secret of the dragon emperor ... part 28!

onward!

GM Elle: I heard a lot of groans during the experience wrap-up last time, so I'm guessing no one snagged any new Heroic Abilities?
MSG: The dice weren't kind to us.
Sasha: That's okay. We're going to whoop on a giant this time and get even more experience marks than last time.
GM Elle: I guess we should get to it, then. Last session, Glim-Glam helped you get to the buried basement of the Tower of Sighs and release the spirits that were damned to haunt the place centuries ago. Now you're supposed to provide her with two pigs from Outskirt and help her run her cousin Grim-Grum out of her house where he's been squatting for some time. But first, does anyone want to use the fountain in the bottom of the tower to swear an unbreakable oath?
Ariel: Sounds to me like a lot of work to go down there and a lot of work to climb back up and then making more work for myself by swearing whatever it is. Plus all the work of figuring out what to swear! No thanks.
Sasha: Sir Q already passed on the fountain after watching Dolora and Filvius swear their ridiculous oaths that didn't even have anything to do with killing monsters.
Akane: Zedeja might be tempted to swear an oath for commanding this group with more sternness. Then they might give increased diligence to obeying her wisdom.
MSG: Dolora isn't keen on what Zedeja might want to do with that fountain -- she might order us all to swear an oath to follow her orders, and then get all pissy if we refuse.
Claire: Filvius is busy showing off the cool banner he found, so he doesn't say anything about the fountain.
Ariel: By the way, did Zedeja and me see all those ghosts march up out of the basement?
GM Elle: I'll let you roll Awareness with a bane. The ghosts disappeared as soon as they got into sunlight, and the two of you were busy arguing.
Ariel: I make it!
Akane: Zedeja's mighty Awareness fails by Demoning.
GM Elle: Uh-oh. In that case I'll say you miss them until Fidu points them out, and you're so startled you need to make a WIL check against Fear.
Akane: Success. The will of Zedeja is also mighty.
Heddy: I'm assuming there's no chance of me or Dilfriida seeing them from upstairs, so when we get back down with the treasure chest, I'll ask everyone what happened. Remember, I'm particularly interested in the legend of the fountain, which I think is supposed to make it temporarily impossible to tell a lie.
Claire: In that case, Filvius will probably spill the beans about the fountain before Dolora has a chance to stop him. He'll also brag about swearing a more clever oath than the dwarf did, and explain why his was superior hers.
Akane: Hmm. Hearing these details makes Zedeja think, there are drawbacks to this fountain. A poorly sworn oath could bring inconvenience. She abstains of fountain-drinking.
Heddy: Brandywise definitely wants to see the fountain for herself. But she's a bit nervous about going down into the previously haunted basement alone. Anyone else want to come?
Hettie: It doesn't sound like Dolora or Filvius mentioned anything about uncovering treasure, so Dilfriida will certainly head down with you.
Akane: Zedeja demands a larger escort for the halfling of pilferage. 
Hettie: I stick my tongue out at her.
Sasha: I'll go with them. More so I won't have to listen to Zedeja complain if no one does what she says.
GM Elle: When you get to the bottom, it's just as I described before.
Sasha: See? Pretty boring down here. There's the fountain in that corner.
Heddy: I'll go over to examine it.
GM Elle: It's not particularly spectacular and doesn't radiate any aura of truthfulness or sense of enchantment.
Hettie: In the meantime, I ask our mallard knight whether they already searched all these bodies.
Sasha: Yeah, we found some gold jewelry and then all this costume jewelry junk that's still on them.
Hettie: Did you search around the altar?
MSG: D'oh!
Claire: I guess we could have done that.
Sasha: Quackers admits that no one did.
Hettie: I'm giving it a very thorough going-over in that case.
GM Elle: Roll to Spot Hidden.
Hettie: The die mocks me by teetering on the edge of a Dragon and then falling back to 13, which fails. I grumble about missing out on any good loot.
Heddy: I open my mouth to point out that we already found some treasure upstairs, then remember that we locked the chest back to make it appear unopened. Then I'll go back to examining the fountain. I'm quite intrigued to see how and whether it works ... but also intimidated at the prospect of tinkering with ancient magic myself.
Sasha: I'll ask if she's done yet. We still need to get on the road to Outskirt to buy those pigs. Not to mention the fact that that Grim-Grum giant isn't going to defeat himself.
Heddy: An idea occurs to me, and I let my two companions know that I've been getting quite down since joining the group because I'm a satyr and we're devoted to reveling and celebration on a daily basis. So I ask if either of them would be willing to make a fountain-oath to join me in those sorts of activities each day so long as I'm with the group.
Sasha: Quackers asks if drinking counts. He's always down for some drinking.
Hettie: Dilfriida thinks it sounds like that would annoy Zedeja, so she quickly offers to do so.
Heddy: I thank them both enthusiastically.
GM Elle: All right, then I'll need you each to tell me exactly what the wording of your oaths will be.
Sasha: I drink up and say, "I swear that as long as Brandywise is with us and there's booze available, I'll be her drinking buddy every day."
Hettie: And I'll promise to join in whenever Brandy asks me to party with her.
Heddy: That's a bit of an open-ended promise, you know. Depending on what we include as "partying," you might end up obligated to do any number of things.
Hettie: My character is young and foolish and has an Intelligence of 9, so I was quite deliberate in softballing that opportunity to you ... even if Brandywise doesn't seem like the type to take undue advantage of it.
Heddy: Not so far, no. But you have only known her a day and a half at this point.
Hettie: Please feel free to exercise your imagination in formulating Brandy's invitations to cavort.
Heddy: Mmmm! I'll give it some thought!
Akane: When the fountain-drinkers return, Zedeja has complaints.
Hettie: Unsurprising.
Akane: This chest! Why did you fail to announce it? Lackadaisical! You must remedy this by unlocking it at once!
Hettie: I tell her it seems to have belonged to the bandits, and she's welcome to go search their one-eared leader's cadaver for the key.
Akane: So churlish!
GM Elle: The giant offers to break the chest open if you can't find the key.
MSG: That seems reckless to Dolora ... most of us aren't aware that there's nothing fragile inside.
Sasha: Quackers says let's just pick it up and get going. "We've got a giant, and a strong-ass mallard, and a strong-ass dwarf, and we've got to go past that Ursic chick's body on our way off the island anyhow, so what are we waiting for?
Akane: This argument is sensible to Zedeja, so she agrees. However, there is double-glaring at the halfling.
Hettie: I just glare back.
GM Elle: All right, when you get to the bandit camp, you find the key on Ursic's corpse and get the chest open without trouble. Inside are 80 copper pieces and 45 gold pieces -- I'm assuming the group finds the false bottom.
MSG: Sweet!
Claire: Yeah, that looks like a pretty good haul.
Sasha: Great. Split it up and let's get going.
Akane: Duck! Insistence of promptness is good ... but it is the job of Zedeja! No usurpage!
GM Elle: If no one objects, we can skip over the trip back through the marshes. You've got a giant with you, so nothing's likely to attack you, and Glim-Glam can carry people across deeper stretches of water you'd normally have to go around, so you easily return to the Road's End Inn by nightfall.
MSG: I'll check on Glinssa and make sure she and the cart are okay.
Akane: I will accompany the dwarf -- but only due to our cart and donkeys!
Claire: Before we get too far into this stuff at the end, I want to say that Filvius would have been talking to Glim-Glam at every opportunity to try to get as much knowledge about giants as he can out of her.
GM Elle: I actually assumed that was the case ... and also that Dolora would be asking questions whenever Filvius had to take a breath. Anyone else want to chime in about what you were up to during the trek back from the Tower of Sighs? 
Akane: With a Game Master so predictive, I think Zedeja's behavior must already be known.
Hettie: Along with Dilfriida's responses to Zedeja's behavior.
GM Elle: In that case, Dolora finds Glinssa, the cart and donkeys about where you left them -- except that it looks like the workers have repaired the fence around the small pasture behind the stables, and instead of being tied up, the donkeys are out there grazing.
