*keeping up with the soothing elven song*
*keeping up with the soothing elven song*
The girl speaks haltingly and only Gil-Gandel can understand her and not well. She speaks the local tongue. It is quickly decided to send Thoroncir out to call Sala in to help with the translation.
In the meantime she starts to explain, “I come from a small village nearby. The village was attacked one night by 10 large trolls and only one was killed. Many ran away, I was trying to give the other children a chance to run and hide far from the village and one of the trolls grabbed me by the arm and tossed me at one of the men. We went down and my arm snapped or popped and I blacked out for a bit. I awoke in a sack over the shoulder of a troll. An hour or so later I was tossed down. I’ve been here several days. One of the trolls liked to play with me and seemed fascinated by my breasts but other than that they did little to me and actually fed me mutton stew and gave me water. But I fell sick a day or two ago and my arm causes me constant pain.” The end of her story had Sala helping in the translation.
Sala asks her age, she is only 17, the eldest of 11 kids.
She then says, “Thank you for rescuing me. I am hungry, nothing would hold down the last day or two.”
Gilraen offers her a Goodberry to start. A Goodberry is a magical berry that Healers, some Bards and Druids can make. They are a full day’s nutrition and leave the person that eats one feeling satisfied.
Thoroncir suggests that Sala ask her name and the name of her village. Does her accent suggest anything to him?
The mariner will also draw a roughly-to-scale map showing the locations of the trolls' cave, the port city of Hatha recently captured by our armies and the ruined city of Old Hatha to which we were going, and ask her to indicate where her village is.
It would be interesting to know if the girl knows if her village has been bothered by trolls in the past, or if this is a recent development. Likewise, I'm curious at the very notion of trolls taking human captives and not, you know, eating them. This is well outside my experience.
Oh, and what's her name?
Whoops, double post.
I know of a case where three trolls got hold of a hobbit and decided he wasn't enough of a mouthful to be worth bothering with as long as they still had plenty of roast mutton, and we know these trolls had beef and to spare. Well, but if we are too late to save this woman's friends and relations then at least we have sent their oppressors where the wicked cease from troubling. We must find out how much of a home she has to return to, and help to round up any fugitives that are still abroad.
The girl says, “I am Falina of Udar Village. The cows were the wealth of my village but I think and hope many or most of my people escaped. They made it clear; they were keeping me around as a plaything and to be eaten later.” She shudders violently but goes on answering questions and perks up at Gil-Gandel talking about returning her home and helping.
She is able to point to her village probably being about 20 miles to the North of the current location. She knows nothing of Old Hatha but Port Hatha is the big city in the region and her father and cousins drove cattle there once a year. This was the first time the trolls had raided her village, the village was caught by complete surprise. There was nursery tales of Trolls coming to eat kids that misbehaved and goblins capturing those that wandered too far from the village but we had seen none of these. We did have some disappearances occasionally but we never really knew if they were killed by beast, monster, raiders or just ran away to seek their fortune. A few of those that disappeared reappeared with tales of wealth made and adventure as sailors. Several others reappeared broken men that had joined the armies and gone to war.
The scouting party is back by now and Falina is hoping she could get out of the cave and into some fresh air.
Anything else with the strong box or the pit?
Sounds like the strongbox is probably too big and bulky to bring along with us now. Shall we rebury it in place?
If her healers approve, by all means, let Falina enjoy some sunshine. Does her accent suggest anything to Sala? The ruins of Old Hatha can wait; Thoroncir thinks we should take her back to her village, assuming she can now be left there safely. Maybe we could even bring along some of the loot to help them rebuild.
Theogrim agrees that the strongbox is probably best dealt with later.
Sala can not tell much from her accent except she is fairly local and not from the port. He says, "Udar is a small farming area, the village is no more than a dozen houses and a few dozen low barns. There is maybe 3 times that number within a few miles of it."
Sala looks appalled when Thoroncir mentions taking some of the loot to the village but says nothing.
Aside, quietly, to Sala: You seem to have some reservations. Different people have different customs - and perhaps we are about to violate some important code of conduct, but you feel unable to say so? If so, please inform me as discreetly as you consider proper. Such guidance is part of the reason why you are here.
Sala, "It is simpler than that my friend. I asked to come along with your group as I have rarely seen a group of adventurers like yours with your diverse skills and willingness to work together and I figured it was a great chance to earn a nice profit with little risk of others getting greedy. I am not use to the idea of donating hard won loot to others, especially strangers. However, I also had little to do with the slaying of the trolls. My biggest contribution was picking the picnic site for our camp." He laughs at the last and grimaces a little.
