Session 13: Battle by the Tuskwater

in which the group storms the Stag Lord's fort, a ruined fortress near the Tuskwater lake


Once the feys had laced the alcohol barrel the bandits were using with poison, the group waited a tense hour before asking the feys to open the door to the owlbear's cage, then pandemonium started... the adventurers opened the trapdoor that led from the secret tunnel to the fort and listened to the sounds chaos and shouts of fear from the bandits as they tried to escape from the owlbear, while trying to decide when to jump in.

Their decision was suddenly easier when they came face to face with a group of 3 bandits rushing from the tower closest to the stairs under which the trapdoor had opened. One of the bandits was a gigantic man of at least 2 meters high, but he was destabilized by a hail of stones from the kobolds' slings and Am used the opportunity to score a lucky shot that pierced the right eye of the poor wretch, leaving him dead on the spot. The other bandits tried to retaliate, but their firepower was no match to the combined efforts of Am and Cardot.

Auchs, one of the Stag Lord's lieutenants

In the meantime, Kii and another group of kobolds surrounded the inner walls of the fort by the east and came head to head with a sinister looking character holding a rapier and some daggers. He attacked Kii with one of his daggers, then disappeared from view. Soon afterwards, the owlbear "Beaky" charged Kii, who had to retreat some steps but decided to stay calm and prevent the beast from reaching his companions. He danced around the beast, a whirlwind of steel and magic, dodging every single blow from the owlbear and dispatching it with several strokes from his scimitar, together with some Magic Missile wand shots.

Dovan, one of the Stag Lord's lieutenants

Gam'el'gar and Am started surrounding the inner walls from the south. As they neared a door, it suddenly opened and a man wearing a stag mask, the Stag Lord, made his appearance. Even though by the way he stumbled and talked the bandit was obviously drunk, he still managed to severely injure both Am and Gam'el'gar. To make matters worse, the sinister bandit (a man called Dovan) backstabbed Am as he was stepping out of the Stag Lord's reach...

the Stag Lord

The situation seemed dire, and they decided to retreat to show a tougher front to the bandits... Cardot used his miracles to the fullest, healing the party from their grievous wounds, but all seemed lost when the Stag Lord shot an arrow that seemed aimed at Am's heart; the arrow would have pierced his heart if not for an amulet from the temple where he had trained to become a monk.

At that moment, Kii dispatched the owlbear and was able to help the rest of the group. Dovan fell to the ground from several wounds caused by the group, though the Stag Lord looked menacingly enough still... It was at that moment that a new bandit came into view. He was wearing a symbol of Erastil and seemed lost in his thoughts. The Stag Lord shouted and ordered him to attack the adventurers but Akiros, that was the name of the odd-looking bandit, threw his silver Stag Lord amulet to the ground and charged his former boss... The bandit lord was still very dangerous, and he managed to injure Gam'el'gar and Akiros several more times before, tired by the attacks from so many people, two last shots from Am caught him in the chest and in the mouth, felling the dangerous bandit lord once and for all...

Akiros, one of the Stag Lord's lieutenants

 The group fell silent. After so many dangers in the past two months, they stood victorious over the bandit lord! When they took off his mask, they saw that the Stag Lord's face had been severely burnt and had so many scars as to make his visage that of a monster...

Akiros surrendered himself to the adventurers, but they were happy enough with his help to allow him to keep his weapons... They explored with him the fort and found the grisly remains of the owlbear's attacks... All in all, 6 bandits and the Stag Lord were dead on the ground, Dovan was dying but Cardot stabilized him and 1 bandit (who luckily turned out to be Falgrim Sneeg, the bandit for whose capture a reward had been offered) was sleeping from the sleep poison; only 1 bandit managed to escape the fort unharmed.

As they explored the fort and made an inventory of the loot found in it, Akiros told them that there was also a cellar (accessed by a half hidden trap in an abandoned courtyard of the fort) which was inhabited by a strange old creepy guy. He told them that the man healed the bandits when they were injured, but he was so frightening that many bandits preferred to endure the pain of their wounds better than visiting the old creep.

The group started descending the stairs into the darkness, with Cardot calling out to the old guy to announce themselves as friendly...

(to be continued)


XP:
- 945 (bandits in the fort)
- 2000 (the Stag Lord's lieutenants: Auchs, Akiros and Dovan)
- 1200 (Beaky the Owlbear) 
- 2400 (the Stag Lord)

Total this session: 6,545XP
Total campaign: 27,325XP

Loot:
a. from Auchs: 2 potions of Cure Moderate Wounds, 2 potion of Lesser Restoration, knight and dragon toys of very good craftsmanship, silver Stag Lord amulet.
b. from Dovan: +1 rapier, silver Stag Lord amulet, turquoise earrings (StolenLands50)
c. from Akiros: silver Stag Lord amulet.
d. from the Stag Lord: 1 potion of Cure Moderate Wounds, +1 leather armor, masterwork longsword, +1 composite longbow (+2 Str), amulet of natural armor +1, stag's helm (special magical item), several crudely stitched leather masks, a silver locket with a tress of silky green hair (obviously from a fey).
e. from the bandits' stash: 250gp, several gemstones and pieces of jewelry (a polished azurite crystal, a carnelian, a piece of hematite, a shard of obsidian, a red garnet, a pewter belt buckle depicting a pair of entwined succubi (inscription in the buckle: "Q.T.") and a silver charm bracelet; StolenLands51)

f. enough weapons to arm a group of 10 soldiers.


Spent:
- Am: 2 hero points, Leprechaun Luck, 1 potion of Cure Light Wounds, 1 potion of Natural Armor, 1 potion of Shield of Faith
- Cardot: 1 hero point, 1 potion of Shield of Faith.
- Gam'el'gar: 1 potion of Cure Light Wounds, 1 potion of Shield of Faith.
- Kii: 1 hero point, Leprechaun Luck, 1 potion of Shield of Faith.
Remaining charges of Color Spray wand: 31
Remaining charges of Burning Hands wand: 3
Remaining charges of Magic Missile wand: 22


Time Passed:
- 2 hours.
The time now is 22nd Gozran (April), in the evening. The group is near the Stag Lord's lair.

Session 12: Preparing the assault on the Stag Lord's fort

in which the group prepares a plan to assault the Stag Lord's fort


Back at Oleg's
Back at Oleg's, the adventurers gave back the wedding ring to Svetlana. She was very happy and, in return for the ring, Oleg offered them 1000 gp in trade credit.

They also talked with Kesten Garess about their alliance with the Kobolds, and the soldier promised them he would soon have their reward (800gp).

Finally, they bought rations and mining equipment from Oleg, who also lent them some horses to carry all the materials to the Sootscale kobolds.

After having prepared as well as they could, they started their journey towards the Stag Lord's fort... would they be able to survive the dangers ahead?

Visiting Bokken
They found Bokken's hut surrounded by several visitors, who were buying some of his potions. Thanks to the characters' good job in ridding the area of bandits, many trappers, merchants and hunters were now flocking the northern Greenbelt. This had caused a boom in the potion business, but Bokken was a bit grumpy, as he had built his hut away from civilization so as not to be disturbed.

Nevertheless, Bokken received the adventurers warmly, specially since they had brought him the fangberries he needed. He offered them a 25% discount on all his potions for a month, and the showed them his stash. The adventurers chose the ones they thought would be more useful in their coming encounter with the Stag Lord.

The Fey Friends
They proceeded south and gave back his luck coin to the leprechaun. The creature changed humor instantly and started hugging the adventurers and dancing around them. He said he would go on exploring the region, and that he would love to meet them again in the future. He wished them good luck and the characters felt a strange warmth as part of the creature's luck rubbed on them.

The following day the adventurers met Perlivash and Tyg-Titter-Tut in the outskirts of the forest and proceeded towards the Kobolds' lair.

The Kobold Braves
Chief Sootscale was impressed by the equipment brought by the adventurers, and relieved to see them fulfilling their side of the bargain. He assigned Mikmek and 6 Kobold warriors to go with them and help them in the assault of the Stag Lord's fort (the adventurers thought most of them seemed to be the old followers of Tartuk).

They spent the night in the Sootscale lair and followed the Shrike river to the Stag Lord's fort.