MSG: I thank Glinssa for keeping an eye on them and our stuff.
Claire: While Dolora is occupied, I'm getting some one-on-one time in with our giant.
GM Elle: She's actually hanging back in the woods rather than coming right up to the inn. Giants aren't especially sociable in general, and since she's gleaned that there are adventurers at the inn who were brought in to troubleshoot the place, she'd prefer not to march right up where they might get the wrong idea.
Claire: In that case, since my Bushcraft and Hunting and Fishing are pretty good, I'll hang out with her and see if I can bag us some dinner.
GM Elle: Go ahead and make your roll.
Claire: 2! I'll definitely take it, but I was sort of hoping for a Dragon that might bring down a wild boar and shave off some of our payment to Glim-Glam.
GM Elle: Actually, I would have let the Dragon stand in for the weapon roll you have to make when hunting. That has to be a ranged weapon attack roll.
Claire: Uh-oh. My sling skill is kinda weak-o next to my Hunting and Fishing. Let's see ... boo, 16. I'll become disheartened by my initial miss so I can push the roll and try again. Whew! 11 is exactly what I needed.
GM Elle: In that case, roll d6 for the results table. 
Claire: 3.
GM Elle: That's a rabbit.
Claire: Ugh. Probably not even a mouthful for Glim-Glam. Can I get angry at seeing so many rabbit tracks and push the d6 roll to ignore them and try finding something better?
GM Elle: Sure, but you have to take the second roll even if it's worse.
Claire: I'm good with that. Pff. 3 again.
Ariel: Maybe it's a really big rabbit!
Claire: I apologize to Glim-Glam for not bringing down something bigger.
GM Elle: She's fine. She brought along a sheep's haunch that the bandits brought in for her as part of their deal for her help digging out the basement. Go ahead and make your Bushcraft roll to see if you put your sleeping fur down on a rock and get no sleep.
MSG: Personally, I think that's the meanest rule in this game.
Claire: Luckily, I have a good Bushcraft skill, because my roll is a 15, which would fail for most of my skills.
GM Elle: At the inn, the evening progresses with a gathering of good spirits in the common room. The overall structure of the place was in decent shape, and they've done a day and a half of cleaning and repairing. They also brought along plenty of food and some barrels of ale.
MSG: I'll do some catching up with Glinssa to begin with and Gualmond's crew after that.
Ariel: I go to bed early!
Akane: The same for Zedeja.
Hettie: I suppose, given my oath to Brandy, I have to make a stab at revelry with her, though I doubt I'm particularly good at it, given my lack of practical experience.
Heddy: We'll run through a number of options and see which you're best at. Drinking, dancing ... flirting ...
GM Elle: That would be a CON check a Performance check, and then your choice of Persuasion, Bluffing, or Awareness, depending on which you think makes the most sense for Dilfriida.
Sasha: That oath I swore means I've pretty much got to get in on the drinking part with our satyr. But if I get the sense I'm being a third wheel, I'll go over after an ale or two and join Dolora and Gualmond's crew.
Hettie: Dragon on the CON check, so I presume I down quite a healthy volume of ale without total inebriation.
Heddy: In that case, I have to make a check too to keep up with you. A 6 isn't so spectacular, but I don't end up more than pleasantly buzzed. I'll take lead in the dancing and easily succeed.
Hettie: Gracious. I only have a 4 in Performance, but somehow I succeed too.
Heddy: Clearly things are going grandly, then. My Persuasion is a Dragon, so apparently I'm taking quite the lead in the flirting as well.
GM Elle: She sets you up with excellent lines, Dilfriida. You can have a Boon on whatever skill you pick.
Hettie: I'm going to say I'm pretty dense about these things, so I'm rolling Awareness, and both dice come up successful.
Heddy: I'm very careful, by the way, not to explicitly ask anything particular of my date, since that magic oath means she'd not really have any choice about agreeing.
GM Elle: Very commendable of you. Do we want to skip over the exact details of whether Dilfriida is having whatever Brandywise is serving up?
Ariel: What? It's just getting good!
Sasha: Your character's asleep anyway, though.
Hettie: Having had a great deal to drink and an unexpected thrill at my success on the dance floor, I suspect my character is in rather a pliable state. As for how far things go, I think when it comes to the end of the session, I'll put a mark by my Performance skill and let the roll determine how "experienced" I end up by the evening's close.
GM Elle: The next day dawns, then. Is everyone ready to head for Outskirt?
Ariel: No, because Fidu went to sleep by counting sheep, and that made him dream about all kinds of tasty animals including boars like Glim-Glam was asking for, and when he wakes up he checks with the people in charge of supplies for the inn to see if they brought along any pigs we could buy from them. That will save us from wearing ourselves out walking all the way to Outskirt and back.
GM Elle: It turns out they do have some pigs. But you'll need to roll Bartering to convince them to part with the animals. Replacing them means they'll have to spare someone from the work to go in and get more pigs from town.
Ariel: Fidu's Bartering rules. He makes it, easy.
GM Elle: They'll let you have the pigs, but for three gold each instead of the normal two, as a premium for the extra trouble of that trip to market.
MSG: I think we can spare it.
GM Elle: In that case, there's one more order of business before you can depart -- some information that came up during Dolora's conversation with Gualmond and his party. At some point you may have mentioned that cave Filvius dreamed of under the influence of that spider-kin's weaving, or maybe Gualmond passes along a rumor he heard about a young boy taken from a farm near outskirt. The tracks led into the Iron Forest, which made people say he must have been brought to Oracle Cave. Supposedly the Oracle knows everything about the Misty Vale, but occasionally demands human sacrifices for her knowledge. Fleetclaw chimes in to say there's also word of the Oracle having a mountain of treasure somewhere in the cave.
Sasha: Hot damn. The only way that could sound better is if she's a monster.
GM Elle: Anyway, here's the Adventure Card for Oracle Cave to add to the others you've collected from the rumors and chatter that you've come across.
MSG: We don't seem to be reducing this hand of Adventure Cards very quickly.
Sasha: That's why we need to get a move on. Come on, let's hit the road, whip Grim-Grum's butt, and then head over to that cave from Filvy's dream.
GM Elle: All right, so once again, with a giant along for the trip, you don't encounter anything willing to attack you, and the journey goes peacefully, taking you past the great mound with Hanhgrav's statue sticking out of it, a lot of gently rolling hills covered in light woods, some ruins and many of the ancient mile-markers left from the time of the Dragon Empire.
Hettie: Actually, are they mile-markers? Or kilometer-markers? Because I notice the scale on the map is in kilometers.
GM Elle: Is this an in-character question? Because I'm not recalling anyone actually letting Dilfriida look at the map.
Hettie: That's an excellent point. Sorry to interrupt.
MSG: Dolora has definitely looked at the map, though, and that's one hundred percent information she'd want to know.
Claire: Filvius too!
GM Elle: Fine. Both of you can roll Languages.
MSG: Demon. Well, at least it's a pretty low-stakes point for getting one of those.
Claire: I fail miserably with an 18, but less miserably than Dolora, it looks like. So Filvius feels at least a little superior.
Heddy: Can you actually feel superior, though? I mean, if you failed you don't know what Dolora thinks it means, right?
MSG: And because my oath makes me even more competitive about knowledge than I used to be, I definitely don't tell Filvius.
Claire: Okay, well, in spite of both of those really good points, Filvius assumes his oath means whatever he doesn't know is still better than whatever Dolora isn't saying she knows.
GM Elle: I'm going to say the Demon means Dolora thinks "km" stands for "kinder milem," or "child mile," which some region used a long time ago to mean about half a mile. Since that's less than a kilometer, she now constantly thinks the group should be making better time compared to your apparent progress on the map, and she gets either Angry or Disheartened at how long it's taking to reach the giant's cave.
MSG: Well, my name is Dour Dolora, so I guess it's Disheartened.
