Adnar’kerz 25

Traveling day. Torendrock really had to hustle to keep up, but we made it to the keep with plenty of time to spare.

We dropped the four of them off at the guildhouse. Nice place. There was a reward as well, both from the guild and from Vina. The guild has waived any and all fees for the next year, which means I can use the warehouse free of charge, and we’re considered honorary members for the next year, with all the rights and privileges that includes. That would include being allowed to stay in the guildhouse. I’m a little uncertain if that means any guildhouse in the entire Fangerie City States, but I think so.

I also learned something important. If I hadn’t registered as a bounty hunter, I’d have been identified as a rogue, meaning unregistered, adventurer. As such, I would have been fined 10% of all treasure gathered. However, for the next year, I don’t have to worry about those fees. At least now I know, if I want to be an adventurer operating in an area they administer, I have to register as a professional adventurer.

----

Adnar’kerz 26

Today would have been a rest day, to sell our stuff. Which I’ve done, certainly, but not in the keep.

Turns out the magic gear the minotaur was using was way beyond what anyone there could pay. In fact, I’m in Arz right now, because that was the closest place that could take it. I tried to find Halamin, but no luck.

And, woah. [Treasure: +5976 E.P.]

That’s enough to level. I’m going to run back and give Torendrock his share, maybe he can level too.

----

Looks like no. So while I’m in class, he’s going to try and find Halamin.

----

Kras’kerz 14

Done with school. [+2 honor, -1 honor] And I feel much better about this now, because [Achieved Great Honor].

I’ve decided to keep and started wearing two items that I wasn’t able to sell from the Ape Gawd Shrine, so [Treasure: +3675 E.P.].

It seems I’ve become famous, within the Fangerie city states at least. Four days ago I was approached by a half-ogre barbarian who offered to take on my training, to act as my mentor. He said that my great strength, while impressive, needed the proper skills to support it. However, there was a big catch. In exchange for his training, I would agree to give him 80% of all treasure I gathered. (Not including what I already have, of course.)

He gave his name as Thrag the Desecrator and said he’d give me until tomorrow to answer. Well, I spoke to the instructors at the kobar, asking about him. They told me I’d be a fool to pass it up, that he was well worth the cost. One even slyly pointed out that 80% was what I made of it. If I only collected 200 copper, then he got 160 copper.

So, I decided to do it. Treasure is temporal, skills are forever.

Torendrock passed through on his way to Arz at the beginning of the month. Haven’t seen him come back yet, but he knows to look for me at the keep. After all, the goal is to get Halamin to the keep, so…

The Hobgoblins have been waiting long enough. Time to go see what they’ve done.

----

Kras’kerz 15

It took more than two hours to get from Farzey to the Mines of Chaos, but that was going the long way around. In a direct path, it was probably seven miles apart. Not knowing the path, though, made it not worth trying to wander around mountains hoping to find the right way. So Duromar took the safe road.

With the sun up, there was no chance of orcs being out and about. To his mind, it was a toss-up between going back to check out the gnolls or work on the hobgoblins more. Or maybe start on orcs. But no, the gnoll area was considered cleared, the orcs might not think of him as an enemy since he freed one, actually, hadn’t he freed three more orcs from the bugbears, so make that four. Hobgoblins it was.

Making his way into the cave, he headed past the twin loops and around the corner to see a rather makeshift replacement door. It was the two halves of the previous door propped up on the sides of the doorway, leaving a narrow gap to squeeze through. It was good thinking. While he could fit in, he couldn’t do it while charging, so they’d get at least one free swing at him. He readied his bow instead.

Creeping up to the door, he couldn’t see any guards. The angle was intentionally bad, for certain. It wasn’t until he’d reached the doorway that a guard became visible. At that moment, he drew and fired. He hit one [-11], and they returned fire immediately [-7 dam], then he hit again [-9]. Firing again, he took one down [-13] as he backed up to the door, then shot the other [-10]. The remaining guard backed into a corner he couldn’t shoot into. Dropping the bow, he shoved his way into the room, drawing swords as he did. The guard, who had swapped weapons to a morning star, rushed at him and died [-17]. [+74 E.P.]

