Expedition: Fingers/Ghostly Trial - Part II - 23 July 2021

[Marullus]

Intelligent weapons: True, they're not cursed. They're also potent Created items, though, and all your weapons are Imbued. After your shop assistant informs you of this, you test them out.

Scrolls - Any magic user can do that for you; including the assistant at Finger's shop. Since you request it, she'll reveal the contents to everyone.

Magic Items:
- a slender wand of polished onyx wood (created item)
- a platinum brooch-clasp with a deep blue faceted stone (created item)
- a golden ring covered with magical symbols (created item)
- Scroll: Ward vs Lycanthropes
- Scroll: Four spells (15 spell-levels long)
- (lvl 5) Distort Distance
- (lvl 1) Protection from Evil
- (lvl 5) Conjure Elemental
- (lvl 4) Fear
- Scroll: Four spells (10 spell-levels long)
- (lvl 6) Invisible Stalker
- (lvl 1) Magic Aura
- (lvl 2) Continual Light
- (lvl 1) Dancing Lights
- an inky black potion bottle
- a large scroll case filled with a massive scroll with magical writing (five spells, 17 spell-levels long)
- Passwall (5th)
- Wall of Ice (4th)
- Protection from Normal Missiles (3rd)
- Massmorph (4th)
- Shocking Grasp (1st)
- one huge and well-preserved tome titled, 'Trials to Knighthood: The Journey of Collen Clelland' (10lbs)
- a slender-bladed dagger with a ruby pommel-stone (imbued, 4,001xp) (+1)
- a steel longsword with Clelland-crest pommel (imbued, 32001xp) (+2)
- a horseman's roundshield with a Clelland crest (imbued, 16001xp) (+2)
- a massive blue-steeled two-handed sword with a flamberge blade (imbued, 64001xp) (+3)
- Golden ring set with green malachite stones (imbued, 16001xp)
- 10 bone tubes of powdered metal (created items)

[Zhym]

Thanks.

Gold, gems, and silver total to 6670 after deducting 100 for curse detection. That's 1334 gp per person including Allmond (he was promised a full share of treasure, right?). Does anyone have a preference of gems vs. gold?

What about all those magic items? Anyone have any favorites on that list? There are 15 items, some of which are nicer than others, of course. Fingers would probably like to have the longsword.

I'd like to find a way to keep those scrolls in the game. Fingers might have the funds to buy them at Pierpont's standard pricing of 50 gp per spell level. I don't know if any PC is going to have the cash to pay twice that (or more) anytime soon, though. Marullus, can scrolls of multiple spells be split up by spell, or do you have to buy (or sell) the whole scroll as a unit?

Also, if someone wants to taste test the potion to see what it is, could he do it in a temple with clerics standing by to cure poison or whatever else bad might happen from an inky black potion?

[Marullus]

Scrolls are a unit. Though, spells disappear off them when copied or used. So, you can copy off the spells you want in shop inventory into spellbooks (50gp/spell level in inks) and then sell the remaining scroll as a scroll, I suppose.

Yes, Allmond gets a full share (which includes three magic items). He prefers Imbued items, and they should be something he can use as a Cleric (no bladed weapons). Round Robin?

[Alethan]

Yep, round robin, I think. Starting with Party Leader...

[Zhym]

Because the scrolls have a known cash sale value, we have more options for them. We could sell them to Pierpont (or Fingers's shop, though I'd have to work out the pricing and such with Marullus) and get 2100 gp (for 420 more gp each); we could include them in evenly divided loot shares at their sale value; or we can round robin them. We could also put them on consignment at cost and maybe make twice as much (assuming Fingers lists the scrolls at 100 gp/spell level).

If we do round robin, would the treasure maps count as a round-robin item?

Also, should we (can we) try on the rings and brooch and try the potion before we start?

[Marullus]

You may try on what you wish with Pierpont present to dispel magic (at cost) if needed.

[Zhym]

Oh that's not ominous.

The Golden ring with malachite is imbued, so that should be safe to try on. The wand, brooch-clasp, and golden ring covered with magical symbols were taken off the necromancer spectre. Yeah, I'm not sure trying those on is the greatest idea ever. Are people okay with running those three by the Infirmary to check for taint, at the risk of losing them entirely if they are?

What about the potion?

[onlyme]

Markd mentions that consigning the spells make total sense, knowing he aint the best at negotiating a selling price later.
He also agrees that if an item is tainted with evil, they might as well lose them. (what other choices would we have?)

[DavetheLost]

Hengist is amenable to consigning the spell scrolls. Checking the items from the necromancer for the taint of evil seems wise, and destroying them if they are cursed would be wise.

[Zhym]

Marullus, do we have any clue about other bonuses or powers the imbued items have? Last time out, we learned both the base bonus and extra bonuses (e.g., the Bowman sword being +1 with a +1 to ally morale). Or was that you being overly generous last time?