Ariel: Wow, how do you even know half a mile is less than a kilometer?
GM Elle: I looked it up when I started having to think about kilometers and travel time for this game, and so I know a kilometer is about 3/5 of a mile.
Ariel: That doesn't answer my question. 
Sasha: Ariel rolls a Demon on her "Mathing" skill.
Ariel: Wait, so you figured it out with math? In that case I for sure didn't roll a Demon, on account of I wouldn't even try that. I'm way impressed how hard you work at this game though, Elle! 
GM Elle: Thanks. Sometime in the afternoon, you find yourselves approaching the area where you previously met the giant, whose name apparently is Grim-Grum. Glim-Glam tells you to let her do the talking to start with, then cups her hands beside her mouth and bellows in a deafening tone for her cousin to come out. Then she looks around at you all and says, "I said I would talk, but get weapons out and look tough, yes?"
MSG: Dolora gives a little salute and readies her two-handed club.
Claire: I'll get out my sling and hang back by the cart. We are leaving the cart pretty far back, right?
Akane: Zedeja insists. Also, she casts Stone Skin and Power Fist on herself. Both succeed.
Hettie: I believe Dilfriida will stick close to Sir Quackenscrump with her dagger out.
Heddy: I'll be near the cart like Filvius. Except maybe even hiding behind it.
GM Elle: Glinssa is also there to steady the donkeys.
Ariel: I'll start off with my shortbow out maybe halfway between the cart and the muscle-y part of our group.
Akane: Zedeja is not muscle-y! Only prepared by spells.
Ariel: I just mean I'm letting the tougher people stay up front.
Sasha: That's Quackers. He'll be up next to Glim-Glam with his longsword and shield ready.
GM Elle: Glim-Glam waits for a bit and then yells again. "Grim-Grum! Come out from my house! Now!" Not long after that, you hear the sound of immense footsteps from around the curve of the rocky hill. Grim-Grum stomps angrily into view. "Why is there this yelling? Just use manners and knock!" Glim-Glam replies, "No knocking for me at my own house! Pack your goods and leave, or these punies and I will mash you!"
Sasha: Quackers isn't real happy about being called a puny, even if it's accurate from a giant's point of view.
Hettie: Dilfriida might normally be more thin-skinned about it, but she does feel more than a little puny at this point, now that she's been reminded of her other brush with Grim-Grum.
GM Elle: Grim-Grum looks at all of you like you're fleas and says, "Ha! Punies to help you? Very lowly, Glim-Glam." Then he stares at you more directly and says, "Wait ... these punies owe me a donkey!" Then he looks at your cart, sees the two donkeys there, and charges in that direction, roaring. Let's get out the initiative deck and shuffle it ... and ... pass it on around, please.
MSG: 8.
Claire: 2!
Ariel: I got the 3!
Sasha: Boo. Quackers is on 9. Somebody had better swap with me!
Akane: 4 for Zedeja.
Hettie: Ah ... well, I think you get your wish, Sasha, because Dilfriida definitely does not want to keep this 1.
Heddy: Looks like I'm going on 7.
GM Elle: That leaves 6 for Glinssa, 5 for Glim-Glam, and Grim-Grum last on 10. So you trade cards with Sash, Hettie?
Hettie: Actually, we're supposed to be backing up Glim-Glam, aren't we? I'll trade with her.
GM Elle: She actually wants to let her cousin make the first move, so she trades with him.
MSG: I don't know if I like that move ...
Ariel: I know I sure don't.
Sasha: I like it even less.
GM Elle: Grim-Grum charges directly toward the cart with his eyes on the donkeys. That puts him right up next to Filvius, but using the Dash action consumed his action for the turn, so he can't attack.
Claire: I'm still really close to needing to make a CON or WIL check to not pee myself.
GM Elle: Well, it's your turn next, so feel free if that's really what you want to do.
Claire: I'm going to move away from him with an Evade roll to avoid giving him a free attack. I succeed on a five and move over here to take a shot with my sling. 11 is just what I need to hit! Wait. I just looked at my character sheet to see the damage on my sling and realized I don't have one. I bumped my sling skill up to 11, but it looks like I never bought a sling. That means I didn't even get that rabbit I rolled for back when we were camping out near the inn.
Akane: Foolish elf! Even a junior mage should be more prepared!
Claire: I guess I was just getting out of harm's way, then. That makes it Fidu's turn.
Ariel: I back a little ways away and shoot him with my bow. Made it! Only 4 points of damage, though.
Akane: The turn of Zedeja! She cautiously moves closer to this enemy giant.
Hettie: Yuck. Dilfriida's up now, and there's no ally close enough to the giant for me to use my Backstab ability. Recklessly, she rushes up to the giant and stabs at it anyway. 9 is a hit for ... 10 points of damage.
GM Elle: Grim-Grum didn't seem to notice Fidu's arrow, but he notices that and roars angrily.
Akane: Never anger a giant, halfling!
GM Elle: Glinssa is next and Dashes her maximum speed away from the giant. She's not getting paid enough for this. Brandywise?
Heddy: I'm paralyzed with fear at the giant towering over me. I trade with Sir Quackenscrump.
Sasha: That's more like it! Quackers rushes into melee! I'm going to use my Ill-Tempered ability because I'm ticked that he's going for our donkeys, even though I'm the one who gave him the idea of charging travelers a donkey in the first place. I roll with a Boon ... get a hit ... use my Dragonslayer ability on him because even if he's no a dragon, for some reason it works on him as long as he's a monster ... 18 points!
GM Elle: He roars even louder. Dolora?
MSG: I'll move up and try pounding on him with my club ... a hit, for 15 points.
GM Elle: All right. Brandywise's turn again.
Heddy: Can I do the trade thing again to let Glim-Glam go first?
GM Elle: No, only once per round.
Heddy: In that case I'm just going to dash over where Glinssa went and call out encouragements to the group from the sidelines.
GM Elle: That actually counts as helping if you target a specific character and they act in the same round. Helping gives them a boon on their roll.
Heddy: Oh! Then I'm encouraging Glim-Glam to show her cousin what's what.
GM Elle: Unfortunately, because she's a monster, she doesn't have to roll for attacks. So she just uses her spear to inflict a Crushing Blow on Grim-Grum for 21 points and tells him he'd better run or he's done for. He's looking very beaten-up at this point. Initiative again.
MSG: 4.
Claire: 1.
Ariel: 9!
Sasha: 6.
Akane: 8.
Hettie: 10.
Heddy: 2 ... at least I'm early enough to shout encouragement to someone who has to make a roll. 
GM Elle: Glinssa on 7, Glim-Glam on 3, and Grim-Grum on 5. Claire, Filvius is up.
Claire: I'm really hoping Cousin Giant takes Glim-Glam up on her offer. I'm trading my 1 card to Grim-Grum.
Ariel: Nooooo!
Sasha: Well, I'll get a free attack on him if he tries to run without Evading.
Akane: Where is a knight's honor?
Sasha: Hey, he's still a borderline monster from my point of view.
Akane: But his cousin may be angered!
Sasha: Well then, she should have told us not to kill him.
Akane: Hm. Valid.
GM Elle: Grim-Grum drops to his knees and surrenders. He looks humiliated, as well as badly bruised and bleeding. "Where did you get these fierce punies, Glim-Glam? Don't kill me, punies!"
Sasha: Damn it. That makes it pretty hard for me to justify chopping into him.
GM Elle: Glim-Glam tells him to clear out his things from her place and go find somewhere else for his lair. She tells him the Tower of Sighs isn't occupied any longer. He complains that he doesn't like the marsh smell, but agrees to go. 
MSG: Well, that's a relief.
Ariel: I feel kind of bad for how much we beat him up. That was a lot of damage all in one round.
Sasha: We're beasts.
Akane: And again Zedeja did not get to brawl with her spellings. Giants should be stronger! At least by one more round.
Hettie: Dilfriida has no complaints about how quickly he went down.
Heddy: Brandywise has even fewer.
GM Elle: All right. That's a good place for us to end the session, then. Experience questions! Participation? Yes. Exploring a new location ... no, unfortunately. Defeating a dangerous enemy, definitely. Hmm ... overcoming an obstacle without violence?
Ariel: Yes! We avoided the extra effort of going to Outskirt for pigs!
GM Elle: I'll count it. As for weaknesses ... plenty of knowledge competition from Dolora and Filvius, certainly laziness from Fidu. Anti-monster sentiments aplenty from Quackenscrump ... really, I think it's obvious everyone gets that mark for the session.
MSG: Nice job as always, Elle!
Ariel: Especially with that mathing. I was impressed!
GM Elle: Thanks. Next time, then.