He checked to the left, seeing if the rooms he’d cleared earlier were still clear. The armory had been cleared out of every weapon and set of armor. The pack apes were gone, the prison cells and barracks were all empty too. It looked like they had fallen back to be more defensible.

He went to the corner that led to the stairs, then he swapped back to the bow, notched an arrow and drew it back, and then stepped around the corner, ready to fire the second he saw the guard if there was a guard in the same place again.

There was. The arrow hit [-13] before the guard could dart away, and when he did move, he hid behind a corner instead of heading out of the door. He dropped the bow again and ran down the corridor while drawing swords. Emerging into the room, he ducked away from a blow. The awkward swing ran into the wall instead, and shards of metal broke off the weapon. He swung once [-15] and the guard dropped. [+37 E.P.]

He opened the door and went down. The hallways he could see were clear, and after checking, so were the barracks and torture room. Continuing that direction around a corner, he pulled open the next door, surprising three hobgoblins playing cards. Two reached for daggers, one grabbed a club. None had armor. Duromar cut them down [-16] in [-18] four [-17] easy [-20] swings before they could even strike at him and miss. [+111 E.P.]

This guard room looked over the cells, but all were empty right now. He kept going, wanting to take out as much as possible before any alarm went up. The next room was a mess hall. A handful of hobgoblins were clearing away dishes, and two others were mopping the floor. They didn’t hesitate at all, pulling out daggers and rushing to attack. Duromar swung first, taking one down [-22] and leaving a large cut [-15] in a second before they surrounded him and one stabbed him [-6 dam] in the back. He cut down [-14] two [-21] more, got stabbed again [-5 dam], and cut down [-19] two [-23] more. The remaining two lost their nerve and turned to run. He hit each [-14] again [-17] with one of the two nearly getting to the door before his larger strides caught up [-14] and took him down as he slowed to open the door. [+112 E.P.]

There were double doors leading into the kitchen, so Duromar pushed them open and strode in. It wasn’t empty, but it was noisy enough that it made sense no one had heard the fight right outside. The kitchen was incredibly well-stocked with utensils and pots and pans, every one of them neatly hung up and organized. Every surface looked clean, and overall the smells of food cooking were remarkable.

The head cook, for the large scarred hobgoblin could be none other, didn’t hesitate for a second as he grabbed the largest knife in his reach and came directly at him. Five more, all slightly smaller, followed his lead. Duromar struck first, hitting the chef [-21] then [-16 dam] himself as the chef cleverly ducked. He also took a scratch [-1 dam] from behind. Sick of getting hit from behind, he lashed out backward and connected [-16] but only [-22] one went down. He did it again, and this time [-16] two [-20] went down. The chef was in an absolute fury at that point, but he couldn’t get through the half-ogre’s armor. One more swing [-14] brought down one more, but the chef blocked the next swing, deflecting it away. He tried again and this time [-22] brought down the last kitchen aide and struck the chef [-18] as well. The old chef fought well, probably a retired soldier, but he was no match for a fully armored Duromar and the next blow [-16] felled him. [+361 E.P., +1 honor]

The pantry was incredible. Fresh, neatly organized, a balanced mix of meats and vegetables… It was stunning the difference between a generally lawful race like hobgoblins and, well, nearly every other humanoid race he could think of. Except for kobolds. They were also lawful evil. He decided to raid the pantry after clearing the rest of the rooms.

Heading out of the other mess hall door, he found himself to have circled around the room he’d watch them evacuate last time. It seemed to have had children in it, so he left that one alone and kept going. He found himself in a hallway with many doors on one side, and further down, a hallway on the other. The doors were all open, though. Looking in, he could see small one-person rooms, each one identical and perfectly neat. Just before reaching the hallway to the side, he could see three guards standing at the end of this hallway. They reacted as if they had just spotted him as well.

Duromar charged. With a terrific crash [Crit! Severity 24, Lower side, -67, +1 honor] he cut down two in his first blow, but the shock of the blow knocked his other sword from his hand. The third guard put up an impressive defense, taking a blow [-18] before [Fumble!] deflecting his sword into himself [-13 dam] for the second time that day. Enraged, he cut the hobgoblin in half [-38] the hard way. [+204 E.P.]

