Chapter #237
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+ THE ADVENTURERS +
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+ Epic II +
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+ Many of the locations, non-player characters, spells, and +
+ other terms used in these stories are the property of TSR, Inc. +
+ However, this does not mean that TSR in any way endorses or +
+ authorizes their use, and any such items contained within these +
+ stories should not be considered representative of TSR in any +
+ way, shape, or form. +
+ Due to the nature of the Internet, these stories have been +
+ widely available since 1991. I have given them to the world +
+ freely, and have never intended to market them or in any way +
+ make money. However, due to TSR, Inc.'s copyright restrictions, +
+ old episodes of the Adventurers are no longer being archived on +
+ any ftp site anywhere. +
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+ The player characters contained in these writings are copy- +
+ right 1995 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any persons +
+ or characters either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. +
+ Copying and/or distribution of these tales is permissible only +
+ under the sole condition that no part of them will be used or +
+ sold for profit. In that case, I hope you enjoy them... +
+ +
+ Thomas Miller +
+ tmiller@cimmeria.oit.gatech.edu +
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+ THE PARTY (or more accurately, a fragment of it): +
+ +
+ Arnold 12th level human warrior (NG) +
+ Ged 14th/14th level grey elven priest/mage (NG) +
+ Nenya 8th/9th level female elven warrior/mage (NG) +
+ Mongo 17th level dwarven warrior (CG) +
+ Gorin 8th level dwarven warrior (CG) +
+ Bosco 10th level halfling thief (CN) +
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+ Date: 8/15/574 C.Y. (Common Year) +
+ Time: midday +
+ Place: Ged's castle, near Greyhawk +
+ Climate: mild +
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+ "All's well that ends well." +
+ - variously attributed +
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CCXXXVII. Wrapping Up
After almost two weeks of travel, Ged, Mongo, and the others,
accompanied by the remnants of the caravan, finally made it back
to Ged's castle. After resting and recuperating there for two
days, they are ready to divide their loot...
Bosco: (gaping as he looks over the piles and piles of treasure)
Golly! That's a lot of stuff!
Ged: And a great deal of it is magical, as well. Boccob has shown
me...I've divided it into piles...
THE LOOT:
NON-MAGICAL
pre-golden chest treasure:
heaps and heaps of golden coins
a dozen medium-to-large gemstones, all uncut
a wand (sealed within a rusted metal case)
a few dozen coins of gold, some small gems, cheap-looking brooch
diamond from inside salt golem - 5-10K at least
huge golden chest treasure:
3 urns, 1 vase
6813 gp
gems (13x100 gp, 7x500 gp, 3x1000 gp)
12 golden bricks (600 gp each)
ring, staff, sword, trident
book of Suel history
book (treatise on magical item construction)
(chest itself - solid gold!)
diamond-shaped hall treasure:
small statuette of a laughing man
large sealed urn of carven stone (EMPTY)
painting of an ancient battle
tapestry of an erupting volcano
tapestry of an ocean/sky scene
vase of sparkling crystal
glass flute
mosaic tapestry of a flower-filled garden
painting of a tower of pure gold
tapestry depicting a city in the clouds
tapestry depicting a funeral of some king
small checkered board, and metal pieces
bejeweled crown of platinum
huge glowing ruby, on a pedestal
strange device of wires and metal balls
MAGICAL
huge golden chest treasure:
15 potion or oil vials
quiver of 22 arrows (quiver nonmagical)
pouch of marbles
silver ring
2 wands
book
3 scrolls
mace
sword
iron armband
diamond-shaped hall treasure:
small silver chest
small wooden coffer
steel trident with etched lightning bolts
pair of wooden shoes
small, multicolored spherical gem
golden harp floating within a glass sphere
glass box containing greenish clay
coil of silvery-grey silk rope
well-preserved brown wool robe, with hood
large, glittering opal with luminous center
golden ring, set with a tigers-eye gem
small plate of blue glass in a silver frame
glowing tin box
jewel-encrusted tube of precious metals
large ornate tome covered in green hide
foot-long wand-like purple stick
a single, ancient gold coin, on a pillow
bowl containing four strange black spheres
diamond-studded amulet
skull, in whose mouth is a spoon
Mongo: Straws, then? (he holds out a handful of straws)
Ged: Sounds good.
Bosco: (takes a straw)
Ged: Whoa! Now hold on there, Bosco!
Bosco: (sees that he drew a long straw) What?
Ged: Henchmen don't get a complete share!
Gorin: They don't?
Bosco: I'm no henchman, not during this mission anyway! I was
completely autonomous!
Ged: Bah.
Mongo: Now wait a minute...there's plenty to go around...these
guys worked hard. Hell, Bosco even killed that dead-thing that
followed us out of the dungeon! I think everybody deserves a
fair share.
Ged: That's absurd-
Gorin: (getting angry)
Nenya: (about to say something)
Arnold: (wondering if he gets a full share)
Ged: -out of the question-
Mongo: There's no question about it. They should get fair shares!
Gorin: Yeah.
Bosco: Yeah!
Arnold: (raises his sword) Yah!
Ged: (looking exasperated) Oh, all right, all right, all RIGHT!
Straws for all. (he reaches out and grabs a fairly long straw)
The order of item choosing, as determined by the straws, ended up
being: Bosco, Ged, Arnold, Mongo, Nenya, Gorin. Without further
ado, the chaos begun.
Bosco: Hmm. (clearly reveling in this) Hmmmmm. (he finally gets
things rolling by taking the jewel-encrusted tube made of precious
metals)
Ged: (without hesitation, he takes the book)
Arnold: (looking for something he can use, he takes the steel
trident with etched lightning bolts) Ah-nold!
Mongo: (examines the sword, which is rusty, then takes it)
Nenya: (looks at several items, then takes the silver ring)
Gorin: (chooses the iron armband)
Bosco: (takes the small, multicolored spherical gem)
Ged: (examines all of the scrolls, smiles, and takes one)
Arnold: (takes the mace)
Mongo: (takes the quiver of 22 arrows)
Nenya: (takes one of the wands)
Gorin: (takes the golden ring, set with a tigers-eye gem)
Bosco: Yippee. (takes the bag of marbles)
Ged: (takes the remaining wand)
Arnold: (takes the coil of silvery-grey silk rope)
Mongo: (takes the wooden shoes)
Nenya: (takes the glass box full of greenish clay)
Gorin: (takes the small plate of blue glass)
Bosco: (takes the small silver chest, and immediately opens it,
finding a stone dagger) Whoa!
Ged: Fools...bah. (takes the large, glittering opal)
Arnold: (takes the diamond-studded amulet) Maybe I'll sell it.
Mongo: (takes the foot-long wand-like purple stick) What the
hell...
Nenya: (takes the large ornate tome covered in green hide)
Ged: (frowns with both jealousy and pride)
Gorin: (takes the small wooden coffer)
Bosco: (takes the glowing tin box)
Ged: (takes the second of the three scrolls)
Arnold: (takes the brown wool robe) Aaa.
Mongo: (takes the gold coin/pillow pair)
Nenya: (takes the skull & spoon)
Gorin: (takes the bowl & black spheres)
Bosco: (takes the remaining scroll)
Ged: (takes the golden harp)
Arnold: (takes a potion, as do the next 14 choosers, until all
of the vials are divided up)
Ged: Whew. I have a _lot_ of work to do...testing...reading...
copying...
Bosco: Testing?
Ged: (musing to himself) If I were Belphanior, I could use other
people to test my items...
Nenya: (looks shocked)
Ged: Of course, that's why I'm _not_ Belphanior.
Mongo: I wonder what that crazy fucker's up to right now, anyway?
grey cat: (pads up to Ged and jumps into his arms)
Ged: Ah, Endymion.
Gorin: Who?
Ged: The cat, fool.
Nenya: You finally got around to naming it, then?
Ged: Correct you are. Come, Endymion. Let us begin work on these
new items. (he departs)
Arnold: Aaa. Endymbiomb.
Gorin: Guess we're all on our own for awhile.
Mongo: Yep. I'll try and sell this non-magical loot...except for
the weird stuff. Ged wanted to have it examined as art.
Bosco: Art? Pfah.
They split up, most returning to Greyhawk, all making at least
some effort to learn what their new items could do...
Arnold actually didn't do much investigating - for the big
warrior, simply having the magical weapons was enough. He did
notice that his new rope, when played out, seemed endless, even
though it only appeared to be a standard 50' coil. He sold the
huge diamond-studded amulet, making a tidy sum. The wool robe
and potions were put in his pack and forgotten.
