Allansia Wildlands Campaign.

"Quite intentionally, you say?! What do you mean? As a bait or something?"

Zeltheris listens to the story carefully, eagerly rubbing his hands together as he contemplates the story to be told one, "I can't wait to get back to town to spread your stories far and wide! But yes, let's finish exploring this place first."

Quote from dndpro100 >>

"Quite intentionally, you say?! What do you mean? As a bait or something?"

'Quite, yes, as one drops meat to slow hungry wolves,' Aramis muses. 'But it seems luck has played a new game, and here we are. Lead on, new friends. Lead on.'

Herman looks at the others quizzically 

"Everybody fine with Aramis? I am"

Perhaps satisfied he is in better company than before his imprisonment, Aramis brushes off his leather long coat and stretches. He appears to be a man in his late twenties, athletic and measured of step. It would seem his trimmed moustache and anchor shaped goatee haven't grown a moment since his imprisonment - likewise his dark hair seems well kept. Stormy iron eyes scan his surrounds and he seems to give the gloomier recesses of this place a crooked grin, as if amused by what new threats may lurk. One thumb casually looped by the rapier hilt at his belt, he seems quite ready for whatever might happen next. 

Companions new and old moved on from the Crucible finding endless storerooms of ingots of iron, bronze, copper, nickel, tin, steel and other smaller chambers of gold, silver, electrum ingots and other even smaller cubicles, some constructed of heavy lead with sealed doors, containing rarer and stranger metals. 

Doubling back other chambers are located beyond the offices mostly consisting of lecture halls, meeting rooms and the like.  Coming to the end of these they double back once more and pass the Halls of the Sciences ( Medicine, Zoology, Botany etc.) the great stone doors and statues and the Armouries once again heading back towards the collapsed chamber.

Taking the unexplored right hand corridor there they find it splits into many smaller corridors lined with doors behind which lie mess halls,  living quarters and kitchens and pantries and utilities systems and maintenance workshops....all mundane and empty of anything of real worth but of exceptional craftsmanship and littered with dozens of crushed dwarven skeletons scattered about the place....some lying openly in corridors, others within or beneath the smashed ruins of furniture, wardrobes or sleeping cots. In a burned and ravaged canteen are the crushed and scoured remains of a man, a gark, a rhino-man and a elven woman.*

Coming back into the collapsed chamber they travel to the top of the spiral stairs .   Below lies the library chambers and beyond that the delvings and passages further afield.

(

Total time:- 6 hours.

Pretty sure you lot are already at your carrying capacity but you are able to secure, if you wish to spend the considerable time and resources:-

-any mundane item not including vehicles or dwellings.  At minimum at least 100x each item either in storerooms or in use in living quarters etc.

-thousands of dwarven trinkets, keepsakes, love letters, curios etc.

-20,000 gp worth of precious metals in the form of heavy ingots.

- 5,000 gp worth of jewellry in the form wedding and engagement rings, decorative jewellery and school pins on the hundreds of corpses.

- Faculty Quarters-  1650 gp, 480 gp worth of various gems,  https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/372030-chest-of-preserving, https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/27142-tankard-of-sobriety .

Encounters:-

-  A Rock Grub bursts out of one of the corridor walls to attack but retreats almost immediately after taking a few blows.

- A badly damaged Living Statue attempts to block your passage into the faculty sleeping quarters but is easily overcome having already been badly damaged by Pelucidis.

- A small colony of Castle Imps that had escaped notice were found living in one of the food stores, they fled through the stone on discovery.

- Grundle Bellsalts ghost, this rather addled old custodian was killed in one of the janitors closets.........he is confused, mostly insane and has no idea that he is dead....after getting no useful information from him he was left to wail. )

* Aramis recognises them as his former companions.

Quote from Damian_May >>

 

 In a burned and ravaged canteen are the crushed and scoured remains of a man, a gark, a rhino-man and a elven woman.

 

 

 Aramis takes a moment to shake his head. His eyes linger on the elf.

"All is fair I suppose," he murmurs, eyebrow shooting up. "My previous party," he tells everyone, motioning to the remains. Aramis then presses on without another glance. Humming a sea ditty.

Brocc straps the chest and tankard onto his spider's back, and adds to those the most valuable of items he can find as they travel through the university. (I figure some of the previously-found magic items, the ones not being used currently, are already strapped to the spider's back, so not looking to get much added to that, but would work to get the tankard and chest added on.)

(I figure we'd be able to manage those as well as the jewelry, coins and gems, but the rest would have to wait for a return trip. And since we're so loaded up, probably hold off exploring for a return trip too.)

Shalana panics at the thought of being decommissioned. A small spark lights up the inner workings.

( So.....group decision? Feel free to discuss in the OOC.)

(It looks everybody agrees to go back to Chalice firstvthen we will see)

(Yep, back to town it is.)

(Happy to follow)

Somewhat heavily laden the companions made their way back to the throne chamber and from there through the narrow gap and out into the bright morning sun, for one of them the first time they had seen open sky in more than a decade.

Determining to head for Chalice they traced their path southward, passing the The Eyrie at a wide distance to the east as they retraced their steps towards the hilltop settlement passing the flint quarry.

Mid-afternoon the companions were descending a ridgeline when both Herman and Brocc spotted a large number of humanoid forms badly hidden in the scrubby woods about 100' away.  It appeared they did not seem to realise they had been spotted...

Herman breathes happily the outside fresh air.

At a certain point he raises a hand for the others to stop, whispering: 

"Look, there, we are on open field so it is likely they spot us..... in my opinion they are up to no good and, since we are loaded with gold, I don't really wanna know, shall we find another way?"

Banzo does his best to lead the group away from the copse and find an alternate route....but some amongst the hidden ones must have sharp eyes indeed!

As the group begins to descend the ridge there is a sudden shout and yelling from the tree line and two dozen or so lanky forms begin charging across the hillside towards the group.  Some of the individuals Banzo recognises as the Hill Goblins his familiar first spied lying in ambush towards the Barbarians encampment.  It seems they have relocated and the heavily laden metal spider was too tempting a prize.

As the companions turn to see the oncoming attackers they noted another figure come into view on the hilltop apparently drawn by the yells and cries of the marauding bandits.  The woman is slightly paler than the usual Allansian wood elf, dark of hair with lime green eyes narrowed against the sunlight. She is slim of form, graceful in movement and a little over 5 foot tall.  She wears a long green cloak sewn with oak leaf shaped patches in many colours, gilded leather armour of a similar design and carries a longbow. A large sleek plumaged black crow sits on her shoulder, preening but watchful for any opportunity that may arise. 

( Everyone Roll Initiative.

Because you spotted them you have a round as they Dash across open ground towards you.  Most of you would know that Hill Goblins are larger, broader and more clever than most other stripes of Hashaks Children and this lot could easily be descendants of those that fought in the Trolltooth Wars or perhaps deserters from Craggen Rock....either way they are here by choice and could easily go and find real jobs instead of murdering Halflings and Hill Folk for gold.

And yon elf is your newest companion. :))

Zeltheris initiative: 24

If they are gathered close together and within range, Zeltheris will slap a shatter centered on the group.

13 thunder DC 14 con save for half.

Init  13

Round 0

Herman walks towards the goblins and launches his returning magic spear at the closest (disadvantage)

Attack: 12 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll.