Tuesday 5 July 2016

GURPS Free Cities Session 12

Party:
Arc Sol - Human Cleric of Pelor, the god of the sun (300 points)
Aurum Red-Brand - Human Wizard (291 points)
Mor'ath Enanqua - Elven Swashbuckler/Thief (280 points)
Zaxod - Half-Orc Knight (293 points)

Day 16 (Cont.)
Just as the bar fight ended, Gylium walked through the door to the inn and went about buying rooms for the evening, while the swordswoman moved Trugal over to a chair and thanked Zaxod for helping.  Mor'ath asked the innkeeper if there was any interesting news, and was informed that an artifact of the gods had been found near Carda.  He then asked the swordswoman to spar, and she agreed, so the pair went outside and practised for an hour or so.

Day 17
Weather: Good
The party woke up at sunrise, said goodbye to the other group, and then continued on the road north.  They made good time and arrived in Adusia in the afternoon.  Gylium paid them their $2,000 fee, and asked if they'd like to be recommended to the Merchant's Guild, as they are always in need of guards.  Zaxod asked if the jobs would be heroic, and agreed after being told they were potentially heroic.

They then found a locksmith to get a key made for the lockbox with over $20,000 in it, but Zaxod was kicked out of the store for being a half-orc, so Mor'ath had to negotiate instead.  Aurum had the idea to check for work at the Adventurer's Guild, but there were no jobs available.  The last one had been given out two days prior, and involved hunting hobgoblins in the Iron Forest around Kral Narthis.  They asked to be notified if any new work came up, Zaxod went and bought a bigger sack, and then the party went to the Crimson Boot and rested for the night.

Day 18
Weather: Good
In the morning, Zaxod asked the barkeep if there were any rumours, and was informed of an upcoming tournament in the city of Zerakim to the west, sponsored by the Grand Autarch himself, while the rest of the party debated about what to do with the Nexus.  Aurum decided against the Enchanter's Guild, because he didn't want those merchants getting their "plebby" hands all over his artifact, and Arc vouched for the priests of Pelor, so they went to the church with the Nexus in a sack, to hide it from any wizards who might be watching.

At the church, the High Priest offered to identify the purpose of the Nexus, but warned that it could well be cursed, with its obvious aura acting as bait.  They proceeded, with the help of Arc, while Aurum and Mor'ath waited outside.  Zaxod went out and bought a larger sack, then got a tailor to embroider it with a huge and elaborate version of the symbol of his old mercenary crew.  After that, he went to the docks and got a job as a labourer for the next couple days lifting crates.

After 4 hours, the priests emerged from their sanctified chambers and informed Aurum that they had figured out that the symbol on the surface of the Nexus meant "Air" in Supernal, the language of the gods, but had not been able to activate it in any way.  Given that it was a holy artifact, they offered to hold it for a time while continuing to research.  Aurum accepted, and he and Arc went on their way.

Back at the Crimson Boot, Aurum got swindled by a local gambler named Big Money Erik and lost $100.

Day 19-21
The party stayed in Adusia, and inquired about costs of travelling to Zerakim, with hopes of entering the tournament.  Aurum lost another $100 to Big Money Erik, who bought a mink winter coat with his winnings.

They were then contacted by the Adventurer's Guild, and hired to rescue a Cosium hunter, Herral, from hobgoblins in the nearby forest.

Day 22
Weather: Good
At dawn, the party set out to Cosium, and they arrived just before sunset.  They asked around and were directed to the Wench and Flail tavern to talk to Brim and Aldric, the hunters who had been with Herral when he was captured.  The very drunk hunters told the group that they had been returning to camp when they saw a group of eight hobgoblins interrogating Herral, and then ran away to go get help.

The party were given directions (up Hag's Hill, down to the lake to the west, then follow the third river from the east south), and then rested for the night.

Day 23
Weather: Stormy
The party set out early in the morning, but made poor progress due to the dense forest and worsening weather.  After a few short kilometers of travel, they set up camp for the night.  During Zaxod's watch, he heard something break a branch, and noticed a large group of hobgoblins ready to ambush.  He called out to the party, who were sleeping in their tents.

Notes:
Aurum used Luck to reroll one of his Gambling rolls, but still failed.

Mor'ath is going to look into martial arts schools, but he wants to do that during downtime so it isn't covered here.

Aurum got $1,000 worth of stuff from the church of Pelor, but he hasn't decided what yet.

Ocean travel isn't cheap.  Zerakim is a week away by ship, and with 6x Cost of Living for travelling, that comes out to $900 each if they get on a dedicated passenger ship, or $450 if they slum it on a cargo ship instead of the usual $150.

Essential Food was ruled to be equivalent to Dwarven Rations, as we don't generally track rations.

The weather got bad right as they needed it to be good.  They also failed their Navigation, and Arc, the slowest member, failed his Hiking.

They finally got their first random encounter!

XP:
1 for little success
1 for roleplaying
0 for the hardest fight
0 for loot
1 for quest completion
MVP went to Arc for getting the 50lbs metal slab into somebody else's hands.

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