Bosco headed back to Peldor's inn, showing his boss all the
wonderful items he had won. Of course, there were also those
items which the crafty halfling had stolen, such as three of
Nenya's light-marbles, two medium-sized sapphires, and a large
necklace. Peldor was proud of his protege, and assisted him in
discerning the nature of his new items. The jewelled tube was
a wondrous device, allowing one to see faraway things as if they
were right before him. While the multicolored gem seemed to have
no purpose, the scroll was one of protection, against undead. One
of the marbles, when accidentally dropped to the floor, multiplied
into several dozen - truly a novelty! The stone dagger was some
kind of magical weapon, though the chest it came in bore no type
of enchantment. The tin box contained some kind of lightning-
ball, and seemed dangerous, so they didn't bother with it now.
Besides, Peldor was extremely busy, and had little time to spare.
Ged, given the spellbook and two scrolls alone, had over a dozen
new spells to learn and inscribe. It seemed that he would barely
have time for the wand, opal, and harp. The wand, though, proved
to be one of those unpredictable, chaotic kinds - a wand of wonder.
Ged thought about selling the thing to Belphanior, though of course
that would mean _finding_ Belphanior, which seemed unlikely at the
present time.
Ged had to use some of his money (newfound and otherwise) to make
amends to the families of the numerous slain porters and guards.
He also offered them a deal whereby they could have a plot of land
within his territory, complete with a cabin and supplies. It seemed
the least he could do, though he let the despairing families know
that he would help in any way possible. Ged also made a hefty
donation to the temple of Boccob in Greyhawk, for that place could
always use more funding.
Gorin's armband and ring had no obvious function, but he put the
former on anyway. The plate of blue glass seemed to depict things
viewed through it with great clarity, but that game bored the dwarf.
The small wooden coffer, when opened, was empty - but still magical
in nature. The bowl, with its four black spheres, was also quite a
mystery. All in all, Gorin felt somewhat cheated.
Mongo was pleased; while examining the rusty longsword, he had
gotten a gut feeling. Now, that instinct proved well-founded, for
after a thorough cleaning, the sword proved to be a weapon of high
quality. In fact, it was forged of a metal which the dwarf had
never before seen. The 22 arrows in the quiver were of all types,
and Mongo suspected that they had differing powers; he planned to
trade or give them to Rillen later. The wooden shoes, purple stick,
and golden coin (the pillow on which it had rested was non-magical,
and not even well-stuffed) were tossed into the dwarf's portable
hole and forgotten. Less easily ignored was the terrible damage
in Mongo's armor and shield, caused by the acidic rain of the lich-
thing. It took several weeks and a lot of money to have the items
repaired, and even then, pitted areas were visible, such had been
the power of the spell. Still, that was what armor was for, to take
damage - and better the enchanted steel than Mongo's body.
Nenya was busy learning some spells, the research of which had
been interrupted when she came on this quest, so she had little time
to examine her items. Still, the green-hide bound tome (opened only
under Ged's careful supervision) was found to be empty. The skull
was non-magical, though it looked sinister; the spoon was magical.
The wand, ring, and clay were enigmatic for now; Nenya put the ring
on one finger.
Overall, everyone (except Gorin) was satisfied, if not overjoyed,
with their share of the Sueloise treasure. The monetary end of
things wound up being significant - each of the six adventurers
received more than ten thousand coins of gold. They also divided
the unsellable items, such as the Suel books and works of art, among
themselves. Bosco actually brought the statuette of the laughing man
to Peldor's tavern and put it on display, since he thought that the
thing bore a slight resemblance to Peldor himself. Peldor was, of
course, mildly amused.
next time : we see what Alindyar and Lyra have been doing (besides
the obvious things)
notes : Thanks again to Patrick Weeks, Eric Boyd, Leonard
Bottleman, Lance Dooly, and Mark Hainsworth for the magic item
suggestions. Most of the stuff from the diamond-shaped hall is
based on their contributions.
Anticipating a clamor for Nenya's stats, I've included them
below. I know that you probably want to see everyone's, but for
now I'd just like to keep it to Nenya. The others will be posted
once all the mini-adventures are over, I promise.
Nenya
8th/9th level elven warrior/mage
female, 5'5", 81 lbs, white skin, silver hair, brown eyes
92 years old
al neutral good
STR 13
INT 17
WIS 16
DEX 17
CON 15
CHR 14
COM 15
ac 4/1
hp 46
thac0 9, shortsword +3, 1-6/1-8 +5
other:
spells 4/3/3/2/1
talented at land surveying and agriculture
items:
elven chain mail +2
ring of protection +1
ring of command
vorpal short sword +3
Murylynd's spoon
green-hide bound tome
wand
strange green clay
3 potions
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