*grins* Blunt and to the point. I believe there will be profit enough before all is done - and meanwhile, a village of beggars is going to be a drain on the public purse sooner or later, and a portion of our hard-won gold spent to ease their want may be a small price to pay in the longer term. As our Wild Man would have put it, "a little repair work once it's plain that something needs to be done may mean much less work done further down the line, instead of letting things get really bad before you do anything, which is often the more expensive route even if it seems more tempting in the first place". The sooner we get Falina's people a few head of stock to replace their losses, the sooner they will be creating wealth instead of needing charity.
I've certainly no complaints over your choice of campsite. It meant we took the bull by the horns and fought a considerable number of trolls on ground that gave us enough of an edge for a decisive victory - and I'm sure there will be wealth enough to come, and hopefully foes more worth a fencer's skill than we have seen so far. Trolls don't afford much scope for finesse, which I too find inconvenient to say the least. I am reckoned a skilled singer, but by and large trolls are tone deaf. :)
"Falina, are you able to walk? Let us go out into the sunshine and fresh air. I'm sure you have looked your fill upon this cave." Prestolwen helps her up. Falina leans on Prestolwen's arm as they slowly make for the mouth of the cave.
The daylight is blinding after so long in the cave. Falina seems to draw strength from the breeze and the sounds of woodland creatures. She walks with a firmer tread already. Prestolwen looks at Gilraen and shares a small smile of respect and mutual admiration. Their patient will soon shed her need of them.
"Sala, do you know anything about the caves around here? Either present or past? I ask because even though this cave seems to be largely natural, there was a side passage that the Trolls were too large to fit down, yet some 80 years ago was clearly plugged up by intentionally placed stalagmites. Any idea why someone would do such a thing? I wouldn't think trolls would have too much to fear from water."
Sala says, "Knowing Trolls they were just paranoid about men or goblins. They generally don't like holes big enough for others but too small for them."
Falina enjoys the sunshine and breeze.
"Even trolls have to breathe, don't they?" Thoroncir asks. "They may long ago have had a problem with flash floods underground, and didn't want to ever have to choose between drowning and going out into the sunlight."
I do think it's strange to leave part of that cave unexplored. Clearly there's nothing troll-related back there, but that might just mean that there's something even older and more exciting!
"If we are, in fact, leaving the bulk of the treasure behind, we might as well leave a cave search for when we come back, as well," Thoroncir says. "Healing and then returning this lady safely to her village ought to be our priority for the moment, in my opinion."
So the party stands around enjoying the day for a while. Decisions need to be made. Gilraen at least favors using most of the found money to help the village out and the idea of heading for the village. But that is her nature and money means less to her than most.
Sala wonders, shouldn't one of the spell casters wander through and detect for magic on things in the cave?
"If this cave's dangers appear to be exhausted, and they do," Theogrim says, "I am willing to go on to the village. There may be need of our aid there."
May as well take Sala's advice though. But yes, we should go and see how urgent the need for help is as soon as we are done here. Take whatever is light and valuable and Mulligan can conceal what's left behind as best he can. Let's not spend too long on it.
"But stalactites and stalagmites would be lousy water sealers. If flash floods were an issue, I think they would have just gone somewhere else. Sala's probably right in that the Trolls just wanted to be cautious of a rear attack should anything come through there, and likely lacking any proficiency with stone, used a crude, if effective, stopgap measure.
Mulligan is quite happy to put some of the money into a small sack for the village as and when we get to it. Otherwise she can hide the box away again.
Please do, unless there's some objection other than from Sala. Thanks.
Gilraen will Detect Magic and wander about with her Bauble lit brightly and Thoroncir to protect her. She finds the Chest and something in the pit radiate magic.
Redward laughs. "I think, Deor, your idea of exciting varies greatly from mine. I feel the money should go to help the village. If it did not come from it, the threat to the village came from those who plundered the gold anyway. Fitting they should help repair the village."
Any chance of finding what it is in the pit other than the chest that is radiating magic?
If willing to descend, it is not that far down, maybe 6 feet.
Theogrim holds up a coil of rope and looks at the smaller party members. "I'll have the other end. Just in case."
Mulligan takes the other end of the rope and ties it round herself.
