Adventure #14 - What's Mine is Ours

General Summary

Adventure #14 - What's Mine is Ours 7/12/24
Players:

Karl: Erberk Torunn

Seth: Scoots the Raccoon

Chris: Dimple Nackle

Sean: Sylvi

Synopsis: Inside A Gnome's Solution, Dimple and Scoots prepare for the Bonny Beard Competition being held in the Elderflower later that night, an event where competitors wear an elaborately stylized beard (whether it's a real beard or a crafted one) in hopes of winning a magic item as a reward, while the losers of the competion shave their beards off. Not looking to partake in the festivities but rather make some extra gold, Dimple concocts three Beard Growth potions to sell to those who are unable to do so, and has Scoots test one of the potions. Despite being a raccoon, Scoots face grows hot with pain as a thick, curly beard grows out at an accelerated rate, protruding about 6 inches from his face. Pleased with the results, Dimple pockets the other two potions, and Scoots busies himself with styling his beard to look like a rose bush with real flowers, along with a curly mustache. Satisfied with their work, Dimple and Scoots head towards the Elderflower.
Meanwhile, Erberk forges intricate metal beard ringlets, each depicting a tool or aspect of the forge, including smithing tools, anvils, and even a symbol of his deity Torag. Once completed, he braids his beard in traditional dwarven fashion, adorning the many braids with his new ringlets. Also satisfied with his work, he departs for the Elderflower, and runs into Azalea, who styled her own long red hair into a beard shape over her face, which flows down over her chest into a flowery wreath, complete with a real bird in a bird nest in the hole of the wreath. The two friends greet each other warmly, praise each other for their unique beards, and then continue towards the Elderflower together, bumping into Dimple and Scoots just outside the tavern door. While the group inspects each other's beards, Erberk boasts about the expansion of his business at The Forge; by making a partnership with Laerwynn and Ragnar, The Forge can now include leather-working and woodworking respectively, rounding out their offering of weapons, armor, and other useful gear. Dimple scans for incoming patrons without a beard in hopes of making a sale, and sees Cecil Flickerwick and Cookie the Crabfolk arriving together. Being a fellow gnome, Cecil energetically calls out to Dimple, and the two partake in small talk about each other's businesses. Cecil beams with pride as he tells of his success with his hot air balloon transport service "The Zephyr Express", and offers to take Dimple on a balloon ride sometime soon. Touched by his kindness, Dimple offers Cecil a bottle of Beard Growth potion, which brings tears of joy to Cecil's eyes, for he himself was unable to grow a beard for the competition. Without hesitation, Cecil chugs the potion, and screams in pain as a huge tufty fiery red beard protrudes 8 inches from his face in a spherical shape in the matter of seconds. After the pain subsides, Cecil delights at his new beard, promises Dimple a grand balloon tour of the area, kicks open the door of the Elderflower, and runs in with his head held high. Dimple then offers Cookie the remaining potion, Cookie politely declines with claw gestures, and the party enters the tavern.
Inside, the tavern bustles with patrons, with about a third of them donning exquisitely styled facial hair for the competition. The party approaches the bar, where Pappy serves drinks and Sylvi sits atop the bar in her usual place. The party chats with Pappy while Sylvi is tempted by the live bird nestled in Azalea's beard-wreath, and Erberk pops out his newly crafted metal eye to show Pappy, explaining that he crafted it out of the sword hilt eye engraving that preserved his sight through the divine mercy of Torag. After enthusiastic inspection of the eye and returning it to Eberk, Pappy disappears into the kitchen to stylize his own beard before he commences the competition as host. In minutes, Pappy reappears with a huge golden beard and mustache, both styled with massive curls, and then leaps on the bar to announce the start of the competition. Pappy exclaims that competitors are being judged on not only the style of their beard, but also the flair in which they show off their beard on stage. After reminding the crowd of the mystery prize and the beard-shaving for the losers, Pappy gestures for competitors to make their way towards the stage to show off their work and strut their stuff. Proud of his new beard, Cecil bounds to the front of the line and leaps on stage first, showing off his beard like a confident super model on a runway. Scoots takes to the stage and casts Faerie Fire, lighting up each of his roses with different colored lights. Azalea's "beard" teems with life as flowers and plants blossom, while the bird in the nest spreads its magnificent wings wide. Erberk takes the stage and begins a solemn but moving dwarven chant, and as he moves his beard, the ringlets move as if they're working the forge. Meanwhile, Dimple offers his remaining bottle of Beard Growth potion to the group of goblins watching the competition, in which they all sip on and pass around. In moments, each of the goblins grow wispy prepubescent facial hair, causing them to jump up and down with excitement and yank on each other's patchy chin hairs. Afterwards, Pappy takes the stage once again, and after conferring with the judges, he announces that Erberk is the winner, and rewards him with a Pendant of Ironbeard, which allows him to power to instantly turn his own beard hard as iron at will, therefore increasing his defenses (gives a +1 to his AC). The crowd cheers for Erberk, and after he gives a victory speech, Pappy announces that a round of ale is on the house for everyone, and the tavern erupts into celebration and revelry. During the celebrations, Lionel Brownfoot calls over the party to a table and mentions that he believes he has found what could be the entrance to an old mine within the mountain tunnel road through the Black Ridge Mountains, which he is interested in securing to establish a mining business in Aberystwyth. He calls on their aid to help him investigate his hunch, and the party agrees to join him the next morning. Erberk asks Azalea to join the group, but she politely declines, saying she has a prior engagement. After much drinking and singing, the party returns to rest for the adventure to come.