Quickly, he shoved the corpses into the next room, which looked like an unoccupied throne room. With not a moment to spare, as a hobgoblin came out of the hallway he’d skipped and called out. Duromar listened as he called again, A door opened, and an irate voice yelled something, then shut again. Checking again, the lone soldier seemed to have gone away.

The door in the throne room could only reasonably lead to one place. He threw open the door and rushed in, closing it quickly behind himself. There was a stunned moment of silence as the surprised hobgoblins saw him. The chief recovered quickly, grabbing both a scimitar and a warhammer and rushing to attack. Duromar hit first [-17], but then the concubine tried to stab him, and the children, not quite full grown but old enough to fight, attacked as well. One must have grabbed his knife backward because he ended up stabbing himself. Duromar hit the chief again [-18], then got hit in return [-14 dam] with the warhammer. The chief kept coming, rolling on the floor to try and get at the half-ogre’s flank. Luckily, he knew the Cricket-in-the-PeaPod technique himself and it didn’t work. Without the flanking advantage, the chief swung and missed with both weapons. He cut the chief again [-19] but he still didn’t go down. Weathering attacks, he cut one last time [-22], and the tough chief finally fell. From there, it should have been straight blows [-17] to take down the rest, but [Crit! Severity 4, Shoulder, -3 dam, +42 E.P., +4 honor] it wasn’t quite. Two more swings [-21] were enough to take [-20] down the rest. [+614 E.P., +1 honor]

The concubine had the key to his treasure chest but all he found were a few gems and some gold. The warhammer was a much better find, as it was probably magical. He took the plate mail armor as well, unsure about it being magical.

He headed back down to the skipped hallway but was shocked when he heard a pitched battle going on. Moving past two doors, he found the largest cavern yet. It was very well lit, letting him see everything. There were hobgoblins fighting over a portion of a battlement wall. Some were trying to climb it and take down the defenders, and some were archers on top trying to keep them off. There was even a ballista, but no one was using it.

It was a practice assault. The arrows of the defenders were blunt, and so were the spears of the attackers. But, conveniently, it sounded like a real battle. Which meant if he attacked now, he was much less likely to raise an alarm by accident. He charged.

Unfortunately, they were far too well trained to miss an obvious opponent trying to surprise them. The archers switched targets almost seamlessly, switching to real arrows at the same time, all six firing at him with one [-5 dam] hitting. The spearhobs just had to pull off the spearhead covers and were ready when he arrived to start attacking, swarming around him instantly. He struck one [-21], one struck him [-4 dam], one got confused and threw his spear instead of stabbing, and he cut one [-18] down. The archers held fire, perhaps assuming eight hobgoblin soldiers were enough to handle a single half-ogre. He cut another down [-16], then [-29] another, leaving five. Hobgoblins had excellent morale, but it must have been shaken since none of them hit him. He cut down [-28] another, weathered more futile attacks, and [-16] left the next alive. He took care of that [-19] quickly, leaving just three. They backed off, staying on guard, forcing him to choose one to follow. As he did so, a volley of arrows came his way, ineffectually. He cut down the one he’d followed [-28] and turned to see where the last two were. Another volley of five arrows struck around him accompanied by a cry of pain as one archer managed to shoot himself. One spearman had turned to run when he had withdrawn far enough, but Duromar was fast enough to catch him before he got into the hallway and hit him [-14] twice [-14]. The last tried to hit him from behind, but Duromar felt it coming and cut [-21] him [-21] down. [+294 E.P.]

With no good way to get at the archers, he decided to step into the hallway and hide just a few feet in, to see if they came after him. After a minute of waiting, he peeked around the corner and saw them still hunkered down. Grumbling, he put away both swords and took out his own bow. Dashing out into the room, he used the ballista to provide a bit of cover and started shooting at the hobgoblins. It was a long slog of notifications. [-14] [-9] [-11] [-9] [-7 dam] [-14] [-13] [-4 dam] [-19 dam] [-14] [Fumble!] One archer dropped at that point as he shook off the sting from the bowstring snapping into his fingers. [-9] [-10] A second archer dropped, one dropped his bow over the battlements, and a third shot himself. [-21] [-15] Another dropped as the archer who dropped his bow picked one up from a fallen comrade. [-12] [-9] Only two left. [-14] [-13] The last two went down. [+221 E.P.]

He collected coin purses and restocked his arrows, very grateful that slog was over.