Arrival at the Fort
The whole trip took them longer than expected, as they got lost a couple of times and were delayed some hours because of the bad weather, but all in all their trip to the fort from Oleg's Trading Post was uneventful (except for a pack horse that got lost and eaten by bears) and they arrived without any major trouble to the camp they had used in their previous approach to the fort.

They spent the next few days gathering information about the fort, their inhabitants and the bandit patrols of the hills surrounding the fort:
 - The adventurers left Mikmek and the kobolds spy on the trail leading to the fort. One day they spotted a group of 6 bandits approaching the fort with a wagon full of loot. The adventurers overheard their conversation with the bandits at the fort's gate and learned the master phrase the bandits used. Nevertheless, they decided it was too dangerous to infiltrate the fort using the main entrance, even knowing the master phrase.
- They had the feys infiltrate the fort while invisible. Thanks to their telepathic bond with Cardot, the adventurers learned about the distribution of bandits inside the fort (and that they were approximately a dozen), that the bandits had a captured owlbear in a cage. As they were leaving back to the camp, they also learned that there was some kind of secret tunnel leading into the fort from the outside, almost opposite from the main entrance, and in an area that the bandits on lookout did not monitor much.
- One of the nights, during a violent thunderstorm, Kii and Gam'el'Gar explored the outside area of the fort's palisade to find the secret entrance the feys spoke of. As they were climbing the hill towards the palisade, the earth erupted and four zombies lurched to attack them (this was one obvious reason why the bandits only monitored the main entrance). The adventurers took cover in the line of trees surrounding the hill and came back later with Cardot, who used the power of Cayden Cailean to sever the undead link to the Negative Plane. After dealing with the zombies, the adventurers explored the secret tunnel during the stormy night. Gam'el'gar predicted that the weather would still be stormy the following night...

Zombies erupted from the earth to attack the adventurers

 
- All in all, the adventurer's spent 5 days to reach the fort from Oleg's trading post, and another 4 days scouting possible ways to attack the fort. At the end, they decided that Kii would craft a debilitating poison that the feys would add to the bandits' alcoholic reserves, then open the owlbear's cage to cause a distraction that the adventurers would use to infiltrate the fort using the secret tunnel to attack the remaining bandits.

On the night of the 22nd Gozra, the adventurers, using the cover of the night and a noisy thunderstorm, approached the fort from the side opposite to the main entrance. They formed three small groups and approached the secret entrance. At some point during their approach, lightning illuminated the field just as Am was crossing between several boulders, but the Gods smiled on the Monk and the bandit on the closest lookout tower was at the time being called by some companions to join the alcohol drinking binge.

The kobolds, directed by Kii and Cardot, dug the entrance to the tunnel, and they all saw that it had not been used in a long time, though it was still in good condition. The tunnel was only 50 feet long, although enough to allow them entry to the fort... the moment was tense, and as Cardot told the feys to open the owlbear's cage, all of them held their breath for a moment... would their plan survive the clash with reality?

XP:
- 400 (completing the Svetlana's Ring quest)
- 400 (completing the Kobolds in the Hills quest)
- 400 (completing the Gathering Fangberries quest)
- 400 (completing the Leprechaun's Luck Coin quest)
- 800 (defeating 4 Zombies protecting the fort's hill)
Total this session: 2400XP
Total campaign: 20,780XP

Loot:
- 1000gp in trade credit from Oleg.
- 800gp (Kobolds in the Hills reward)
- 25% discount in Oleg's potions for a month.
- Leprechaun's Luck (may reroll a d20 once)


Spent:
- 1 pack horse, lost during the trip to the Stag Lord's fort (to be paid to Oleg).

Time Passed:
- 9 days.
The time now is 22nd Gozran (April), in the evening. The group is near the Stag Lord's lair.

Objects inventory and group treasure

Session 11: Befriending the Feys

in which the group explores the southern reaches marked in their exploration charter and befriend the prankster feys


Scouting the Stag Lord's fort
The adventurers set out early at a good pace with their kobold guide. It was easy following the Shrike River towards the Tuskwater Lake, and although their path was blocked from time to time by gullies and small canyons, the kobold was able to choose the correct path to overcome those obstacles without losing much time. In the evening they saw in the distance the Stag Lord's fort.

The fort was an almost ruined structure consisting of one main stone building with half-collapsed ceiling surrounded by three wooden towers, standing atop a hill. A narrow path of hard-packed earth winded up the hillside approaching the fort, a path 30 feet wide, 300 feet long, offering no cover to anyone approaching the fort. The remaining hillside surrounding the fort was a swath of hill devoid of shrubbery save for isolated thorny vines, though periodic large boulders provided better cover for a stealthy approach.

The adventurer's made camp one mile away from the fort and waited for dusk. While Cardot and Am stayed with the horses and the kobold, Kii and Gam'el'Gar approached the fort, their low-light vision helping them navigate the dark landscape without any problem. They stayed in the cover of the vegetation surrounding the fort's hill, approximately 300 feet (100m) from the fort, and started moving around the fortification, keeping always in cover. From that distance, they could hear laughter and the sounds of discussions coming from inside the fort, and they also noticed that each of the wooden towers had one guard, though apparently they only paid attention to the main path approaching the fort, with hardly a glance to the surrounding hillsides.

The Stag Lord's Fort

After two hours spying on the fort, Kii and Gam'el'Gar returned to camp, and the group decided to go back to Oleg's to better prepare for an assault on the fort. They were worried by the letters from Kii's cousin warning them of the impending arrival of some mercenaries... they had to hit early if they wanted to have the upper hand! Still, some extra help would be advisable, so they would try to approach the feys again to try to ally with them.

The Fangberry Thicket

As the area where the kobold had seen the fangberry bushes was not too far from their way back to Oleg, the adventurers explored the area and found the fangberry thicket in a small canyon.

While Am and Gam'el'Gar kept guard with their bows prepared, Kii and Cardot started collecting the berries. The process was very difficult, because they had sharp thorns that pierced their gloves with ease... To make matters worse, a swarm of spiders assaulted Kii and Cardot and soon they were running for their lifes... Am and Gam'el'Gar attacked the swarm with torches, and with the use of the Burning Hands wand of Kii and a couple well-placed torch sweeps, the group managed to defeat the spiders.


The Rickety Bridge

Further to the north, the adventurers found an old wooden bridge that spanned a 20-foot deep gulch through which the river Thorn flowed. Kii crossed the bridge alone to test its strength and, though the bridge resisted, it groaned and cracked, so the adventurers decided not to cross it with the horses. This meant that, in order to cross the Thorn river to the east, they would have to use the fords situated approximately 12 miles upriver (the first bandit camp the adventurers had attacked) or 12 miles downriver (a bit upstream from where the Thorn River met the Shrike).

Because of this, it took them a bit longer to explore the area surrounding the bridge, but they were lucky and did not meet any further obstacle to their exploration, and reached the Thorn River bandit camp in the evening, with enough time to relax and prepare camp, after several nights sleeping on wet and windy ground. During the night, Gam'el'Gar was the target of more of the feys' pranks.


Befriending the feys

In the morning, the adventurers saw very dark storm clouds approaching. Gam'el'Gar estimated that they could hit them a bit before reaching the feys' lair... A short discussion ensued in which they decided to risk the trip and luck smiled on them, because they reached the feys' lair shortly before high winds and heavy rain announced the storm arrival.

Near the lair, the adventurers decided they had to accelerate their contact with the feys and decided to spend one Cure Light Wounds potion each as a gift to the feys. Cardot, who had already befriended them also helped by pulling out the best beer he had ever brewed... he almost could not help consuming it himself!

So the adventurers left the gifts (beer, candies, small trinkets and the magical potions) at the base of the feys' tree, and this time the feys were so pleased by the gifts that they showed themselves to the adventurers: Tyg-Titter-Tut (an excitable grig, with the upper body of a beautiful maiden and the lower body of a cricket)  and Perlivash (a butterfly-winged dragon). They were both the size of a cat and chatted excitedly among themselves and with their new friends.

Tyg-Tiiter-Tut

 They told them that they were much nicer than "the nasty bigginses that used to live in the Thorn River camp". Tyg-Titter-Tut even played her little violin while swinging to the rythym... the night went on with plenty of jokes, stories from all the participants and in general a pleasant feeling... even the heavy rain and strong wind seemed to avoid the adventurers' camp.