put it on the deja vu screen, lieutenant uhura!

so i was suddenly gripped by a, "how the heck long has it been since i blogged about star trek?" realization, and i went back and looked, and the answer is almost three years! so i immediately thought, dang, i guess it's time to write an episode about what a bad star trek fan i've been and then in noticed there was another star trek post a few posts earlier than the "subspace rhapsody" one -- and it was about what a bad star trek fan i had been.

and now i'm sort of stuck because even worse than being a bad star trek fan would be being a bad star trek fan and repeating myself about being a bad star trek fan.

anyway, the solution is probably to blog about how fantastic starfleet academy is, because boy, howdy, is it ever ... but it's sorta late for that tonight and there's only one episode left in the season, so maybe i can write that post thursday or friday after i've had a chance to watch the finale.

and then maybe i'll watch section 31 and blog about how bad it is, since it's apparently super-bad according to pretty much everybody, and even though it may be that bad, as a star trek fan i've definitely been an unforgivable slacker to not watch it yet.

so ... two star trek posts incoming!

let's go!

kinda nuts ... (kinda?)

guys ... i've been copy/pasting our dragonbane campaign into a word doc for a couple years now, and it's at something like 170,000 words.

yikes!

secret of the dragon emperor ... part 27!

i think we'll be doing our best to crank through this dragonbane campaign for a while. here's hoping all you readers are enjoying it as much as we are!

