Following some purchasing of goods, organising what they had, getting hold of a few animals to carry their things, the party set off back to the goblin village to discuss an agreement they'd made to return a bronze torc... which the party never found. No matter, the heads of the two goblins that had cut and ran from the cavewight fight were waiting for them; they'd returned, hoping to be taken back in, only to be killed. One had the torc, so problem solved.
However, the goblins showed the party a wounded Hungarian from Koszyce. This fellow, Lazslo, and three others, were taking a boy, Peter, to begin his mage training in Buda, where his father had trained. It was thought that by crossing into the Ottoman Empire through the wilderness forest of the Karancs, they could make their way through... but they ran into a patrol, which killed three of the guards and took the boy. Most likely, away eventually to Constantinople to make a Janissary out of him. The goblins wished to return the injured man to his human people, but dared not do that themselves, so they asked the party if they would.
Now, at this point, the party could have simply returned Lazslo to Ozd and have done with it... but without many prompting, they immediately decided to try to save the boy. Go figure. Using augury, which the gnome cleric Lexent has, and which the newly minted 3rd-level cleric Zoltan took as well, they struggled to identify the exact direction where the boy was taken. They managed to discover that the boy, ten or eleven, had somehow freed himself from his captors and was wandering around the countryside between Ozd and place called Monosbel, about 13 miles to the southeast. The party passed though the Bukk forest, which they'd already explored, only to find themselves turning in not far from where they'd fought the owlbear in session 3. There, Zoltan forgot to set up his wyvern watch spell, also newly taken... which turned out after all, given a choice that the mage, Mikael, had finally made.
Early in the night, Mikael had separated himself from the party to find his familiar, a spell he'd taken at the outset of his career in the old Juvenis campaign, but had never availed himself of using. He located a fox, named it Robin, and thereafter the fox unquestionably proved again and again to be the most useful member of the party. The fox knew the woods well enough to lead them though parts of the Bukk Forest and the fox woke the party up when Ottoman soldiers showed up in the woods looking for the boy (so they didn't need the wyvern watch). A brief fight ensued, a series of one-round, one-on-one fights, in which three of the party members dropped their weapons.
Now, at this point, the party could have simply returned Lazslo to Ozd and have done with it... but without many prompting, they immediately decided to try to save the boy. Go figure. Using augury, which the gnome cleric Lexent has, and which the newly minted 3rd-level cleric Zoltan took as well, they struggled to identify the exact direction where the boy was taken. They managed to discover that the boy, ten or eleven, had somehow freed himself from his captors and was wandering around the countryside between Ozd and place called Monosbel, about 13 miles to the southeast. The party passed though the Bukk forest, which they'd already explored, only to find themselves turning in not far from where they'd fought the owlbear in session 3. There, Zoltan forgot to set up his wyvern watch spell, also newly taken... which turned out after all, given a choice that the mage, Mikael, had finally made.
Early in the night, Mikael had separated himself from the party to find his familiar, a spell he'd taken at the outset of his career in the old Juvenis campaign, but had never availed himself of using. He located a fox, named it Robin, and thereafter the fox unquestionably proved again and again to be the most useful member of the party. The fox knew the woods well enough to lead them though parts of the Bukk Forest and the fox woke the party up when Ottoman soldiers showed up in the woods looking for the boy (so they didn't need the wyvern watch). A brief fight ensued, a series of one-round, one-on-one fights, in which three of the party members dropped their weapons.
Lexent "broke" his godentag, but it was fine, because in the woods there was nothing to break it against. Essentially, he tossed it off into the wood on a moonless night... but again, it was okay, because the next morning the fox found it. The soldiers did 12 damage to the party, 5 to their brand new soldiers-at-arms, the gnomish cook Fenwick and the human footman Edvard, then decided it's just one boy and vamoosed. The boy Peter showed up soon thereafter.
Thus the party earned, in toto, 551 x.p. from a fight in which only Mikael did damage, 3 points with a dart, and no one died. I like this experience system. What was funny was that the 5th level fighter, Pandred, was not attacked and therefore did not take part. No X.P. for him.
After some discussion, the players decided to take the boy to school. They still have their opal and there are gemcutters in Buda-Pest, that being mentioned as one reason to go. They don't know the mage father in Koszyce, but that's likely part of their calculation; the last post was part of wiki page for the Thaumaturgical School concept... but I notice it generated little interest.
Further discussion led the party to decide to cut through the Karancs Hills and avoid any possible meetings with Ottomans who might recognise the boy, who will disappear once he begins his studies. I made a random roll, found it generated three owlbears (yay, more) and so I called the session 15 minutes early rather than set up the combat map. That was more or less the session. The players suggested me getting more help for the wiki, thus this post I wrote (which also got no answers). They made another suggestion that I'll address in a long post later this week.
Thus the party earned, in toto, 551 x.p. from a fight in which only Mikael did damage, 3 points with a dart, and no one died. I like this experience system. What was funny was that the 5th level fighter, Pandred, was not attacked and therefore did not take part. No X.P. for him.
After some discussion, the players decided to take the boy to school. They still have their opal and there are gemcutters in Buda-Pest, that being mentioned as one reason to go. They don't know the mage father in Koszyce, but that's likely part of their calculation; the last post was part of wiki page for the Thaumaturgical School concept... but I notice it generated little interest.
Further discussion led the party to decide to cut through the Karancs Hills and avoid any possible meetings with Ottomans who might recognise the boy, who will disappear once he begins his studies. I made a random roll, found it generated three owlbears (yay, more) and so I called the session 15 minutes early rather than set up the combat map. That was more or less the session. The players suggested me getting more help for the wiki, thus this post I wrote (which also got no answers). They made another suggestion that I'll address in a long post later this week.
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