Kingmaker - Session 35

Session #35 - August 5th, 2011

Summary:

After defeating Hargulka, chieftain of the trolls, and his retinue, Gerrard and the Emerald Guard proceeded to loot the spoils of battle. They found Hargulka's treasure chest, and in addition to coin and works of art, they found some gear not suited for trolls. They also examined the glowing orb floating atop of the pedestal behind Hargulka's throne.

The orb was made up entirely of green energy, and all they could determine through detect magic was that it emitted overwhelming transmutation magic. Haldor pushed the tip of a javelin into the orb, and they saw it dissolved by acid upon touching it. The same happened to the corpse of a troll guard that they tossed onto the orb, with the corpse splitting in two while its center dissolved. Examining the pedestal revealed magical writing in Sylvan inscribed upon it. Gordawg surmised from the writing that whatever the orb was, it was apparently designed to draw in ambient environment energies, transmute them in some way, then expulse the energy back into the environment.

With nothing else they could do, but planning on returning and examining it further, the Emerald Guard started to make their way back out of the troll lair.

Meanwhile, in the kennel of the lair, unexplored by Gerrard and his party, Valyra Altar, half-elf acquisitor of "pretty things", awoke in the darkness with a splitting headache, among the foul smell of dung and rotting meat. The last thing she remembered was exploring the Tuskbark Forest, and then being ambushed by trolls. She found herself manacled, and deprived of her weapons, armor, and haversack. However, the trolls had left her with her vest of escape, which she used to unlock the manacles. Padding around in the darkness, she found the exit of the room, where she found light, provided by Gerrard and his party as they entered the main hall of the lair.

Suspicion hung in the air as both parties tried to gauge each other. Matters worsened when Valyra saw her haversack being rummaged by Haldor. Valyra demanded her things back, while Haldor was offended by the half-elf's presumption. Seeing Valyra's initials sewed into the inside of the haversack's cover, and believing her, Gerrard ordred that Valyra gear be returned to her. He invited her to come along with them if she wished to go to Staghelm, which she accepted.

The party continued exploring the Tuskbark Forest. Camping one night, they were assaulted from the air as a cloud of acid exploded in the middle of their camp. Waking up, they saw a forest drake with emerald scales. It was the King of the Forest! The King swooped over the camp and breathed down a cone of acid on them. The party scattered out of the cloud. Gerrard fired a shot, but missed, as did Valyra. Haldor dragged Rennab out of the cloud, and Gordawg invoked the blessing of Deianeira upon them before joining the other dward. Unfortunately, the three of them clustered together provided a good target for another acid breath attack from the half-dragon forest drake.

Gerrard took aim, and with a perfect shot, pierced the drake's throat. Roaring in pain, and quickly losing blood, the King of the Forest descended on Gerrard, and bit out a fair amount of flesh out of him. With Valyra providing covering fire with her bow, Gerrard transpositioned himself directly underneath the drake. Taking aim, he lined up his pistol, and made another perfect shot, shooting right through underneath the drake's jaw and out the top of its skull. The King of the Forest unceremoniously fell to the ground, and died from the impact. Gerrard was clipped by the large creature's fall, but was otherwise all right.

Based on plants and stone found on the dead drake, and from broken tree branches, the party is able to track back to the drake's lair, where they found some useful gear left by the drake's latest victim.

The party made their way to Tatzlford, where they were welcomed by Loy Rezbin, his wife Latricia, Coren Lawry, captain of the guard, and Hammond, of the the Veridian Rangers. Hammond informed Gerrard that they had defended Tatzlford from several troll attacks, but that none happened in the past several days. He believed that some of them fled west. Gerrard ordered him to send several rangers to track them down, but to not pass into Fort Drelev territory. The Rezbins expressed their gratitude for Veridia's protection, and relief that being part of the nation proved to be the right choice. They threw a small feast for Gerrard and his company that lasted well into the night.

A few days later, the party made it to Staghelm, where they were give a hero's welcome by the people. The Veridian Council informed Gerrard that the troll attacks have stopped and that their intelligence indicate that with Hargulka dead, the trolls' morale was broken, and they dispersed to the south and west. Gerrard ordered Gaetana to send rangers down south to secure the troll lair, so that the energy orb is not interfered with. Jhod also informed the baron that his talks with Munguk have not shown any progression. Gerrard agreed to attend several sessions and help with convincing the hill giant to change his ways.

After spending some time with Rosabella, Gerrard met with Johan Lapierre, envoy from Rochefort, and told him that the troll threat was dealt with. Lapierre congratulated Gerrard on his success, and promised that Rochefort's reward would be sent immediately. He also invited Gerrard and his retinue to attend a banquet in Rochefort. The leaders of the other two expeditions also achieve significant successes, and Châteaufoy wanted to throw a celebration in recognition of those achievements.

Sabina Lucelli recovered from giving birth to her and Onestrio's son, and resumed her duties, although not at full time. Gerrard also expanded Veridia's borders to include the Sootscale tribe and the gold mine they were contracted to mine. A delegation from the tribe, led by Chief Sootscale himself and including Mikmek, came to Staghelm to pledge their loyalty to Gerrard and Veridia. The kobolds admitted that their peaceful dealings with non-kobolds have opened their eyes to a better way of living, and Gerrard threw a celebration for the event.

With the main governing duties done, Gerrard and his retinue made their way to Rochefort to attent the Châteaufoy banquet.

Current date: Moonday, Jerakai 15th, 109 Age of Reclamation

  • For defeating the King of the Forest, each character earns 3,200 XP.
  • For fulfilling the Venturi's bounty on the King of Forest, each character earns 266 XP and 1 Hero Point.
  • For fulfilling Rochefort's request to deal with the troll threat, each character earns 266 XP and 1 Hero Point.
  • Number of hexes explored: 5 (each character earns 83 XP).
  • Haldor receives a bonus of 2,000 gp (gifts from admirers upon learning of his exploits) for pulling double duty.
Character XP Hero Points
Gerrard 3,815 2
Gordawg 3,815 2
Haldor 3,815 2
Rennab 1,9071 2
Valyra 3,815 2
Victor 1,9071 2

1 Rennab and Victor earn half of the total XP for player absence.



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