The Vaults of Zukat, Part 3

(Map by Seth)

After making several relay trips between Ander's Point and the Glorfinel ruins, we sat down to divvy-up the spoils.  This process consumed the rest of the day as we haggled amongst each other on the best way distribute the magic items among the party members; and we haggled with the village elders on the fair market value on all the masterwork arms and armor we acquired from Good King Griffdelogh.

In case anyone's wondering, our merry band consists of the following individuals:

Raven (female halfling wizard and party leader due to her high charisma)

Brony Hornblower (halfling cleric)

Frito Bugger (halfling wizard/fighter)

Valkar (dwarf fighter)

Tos (gnomish rogue)

Arya Aerivar (female, half-elven fighter), and,

Sherwood Forster (yours truly, human ranger) and his dog, Beowoof.

There are two additional members who were also absent during the attack:

Chep and Kylation.

 

As we were settling our accounts, Sherwood Forster noticed goblin tracks on the outskirts of the village and set out to investigate.  (In reality, I had to leave the game and get ready for work the next day). 

Meanwhile, Tos was making the rounds relieving tavern customers of any "excess" items.  He then started a card game with a couple of the village guards--while they were on duty.

In the wee-hours of the morning, the goblins struck.

Since I wasn't there for the big finale, here's Seth's recap to fill in some of the details: 

• Dwarven king Griffdelogh sits on his throne still after so many hundreds of years, ruling over a crumbling, ruined Glorinfel. He expressed remorse and accountability for the evil brought to his kingdom by a necromancer who promised the greatest defense the dwarves could ever imagine. Italoniupus, the gimp armed necromancer, caused such horror, even Griffdelogh would not mention it. Would it be worth it to the party, and the king, to bring him peace?
• Found a Gnome named Finelkalinpentar who was searching for the golden fish pendant that you'd found. He told of his connection to Moltazinfalarpentar, his great-great-great-great-great-great... great-grandfather who was also searching for it and left information that he would search north for the pendant. Since no word was heard from Molta again, Finel decided to come find Molta's trail. You did not divulge your finding the pendant, but did explain your finding Moltazinfalarpentar's corpse and journal. When the party returned to Ander's Point, Finel rested for the night and was gone in the morning. He left a note saying "Find me in Absalom and you shall be rewarded for your kindness".
• There was a hasty ceremony to dispatch the Earth Elemental. Just before the pendant holding the sands of both Ander's Point and the Earth Elemental Plane was broken, the Earth Elemental lunged forward and grappled Lars. The generated portal sucked both Lars and the Earth Elemental back to the Elemental plane of existence. Is Lars Dead? Is he now a slave to the inhabitants of that realm?
• After the hasty ceremony, you spoke with Ghaleen and Analisse about how the ritual to bind the Earth Elemental to the village was procured and they gave the same story - a nondescript man of dark complexion sold the scroll and elemental soil that facilitated the ritual. Their recollection of the ritual was crisp and clear, but they could not describe the peddler.
• With the Earth Elemental dispatched, the town officials from Kettermark weren't prepared to leave Ander's Point unprotected. A guard Tower is being constructed near the tower ruins on the hill behind the Thorp, a picket wall is being built around the buildings and fields, and guard posts and housing will soon be completed.
• Unfortunately, the protection was not completed in time as several raiding parties struck Ander's Point. Though you were able to save some villagers, some buildings were burnt to cinders.
• There are plans in the works to make Ander's Point a viable Port for trade. The first ship will be mooring in a few days and will be heading South.

Once Sherwood saw the flames in the distance, he made his way back, but was too late to participate in the battle.  He met Brony tending to some of the refugees.  (In reality, this was an on-line exchange):

Sherwood:  So has the village been overrrun?

Brony:  No we saved half the town.... I got the folk to the boats, The other half burned... But the rest of the group defeated 4 waves of goblin raiders!

Later, we were joined by Valkar.

Brony:  I suggest we take some time here to discuss what we should do next.

Valkar:  I think there is something fishy going on about the town - other than the fish wine. (Blech!)Other than that, there is either the boat or heading overland.

A refugee eavesdropping on our conversation:  I shall brew up a batch of fish wine ... don't knock it till you try it.

 

Brony:  I figured we could either venture inland to Kettersmark and the mines, then maybe north to the larger Linnorm Kingdom settlements, or we could stick around the town, though that is not my interest... or finally, we could take the ship south and see where it takes us?

Either way, I'm still very much interested in finding out more about how and why we got here... is it a coincidence we are in this kingdom? If so, then there is certainly no reason to stay. If there could be a connection, maybe we should explore inland more, though we aren't going to find out if there is a connection here without staying here.

 

To be continued...