GM Elle: Anybody get any exciting new Heroic Abilities rolling for Experience last time?
MSG: I don't know how exciting it is, but I added a couple more hit points by picking Robust.
Claire: Zip for me.
Ariel: Ooh! I didn't see that one! What's Zip do?
Sasha: Zip means nothing, Aers.
Ariel: Oh, dang. Sorry, I wasn't trying to rub it in or anything.
Claire: No sweat. It's pretty par for the course. I've only gotten one Heroic Ability so far compared to MSG's dozens of them. I'm used to lagging in the Experience department.
Ariel: Um, actually I meant I wasn't trying to rub it in that you didn't get any and I got two last session.
Claire: Ouch. Well, sooner or later I'll start catching up. Although it may take until everybody has all 18's in every skill and every Heroic Ability in the book.
Ariel: Anyway, I took Fearless so I won't have to roll those Fear checks anymore, and Robust like MSG did so I can have more hit points.
Sasha: No Abilities for me. I'm in the boat with Claire. Only one H.A. in the whole game so far.
Akane: Zedeja also received no Abilities of Heroism this time, and has only one from previous Experiencing. It seems very usual for our group. Only Ariel and MSG are otherwise.
Harriet: Dilfriida's a nose ahead of you. I got my second one this time, but rather tediously took the same Robust one MSG and Ariel did, in hopes of being a big more durable.
Heddy: You have to raise a skill to 18 to get one, right? I don't think that's happening for me anytime soon. I just now bumped my Myths & Legends up to 16, so even with a donkey-drawn cartful of luck, it would be at least two more sessions before I qualify. I'm glad to hear most people aren't all that far ahead of me.
GM Elle: Well, with so many people Robusting it up, now I don't have to worry so much about killing you all by sending more monsters your way.
MSG: You were worried about it before?
GM Elle: No. I suppose I should have said I can worry even less. At any rate, you don't currently have any monsters in front of you, just two badly wounded bandits who surrendered.
Sasha: Sir Q isn't convinced they're not monsters. He's still confused why Zedeja attacked them, if it's not because she saw through some monster-magic disguise.
Akane: We will unconfuse you. Zedeja demands confessions from the surrenderers: "Your one-ear leader planned betraying us, correct? Answer!"
GM Elle: One of them fearfully says, "No, how could she? We didn't even know who you were or that we might end up making a deal with you!" The other one has a tone of guilt in his voice as he adds, "It does sort of sound like the kind of thing she'd do, though."
Akane: Aha! Again, Zedeja is proven to be so wise!
Sasha: I wanna hear more about this giant. Is it a monster kind of giant, or more like a big person kind of giant? Quackers is still on the fence about giants after that last one.
GM Elle: They look a little uncertain about that, but one says --
Akane: Stop! If a mouth opens on a bandit, Zedeja says, "I am the questioner!"
GM Elle: They immediately shut their mouths and look at Zedeja with terrified expressions.
Akane: Tell us about this giant!
GM Elle: The bandits glance at each other like they're both scared to talk first. They've broken out in a panic sweat.
Akane: You! The sweaty one! Answer!
GM Elle: Now they both try to talk at the same time. "Sh-she's called G-glim-Gl-Glam!" and "Ursic made a deal with her, but ... uh ... you go first, Feder!" and then, "N-no, g-go ahead, Rilke!"
Akane: Silence! I demand the guilty-sounder who admitted wrongdoing before answer. "You! What deal was made with this Guhglim-gluhglam?
GM Elle: He says the giant was supposed to help dig out the treasure in the tower in exchange for a bunch of supplies so she doesn't have to start raiding nearby villages. But the work has been going really slowly, and Ursic thought Glim-Glam was dragging it out to keep the gang benefiting her with their foraging.
Sasha: Damn it. This sure sounds a lot more big-person-y than monster-y.
Akane: Zedeja points at these bandits with accusing fingers. "You are liars! One says a giant's name is Guhglim-gluhglam, another says Glim-Glam! Tell the truth, or it's pounding for you!" The mage makes stony fists of power at them.
GM Elle: The one who was talking says, "It's Glim-Glam! It's Glim-Glam! Feder just stutters sometimes when she's scared!"
Akane: A Zedeja fist shakes at Feder. "Stutter on less important words than a giant's name! If we speak to this giant and name it wrong, it may be angered! Also, very rude, this mis-pronouncing of names. Be better!"
GM Elle: She nods her head fearfully.
MSG: I'm keeping an eye out for any of those other bandits who might decide to start shooting at us with their bows from long range, by the way. I'll have my shortbow out.
Claire: Filvius sees that as a great opportunity to gain more knowledge about this giant and get ahead of Dolora in the knowledge game, so she's paying attention to Zedeja's interrogation.
Ariel: I'm resting a little. Knifing that guy took a lot out of me. Or did I knife the girl? I don't think you actually said if the bandits were guys or girls except the leader, last session.
GM Elle: You stabbed the man, Rilke. Sir Quackenscrump chopped on Feder with his sword.
Sasha: Which I haven't put in its sheath yet, by the way. I'm ready to block any incoming arrows with my shield and chase down any archers I have to.
Akane: Zedeja has more questions for this Rilke. How large and dangerous is this giant? When does it sleep?
GM Elle: Rilke says the giant sleeps a lot, actually. It's one of the reasons Ursic was getting fed up. But even though she'd started talking about ambushing the giant and trying to pincushion her with arrows, she looks big enough that it might take dozens of hits to bring her down, and with her long legs, she could probably close to fighting range before they got in that many shots.
Claire: Filvius asks exactly how long the giant's legs are. Also, since she's a she, he asks if she's good looking by human standards. He imagines she's probably pretty unrefined on the elf scale.
Akane: No idle trivia questions or romancing of this giant, junior mage!
Claire: I wasn't planning to romance her, just get a sense of how giants fare on the attractiveness scale overall, since we've only seen one before, and that one was male.
Akane: Exercise your curiosity elsewhere! Possibly there are goods to be looted in these bandit tents.
Harriet: Dilfriida perks up a little at that, then realizes she's responding to something Zedeja said and tries to hide it. She'll wander closer to one of the tents when she thinks no one is paying attention to her.
Heddy: I'm sticking close to our mallard knight, by the way. That seems safest to me.
Claire: Since Zedeja doesn't seem ready to let me learn anything about the giant, I'll do what she said and have a look in the tents.
GM Elle: I'll let you find a couple dozen rations and one treasure card worth of loot. Here's the deck.
Claire: Oooooh. 2d6 copper coins. And I roll ... 7.
Sasha: Can we just take those copper coin cards out of the damned deck? I feel like they're really insulting.
Ariel: It's part of the story! Now we know how broke and desperate these bandits were.
Sasha: Seems to be a lot of broke and desperate going around whenever we draw from that deck, though.
GM Elle: If you get into a real peach of a location I'll whittle the deck down. Meanwhile, Zedeja's further questioning doesn't yield a lot from Rilke and Feder. They've been here a week, with nothing to show for it.
MSG: Do we want to go and try talking with the giant, then?
Claire: Fine by me. I don't see anything better to do here in this camp.
Ariel: Should we tie the two bandits up before we go? Or actually, if anybody wants to hang out with me here we can chillax and keep an eye on them.
Heddy: According the backstory you gave me, Elle, my character has a strong interest in the tower and, what, a magic fountain in the basement? So I'm eager to actually see it, although pretty nervous about there being a giant. As long as most everybody is going, I guess I'll be --
Akane: Stop! All this individualling! Our combined goal is in the tower, according to a junior mage's spiderweb dream. No staying behind for anyone! What happens when some go and some stay? Bandits return! If three of adventurers are in one place, and four of adventurers are in another place, then six of bandits can shoot many arrows into outnumbered adventurers!
Heddy: Yikes! We definitely don't want that, right?
MSG: Sounds like we should all head for the tower, then.
Ariel: Boo. Don't people need to like, do some stretching and get back their Willpower Points? Then I could at least get in another 15 minutes of chillaxing.
Claire: I am feeling kind of depleted.
Akane: Hm. Zedeja also, I find when looking at my character sheet. So then, 15 minutes to rest -- no more!
Claire: Okay. I'm gonna meditate, then, and get back the most WP I can. Everybody watch out for me while I'm zonked.
Sasha: I'm not out any HP or WP, so I guess I'll just tie up these prisoners and keep an eye out for other bandits sneaking back here.
GM Elle: The stretch passes uneventfully, then, and everyone who rested can roll their dice to recover WP and HP.
MSG: I'm only down a few, so I'm saving my rest for later.
Ariel: I'm only down two, but I'm slothful, so I'm definitely stretch resting to get the most out of my little wolf-nap.
Akane: Resting over, then! Time for a giant confrontation. We march to the tower!
GM Elle: The path up to the tower is steep in places, and as you walk it, the sighs and wailing grow louder and louder. It's an eerie, mournful sound, but as you near the top of the island's peak, you start to hear another sound competing with it -- a deep, rumbling snore that almost seems like it should be shaking the foundations.
MSG: Should we go right up to the entrance? Or maybe shout and see if we can wake the giant up?
Heddy: I'm extremely nervous about the possibility of startling a giant by getting too close while she's sleeping.
Harriet: Do I take it you're voting for someone to shout, then?
Heddy: Actually, no ... because I'm also extremely nervous about making a giant mad by interrupting her sleep.
Akane: Solution! Our thiefly halfling can sneak in and observe. Become useful, halfling!
Harriet: Dilfriida says, "Sure, why not?" and uses Sneaking to move up to the entrance of the tower.
Ariel: Wait, what? Dilfriida's just doing something Zedeja said?
Akane: No. Zedeja is crafty. If she tells a halfling to sneak in and observe, the halfling will sneak in and try to do crimes. The halfling believes this is disobeying Zedeja, so of course she will do it.
Harriet: That overlaps my intended motives as a player with shocking congruity. Do I need to roll?
GM Elle: Yes, but with a boon because the snoring and ghostly moans are both so loud.
Harriet: I succeed. What's to be seen in here?
GM Elle: As Dilfriida rounds the corner and climbs the last stretch of trail, she finds herself at the wrecked entrance of the tower. Heaps of rock and rubble lie beside the head of the trail, clearly strewn out here by someone clearing debris from the interior. The stone of the building is deep red, old, and very weathered. A great swath of it has been blackened by scorch marks, and the upper floors are severely damaged. There's a rope ladder hanging at the entrance leading up through the wall-less broken east side of the building. It looks like it goes up past the second and third floors all the way to the roof. Inside the ground floor are more piles of rubble, and in the far corner a sleeping area of branches and animal skins, in which a giant you presume to be Glim-Glam is sleeping while giving off that titanic snore. In the center of the chamber is what's left of a spiral staircase. Fragments of it show where it used to reach up toward the upper levels, but nothing climbable remains going up. Darkness and shadow lie within the hole where the staircase descends below the ground floor. Here's the situation:

