Our Heroes:
- Braeden (Human Ranger)played by Battletech Terry
- Sir Lantor (Human Fighter) played by Boom Gun Brandon
- Samson (Halfling Mechanist) played by Shootist Will
- Jaric (Human Cleric) played by Variable David
- Malice (Human Bard) played by Grognard Mike
After some discussion, the Valiant Swords decide to return to Hommlet, and see about bringing the Glass jar with a cat floating in it, the smoked glass bottle, and the ring to Burne, to see if he is able to determine what might be going on with them. He charges us 100 gold, and will take a look at them. The magical ring is, in his words, worthless, it is just a ring with magical aura cast on it. The jar with the cat, well, its just a cat that was preserving it for who knows how long. The cat isn’t itself magical. Finally, the smoked glass bottle is filled with sleeping gas. If we use it as a weapon, make sure we’re far enough away from it. After a bit deliberation, we decide that Xyzzifax should end up with the sleeping gas. For now, Braeden is carrying it.
Here my players learn that there is Old Magic in the world sometimes - in this case Nystul's Magic Aura. Watching them try to figure out the ring was entertaining while it lasted. They also decided that with most of the group back they didn't need to waste time with a side quest. We had an almost two month gap between last session and this one and that played a part too - it was time to get back to the main event!
From there, we decide to travel to Nulb the next day, and see what we are able to learn – is there information that we might be able to learn about the Temple? We take the Low Road, and we’re not attacked by bandits – and being on the road it means that we don’t run into much in the way of monsters.
Nulb is on a river, and as we approach we can see that it is filthy and ramshackle, but fairly active despite the destruction of the Temple years ago. The majority of the inhabitants are boatmen, herders, or farmers – and it looks like it has long been ignored by the people of importance in Greyhawk. There appears to be some river trade that happens as well. The one inn in the town is the Waterside Hostel, one of the few two story buildings in the township.
We wander the village, getting the lay of the land. The village does have a blacksmith and stable, an herbalist, an open market, the boatman’s tavern, a curio shop, a chiurgeon, a taxidermist. And near one of the roads out of town there is a large barn that is also a butcher. What there is not is a real temple. The people here all seem to dislike each other. And, we get the idea that coming back to this township laden with treasure ... we may well get jumped.
The curio shop has a mismatched appearance, crammed with all manner of items and junk. Some look new, but most are old and in some cases even rusty. The proprieter is a thin man with violet eyes. Going through everything would take a very long time indeed. Jaric finds a small table with ancient dialect of dwarvish, and though he’s having trouble translating. It give directions to what seems to a lost mine. Samson finds a thick tome with a locked metal clasp, keeping it shut. Lantor finds a gnarled walking stick with a crystal set into the top. Braedon finds a trio of throwing daggers in a leather case. And there is a sale! It looks like just about everything is for sale for a hundred gold. Samson comes to take a look at the table that Jaric found, and is able to translate the test, a hidden mine on the Wild Coast. All Malice finds is an interesting rock.
From the curio shop, we then go to look at the herbalist’s shop. Malice is interested not only in what is available, but also word of what is going on in the forest. A venerable bent woman is the herbalist, along with a younger (or slightly less old) woman who is her assistant. Malice asks about the concoctions that they’ve mixed. She also asks about who gathers the herbs, and it is locals that collect the herbs for them. Braedon is given a list of herbs that they’re most interested in, should he run across them in the woods. Asking about trouble in the woods, sometimes there’s bandits, sometimes there’s orcs, sometimes it is just the dangers of the forest. The older woman behind the corner notes Jaric’s holy symbol. The old lady gives him a creepy jar of liquid to take with him if he is going out to (whispered) “the Temple”. Jaric tastes the liquid at her prodding. It’s a healing ointment, poison cure, and disease curative. If we get into trouble, they have more.
Next up is checking the blacksmith. It is one of the rare stone buildings in Nulb. The smith is a powerful man named Otis, and has a unattractive apprentice. Attached are a set of stables, worked by a dull young man. The smith doesn’t keep a deep stock, but instead makes items as they’re ordered. Jaric is able to tell the quality is good – he clearly knows what he is doing. Talking with Otis, he does a fair amount of work for people passing through as well as the villagers. Lantor can tell that he’s a retired mercenary, and Braedon can tell that he’s spent much of his life outdoors.
Finally, we return to the hostel, where we can see about getting a few rooms, and picking up rumors. There is a innkeep, a bartender, and four other employees. The prices are roughly half of what is charged at the inn in Hommlet, and the quality is similarly lower. Malice plays darts and plies the locals with libations, and picks up that the Temple of Elemental Evil has a potion repository that would be the envy of any alchemist.
Braedon hits it off even better with the locals at the dart game, and hears over the course of the eveing that the Temple Dungeon’s upper levels have sub temples with different factions. The true source of the power, though, is a wicket demoness and her followers. Sir Lantor tries his luck at arm wrestling, and is undefeated throughout the evening. One of the losers boasts that the Temple is haunted by the remains of clerics that are unusually powerful wights. And, hidden somewhere in the temple are gateways to quasi planes connected to the elemental planes.
Samson is at the bar, sharing what he knows about the history of the area, and in return learns that there’s a group of dangerous brigands in the temple ruins, and he also hears that within the depths of the temple, cultists worship an elemental god made of fire, earth, water, and air. Jaric patches up people who didn’t fare so well in the arm wrestling. While doing so, he hears that a basilisk lairs in the temple ruins, and somewhere in the upper levels is an augury chamber that lets a person see the future id they sacrifice precious gems. By the end of the evening, the hostel’s grown to have more than twenty locals here in addition to all of us. We get one of the larger rooms, and even so, one of us keeps watch at all times throughout the night.
The next day, we head to the temple. It’s an hour walk from Nulb at a leisurely pace, or an hour and a half if we take it slow and stealthy. We choose the latter. As we’re sneaking towards the temple, midway through the journey we hear the sound of scraping on bark, and Sir Lantor takes point to investigate. As he comes to a small clearing caused by a fallen tree, he sees a pair of bird-like creature pecking at a it. The bird things turn and begin hissing at him.
Braedon moves up, and takes his shot. A single arrow is not enough to fell one of the things, though. Samson sneaks through the underbrush, closing distance. Sir Lantor charges and slashes it deeply, bloodying it. The bird-like creature lets out a startling call, but the warrior keeps his footing. Then it hits him with its serrated beak. The other one more hops than flies over to Sir Lantor as well, who is able to keep it just far enough away with the swipe of his blade. Jaric callas a prayer of guidance, but we’re not able to really see the result from it. Malice darts out of stealth, and begins calling out to her team to move up, and gives words of encouragement to Sir Lantor.
Braedon looses another arrow, hitting the more wounded of the two cockatrices, killing it. Samson fires a crossbow at the other, cleanly putting a bolt into it. Lantor follows it up with a mighty swing, bloodying the creature. But, it strikes back, snapping at him, and Lantor doesn’t let it close enough to connect. Jaric calls forth a holy flame, and the creature is killed!
After the fight, Samson searches the felled tree that they were picking at. It looks like they were just after grubs. Jaric goes and tends Sir Lantor’s wounds, and then we continue on our way to The Temple.
Lots of social exploration in this one, not as much combat. Looking for magical trinkets, making some potential contacts, and trying to figure out who are temple spies still makes for a fun evening. Next session we get to the temple itself ...
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