Perlivash

 Cardot convinced the feys to help the adventurers explore the Stag Lord's fort, even playing some pranks on their occupants. They agreed that they would meet in the nearby radish patch in a few days, after the adventurers had prepared at Oleg's for the days to come.

The following morning, the sky was crisp blue, the smell of the wet forest invigorated the adventurers... they had managed an alliance with two unlikely parties, the feys and the kobolds... would that be enough for their assault on the Stag Lord's fort?



XP:
- 100 (exploring the Fangberry Thicket hex)
- 100 (exploring the Rickety Bridge hex)
- 1000 (befriending the feys Tyg-Titter-Tut and Perlivash)
Total this session: 1200XP
Total campaign: 18,380XP

Loot:
- Fangberries.
- Spent 3 Cure Light Wound potions to befriend the feys.

Time Passed:
- 4 days.
The time now is 14th Gozran (April), in the morning. The group is at the feys' lair.

Extra Buildings

Buildings errata:

Barracks (6 BP):Defense Modifier +2; Unrest –1.
Exotic Craftsman (10 BP):1 minor item, +1 Economy, +1 Stability.


Non-City Buildings
Presented below are additional buildings and improvements that can be build outside of cities. Please note that constructing any of these improvements takes the place of the "build a farm" action in your kingdom turn.
Please also note that Camps, Farms and Mines are mutually exclusive - you can have a farm OR a mine OR a camp in a hex. None of these improvements represent a single building in a 12-mile hex. It's not just one farm, or just one mine, or just one camp. Building means you have devoted the primary physical and human resources of that hex to the activity of farming (farm), mining (mine) or logging (camp).


Lock: (8 BP). A lock allows ships to traverse along height differences in a river. A Lock turns three hexes of unnavigable rivers navigable and provides a +2 Economy bonus.
Terraforming: Instead of building a farm hex, you can convert a forest hex into hills or a swamp into grassland. This takes 6 months and costs 24 BP. You could also plant a forest in a grassland or hills hex for the same cost. You continue to gain the benefits of a camp during terraforming, but at the end of the terraforming it is destroyed.

Hidden wrist sheaths

You can try to draw an item hidden in the wrist sheath as a Move (normal wrist sheath) or Swift (spring-loaded wrist sheath) action during your turn by passing a DC10 Dexterity check.
You'll have a +1 bonus to this check if you have Sleight of Hand trained (i.e. it is a class skill with ranks). You'll also get a +1 bonus for each 2 full ranks you have in Sleight of Hand.

If you fail the check, then you'll need a Standard action (this is normal for a hidden item as mentioned in the Sleight of Hand skill).

If you fumble (you roll first a 1 and then fail the roll in the confirmation check) the item will fall to the ground. In the case of a spring-loaded sheath, after rolling a 1 you also need to pass a DC10 Luck check. If you fail this check, then the spring is broken. Until you repair the spring with a DC15 Crafts(weapons or traps) check (or paying 1/4 of its value to an artisan) it will count as a normal wrist sheath.

Finally, these sheaths give a +2 to your Sleight of Hand check to hide a weapon (this is taken from the item's description).


Masterwork Wrist Sheaths
Remember you can also have a masterwork wrist sheath. They cost an extra 300gp (or 100 gp ? check with JL )but they'll give a +2 to the Dexterity check to draw the hidden weapon.

Wearing wrist sheaths in the open
You can decide to wear the wrist sheath in the open (i.e. not hidden under your sleeves, etc.). In this case, you don't need to roll for a regular wrist sheath, and a failure in the check for a spring-loaded one means you'll need the normal Move action to draw the weapon (instead of the Swift).

Session 10: Meet the Sootscales

in which the group tries to forge an alliance with a tribe of Kobolds

Mikmek was anxious to get back to his tribe with the statue, but the group wanted to explore first the area and continue documenting the region. The hills around the Old Sycamore were rugged, and only thanks to the savvy of Gam'el'gar, they could navigate the maze of canyons and ravines without getting lost.

In one of the ravines, the group encountered a strange creature, an 8 feet tall bizarre half-bear, half-owl monstrosity, that was feeding on a prey, apparently a deer. Kii had read somewhere about these strange creatures, called Owlbears. In wizardry circles, it was believed that they were the result of some deranged wizard's experiments. The creatures were dangerous and extremely aggressive, so the group decided to give it a wide berth. Nevertheless, Kii mentioned that young owlbears fetched a high price in the cities' markets, and he also remembered that, during the interrogation of some of the captured bandits, one of them had mentioned that the Stag Lord kept a horrible pet, a mix of owl and bear, called Beaky... but from what Kii had read, Owlbears were feral and impossible to truly domesticate...

During their exploration, the group was caught by a thunderstorm and got quite wet. That night they slept again in the Mites' lair; only Cardot's coughs broke from time to time the silence in the caverns: apparently they had found a safe place to sleep, at least for the moment.

In the morning, Mikmek led the group to the entrance of the Kobolds' lair. A fallen sign reading "Oaktop Silver Mine" leaned against the side of a narrow opening in an outcropping of large boulders that emerged from the weathered face of a hill. When the characters approached the entrance with Mikmek they saw a cage made of branches and sticks with a Mite and a Man in it! When the man saw the characters, he started shouting: "Help! Please help me! My name is Rufus Seadwell and these monsters have kidnapped me!"... Things seemed to start getting interesting...

The group told Rufus to calm down, and that they would soon rescue them. He did not seem very pleased when the characters followed Mikmek into the kobolds' lair. As they navigated the small tunnels, several kobold guards joined the group and escorted them to the common room of the kobolds. There they met Chief Sootscale and most of the tribe; the Chief seemed confused and unsure on what to do, and the heroes requested an alliance in exchange for the Statue of Old Sharptooth.

Just as the Chief was reluctantly accepting the deal, a strange purple scaled kobold made his appearance. Four tough looking kobolds came with him, and he had the vestments of a shaman... This was the strange interloper shaman that the Sootscale kobolds feared and that had started a war between the kobolds and the mites!

Tartuk, the Kobold-Gnome Shaman

A tense discussion started in which Tartuk, the purple scaled kobold, tried to intimidate the tribe and to force them into attacking the group while the characters tried to convince the kobold that they should revolt and that they could help them get rid of the shaman. After several minutes of discussion, the negotiations ended abruptly in violence; the group had managed to convince many in the tribe that they were powerful enough, so Tartuk tried to escape, but Am managed to grab him and pin him to the ground.

As soon as the heroes gave him the statue, Chief Sootscale destroyed it and the kobolds started dancing and hugging each other, some of them even daring to kiss and hug the strangers that had saved them from Tartuk's tyranny.

In the loot of the tribe, the group found Svetlana's ring, which had been robbed by the bandits, then by the Mites, and finally by the kobolds. They also found Tartuk's diary, which told his sad story:

Tartuk was not born a kobold—he was
born a gnome. He was killed in a fight against a group
of ogres who were tormenting his village, but his
accidentally heroic sacrifice was enough to give his village
a chance to defeat the ogres. The village, sorrowed by
Tartuk’s death, unanimously voted to restore him to
life—so they decided to use a scroll of reincarnate that had
sat in the village treasury for years. In an ironic twist of
fate, poor Tartuk came back as a kobold.
Scandalized, the village didn’t know how to react.

Tartuk did—he hadn’t meant to give his life to save
the village (he’d actually been trying to surrender to
the ogres and offer to help them destroy the village in
return for sparing his life, but the ogres crushed him

before he got his offer out), and now they’d turned him
into one of the most hated of monsters—a kobold! The
fact that his new scales were the same deep purple as his
hair in his previous life served only to ensure Tartuk’s
shame. Enraged, he fled into the woods, only to nurse a
deep grudge. 

He found a tribe of kobolds, joined them,
used his magic and manipulative lies to rally them, and
led his new army in an attack against his old village. The
resulting battle was furious, and only Tartuk survived.
That was fine with him.

Since then, the mad kobold has drifted through several
River Kingdoms, periodically haunting towns and
murdering gnomes he finds and at others insinuating
himself into kobold tribes, taking them over from within,
and then driving them to extinction by forcing them into
wars they can’t possibly win. The Sootscales are but Tartuk’s
latest project. He has used a combination of lies, magic, and his
favorite tool—a non-magical statue of a devil—to seize
control of a tribe. He’s become quite skilled at convincing
tribes that the statue is magic and that it will curse the
entire tribe if the chieftain doesn’t follow its commands—
commands, of course, that only Tartuk can hear.

