Scott, I'm with you -- the Levys are over the top in their hatred of this movie. But I can accept that, if they can move on. :)
Notes on Barik's recap of events to Kinvol:
Barik is particular about who did what and gives considerable credit to everyone present, except Sandarkar. Bishop is a skilled marksman, Drusilla a powerful illusionist, Grell a ferocious warrior with a mystical sword. Sandarkar isn't mentioned at all, and Linnam only appears in the story at the attack on the goblins, where he is duly credited for sneaking into and taking the tower, and shooting with Bishop.
Note on party booty: I said I'd take the CP; every little bit helps.
Regarding the gems, I agree with Jacob; I would think that dwarves are a lot more used to selling gems to humans, not the other way around, so they're only going to buy to resell, so they'll have to offer less than they're worth. Also, they're much more likely to know how much they're worth to start with, so that won't work in our favor. Using them as a donation is probably a better idea.
posted by Scholeologist at 1/24/2004 02:11:00 PM
Unfortunately, I've got a hectic schedule, so I'm going to have to post in pieces. Or maybe not so unfortunate -- my Argunn Lode post was pretty frickin' long. Here's the first installment:
Linnam:
>Linnam's TB: Do dwarven metaphors consist of just
>substituting 'hammer' and 'anvil' for other words,
>regardless of sense? :-)
You certainly hit the anvil with the hammer on that one!
For the benefit of the non-Dwarven speakers, Barik will say all this in common; as he gets excited, he will forget himself (or not be able to express what he means in common) and will slip in a few dwarven phrases (mostly swearing) whose emotional content, if not literal meaning, will be obvious to everyone.
"Past 24 hours -- then I'll skip the preliminaries and jump to the bloody business. We were at the remains of the ambush on the wagon train, on the road from Two Towers. I was accompanying the human caravan, which stretched over a mile long with wagons and carts of every description, with traders and families and so on. Guarding the caravan were 250 troops of the Guard of the Duke of Athkatla, under the command of Captain Kray. And well they might, for the Duke's Daughter and Heir was traveling in the caravan as well.
"This was under one of the watchtowers, the third one counting from Two Towers. Vanguards had been sent to occupy the watchtowers in advance of the caravan, and we saw a Dukesman wave from the tower -- but this was a ruse. We had stopped and investigated the remains, and were considering bearing the corpses back here, when an ambush erupted.
"First, the skull-faced shaman appeared before us, and unleashed a lightning bolt through the soldiers at the fore of the caravan. I think he has put some witchery on his skull-mask, because even brave warriors fled at the sight of him. Also, he cast some sort of silence spell, to sow additional confusion and disrupt other spellcasters. He then flew into the air at great speed. I sought to fire on him with my bow, but ran into an invisible wall which penned the caravan in. At that moment, he was firing several green bolts at another comrade.
"I know next to nothing about magic, but what I have seen does not compare to this. As far as we can ascertain, he was the only spellcaster, and yet this blitz of
seems to have come faster than one person could act. Perhaps the mage Drusilla could explain something of his sorcery.
"But we were assaulted by more conventional means of warfare as well. Rocks rained down upon us from the cliff wall. After the sorcerer caused a wall of fire to burst up near the back of the Duke's men, massive trees were felled from the cliff top, dividing the troops further.
"Other than wreaking havoc, the fiend had a specific aim in mind: two traitors in the caravan kidnapped the Daughter-Heir and her younger brother, levitating up from her carriage in the midst of the chaos. The shaman teleported the captives and one of the turncoats away. He vanished with them, but returned later. I should mention also that huge batlike things attacked the troops south of the wall of fire, and the shaman seemed to be invulnerable to weapons -- Kray got a strike at him with a sword, and he was shot with arrows, to no effect.
"At this point, the remaining levitating traitor was felled by the powerful magics of the elf-maid Drusilla.
"While the remaining troops, now in disarray, were fired upon with bolts and boulders from orcs and ogres on the cliff, the shaman returned, and used a wand to fire lightning bolts at the trees, causing them to burst into flame. Drusilla blasted him with an explosion of flame, but he seemed unharmed. He fired another lightning bolt, this time directed solely at her, but she is most hardy, and was able to fight on despite her grievous injuries."
posted by Scholeologist at 1/20/2004 01:05:00 PM
DM:
>As for the rest of you, please e-mail me and let me know the details.
(earlier post)
>Tis of course times like these that one would truly benefit from Great Cleave. That is the all-time great Munchkin feat, and I promise if you take it that I'll send
>dozens of rats or kobolds or something to torment your day.
This seems to almost demand me taking Cleave for my feat, since it's being catered to.