"Gilraen, if you wouldn't mind shining your bauble down their for a bit of light and direction..."
Gilraen shines it over the pit. Mulligan climbs down carefully and keeps alert for traps of all sorts. What she finds is a dirty floor that is fairly flat and smooth. Indeed, the floor is made of heavy planks and is 5'x3' The metal strong box was sitting on it. It is simple for Mulligan to hook an end and tie a rope and let others heave it open. The planks themselves are not the magic. The floor boards are removed and underneath Mulligan see a cache of weapons. There are dozens of swords, scimitars, hammers, maces, morning stars, flails, knives and daggers. All are generally human size. Of the lot, most are rusty or beginning to rust. 4 radiate magic, a flail, a scimitar, a long sword and a dagger. 3 are rust free and but the flail is rusty looking. There is also another clean long sword; it appears to be made of silver. Gilraen senses there is something very odd about this sword. It should not be handled lightly. But it does not radiate magic.
"Very interesting!" Thoroncir says, looking closely at the weapons. Can he or the Dwarves tell anything about their origins or history?
Deor will set up shop for Identify.
So the chest is now out of the pit where we can all see it, right? Or did we just jerk it open with the rope, not haul it up and out?
None of the magic weapons are familiar to the Dwarves or Thoroncir. Gil-Gandel recognizes the Scimitar as being an unusual design and not like the typical orc or Corsair style. The silver sword however reminds Gil-Gandel of an old legend he heard.
“There was once a brave hero, a Númenórean that had very strong sword of silver. This man was very powerful but the bloodlust was strong on him. He was nearly reckless in battle and sought battle. As the years went on it was said none could face him. He slew a foul Ringwraith once though of course the Ringwraith was only disembodied. He assaulted an enemy ship once and half the enemy jumped over board to flee his coming and the other half died on his sword. He never let a foe live and would gladly go for hours ensure all down on the field were really dead. It was also said it was dangerous to fight near him. He often struck friends in his frenzy and the bleeding was both tough to stop. The sword itself was said to give him great strength and almost sing in battle. At times it would blaze. Finally one day he went too far, he was lured by a large number of goblins that died by the dozens but 40 tall orcs stood ready to bow him down and slew him. Even then he got a final revenge. Or at least his sword did. The largest orc went to grab the sword and the sword exploded killing this chief and several others nearby. Where once there was a single sword there were now 7 swords and daggers of various sizes but most of the orcs would not go near them and took off running. Two smaller ones stayed behind and one grabbed a short sword and immediately died. The other then took off and spread this part of the tale.”
The chest had been levered up and out of the way.
Deor Identifies the strongbox and finds that it sorts the coins within it and keeps them clean and shining.
What does he identify next and how many will he cast?
This second treasure trove reminds Thoroncir of the old linnod,
Of pack-rats, magpies and trolls,
the latter smell worst by far.
Deor will ID the long sword and the dagger; they're potentially of immediate use, since party members use these weapons. The scimitar and flair can wait 'til tomorrow; there's no sense in burning second-level spells to identify things that we probably don't immediately need.
The Long Sword is a +2 Long that also has the ability glow like a torch at will.
The Dagger is only +1 but also can seal a wound once per day, cleansing it and healing a d6+6 hit points.
"That dagger interests me", says Prestolwen. "It would help any healer."
"I have no objection to Prestolwen's claim to the dagger. Shall we press on? There's only so much daylight left."
"By all means, on both points," says Sir Thoroncir, going to check on the horses.
Sing a linnod in Entish?
Utterly impossible!
And Sir Thoroncir has the right of it; let us be off.
"Many thanks. I shall use it well." Prestolwen slides the dagger into her leather girdle.Quote:
Originally posted by Appleciders
I guess the next stop is the village then? How long is it likely to take us to reach it?
20 miles is most of the day and at this rate we are likely to be spending the night there.
Sala knows of a path that will lead to a road that should allow us on horseback to reach the village at night if we are willing to ride through part of the night.
Falina will ride with who? How much coinage is being brought along?
Falina is welcome to ride with Thoroncir, if she wishes. Would a hundred gold pieces be sufficiently generous for a small village to get back on its feet? Two hundred?
Gilraen looks startled by the offer. "Perhaps she should ride with me?" Falina looks disappointed.
Sala says, "200 gold should give them enough to replace their stock. That is the important thing."
Good then. If it is settled I say we press forward to the village. I am not opposed to traveling at night.