Tucked into the back of the journal is a single scroll of fly;
his journal indicates that when he grows tired of his life,
he intends to use the scroll to fly up as high as he can,
effectively committing suicide when the spell expires in
5 minutes and leaves him at a height of nearly 2,000 feet,
well out of the safety range for the spell’s expiration.

(story taken from module 31 of Pathfinder, "The Stolen Land")

After the short battle, the group negotiated with Chief Sootscale an alliance with the kobolds tribe, which was sealed during a kobold ritual in which the characters had to dance, eat some musty mushrooms and share hugs with half the kobold tribe... The main points of the (verbal) agreement were, more or less:
1. In exchange for weekly shipments of food and adequate mining tools, the kobolds would provide the silver they obtained in their caverns.
2. Chief Sootscale demanded Tartuk's magical bracers, the masterwork metal shield and the magical crossbow bolts. He gave the rest of the tribe's loot to the adventurers in payment of their help on ridding the tribe of Tartuk.
3. Tartuk's tribe was to be decided by Chief Sootscale...
4. The Chief agreed to accept the adventurer's ruling in future problems with neighbours and also agreed to stop attacking any merchants, in exchange for the adventurers' protection.
5. Finally, the Chief also agreed to lend the support of some of his brave warriors in a future assault on the Stag Lord's fort.

Rufus Seadwell demanded that the kobolds should be punished for having held him prisoner. The adventurers argued with him that the kobolds were not the main culprits, as they had been pushed to these bad decisions by Tartuk. Still, Rufus Seadwell was not convinced, so the adventurers agreed not to receive any reward and offered him his unconditional freedom. The merchant still seemed a bit unconvinced, but seeing he would not gain anything more reluctantly agreed and left the Kobolds' lair.


The characters then discussed with Chief Sootscale about the surrounding lands. The kobolds had knowledge of the location of the Stag Lord's fort and of a field with many fangberry bushes, and the Chief agreed to provide them with a guide.

With the feeling of a difficult negotiation satisfactorily concluded, the adventurers stayed that night in the Kobolds' lair, and took part of their strange celebration of their liberation from Tartuk's machinations.

XP:
- 100 (exploring the Old Sycamore hex)
- 400 (completing the quest The Sacred Statue of the Kobolds)
- 3200 (defeating the Shaman Tartuk and allying with the Sootscale tribe)
Total this session: 3700XP
Total campaign: 17,180XP

Loot:
- On Tartuk:
    i. Tartuk's personal journal.
    ii. a magic wand (wand of Magic Missile; 28 charges).
    iii. magical bracers (Chief Sootscale obtained it during the negotiations).
    iv. masterwork cold iron sickle.
    v. a magic scroll (scroll of Fly).
- Kobolds' Loot (piled in Tartuk's quarters together with all sorts of worthless shiny objects):
    i. 500 gp.
    ii. masterwork metal shield (Chief Sootscale obtained it during the negotiations).
    iii. 7 magic crossbow bolts (+1 flaming crossbow bolts) (Chief Sootscale obtained them during the negotiations).
    iv. a pair of magic boots (boots of elvenkind).
    v. a leather bag with 400gp, a plain brass wedding ring (Svetlana's), and a pouch containing magic dust.

Time Passed:
- 2 days.
The time now is 10th Gozran (April), in the morning. The group is in the lair of the Sootscale kobold tribe, in the old Oaktop Silver Mine.

Session 9: Under the Old Sycamore Tree

in which the characters storm the Mites lair

Grabbles, the "Mite King" on Tickleback

Fighting the Mites
The characters thought that the best course of action was forging an alliance with the Kobold tribe of the Kamelands, and what better way to do it than recover their statue, which had been stolen by the pitiful Mites?

It took them three days to arrive at the Old Sycamore, a graying hulk of a tree that loomed over the hills in the northern Kamelands. Visible for miles around, they had no problem approaching the tree in the early morning of their third day of travel. A root-lined shaft, hidden amid the ancient tree roots, descended into a network of narrow tunnels. Though the group descended carefully and surprised two mites in the first cavern, it took them too long to overcome them, and the noise alerted some of the other Mites.

Kii, who was exploring in front of the group, was ambushed by a group of six mites in a cave the mites used to torment their prisoners. A pitched battle ensued, and the noise attracted a gargantuan centipede from a nearby chasm that pinned Gam'el'gar against the walls of the cave. When all seemed lost for the ranger, several precise shots from Am's bow put the critter down.

In the meantime, Kii had been busy with his wand of Color Spray and most of the mites were unconscious on the ground. While Cardot healed the group, a second wave of mites, this time led by its "king" Grabbles and strengthened with three giant centipedes, surrounded the characters. Grabbles was riding a giant tick, shouting orders to his subjects, but apparently to a poor result, because the mites and their centipede pets showed at all times very poor tactical judgement.

Conversation with Mikmek the kobold
In the end, the group prevailed, although the battle left them exhausted, and Kii was almost crushed to death by the giant tick's pincers. In the torment chamber, one kobold prisoner was still alive: Mikmek. Mikmek promised the characters many fine treasures if they helped him recover the statue. During their conversation, the characters learned that the kobold tribe had two leaders, a shaman named Tartuk, and the old chief Sootscale. The characters noticed that Mikmek seemed nervous when describing the relationship of these two with the statue, so after a bit of pressure, he gave them a lot of information about the tribe.

Apparently the relations between the two leaders were strained. Mikmek described Tartuk as a "magical kobold" that had joined the tribe some months before. Tartuk told them that the statue, Old Sharptooth, was magical and that it would increase the strength of the tribe. They had prayed to the "Rope God in the Glowing Cave" before (at this, the characters remembered the crude altar they had seen in the golden cavern some days before, in which they had been attacked by a strange crab-like creature) but the few kobolds that objected to this change soon became ill and died, their scales turning yellow, dry, and brittle.

Tartuk had ordered the kobolds to attack the mites to increase the territory controlled by the tribe, and they had even started attacking and robbing some human merchants. Whenever they suffered a setback, some kobolds were sacrificed to Old Sharptooth to ask for his forgiveness and power. When the Mites robbed the statue, Tartuk told them that it was a priority to recover it, as otherwise they would be punished for their weakness. Mikmek had been part of a failed expedition to recover the statue.

Exploring the Mites´ lair
After a short rest, they explored thoroughly the Mites´ lair, and found the Kobold's statuette, together with a list written in Undercommon with two columns labeled "Us" and "Them". The "Us" column listed "kobold statue" and "lots of spears and coins", whereas the "Them" column listed "magic dust", "lots of coins" and "shiny human ring". The small statue depicted a crouching horned devil and was a beautiful work of art; the characters examined it carefully but could not discover anything about the statue except the obvious.

Finally, as both Kii and Gam'el'gar were in bad shape, they decided to stay the rest of the day and that night in the lair. As it was pouring rain outside, they all felt lucky to be indoors. During the night, they discussed how to approach the kobolds and gain their confidence to form an alliance.

XP:
- 1900 (Mites)
- 600 (Giant Centipedes)
- 600 (Gargantuan Centipede)
- 935 (Grabbles and Tickleback)
Total this session: 4035XP
Total campaign: 13,480XP

Loot:
- kobold statuette (fine work of art depicting a crouching horned devil).
- 50gp.
- Necklace with a strange coin with both faces depicting a face of a beautiful woman.
- Centipede parts useful for alchemical ingredients.

Time Passed:
- A bit more than 3 days.
The time now is 8th Gozran (April), in the morning. The group is at the Old Sycamore.

Buying items through Oleg and Svetlana

Mundane Items (things that cost less than 10gp or that make sense to have available for explorers, merchants and trappers)  

At any moment, Oleg has approximately 500gp of equipment available for you. This is mundane equipment: armor, weapons, adventuring gear, some alchemical items (sunrods, for example)... In general, he won't have more than 50gp invested in the same type of item.  
The available equipment is replenished once a week, on the first day of the week.