All:
I'm interested in other players' suggestions: my current feats are Track, Two-Weapon Fighting, Endurance (all from being a ranger) and Weapon Focus (for my waraxe) and power attack. At the new level, I'm going to get Improved Two-Weapon Fighting as a ranger feat, as well as the one I get to choose. (I'll have 4 attacks/round, if I ever got the opportunity to do a full attack, which doesn't seem to happen for me too often.) Like I said, Cleave and Weapon Specialization are my top two choices, but if someone were to tell me that Diehard or Run turn out to be brilliant choices in real gameplay, I could be convinced. Does anyone ever take the skill boosting feats? Dodge and Point Blank Shot (which would apply to throwing axes too) seem to be prereqs for a lot of stuff. My wildest idea would be to pick up my next level as a fighter, and get Dodge and Mobility now, Spring Attack at 7th, and Combat Expertise and Whirlwind Attack at 9th. My idea that would cause Scott the most headaches is Leadership. :)
But you probably want to hear about Argunn Lode....
The path to Argunn Lode is fairly clear where it branches from the main mountain road, but as it rises into the mountains, it becomes less "road" and more "beaten track". Partly this is an effect of moving out of the channel the main road runs in -- it's had walls on either side for most of the way. The path up to Argunn Lode leads up into rockier, more open terrain, and seems to be distinguished from the surrounding countryside primarily by not having grass on it. Despite this, the ground is hard enough that wagons (like the heavy silver wagons you've heard about) would have no trouble negotiating the path, even in a rainy season.
After a turn in the path around a mountain spur, the path seems to abruptly end, but you quickly ascertain that what at first sight is the blank continuation of the mountain is in fact a dwarf-made wall, and the path's apparent "dead end" must actually be a stone gate, although the only indication of this is a banner hung from a ledge about twelve feet above where the path reaches the wall.
The banner is purple, with a cascade of red fringe at the bottom. On it is emblazoned two crossed axes in black, behind a silver anvil. (This comes as a surprise to no one, since Moradin's anvil is ubiquitous in dwarven heraldry.) Below these are three short Dwarven words, also in silver. (Everything in dwarven will get emailed to the DM, who can email it to all the Dwarven speakers and readers.)
Barik stops at the gate (like there's any choice), and says "I will announce us. This might take a while." He loudly calls out something fairly wordy in Dwarven.
He is answered by another longish pronouncement, and its hard to discern where that voice comes from. Barik's reply is shorter, but still sounds like part of a formal dialogue. The voice's second pronouncement sounds much more informal, and you can hear that it comes from the ledge above the banner, and the speaker, a dwarf in full plate (though not spiky), appears and waves down at you. Barik waves back, and the previously blank wall opens up under the banner.
Barik smiles. "That actually went better than I thought. Come quickly now -- they don't want to keep the gate open very long."
The gate leads through a tunnel (under the ledge where the sentry was standing) to a narrow crevasse. The path is just wide enough for a wagon or oxcart, and the party has to string out a little bit to fit through. Looking up, you see that the walls (which are at least 30' tall) have various holes and dark spaces in them, and if you peer closely, each hole you see has a pair of eyes or an arrow or some unidentifiable but unfriendly thing looking out of it. Barik is breezily unconcerned about this (of course he would be...), but when the path comes to a fork and a different voice shouts out what everyone is sure is Dwarven for "Halt!", he pulls up, looking a little surprised. But when the voice gives another Dwarven soliloquy, he replies crisply and briefly. The voice makes some assenting noises, and Barik gestures for the group to continue, to the right.
The narrow path has a few more twists and turns, before it suddenly opens into a broad mountain valley. Looking around, it's clear that Argunn Lode is a large cul-de-sac in the mountains, the opening of which has been closed off by the wall. If the only way in is through the path you just took, it would seem to be virtually impregnable.
A dwarf walks toward the party, and you recognize him as the dwarf on the ledge. You're not sure how he here from there, but the path was twisty enough that it took us a while to get here, so he had plenty of time. He says what sounds like a Dwarven "hello" to Barik, and then switches to Common to greet you.
"Well met, travellers! Would that you had come in better times, but Argunn Lode will offer what hospitality we can! I am Riktaern, son of Khelos, and First Lieutenant of the Guard. We are glad indeed to see peoples from your fair realm again. Tell me, who are you that honors us with your visit?" You notice that his Common is in fact a bit smoother and less accented than Barik's. His manner is breezy, not particularly demanding. Apparently he has put himself "off duty" to welcome the newcomers.
(I'm going to assume that everyone introduces themselves with a minimum of fuss, and doesn't say anything that might cause trouble. Feel free to introduce yourself as you see fit.)
