Expedition: Fingers/Treasure of Yoldessi Plains- 30 Aug 2021

[Zhym]

(I can’t remember without looking it up, which I’m not in a position to do right now, but can’t the specters/ghosts see us when we’re invisible?)

[Zhym]

"Yeah, let's go home," agrees Fingers. "We can take the secret back door out, then come back when we've resupplied. Or we can go to one of the other places we have maps for."

"Is there anything left worth taking? Do you think we can take it without pissing off the ghosts?"

I thought I remembered the ghosts looking right at Fingers even when he was invisible, but I can't find where that happened. Maybe I'm thinking of a different game.

Also, although Fingers talks about coming back—and I'm all for it—it seems unlikely that we'll be able to return with our current complement, what with Rusty having been gone since April. Alethan, would you be able to hang with us if we hired an NPC MU (to use Fingers's crystal ball) and set out again?

[Marullus]

Deciding you've had enough for now, you all gather your spoils and head back to civilization. The silver casket lids are handy sledges and you each drag one behind you, the rest of your goods fitting in your packs. It would have been easier to have your mounts, but you don't regret sending them back to safety with Jimmy the Horse Guard about a week ago... it would have been a long and dangerous wait for your return.

Markd issues his final orders to the Swordwraiths, who dutifully agree to wait his return. Six gargoyles still roost atop the wizard's tower, the tower itself unopened. The cursed elf still lurks in the catacombs beneath. The noble estates still house additional threats behind their chained gates, and the outer city is completely unexplored (thanks to the hippogriffs.) (What are his final orders?)

Fingers recalls the secret passage out from the kitchen which brings you out on the east side of the keep. Even dragging your silver slowly, it is short day's walk to reach the White Tower on the far horizon.

You arrive back at the White Tower on September 12, in time for the Fall Festival, then spend some time recovering in the Gaul countryside where you wish. (Pass 28 days to catch up to the game clock; post anywhere that you wish to account for that time.)

Before you break up, you divvy the treasure among you. (Listed below; figure your shares)


Expedition Summary:
Encounter: Gargoyles Swoop In
Event: Finding the Catecomb's Secret Entrance
Encounter: Skeletons of the Honored Servants
Encounter: Wights in the Tomb of King Trythgarn
Event: Statue of King Farthegn
Encounter: Aeora the Djinn
Event: Escaping the Collapse of the Royal Tombs
Encounter: Befriending the Hippogriffs
Event: Discovery of the Keep's Inner Bailey
Encounter: Skeletal Troll in the Stable Mounds
Encounter: Swordwraiths and the Dead Keep
Encounter: Spider Ambush
Event: The Pit Traps
[Used NPC swordwraiths to eliminate threats - no XP]
Encounter: Speaking to the Cursed Elf
Encounter: Fighting the summoned Trogs
Encounter: Gargoyles on the Keep Roof
Encounter: Gargoyles on the Garrison Tower
Encounter: Gargoyles on the Wizard Tower [Flee]

Subtotal: 101,839‬ xp + 9,090 treasure = 110,929

Fingers, Bandy, Markd, Hengist: 24,651 character xp / 11,315 item xp
Winnie (as NPC): 12,325 character XP / 5,658 item xp

Treasure:

Gems:
100gp - a round-cut peridot
250gp - a square-cut ruby
75gp - a smooth, polished carnelian

500lbs of silver
4 cracked red-flecked green bloodstone (50gp each)
1 small blue-green turquoise (75gp)
1 perfect deep blue azurite (100gp)

2,037 cp, 87 sp, 14 ep, 109 gp,
a platinum torc with jade inlay (worth 4,500 gp),



Objects d'Art:
500gp - a pair of blown-glass balls containing whorls of indigo glass on delicate inner fronds
700gp - a blown-glass decanter with all the colors of the sunset, appearing to show the rising and setting sun when spun upon its base
500gp - a pair of blown-glass balls containing whorls of carnelian red glass on delicate inner fronds
300gp - a perfect conch shell which sounds like a blowing wind within
1100gp - a delicate statue of a girl dancing in the wind with exquisite detail, made of cut crystal inside a blown-glass ball.

Magic Items:
still-intact and functional horseshoes that resisted corrosion
a crystal potion bottle
a footman’s mace +1
a ring which radiates magic, otherwise worth 45 gp.

[Zhym]

I always forget: can we get face value for objects d'Art, or do we get less than that if we try to convert them to cash right away?

And the Torc is jewelry, so that's worth either 4500 as conveniently portable wealth or...how much, if we convert it to gold?

Assuming that those things are valued at face value and that we don't sell the ring for cash value, that's 9,045 gp worth of loot (not including magic items). Split five ways it's 1,809 gp per person. It's going to be tough to give everyone 1,809-gp shares when one item is worth 4500 (unless we can sell the torc for 4500 gp), but I'll try to work up a proper treasure allocation proposal tomorrow.

BTW, Bandy, Hengist, and Markd each have 180gp waiting for them in Fingers's shop in Gaul—their share of the proceeds from a scroll sold on consignment.