Duromar went back to the hallway and listened at each door. One was much noisier, so he took the quieter one first. There was an armored hobgoblin lecturing a group of what he might call teens. He cut off speaking as Duromar entered, looking annoyed.

“Who are you?” His eyes widened and he said some word Duromar didn’t know. The young warriors all leapt to their feet with knives out. He cut at the instructor first [-16] and last [-20] while none of the students could hurt him. It [-16] wasn’t [-20] so [-15] much [-14] a [-15] fight [-21] as [-17] just [-18] exercise. [+131 E.P.]

He briefly checked his health. [HP: 61/155] Plenty to continue.

Across the hall was a barracks. His quick evaluation was that many beds were full of sleeping hobgoblins, but right at the front was a half-squad of hobgoblins adjusting their armor as if they’d just put it on.

He was forced to admit that their training was superb, as they reacted to him entering faster than he could evaluate the situation. In a heartbeat, he had one on every side. He cut one [-15] down [-22] but they shifted to leave one at his back. There were cries of alarm throughout the room as half the room woke up. Trying to eliminate as many of the ones in armor before he was overwhelmed, he [-17] took down [-20] one more. There was a rush of bodies suddenly pressing in around him, but they got in each other’s way too much to strike effectively. There was a collective effort to knock him down, but his size worked against them. One dagger [-3 dam] slipped in. He dropped one more [-18] armored foe, then [-20] the last. Bodies were everywhere, stabbing [-1 dam] and being [-20] stabbed. His eyes blurred. [-17] [-18] [-25] [-22] [-21] [-2 dam] [-3 dam] [-9 dam] [Hackfrenzy! You must inflict 23 damage to others to end it.] [-22] [-20] [-22] [-20] [-17] [-22] [-2 dam] [-18] [-28] [-19] [-15] [-4 dam] [-1 dam] [-30] [Fumble!] [-5 dam] [-15] [-18] [-17] [+567 E.P., +2 honor]

Shaken, Duromar stared at the bodies everywhere. He’d lost count in the frenzy, but there were at least twenty-five hobgoblins lying dead. And that last damage had been self-inflicted, too. But most importantly, [HP: 32/155] meant he should stop, soonish.

Duromar was fairly sure there was exactly one room left, though. If he left now, who knew what would happen. He had to finish it.

He pulled out the one and only healing potion he had. [HP: 38/155] It would have to be enough.

Steeling himself, he went to the single unopened door. He pulled it open, saw the inside, and slammed it shut. He swore. It was a classroom, with desks, students, multiple teachers, even a chalkboard.

MInes of Chaos: 8 of 11 regions cleared

Ogre (1/1) Goblins (196/196) Owlbear (1/1) Bugbears (39/39) Trolls (2/2) & Gnolls (61/90) Simians (49/53) Minotaur (1/1) Hobgoblins (93/156)

[+5 honor]

Young warriors, yes. Actual children, no. He opened the door again into a shocking silence. “You have one day to leave the mines. When I return, no hobgoblin leaves alive.” He closed the door and walked away.

----

I lied, of course. I need about five days to heal. I think I’ll know if they leave if the numbers go down. I hope they do.

My new, magical, totally awesome armor has one tiny hole in it. So cool. I mean, not cool that it’s damaged, cool that it’s barely damaged. The non-magical armor would have been trashed. Dediur will have it fixed by tomorrow evening.

P.S. [Damage: +704 E.P.] & [Converting 12 honor to 3 Honor]

----

Kras’kerz 16

Decided to run to Arz to sell things. It’s so hard to sell magic items in the keep!

I’m already wondering about this mentorship. I now have twelve thousand in gold piece value to give him. In gems, of course. But I struggle with the classes. My low Int score is certainly not helping. Ah, we’ll see. I’ve got far more treasure stored up than I need, so I can afford to gamble. If it turns out not to have been worth it the next time I level, I’ll tell him to hit the road.

P.S. [Treasure: +3169 E.P.]

----

With no real plan for how to find a lone dwarf in the city, Duromar was reduced to walking into taverns and looking for a stuttering bad-smelling dwarf. Hopefully sitting with a halfling. It took half-a-dozen tries, but he did finally find the dwarf, who seemed quite startled to be found.

“D-duromar!”

