Miss can take it or leave it. She'll happily stick to her share of loot and leave the sparkly stuff to the people who like that sort of thing.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Assuming to cast Detect Magic. XP is OOC info. It is meant to give a sense of the intensity of an Imbued item's aura. See the house rules for the distinctions between Imbued and Created items.

MAGIC ITEM INFO:
** a bronze dwarven warhorn with finely-detailed engraving work on it showing a succession of crowned dwarves. (Packed. Corbin/Clay)
Imbued Item, Lawful nature. 16,001xp

** A longsword is of superb quality, a slender blade etched with runes along its length. It has a plain ball pommel and a black leather hilt. (Wrapped in cloth and packed. Corbin)
Created item, bears wizard-mark of Zhint. radiates Negative Material Energy.

** One set of dwarf-sized banded mail in good condition (Halfpint)
Imbued Item, Lawful nature. 16,001xp

** A steel roundshield that is unusually light (Silent)
Imbued Item, Lawful nature. 8,001xp

** A well-worn heavy spear with a elongated head (1d8, can't be thrown) (Corbin)
Imbued Item, Lawful nature. 64,001xp

** A well-worn spear with remains of a banner (Fingers)
Imbued Item, Lawful nature. 4,001xp

** A masterfully-made dwarven crossbow with snarling hound carvings worked in the side (Corbin)
Imbued Item, Good nature. 4,001xp

** a massive leather-bound book, ancient with crumbling pages and Eldrich markings on its covers, with wizard sigils. - (in lock chest)
Created item, wizard mark of Zhint. Radiates overwhelming chaotic nature.

** a massive leather-bound book, ancient with crumbling pages and Eldrich markings on their covers, with dedications to dark gods. - (in lock chest)
Created item, bears the mark of Thanul. Radiates overwhelming chaotic nature.

** a large glass orb which is filled with swirling liquid darkness. - (in lock chest)
Created item, No marks. Radiates overwhelming Negative Material Energy.

Clay is off to the Sage if no one has any objections. We can sell the dwarf books.

At this point, Baxtaw spend a few weeks transcribing all those spells, too.

[Zorroroaster]

Silent puts a hand on Clay's arm and points at the dwarven books. He motions with one finger in the air as if writing, and then points to his own eyes. He looks a question at the others.

Silent can read dwarven and will translate them if anyone wants that done.

[Rusty Tincanne]

It is a difficult load to divvy for many reasons. But since we don't have monetary values fo rhe magical items, I would suggest that we start by having each character grab one item of the following: a magical item, spell book(s), orb, the ring or the dwarvish books. I included the ring and the dwarvish diaries (recently valued at 800gp) due to their monetary value - some of the characters can't use the magical items. So far, only one character (Silent) has shown interest in more than one of these items, anyhow.

If all those are taken, that leaves us with non-magical items valued at approximately 3250 gps (about 406 gp each). Marullus, how much are the two lockable chests be worth?


If folks think that that is a decent method, Clay would be interested in the horn, shield or dwarvish diaries. As a second resort, he might be interested in the orb, but only to sell to the sage, so we might be better off having that assessed if no one wants it.


Clay thanks Silent for the offer but he isn't sure if he'll want those services yet. It would take months to read and translate all those books. And you seem like someone that wants to be in the wilderness.

[Marullus]

Large wooden chests with functioning dwarven locks can be sold for 30gp each.