Special and magic items

For special and magic items you will have to order them and he'll be able to provide them in 5-10 days, depending on whether he finds someone that sells them in Restov or needs to find a contact in New Stetven, which is farther away... Pitax is a den of thieves and bandits, not suitable for honest commerce (this is what Oleg tells you)... As for the exact number of days, we'll decide it using a Luck check (done by the person for which the item is intended). The time will be 5 days + 1 day for each point of difference between your luck test and 11; maximum number of days will be 10.

- A 20+ (or natural 20) in the Luck check means the object is available immediately with a 20% discount.

- A 1- (or natural 1) in the Luck check means the object is not available at that moment. You can retry the check 10 days later, but the item will cost an extra 20%.

Special treatment from Oleg

Thanks to your help with the bandits, Oleg will provide boarding at his lodge at half price, he will also waive his commission for bringing special items, i.e., he'll assume the risk of the item(s) being stolen. On top of that, and also thanks to the moon radishes you gave Svetlana, Oleg offers you a discount of 50gp per adventurer for 1 item each (could be the first item you buy).

Alchemical Items (potions, oils, poisons, and similar)

Finally, he also tells you that he buys most alchemical items from a hermit called Bokken, who has a hut 15 miles east of Oleg's Trading Post. Bokken also brews potions, so it could be well worth the visit... He also agrees to trade with him in your behalf if you prefer it. Therefore, alchemical items and potions will take 1-5 days to arrive (same Luck check as with other magic items, so 1 day+difference of Luck test to reach 11).

- A 20+ (or natural 20) in the Luck check means the object is available immediately with a 20% discount.

- A 1- (or natural 1) in the Luck check means the object is not available at that moment due to lack of components. You can retry the check 5 days later, but the item will cost an extra 20%.

Luck Check

This is a Charisma check, with other modifiers depending on the circumstances.

Map

Davik Nettle's Diary/Ledger. Info 2

The ledger continues with Davik detailing the comings and goings of many merchants and trappers. They were all happy to be able to easily cross the Shrike River, making the journey to Jovvox and Taldor much easier. Davik made even more money than expected, as news of his bridge reached the right ears in both Brevoy and Jovvox, so he calculated he would be able to fully pay back his investors in a bit less than 2 years, instead of the three he had first calculated. He goes on detailing the names of the members of the Restov Merchants Guild that had invested in the bridge.

Davik got once into a verbal fight with the trapper Breeg Orlivanch, as he was a miser and always haggled the fee to use the bridge. After that fight, Breeg told him he would never use his bridge again, and some trappers told him that he had moved his hunting area to the northern Narlmarches.

A bit more than a year ago, the merchant Rufus Seadwell told him that he had seen a group of Kobolds move into an abandoned mine to the southwest of the bridge. Davik shows some sign of worry in this part of the diary but soon is relieved after some other merchants told him that they had seen some signs of skirmishes between them and the Mite tribe that inhabited the Old Sycamore tree. According to the stories told to him by other trappers and merchants, Taldan colonists once made an attempt to settle in the Stolen Lands. They failed, but not for lack of resources. There’s supposedly some old and abandoned mines somewhere in the Kamelands, and Davik was making plans on investigating and possibly developing these mines.

About a year ago, more and more merchants and trappers started reporting an increase in bandit attacks. He explained Davik that a group of evil monks and priests of a lesser-known goddess of hatred, extortion, and spite had once dwelt on the northern shore of the Tuskwater to the south and that he was convinced they were the cause behind the sudden rise in banditry!

Also a year ago, another trapper named Timitius Bandy had paid him with an ancient medallion he said he had found in a battle sight near the western edge of the Narlmarches. He was happy to accept it, as soon after a travelling Pathfinder named Ollix Kaddar had paid him a good sum of money for the medallion and offered him to buy any other medallion he could find. He even said that he would try to organise an archeology expedition to find such a site, as he was sure the medallion was a relic from the ancient Barbarian Lords of Numeria.

Davik Nettle's Diary/Ledger. Info 1

From what he writes at the beginning of the book, Davik was an engineer from Restov (remember Brevoy is mainly the union of two kingdoms, you can check it in the blog). Some years ago, he was contacted by a group of Restov merchants who wanted to increase the trade with the kingdom of Galt (to the south of the Stolen Lands). The only bridge crossing the Shrike River was in Mivon, one of the River Kingdoms, and the tolls to cross that bridge (and the danger of having to cross the Narlmarches wood to reach it) were too high. They convinced Davik to build the bridge and paid for the expenses. 

Davik did not intend to stay in the area, but in the process of building the bridge he developed a liking for the rugged beauty of the Kamelands (the hills just to the southwest of Brevoy that the Shrike River crosses) and decided to stay as toll master when the construction workers left. As he had enough money and received a nice bonus from the Restov Merchants Guild, he kept the tolls low. 

One of the first persons to use the bridge two years ago was Nugrah, a strange mendicant druid of Gozreh who was travelling with a teenage boy of 17 or so. The boy had scar marks in his face, as if he had been burnt in a fire, and the druid did not treat him well, as he was constantly hitting him in the back of the head and calling him names. Davik asked the druid to stop manhandling the boy, but the man told him to mind his business, as "his son was a lazy boy and a retard and needs to be taught discipline if I have to make a man out of him".

Dealings with Restov Merchants (3rd and 4th Gozran 4710)

Conversation with Jonah Renton (the merchant attacked by Trolls)

Jonah is open to the development ideas of the characters. He explained them the following:

1.- Davik's bridge is very important for the merchants to be able to reach Galt, and Taldor further to the south, both of them rich lands with demand for northern goods (although Galt is now in the middle of a rebellion/civil war). Not having the bridge means dangerous and costly detours, so its reconstruction would be a high priority project for the merchants, for which they would risk investment if you are able to keep the area secure and promise low fees to cross the bridge.

Without the bridge (even with it), the merchants have to cross the Kamelands hills, and here there are 3 problems at the moment that need to be solved before the merchants are able to fully use this route: bandit raids from the Stag Lord (already diminished thanks to your actions in the past weeks), Kobold raids (there are still reports of merchants being robbed by the Kobolds), Mite raids (same thing as with the kobolds).

2.- Another important area is the Narlmarches (the forest in your area of influence). It would be important to have a nice road and several safe places to stop. Oleg's Trading Post is one. Another one could be the Temple of Erastil (now starting to be developed by the priest Jhod Kavken). The problem here at the moment is that west of the Temple there is not much you know, so you would need to explore the west a bit... specially important would be finding a good place to ford or cross the Thorn River. Jonah tells you that there was an old bridge to the south of the area you have already explored (south of the Bandit camp you assaulted) but that it is at the moment too near to the Stag Lord's fort to be used safely.

This is an important area to reach Pitax from which it is easy to take barges to Lake Encarthan and other exotic lands to the west. At the moment, Pitax has a new leader, Lord Castruccio Irovetti, who is intent in developing the "bandit kingdom". He has funded an Academy of Arts and there is great demand for some products: musical instruments, paper, fine cloth for costumes, etc.

3. As for natural resources, the Greenbelt has been a wilderness area for a long time, so there are many untapped resources, although many trappers and merchants complain that most developments have been harashed not only by bandits, kobolds and mites, but also by strange accidents and mishaps attributed to the "forest spirits"... In order to develop these resources, these spirits should be taken care of somehow.

4. As for the Troll assault, they are a very rare sight in the northern Narlmarches, and that's the reason Jonah's team was taken by surprise. He thinks they might be a small roaming band from a big tribe that must be much more to the south... He asks you to keep an eye, although he doubts you'll see any of them... You also talk with other merchants and trappers at Oleg's and only a third of them report sightings of Trolls, and mostly lone Trolls.

Session 8: The Golden Cave

in which the characters find a possible future resource

The Golden Cave
The characters followed the tracks left by the fleeing Mites and reached the old sycamore tree under which, according to the rumors heard at Oleg's, the Mites had their lair. Along the way they found many skirmish sites, with looted corpses of the miserable creatures and kobolds, the pitiful sight of a pitiful war.

They discussed whether to immediately storm the lair or try to strike an alliance with the Kobolds with which the Mites were fighting, and decided themselves for the second course of action. Not knowing where the Kobold lair was, they kept exploring towards the northwest of the old sycamore and found a crevasse in the face of a hill of the Kamelands. A strange golden glow emanated from the crack, so the heroes decided to explore it.