Relieved, he took a seat. “I don’t see Halamin. Any luck?”

“Aye. All bad.” He looked around. “N-not here.”

Torendrock took him to the room he was staying in and headed directly to a backpack, from which he pulled out an enormous sack. He set this sack on the floor and then sighed. “Halamin found it. He thought it was a b-bag of holding.”

“Bag of devouring?”

Torendrock waved that away. “Nae, nae. Not that bad. Then he thought b-bag of endless storage. But no. So, h-he assumed it was a bag of h-hefty storage c-capacity.”

“Not sure what the last two are, but go ahead.”

“N-no matter. It’s none of those. It’s a p-portal to a storage world.” He untied the string holding it closed, and pulled it open. There was a bottom to the bag within arm’s reach. Sitting there was a great variety of weapons, armor, and foodstuff, all on a tiny scale. Looking around, Duromar realized the bottom of the bag seemed to stretch in all directions as far as the eye could see. It was rather dim-lit outside of the zone right under the portal, so that wasn’t as far as he’d like. Curious, he reached into the bag and turned his arm up to try and find the inside of the bag. It didn’t seem to exist.

“Aye, I d-did the same.” He tied the bag shut again and began to explain.

The full story took some time to explain. Halamin had found the bag and had been using it to store some treasure. At some point, Marigold had discovered that it didn’t seem to have a limit on storage capacity and decided to move into the bag. The environment was ideal for focusing on her studies, which were centered on some tasks her mentor had given her. The region right under the portal would stay fairly well lit even when the bag closed. Everything was going fine, until one day Halamin looked in the bag and Marigold was gone. Everything currently in the zone under the bag was nothing he’d put in there. He asked every sage and great wizard he could get to talk to him and finally got the answer from Marigold’s mentor. It turned out that there were a small number of bags of storage that were actually portals that connected to a particular wurld of storage. All such bags connected to the same wurld. New bags that connected to this wurld could be made without disrupting anything, but if a bag should get destroyed, it had the tendency to ‘shuffle’ all the other bags, and randomly reassign the zone they covered. As such, you could lose everything you had stored and gain what someone else had. Marigold’s mentor had the answer because the event had reassigned his bag location as well. He even offered a reward if anyone found his lost treasures, which Marigold would recognize.

In summary, Marigold was lost somewhere in another world, and Halamin had gone in after her.

----

Kras’kerz 19

The last few days were busy. Torendrock and I spent a few days adding to the supplies in the bag. There was a good supply of weapons, but I had an idea. Halamin the Elder commands a lot of respect. And there were a lot of halflings who wouldn’t have a warm place this winter, who might well be willing to make camp in the bag. So, I added a bunch of weapons appropriate for halflings. Two dozen short swords, and two hundred knives. Also, two dozen sets of halflings sized leather armor. Lots of food, but that much I should be able to keep restocking. After all, I’ve got more money than I know what to do with, so funding a rescue mission sounds like a good cause. Torendrock rode in the bag (I didn’t want to say it, but this way he won’t slow me down) and I’ll leave the bag in the keep while I finish the orc section of the Mines.

The halflings did agree to the plan, so we moved everything into the bag. It was weird as hell lowering things in. As soon as they were fully inside, they would ‘shrink’ down. Torendrock climbed down inside, ducked his head just a bit, and he was suddenly tiny. Weird. So, due to the size difference, they can’t get back out very easily. What we did was create a rope ladder long enough to reach from the portal to the ground, then dropped that in. I left the bag open in my room and secured a rope loop that dangled just barely into the bag. I then reached in, picked up the shrunken ladder, and tied it to the loop. We tested it extensively and they can get in and out now.

I really feel like I have to justify why I’m not going in yet. The primary cause of problems here in the keep is from orcs. I don’t mind leaving kobolds for a later date, but I’ve got to finish the orcs at the very least. They cannot be allowed to have a stronghold so deep in peaceful lands.

One other thing. Since the halflings have all been banned from the keep for one or another justifiable reason, while we arranged for a way to retreat from the bag, it was with the understanding that it was not to be used except in an emergency.

I’m no fool. They’re mostly thieves and they outnumber Torendrock twelve to one. They will sneak out and cause problems. But it’s the right thing to do. Hopefully, they respect Halamin enough to not cause any serious trouble.