[Marullus]

As a skilled merchant and known proprietor of exclusive wares, Fingers is able to find a ready buyer for the Platinum and Jade Torc in Gaul. Lady Tremaine, a noble of the Archduke's court, will buy it for appraised value (4,500gp) without having to send it south with normal merchant fees.

Normal rules otherwise:

They are keen to purchase treasures unearthed here which could be resold to the south. For stranger items, they offer a low-cost purchase now, or a higher-price consignment option - if you are willing to wait to be paid and thus share the risk, there is greater potential in the reward. (I will provide the appraised value. They will purchase objects d'art immediately for 25% of appraised value. Or, they will take it on commission and return in three months (10% chance of loss) and offer you 71-130% of appraised value, depending how well it sold.)

...or, spend objects whole on construction projects, tribute, or tithes to the churches.

[Zhym]

Thanks. That makes it easier to split the loot. I'll have a proposed split in a bit.

Do we want to spend 50 gp to ID the potion (that's the cost, right?), or just find out what it is? And do I assume correctly that we already detected magic on everything?

Is anyone interested in any of the magic items in particular? I'm guessing that everyone already has something better than a +1 mace. The potion's a potion. No one has a horse—would the horseshoes fit a pony or a mule? That leaves the ring as potentially the most interesting magic item. Does it have any markings, or is it just a plain band?

[Zhym]

Here's a possible split for everything but the magic items.

Just to recap, here's what's in the loot when the silver is sold for the value of the metal and the torc is sold at face value:

5109 gp, 14 ep, 87 sp, 2037 cp
1 round-cut peridot (100)
1 square-cut ruby (250)
1 smooth, polished carnelian (75)
4 cracked red-flecked green bloodstones (50 ea.)
1 small blue-green turquoise (75)
1 perfect deep blue azurite (100)
a pair of blown-glass balls containing whorls of indigo glass on delicate inner fronds (500)
a blown-glass decanter with all the colors of the sunset, appearing to show the rising and setting sun when spun upon its base (700)
a pair of blown-glass balls containing whorls of carnelian red glass on delicate inner fronds (500)
a perfect conch shell which sounds like a blowing wind within (300)
a delicate statue of a girl dancing in the wind with exquisite detail, made of cut crystal inside a blown-glass ball (1100)

Minus:
50 gp to identify the potion.
Total: 8995.07

The shares would be:

1. 1 round-cut peridot (100), 1 perfect deep blue azurite (100), a blown-glass decanter with all the colors of the sunset, appearing to show the rising and setting sun when spun upon its base (700), 895 gp, 3 ep, 20 sp
2. a delicate statue of a girl dancing in the wind with exquisite detail, made of cut crystal inside a blown-glass ball (1100), 695 gp, 3 ep, 20 sp.
3. 1 square-cut ruby (250), 4 cracked red-flecked green bloodstones (50 ea.), a pair of blown-glass balls containing whorls of carnelian red glass on delicate inner fronds (500), 845 gp, 3 ep, 20 sp.
4. 1 smooth, polished carnelian (75), 1 small blue-green turquoise (75), a pair of blown-glass balls containing whorls of indigo glass on delicate inner fronds (500), a perfect conch shell which sounds like a blowing wind within (300), 845 gp, 3 ep, 20 sp
5. 1779 gp, 2 ep, 7 sp, 2037 cp

Shares A-D each have a total value of 1,798.50 gp. Share E has a total value of 1801.07 gp. I was thinking that share E would go to Winnie the NPC, but come to think of it, Fingers has a "bank" and coin is as good as gems for him. So I think he'd just take the cash. The other shares roughly equalize the value of coin versus gems and art.

If no one has a strong preference, Fingers would take share E.

Edit: Deducted 10 gp from each share to pay for identifying the potion.

[Marullus]

I will say that Winnie is sentimental and prefers share B.

still-intact and functional horseshoes that resisted corrosion (created)
a crystal potion bottle (50gp to identify)
a footman’s mace +1 (4001xp)
a ring which radiates magic, otherwise worth 45 gp. (2001xp)

[Zhym]

I’d suggest that we spend the 50gp to ID the potion. There are 5 of us, so that would take 10 gp from each of our shares. If we also ID the ring and maybe the horseshoes, we could decide whether we want them, want them for donation value, or want to put them up for sale on consignment. Or we could just split them “blind.”

If we do split blind, Fingers is probably most interested in the ring or the horseshoes. Magic weapons have little market value in this game.

[onlyme]

Thanks. That makes it easier to split the loot. I'll have a proposed split in a bit.

Do we want to spend 50 gp to ID the potion (that's the cost, right?), or just find out what it is? And do I assume correctly that we already detected magic on everything?

Is anyone interested in any of the magic items in particular? I'm guessing that everyone already has something better than a +1 mace. The potion's a potion. No one has a horse—would the horseshoes fit a pony or a mule? That leaves the ring as potentially the most interesting magic item. Does it have any markings, or is it just a plain band?

Markd has a warhorse. I dont have a preference in the split itself.

