Magic Shop Owners Session 7

Session Notes

Calendar Date: 8-3-569 - 10-3-569

Breadwig has learnt how to do surge pricing from Sarzan between sessions. It tested this out at the start of the session. When he had 100 gold in his pocket, the price for a consultation with Sarzan on the sign was 70 gold. The players also managed to hire Sam the Slow to run their shop while they were away for 10 gold a day. They said he could bake in the shop while they were gone. He also gave them some useful information about the route to Whiterock, saying they should be careful not to stray from the path in the Howling Woods. He also asked if they could keep an eye out for goolgeek a rare spice he wanted to use in his cooking. While they were there, they also collected the mushroom brownies that Sam had baked for them, each eating some before they began the journey. They agreed and thanked Sam for the information. Jatumal and Sphonyx both kissed him on the cheek. Each collected money and stored it in Jatumal's magic boat, which, when shrunk, made the gold practically weightless.

After this, they began their journey to Whiterock, stopping at the pond of foresight along the way. There, they spoke to Zuchi and each drank from the pond apart from Sphonyx. Jatumal saw visions of vines moving like snakes, Breadwig saw a town made of white brick, and Stinkcat saw the path leading up to the Howling Woods. Meanwhile, Sphonyx quizzed Zuchi about Sally Hope's fiction at the pond. It seemed like Zuchi and Sally might be having an affair. Not long after that, they reached the entrance to the woods at the point when the mushroom brownies seemed to be kicking in. They saw the sign to Whiterock pointing down the path and continued into the woods. The brownies caused shapes to distort and colours to have much higher contrasts. The woods were dark from the thick canopy, but there were purple glowing crystal-like objects glistening just off the path.

Sphonyx darted for one of these, and the undergrowth opened up, swallowing her. Inside, she lit her lantern, revealing vines and roots moving like snakes and slowly pulling her down beneath them. Jatumal faked out the undergrowth and was able to cause the hole to open again without falling in. Sphonyx was about 20ft down. Inside, Sphonyx used a jewelled sword she had taken from Acman to try to cut the vines away, but it was swallowed by them. At the top, Breadwig and Stinkcat tied a rope to a tree, and Jatumal tied the other end to himself before jumping into the hole. Inside, Sphonyx was now covered in vines and roots up to her waist. Jatumal tried to cut them away, but his sword got stuck in the roots. Stinkcat was ready to light a fire to burn the vines away when Breadwig put them to sleep. Jatumal collected his sword and pulled Sphonyx out of the tangle, then Stinkcat and Breadwig used the rope to pull them out of the hole.

After this, the group realised they had to follow Sam's advice and not stray from the path. As they continued along the path, a dense fog set in, which meant they could barely see ahead. Jatumal's tracking almost led them off the path, and Breadwig was the only one to notice they were getting close to a purple crystal in time for them to return to the path safely. Back on the path, the group all tied themselves together following Breadwig now instead of Jatumal. As time went on, the wood got increasingly dark to the point where even with lanterns, the group could barely see ahead. Jatumal scanned with his infravision, making out some hot patches by trees and a two-headed giant off in the distance. Deciding it would not be wise to stray from the path, the group slept there. Breadwig took first watch, incredibly paranoid after the encounters of the day before, he was on high alert. Using his lantern, he scanned the wood carefully for many hours, but this drained him, and soon he had to wake someone. Each of the part members was reluctant to wake up, but eventually Stinkcat agreed to take the next watch. Squatting, they watched the woods and heard an echoing stomp heading towards them. They woke up the party, who each tried to stay as quiet as possible, but in fear, Sphonyx made a noise. The giant who had one sleeping head turned toward the party, its footsteps getting louder. Jatumal threw a rock into the woods, and the ettin was easily distracted and changed direction. They had no more disturbances for the rest of the night, and when dawn came, the fog was clear.

After finding an intersection in the road with one sign pointing to Hazelmond and the other Whiterock, the group followed the sign to Whiterock and, after a short time, came out of the Howling Woods. A moderately sized port town was revealed, made out of white brick, and it was bustling with life compared to Stagbrook. They quickly made their way to the nearest pub called the Gawping Cod and ordered many drinks. It was much busier than the Terrible Toad in Stagbrook, and there was even live music, although the music wasn't great. Inside, they learnt many things. The lower docks were having monster trouble. There was a festival celebrating the anniversary of the new governors of Whiterock, which included boat races, arena fights, fishing competitions and a large market. A man called Daromir had also gone missing, looking for a place called the Obsidian Keep. Daromir was known for bringing rare items into town, such as goolgeek. As time went on, they got more drunk and began requesting that the mandolin player play songs he didn't know. Jatumal and Breadwig almost started a fight with him for this. Sphonyx eventually requested a song he knew, and Stinkcat paid him 30 gold for the trouble. After this, the party encouraged the patrons to start a rave and began dancing on the tables. Everyone joined in. Jatumal managed to sell a couple of mushrooms, but they weren't that popular. The group also managed to buy a week's worth of lodgings in the pub. The owner offered a discount, but Breadwig gave the discount back as a tip.