The following morning, the party makes their preparations. Erberk, looking to support local businesses, shops at Bits and Bobs for some cave exploration gear, and then seeks insight from Futures Unveiled, where he finds Sylvi siting atop a small table with a raven behind her on a perch. Erberk inquires about the prices of the readings (5gp for a standard reading, 10gp for a mystic reading), which leads to an awkward confusion; Erberk wants a standard reading, but Sylvi's business partner Oriana is not there to give one, and so only the more expensive option is available, which Erberk isn't entirely thrilled to pay for. The two agree on a half now, half later deal, assuming Erberk is satisfied with the reading by the end of the day. Sylvi swats cards deftly on to the table from a narrow deck, revealing a foreboding prediction, but Erberk doesn't quite understand what the cards are trying to say, and Sylvi's talking raven tries its best to interpret. Afterwards, Erberk, Sylvi, and the raven depart together to meet the rest of the party in front of A Gnome's Solution. As the party meets up, they check their gear to make sure they're ready, and then decide to use the ancient thought-propelled battle wagon to travel to their destination. Since Erberk has driven this vehicle before and knows where to go, he sits at the helm, thinks about the location, and the vehicle begins trundling in the direction of the tunnel.
After an uneventful trip to the mountains and through the tunnel, the party arrives to their destination, a where a portion of the tunnel wall is caved in to reveal a exceedingly cobwebby and rocky cave room. While Dimple spends time trying to figure out how to lock the thought wagon doors from potential thieves, the rest of the party inspects the room, which Eberk remembers fighting giant spiders in on a previous adventure with Pappy. Some party members inspect the rat infested spider carcasses left behind from the previous battle, but Erberk notices the top of a carved archway behind a pile of rubble. Lionel and Erberk work together to clear away the stones, revealing a sealed dwarf-crafted stone door, adorned with carvings of different languages. Working together, the party translates each line, revealing what appears to be a riddle, which reads:
"Three lives have I. Gentle enough to soothe the skin, light enough to caress the sky, hard enough to crack rocks"
With some careful thought, Erberk exclaims "Water!", but nothing happens. Then Scoots casts the spell Create Water on the door, and though water runs down its surface, the door remains closed. Erberk examines the door closely, learning only that the door is an incredibly well crafted dwarven door. Inspired, Erberk says the dwarven word for water, and the door immediately opens, revealing a dark and dusty corridor. As the doors open all the way, the party finds the ancient bones of three dwarves clad in full-plate armor with arrows protruding from their backs. After inspecting the bodies and being unable to determine the origin of the deteriorated arrows, the party draws their weapons, and cautiously make their way through the dusty hallway. Scoots critically succeeds in summoning two bats, one with blue eyes and one with green eyes, and he sends them down the hallway to scout ahead for danger. They return with no news of danger, and the party proceeds.
In time, the party spots an unusual sight of two large metal structures standing side by side with two metal beams running parallel on the door down the hallway. After a moment, the party realizes that these metal beams are rails, and that the metal structures are bumpers for what they suspect to be mine carts, and Lionel lights up with excitement. They continue their journey following the rails, and the party finds a room where part of the rail curves to the side into a room, revealing a huge rusted mine cart, a stack of crates, and another dwarven skeleton with arrows in its back. The mine cart is inspected for its contents and it's possible use, but it's only filled with rocks, and it's wheels are seized from centuries of sitting dormant. A crate is opened up, revealing ingots of mithral, and the party theorizes that this was a mithral mine, which could explain why Aberystwyth has mithral water pipes and mithral sewage system. With all this new information, the party decides its best to return home to regroup and prepare properly for the exploration of the mine, but not without taking the stack of crates for inspection in a safer loctaion, as well as the collecting the four dwarven skeletons to be brought the Aberystwyth for a proper burial in the church graveyard. Once packed and ready, the party returns home on the wagon. Scoots notices that his summoned bats have not disappeared long after the spell was supposed to end, and the bats continue to follow him faithfully back home.
The party first stops at The Forge to unload the crates and inspect them, figuring it makes sense for the ingots to be kept there. Opening the crates, they find the mithral ingots they found earlier, as well as various mithral cookware, including a skillet, a waffle iron, a pot, and a cauldron. They also find mithral manacles, chain, and grappling hook, then rotten clothes in another crate. Upon inspecting the final crate, a swarm of spiders launches out on Lionel, covering him head to toe. Erberk dumps a bucket of water on Lionel and Scoots casts Create Water on him to help disperse the spiders, while the bats swoop down to eat them. With a dozen spiders left, Scoots catches them in the mithral pot, and contemplates their use at A Gnome's Solution. While he collects the spiders, the party discusses what they should do with the bounty of mithral gear, and argue for a time about whether they should sell the rare and expensive gear or donate it to the town because it's historic and useful to the community. In the end, they decide to donate the gear, and bring Pappy to The Forge to discuss where the gear might be useful. Pappy tears up at their generosity, and offers to purchase the mithral cookware for use at the Elderflower for 2,000 gold pieces, and suggests donating the chain and manacles to the town guard. Pappy also suggests that the ingots be used to make giant mithral letters on the town's large welcome sign, so that it's shining letters can be seen from far away, and nod to its history with the precious metal. The party agrees, and after collecting their coin, they bring the dwarven skeletons to the Lady Lenora Church of Sarenrae for a proper burial in the church graveyard. Once the ceremony is complete, Erberk returns to the forge to begin crafting mithral letters for the town’s welcome sign.

Report Date

12 Jul 2024

Primary Location

Aberystwyth