The Mercenary's Moral Morass - 2/24/2010 session recap

The party collected and divvied up the dragon's loot, then headed back to the dragonborn village.  Everyone was in good spirits, and there was a celebration of sorts.  These people were born and raised as elite soldiers, and were accustomed to strict military discipline.  Unrestrained celebration does not come naturally to them.  But the mood was light, and everyone seemed happy.

Ander suggested to Djim that he set up diplomatic negotiations between Maazuni and this village, and Djim said that he was one step ahead of him.  He had already hired four dragonborn to replace his slain crew as a step towards permanent future relations with this village.  He hopes to employ them not only as guards for the trade barges, but also establish them as another stop on the trade route.

Boreas reduced the lesser magic items to residuum, and then enchanted his clothing.  He offered his bloodcut leather armor to Vrisana, who seemed initially hesitant, but then was seen wearing it the next morning.

Thoric carved a rose into a tree on the outskirts of the village, and tidied up a place for a simple shrine to Linitheriva.  Ander then carved a plank with the word "latrine" and drove it into the ground near the shrine.

The crew, both new and old, constructed a new cabin for the barge, and then the party was off again down the river.

About five days later, Thoric noticed that Djim was looking a bit disturbed by something.  When questioned, Djim told him that even though the stated mission - to deliver Kiosi and the cargo to Ngabulu - was still valid, there was a second mission that was essentially a trap.  He said that swamp pirates had been tipped off about the itinerary, and would be attacking when the barges beached at a standard location about a day away from the city.  He said that that it was expected that the party would be able to inflict serious losses on the pirates, but that the party's well-being was not critical to the plan.  As long as losses were inflicted on the pirates, the mission would be a success.  The real goal was to allow Jemboko's cousin, Kzambo, to attack the weakened pirate force and succeed in removing them as a threat to Ngabulu.  Apparently Kzambo aided the Empire during the rebellion, and fell from grace as a merchant prince when the rebellion succeeded.  Clearing out the pirates would restore his reputation - if he could claim the victory as his own.

This sparked some intense discussions amongst the party.  Here are some of the key points of various characters:

Thoric : Going into the mission forewarned would make it easier to prevail, the party could get some extra money for keeping silent on their involvement, and meeting Jemboko's unstated goals would make Jemboko indebted to the party for their discretion.  He also stated that he would give his life to protect Kiosi, regardless of which course of action the party took.

Xakoraki : She was unwilling to do anything to help Kzambo, who is a known collaborator of the late Empire.  Helping him, even for money, would be wrong.

Ander : He would not knowingly murder a group of sentients, even if they were pirates, and even if they attacked first.  He also had serious qualms about capturing any of them, knowing that they would merely face the death penalty under the existing laws of Ngabulu.  He also raised the fear that if Jemboko or Kzambo were willing to pay them for their silence, there would also be a risk of them being willing to kill the party instead.

Orvalion : People in power are used to using other people as tools, and are not known to tell such tools the entirety of their plans.  He pointed out that mercenary work, such as their current job, is inherently dangerous, and that unknown mortal peril were part and parcel with such employment.  As such, he didn't feel that a fight with the pirates would be outside of their contract as guards.  He also opined that people in power didn't tend to break their tools intentionally.

Vrisana : Jemboko is a wizard, and as such is interested in power.  Wizards aren't known for giving away all of their secrets, so she was not surprised there was a hidden agenda.  She thinks that Jemboko is crafty, but that he probably doesn't have anything against the party.  However, she wouldn't trust him implicitly, except to keep up his end of the bargain - i.e. paying them for delivering his cargo safely.  And she thinks he is more trustworthy than Caelebhan.

Boreas : He would like to get extra cash for the setup.  He didn't want to piss off *every* magister the party has ever met by intentionally cheating them.  But he was okay with the idea of skipping the pirates entirely, fulfilling the stated mission, and leaving Kzambo to his fate.

Mike the GM : The party cannot reasonably claim ignorance of the setup while also negotiating for extra cash.  Extra cash will only come through going beyond the stated contract and being discrete about it, by blackmailing Jemboko and Kzambo (asking for hush money), or by outright stealing.  The latter two options make Ander's fears more likely to come true.

A Dragon, Vanquished - 2/10 and 2/3 session recaps

The party set out with nine dragonborn hunters to find one of the dragons that had attacked their barge. They came across an island that was formed around the arching roots of a gigantic tree. Smoke was detected coming from one side of the island, and upon investigation they found a camp of humans. The human sentries gave warning: "It's the ones he was telling us about! Get 'em!"

After a brief skirmish with barbarians and rogues, all but one of them were slain. The one remaining offered up some information under threat of torture. He said that the dragon had found his band a few weeks ago and offered them each a gold piece a day to protect his lair. Searching the corpses only turned up about seven gold pieces per person, and when questioned the survivor said that they hadn't been paid in full yet. He said that there was another entrance on the other side of the island, somewhere underwater. Thoric and Xakoraki confirmed, each with their own impeccable knowledge of dragons, that black dragons were aquatic, and could breathe underwater.

The party decided on the dry approach. They encountered some deathspore fungus in a small chamber, but failing to detect any treasure they continued onward. They found a couple of elfinoid skeletons and noticed a rotted bag of coins among the remains. A little further down the passage, and an otyugh attacked them, focusing its efforts on dragging Xakoraki into its lair. It was dispatched fairly quickly, and no treasure was found among the moldering remains.

The party came to the dragon's lair, which was partially submerged. They approached cautiously, but did not see anything until Ander started peering at the pile of treasure that was at the edge of the water. The dragon burst forth, and stunned a few party members with its initial roar, but soon Ander had tricked it into a bad position. Surrounded by the party and a couple of dragonborn allies, it clouded itself with magical darkness and sprayed acid everywhere. Boreas had taken the precaution of warding his allies from acid, however, and the dragon breath had little effect on anyone. Boreas also summoned an icy, disembodied hand, which kept grabbing the dragon by the tail and holding it in place. Xakoraki was able to keep it from fleeing as well during the few times it broke free from the conjuration. Thoric's summoned rose battered the creature about the head, disorienting it, and making it easier to hit the dragon in the blinding darkness.

After a long (very long) fight, the dragon seemed to realize it could not win. It offered to parley, and asked what the party wanted. Xakoraki replied, "All of your treasure and your scaly hide!"** The party then ended the dragon's life with a few more stabs, slashed, and spells.

All of the treasure that the party was seeking to recover seemed to be heaped into a huge pile along with more treasure and items to be split among themselves and their allies.

The campaign will now continue into the paragon tier, and the players can now choose their character's paragon paths. Treasure distribution and leveling up will be the first orders of business for the next session.

** quote may be misattributed