Someone to see you - Flamerule 19th

H 81/L 61
Another mild, beautiful day greets you as you wander around the interior of Rockhammer Hold. The trumpet blares yet again this morning. You smile to yourself when you think back to your first day at this place when K’Gorsz the goblin approached looking for work. How nervously and cautiously you all greeted him. Now, the trumpet blares and your hardly bat an eye.

This day is a little different. Captain Dominic shouts, “Althalus! Umberto!”

Everyone at least pokes their head out and see a human male dressed in a grey cloak. He slowly pulls his hood back, and scans the interior of the keep for the first time. Dominic leans in and says something to him, which he replies. Dominic cups his hands and shouts, “Drek from Cholnudon wishes a word!”

Althalus and Umberto approach, Drek nods his head.

“Where are my goods? Mr. M is quite…upset.”

On my behalf, I don't recall having any sort of contract to supply poison components, implied or otherwise. I gathered the components from the local area and you purchased them from me on a per transaction basis. I resent the implication that I am some hired monkey for your Mr. M. Speaking for myself, I will not be held responsible for unfounded expectations on the part of your boss. The components are readily available in the surrounding area, he should get someone whose services he actually employs to gather them. In the time that you have wasted coming here, you could have gathered them yourself. I am no one's lackey. I work for myself and only for my own reasons.

Umberto thinks to himself, 'damn Alth, what hell am I supossed to say now.' Umberto looks calmly at Althalus, then at Drek.

" I also had no intention of a prolonged relationship with Mr. M. We had several business transactions that were beneficial to both parties. I respectfully decline any further ventures," Umberto looks calmly at Drek, " You may take your leave us Sir."

During the speeches, Drek grew madder and madder. His face turned red, he constantly flexed his hands, and he started breathing harder and harder. A fight seemed certain.

But when they concluded, Drek regained his composure and simply nodded his head.

“Ok, ok, I see how it is.” A creepy smiles grows on his face, making you all feel unpleasant. It almost as if he will enjoy the consequences of your actions today.

With a simple wave, Drek turns to leave. “I’ll be more than happy to let the boss of Cholnudon know of your decision.”

Dominic lets the Drek out the front gate and shuts it behind him. You all cast nervous glances at each other, fearful of what you may have done.

Fortunately, Evan Barksdale interrupts the mood.

“Have you come to a decision regarding the medicine? I fear our village is in dire straits.”

"Of course Evan, I think we can manage this. I will send Vadania. I think several of the others will be able to join her. I am sure we can take care of this." Umberto smiles at Evan. " I will speak with the others and gather a party to investigate."


Others- who shall we send?

Vadania- Druid

I also suggest Marina- Fighter, Syvgar- Rogue, and Tian- Wizard, what do you all think?

Just a point of clarification, what are the NPCs being sent to do?

I believe they are going to repair our mistake... in regards to delivering the medicine to other people. Perhaps Melisi would be able to provide insight on where we took the medicine.

I ran in to the orcs on the way to the keep coming back from the red wizard's outpost. We have met there ever since. The last time the party sent saw them was there. I would suggest going there. All of my people are at the hold's disposal all you need to do is ask. I am terribly sorry for what happened and insist on helping any way I can.

Pablo is majoring in English in case anyone was wondering.

Ok, looks like we just need to know who is in this party and which NPC is in charge and we are off to the races!

Thanks Sam.

I would proprose Vadania be in charge. Perhaps as a druid she can resolve this by persuading the orcs to keep the balance. Umberto? Your thoughts?

I agree, she should lead the group, dipomacy with the orcs should be the first attempt at resolving this situation. Can we send them now? I believe Evan is getting anxious?

Vadania, Marina, Syvgar are all set to go, but Tian flat out refuses to deal with the orcs. “No, no, no, never. Not in a thousand years.” And understandably so.

So, you take a look around and see that Kelser (Uthgardt barbarian) isn’t doing anything so you replace him to the list. After some final instructions the four NPCs head out to the location that Melisi first saw the orcs.

Nervously you wait the bulk of the day, Evan Barksdale is eager to get back to Temel but wants to see what kind of response comes back from your party.

Finally in the early evening the four NPCs returned. Vadania waits until everyone is around to fill the group in.

“After some waiting a contingent of orcs finally came by. Dozens of them and their leader, Karg, seemed quite…amused that we showed up looking for the chest of medicine. We tried to negotiate but it seems like they had this whole thing planned for the beginning.”

Vadania grows silent for a moment before continuing. “They will give the medicine back. But they have two demands. One, 1,500 in gold, and two, the release of a fellow orc imprisoned in Temel. His name escapes me…”

“Thar Grim-Rule,” interrupts Syvgar, “priest of Gruumsh.”

Vadania nods, “That is correct. They would like this deal done as soon as possible. And I imagine that the good priest here (Evan) would agree with that timetable.”