The crack gave way to a steep slope which the characters descended making a lot of noise. At the end of the slope there was a cave with walls that glittered under the rays of the midday sun that managed to enter the crack. The cave was big, more a series of small caverns than a single cave, and while exploring one of the side tunnels, Kii was attacked by a strange crab-like creature hiding on a high ledge. The creature ensnared Kii with a sticky web strand and pulled him up the walls; Kii had some very scary moments, but his shouts alerted the rest of the group and thanks to Am's arrows the creature was badly wounded and was forced to flee.

Crab Creature

Other points of interest in the caves were a small rivulet of water that entered through one low crack, and a crude altar with strange symbols (which seemed Draconic and made by small creatures, probably Kobolds); the altar had been used to offer some sacrifices, as it was surrounded by small animal bones, probably of chickens, ducks and other birds.


The Ambushed Merchant
At this point, the group was running low on rations and ammunition, so they decided to return to Oleg's to replenish supplies and possibly hear more rumors.

On their way back, the group arrived at the site of an ambush. Four corpses were strewn around a looted wagon, its horse dead and half eaten. In a group of nearby bushes they found, injured and scared to death, Jonah. He was a merchant from Restov that had been ambushed by a couple of Trolls. Jonah was bringing some musical instruments, ink, paper and other goods to the recently created Academy of Arts of Pitax. He and a group of merchants (one of them was lying dead at the ambush site) had invested some money in these goods after hearing that Pitax was willing to pay good money for them. Now most of the goods had been stolen or crushed, and Jonah was not only scared but very sad.

The characters helped bury the corpses and escorted Jonah to Oleg's. While on the road, they discussed with him different possibilities to develop the Greenbelt and obtained much information from him (detailed in another entry of the blog).


Letters from Kii's family
When they arrived at Oleg's, Svetlana was waiting with two letters for Kii. As they had important information, the Gnome decided to share them with his companions.

Kii's parents, Majet and Zarzuket , were happy to hear that his son was in good health. They told him that they had shared the information sent by him with their clan, and that many Gnomes seemed excited by the amount of fey activity in the area and were preparing to visit the Greenbelt with the aim of exploring and even colonizing the area if it was not too dangerous.

Roomalaiskatollinen Pappi, Kii's cousin in Jovvox, had written that some agents of the Stag Lord had lived in the town in the last months, buying equipment and weapons for his bandits. Just a few days before Kii's letter arrived, a new agent, Reaver Pete, had arrived. Apparently the Stag Lord was angry with a group of troublemakers that were disrupting the activities of his men and had offered money to any able fighter and mercenary that was willing to help the Stag Lord carve a kingdom in the Greenbelt. The agent said he would depart the 20th of Gozran with any people that decided to take the offer. Pappi wrote that already an infamous group of 20 or so mercenaries had signed an agreement with Reaver Pete, and that at least another 20 were in conversations with him. Pappi mentioned that the trip to the Greenbelt from Jovvox would take 8-15 days, so unless something delayed them, they would reach the Greenbelt towards the end of Gozran.

Those news were troublesome, as that meant the characters would have 3-4 weeks maximum to storm the Stag Lord's fort if they wanted to avoid fighting an army of mercenaries.

XP:
- 100 (exploring Golden Cave hex)
- 600 (crab like creature)
Total this session: 700XP
Total campaign: 9445XP

Loot:
- silver masterwork dagger; found at Golden Cave.
- identified wand found at hidden cache. It is a Wand of Burning Hands (CL 2nd, 4 charges).

Time Passed:
- A bit more than 3 days.
The time now is 4th Gozran (April), in the evening. The group is at Oleg's Trading Post.

Session 7: Meeting the Mites

in which a group of Mites tries to rob the characters during the night

It was clear that the walking corpse really wanted the Stag Lord at his side, so Cardot promised him he would take care of it. The corpse told him he would regret it if he did not pursue the task, and went back to where it came, below the waters of the Shrike River.

The characters then explored the area and found, among the debris some distance down the river, a badly mangled corpse pierced by several hours. They buried the remains and prayed to Cayden Cailean so that his soul would reach the Heavenly Tavern.

Then they crossed the river and found, near the blackened remains of the burnt cottage, a ledger with entries to all the travelers that had used Davik Nettle's bridge in the past year. The last entry detailed how the Stag Lord and some of his men had offered Davik their "protection" in exchange for half of his profits, and how Davik had run them with the aid of his hounds. There were also some entrances about a woman called Constance Devine, who apparently had used the bridge regularly in the past months, and about a wine merchant from Restov who had crossed the bridge only 3 weeks before.

They then proceeded to explore and map the area. During the night, a small group of the miserable creatures known as Mites assaulted their camp. The pathetic creatures tried to rob the characters of some of their valuables but, even with the advantage of surprise, they were easily defeated by the group.

XP:
- 100 (exploring Davik Nettle's hex)
- 500 (Mite encounter)
Total this session: 600XP
Total campaign: 8745XP

Loot:
- 10 gp; found at Davik's bridge.

Time Passed:
- A bit more than 1 day.
The time now is 2nd Gozran (April), in the morning.

Session 6: Greenbelt Sightseeing

in which the characters explore most of the northern and eastern Greenbelt

Strange encounter
While exploring the woods near the Temple of the Elk, the characters meet some curious reptiles that Kii identified as Carbuncles. He established a telepathic connection with them and the Carbuncles managed to convince him to surrender all the candies and little foodstuff he was carrying as future gifts for the forest feys... Just as the carbuncles were pointing the characters towards Tuskgutter's lair, they shrieked in terror as a strange blob of light approached the pool where they were bathing and hit them with several bolts of lightning... The heroes decided to flee riding their horses and had to sacrifice one to the strange glowing creature...

Both the carbuncles and the ball of light creature are interesting mysteries that the group decided could well be worth researching.

Tuskgutter
The following day, the heroes investigated the area where Tuskgutter had been seen. Gam'el'gar followed the tracks of the boar to its lair. The boar was not in its den, so the heroes used again the bear traps found at the bandit camp to ambush the dangerous boar... Having climbed on nearby trees, the wait for the boar was sometimes unbearable and exhausting, but several hours later, the characters had the boar´s head in a saddlebag.

The "Merchant"
On their way back to Oleg´s the characters helped someone that had fallen victim to a pit trap in the forest. Rime Marner, the person in the trap, introduced himself as a merchant in need, but soon after being rescued, he confided to Cardot that he was really one of the bandits that had not been at the Thorn River Camp when the heroes captured Kressle. In exchange for not pressing charges against him and for buying some bottles of wine at a discount, Rime told them about the Stag Lord, his bandits, and the password phrase they used to recognise each other.

Back at Oleg´s
Approaching Oleg´s, the characters met Breeg Orlivanch, a grumpy hunter that lives in the western Narlmarches and that was traveling to Oleg´s to sell his last fur cargo. He was quite unfriendly with the characters and did not talk much.
In the Trading Post the characters, after showing Tuskgutter´s head, were received as small heroes by Svetlana, and even Oleg managed to smile at them. Jhod was also happy to know about the Temple of Erastil, and Kesten handed them a heavy bag of gold coins for having captured the bandits. Even more, he also gave them a new charter from the Swordlords of Restov, trusting them with the defeat of the Stag Lord:

poster created by WhoDrewThis

Exploring the plains east of Oleg´s Trading Post
The characters then decided to start investigating the hills known as the Kamelands, in preparation for their approach to the Stag Lord´s Fort, and because they suspected the treasure map found in the Spider´s Lair pointed them to those hills. They also paid a second visit to Bokken, who happily gave them two of his potions after mentioning that he had not seen a single bandit in the last week.

To the east of Bokken´s Hut, the characters met a bunch of creepy hulking humanoids that followed them during their exploration of the area. Whenever the characters tried to approach them, the creatures would escape. Gam'el'gar tracked them to their lair, a filthy area of mudpools, but the characters did not understand their language, so they left some food gifts to the creatures and left before the creatures proved too aggressive.

One day later, they met a kind of midget gnome. The poor creature seemed miserable and was sobbing and crying. In Sylvan, he told Kii that he had lost his lucky coin to the filthy mites that lived to the southwest, and said he had been plagued by bad luck since he lost the coin... Indeed, a small rain cloud seemed to be following the creature... The characters promised him they would try to find his lucky coin, but convinced him that adventuring was too dangerous for him and that they did not need his help (he did not seem to understand that the heroes preferred to stay dry)... the bad luck of the creature seemed to rub a bit on the characters because the following night a horrible thunderstorm buffeted their tents and they could hardly rest.


The northern Kamelands

The heroes then finally started exploring the hills known as the Kamelands. They easily found the site marked by the treasure map found at the Spider´s Lair, and followed the Shrike River looking for a way to cross it.

After two days of exploration and river following, they reached a broken bridge with what seemed like a toll house burnt to the ground. A sign told them to ring a nearby bell to call the toll keeper... Cardot soon complied and, immediately, the group felt the temperature drop down and a rotting walking corpse raised from the river bottom and started walking on the water, ominously approaching the characters: "Where is my tormentor?" - he said- "Throw the Stag Lord´s body into the river that I may look upon his death and rejoice, or join me instead"...


XP:
- 800 (defeating Tuskgutter)
- 100 (exploring Tuskgutter lair hex)
- 400 (completing Tuskgutter quest)
- 400 (completing Wanted: Bandits quest)
- 400 (completing Temple of the Elk quest)
- 100 (exploring hex east of Bokken's Hut; found strange Large creature lair)
- 100 (exploring hex east of Spider's Nest; met leprechaun)
- 100 (exploring hex with treasure cache; found thanks to map in Spider´s Lair)
- 100 (exploring hex east of treasure cache hex).
Total this session: 2500XP
Total campaign: 8145XP

Loot:
- 6 +1 animal bane arrows; 1 master longbow (Tuskgutter quest reward).
- 4 Cheliax wine bottles, each worth around 100gp (from bandit found in a pit trap).
- 400 gp (Bandits quest reward).
- Potion of cure light wounds, potion of endure elements (Bokken reward).
- masterwork dagger, wand (not yet identified), silver ring, spellbook with identify, mage armor, reduce person, silent image and unseen servant (hidden treasure cache).


Time Passed:
- Around 10 days.
The time now is 30th Pharast (March), at noon.

Session 5: Battling the Bear

In which the heroes explore the Temple of the Elk and defeat its fearsome guardian.

After trying a peaceful interaction with the guardian bear, and prodded by a dream interpreted by Cardot as sent by his god Cayden Cailean, the heroes decide to fight and kill the beast as a last resort solution.

The plan is the following: the PCs will form a line defended at the flanks by the traps found at the bandit camp; Gam'el'gar will bear the brunt of the attack while the other heroes help him flanking the bear and trying to attract it to fall in one of the traps. Trapping the bear proves a risky move, as the bear is cunning enough to manoeuvre around them and Gam'el'gar almost falls victim to one of them as he hastily tries to set it up as the bear charges towards him...

For the first time in their exploration of the Greenbelt, the heroes feel death near their necks, but a brave defense by Gam´el´gar helped by Kii and Cardot and a fortunate combination of the bear fumbling a claw attack hitting itself, and a very precise double shot by Am the monk leave the guardian bear dead on the ground. The beast emits a sigh of relief surprisingly human-like as it collapses and, under the astonished view of the characters, the bear transforms first into an incredibly old human with a look of peace in his eyes, then into a skeleton that quickly crumbles to dust. Soon after the bear's death, the entire shrine seems to grow more vibrant and colorful, and the water in the pool at the entrance to the temple becomes crystal clear.

As the heroes take a rest, one questions remains unanswered: what or who was exactly the bear? 

After searching the temple, the characters decide to finish exploring the area of the Narlmarches surrounding it.

XP:
- 800 (defeating the bear guardian of the Temple of the Elk)
- 100 (exploring the hex with the Temple of the Elk)
Total this session: 900XP
Total campaign: 5645XP

Loot:
None.

Time Passed:
- A full day.
The time now is 20th Pharast (March), in the evening.

Session 4: Temple of the Elk

After their encounter with the Trapdoor Spider, the characters investigated the ruins near the patch of moon radish for clues to the location of the temple of Erastil, of which Jhod Kavken had spoken, but after several hours of search they were unable to find the temple.

They then started exploring the forest west of their location and found two strange nests at the top of a giant fir tree. One of the nests resembled a little puppet house, and Kii mentioned he was sure they must be the dwellings of the mischievous fey that had been playing pranks on the characters. Am started climbing up the tree to check the houses, only to fall victim to one more prank from the invisible fairies. The characters then decided to leave some gifts at the bottom of the fir tree and went back to Oleg's.

At Oleg they talked with Jhod and tried to convince him to join them in the search of the temple. Jhod was wary of the characters and turned down their request, but offered them information on how to find the temple from the ruins of the forest which, from the description of the characters, he said must be a shrine to Erastil. With this information, the characters went further than ever before into the forest and found the abandoned temple of Erastil. As they approached the temple, an angry grizzly bear came out of the entrance and roared menacingly at them... The bear seemed to have some kind of uncanny sense to detect the characters as they entered the temple grounds, but did not pursue them when they moved outside the column circle that marked the temple's extension.

The characters withdrew to their camp to discuss on how to proceed and what options they had concerning the bear. The woods around them were dense and mysterious, and they got many a glimpse of several majestic elks roaming the forest.

XP:
- 100 (exploring forest hex with fairy nest)
- 100 (exploring plains-forest hex west of Oleg's)
- 600 (random encounter with several boars)
Total this session: 800XP
Total campaign: 4745XP

Loot:
- 40gp spent on gifts to try to befriend the hidden forest fey.

Time Passed:
- Around 3 days.
The time now is 19th Pharast (March), late evening, as the characters prepare their night camp.

Session 3: Spider Hunt

The characters decide to be careful and bait the spider out of its lair using some food from Oleg's Trading Post and the bear traps captured to the bandits. While waiting for the traps to have effect, they explore the area north of the spider's lair and met Bokken, a local eccentric and potion maker, who lives in the area, quite happy to be away from civilization...

In the ensuing conversation, Kii tries to have Bokken teach him some alchemy tricks, but the hermit is not convinced because of his weird looks and turns down the offer, although not entirely. Also, Bokken mentions a younger brother who beat him and his mother and fled to the wilderness, and requests the help of the characters to find some fangberries, an important ingredient for his potions; Bokken promises them a discount for his potions if they bring the fangberries, and exchanges one potion for a recipe to brew beer in Cayden Cailean style.

Back near the spider's lair, the critter has not taken the bait, so the characters decide to use live chickens and wait nearby and when the spider is caught in one of the bear traps, deftly hidden by the Ranger Gam'el'Gar, they rush to the attack; the spider almost manages to escape back to its lair, but Cardot arrives just in time to show it the "wonders" of beer tankards... pity she'll get quite a hangover...

The session ends with Kii exploring the Spider tunnels and finding in its larder (a big cavern the size of a small room) the corpse of a bandit wearing one of the Stag Lord's silver amulets; in his left foot, Kii finds also what looks like an old treasure map...

XP:
- 100 (exploring Bokken's Hut hex)
- 100 (getting to know Bokken)
- 400 (defeating the Trapdoor Spider)
Total this session: 600XP
Total campaign: 3945XP

Loot:
- One potion of Cure Moderate Wounds from Bokken.
- 10 gp, and a silver Stag Lord amulet from corpse in Trapdoor Spider's tunnels.
- a treasure map: a scrap of paper that bears a simple drawing of a claw-shaped dead tree atop an otherwise barren hill, with an “X” in blood scrawled by the tree's roots.
- Giant Spider's corpse and 4 giant spider eggs.

Time Passed:
- Around 2 days.
The time now is 16th Pharast (March), at noon.