Ariel: Oh, are those letters us?
GM Elle: Yes. I'm assuming your standard marching order, with Sir Quackenscrump up front and Brandywise at the rear. Dilfriida and Dolora are the lowercase and uppercase D's.
Ariel: Ooh! So I must be the F with the puppy ears on it!
GM Elle: Correct.
Harriet: Well, it's plain that my first order of business is to head up the rope ladder, since Zedeja doesn't even know about it, so I won't be following her demands even slightly by exploring the upper floors. Do I need to make any kind of roll to make it to the second floor?
GM Elle: Only if you're trying to go quickly.
Harriet: I am not.
GM Elle: Then you find that the layout of this floor matches the one below fairly closely, except where the eastern part is collapsed. Around the walls are a number of digging tools -- pickaxes and spades, chisels, hammers, and whatever else might be handy in excavating ruins.
Harriet: Dilfriida has no interest in those at all. She'll keep climbing.
GM Elle: On the next level up, you see a small chest sitting over to one side of the room.
Harriet: Exceptional. I'll hurry over to it, almost certainly incautiously so. Hopefully the floor isn't weak up here.
GM Elle: You arrive at the chest without the floor giving way beneath you. It has a sturdy-looking padlock on it.
Harriet: I'll immediately use Sleight of Hand to pick it. No. I will not, because I roll a Demon. Always when it's crucial.
GM Elle: I'm going to say that in your over-eagerness to pick the lock, you slip and jab yourself with one of the pointier thieves' tools in your kit. Take 2 damage and make a WIL check to avoid crying out in pain and frustration.
Harriet: My Willpower is not one of my better abilities ... but I succeed with a 9. Can I try again?
GM Elle: Go ahead. But another Demon will have even worse repercussions.
Harriet: I roll a 12, which succeeds.
GM Elle: Draw two treasure cards from the deck, then.
Harriet: Surely the bandits would not have hauled this chest up here to store 6 copper coins in it ... do you perhaps want to unburden the deck of its more worthless cards?
GM Elle: Let's see what comes up. Maybe I'll tell you to skip a card if it's too worthless -- but considering the bandits are obviously not rich, I'll also tell you to skip if it's too valuable.
Harriet: While fair, I find that disappointing. Let's see what the deck has to say, though. My! 2d6 x 10 gold coins and 4d6 x 10 copper coins. Do I need to draw a replacement for the gold card?
GM Elle: Let's see what comes up on your roll.
Harriet: 80 gold and ... also 80 copper.
GM Elle: I'll say half the 80 gold is under a false bottom where Ursic was keeping it hidden from the rest of the bandits.
Harriet: Well, since I'm at my encumbrance limit, I can't go over 100 coins, and I'm already at 27, so ... I'll take 73 of the 80 gold and leave the rest of the gold in the secret compartment.
Claire: You're really loaded by now, right? Don't you still have that ghost's crown from the huge statue dungeon?
Harriet: Yes, and it looks like a gold ring I picked up in the Magna Woods. I'll have to hock those when we get back to town. At any rate, once I've taken what I can carry, I'll re-lock the padlock ... or does it close just by clicking it shut like a modern one? Because I roll a 19 if it requires a key to lock.
GM Elle: I'll say it clicks shut. Are you going to continue up to the roof?
Harriet: No, I've probably spent enough time at this already, and either Sir Quackenscrump or Zedeja is about to get impatient and barge into the tower to see what I'm up to. Not to mention the fact that it seems unlikely they'd leave anything valuable exposed to the elements on the roof.
GM Elle: What do you do once you climb down, then?
Harriet: I'll go directly back out to the group and say that the giant is still sleeping, and that I tried to sneak closer, but she kept shifting like she might be about to wake up, so I came back.
Akane: Zedeja is disappointed in the failure of her plan's second part. Hope was for a halfling to wake the giant with attempts at crime, so that stoppage of snoring or halfling cries would alert us. Then, time to go in and possibly prevent the crushing of her bones. Frustration! The mage complains to Dilfriida. "Next time, sneak better!"
Harriet: Dilfriida gives a surly rebuttal of some sort. Along the lines of, "Next time, do it yourself." I also report on the layout of the ground floor and the fact that there's a rope ladder leading upwards.
Heddy: I'm getting a bit dispirited by the bickering in this group. My character, I mean. I reread the entry for her kin, and it says if I can't enjoy reveling and singing and dancing with my friends on a daily basis, I get droopy and all my rolls get a bane.
Sasha: Wow, I would have really considered that feature more seriously before playing a satyr in this adventuring party. We've got a dour dwarf, an elf obsessed with learning stuff, a mallard who only wants to talk about killing monsters, a lazy wolf-person, a domineering mage, and a halfling with a really short fuse. It's not the chummiest bunch.
Akane: Solution: befriend Zedeja. She will tell you when to scamper and revel.
Heddy: I don't know that she seems very open to making friends.
Akane: This is because she has never demanded anyone to attempt friendship with her. If she did, they would have to.
Sasha: Well, since she's not demanding that now, I say we get moving. Quackers will go ahead and move up to the tower entrance. "Hey! Giant! You've got visitors!" I'll yell it again if she doesn't wake up the first time.
GM Elle: She stirs a little and makes grumbly noises the first time.
MSG: I'll step up behind Sir Q when I hear him yell and say, "Maybe that's not the best --"
Sasha: I yell it again.
GM Elle: The giant wakes and sits bolt upright, grabbing up a spear from the floor beside her. She sees you and says, "Punies! Is it new ones? What do you want?"
MSG: I'll say, "We're friendly. We want to help get the treasure from under the tower."
Claire: Filvius is going to move up too, to check out what a giant that's not as immediately hostile as the other one is like.
GM Elle: The giant gets to her feet, hunkering a little under the very tall ceiling that still doesn't let her stand to her full height. "Already make deal with one-ear puny. What your offer?"
Akane: Zedeja arrives.
Harriet: Oh, great. Dilfriida definitely doesn't follow her back into the tower.
Akane: "We offer news of another giant kind! We can direct you for social opportunity!"
Claire: Didn't our Beast Lore rolls last time tell us giant's are really territorial? Is socializing going to be good bait for one? I'm not saying this out loud, just wondering it.
GM Elle: I think I actually said "some" giants were territorial.
MSG: That one definitely seemed to be one of the some.
GM Elle: Glim-Glam actually looks like her interest is piqued. "Other giants? Where? Not Grim-Grum, is it?"
MSG: I'll tell her we didn't get a name. We ran into him while traveling along the --
Akane: Quiet, dwarf! This information is for bargaining, didn't you hear?
GM Elle: She says, "Grim-Grum is cousin. Squatting in my cave, day south of swamps. Had to leave and come here. Very bad houseguest. If that your news, no deal."
Sasha: This is great news to Quackenscrump. I'll step up and say that he was very rude to us too, and we'll be happy to help her drive him out of her cave if she'll work with us to dig up the treasure here.
Akane: No, terrible! Why does this mallard talk?
Harriet: Is Zedeja really objecting? Out of character -- which it has to be since my character is around the corner -- that sounds like a decent deal to me.
Akane: Yes, a fine deal! But no because our hound is the bargainer. Now a mallard must roll to convince this giant. Zedeja has chagrin at this.
Harriet: Ah, I understand better, then.
GM Elle: Akane is right, and Quackenscrump needs to make a bartering roll.
Sasha: Yeah, my Bartering is 6 and I roll a 14. You called that one, Akane.
Akane: No, Zedeja did. I'm happy to see all characters involved.
Ariel: Even if they're being Fail-y McFailingtons.
Sasha: Don't rub it in.
GM Elle: Glim-Glam responds to the offer with a frown. "Grim-Grum ... very tough and strong. Will be hungry after beating him. This deal better if you add two wild boars for cooking."
Akane: With frustration, Zedeja calls, "Hound! You are necessary!"
Ariel: I guess I'll go in.
Claire: Can I roll Hunting and Fishing to tell if the area the other giant was in might be good for finding wild boars? Not really for any practical reason, just to show off my knowledge.
GM Elle: Sure.
Claire: 10 against a skill level of 14.
GM Elle: It seemed like pretty typical hunting territory. Which means a 1 in 6 chance that anything you hunt down in a shift will be a boar.
Claire: Then I'll say, "Based on the lay of the land and the foliage there, my expectation would be that a successful boar hunt might take more than a week to produce two boars."
Ariel: If I showed up in time to hear that, I'll say, "A week hunting boars! That sounds exhausting!"