[Zhym]

Sorry for the double post, but I thought I'd summarize all the actions we're doing to try to ID stuff as much as possible before splitting the treasure:

- We take everything to the Infirmary of Eruanna to check for taint of the infernal (we're mostly interested in the wand, ring, and brooch that came off the necromancer, but we might as well ask if anything is tainted, since we wouldn't want it if it is).
- Once we know anything left is untainted and uncursed, try on both rings and the brooch (Fingers will do it, if it matters, or someone else can volunteer), doing it where Dispel Magic can be cast if needed.
- Fingers will sprinkle a pinch of the powdered metal on his cloak to see if it has any effect (making the spot more visible or less visible).

The potion is still unresolved. Is Bandy willing taste it? As a halfling, he has good saving throws. And he got a sword in the last outing that gives him +2 to saving throws vs. poison. He could do it in the Chapel of Baudh with clerics ready to intervene if something bad happens. If so, we could pay the cost of that out of group funds. Or we could leave it unidentified.

[Rusty Tincanne]

The woman in the market (who make extra healing potions) identifies potions, iirc. I don't recall the cost though.

[Zhym]

Thanks. She charges 50gp. Well worth the cost, I think. Anyone mind if we pay for that out of group funds?

[Alethan]

A black potion? Bandy is good with paying someone to tell them what it is.

[Zhym]

Racist.

BTW, when Fingers tries anything on, he'll have Sprinkles with him. Hopefully his dog will know right away if Fingers isn't himself.

While we're waiting for the item identification to play out, here's my proposal on splitting coin and gems. We use silver to pay for curse detection and item identification. That uses up 150 of 185 in silver. We would also give Franken a 120 gp tip. That would leave 6500 gp to split five ways (unless we need to dispossess Fingers or something). The lots would be:

1. Clear yellow diamond the size of an acorn (1,000 gp), 300 gp. Total: 1300 gp
2. Clear round-cut diamond (500 gp), round, faceted ruby (250 gp), 550 gp. Total: 1300 gp
3. Clear cushion-cut diamond (500 gp), 3 polished onyx roundels (25 gp @), tear-drop shaped sapphire (50 gp), long quartz crystal (10 gp), 665 gp. Total: 1300 gp
4. 1265 gp, 35 lbs of silver (curios and cameos or coins; whichever). Total: 1300 gp.
5. 1300 gp

I can easily adjust that if people are more interested in gold vs. gems or vice versa. Fingers is happy to take his share all in gold (lot 5). I figured Allmond is probably okay with gold and cameos (lot 4). If he only wants gold, Fingers will take lot 4 and Allmond can have lot 5. That leaves lots 1, 2, and 3 for people who want easily-portable wealth.

[Marullus]

Marullus, do we have any clue about other bonuses or powers the imbued items have? Last time out, we learned both the base bonus and extra bonuses (e.g., the Bowman sword being +1 with a +1 to ally morale). Or was that you being overly generous last time?

Additional powers are revealed when they are relevant/noticeable. A sword that inspires all around you (morale +1) is noticeable. Cathelon's staff that has special disruptive power to destroy magical-construct beings didn't reveal itself until he smacked the gargoyle.

- We take everything to the Infirmary of Eruanna to check for taint of the infernal (we're mostly interested in the wand, ring, and brooch that came off the necromancer, but we might as well ask if anything is tainted, since we wouldn't want it if it is).

Technically, the magical idioms around items can be detected by any Detect Magic spell; each church just cares about interpreting a different aspect. There is no infernal taint on your items.

- Once we know anything left is untainted and uncursed, try on both rings and the brooch (Fingers will do it, if it matters, or someone else can volunteer), doing it where Dispel Magic can be cast if needed.

Pierpont lets you visit his tower and try your items in case you require aid.

When you try on each of the two rings and the brooch, nothing happens. Whatever magic they have is not readily apparent from just wearing it. Pierpont offers to study them for you, of course, for his customary fees.

- Fingers will sprinkle a pinch of the powdered metal on his cloak to see if it has any effect (making the spot more visible or less visible).

A good idea! Donning his cloak and sprinkling himself with the powder, he finds that it adheres to the cloak and makes it visible. The bone tubes are filled with Dust of Appearance. It takes 2 to 3 hours, but your cloak eventually goes back to normal.

Thanks. She charges 50gp. Well worth the cost, I think. Anyone mind if we pay for that out of group funds?

Sniffing the thick, black liquid turns your stomach... there is nothing about it that makes you want to drink it, for sure. You pay 50 gp to the herbalist. She identifies it as Oil of Etherealness.

Oil of Etherealness: This potion is not imbibed, but this thin oil
is applied to the character and all of his belongings in order to
achieve an ethereal state for 4+1d4 turns. It takes 3 rounds
for the potion to produce effect, and can be negated earlier
than the duration by applying a mildly acidic liquid. When
ethereal, a character is invisible and can pass through any
objects that are not also ethereal.