Riktaern engages in some idle chitchat, expressing interest in everyone's backgrounds and offering some bits of interest about Argunn Lode: "We will have to meet later at the Tap, it's the main tavern down this road...it might sound like home to you Linnam, there's a few Northmen who've settled here, and they like to hang out there..."
In the course of the conversation, it's clear that Riktaern is pretty friendly with Barik, and from some of the comments they make about common relations you're pretty sure Riktaern is Barik's uncle, or something like that...Alonzo, who is used to convoluted dwarven genealogy, recognizes that they aren't quite _that_ close, but still much closer related than Holdek was.
"Well, I won't keep you. I imagine you'll be stopping by the Brother's Hall, to see what's up, eh?"
Barik replies, "Absolutely, first thing."
"Say hello to Kinvol for me." Riktaern waves and walks off down the path into the crevasse, back where we came from.
Barik leads the way into the town proper. It's clear that Argunn Lode isn't very big -- this is no Two Towers. But it's also less dour and grim than you might have thought a dwarven village would be -- think more "Shire" and less "Mines of Moria". There's livestock grazing in the common, and gardens by the houses (which aren't all of stone). Barik leads the party down the main street, which he says is Merchantman's Way, and the name is apt: every building on it is a business of some sort, with more silversmiths than anything else, but a fair number of weaponers also. There are tents where bargaining over vegetables is going on...but you notice there are no kooky alchemist's shops, or any other magic shop for that matter, to be found.
Eventually, Barik turns down one of the side paths off Merchantman's Way, and you notice that one of the things that makes Argunn Lode seem so sparse is that most of the buildings (other than the shops on Merchantman's Way) abut the mountainside, so much of the valley is undeveloped. The houses look a little small, but you figure that, being dwarves, they probably have dug into the rock of the mountain, so you can't tell how "far back" the houses go.
Barik pulls up at a stone hall -- I was tempted to call it "imposing", but since it's smaller than the temple (which is centrally located, and is at the end of Merchantman's Way) and a number of other stone structures around the valley (which you take to be soldier's barracks, and a town hall), it's really only impressive relative to the little houses to either side of it. Over the arched doorway is carved a coiling serpentine dragon.
Barik says "This is my work -- we're going to have to talk to my boss first. He'll be all right, probably. I just hope we don't have to go up before the Council -- that's really where saying the wrong thing would get us in trouble. But be careful, regardless. I've never seen security this tight. I think it's a response to something more than what they've heard of our experiences. Riktaern was friendly, but for him to be on sentry means they've about tripled the guard...and he's a nice guy, but I bet he was sizing you up too. I wouldn't really be surprised if we've had shadows watch us since we got in. Any way, keep cool and I promise there's a warm bath and a cold lager waiting for you at the Inn tonight."
posted by Scholeologist at 1/18/2004 06:52:00 PM
Well, I guess I'm glad I brought up the issue of "payback", since it seems to be a serious concern. My (player) thought is that you're rarely going to get swag that conveniently lets you replace item-for-item what you used, and anyway, if the booty's divided to try to have everyone pretty evenly equipped, that sort of results in "reimbursement" anyway. In character, Barik is currently on a mission, and any treasure recovered is a bonus. (A bonus he'd use to try to equip himself better for the next fight, though.)
Also, just so ya know Aaron, the "entitlement" jab was aimed at Jacob; the "as far as ranged attacks go" comment was aimed at you. I'll try to be more explicit, for example:
Grell:
> He lets it be known that he needs to wash as soon as possible. Its a personal thing.
You are in luck, my friend! Dwarves are in fact a rather fastidious people, and Argunn Lode will have personal hygiene facilities the likes of which you have probably never seen in those dirty human towns.
Jacob:
> 'Fraid I didn't do a count of Barik's rimefrost arrows, though.
I started (way back before the cliff and everything) with 10, and am down to 3 now. :(
Aaron:
>But for what it's worth, Dru also speaks Dwarven and can help translate...
Does Dru volunteer this information? That is, now Bob knows it, but does Barik know that you speak Dwarven? He might suspect, since (being brainy) you seem to speak every _other_ language...
>We best hurry though... Dru can only bite her tongue for so long. I fear snarky comments may be coming soon...
Again, we have the player time vs. character time thing -- hopefully Dru won't have to hold her tongue for too much longer (and she's free to vent before we get to the gates of Argunn Lode), but the players must wait in suspense -- I've gotta go, and the big Argunn Lode post will come tonight (of course, conveniently several hours earlier for y'all.) I want it to be good, and among other things, I need to do some research on silkworms for historical accuracy... :)
posted by Scholeologist at 1/18/2004 07:49:00 AM 
Saturday, January 24, 2004