You all turn your attention to Evan Barksdale for his reaction. “Helm help us,” he mutters as he rubs his chin, “That orc we have in custody…quite frankly, he shakes my faith. He boldly walked into town a week ago, and just stood in the town center. We apprehended him and he went peacefully. Almost like he wanted to be taken in. We don’t’ really know what do to with him. Usually we’d turn him over to a patrol when they pass by, but the only one that has come by is Captain Thulver’s patrol. I don’t know if you are familiar with Captain Thulver but he is a stickler for law and protocol, paladin of Torm and I can respect that. You see, we don’t really have any charges on the orc, he didn’t break any laws. But certainly we cannot allow an orc to roam freely in our tiny thorp. Mayor Kevian Droverson decided we would be better off waiting for Captain Aito’s patrol to turn him over.”

Evan sighs and thinks for a minute. “But…we must comply with their demands. We’ll turn over the prisoner but we don’t have that kind of money in our thorp. I might be able to round up a couple hundred gold pieces, but nothing near the 1500 they are demanding.”

Evan swallows hard and continues, “I know you have done so much for us already, and I hesitate to ask, but do you think you could help us out?”

Althalus issues a defeated sigh and wanders off to shine his boots or something of the like.

What do you know about this priest of Gruumsh, Syvgar?

Syvgar smiles, "Not much, but I know he worked with King Obould Many-Arrows. Very wise orc. Attacts many orcs"

Evan and the eyes of all the others turn to Kregnok for a decision.

We can nary afford the full amount the orcs seeks, despite our collective enterprises, nor can we afford to attempt to take what belongs to you by force. As we stand now, the orcs believe that we are soft, and stupid, and know that they have us between a stone and admantium. As I see it, we have three options.

1.) We thank Evan Barksdale for all he's done, wish him good luck, and send him on his way. Ultimately this will ruin our reputation that we've strove so hard for these past weeks. We will lose more than reputation alone, however, as a valuable source of contracts, contacts, and supplies will undoubtably be lost to us.

2.) We find a way to comply with the orcs 100%, releasing their "prisoner" and providing their outrageous sum of money. This would resolve Barksdale's problem, in theory. The orcs could, as they believe us to be weak, take their "prisoner," and the gold, and walk away, leaving us with our picks in the river. Or they could laugh heartily, and give us an empty blue chest.

3.) We find a way to get the medicine back, with minimal cost to either the fine folks of Temel, who are in this predicament because of us, and to ourselves, who allowed ourselves to be trapped by greed.

Personally, I like option 3. It might cause them to reconsider who they're dealing with.

Melisi, how much did they pay us to "appropriate" the chest in the first place?

Althalus, Panian, what are our chances of scouting the area where the chest is being held, and coming up with some clever sort of means of retrieving said chest?

Umberto, perhaps we should get word to Captain Aito of Silverymoon, perhaps he'd be willing to lend some insight.

Any other ideas, or suggestions, before we begin to set things right?

DM Note - Captain Aito is one of three captains of patrols that pass through Everlund Pass from Silverymoon to Cholnudon and back. Captain Aito is the only one that stopes near Rockhammer Hold and camps for the night. Here is his schedule:

Day 1 – leaves Silverymoon around 9 am, arrives at Rockhammer around 6 pm (18 miles uphill)
Day 2 – leaves Rockhammer around 7 am, arrives at Cholnudon around 7 pm. (25 miles flat)
Day 3 – spends day in Cholnudon resting
Day 4 – leaves Cholnudon around 7 am, arrives at Rockhammer around 7 pm (25 miles flat)
Day 5 – leaves Rockhammer around 9 am, arrives at Silverymoon around 4 pm (18 miles downhill)
Day 6 – Rest
Day 7 – Rest

As you can see, Aito is near on the night of Day 1 and the morning of Day 2 and also the night of Day 4 and the morning of Day 5. Today, Flamerule 19th, would be day 5 of his patrol. So, he just left this morning (maybe a few hours ago) and is probably halfway to Silverymoon at this exact time. So, he won't be back for another three days.

Althalus: *pokes his head back around the corner* "You got it, boss... although I would say that, due to the seriousness of all this, that next week will find us with our picks in the river."

They only payed three hundred gold pieces.

Evan Barksdale wrings his hands nervously, "I fear that a decision must be made soon. We need that medicine back by no later than tomorrow (20th). After that, it will be too late for our fair thorp."

Hrm.

Release your "prisoner." We will provide 500 gold, and negotiate for the release of your medicine.

Evan is nearly moved to tears, "Yes, yes we will release the prisoner immedately. But, I doubt we can come up with more than 500 gold for this. Where will we get the rest of the money?"

So far we have 500 from the Vault, and 500 from Temel.

(DM Note - Uh, I think Melisi has an extra 300 gold on her. Just throwing that out there)

And while I feel it would be appropriate for her to contribute to this, it would be her decision.

I will contribute what I can, and I would hope that everyone would do the same.

If we are still short, we will take the rest from the vault, assuming there is enough to spare, and still support our people for the coming month.

Ok, I looked at the numbers again for the Vault and you have 360 gold in there right now. So if we were to take that (360) plus the money from Melisi (300) and the money that Temel can raise (500), that will still puts us 340 gold short. Also, we are running in to a bit of a time restraint, so we wouldn't have time to run off to Wageton or any other place to get more money. If this is going to get done, the rest of the money will have to come from the other PCs.

So, let's start a charity drive! Who can contribute what?