I figured Allmond is probably okay with gold and cameos (lot 4). If he only wants gold, Fingers will take lot 4 and Allmond can have lot 5. That leaves lots 1, 2, and 3 for people who want easily-portable wealth.

Gold is sacred to Baudh; he'd prefer the all-gold portion but will accept either.

[Zhym]

Thanks, Marullus.

For the rings, did you assume we tried sparring with the rings and brooch on to see if they are rings of protection? If not, let's try that. There are a few other things Fingers might try if you're okay with slightly meta-gaming (or with PCs having heard of rings that do certain things and testing them for those things):

• Finding a puddle to walk across
• Running his finger quickly through a candle flame to see if it still burns
• If it does burn (assume 1 hp damage), watching for whether the wound heals itself
• Trying to move objects with his mind
• Wishing he knew all the powers and charges of all the items in our loot (possibly a waste of a wish if it works, though)

That's all the "standard" ring effects I can think of that might be testable, short of having someone cast spells at him or fire arrows at him, which, ow. Although maybe someone could throw a dart or a sling stone at him—something low damage that's easy to recover from.

And I'm aware that you're not by any means limited to what's in the magic item list. But I figured it might make sense to test for some of the more well-known ones.

[Marullus]

Honestly, that's too metagamey for me. The world has no "standard" magic items - they're all considered IC to be special. Even if there were, it is questionable if Fingers would have the DM-list to test them.

That said, trying those things doesn't produce any notable results with the two rings or amulet.

[Alethan]

OOC: Either we pay money and wait an extended period of time to get them back before we divvy them up or we round robin without knowing and it's up to the individual to figure it out.

I almost kind of like not knowing. It makes it more fair in a sense, as long as none of them is cursed.

[Zhym]

Fair enough. I figure a person could make up a list of what a magic item might do—protect from X, let a person do thing Y that people can't normally do—that a person could experiment with lots of things without metagaming. But it looks like it doesn't matter anyway.

Here's our loot broken down by category and collected into lots:

Consignment

• Scroll: Four spells (15 spell levels): Distort Distance (5); Protection from Evil (1); Conjure Elemental (5); Fear (4). Asking price: 1500 gp
• Scroll: Four Spells (10 spell levels): Invisible Stalker (6); Magic Aura (1); Continual Light (2); Dancing Lights (1). Asking price: 1000 gp
• Massive Scroll (17 spell levels): Passwall (5); Wall of Ice (4); Protection from Normal Missiles (3); Massmorph (4); Shocking Grasp (1). Asking price: 1700 gp

Coin and Gem Lots

1. Clear yellow diamond the size of an acorn (1,000 gp), 300 gp. Total: 1300 gp
2. Clear round-cut diamond (500 gp), round, faceted ruby (250 gp), 550 gp. Total: 1300 gp
3. Clear cushion-cut diamond (500 gp), 3 polished onyx roundels (25 gp @), tear-drop shaped sapphire (50 gp), long quartz crystal (10 gp), 665 gp. Total: 1300 gp
4. 1265 gp, 35 lbs of silver (curios and cameos or coins; whichever). Total: 1300 gp.
5. 1300 gp

Franken: 120 gp tip

Magic Items

1. Slender wand of polished onyx wood (created item)
2. Platinum brooch-clasp with a deep blue faceted stone (created item)
3. Golden ring covered with magical symbols (created item)
4. Oil of Etherealness, Dust of Appearance (10 tubes), Scroll: Ward vs. Lycanthropes
5. "Trials to Knighthood: The Journey of Collen Clelland"
6. Slender-bladed dagger with a ruby pommel-stone (imbued, 4,001xp) (+1)
7. Steel longsword with Clelland-crest pommel (imbued, 32001xp) (+2)
8. Horseman's roundshield with a Clelland crest (imbued, 16001xp) (+2)
9. Massive blue-steeled two-handed sword with a flamberge blade (imbued, 64001xp) (+3)
10. Golden ring set with green malachite stones (imbued, 16001xp)

I lumped the oil, dust, and warding scroll together because as expendable items they each seem less valuable than the other lots. And it gets us a nice even ten lots to distribute five ways.

That leaves the treasure maps. Do they have any sale value? Do we care who gets them? Or do we want to hold on to them for future adventures? I'd suggest allocating the three treasure maps among PCs. Anyone in the group want to make it easy and say they don't want one of the treasure maps?

For draft order, Fingers accepts leader's prerogative and will take first pick. Allmond won't complain about getting last pick, I presume? I rolled to determine order for the other three (links in spoiler tags at the bottom of this post).

1) Fingers
2) Markd
3) Bandy
4) Hengist
5) Allmond
6) Fingers
7) Markd
8) Bandy
9) Hengist
10) Allmond

Does the above plan look okay to everyone? If so, once the draft starts I'll edit this post to keep track of who picked what.

Second pick (1=B,2=M,3=H): [1d3] = 3
Third pick (1=B,2=M): [1d2] = 2