Group Summary

Characters level4th

Total Money:
2860 gp

Group objects (assigned):

• Gam´el´gar

- Studded Leather +1 with Light Fortification- amulet of natural armor +1 (2000 gp)
- masterwork handaxe (306 gp)
- masterwork cold iron sword
- masterwork longbow (375 gp)
- silver masterwork dagger (322 gp)
- 1 +1 animal bane arrows
- book of footprints (50 gp)
- compass (+ 2 circumstance bonus on survival not to get lost)
- map maker kit (+2 circumstance bonus on survival not to get lost )
- 1 sunrod
- 1 potions of Cure Light Wounds
- 1 oil magic weapon (+1 enhancement on attk and dmg for 1 min)
- 1 potions of Cure Moderate Wounds

----------------------------------------------

• Am

- +1 composite longbow ( +2 strength) (2600 gp)
- 1 sunrod
- 3 +1 animal bane arrows
- 5 arrows of Monstruous Humanoids Bane (PHB469; +2 bonus; +2d6 extra damage)
- 5 arrows of Seeking
- 1 potions of Cure Light Wounds
- climber kit (+2 climbing, 250 gp)
- boots of elvenkind
- ioun torch
- 2 potion mage amor
- 1 potions of Cure Moderate Wounds
- 1 potions of Cure LightWounds
---------------------------------------------------------

• Kii

- Hat of Disguise (1,800gp)
- Pearl of Power, 1st level- 2 wrist sheath, spring loaded (MW)
- wand (burning hand, 2 lv, 1 charges)
- wand of Magic Missile; 20 charges
- wand of true strike- spellbook (with 26 pages) with identify, mage armor, reduce person, silent image and unseen servant ( +- 60 gp )
- thieves tools (MW)
- 1 scroll of silent image (25 gp)
- 1 scroll burning hands (25 gp, Kii)
- 1 scroll of chill touch (25 gp)- 1 scroll of frostbite (25 gp)
- 1 scroll of corrosive touch (25 gp)
- 1 sunrod
- 1 antitoxin
- 1 flask of acid (10 gp)
- 2 alchemical fire (2 x 20 gp)
- 1 alchemical grease (5 gp,)
- 1 oil flasks (2 x10 gp)
- 2 gnomish sleeping gas (2 x 30)
- 1 alchemical solvent (20)
- 1 alcali salt (30)
- 1 antiplague (50)
- 1 Blue whinnis (120 gp)
- 2 Drow poison (75 gp)
- 1 Oil of taggit (90 gp)

- 1 smokestick (20 gp)
- stealth suit (+ 2 circumstance bonus on stealth, 50 gp)
- 2 potions cure light wounds
- 1 potions of Cure Moderate Wounds
---------------------------------------------------------

• Cardot

- Sacred Tankard of Saint Nesteruk
- 1 antitoxin
- tunic/vestment diplomacy +2 circumstances bonus (75 gp)
- ioun torch
---------------------------------------------------------

Quest objects:

- silver locket with a tress of silky green hair (from a fey, by the Stag Lord)

- alabaster statuette of a nymph (found in the basement by nuragh):
Inscription in the base: "Florint, keep this as token of our secret love..."
In Davik's ledger, you spend another 30 minutes to find there are two merchants of Restov mentioned who have Florint as first name: Florint Kinkeldey and Florint Stetvener.

- pewter belt buckle depicting a pair of entwined succubi (from the Stag Lord casttle loot)
inscription in the buckle: "Q.T."

- turquoise earrings
nothing of note, they are very beautiful... was in the possession of Dovan (from the beatiful lady ?)

Group objects (unassigned):

- jewelry in backpack of dead explorer (a pewter drinking stein, a silver ring, a jade carving
of a nude female elf; StolenLands28).
- a watertight scroll tube with a map inside. The map describes the northwestern border of the Narlmarches (halves the time required to explore those hexes).
- stag's helm (special magical item)
- several gemstones and pieces of jewelry (a polished azurite crystal, a carnelian, a piece of hematite, a shard of obsidian, a red garnet, a pewter belt buckle depicting a pair of entwined succubi and a silver charm bracelet; StolenLands51)
- turquoise earrings (StolenLands50)
- bag with several pieces of jewelry (various silver candle supports, silver and golden rings, an alabaster statuette of a nymph, a silver necklace with shiny green stones, several Stag Lord's silver amulets,...) (Stolen Lands 53)
- trade goods, miscellaneous adventuring gear and tools worth approximately 8,000 gp (2 Building Points)
- knight and dragon toys of very good craftsmanship
- 6 + several silver Stag Lord amulet

- 4 riding horses ( 75 gp each)
- 1 riding pony (30)
- wagon (35 gp)
- longbow (75 gp, at oleg's)
- 4 wrist sheath, spring loaded (5 gp each)
- 4 wrist sheath, normal (1 gp each)

- grappling arrow (1 gp)
- grappling bolt (1 gp)

- 6 bear traps
- 6 trespasser's boot (trap, 8 sp each)

- colored objects, glass perls, little mirrors.
Also honey cookies, candied fruit, marzipan, sirup, some cidre ...
- silver ring
- a pair of silver earrings (value ?)

Consumables (not potions):
- 1 sunrods (10 gp)
- 3 bottles of potent greenish herbal liquor (value ?)

- 2 x ioun torch (2 x 75 gp)
Book, Pathfinder chronicles: local knowledge (50 gp)
Book, Pathfinder chronicles: geography (50 gp)
Book, Pathfinder chronicles: nobility (50 gp)
Book, Pathfinder chronicles: nature (50 gp)
Book, Pathfinder chronicles: religion (50 gp)
Book, Pathfinder chronicles: planes (50 gp)
Book, Pathfinder chronicles: arcana (50 gp)
Book, Pathfinder chronicles: history (50 gp)

Potions:
- 5 potion of endure elements
- 4 potions cure light wounds
- 1 potion of hide from animals
- 1 potion of jump (+10 on acrobatics for jumping for 1 min)
- 1 oil flasks (2 x10 gp)
- 2 potion of Lesser Restoration
- 4 cure light wounds (4 x 50)
- 2 protection from evil (2 x 50)
- 3 shield of faith (3 x 50)
- 1 potion of bless (1 x50)
- 1 potion of tap inner beauty (50 gp)
- 1 remove sickness (50 gp)

- magnifying glass 100
- lock, superior     150
- powder x 5 1 gp
- large treasure chest, 15 gp
- manacles MW 50 gp



Trophies:
- kobold statuette (fine work of art depicting a crouching horned devil).
- Centipede parts useful for alchemical ingredients.
- Tartuk's personal journal (given to Kesten)
- 3 silver amulets of the Stag Lord (spider nest, bandits)
- Tazelwyrm heads



Tasks pending:

Main tasks:- peace with kobolds (800 gp) (DONE)- recover statue for the Kobolds from the mites (DONE)
- find fangberries for the heremit (55 miles SW of oleg's, 25% discuont for 1 month on potions)(DONE)
- find Svetlana's ring (bandits said it was robbed by the mites that lair under the old sycamore tree, 1000 gp credit by oleg) (DONE)
- capture Falgrim Sneeg at the Stag Lord hideout (2 masterwork weapon, 4 if alive) (DONE)
- defeat the Stag Lord (5000 gp) (DONE)
- head of Tatzlwyrm (600 gp) (DONE)
-get 5 wolf pelts (350 gp)

Side quests
find heremits brother
find Rufus Seadwell (DONE)
eliminate the Mites (DONE)
investigate the big tree with the little hut and the big nest (DONE)
find coin for the leprechaun (DONE)
continue reading the "black book of tavellers" by Davic Nettles
gold mine
investigate about the mud-men
investigate about the owl-bear
bring the body of the stag lord to Davic's ghost (DONE)

check about the temple's gost with bokken (his brother ?)
check about Timitus Bandy and his nephew, and ask about when he had found the medallion (explorer and trapper, friends of oleg)
ask about the fight between Devik and Breeg Orlivanch
ask about Costance Devine (interested for the bridge)

List of people:

Oleg and Svetlana
Jhod Kavken (Erastil's cleric)
Bokken (alchemist)
Jonah Renton (merchant attacked by the trolls, discussed with him different possibilities to develop the Greenbelt and obtained much information from him)
Grigg & butterfly-dragon
Kobolds - (Mikmek)
Breeg Orlivanch (grunchy hunter)
Kesten Garess (officer of the Restov Guard)
Rufus Seadwell (merchant freed from the kobolds, arrogant a.l.)Timitius Bandy (trapper who found the ancient medallion)
Ollix Kaddar (pathfinder who got the medallion)
Roomalaiskatollinen Pappi (Kii's cousin)
Reaver Pete (agent of the stag lord)Rime Marner (fake merchante, escaped bandit)
Akiros Ismort (ex-paladin of Erastil)

Lord Chesswick            ambassador of Mivon

Ragnar Strongarm      expert miner

Lord parsall, ruler of Liberthane
 
Notes:

Poison from the spider: 150 x 1/2 gp per poison dose.
-> http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/afflictions#TOC-Medium-Spider-Venom