It wasn't until late afternoon that the party awoke in Whiterock. After the woods and a rave, they had some much-needed rest. They had agreed to take part in the boat race and so prepared for that in the morning. Finding somewhere out of the way, they tested the magic boat out on open water, trying to work out the optimum speed-to-size ratio. After they had spent some time on this, they went to the pier where people were setting up for the race. They found the gambling master betting on themselves to win the race with 10 to 1 odds. Together they bet 800 gold on this and 50 on Dastardly Derek, the favourite to win the race, crashing into a rock with 5 to 1 odds. The gambling master didn't think they had a chance, even though there were no rules in the boat race. The race was simple: travel through some rocks in the sea, come around an island and travel back to the pier at Whiterock. While moving up to the start line, Sphonyx shouted, attracting the attention of some of the sailors, including Derek. She then hypnotised them to sail off into the ocean instead of finishing the race.

Soon, the race began, and all the boats were very close to begin with. At the first set of rocks, Dastardly Derek veered off, hit a rock and began sailing off into the sunset. The party were neck and neck with the other favourite to win the race, Blake Whickham, but when they got to the second set of rocks, he used a current stream between them to get a boost, as did many other sailors. This left the party in the middle of the pack again. Breadwig tried to put Blake to sleep, but he instead seemed to speed up, rounding the island ahead out of view. As the party rounded the island, another boat came side by side and began shooting arrows at them. Breadwig threw a disintegration potion at the boat, causing the side to melt away and sink. As it did, it pulled towards the magic boat. Jatumal increased the size of the boat, slowing it down but preventing the other boat from pushing them off course. When they rounded the island, Blake was already at the first set of rocks. In unison, Breadwig cast a spell, and Jatumal shot an arrow at Blake. Blake fell asleep before being hit in the head with the arrow and dying. At this point, many other sailors left the race, also sailing away. The party then took the rest of the race easily, now with a substantial lead.

Arriving at the pier, there were many cheers for the underdog of the race, but Blake's wife stood crying, and many had lost a substantial amount of money betting on Blake or Derek. In the commotion, a thief attempted to pick-pocket the magic boat from Jatumal, who caught him and broke his wrist. He threatened to get the thieves guild on Jatumal but was quickly called out for his lack of thieving ability and forced to tell them that the thieves guild hung out in a place called the Swordfish. After dealing with the thief, they noticed that the gambling master had packed up his stall and was running. Jatumal noticed his red hat disappear around a corner, shouting about it to the group. Sphonyx used her invisibility belt to disappear and try to catch up, but got lost in the crowd. Breadwig asked passers-by where a man with a red hat had gone. It seemed he was heading to the arena. They group hurried that way. When they arrived, they found he had met up with another gambling master, and they both seemed to be trying to leave town. Jatumal jumped onto Stinkcat's shoulder and would have fallen if it hadn't been for Stinkcat's iron grip. From the vantage point, he shot and killed the gambling master with the bag of money with his bow. The crowds parted, and the other gambling master sheepishly took the bag before hastily trying to slip away. Jatumal shot for the calf, hitting the man who still tried to limp on. Sphonyx ran in front of him, disengaging her invisibility with her dagger drawn to stop him. The gambling master didn't expect this and ran straight into the dagger, killing himself.

Two Whiterock guards in shining plate armour appeared behind Sphonyx, and another eleven rounded the corner from the arena near Stinkcat and Jatumal. They all tried to persuade the guards that they were innocent and just trying to stop these thieving gambling masters from taking their money, but the guards found that unlikely. Sphonyx also claimed it was an accident, to which the guards said they had heard that one before. As Jatumal dismounted Stinkcat's shoulders, Stinkcat took the magic boat from his pocket and faked a fall to pass the boat, which contained the group's wealth, to Breadwig, who had managed to stay out of the accusations. He tried to defend them, but the guards were having none of it and escorted everyone other than Breadwig away to prison to await a trial.

XP

4000 xp Gambling money (rest when they get it back)
250 xp Human kills
900 xp Ettin
100 xp vines
5250 xp total
1313 xp each

Published Content Used

• OSE (Classic and Advanced)