Akane: Negotiate, then!
Ariel: Well, we could go to Outskirt and buy a couple of pigs way faster than a week. Uh ... the book says they're only 2 gold each, so, easy-peasy.
GM Elle: Roll Bartering.
Ariel: I totally make it.
GM Elle: She seems to find that acceptable. You see her move over to the hole where the stairway leads down into the darkness. Looking a little closer, you see that it is blocked by a large boulder a short distance down. The top of the boulder looks like work has been done to chip away at it, but instead of doing any further excavation work, Glim-Glam reaches down and gets her fingers into a couple of gaps at the edges and heaves at the stone with brute strength. You see the muscles of her enormous arms cording up with tension as her brow furrows. Then a slow, deep, grinding and scraping sound fills the room and the giant heaves the boulder inch-by-inch up and out of the stairway's depths. She drops it nearby with a bone-jarring impact.
Ariel: Wow, she didn't even have to roll a Strength check!
Harriet: I believe that would have undercut the drama with which the GM was demonstrating the creature's enormous might.
Ariel: Oh. I thought maybe it was like how monsters don't have to roll their attacks.
MSG: I guess now we know the bandits were right about her dragging her feet on clearing the way to the basement.
Sasha: Quackers says it's a good thing we knew about Grim-Grum and it turns out she has a beef with him.
Akane: Yes, very helpful in a hound's bartering.
Sasha: Quackers actually meant it's good because now he gets to fight that giant after all with a lot less worry about it killing the rest of the party. That part I'm not saying out loud, though. I don't want Glim-Glam knowing I sorta think she's a monster.
GM Elle: She points into the stairwell and says, "Too small for me. You punies must carry out other rocks."
MSG: I'll go have a look.
GM Elle: The big boulder seems to have kept too much other rubble from packing the way down. The stairs descend about 7 or 8 meters, ending at a heavy iron door. Smaller boulders and piles of rock force you to weave as you make your way down the steps, and at the bottom, there's a good-sized heap of rock holding the door shut. You can tell the wailing and sighs are coming from just beyond the door.
MSG: That makes me a little nervous, but we have to get in there one way or another if we're going to get whatever treasure there is out. I'll call up to let everyone know, then get started heaving rocks out of the way.
GM Elle: If everyone helps, it's the work of a couple of hours to clear the way for the door to open. Everyone needs to make a WIL save against Fear to avoid being Scared by the ghostly noise.
Heddy: Can I sing a cheerful song to give everyone a boon on their rolls?
GM Elle: Sure, that's a fine idea. Make a Performance check and spend the 3 WP for your Raise Spirits ability. It's not how the book says to use it, but I think this is a nice application.
Heddy: Next question: can I sing from the top of the stairs instead of going down there myself? I'd really rather not get any closer to those spooky sounds.
GM Elle: It's not that great a distance, so I'll say yes.
Heddy: I make it pretty easily with a 6.
GM Elle: Everyone who's helping roll against Fear, then.
MSG: Safe.
Claire: Fail, even with the boon.
Ariel: Safe!
Sasha: Pshh. No problem.
Akane: Very safe.
Harriet: This could be a problem for Dilfriida ... no, two successes!
Heddy: Well, I'm glad to have been some help.
MSG: Do we have light down here, by the way?
Ariel: I would have gotten my lamp out, I guess.
Harriet: So ... who will be so bold as to open the door?
Sasha: Quackers, obviously. Anybody else want to stay with and back me up in case these moaning M-F-ers want a fight?
MSG: Dolora will. I'm curious to learn what's making the sound.
Claire: Filvius too. Plus, I have a spell for kicking undead butt that I've never had a chance to use.
Ariel: I did my part bringing the lamp, so I'm staying up top.
Sasha: Do you mean you didn't even help carry up rocks?
Ariel: It was scary enough just carrying my lamp down there, and those rocks looked really heavy.
Akane: Zedeja will stay upstairs and complain about a hound being unhelpful.
Ariel: But I'm old!
Akane: Zedeja also! Labor dismisses frailty. Exercise every day!
Harriet: I don't want to listen to Zedeja or go down in a hole with ghosts, so I'll ask Brandywise if she wants to explore the upstairs part of the tower with me.
Heddy: That sounds absolutely peachy! Let's go right now.
Akane: No stealing up there, thief! A goat girl is watching you!
Harriet: I stick out my tongue at her.
GM Elle: When Quackers opens the door, the moans and wails from beyond suddenly cut off. Instead, you now hear a faint trickle of water from the dim chamber beyond. But before you can look in to see where it's coming from, a file of ghostly figures trails out through the open door, one by one. They're faint and indistinct, but have an orcish cast to them. Then the last passes you and the way is clear.
Sasha: I'll wait and make sure they're all the way up the stairs before I turn my back completely to them. Then I'll pick up Fidu's lamp and see what's inside.
GM Elle: Skeletal remains lie scattered throughout the chamber, strewn about under tattered clothes. You see a glint of jewelry here and there.
Harriet: Damnation.
GM Elle: One figure in robes lies before an altar on the far wall, and as you watch, a final spectral form rises from it, clearer and more distinct than the others. She was definitely an orc in life, and she speaks to you in an archaic dialect that requires a Languages roll to understand.
MSG: Got it exactly with a 12.
Claire: Languages aren't really my thing ... but I roll a 3! Whew!
Sasha: It really chaps my hide that I did all that work heaving rocks and now I may not even understand this thing. I'll spend 2 WP on my Ill-Tempered ability to get a boon on my roll, which still leaves me a lousy chance ... nope, I'm clueless.
GM Elle: Dolora and Filvius glean most of her meaning. She calls herself Acha Bonebreaker of Clan Takrûk, and she thanks you for freeing the spirits of her group, which starved to death after being trapped in the tower basement during an attack. She declares three gifts for you, and points to the altar, where you see a piece of the statuette. "A relic from the days of the Dragon Empire." Then she points to one corner, where a mysteriously unweathered war banner stands, its surface depicting a grinning wolf, the bronze of its pole gleaming without any touch of time's hand apparent. "The Banner of Takrûk, which aids any righteous orc commander in battle." Finally, she gestures to another corner, where a spring wells up in a rimmed basin set in the floor. "The Fountain of Truth. Drink from it to swear an oath that cannot be broken. Now ... farewell!" She follows her parted comrades up the stairs and disappears upon reaching the sunlight.
MSG: I immediately go to the fountain and drink from it. "Filvius! I swear I will accumulate more knowledge than you!"
GM Elle: A shock of pure energy and intent rushes through you as soon as you speak the words. You feel compelled to out-do Filvius in the pursuit of knowledge.
MSG: More compelled, you mean.
Claire: Well, Filvius is smart enough to know that if we both swear the exact same supernatural oath, one of us is going to fail, and who knows what the consequences will be? So I rush over and drink and say, "Dolora! I swear I will accumulate better knowledge than you!" 
Sasha: I don't know what the hell is going on, so I just shake my head and start searching the bodies.
GM Elle: Filvius feels the same energetic rush Dolora did. Quackers, despite the flavor text making it sound like there was a ton of valuable jewelry, you only find two things of particular value. The rest seems to be bone or iron jewelry with cut glass stones. But the two items of note are both gold -- an amulet on Acha Bonebreaker's body, and a chalice on the altar. Together, they're worth 85 gold pieces.
Sasha: Sweet. I put them in my backpack. Then I ask, "Hey, you two, what's with the spring and the swearing? What kind of wack idea did that ghost put in your heads, anyway?"
MSG: I'll summarize what the ghost said to us.
Claire: And I'll point out the strangely unaged banner and go over in detail what Acha said about it. I'll also roll Myths & Legends to see if I've heard anything about her, or that clan she mentioned. Whoof. Demon.
GM Elle: You get it confused with another legend you've heard and start going on and on about incorrect details.
MSG: Can I roll Myths & Legends to see if I know the mage is full of crap?
GM Elle: Sure.
MSG: 2.
Claire: Great. Now you're going to rub my nose in it.
MSG: No, because the knowledge of how wrong you are is knowledge you don't possess, so by keeping my mouth shut, I'm getting ahead of you in total volume of knowledge acquired.
Claire: Sneaky. Oh, crap, this means you're not going to willingly share anything you learn from now on, doesn't it?