[Zhym]

Thinking more about the potion, it's almost certainly the weakest of the magic items. I don't think it's fair to make whoever takes it also pay for identifying it. So if no one objects, let's spend the 50 gp up front to identify it. I'll update the treasure shares in the post above accordingly.

[Alethan]

Agreed. Let's ID it.

Bandy would take share D, with the Conch shell.

[DavetheLost]

Let's do the ID. Hengist has no preference as to shares.

[Marullus]

The potion is a Potion of Sweetwater.

[Zhym]

Okay, then. Here are the shares each character gets:

1. 1 round-cut peridot (100), 1 perfect deep blue azurite (100), a blown-glass decanter with all the colors of the sunset, appearing to show the rising and setting sun when spun upon its base (700), 895 gp, 3 ep, 20 sp - Hengist
2. a delicate statue of a girl dancing in the wind with exquisite detail, made of cut crystal inside a blown-glass ball (1100), 695 gp, 3 ep, 20 sp. - Winnie
3. 1 square-cut ruby (250), 4 cracked red-flecked green bloodstones (50 ea.), a pair of blown-glass balls containing whorls of carnelian red glass on delicate inner fronds (500), 845 gp, 3 ep, 20 sp. - Markd
4. 1 smooth, polished carnelian (75), 1 small blue-green turquoise (75), a pair of blown-glass balls containing whorls of indigo glass on delicate inner fronds (500), a perfect conch shell which sounds like a blowing wind within (300), 845 gp, 3 ep, 20 sp - Bandy
5. 1779 gp, 2 ep, 7 sp, 2037 cp - Fingers

I'll add Share E to Finger's sheet.

Oh, and as another reminder: Bandy, Hengist, and Markd each have 180 gp from consignment in Fingers's shop. Please let me know when you've added it to your sheet so I can take it off the shop's books. Or role-play it in the thread for Fingers's shop. Whichever.

As for the magic items, does anyone have particular interests? Hengist might be able to donate the mace to the church for use by a lower-level cleric (for XP). Markd could put the shoes on his warhorse. I suppose anyone might be able to use the ring depending on what it is. And the potion...well, that might be useful in the right situation.

So we could do:
Hengist: Mace
Markd: Horseshoes
Bandy & Fingers: flip for the rings vs. potion

Or we can just generate a draft order to pick items. Thoughts?

[onlyme]

That works for me, unless we need to identify the "value" of the horseshoes for Markd to deduct from his gold? (assuming they are worth more than the ring/potion, of course?)
Would that also be 50gp?

[Zhym]

Nah, gold is gold. The magic item allocation is separate.

I didn't try to adjust the gold for the value of the magic items. It's too hard to determine the "value" of magic items in this game. For example, a +1 mace would be worth about 2,000 GP in an OSRIC game. AD&D 1e puts its value at 2,500. But because imbued items are a thing in this game, everyone who could afford a +1 mace already has a better weapon if they want it, just through adventuring. So the street value of a +1 mace is much less than 2,000 GP. I'd guess it's more like 500 gp (which is about what Fingers would charge in his store, which means he'd pay 250 for it). For another example, 1e DMG has two kinds of magic horseshoes, with GP values of 7,500 and 10,000. I don't see these horseshoes going for that much, either. They might go for, what—1,000 GP? 2,000 at most? It depends on whether they just let a horse move faster or walk on things a horse usually can't walk on.

Anyway, for the ring, horseshoes, and mace (at 4,001 XP, it may have a secondary function), whoever gets them can identify them on their own. The horseshoes should be easy enough to ID by trying them. Possibly with the ring, although that's riskier.

Oh! We can detect curses by taking things to somewhere...oh, right. Fingers's shop. 200 gp lets us detect curses on an entire batch of items. Do we think that's worth the money to pay for out of our shares (40 gp each)? Or should we just risk it individually?

We can also take the stuff by one of the temples to have the items checked for infernal taint. It's free, but if anything is tainted it'll be confiscated.

[onlyme]

Oh! We can detect curses by taking things to somewhere...oh, right. Fingers's shop. 200 gp lets us detect curses on an entire batch of items. Do we think that's worth the money to pay for out of our shares (40 gp each)? Or should we just risk it individually?

We can also take the stuff by one of the temples to have the items checked for infernal taint. It's free, but if anything is tainted it'll be confiscated.

so, that leads me to a dumb question. If a magic item is tainted, would there be value in removing the curse part, or wouldnt that in effect make the item mundane? Would there be any reason to want to keep a cursed item?

Markd has a couple of items he may want to "throw in" the batch, if I remember correctly. If so, he may be willing to pay more than his 40 share to add them.

[Zhym]

I think an item can be tainted without being cursed, and vice-versa. Think of a sword that's +2, perfectly functional, but also happens to be demonic. And of course a cursed item can be cursed for reasons that have nothing to do with demons.

And there can be magic items that are useful except for the curse. For example, you could have a cursed +1 dagger that insists on being used instead of other weapons (so your +3 flameblade just sits in its fancy scabbard). If you get rid of the curse, you can use it as a regular +1 weapon, which isn't awful.

[Alethan]

So the ring... has magical properties that we don't yet know? Or it just radiates magic and that's its special power?