The half-orcs and grel hunters staying with them went as well. We explained how the-hell, I’m just going to call it Bag Wurld-how the Bag Wurld worked. I suspect they plan on running off and raiding other bag zones, which is an interesting idea.

Torendrock is taking charge of everything. Halamin, who wasn’t in the bag zone, left a detailed note about how to find Marigold. He also had a plan to avoid getting lost, but I’ve left the details to Torendrock.

This actually happened before, but it’s less important so I’m writing it after. I met up with Thrag and talked to him about armor. He connected me with an elven armorer right there in Arz. It’s going to cost me an arm and a leg, but with Thrag’s recommendation, he’s willing to make me mithril elven chain mail. I haggled with him because honestly, that’s the best way to be respectful of someone’s skills. We settled on 65100 in gold, which I can afford, just barely. Unfortunately, it’ll take five weeks to make from scratch. Wheh. That about wipes out my money reserve. I made a down payment of 52100, and I’ll have to work hard to earn the rest. I also settled up with Thrag, giving him 12000, which is 80% of what I’ve found since making the agreement.

To clarify, that armor will not be magical. At least, not immediately. After it’s made, I’ll still need to find a wizard to put a basic enchantment on it. But that’s much cheaper than the armor itself.

I am a bit concerned about getting the rest. I’ll need to find 65000 in the next five weeks to pay off both Thrag and the armorer. Thrag told me to go hunt down a dragon’s lair in four weeks if I was coming up short. I’m quite certain he wasn’t joking. He said he’d find out which ones were nearby and leave a message for me.

Thrag himself no longer uses armor. I guess I understand, but, why not get all the protection you can? Mithral is so light I can wear it under my clothes, and you wouldn’t even know it’s there.

So that’s about it for now. Tomorrow I’m going to go raid the orcs. We’ll have to wait and see about finishing the gnolls and kobolds, depending on what happens in Bag Wurld.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Name: Duromar

Race: Half-Ogre

Class: Barbarian

Level: 6

Next Level: 150001 E.P.

Sex: Male

Alignment: CN

E.P.(+5%): 91060

Str: 25/22

Dex: 23/04

Con: 20/71

Int: 7/63

Wis: 10/56

Cha: 6/58

Com: 3/27

Hon: 70

Fame: 42

AC

Hacking

Puncturing

Crushing

Front

-13

-11

-9

Head

-17

-15

-13

Rear

1

3

5

HP: 155 (½ vs. crushing)

Move: 16”

Reaction: +7

ToP: 77

FF: 10

Fatigue Check: 15

Weapon

Spd

RoF

Atk

T

S

M

L

H

G

BSL

2H Sword +3

-2

-

+11

d4+7

d6+7

d10+13

3d6+18

2d10+18

2d12+18

13

Lucerne Hammer

-3

-

+3

2d6+12

2d4+8

1d6+6

5

Longbow

-

2

+4

d8+8

6

Flaws: HackFrenzy, Jerk, Loud Boor, Obnoxious, Self Absorbed, Socially Awkward, Value Privacy, Armor Prejudice: Elven Chain Mail, Armor Snobbery, Weapon Prejudice (2H Sword)

Scars: Lower Left Side, Lower Right Side, Left Forearm, Upper back

Special: Infravision 30’, Racial hit penalties, Climb Cliffs & Trees 72%, Hide in Nature 45%, Surprise 5/10, Surprised 1/10, Back Protection 30%, Leaping and Springing, Detect Illusion 30%, Detect Magic 50%

STP: WP 2H Sword, WP Quickdraw 2H Sword, WP Advanced Two-Weapon Fighting, WP Lucerne Hammer, WP Longbow, WP [Open], Armor Maintenance, Weapon Maintenance, Anatomy (basic) 24%, History (local) 19%, Looting (basic) 61%, Looting (advanced) 25%, Mining 28%, Rope Use 28%, Haggle 31%, Angawa Battle Cry 22%, Dirty Fighting 18%, Eye Gouge 40%, Pimp Slap 29%, Cricket-in-the-pea-pod 53%, Jugular Swipe 28%, Survival (underground) 23%, Holistic First Aid 17%, Outdoor Craft 16%, Tracking 61%, Wilderness Running 30%