MSG: Probably, unless it's pretty life-or-death. Meanwhile, if you're going to have better knowledge than I do, you'll have to be able to constantly compare things you know to what I do, so you're kind of obligated to tell me stuff you find out.
Claire: True. But I'll also need to hold back the juiciest details to make sure my knowledge of them remains better than yours.
Sasha: So what are these lousy details Filvius tries to fill me in on?
GM Elle: The banner was created during the appearance of a great nebula shaped like a grinning wolf's head. It was carried by a clan that became invincible as long as the nebula remained in the sky, but over hundreds of years the nebula faded, and the clan fell from power and had to flee their lands. A prophecy says that someday the banner will be used by a great orc chieftain to summon the nebula back to the sky and return his people to greatness.
Sasha: Anything about using it to kill monsters?
GM Elle: No.
Sasha: Boring. Okay, one of you can bring it if you want. I head back upstairs.
Claire: I guess I'll bring the banner, since I feel like I know so much about it.
MSG: And I'll get the statue piece. Don't want to walk out without that!
GM Elle: Moving on to Dilfriida and Brandywise, you discover the same things on floor 2 and floor 3 that Dilfriida did before. What do you do?
Heddy: I'll probably poke around looking at the tools more than Dilfriida did, but the chest will seem more interesting.
GM Elle: Who's going first up the ladder each time, by the way?
Heddy: Dilfriida, obviously. I'm nervous enough about the heights without also being the first one into unexplored territory.
Harriet: That's certainly acceptable to Dilfriida. When she gets her head above floor level at the third floor, she says, "Ooh! A chest!"
GM Elle: That's technically a bluff, since Dilfriida isn't really surprised.
Heddy: I think Brandywise would be pretty easy to fool, though, since she's a bundle of nerves from being on the ladder and doesn't have much experience with adventuring parties or thieves, making her assume she can trust those around her.
GM Elle: I was going to give a Boon, but that persuades me to make it a double Boon.
Harriet: A failure, a Demon, and a 4. So I definitely needed every Boon I could lay my half-sized little hands on. I'll help the satyr up and accompany her over to the chest, assuming that's where she goes.
Heddy: It's the only thing of interest on this floor, right? I'll definitely go examine it.
GM Elle: Make a Spot Hidden check, then.
Harriet: Should I be nervous? What's she supposed to be spotting?
Heddy: I succeed.
GM Elle: You notice a small smear of fresh blood on the surface of the lock.
Harriet: Oh dear. I suppose I might have been more careful about that wound, considering two hit points of damage is not just a tiny scratch.
Heddy: I believe my faint-heartedness would put me on edge enough that I'd feel a need to rely on my Intuition, so I'll spend 3 WP to ask the GM a question.
Ariel: Ooh, this should be good!
Akane: A question to reveal thievery!
Heddy: Well, not entirely. Naively, the shock of seeing fresh blood makes me worried that one of the fleeing bandits somehow got hear ahead of us and is hiding on the roof, since the ladder goes all the way up there. So what I'm going to ask the GM is whether the two of us are alone here in the upper floors of the tower.
GM Elle: The answer to that is yes.
MSG: Way to role-play it, Heddy. Kind of a waste of 3 WP, though.
Heddy: That's another "not entirely," though. Remember, Dilfriida never went up to the roof. So for all we knew as both players and characters, there could have been someone hiding up there. Now I know better.
MSG: Oh. Good point. Even better gaming than I thought!
Heddy: And Intelligence is my best score, so I can put two and two together and reach a conclusion that makes me ask Dilfriida, "Did you already come up here before?"
GM Elle: Two birds with one stone. Nice.
Harriet: Dilfriida shall hem and haw momentarily before attempting to play the sympathy card. She explains that she simply can't take orders from Zedeja, so whenever she goes along with something the old biddy says, she has to do it a bit sideways. "I poked my hand picking the lock. There's a bunch of copper and some gold in there, and I took some of the gold for my troubles and left the rest." All of that's entirely true, so I shouldn't have to roll Bluffing.
GM Elle: I wasn't going to make you. But it's up to Heddy whether her character buys it.
Heddy: The sympathy card will almost always work on Brandywise, and she's certainly observed Zedeja being unnecessarily unkind to the halfling. I'll ask her to open it back up and put most of the gold back.
Harriet: Dilfriida pouts mildly and tries to re-open the lock. Can I have a Boon for having figured it out once already?
GM Elle: I'll allow it.
Harriet: Success.
Heddy: Hmm. I don't see any gold in there, just copper.
Harriet: I'll scoop the copper out and show her the false bottom. "It's hidden in here. See?"
Heddy: Ah. Clever. Did you check to see if there's another false bottom under the false bottom?
Harriet: I didn't even check for the first false bottom. Elle just gave it to me, I thought out of the goodness of her heart.
Heddy: Is that a typical characteristic of Gamemasters?
GM Elle: Not that I've noticed.
Heddy: So maybe the first false bottom was deliberately easy to spot to lull people into not checking for the second. Spot Hidden, right? I roll a 2.
GM Elle: There is indeed a second false bottom. Inside you find five silver coins and a folded up note.
MSG: Why would they hide their silver in the super-secret secret compartment and their gold in the easy-to-spot secret compartment?
Claire: Maybe whoever put the gold in there found the chest and wasn't even aware that the super-secret secret compartment existed.
Heddy: I'll read the note.
GM Elle: It says, "Put this silver coin in with two others and the two will spawn overnight. Put it in with more than four others, and the extras will be consumed."
Ariel: Ooh! Two free silver coins a day! Fidu would like that.
Sasha: Because he's a merchant and likes money?
Ariel: Because it's money and he doesn't have to do any work for it.
Sasha: Got it.
Heddy: There are five silver coins, though. Which one is the magic one? I assume it's magic if it can keep making more coins. I'm going to look at them closely and see if one is different.
GM Elle: You do see that one has a different design than the other four.
Heddy: Fantastic. I do see a potential problem, though. You have to have someplace to keep it where it's not mixed in with your other coins, or it will eat them. Can I assume our clothes have pockets? If so, I can put most of my current money in one pocket and the magic coin and two more in the other. By the way, I tell Dilfriida that I hope it's okay for me to keep the magic coin, since I'm not making her put back all of the gold she took.
Harriet: Dilfriida's okay with that. She's not enough of a long-term planner to work out how many days of two silver coins a day equals dozens of gold coins. And Brandy said "most" of the gold I took, so as long as I put back one coin more than half, I can keep a pretty tidy sum. Oh, and I'll ask if it's okay for me to call her "Brandy" for short.
Heddy: I refrain from making a crack about "for short" being a good reason to let a halfling use a nickname for me. But since we're essentially becoming co-conspirators here, I feel enough of an intimate connection to not take offense at my name being abbreviated. "Have you any rope for us to use to lower this chest down to the others? We should re-lock it and wipe off the blood first."
Harriet: I put back half the gold I took and tie my rope around the chest to do that.
GM Elle: Once everyone is down from the tower and up from the basement, then, I think this is a good place to call the session. Let's see ... no dangerous opponents this time, but you explored a new location, everyone participated, and you overcame an obstacle without using force by negotiating with Glim-Glam. So three experience marks for everyone plus whatever marks people feel they earned for their weaknesses.
MSG: I think my rashly sworn oath about learning more knowledge than Filvius definitely counts.
Claire: I think the same about mine for learning better knowledge than Dolora.
Ariel: I was lazy about moving rocks!
Sasha: Quackers was walking the line about whether Glim-Glam was a monster, and is hot to go and fight Grim-Grum because of his monster slayer weakness.
Akane: Zedeja excelled with overbearing, I say.
Harriet: As usual. I'm also counting the usual sparring between Dilfriida and her mage nemesis. It might be going too far to say that on top of that, I was literally thin-skinned enough to be seriously damaged from gouging my hand with a lockpick.
GM Elle: That's entirely up to you.
Heddy: And I was definitely quite the scaredy-cat, so I'll take a mark too.
GM Elle: All right, then. Next time we can see who else might want to go drink from that fountain and then you can hit the road with your new giant friend.